Letters from loved ones

I love a good letter. I love reading them and I love writing them. It’s like a good card. I always feel like they are worth the effort and they are something that I hold on to. I’m sentimental with that sort of thing and even started writing to my children even before they were born. I write them a letter at every birthday and have been putting them away to give to them when they are older.  I’m not sure what prompted me to start doing these things but it’s something that I would have loved to have had myself. Every birthday I sit and write them a letter about the year, the things they have done to make me laugh and that make me proud. A reminder to them that they can be themselves, and no matter what that looks like, they will be loved.

At my wedding I wrote a letter for my best friend, my bridesmaid. I gave my husband a card but didn’t know too much about weddings back then and in hindsight, could have written him a letter and had someone else read it out as part of our ceremony.

Recently, I have had a few people who have had guests who were unable to attend their ceremony. I mentioned that it might be a nice thing to do to have their loved ones write them a letter. They can have it read out, or not. I personally think it would be lovely to have it read by someone else before the couple read it themselves. Just be sure to have someone check the length of it and make sure there were no huge surprises in it!

You could ask them to include advice for your marriage, or well wishes for your future together. They could include memories of their weddings, memories of when you met as a couple or it could be as simple as just them choosing a poem, a blessing or if you are religious, a prayer.
I think that it is a wonderful way to include family that may be unable to travel to the wedding. Especially if they are very close to you. If your Grandparent has played a huge role in your life and is unable to travel, or if your best friend lives overseas and simply cannot afford to be at your wedding. It would be a lovely way to include them on your wedding day.

Thank you to Kirralee for the use of her images on this blog, check out more of her work here or find her facebook page by clicking here.

 

 

6 Creative ways to ask your attendants to be part of your wedding party

People are coming up with some amazing and very creative ways of asking their attendants to be a part of their wedding. I have seen so many wonderful ideas that I thought that I should share some of them with you.

1.  Personalised labels.

You can personalise a bottle of wine with your own label. Take the style of theirs, or your, favourite drink and make it your own. Friends of mine replaced the ‘brand’ label in a similar style to the original and made a huge statement. The bottles looked amazing and they kept all the fonts and the layout the same as the original. You could make chocolate bar wrappers too or put labels around a soap or perfume bottle. This, like so many things, can reflect your tastes or reflect some of the favorite things that your bridal party may love.

2. Creative Crossword.
This can be a bit of fun, and could be a great laugh if you planned to ask your girls over a lunch or some cheeky wines. You could make them up yourself or can go online and find a crossword generator to do the work for you.

3. Jewellery.
There are so many great little jewellery pieces that can be ordered online or visit Pinterest to get a heap of ideas about what you can do with jewellery. You could use jewellery that you want them to wear on the day or just a small little necklace that they could wear everyday. You could use pop rings and ‘pop the question’ to your bridal party.

4. Funky poem all wrapped up.
I’ve seen some really great ideas with a little poem and bits of lego, nail polish, cakes. The ideas are endless. If you are stuck all you have to do is a quick google search and you  have hundreds of examples at your fingertips.

5. A puzzle.
This could be anything from a puzzle that you order on line, decorate yourself or you could send them on a clue hunt type adventure.

6. A memory scrapbook or memory box.
If you are a particularly sentimental person, or if someone has been your friend for a long time, this is a thoughtful way that you could ask your attendants to be part of your wedding. With photos and personal jokes, you could make it funny or heartfelt. It would be something that they could keep for years to come too.

There are so many ways you can be creative with this and just yet another way that you can reflect your own personality and even tie it into the themes that you have for your wedding. With so many ideas online there’s so much inspiration to make this special moment just the way that you want it to be.

All images from Pintrest

Not having a funeral

 

My Nan passed away recently and decided that she didn’t want to have a funeral. I can understand this to a point. I assume she didn’t want people spending money and she didn’t want a fuss.

We still had a family gathering, we still shared our memories and we still looked at photos of her throughout the years. We spoke about things we remembered and my Pa asked my cousin to sing ‘I Will Always Love You’ (Whitney Houston/Dolly Parton). I had prepared a little something to say. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be anything said and the celebrant part of me would have been really upset if others spoke and I hadn’t written something for the occasion.

It got me thinking and, I think more than I did before, that the funeral isn’t so much for the person that has died. Yes it is ABOUT them, but it isn’t FOR them. It is for the people left behind, heart broken, lost and grieving. It is about having a time and place to come together and to talk about this wonderful person that was a big or little part of our lives.

For me it is a time to reflect on the life that they had and the wonderful things that they did. The last few family members that passed away I have conducted the ceremony, so for me it’s very different than attending a funeral. I think that it is a really valuable time to even learn something about the person that you didn’t already know, even people that you have known all of your life. Other people can share stories and their memories and that way you can always learn something about people.

I’ve also blogged about planning your own funeral in the past and raised some questions about the details of your funeral and is that something that you would think about. Would you choose songs? Poems to be read?

Do you think it is part of the grieving process and seeing what they meant to other people helps with realising that they will not be forgotten? Every time I go to a funeral people always say how lovely it is to see people that they haven’t seen for years and that they wish it was under happier circumstances. I got to see cousins that I haven’t seen for around 20 years and cousins that I see every couple of years. I loved that part of it. It’s not the happiest of occasions but these are the people that see you at your worst. There was a lady who was there and I recognised her the instant that she walked in the door although I hadn’t seen her since I was a small child. It was one of my aunties oldest friends.  I think a funeral teaches us a lot about family, and friendships and love.

What do you think? Do you think it is important to have a funeral? Or don’t think that it matters if you have one or not?

 

Poem to a Parent

I recently conducted a wedding where the Bride had a wonderful idea (read the blog about it here). She had me read a poem to her Dad once he had walked her down the aisle. Before he sat down, a poem was read that thanked him for all he had done for and all he had taught his daughter, it was a beautiful and touching moment. There were quite a few tears shed already so early in the ceremony. A very proud moment for her Dad and a lovely way to say some things to your Dad, publicly.

This got me thinking about all of the people that you could do this for. I don’t mean have 7 or 8 people that you read letters out to, if there are that many people that need a special thank you, it is better if you do this in a different way. However, if there are people in your life that have done really wonderful things for you it can be a lovely thing to do in your ceremony. For example if your Grandmother had raised you, it could be an opportune time to say a few lovely words to let her know that it has shaped you into the person that you are.

It could also be a really touching way to say something about someone that has passed away. (I have blogged about this before, this can be an emotional and touchy subject). It could be a great way to say something about a very important person in your life that is no longer around to share your day with you.

You can also do this without it being public. What a nice thing to do to write a poem or just a heartfelt letter to someone special on your day, thank your Parents or maybe thank your Mother and Father in law for making your partner the person that you love so much.  You could also print something in your order of service booklets if you are having them, so that you can say some things but don’t really have to say it out loud. Especially if you think that there may be too much emotion involved.

Do you have any other original ideas of ways to thank people that are very special to you on your wedding day?

A big Thank-you to Love Journal Photography for the use of their photos on this weeks blog. Check them out on facebook or head on over to their website to see what they have been working on.