Special Touches

surfangel26

Hi ladies,
Are there any special touches you are adding to your big day to make others feel acknowledged and loved? I have heard of a rose ceremony for the mothers and a moment of silence for deceased relatives but I want to incorporate as many other small touches as possible to make others feel special too!
Thanks!

Ella and Pedro

We have several:

1. We're having a musical interlude of Asokan's Farewell (a waltz written by American folk musician Jay Ungar) along with a brief mention of departed loved ones (rather than a moment of silence, a moment of somber, peaceful, beautiful music)

2. We're having each of our mothers do a reading.  My family is part Native American, so my mother's reading is a nod to her heritage because it's The Apache Wedding Blessing.  My fiance's mother is reading a Pablo Neruda poem (no heritage connection, just a poem we felt resonated well)

3. My fiance is half African-American, so we're having a Jumping of the Broom at the end of the ceremony as part of our introduction.

4. I'm also part German and part Irish, and my fiance's other 'half' of his heritage is Irish/Scots, so our other pieces of music are either American, or German (Bach, Beethoven) or Scottish or Irish (Celtic/Gaelic folk music)

5. We're using diamonds passed down from my fiance's stepmother for my engagement ring, and we've said so on our wedding website, as well as thanking her

6. We're having my fiance and her long-time live-in life partner girlfriend as two of our four attendants, and they're walking down the aisle together, therefore acknowledging their relationship and listing them both as his 'sister' in our program

7. We're also having as attendants my sister and bro-in-law, same deal as above

8. We're naming our reception tables after various beaches or seashores around the world, and we're being thoughtful when possible as to who sits where.  Example - one of my fiance's cousins is married to a woman from Brazil, so they'll sit at a table with a beach in Brazil on the sign

9. We're not doing mother-son, or father-daughter first dances, because we have stepmothers, stepfathers, it could be a long complex series of dances and it's just not something we want....but we're having my dad who is a woodworker by hobby make a very special card box, next to which we'll have a sign explaining the person who made it, what kind of wood, how it was made etc....

10. We have not figured out yet how to especially honor fiance's dad, who is a WONDERFUL man and definitely needs a special something.  I was thinking of asking if he would honor me with a special token from his mother as my 'something old' i.e. a brooch or earrings, but fiance will likely also want to do something

11. We're going to send 'thank you' cards with a front picture of our ENTIRE family - not just the two of us - this is being taken at the wedding immediately after the ceremony and something we think most every guest will really cherish

12. We're not sure what we're doing for favors yet, one idea is hyacinth flower bulbs, another idea is candles shaped like starfish and seashells as well as ocean-scented aroma-beads, yet another is French macarons...I was toying with the idea of including a survey on our website (playful) - to see what people would actually most like to have

I hope the above ideas help?  Good luck!

AdeleDazeem

We married the Thursday before Mother's Day (destination wedding).

I pre-ordered flower bouquets to be placed in the rooms of our parents before they arrived with notes saying that we didn't want their day to be overshadowed or forgotten due to ours.

My grandmother was also unable to attend our wedding, so we sent her a bouquet of white tulips (our wedding flower) that was delivered the day of our wedding.  The card said we were thinking of her and that she had the same flowers were holding that day.

That was really it.  We didn't plan our ceremony - we just followed the official Bermuda ceremony.

renegade gaucho

My MIL loves "The Sound of Music", so as a surprise we had our brass quintet play the theme song as she walked down the aisle.

I was going to divide my bouquet into two smaller bouquets and give one to each of our surviving grandmothers after the ceremony, but then my grandma decided to be an a$$hole so I nixed the idea.  If your grandma is a decent human being, it might work for you!

monkeysip

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_special-touches?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:1e4535aa-7e0d-425e-9d49-4fa02d87ac72Post:467eac84-ccdc-46ff-bd1a-ae246f498feb">Re: Special Touches</a>:
[QUOTE]We married the Thursday before Mother's Day (destination wedding). I pre-ordered flower bouquets to be placed in the rooms of our parents before they arrived with notes saying that we didn't want their day to be overshadowed or forgotten due to ours. <strong>My grandmother was also unable to attend our wedding, so we sent her a bouquet of white tulips (our wedding flower) that was delivered the day of our wedding.  The card said we were thinking of her and that she had the same flowers were holding that day. </strong>That was really it.  We didn't plan our ceremony - we just followed the official Bermuda ceremony.
Posted by Joy2611[/QUOTE]

That's a great idea.  My grandparents won't be able to make it either, so it would be nice to do something special like that for them.

Andama08

At the reception we plan to do a large family dance. My FI wants us all to learn all of the moves to Thriller even though i want to do something more original. My FI's parents are divorced so it'll be his mom/stepdad, dad/stepmom, siblings, half siblings and step siblings. I think it'll be a fun way for us all to feel like one giant family.

harper0813

Our wedding is being held on my parents' 39th wedding anniversary, which is ALSO my mom's birthday. I'm having the band play "Hey Jude", my mom's very (and only) favorite song, as a surprise.

Because our wedding is on my parents' anniversary, we're celebrating all of our parents' and grandparents' weddings. We're printing photos and hanging them from balloons - we'll be filling a small room full of balloons with various photos.

My dad gave my mom a brass "engagement locket" in lieu of a ring, and it has their pictures inside. She never wears it. They're giving it to me to wear around my wrist at the wedding.

And we're feeding our guests well and providing them much entertainment!

hutchsl

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_special-touches?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:36Discussion:1e4535aa-7e0d-425e-9d49-4fa02d87ac72Post:467eac84-ccdc-46ff-bd1a-ae246f498feb">Re: Special Touches</a>:
[QUOTE].... My grandmother was also unable to attend our wedding, so we sent her a bouquet of white tulips (our wedding flower) that was delivered the day of our wedding.  The card said we were thinking of her and that she had the same flowers were holding that day. .
Posted by Joy2611[/QUOTE]

Wish I had thought of this. I was an older bride. My mom could not make the trip to our wedding. At 85 she doesnt travel any more.

Both of our fathers have passed away. I personnaly do not like explicit acknowledgement of those that have passed as this is a day of a new beginning - a happy occassion. I do believe in honoring our parents though. So we had wedding pictires of our parents on display at the guest book table. We are fortunate our parents remained married until our fathers passed. It was interesting to see the differnce in pictures - my parents married in 1947 and his in 1960.

We did the candle ceremony. His mother lit one candle and my sister lit the other since she was the only sibling that made it to my wedding.

Our wedding was at DHs uncles restaurant which we acknowledged on our wedding website as to why we were getting married 4 hrs from where we live.