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Tradition in outdoor ceremony

almansfialmansfi member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Outdoor Weddings
So my fiancé and I have just started planning for our August 2014 wedding. We have discussed lots and we have both agreed that it will be a traditional Christian ceremony with the vows, short sermon/message, families on respective sides, and the dress kept secret. We felt a strong pull to have an outdoor ceremony with beautiful gardens. With regards to the secret of the dress I am fine with, but I am having difficulties figuring out how to remain a secret until I actually walk down the aisle. The park we've chosen is pretty open and would be hard to not show while I'm getting to the site (walking down the pathway to the site).

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions for how I might be able to achieve this? I would love to see the expression myself of the big unveiling at the site but I feel it would detract from the surprise if he could see me coming already.

Thank you.
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Re: Tradition in outdoor ceremony

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    bunni727bunni727 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    edited May 2013
    We got married in a park, so I had a tent set up that I could hide in until my walk down the aisle. It was just a regular tailgating tent, with thrifted sheets and curtains for the sides.

     I've seen cute pictures on pinterest of having doors at the beginning of the aisle, but those seem like more trouble than they are worth.
     
    Fun fact: Not seeing the bride before the wedding has very little (or nothing, actually) to do with Christianity. It originates from the time of arranged marriages, and was to keep the groom in the dark about the bride's looks until it was too late to back out.

    ETA: Here's my tent:

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    loganandmaraloganandmara
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    I'm also getting married in a place where he's definitely going to see me coming. Some options I considered were the tent thing (set one up and "hide" in it), the having-him-turned-around-until-I'm-at-the-aisle thing, and where I'm getting married there's the option of hiring one of those horse drawn carriages to play it up. Try visiting your venue to get the creativity flowing and don't rule anything out. You have a long time to figure this out!!

    Ultimately, I decided to not mess with or worry about it. We're not going to see each other the day of, and I'm going to try to walk up the path where he'll see me the least amount of time before I get to the aisle. But we decided that "he sees me when he sees me". I'm going to have Canon in D start before I know he'll be able to see me (will practice at rehearsal) so that it kind of makes it part of the walk down the aisle. It's tricky to follow tradition when you're doing the outdoors thing. Good luck to you!!
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    suzyk723suzyk723 member
    5 Love Its First Answer First Comment
    You could walk up with an umbrella to shield a lot of the dress.
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    TiaTeaTiaTea member
    First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited May 2013
    Can anybody clarify that, plese?

    Isn't the veil what makes the bride "hidden"? That's why she walks down the isle with the veil down.
    When she is getting dressed, he shouldn't  see her, but once she is ready, with the veil down, it's fine.
    They get married , the veil is up, and he can see her.

    There are so many versions : he can't see the bride, he can't see the dress, he can see the bride AND the dress, but not the bride IN the dress, either , neither...
    What is the most popular these days?

    EDIT: Sorry, it's not an answer to almansfi question, only in regards to it. I wish I knew how to move it to another section.
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    bunni727bunni727 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    @TiaTea, it's my understanding that he could not see the bride before the ceremony in general, regardless of her attire. The veil was to prolong his inability to see her face clearly for as long as possible.

    "Wedding Dresses" are a relatively modern thing, stemming from around the time of Queen Victoria's wedding. Before that, most brides wore their nicest dress, as it wasn't practical to own a one-use garment, so it's very likely that people, even the groom, may have seen her in her dress before the wedding.

    Over time the tradition has evolved more to heighten anticipation of the brides entrance, rather than keep the groom from bolting. I'm not sure there is a most popular version these days; some couples get ready together, some help pick out each other's attire. Some brides like the feeling of a big reveal, so no one sees her dress before. Some don't care so much. Some couples like the idea of the church doors swinging open and the bride magically appears; that's hard to accomplish outdoors, so we have to get creative.
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    cowgirl8238cowgirl8238 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer

    Another option I have seen is to put up doors in a door frame at the top end of your aisle, this way you could try to stay in line with them as long as possible and then open the doors at the moment you are ready to reveal yourself to hima dn everyone else in waiting. 

    image

    Depending on your budget and location you could definitely find a way to pull it off, if it is that much of a concern for you!

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment

    Having two people hold up a king size bed sheet and walk either in front or side of you while you go down the path?

     

    I was just at an outdoor wedding last weekend where they did a very long processional. Basically it started from the time the groom would be able to see the bride. The "parade" was lead by a bag piper, then all the flower girls & ring barrier (escorted by their parents) and then the bride and her father. It was beautiful, a little long but beautiful (for the record it would have been shorter but they had to re-route their path due to flooding of the path they were originally going to walk from heavy rains overnight)

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