Christy and Rich found a beautiful song for Christy's walk down the aisle last week, aptly titled: WALKING DOWN THE AISLE by Claire's Ceol. It is available on iTunes and Amazon for download.
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of OVER THE RAINBOW/WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD is another favorite.
MARRY YOU by Bruno Mars was a very fun entrance song.
The most unusual entrance music I remember is a football fanatic couple who used the MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL theme for the bride to walk her aisle.
Exiting besides the unknown to me mariachi band that startled the heck out of me one event when I pronounced and they pounced, was a couple in the 50s marrying and exiting to Darlene Love's TODAY I MET THE BOY I'M GONNA MARRY.
First dance with Dad, nothing can beat Heartland I LOVED HER FIRST.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Sunday, August 26, 2012
At last! THE HONEYMOON
The purpose of a honeymoon is to relax after the build up, excitement and pressure of the wedding.
Relax can take many forms from simply a quiet evening or two at a local hotel to a several weeks long, very exotic South Pacific island.
Vicki and I married in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. When we walked down the aisle, we later worked out that we had spent a grand total of five days together prior to saying 'I Do'. So our honeymoon was really about getting to know each other.
Actually, by the time we got to our honeymoon beachside spot on Kauai, Hawaii, we were barely speaking to each other. We had left Melbourne Sunday mid day on the day after our wedding and arrived in Honolulu after the ten hour flight. I breezed through customs and in that era there was only a red line tape on the floor which separated the newly arrived from those going through the foreign visitors line, where my new wife was positioned.
So I was within ear range when the officer said, 'And how long will you be visiting?' She responded. 'For life, I married one of you yesterday.' Wrong answer. What we later found out she was supposed to say was just for a couple of weeks. (The plan was to complete formalities once she was IN the US.) It was a simpler time and return tickets were not required, customs just relied on the answers from the newly arrived, especially from Australia. So instead of being welcomed, we were sent to the penalty box to face a field officer, a beautiful Hawaiian lady who sat in judgement in a booth looking down at us, all the better to intimidate I guess. She held Vicki's Australian passport, looked me squarely in the eye and ask if this marriage was something I really wanted to happen. She suggested she could just put Vicki on the next flight back to Australia and none of the events would be recorded.
Surprised I said of course I wanted to marry her. We just didn't understand the paperwork.** Some days or maybe it was weeks later we finally laughed that she must have thought I married this lady from some distant land in a drunken evening.
The Customs Officer suggested we needed to be in Los Angeles by the following Wednesday for a court hearing before a judge. I pleaded we were here for our Honeymoon. After further discussion, the Officer relented, winked at me and with a warm Aloha, she packed up our folder and placed it on a shelf, saying, "I suppose I could lose your paperwork for a week. Appear in ten days."
Vicki was released to 'my custody', no passport and off we went for a week at the beachside cottage. On arrival, she went to the beach and I went to the pool and after several hours of alone time and rest, we showered and dressed for drinks and dinner and began our Honeymoon.
The idea of a honeymoon actually can be traced to the Bible: Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.”
Wow those were the days.
The term "honeymoon" originally referred to the days just after the wedding when things were at their sweetest.
The custom of newly married couples going on a trip together dates back to the early 19th century when the Indian elite would take a 'bridal tour' accompanied by family and friends for the purpose of visiting relatives that could not attend the wedding. The practice soon spread to Europe and then America. In the last century, it was very common for couples to change from their wedding attire during the reception and leave to a fond farewell from their guests to begin their trip. Nowadays, it is most common for couples to plan a trip for a day or two after the wedding so that they can enjoy a wedding weekend visiting family and friends.
In today's world, anyone traveling by air and/or out of the country, remember to reserve all travel under your original names. Passports and name changing won't happen for months, so to keep all documents matching, use original names.
**Just a note. We have spent thousands of dollars in legal and administrative fees obtaining 'green cards' on two different occasions as we have moved back and forth to Australia. All of us in the family now carry Australian and US passports. Marrying an overseas citizen also now requires months of paperwork to be completed PRIOR to a wedding for a spouse to remain in the US legally.
Relax can take many forms from simply a quiet evening or two at a local hotel to a several weeks long, very exotic South Pacific island.
Vicki and I married in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. When we walked down the aisle, we later worked out that we had spent a grand total of five days together prior to saying 'I Do'. So our honeymoon was really about getting to know each other.
Actually, by the time we got to our honeymoon beachside spot on Kauai, Hawaii, we were barely speaking to each other. We had left Melbourne Sunday mid day on the day after our wedding and arrived in Honolulu after the ten hour flight. I breezed through customs and in that era there was only a red line tape on the floor which separated the newly arrived from those going through the foreign visitors line, where my new wife was positioned.
So I was within ear range when the officer said, 'And how long will you be visiting?' She responded. 'For life, I married one of you yesterday.' Wrong answer. What we later found out she was supposed to say was just for a couple of weeks. (The plan was to complete formalities once she was IN the US.) It was a simpler time and return tickets were not required, customs just relied on the answers from the newly arrived, especially from Australia. So instead of being welcomed, we were sent to the penalty box to face a field officer, a beautiful Hawaiian lady who sat in judgement in a booth looking down at us, all the better to intimidate I guess. She held Vicki's Australian passport, looked me squarely in the eye and ask if this marriage was something I really wanted to happen. She suggested she could just put Vicki on the next flight back to Australia and none of the events would be recorded.
Surprised I said of course I wanted to marry her. We just didn't understand the paperwork.** Some days or maybe it was weeks later we finally laughed that she must have thought I married this lady from some distant land in a drunken evening.
The Customs Officer suggested we needed to be in Los Angeles by the following Wednesday for a court hearing before a judge. I pleaded we were here for our Honeymoon. After further discussion, the Officer relented, winked at me and with a warm Aloha, she packed up our folder and placed it on a shelf, saying, "I suppose I could lose your paperwork for a week. Appear in ten days."
Vicki was released to 'my custody', no passport and off we went for a week at the beachside cottage. On arrival, she went to the beach and I went to the pool and after several hours of alone time and rest, we showered and dressed for drinks and dinner and began our Honeymoon.
The idea of a honeymoon actually can be traced to the Bible: Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.”
Wow those were the days.
The term "honeymoon" originally referred to the days just after the wedding when things were at their sweetest.
The custom of newly married couples going on a trip together dates back to the early 19th century when the Indian elite would take a 'bridal tour' accompanied by family and friends for the purpose of visiting relatives that could not attend the wedding. The practice soon spread to Europe and then America. In the last century, it was very common for couples to change from their wedding attire during the reception and leave to a fond farewell from their guests to begin their trip. Nowadays, it is most common for couples to plan a trip for a day or two after the wedding so that they can enjoy a wedding weekend visiting family and friends.
In today's world, anyone traveling by air and/or out of the country, remember to reserve all travel under your original names. Passports and name changing won't happen for months, so to keep all documents matching, use original names.
**Just a note. We have spent thousands of dollars in legal and administrative fees obtaining 'green cards' on two different occasions as we have moved back and forth to Australia. All of us in the family now carry Australian and US passports. Marrying an overseas citizen also now requires months of paperwork to be completed PRIOR to a wedding for a spouse to remain in the US legally.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Flash and Dash--The Engagement Ring
While I am thinking about it, let's talk about that beautiful piece of jewelry many brides receive, the engagement ring.
By the time I meet most couples, if there is going to be an engagement ring, it is already glistening on that third finger of the left hand.
And rightly so, brides are proud of the ring for its beauty but mostly because of the person who presented the ring.
HOWEVER, come wedding day, that engagement ring takes second place to the wedding band. So what do you do with your precious gift? Simply move the engagement ring to your right hand. The wedding band is placed on your third finger left hand during the ceremony (closest to your heart) and then the engagement ring is returned to the left hand when the ceremony is concluded.
Current thinking certainly does not insist that an engagement ring even be worn.
However, most couples do think that the engagement is not complete until a ring has been given.
Part of my discussions with couples include how they got engaged. Many choose a birthday or the anniversary of first meeting and Christmas is the biggie. I enjoy January and February as my phone rings constantly with newly engaged couples.
Where to get engaged?
Of course we all see the dramatic ones on You Tube. However, the most creative I heard was from two reps for different companies that served Wal Mart. He was the Pepsi man. She had another highly visible product that was to be aisle featured that week. The Pepsi man arrives at 4am and sets up a wall of Pepsi cases and used Diet Pepsi cases to insert Will You Marry Me Cassie? At 6:30am, the Wal Mart manager calls the bride to be and suggests she needed to get herself to the store immediately as the promised stock for the giant promotion she had organized had not arrived and he was not happy. Being a significant part of her income, the bride jumped out of bed and rushed to the store to find the giant Pepsi wall greeting and her groom on bended knee.
Restaurants are also popular but don't be like one hapless groom that organized the ring and his bride with a surprise visit back to the restaurant where they first met in a nearby city. What he hadn't noticed along life's way is that the restaurant was destroyed in a fire two weeks previously, so he got down on knee and proposed alongside the ashes and they have a great story to tell.
It is also generally accepted that the groom-to-be purchase the engagement ring as a gift for the bride. Most times a diamond is chosen, but again not a rule that it must be diamond.
If an engagement ring is to be given, simply please yourself and the bank manager. As I stated, the engagement ring purchase is usually the responsibility of the groom, however with the cost of rings today, sometimes the bride and groom purchase the rings jointly. I strongly encourage couples not to buy a ring on finance terms, credit cards or other plans that will increase the cost of the ring exponentially. Don't start your life together with debt. Buy what you can comfortably afford, keep savings in your account if possible, life is full of surprises. As you progress through the marriage journey and circumstances permit, surprise the bride/wife with an upgraded ring.
Sometimes family heirlooms are passed along to a bride to be as well. Again, I would rather those heirlooms be kept in a vault until life settles into a pattern. We all head into marriage with great expectations, but statistics do tell us that some things are not forever. Think about presenting the heirloom at an anniversary or birth of a child. My wife was given my Mother's engagement ring by my Mother after we were married 15 years and it is a treasure.
The bride to be covers the purchase of the groom's wedding band.
Did you know?
Engagement rings date back to ancient times when marriages were by purchase. Gold rings were used as currency so giving a ring to a lady was a partial payment for her and a symbol of intentions. Today, it is a gift to announce to one and all the intentions of the couple.
Did you know part two?
The engagement ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand again because of ancient lore. It was believed that this finger was the only finger with a vein leading directly to the heart, thus assuring a long and happy life.
The original engagement ring I gave my wife, the gifted ring from my Mother and a ring we bought together as an upgrade as celebration of 25 years together will all journey with a group of treasured friends on a Fall cruise to celebrate our October 30th anniversary.
By the time I meet most couples, if there is going to be an engagement ring, it is already glistening on that third finger of the left hand.
And rightly so, brides are proud of the ring for its beauty but mostly because of the person who presented the ring.
HOWEVER, come wedding day, that engagement ring takes second place to the wedding band. So what do you do with your precious gift? Simply move the engagement ring to your right hand. The wedding band is placed on your third finger left hand during the ceremony (closest to your heart) and then the engagement ring is returned to the left hand when the ceremony is concluded.
Current thinking certainly does not insist that an engagement ring even be worn.
However, most couples do think that the engagement is not complete until a ring has been given.
Part of my discussions with couples include how they got engaged. Many choose a birthday or the anniversary of first meeting and Christmas is the biggie. I enjoy January and February as my phone rings constantly with newly engaged couples.
Where to get engaged?
Of course we all see the dramatic ones on You Tube. However, the most creative I heard was from two reps for different companies that served Wal Mart. He was the Pepsi man. She had another highly visible product that was to be aisle featured that week. The Pepsi man arrives at 4am and sets up a wall of Pepsi cases and used Diet Pepsi cases to insert Will You Marry Me Cassie? At 6:30am, the Wal Mart manager calls the bride to be and suggests she needed to get herself to the store immediately as the promised stock for the giant promotion she had organized had not arrived and he was not happy. Being a significant part of her income, the bride jumped out of bed and rushed to the store to find the giant Pepsi wall greeting and her groom on bended knee.
Restaurants are also popular but don't be like one hapless groom that organized the ring and his bride with a surprise visit back to the restaurant where they first met in a nearby city. What he hadn't noticed along life's way is that the restaurant was destroyed in a fire two weeks previously, so he got down on knee and proposed alongside the ashes and they have a great story to tell.
It is also generally accepted that the groom-to-be purchase the engagement ring as a gift for the bride. Most times a diamond is chosen, but again not a rule that it must be diamond.
If an engagement ring is to be given, simply please yourself and the bank manager. As I stated, the engagement ring purchase is usually the responsibility of the groom, however with the cost of rings today, sometimes the bride and groom purchase the rings jointly. I strongly encourage couples not to buy a ring on finance terms, credit cards or other plans that will increase the cost of the ring exponentially. Don't start your life together with debt. Buy what you can comfortably afford, keep savings in your account if possible, life is full of surprises. As you progress through the marriage journey and circumstances permit, surprise the bride/wife with an upgraded ring.
Sometimes family heirlooms are passed along to a bride to be as well. Again, I would rather those heirlooms be kept in a vault until life settles into a pattern. We all head into marriage with great expectations, but statistics do tell us that some things are not forever. Think about presenting the heirloom at an anniversary or birth of a child. My wife was given my Mother's engagement ring by my Mother after we were married 15 years and it is a treasure.
The bride to be covers the purchase of the groom's wedding band.
Did you know?
Engagement rings date back to ancient times when marriages were by purchase. Gold rings were used as currency so giving a ring to a lady was a partial payment for her and a symbol of intentions. Today, it is a gift to announce to one and all the intentions of the couple.
Did you know part two?
The engagement ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand again because of ancient lore. It was believed that this finger was the only finger with a vein leading directly to the heart, thus assuring a long and happy life.
The original engagement ring I gave my wife, the gifted ring from my Mother and a ring we bought together as an upgrade as celebration of 25 years together will all journey with a group of treasured friends on a Fall cruise to celebrate our October 30th anniversary.
Holiday wedding with love letter cerremony
It's hot in the desert in August, think 115...but it's dry heat. Mostly, but hot is hot. However, the Fall brides begin to emerge to finalize plans.
Last night I met Christy and Rich for a New Year wedding to be held in Rancho Mirage in the beautiful home garden of Christy's Mom and Dad. As it will be held first weekend of the new year, the holiday theme will be continued and the couple is very excited as we worked through ideas, including creating their own 'time capsule' with a love letter they will write to each other prior to the marriage and sealed in a beautiful box which also contains a bottle of treasured wine and two glasses as well. We agreed they would open up the box in five years and share the letters and the bottle of wine.
Last night I met Christy and Rich for a New Year wedding to be held in Rancho Mirage in the beautiful home garden of Christy's Mom and Dad. As it will be held first weekend of the new year, the holiday theme will be continued and the couple is very excited as we worked through ideas, including creating their own 'time capsule' with a love letter they will write to each other prior to the marriage and sealed in a beautiful box which also contains a bottle of treasured wine and two glasses as well. We agreed they would open up the box in five years and share the letters and the bottle of wine.
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