People have a lot to say about weddings. They’re one of those topics that people like to talk about at parties. Opinions are not just varied, they’re unique and wildly different from each other. And why shouldn’t they be? Some people want a traditional wedding, others want a themed wedding. Some people want their weddings to be small family affairs, and others want a parade. Some people don’t see the point in getting married at all!
Your friends and family are peppering you with countless wedding facts, and meanwhile the media is selling its own ideas about what makes a great wedding. After all that, it might seem like you can’t even remember which ideas were yours in the first place. So how can you possibly know what to do with all that information?
The only right way to get married is the way that’s right for you. Common sense and confidence are a big step towards solving the problem, but you can’t expect to become an expert without reading up! This is your opportunity to take a step in the right direction. Join us now as we debunk a few of the most common myths surrounding weddings.
Myth 1. Your Wedding Will Have to Cost At Least £20,000
Yes, your wedding is probably going to be expensive. The price of perfection is high. But it doesn’t have to be that high. Experts agree that the average wedding of 2016 will be worth an incredible £20,500. Some people can’t even dream of ever being able to save that much money! If you can, then consider yourself a lucky one, but you can still do yourself a lot of favours by budgeting carefully.
With creativity and imagination, it should be no problem to host an impressive wedding that doesn’t cost as much as you’d expect. Some wedding planners will tell you not to do anything by yourself, but home-made wedding elements can have real charm, and it’s okay to do that as long as you have confidence and skills to get it just right. The trick is to be selective. Only take on the tasks that you know you can handle. Leave plenty of extra time.
When delegating jobs to friends, make sure they’re professionals in that field. You can’t afford to have a half-baked wedding cake show up on the day, or to end up with shoddy photographs. (Speaking of which, don’t skimp on your photographer. Those photographs will be your memories. Set aside a reasonable amount for them.) Rather than finding a venue that’s large and expensive, find a venue that’s personal to you and appropriate to your number of guests.
When it’s your wedding, you’re the one who gets to decide how much you want to spend on it. You can solve a lot of problems by throwing money at them, but it takes a team effort from everybody to make a fantastic wedding.
Myth 2. Marriage is a Christian Concept
Of course it isn’t. Not only do various forms of marriage take place in other cultures all over the world, but the concept of marriage predates Christianity itself by thousands of years. Even some of the earliest civilisations that we know of, like the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks, practised marriage. Of course they didn’t walk down the aisle and sing hymns. That’s not how they did things.
Nevertheless, they had very fancy parties, they made vows, and they bound two people into a lawful political union. No one knows exactly where marriage came from, but the idea that marriage is a just a Christian concept is ludicrous. No matter your background, the choice to enter into a lasting union with your loved one is yours alone.
Myth 3. There’s No Point in Getting Married!
A lot of people no longer see the point in getting married at all. We’ve moved past the feudal age when marriage was a political necessity. Some people think that’s all there is to it. But marriage has moved on.
Marriage now is a celebration of love. Of course, you can celebrate love any way you please. You don’t need to sign a marriage contract to do that. (Although they do come with nifty tax break benefits, and also officialise the wedding, so it’s probably a good idea.) There is no greater, nor more spectacular way to show your love for someone than by marrying them, vowing in view of the most important people in your life, to love and cherish that person until death parts you.
For some people, perhaps that doesn’t mean much, but for a lot of people that promise is something they’ve always wanted. Perhaps in the end, the point of marriage is equal to what you see in it.
Myth 4. I Need to Find Something Old and Something New
It’s not a huge problem if you miss this part out of the dressing up. Nor is it going to bring bad luck if you skip over any of the old superstitions. Most of the guests probably won’t even notice. There’s no problem with having fun hunting borrowed objects, but there’s no reason to get hung up about them either. There are more than you’d expect, and many wedding traditions have a meaning behind them that is no longer commonly understood.
For instance, the bridal veil is one of many methods of warding away evil spirits. Even better if a spider crawls across the inside of the veil, since it will bring good luck! Meanwhile, the ‘something borrowed’ is traditionally an undergarment borrowed from a mother to encourage fertility in the bride.
Myth 5. I Have to Worry About Making Everything Perfect
Everything will be perfect, and you don’t have to worry about it. It’s your wedding after all. You’re going to be so happy on the day that you won’t even notice if a few napkins are out of place. A successful wedding is a team effort, and that effort needs to be shared equally between many people. You are not solely responsible for preparing the perfect wedding, and neither is anyone else.
And, if everything is done right, there is no reason that your wedding shouldn’t run perfectly smoothly. It takes a long time and effort yes, but stress and worry need never factor into the equation, so long as preparations are made enough in advance. And when your wedding day finally arrives, your only job is to enjoy it.
Guest Post | Author : Chloe Clarkson