Devon and Will’s Savannah wedding was themed around their love of cinema but also cats! “We wanted the wedding to be what we liked and celebrated about each other”, said the bride, “so, along with the popcorn, film reel table toppers and ticket invitations, we had handmade elements… and a kitty ring bearer!”
“The cat that acted as our ring bearer wasn’t ours. We wanted to use our cats but travelling to the wedding would have been too much on them. We borrowed Sake to do the honours from the One Love Animal Shelter in Savannah. She was fantastic and I heard she even got adopted earlier that day! Her new family had a young daughter who was thrilled that Sake was a part of a wedding. Judging by our guest’s reactions it was a pretty unique idea! I was also wearing cat pasties under my dress in case the girls came out. They didn’t, but I did end up flashing a bunch of people anyways because I wanted to show them off! They were black with glitter.”
Sanita and Vinko wanted their wedding to feel like a big party, and what could be more fun than a party on a boat!? “We wanted to surprise our guests with our wedding”, said the bride. “Most of them expected a wedding at a restaurant (which is where we had our meal) but the majority of the day was on the boat! We will never forget that look in their eyes when they realised that the ceremony was going to be on a boat!”
The ceremony began just as the boat left the dock. “One of our friends, who acted as DJ, started to play one of my favourite songs, Hungry Eyes from the Dirty Dancing. Vinko was standing on the stern while I walked toward him, dancing. When the song had finished the registrar started a short speech. During the ceremony the waves started to get bigger so the boat stopped in the middle of two islands.”
Melissa and Jay hosted their wedding in a family home. They wanted their wedding to be as vibrant and colourful as possible, with a Mexican fiesta theme and touches of Dia de los Muertos.
“Jay is really into skulls and I love his heritage and bright colours so we really wanted the wedding to be a good mix of both of us”, said the bride. “So many couples tend to embrace muted, classic colours for their weddings but we did not! We also wanted to nod to our family unity. That was really important. The venue was incredibly personal as it was a family home.”
If there’s one thing I know for certain it’s that the brides (and grooms!) that read this blog sure do love colourful weddings. Which is why I’m convinced you’re all going to flip out over this adorable retro inspired wedding shoot. Submitted by Zoe (The Little Vintage Car Co.), Aneta (BrightSide Photography) and Lizzy (The Flower Story), this shoot was set up so they could flex their creative muscles and create something fun!
“The theme for the shoot was ’Head in the clouds’ a name inspired by our model’s stunning turquoise hair and our fluffy cloud installation”, they explained. “The aim of this shoot was to mix the elegance and style of a 1950s wedding with a big and bold jewelled tone colour scheme. We didn’t want to recreate a wedding from the 1950s, but wanted a fresh take on a traditional vintage theme.”
Michael and Sandy were married in Belize at the Xunantunich archaeological site. The couple are both fascinated by the ancient Maya culture and love visiting sites throughout Central America so saying their vows there was really special to them both.
“We met when Michael came to work at my tattoo shop”, said Sandy. “Our wedding was inspired mostly by black and red (our favourite colours) and Day of the Dead as we both love that celebration. We love skulls, motorcycles, and Rock n Roll!”
“The ceremony was held at the base of El Castillo, the main temple at the site. The day was perfect, not too hot, blue skies with a few puffy clouds. The guests lined up to create an ‘aisle’ for us to walk down and we had provided them with red and black paper parasols for shade. We had created our own vows to say to each other before the Justice of the peace said her part.”
When it comes to deciding on your wedding band, booking the right one is super important. The right music and/or entertainment will kick your reception off with a bang and set the mood for the rest of the night, whereas even the most amazing wedding can fall flat if the DJ is dodgy or the band are terrible!
Whether you want to hire a live band, a DJ, fire-breathers or trapeze artists, I’m sure you’ll want to know how to get the most out of your entertainers. So today I’ve partnered with The Band Boutique who are on hand to share some of their expert tips.
Hire a band that can perform in more than one style
There are lots of wedding bands who can perform in different styles which means you can basically get two types of entertainment for the price of one! Check out The Skip Jacks and Northern Quarter (both pictured) who can both perform their standard electric set, but can also do a folky, Mumford and Sons style set as well. This way you get the best of both worlds.
Ask your band if they can perform an earlier set at a discounted price
Wedding bands can seem expensive (especially ones with lots of members – generally the more members, the higher the price) however a lot of bands can do you a bit of a deal if they’re also performing earlier in the day.
If you’re planning on booking an evening band then it’s always worth asking if they can perform a shorter acoustic set during the day too, as they will likely give you a discounted price for both. It will almost certainly be cheaper than hiring another act all together.
Ask about song request
Most good bands will offer to learn your first dance song for free as part of their package, but if there are other songs that are special to you then in most cases bands will also learn them for an extra fee. However if a song isn’t on their set list, it’s always worth checking if they happen to know it anyway. They may have just taken it off their list because it’s not a popular choice anymore.
Find out about any sound restrictions before you book your venue
Unless your venue is out in the middle of nowhere, it is quite likely that there will be some sort of sound restriction in place. Many will have a decibel level the music has to stay below, and most will have a curfew as to when the music has to stop. If they have a sound limit, make sure you pass this information on to any band that you are interested in hiring when you enquire. If the band isn’t aware of any sound restrictions beforehand it can really ruin a great performance. In most cases they will be able to work around the restrictions in one way or another as long as they are aware in advance.
There are a few venues that stipulate no amplified music at all so if a live band is important to you then look elsewhere! While there is always the option of hiring an acoustic ‘busking style’ band, without amplification this will serve more as background music and won’t really be suitable for dancing.
