If you and your spouse come from different backgrounds, blending customs to create a ceremony that truly reflects you as a couple can be great fun. Traditions are passed on because they work, so look for inspiration to add a special touch to your wedding.
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- Living Greenery. Ever since Catherine Middleton lined the aisle at Westminster Abbey with potted trees rather than flowers, there has been a trend for living plants at weddings, rather than cut flower bouquets. In Germany, this tradition is even older, with trees planted when a girl is born that are then sold once a wedding day is set as a kind of living dowry. It’s simple and affordable to incorporate living plants into your wedding table decorations. Look for decorative plant pots and moss when buying wedding decorations online and plant bulbs that will be in bloom on your wedding day.
- Log Sawing. We’re not sure what happened to the Royal aisle trees, but if Kate had been German, there’s a fair chance they’d have been used after the ceremony for a bit of sawing. In order to symbolise the hard work and unity required for a successful marriage, German brides and grooms are expected to saw a log in half using a two-man saw. Sounds like a great way to work off rich wedding food!
- Releasing Doves. From sparrows at Czech hen dos to wild ducks and geese as gifts for Korean mothers-in-law, birds often feature in weddings. Doves are thought to be monogamous, returning to mate with their partner each season. Their long association with peace also makes them fitting for weddings, and it is possible to hire doves to release at the end of the ceremony, a traditional element of weddings in The Philippines.
- Flower garlands. From Hawaii to Pakistan, garlands of flowers worn around the necks of brides and grooms are a stunning feature of many weddings. Once the ceremony is over, they can be used as wedding reception decorations or a wedding centrepiece and pressed or dried to preserve.
- Money Dancing. Overspent on the wedding and facing a penny-pinching start to matrimony? Never fear, simply adopt the tradition of the money dance at your wedding. In many parts of the world, guests either pay in cash for a dance with the bride or pin money to her dress at the end of the night. The funds gathered are usually used to pay for the honeymoon.
- A unity bowl is a fantastic tradition to adopt for an outdoor wedding. Guests hold stones throughout the ceremony and then place them in a carved wooden bowl on display at the reception. The married couple then takes the bowl home to remind them of the good wishes and support of their wedding guests.
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