Jamiee and Logan met on Tinder, but their story is a little bit cuter than that. After a week of chatting, they went on their first date, where they found they had loads in common, including a love of travelling, and both felt like they’d known the other for ages! However, Jamiee was due to move to London for two years. After just two months of dating Logan bit the bullet and asked to go with her, and she immediately said yes! “That’s how our adventure began,” the bride told us. “After living in London for nearly 2 years we travelled across Europe on our way back home to New Zealand, and on the trip, Logan proposed on the Greek Island, Naxos. Travel meant even more to the two of us after that!”
Photo by Emily Green. Wedding originally published here.
It can be tempting after the year we’ve had to skip contemplation and head in full gusto to a brand new time without reflecting on what the hardships can teach us. But rumination can be cathartic, and 2020, albeit hard for everyone for all different reasons, has made a lot of us take stock on what things really matter to us.
Photo by Alon Gruber. Wedding originally published here.
In June we predicted the new era of weddings with our Reborn issue, and oh boy, were we right. Covid-19 put everything on pause, gave you the chance to take a beat, reassess what you REALLY wanted for your wedding and to trim the fat of the stuff you were doing just because it was cool… or trendy… or Pinterestable. With lockdowns looming, you got creative with your locations: a tattoo shop, your backyards, and the local park became places for you to celebrate your love with your nearest and dearest.
After a year when most hen parties were either cancelled or hosted over Zoom, we asked you what you thought a new year could bring for this rite of passage…
Hen do, bridal shower, bachelorette party – wherever you’re from and whatever you call it, the celebration of the transition from Miss to Mrs is a time-honoured tradition and a good excuse to kick up your heels to mark the beginning of a new era.
We asked some of the members of our private Facebook group what their frets and fears were about planning a hen party in this new world we now live in. The response was clear – an overwhelming theme of uncertainty, being unsure of what to plan due to continuing local lockdowns, money worries and asking too much of friends.
So, what are the options? Do we plan differently, or throw caution to the wind and blow up the inflatable genitalia for a traditional L-plated bash? Ultimately, it’s got to still be a unique and awesome event, so here are some ideas to help you decide how to best celebrate.
Take control
It’s safe to say that a lot of control was taken away from 2020/ 21 couples. So, plan something that you can control. A safe bet is keeping your hen party outside in the fresh air, and that’s likely where you’ll be able to celebrate with more people, feeling comfortable and safe. Not always practical in the cold weather, but warmer months bring the promise of posh picnics with bespoke hampers and a fun theme, a small local music festival with authentic hay bales, or a punt down the river with champagne. Perfect for a smaller group, and easier to keep socially-distanced if needed.
If you and your friends are happy being inside, take control of your surroundings and hire a space – a small independent theatre for a movie night, an afternoon tea river cruise, or hire a countryside accommodation for the weekend and hunker down with fluffy blankets, monogrammed pjs, old movies and your body weight in popcorn alongside a few friends.
Courtney and Aaron wanted a casual wedding, with a relaxed and rustic vibe. They chose The Doyle, a warehouse turned chic industrial venue in downtown Las Vegas for the May wedding, with a very fun addition – the courtyard serves as a working farm where they have a variety of animals, from alpacas to goats to pigs roaming around. Not your average Vegas venue then!
There really is no other day like your wedding day. It’s the ultimate day for ‘all things you’. But it’s not just that. It’s also the excuse to throw your dream party where none of your close friends and family are allowed to complain (to your face anyway).
This is both a joy and a curse because what starts out as a day all about love can turn into a monster event for 250 people with bells, whistles and a horse and carriage.
Take it from me, I wanted a Rock n Roll Bride wedding of the highest order. I wanted my wedding to be the most fun, beautiful and memorable ‘do’ that any of my guests had ever been to. I wanted the best photographer, the best venue, the best flowers and the best entertainment. I even wanted (and was lucky enough to get) a pink Cadillac to arrive in. Not to mention, I wanted a free bar so that everyone would get drunk and have a good time.
I was very lucky to have a beautiful day. But looking back at the whole experience, should I ever have to plan another wedding (for anyone), I would say…chill. out. babe. You are only in competition with yourself (regardless of what you may think) and sadly competing in the ‘Competitive Games of You’ is really a losing battle as the expectations we put on ourselves are far higher than we’d ever put on anyone else. During this unprecedented time, it’s likely that some things in your life may have to change, that likely includes your wedding plans, too.
If you’ve been dreaming about your big day since you were little, this might be a huge blow. Even if you haven’t, I know how easy it is, once you decide to get hitched, to get totally swept away in all the Instagram confetti inspiration. When we hold our wedding up as having to be ‘THE BEST DAY OF OUR LIFE’ but come on now, that’s a lot of pressure. It means that when something goes wrong (and it likely will), the impact can feel devastating. There is so much pressure to have ‘the perfect day’ that you can lose sight of the reason you wanted to get married in the first place…LOVE!
I think it’s pretty safe to say that very few of us will be sad to see the back of the year 2020. For most of us it’s been painful, its been stressful and it’s been life changing. Things that we took for granted now feel like luxuries and things we assumed would be a given just, well, weren’t.
Wedding postponements, businesses closing, the ever-changing government guidelines – there’s been a lot to deal with in the wedding world particularly, and while it would be all too easy for me to regurgitate the clichés about love not being cancelled and us all being in this together, I think it is important to acknowledge that for many of us, this year has been one of the hardest of our entire lives.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve personally loved seeing how people have been adapting to this ‘new normal’ with their weddings (and wedding businesses) and in many ways this year has forced us to take it all back to what a wedding should actually be about. Getting married is not about spending an amount you really can’t really afford; it’s not about caring what other people think of your decisions and it’s not about having a guest list of 200 people.
Sure, a big wedding is absolutely awesome, and if you plan to have the large celebration later next year, more power to you. BUT if you were only doing those things because you thought you ‘should’, well, 2020 has been the perfect opportunity to do a complete 180.
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