Image by Chris Barber Photography, from our engagement shoot in 2010.

How do you dream your wedding night to be? Tradition seems to dictate a little hanky panky after walking down the aisle in virginal white hehe!

But times change and is there as much importance on the wedding night anymore?

I think G and I would want to be at our wedding until the last second, enjoying the night with family and friends. Before dragging ourselves back to our honeymoon suite, or back home totally spent… or so i imagine :-)

Would you want to leave early to enjoy yourselves as a couple? Or will the reality be unlacing your dress and pulling a hundred pins from your hair before collapsing on your bed?

Are you planning on anything special for your wedding night, perhaps something romantic? Or are you jetting off somewhere tropical immediately?

I can imagine G and I doing something low key, perhaps some pretty undies, and possibly back home depending on childcare options. I wouldn’t want us to be under pressure to have a plan for that night, but perhaps to have spoken about where we want to be. All i know is that a cuddle and falling asleep beside my new husband would be the best thing ever, even if little A was in the next room at home.

I would love to hear how you plan your first night together married :-)

XOXO Lou

Morning WWWers, i have another forum thread for you today, this time from WWW regular and real bride Kelly. And she needs your help… with whether or not to have a dress code for her guests. We’d love your help, and of course feel free to chit chat and ask questions yourself. If you would like to start a thread on WWW please email me at lou@whimscalwonderlandweddings.com XOXO Lou

“Wedding guests should be appropriately dressed for a wedding. It is important to remember that weddings are usually quite a formal affair and people take the time to dress up and look their best.

Wedding etiquette dictates that dress codes are not included on a wedding invitation unless guests are required to adhere to an uncustomary code (such as black tie). Any unusual dress code should be explained in the extra information that goes out with the wedding invitations.

Traditionally, wedding dress attire for men is morning dress, or a suit with a shirt and tie.

Women should look elegant in a suit or dress – appropriate for the season and the weather – and may also wear a hat.

Appropriate shoes should be chosen if the wedding is outside or on grass.

Head-to-toe outfits in white or cream should never be worn and all black, unless cleverly accessorised, may look too sombre.

Hats are traditional, but by no means compulsory, at weddings. It is notoriously difficult to socially kiss while wearing a wide-brimmed hat. There is a knack to tilting the head at a suitable angle, but two ladies both in wide brimmed hats should avoid such an ‘intimate’ greeting.”

From the Debrett’s website

This is what the Debrett’s guide says regarding dress code etiquette. But at all weddings I have been to recently there has been at least one person dressed inappropriately. I mean tracksuit bottoms are not acceptable wedding attire in my mind!

I really want to re-iterate this point on our invites by requesting that people take the opportunity to dress to impress, we are going for quite a glam feel for our day and would love our guests to feel a part of it.

I have been met with quite a few opinions regarding this during the course of our planning, some saying it’s not at all appropriate and others who agree with me. My lovely groom doesn’t mind if I do it so happy days on that front.

What do you guys think? I need some help on this front. Please tell me if you disagree with me, would you include a dress code? Would you be offended if you received an invite with a dress code?

It’s not like I’m asking them to dress as Jungle animals or Star Wars characters is it?

Kelly

xXx

Image by Chris Barber Photography from our engagement shoot in 2010.

G and I did discuss our first dance with one another when we were planning our wedding.

G does not dance…. i have been known to drag him onto the dance floor and just about get him to slow dance with me ;-) hehe. Myself i have always been the first on the dance floor, ready for a boogie. Erm but not so much now, the nearest i get to a dance floor is in my front room twirling around little A hehe! My confidence is pretty low on the dance floor now.

Anyway i digress. The first dance, why do we actually do it? Generations before us went to balls and dances, and spun round on dance floors with their dance partners in their finery every weekend. Now apparently we bump and grind in sequined stilettos to a pumping baseline on a Friday night, which of course is totally fun ;-)

I do find it lovely that we cling to our past and our traditions, and its funny they stay with us through our weddings isn’t it? I am not sure i have featured many couples without a first dance. It is still an integral part of a wedding day it seems.

First things first you need a song, usually a meaningful one to you both. G and I have throughout our relationship said oh this is our song, or this could be our wedding song… heck G even does says it to me now if a song appeals to him… ahhhh. There seems a lot of pressure on the first dance track. Have you seen The Wedding Planner where wedding planner J-Lo skips past track after track of slow songs spouting that this one or that meant a couple wouldn’t go the distance? I know there is no truth in that, but i want something timeless and memorable, and perhaps easy to sway along to. That also perhaps won’t doom my future marriage ;-) The track could be a random one from your iPod or DJ but it will always mean something to you as it was your first dance. (more…)

↑ To stay or to part the night before? G and I on our engagement shoot. Image (c) Chris Barber Photography

So the night before your wedding… do you follow tradition and spend your evenings separately?

Seeing as the majority of couples now live together it seems a tradition that isn’t really necessary any more, or is it?

When G and I were planning our wedding, he wanted us to be separate the night before. Me with my anxiety issues, just wanted it to be like any other night, to feel more normal. But thinking about it, i guess spending the night before apart makes it feel more special, makes you excited to see your fiance at the end of the aisle. (more…)

 ↑ G + I in a rare PDA moment ;-) Image from our engagement shoot in 2010. (c) Chris Barber Photography

Have you seen The Wedding Singer? (major Adam Sandler fan here) Where Julia and her friend are discussing the wedding kiss… and she ends up practicing on Robbie?

Well for some reason that scene popped in my head last week, and made me think of G and I discussing the same issue when we were planning our wedding. And of course i thought…”hmmm i wonder how many WWW couples are talking about the same thing, wouldn’t it be great to open a little chit chat for them all?!”

Are you a couple who goes for PDAs (public displays of affection) or are you sat side by side with hands in laps in front of your parents?

Personally i think G and i are a little in between. I wouldn’t really dream of having more than a peck in front of people we know. But love to hold hands or have tender affection that is also PG. So how would we approach that wedding kiss. Well we didn’t quite get there in the end, but i don’t think we had a plan, more of a lets go with the flow. I think that’s how we’d approach it now too. (more…)