Eco-Vintage Weddings

Our Wedding: Bliss Honeymoons!

From the moment J and I first discussed getting married, we both knew that we wanted a honeymoon where we could A) do things we’ve never done before, and B) relax, relax, relax.

However, since neither J nor I have ever planned such an important trip before, we’ve talked on and off about calling a travel agent to utilize their expertise and services in determining where exactly we should go on our honeymoon.

Enter Dana at The Broke-Ass Bride, who recently posted about one of her blog sponsors, Bliss Honeymoons & Destination Weddings. You could say that the clouds parted and angels could be heard singing in the distance, but that would be a little over the top, now wouldn’t it? :) Bliss Honeymoons specializes in helping couples determine what exactly they are looking for in a honeymoon, whether it’s relaxation, adventure, romance or a little bit of all three.

After I read Dana’s post, I immediately emailed J, and we quickly agreed to contact the wonderful travel agents at Bliss to help us plan our honeymoon. One of Bliss’s agents, Laura, contacted us promptly to set up a phone call (since there isn’t a Bliss office in our area) to talk about our ideal honeymoon and our budget.

The best part about Bliss Honeymoons? Because Bliss is a fully licensed travel agency, they are paid by the hotels. This means that couples just like you and me get all the benefits of working with an experienced travel consultant at no extra cost!

I’ll keep you informed as we talk with Laura about our honeymoon – we’re so excited to get started on this process!

NOTE: This post is not sponsored by the above company, individual, service or product line.

[Picture courtesy of Bridal Tweet]

Our Wedding: Ceremony Inspiration

Good Thursday morning, readers! Today I wanted to share with you a few ideas I’m tossing around to make our ceremony reflect our personalities, love, and commitment to each other.

Have I sung my praises for Sara of A $2000 Wedding yet? She is unbelievably inspirational, and I seriously feel the positive vibes oozing from her blog each time I read a new post. On her blog, Sara has posted a variety of ceremony scripts, making her blog the only (as far as I know) resource for such goodness. You MUST check these scripts (and her blog!) out – her and her partner’s experience in wedding planning will fundamentally change the way you view your wedding.

Now that my praises have been made known, on to a wonderful idea that Sara and her partner Matt utilized in their ceremony in place of a unity candle:  they planted a tree, and also were wrapped in a unity quilt!

Jordan and I loved these ideas, but since we don’t have a house yet, we felt that we couldn’t plant a tree. So, we decided to incorporate the idea of a unity quilt into our ceremony. We also wanted to involve our family members and friends, and so we planned to ask them on our save-the-date cards to mail us pieces of fabric to us so that we could make the quilt.

However, Jordan and I are not sure that our family members and our friends will participate in helping us to put together our unity quilt; while we love our families and friends dearly, they’re traditional folk, and we’re not sure they’ll embrace the non-traditional aspects of our wedding. So, we’re in the process of reevaluating how we can express our unity at our wedding.

The always-lovely Dana from The Broke-Ass Bride and her fresh hubby, Hunter, incorporated a Box Ceremony into their wedding ceremony. To explain, I’ll borrow some text from The Wedding Bee’s Miss Cowboy Boot:

“The tradition goes something like this: The couple writes love letters to each other. In their letters, they detail why they fell in love with each other and what they really, truly admire about the other person. The letters get sealed up before they are read by the person they are intended for.

The sealed letters are brought out at the end of the ceremony. They are put into a wooden box that the couple supplies. Along with their letters, they put a nice bottle of wine into the box with two glasses. Once all is in the box, the wedding party hammers nails into the box to close it.

The point of all this? If, at any point, the marriage is in serious jeopardy, the couple is to open the box, read the letters about why they fell in love with each other in the first place, and drink the wine together before making any irrational decisions.”

I’m a big believer in protecting important things like marriage with your life, and this ceremony seems like an incredibly sufficient (and romantic) way to protect your marriage in its 11th hour of need.

Last, the Offbeat Bride (among others) has discussed including the ritual of a Ring-Warming in your wedding ceremony. I’m absolutely in love with this concept, which involves the passing of the wedding rings amongst the guests for their blessing.

What do you think, readers?

How will your wedding ceremony reflect who you are as individuals, and who you are as a couple?

[Photo Credit: Prime Number]