Do you feel weddings today have been attached to so many pressures, complications, expectations, and over-the-top antics that they’ve all but removed the intimacy and romance from the occasion? If so, you’re not alone.
As each new ostentatious wedding fad enjoys its five minutes of viral fame, sensible brides everywhere are wishing for a return to the simplicity of vintage weddings. It was a time when the moment itself captured the adoration of guests, bridal elegance didn’t need a neon flashing light, venues were meaningful, and traditions made long-lasting memories for everyone to carry away as a personalized gift.
Doesn’t that sound divine? So, why not leave the three-ring circus for your first child’s birthday and bring some tradition back to your wedding day.
Four Wedding Traditions You Can Bring Back Today
Do you want a wedding that’s full of nostalgia? If the idea of a vintage-style wedding appeals to you, here are some ideas for old-fashioned wedding traditions that are worth bringing back.
Sixpence In Your Shoe
Few even know what a sixpence is anymore, much less that it’s actually the final piece to the classic tradition of something borrowed, old, and new. It’s just a lucky coin, which is traditionally offered by the father of the bride, as a symbol of newlywed good health and wealth. The bride wears it in her shoe.
Delusions of Grandeur Vs. a Grand Exit
Imagine you’ve just had a beautiful wedding experience at the ideal venue, such as at Windows On The Water in New Jersey, and it’s now time to make your first exit into the real world as a married couple. Do you want that exit to be a truly memorable moment that’s symbolic of where your lives are headed … or an inflated moment of fiction?
From taking off in helicopters and literal gold carriages to having a separate wedding dress just to wear as their “going away outfit,” brides and grooms these days are coming up with all sorts of expensive delusions of grandeur wedding exit strategies.
There was something very special about newlyweds traditionally making their grand exit in new clothes symbolic of adulthood responsibility as they made their way to their very own vehicle. That vehicle represented the start of their path as a married couple. And just to show how much friends and loved ones supported the journey, they’d decorate that vehicle to ensure anyone and everyone knew the journey had officially begun.
Wedding Cake Traditions
Once upon a time, there was a wedding cake for wedding guests, a bride’s cake for bridesmaids, and a groom’s cake for groomsmen. While wedding venues like Windows On The Water offer you a beautiful selection of custom wedding cakes as part of your experience, many couples feel tremendous pressure to go above and beyond what’s expected of them.
Modern weddings are featuring a smorgasbord of desserts and treats. Some include gigantic displays of everything from donuts and candy walls to individual treats for each and every guest. If a cake is involved, the focus is on decorating it and preserving its presence with not-so-tasty concoctions, not the actual flavors and textures of the cake.
The cost alone of these displays can be extraordinary, and these couples are missing out on some pretty amazing wedding cake traditions. A classic Victorian-era tradition called the “Cake Pull” involved putting ribboned charms with fortunes for the future inside the wedding cake for female guests to pull out before serving. This tradition creates a magical moment that guests can treasure forever.
Another lost tradition is freezing the top tier of the wedding cake, which the bride and groom can pull out on their first wedding anniversary to eat and reflect on how far they’ve come in the last year.
Writing A Letter To Your Betrothed
At Windows On The Water, brides and grooms can take advantage of their separate bridal suites to bring back a very special tradition: a love letter to their future spouse. Clear your suite and take a moment to reflect on the past, take joy in the day at hand, and envision your future. Pen your thoughts on a piece of stationary and seal it away in a decorative box. On your one-year anniversary, you’ll exchange boxes and read the letters.
Your separate bridal suites at Windows On The Water also upholds the lost tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding. While the appeal has waned because of its origins as a way for arranged marriages not to become runaways, we all play a role in the translation of traditions. Imagine reserving your own and your future spouse’s reactions to seeing the exact way each other looks for that precious moment of officially uniting as one. It’s a moment that can’t be returned nor recreated.
Rediscovering Lost Traditions at Your Wedding
Those are just four of the lost traditions that can remove all the heavy burden, expense, stress, anxiety, pressure, and unnecessary complications of the modern wedding. Allow a beautiful venue like Windows On The Water and all the other components of your wedding day to be ones you’ll remember fondly for years to come, rather than looking back on and wishing you hadn’t muddled with crazy wedding fads.
Begin Planning Your Traditional Wedding Today
Deciding on the best Central Jersey venue to host your traditional wedding is an essential part of any couple’s wedding experience. Windows on the Water at Frogbridge has all the facilities you’ll need, and a team of professional event planners to help create your party plans according to every detail you need.
Our property and staff proudly boast years of recognized services that have brought our clients and their guests together for a wonderful time of celebration and memory making with as little stress as possible. If you’re already at the planning stage for your wedding, contact us today at (609) 208-9475 to receive an informational packet that contains menus, pricing, photos and additional amenities and services which are available.