Driving off into the Sunset: A Honeymoon on the Road

If you’re having trouble choosing the perfect location for your honeymoon, why don’t you choose all of them? Take the road trip of your dreams!

Before you start:

1. Plan your route. What cities are you dying to visit? What landmarks have you always wanted to see? Mark every place on a map so you won’t miss anything.
2. Make sure your vehicle is up to par. Take it to a garage to get everything checked out – you don’t want to break down somewhere on the open road! If your car isn’t very dependable, you might want to rent one.

For the ride:

1. Pack lots of snacks and drinks. Grocery stores tend to be cheaper than gas stations.
2. Put together an emergency kit. Include a battery-powered radio, flashlight, jumper cables, first-aid supplies, tire repair kit, flares, and extra batteries. It’s also a good idea to have an extra blanket or two. 
3. Prepare games and entertainment. The last thing you want is to get bored in the car and start bickering. You can make a few CDs with your favorite music, come up with a few games to play, and tell (or read) stories to each other.
4. Pack a camera and take plenty of pictures along the way. Each time you stop, get the pictures developed. You can make a scrapbook or photo album while you’re driving.

Where to go:

If you’re still not entirely sure of where you want to go, there are many websites that will help you plan your trip. Some will give you routes that they have already mapped out, but others will give you suggestions and assist you with the technicalities of planning. 

If you have the time and money for it, try to plan one stop in every state. Here are some of the most popular destinations within the United States:

• San Antonio
• San Francisco (the Golden Gate Bridge)
• Hollywood
• Las Vegas
• Washington D.C.
• Chicago
• New Orleans
• The Grand Canyon
• Mount Rushmore
• Yellowstone National Park
• Yosemite

If you don’t have any particular places in mind, you could pick a highway and drive up and down that, stopping wherever and whenever you feel like it.

• Pacific Coast Highway: 1,700 miles from southern California to the Olympic Peninsula
• Florida State Highway/Overseas Highway: 600 miles from Jacksonville to Key West
• Newfound Gap Road/Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive: a total of 606 miles through three national parks – without the semi-trucks, billboards, and traffic on other highways
• U.S. Highway 2: 3,300 miles (if you drive the 700 miles it covers in Canada!) through mountains, the Great Plains, small towns, and Glacier National Park
• U.S. Highway 395: 1,300 miles from southern California to the Canada border

There are so many things to do and so many beautiful places to visit. So why should you stay in one place? Grab your spouse, a map, and a trustworthy car and hit the road for a honeymoon full of adventures!

Image Credits:  Couple in Car with Luggage, Grand Canyon, Pacific Coast Highway

Elizabeth is an undergraduate at Ohio Northern University with a double major in professional writing and creative writing and a minor in psychology. Liz writes for My Wedding Reception Ideas as well as creates multi-modal writing projects for Re:Media, an Ohio Northern University online publication.

Introducing...The Bridal Party

Everyone knows the wedding is about the bride (and maybe a little bit about the groom). But the bridal party plays a huge role, mostly behind the scenes, and they deserve to be recognized for their hard work.

 

There are easy ways to make sure the bridal party gets this acknowledgement, but there are also creative, fun ways to introduce your closest friends and family to all of your guests.

 

Traditional Introductions

Make sure your MC or DJ knows the correct order the bridal party will be entering in the reception, as well as how to pronounce their names. The minimum the DJ should say is their first and last name and role in the bridal party. Something else you can consider adding is how they each know the bride or groom. Another fun tidbit to add is just a fun fact about each person. For example, “John Doe is the best man and was the groom’s roommate and wingman in college—he’s the one who introduced the groom to the bride!”

 

Don’t forget to introduce the ring bearer and flower girl!

 

It’s common to put information about the bridal party in the program for your guests to read, and while this is helpful, it can be impersonal and doesn’t give them a chance to put names to faces.  Consider putting in a small photo next to each member of the bridal party along with a short bio.  Weddings are about joining two families, but the bride and groom need to facilitate this, and the best way to start this is to introduce the bridal party.

 

Other Tips for Formal Introductions

 

Make sure your bridal party is comfortable with each other. Even if they don’t know each other before the ceremony, encourage them to spend some time together, since they will be walking and dancing together all day.

 

Enter the reception hall excited. When your guests see you and your bridal party having a great time, they will be more excited and will participate in the festivities more eagerly.

 

Communicate well with your DJ or MC. If you have hired a professional, he or she will have lots of ideas for how to spice up your introductions and can facilitate the whole procession.

Creative Introductions

 

Encourage your wedding party to do something fun as they enter your reception.  Choreograph a dance routine and have the members of your bridal party waltz, tango, or wobble their way into the reception hall. Let each couple decide individually which dance they want to use for their entrance.

 

Use props: find toys or other props that fit your theme and have your bridal party use them during their introductions.  This bridal party entered to the song Thrift Shop sporting their best thrift store attire.

 

 

Still not sold with these introductions? Consider this:

 

 

At this wedding, the bride and groom put together a meet the bridal party table. All you need to do is put each person’s name, picture, and some information about them in a picture frame. Here are some ideas for what to include in the information section:

• How they know the bride/groom
• Where they’re from
• A fun fact
• A funny quote from them that was said at some point during the wedding planning

These picture frames don’t have to be for just the bridal party, either. You can include the parents of the bride and groom, the ring bearer, the flower girl, and anyone else you think deserves one!

 

However you choose to do the introductions, make sure you include a big thank you to all those who helped to make your day special.

Image Credits: Wedding Party Photos, Wedding party booklet, Thrift Shop Entrance, Meet the maids and grooms

Elizabeth is an undergraduate at Ohio Northern University with a double major in professional writing and creative writing and a minor in psychology. Liz writes for My Wedding Reception Ideas as well as creates multi-modal writing projects for Re:Media, an Ohio Northern University online publication.

 

Ethical Engagement Rings by Brilliant Earth

If you haven't heard of the folks over at Brilliant Earth, than you are in for a treat.  Brilliant Earth offers only the finest crafted jewelry using the most ethical harvesting practices.  And with such a commitment to socially and environmentally responsible practices, you can bet they will put just as much passion and enthusiasm into crafting your perfect diamond engagement ring.

Brilliant Earth was founded by Beth Gerstein and Eric Grossberg in 2005.  Beth and Eric truly believe that luxury goods need not come at great human or environmental cost.  "It is with our customers' help that we are cultivating a more humane jewelry industry, one stunning piece of jewelry at a time."

And if this company couldn't get any more perfect, Brilliant Earth donates a share of their profits to support underdeveloped communities ravaged by the jewelry industry.

Check out some of these recently purchased beauties from Brilliant Earth's customers.  To see more gorgeous pieces, visit their site at http://www.brilliantearth.com/

A web designer, photographer, mother, wife, lover of the outdoors and all things crafty, Allison is the marketing director for and regular contributor to My Wedding Reception Ideas where you can find more helpful wedding tips, advice and ideas from Allison and other wedding experts.

Hunger Games Wedding Inspiration

If you loved the Hunger Games books as much as I did, than you were definitely one of the first to catch the premier as it hit the box office.  And now with the second movie in the trilogy, Catching Fire, out in theaters, we thought what better way to capture the fantastical world that is the Hunger Games than through a wedding inspiration board.  A collection full of rustic, woodland inspiration fit for any boho bride with an edge.

 

 

Image Credits: Mockingjay keychain, Arrow bouquet, Halo braided hairstyle, Blackberry tart, Bride with arrows, Bread basket, Hunger Games invitation, Champagne glasses, Book centerpiece, Reception tablesetting, Bride and groom holding hands, Boho bride

 

 

 

A web designer, photographer, mother, wife, lover of the outdoors and all things crafty, Allison is the marketing director for and regular contributor to My Wedding Reception Ideas where you can find more helpful wedding tips, advice and ideas from Allison and other wedding experts.

How to Create a Tasteful Memorial at Your Wedding

A wedding is a beautiful ceremony celebrating the union of two people, but it’s also so much more than that. A marriage brings together two families. This is why it is so important to honor your deceased family members in some way to celebrate the part they've played in bringing you to this moment.

 

Recently, couples have set aside a small part of their ceremony to light a candle. Typically, this candle has the names of the departed persons and a short verse. While this brief memorial service is beautiful and appreciated, it is also a solemn break from what is otherwise a joyous day. Your guests who are not family or who did not know the people you are remembering can often feel interrupted or confused, simply because they don’t feel the same way about your family members as you do.

 

Other Memorial Options

 

There are many other ways to remember these special people without causing any kind of break in your ceremony or reception.

 

• Place a single rose in the bride’s bouquet that is a different color from the rest. This is more
  

  

  effective if the bouquet is only one or two colors, because the memorial rose will stand out from the rest.
• Attach a picture of the deceased to the bride’s bouquet in the form of a memorial buckle. If other bridesmaids are related, they can each have a picture of someone.
• Write a short statement in the wedding program (typically seen placed on the back or at the end of program):

  “Today we would like to remember our lost loved ones who cannot be here with us to celebrate. 

  First name, relationship to bride/groom 

  Gone but not forgotten”

• Reserve a seat for each deceased family member by placing a single rose and a name card on the chair.
• At the reception, set up a small table with pictures of each person you want to remember, a short poem, and a candle. In this situation, a battery-operated candle may be better than a wax candle, since you won’t be able to watch the open flame during your reception.

 

If you are having a small wedding with family members making up the majority of the guest list, you might want to stick to the memorial candle tradition, since it will mean more to the guests. If you decide you want some sort of memorial service at your wedding, choose to do something that will be meaningful to you, your partner, and the loved ones you are honoring. Your guests, whether they know the deceased or not, will appreciate a small but significant memorial display more than an extravagant presentation.  For other ways to incorporate memorials into your wedding, come check us out here.

 

 

Image Credits: Memorial candle holder, Memory bouquet charms, Memorial table setting, Memorial ladder

 

Elizabeth is an undergraduate at Ohio Northern University with a double major in professional writing and creative writing and a minor in psychology. Liz writes for My Wedding Reception Ideas as well as creates multi-modal writing projects for Re:Media, an Ohio Northern University online publication.