In the pursuit of creating a positive memory that will last the test of time and help build a relationship that will never falter, many people have jumped on board wedding day traditions submersed in mysticism. If you had a magic wand and wanted to make sure your future destiny was wrapped tight in positive energy to ensure a life long happy marriage, then I am sure you have heard the saying

“Something old, Something new, something borrowed, something blue, a sixpence in her shoe”

Do you know where it came from? or are you just partaking in the tradition that was either pass down to you from family, or told to you through friendship?

Although some might say the last portion is the one they have not heard of, I will explain the tradition in depth to give you a greater insight to both its history and hidden meanings.

Wedding History

Back in the middle ages it was customary to offer a talisman (good luck charm) to those individuals or couples entering a right of passage.  It was thought that during those times the evil spirits were hard at play trying to wreak havoc on them.  In order to help those people on their journey through their passage these good luck charms would ward off anything that was negative to keep them and their families out from harms way.

A wedding was a right of passage that was believed to hold the most energy as two lives where being united and with those two lives came the history and generations from both sides. Opening the door to the possibilities of things going wrong, the first custom was put into play to combat the evil spirits that wanted to curse your new happy union. By giving a bride “Something old” she is thought to be inline with family traditions and that will help protect her since she will not be open to let evil in by following the wrong path. Having “Something new“, was just an addition to something old ensuring the future ahead was filled with prosperity. It was also believed that obtaining “Something Borrowed” from a family member whose marriage was filled with happiness, those outcomes would be bestowed upon you. With “Something Blue“, its been thought to be the barer of purity, love, and fidelity as the Virgin Mary has been dressed with it.  The last portion of this wedding phrase is “a sixpence in her shoe“, here is what a sixpence looks like-

It was customary for the father of the bride to offer her a piece of silver as his token of good luck to ensure his daughters safe passage and to give her continued protection against all that is evil.

In the early 1200’s Norway tried to invade Scotland, but its believed that one of their soldiers who was walking barefoot stepped on an area covered with thistle. Shouting in pain the soldier gave away the sneaky attack and therefore the plot to take control of Scotland was derailed.  The thistle became the symbol of faith and the defender of it, so in 1470 they started to place them on the backs of the coins.

These coins over a period of time became items that were also given in the dowry from the brides family to the groom.  Today some of these coins can be found making their way down from generation to generation in keeping with tradition. These coins served as two forms of protection, the silver was thought to be the most effective item to ward off evil spirits and with the thistle foiling the plans of a major attack the two combined create a powerful and effective means to keep anyone safe from the harms of evil.

What are some of your traditions?

“Something old, something new, someones’ treasures just for you”
“You may now kiss…Your items goodbye”

“Gender Blenders, Jack and Jills, Coed Bachelor-Bachelorette Parties”

Call them what you want, but including both the bride and groom in the last night of devilish behavior before settling down is becoming more popular than ever.

Introductory Coed Bachelor-Bachelorette Party Assumptions:

• Brides: You may not be able to hit up the Chicago Gentlemen Bachelorette show and drool over The Long Dong Ranger’s 6-pack, or throw a passion party and walk the isles of an adult Toys are us in a friends home.
• Grooms: You may not be able to get a lap dance from Destiny and Candy into the early hours of the morning while drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels, no matter how many singles you have, or end up in Vegas with an unknown baby and Mike Tyson’s tiger(alright, so I stole that from The Hangover)

Alright, so you’ve always wanted to meet The Long Dong Ranger, or that poster above your bed is signed “Candy with love”, but if both parties can get by missing out on these portions of their Bachelor/Bachelorette parties and want to give this hot new trend a chance, Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette parties wont let you down.

Moving past what you won’t get out of a Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette party, lets start by showcasing a couple of reasons why so many people are choosing to partake in this exciting idea.

The pro’s of a Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette party:

• Both parties can keep an eye on each other.
• No worrying for the rest of the marriage whether someone cheated or second-guessing what really happened.
• What better way for the bride’s and groom’s best friends to meet than with drinks and a wild night.
• Both parties can hang out with their friends of the opposite sex.
• A Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette party is the perfect ice breaker pre-reception.
• Best of both worlds because each party can start the night early on their own schedule and meet up later on.

Review:
No worrying – Check, the inclusion of best friends from both sexes – Check, limiting the stress over an awkward reception – Check, and still having a great night? – Double Check. This is only the beginning as to why so many couples are making the decision to have a Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette Party.

But now your wondering, if naked firemen and one-hundred singles aren’t part of the night, whats there to do?

(drum roll)….Plenty!! But it really depends on what sort of day/night you wish to have, ranging from low-key and relaxing, to all-out wildness with the probable chance of sleeping in the next day(or few). Since every couple is different, I’m going to break down the possible activities into three categories, each carrying with it a different set of places and level of sobriety.

A.) Low-Key/Relaxing – For those who wish to arrive at their wedding on time.

1.)Day at Sea – Eva Longoria and Tony Parker did it.

required:

• boat
• beer
• food
• good friends
• music / jet skis / rafts
• swimming trunks

If you want to be like Longoria and Parker, all you need is good looking tall guys, good looking women, NBA on the radio and some weekday television chatter.

2.)Co-ed Golf Outing – Winning team gets a prize!

required:

• even number of gents and gals
• golfing attire
• golf clubs
• gold cart

3.)Co-ed Camping – First couple to get caught shaking the tent buys breakfast.

required:

• camping gear
• food
• beer
• marshmallows
• ghost stories ( or crazy college stories)
• at least one pyro

B.) Kinda Wild – Might want to call work ahead of time about the possibility of being late

1.) Co-ed Dance Fever – Cause who doesn’t want to be John Travolta? The reception will be lit up with couples dancing, another fantastic ice breaker.

required:

• dance studio
• dance instructors
• music (salsa, disco, hip hop)
• disco ball
• some knowledge of slow dancing

2.) Bachelor/Bachelorette Bowling Party – Black light bowling isn’t just for kids, that’s why there’s a bar!

required:

• possibly gutter bumpers
• retro bowling shirts
• cool nicknames for the scorecard/monitor
• couple pitchers of beer and a pizza.

3.) Bachelor v. Bachelorette Olympics – Two methods:

I.) Sports Olympics – make a schedule to hit up any close mini-golf courses, arcade skeet ball, movie-theater basketball games, indoor batting cages, even paintball. The losing team is the DD for the night.

required:

• quarters
• wii golf experience
• some hand eye coordination
• couple drinks to dull the pain if you decide to play paintball.

II.) Beer Olympics – choose someones home to set up the mightiest games of them all. Everyone’s a winner in this game.

required:

• beer pong table
• lots of solo cups
• flip cup skills
• whiffle ball/bat for sloshball
• cheap wine for tour-da-franzia

3.) Real Wild – College kids got nothing on you

A.) Parachuting, Cliff diving, Bungy jumping – The “I’m scared of heights so I cant clean the gutters” killer. The to-be bride and groom can even do a coop jump to experience the real thrill of a Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette party.

required:

• pre-jump screwdriver
• call home first
• camera
• video camera
• faith in something

B.) Co-ed Bar Crawl - the classic walk till you crawl till you drop, co-ed style. While this may seem like nothing more than a normal Friday night, sharing it with your soon to-be spouse and closest friends makes it extra special. As a gift, the to-be bride and groom can drink free for the night.

required:

• shower
• tic tacs
• read a newspaper(always gotta have conversation material at a bar)
• camera (see which couple can get the best Captain Morgan pose on camera, and winning duo get a free drink)
• taxi’s phone number
• aspirin and water

Whether your planning a relaxing night with friends, or a crazy night to remember the date, a Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette party might be just what your looking for. I’ve only begin to touch upon the endless possibilities of a “gender-blender”, and with a new exciting trend such as this comes even more new exciting ways to celebrate it! With all the positive aspects these parties offer, any couple can have a thoroughly enjoyable night. If any of you wish to share a personal experience that you’ve have with Coed Bachelor/Bachelorette parties, feel free to leave a comment.

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Wedding receptions are a special day for both the bride and groom, as well as the invited guests. Marking the beginning of a beautiful relationship, the wedding reception is a time for the family and friends of the newly weds to meet each other, hit the dance floor, and take advantage of an open bar. Unfortunately, guests may not be familiar with each other, and even though booze might be flowing, getting the guests involved in wedding reception games is a great way for breaking that initial uneasiness and serve as a means for entertaining conversation and mingling.

These ten wedding reception activities will spice up the night and leave guests talking for weeks to come.

1.) Roll the Dice:

Here’s a fun twist to the familiar tapping forks against glasses to see the bride and groom kiss.
- Have people pair off at their tables, and between dances and courses, each couple must roll a pair of dice once. If they roll an even number, then the bride and groom kiss…but if they roll an odd number, the rollers must kiss!

2.) Wedding Couple Trivia:

In between music sets or down time before the meal is served, Have questions about you and your new spouse written down ahead of time on cards. (Based on the tolerance level of those invited, questions can be serious or even racy.) Each question should pertain to you, your spouse or both of you:
- Where you met, where your first kiss was, what’s your favorite ice cream flavor, etc..
- Have your DJ, master of ceremonies, or one of your parents stand at the microphone and select a guest to answer the first question. If the guest answers correctly, he or she then steps up to the microphone to call on the next guest, and so on.

2a.) Wedding Couple Trivia: BUFFET EDITION

Follow the same steps as the above activity, but those who correctly answer the questions get access to the food buffet table.
Choose the table who answers the question first to get to go up to fill their plate.

3.) Counting For Flowers:

Instead of tossing the bouquet to the bridesmaids, set up a jar of marbles in colors that match the wedding reception decor. Make an announcement during speech time that each unmarried female attendee must guess how many marbles are in the jar. The guests should write down their answers on their name placement cards. At the end of the evening, collect the answers and determine the winner, who is then presented with the bouquet.

4.) Musical Chairs:

Play this game the traditional way–the disc jockey or band plays a tune, then stops suddenly. Guests then try to quickly find a seat. Each table of guests should be short one chair. In this way, after each round, one person will be out at each table. When only one person is left at each table, he or she wins the table centerpiece.

4a.) Musical Chairs – Guys as Chairs:

Another version of musical chairs that includes all your guests involves using men as the chairs. All the men who wish to take part in the game should sort into a line and kneel on one knee. The women begin playing the game of musical chairs, but when the music stops, they must find a knee to sit on. No “chairs” are removed during the version of the game, but people are eliminated when either the man or women falls.

5.) Roman Hands and Russian Fingers:

This game is guaranteed to get the men in the audience chuckling. The bride is blindfolded while the best man places three small clips somewhere on the groom’s body. These should be in difficult-to-find places, such as the groom’s shoelaces or the back of his head. The blindfolded bride must then find each of the clips with her hands. To make this game even more interactive and fun, allow guests to call out “warmer!” or “colder!” as the bride’s fumbling hands get closer to or farther away from a clip.

6.) Scavenger Hunt:

This wedding reception game calls for one volunteer per table. Have a few items hidden in various places within the reception hall. The DJ or master of ceremonies then calls out the item, and the table volunteers rush to find the item. This can be quite hilarious as guests climb under tables or rush past one another to find the item. The guest who finds the most items wins a special prize!

7.) Wedding Garter Relay:

Here’s another wedding reception activity for the male audience. Divide the guests into two teams. Place a chair a few yards away from the participants. Have the teams flip a coin to see which will go first.

-The coin-toss winners then select one of their team members to sit on the chair. At the sound of a whistle or other signal, the first team member in line dashes to the man in the chair, with the bride’s garter in his hands. He hurries to place the garter on the calf of the seated member. The two then switch places, and the garter-wearer runs to the line, quickly removes the garter, hands it to the next man in line and goes to the back of the line.

-The new holder of the garter runs to the man in the chair and places it on the sitter’s leg, and the game continues in this fashion. When the last man has received the garter and has run back to the line, a timer goes off.

-The next team does the same. The team that performs the relay the fastest is the winner.

8.) Raffle:

The good old-fashioned raffle drawing. Give a card with a number on it to each guest when they arrive, and have a box with the same numbers for a drawing for “prizes”. The prizes don’t have to be expensive, but everyone loves winning something, and with the inclusion of items such as a mini barbeque grill, the guests will rush to take part. You could also raffle the bride’s bouquet, or a special dessert of some sort.

9.) Name Finding:

Get a 3 x 3 inch piece of paper and write one guest’s name on each. Give each guest a pen (use multiple colored pens) and randomly hand out the pieces of paper – the guest needs to find the person whose name is on the paper. This not only gets guests involved, but once the drawings are all collected they can be pasted on a big piece of cardboard and used as a personalized memorabilia for the the bride & groom.

10.) Photo Description:

Print out a collection of odd photos involving both the bride and groom on an 8X11 peice of paper. These photos should be ones where funny and witty descriptions could be thought of to describe. Eventually the DJ will collect each paper, put the photo up on the projector, and read what each table came up with for the photo. The people at the table with the best interpretation get’s a prize.

Wedding Favors and Gifts

Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson have tied the knot, and although a great entrance I am sure their parents had knots of their own once the couple explained to them what type of entrance they wanted to have.

This morning on the Today show with Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira they showcased a young couple who created a huge stir on youtube with their walk down the aisle. If this was the couples first impression on what their life will now be together, doesn’t it kind of make you feel as though you are missing out?

What great ideas will now spawn from this? was your wedding as much fun? or will it be? Creating a memorable day is something all new brides dream of.  With so many wedding shows now on television, the need to stand out is greater then in the past.  Where will your creativity go in planning your wedding? will you save it for the actual wedding ceremony? or the wedding reception? or maybe you would like it to be shared just between you and your spouse at the honeymoon?

If this video is any insight to what type of life Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson will now have with each other I’d say its safe to assume it will be one heck of a great time.

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Make your wedding one to remember