Breaking & Keeping Traditions

For our wedding, I'm breaking lots of "traditions". I'm trying to keep things unique and hopefully do some stuff not many people have seen or heard of. Here's a run-down of our tradition breaking:

1) We will not be having a unity candle ceremony. However, we will have a unity sand ceremony. Us bride bloggers know exactly what I'm talking about but I don't think many of our guests will. Therefore, we have something memorable and unique to symbolize us becoming one.

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2) At the reception there will be no dancing and therefore, no first dance.

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3) As I mentioned in my last post, we will not be having a ring bearer.

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4) My dad will not be walking me down the aisle.*(This will be addressed in another post.)

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5) The seating at the reception will not be dictated by me or anyone else. Guests will be able to sit wherever and with whomever they like.

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6) We will be having a bouquet and garter toss but it will not be restricted for single/unmarried folk. Most everyone at our wedding will be married so in an effort not to make our few single friends embarrassed, the tosses will be open to everyone. I'm also thinking of doing something along the lines of what Miss. Bruschetta over on WeddingBee did. She tied Lottery Tickets to the garter and bouquet and opened the tosses to everyone. The tickets were the incentive to get the guests involved. Since Charles and I are not the gambling/lottery type, I'm thinking of adding some cash. Everyone loves some cash and I think it would be fun, memorable and get the guests involved!

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7) There will be no china, silverware, glassware or any other type of fine dining plates/utensils at our reception. Instead, we'll be going for the plastic. (More on this another time.)

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8) Our guest book will be a book featuring our engagement pictures with plenty of blank space for our guests to sign and leave little notes if they'd like. Just like with the unity sand ceremony, all of us bride bloggers are very familiar with this concept. But again, I don't think many of our guests will have seen or heard of such a thing and besides....I just plain love it! After the wedding, our "guest book" will have a prominent place on our coffee table and we'll enjoy it for years and years.

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9) All of our wedding music (ceremony and reception) will be done through iTunes on my MacBook! This is yet another thing we BB (bride bloggers) are familiar with. I love this idea because it's VERY budget friendly and we get to choose everything that will be played.

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10) We're seeing each other before the ceremony. Why? I for sure will be a nervous/anxious wreck and I'm sure Charles will be too. Seeing him will greatly help ease my anxiety. Plus, because we'll be seeing each other before the wedding we'll be able to get nearly all of our pictures taken before hand. That means no pressure on the photographers, my hair and makeup and overall appearance will look better, we won't leave our guests high and dry for an hour while we scramble to get pictures, etc.

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11) We're not doing favors. I just simply don't have the budget to give anything that I would consider worth giving.

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12) As mentioned in Save-the-Dates, I'm opting to e-mail our save-the-dates. Once again it comes down to the budget. When you're artsy and decent with graphic design, there is no cost involved at all to do this.

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After this list of tradition breaking, there are some traditions that we are keeping:

1) Cake cutting and toast.

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2) We're also choosing to go down the old fashioned route and have a receiving line. Why? We really want to make sure we see all our guests. After all, they took time out of their busy schedules to attend the wedding and lots will have traveled as well. And...I have a hidden agenda. lol I won't lie. What is it? Well as you know we're having an outdoor ceremony and reception. I'm only going to be renting one set of chairs. I really can't justify buying double the number of chairs so that there are chairs set up where the ceremony will be and then also where the reception will be. During the receiving line, I'm going to have close family members (aunts, uncles, cousins and anyone willing to help) move the chairs from the ceremony location to the tables under the tent. Why spend the money on two sets when after the ceremony that set would sit unused for the rest of the day!?

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3) I'm keeping the something old, new, borrowed, blue tradition. I have my something old and new but I'm still working on the blue and have no clue about the borrowed.

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That's all I can think of at the moment. What are your thoughts on all this? Are you breaking more traditions than you're keeping? How does your fiance feel about it?

In Favor of Favors....Not So Much

Who ever said you had to give your guests a favor? I don't think anyone ever did. In my opinion, I think the whole idea of "favors" was thought up by someone in the wedding industry with the hopes of making even more money off your "special day". Once again, in my opinion, allowing your guests to be part of the most special day of your life is enough of a gift. Why on earth do they need some cheap trinket only to leave it all together or throw it away later on? Why spend the money on an edible favor when it just gets eaten!? You're already feeding your guests a meal (at least of some sorts) and cake. I don't think anything else is needed.

I've been to weddings with and without favors. The weddings that had favors were edible favors. A nice touch but who really needs the added sugar, calories and fat? And unless you go with something really pricey, like handmade candies or cookies, to me edible favors say this "I was too cheap to get anything else and didn't want to put any thought into what I should give as favors." If you wouldn't have a use for the favor or wouldn't want the favor in your home what on earth makes you think your guests would?? Now, the weddings I've been to that didn't have favors...I never even noticed there weren't favors! So why oh why would you spend all that extra money?? Please see exhibits A and B:

Bad Favors (Source)

Good Favors (Source)

Are favors a nice touch? Absolutely. When a lot of thought is put into them and they are something that is useful and practical and you have the budget for them go for it!

However, on my shoe string budget I don't have the extra cash to be able to do favors. When you're talking about inviting 250 guests even a favor at a buck a piece is too much. Had I been able to splurge and do favors I would have. Want to know what I was thinking of giving? Personalized pens that were in our wedding colors with a message from us thanking our guests for celebrating with us. Yeah you read right, pens. Everyone always needs another pen. I know in my house when I need one I can't find one. Pens are so incredibly practical and I knew they would without a doubt be put to use! And if you do your research you can find them for less than $0.75 a piece! What a steal right? As much as I'd like to be able to carry out that idea there are lots of other things that money can go towards.

Oh and let me quickly address the issue of bubbles being considered favors. In my opinion, they are not favors. I will have bubbles for my guests to use while we "get away" (more on them later) but I do not consider them a favor. I bought them because that's what I wanted when it was time to leave for the honeymoon. And what use would my guests have for bubbles as "favors"? None. Unless they have little children, then they can be used for entertainment purposes. lol

So to sum all this up, I will not be having favors for my guests. I will have bubbles but they are not favors. :)

What's your take on favors? What about the always asked question about bubbles being the favor?