Short and Sweet Honey Ceremony

Putting our ceremony together was oddly simple. We have been on the same page since day one that our ceremony would be short and simple; having an outdoor winter ceremony has helped us keep it to that.
We needed an officiant and we knew right away that our officiant would be someone special to us, someone who knew us. We aren't church-goers and so having a church officiant didn't make any sense. While it took a couple months into our engagement to actually decide who that person would be, once we thought of it, it was like "Duh!". Our officiant is Best Man Cruise's dad, Mark. Mr. Honey has known him for years and years and while I've only known him a couple years, he is the perfect person for the task. We asked him over wings and beer one night and he happily accepted. In the months to come, I did some research on how Mark would become officially officiated. I found the best website to be openministry.org where the ordination was free, so I even splurged and spent $14.95 on a certificate. We celebrated with Margaritas and Mexican food that night.

We have an Officiant!

Once Mark had 'the power invested in him' as he likes to say, I outlined the flow of our ceremony, leaving the word content in the hands of Mark. So, here's how our short and sweet ceremony will go.

We chose the Plain White T's 1, 2, 3, 4 for the wedding party to walk down the aisle to:

Mama Honey and my Papa will start off the processional, followed by Mr. Honey who will walk with Officiant Mark and FFIL. We chose this super easy, non-formal format because we aren't having any escorts...I realize how very casual it is, but it works for us.

Because of our uneven bridal party, I've spent far too long analyzing how this will work...but I think I've got the main idea down. As a refresher, we have 8 bridesmaids, 5 groomsmen and 1 groomsdog. BM Kel Bel is walking Zeus, two lucky groomsmen will be escorting two bridesmaids at a time and then the three remaining 'men will escort one 'maid. After this part of the wedding party is down, our 3 flower girls and 2 ring bearers will all head down together.

Then it's mine and my Dad's turn. 1,2,3,4 will fade out and the song I chose many moons ago will fade in:

The heart of ceremony will go like this:
- A welcome from Officiant Mark
- A quip on marriage by Officiant Mark
- The Honey's exchange vows
- Honey's exchange rings
- Officiant Mark pronounces us Husband & Wife
- WE KISS

The song we chose for our recessional is also from Plain White T's...Rhythm of Love:

We will immediately join our entire wedding in the reception area and begin celebrating as husband and wife!

I truly think our ceremony will be between 10 and 15 minutes, short enough to keep peoples attention (and to keep guests from freezing!) but long enough to get plenty of sentiment and love across. I can't wait to hear what words Mark throws into the mix!

Now that I'm tearing up listening to the soundtrack that is our ceremony, tell me about your ceremony! What songs did you hand pick? Who is your officiant? Was your ceremony easy to create?
It's getting real, hive...in two weeks we will in fact be performing this ceremony!!

*All videos from YouTube.

Toss It

I'm pretty in the middle about the bouquet/garter toss. It's fun when the couple does decide to do it, but if they don't, I certainly don't miss it. One thing that bugs me about the toss, is trying to get people on the floor; having to yell and convince people to get up there. Singling out the singles. There are the shy and single ones that just don't want to participate and then remain in the back of the crowd (you need to make the catch!), there are the engaged folks who don't need to participate but are persuaded somehow (you aren't married yet!), and of course there's usually one or two that are actually dying to catch the bouquet or garter (just throw it directly at me!).

Here's proof, from BM Scoot's wedding a couple months ago. I was happily sitting with Mr. Honey when I got called out from across the room to join in with the toss, I declined more than once, but eventually made my way up and tried to stand in the back...then got pushed to the front of the crowd (because hey, 'you are the next to get married so might as well catch the bouquet') and was forced to compete with the one girl who really wanted and deserved the bouquet! And you see those 4 ladies behind me? They are all single too. I felt bad that the bouquet got thrown at me, when I didn't need it. I will admit, it's a pretty funny action shot:

Image from BM Scoots wedding/Photo by Newell Jones & Jones Photography

We are tossing it, the tradition that is. We aren't doing a garter toss or a bouquet toss. For one, I'm pretty damn excited about my bouquet and don't want to toss it, and don't really want to make one just to be tossed. Same goes with my garter, which I will show you sooner than later, Mr. Honey is not going to sling-shot my garter to a bunch of undeserving boys. Kidding, only about the undeserving part, kind of.

What I have decided to do is play a song dedicated to my girls for an all girls dance session. A girls only moment, whether you are single or not. This song has somehow made it's way into just about every night out, and one that gets us all jump-dancing and scream-singing. Some of the girls know about the replacement, others don't, and there has been a mention of having a little bit of choreography thrown into the dance. I'm sure you are dying to know what the song is...with an all female group and a DJ named Spinderella and other hits like "Shoop", Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It" will be replacing the tossing tradition at our wedding.

Here is the video in all it's late 80's glory:

From YouTube

Even just listening to this song now makes me want to call up the girls...there's nothing quite like dancing with your favorite girls. And did you see those dance moves? Easy enough for even me to bust out!

What is the song that can always get you and your friends in scream-sing mode?! Where do you stand on the toss tradition?

Spinnin'

While I wait for evidence pictures of my bachelorette party, I thought I'd talk about music. I big puffy heart dancing, and while I was gettin' down with my ladies this past weekend it really made me excited to dance on our wedding day. Really excited.

When we first started planning our wedding way back when, in an effort to save money, we decided an iPod reception was the way to go. I would make the play lists, simple and free. Done and done, right? Wrong. I have read posts and comments about doing this, and while it is still the right choice for some couples, I got scared. An iPod reception is totally doable, we just changed our minds. We are saving money and DIYing 97% (I just made that percentage up) of this wedding ourselves. I realized a few months ago that there were two areas I didn't want to do ourselves...the food (I know, I haven't talked about our food, that is coming!) and the music. There are too many wild cards. What happens if someone wants to request a song? I'm that girl who always requests a song songs, I'd probably be mad I couldn't do that at my own wedding. What if the party is really diggin' the 90's music and I've got a whole bunch of country music lined up after Juicy plays? And, AND what if we had a technical error?! I cannot have a music-less reception. Too much stress.
The Honey's music tastes are all over the board. Mr. Honey listens to the AC/DC or George Clinton station on Pandora. While I tend towards Snoop Dogg or Lady Gaga. We both frequent the George Strait and Bob Marley stations. That covers country, funk, rock, rap/hip hop, reggae and pop. Woah. If the mister had his way, and our wallets were more full, we would have a funk band. That guy can get down to some funk. To me, though, a one genre band just doesn't do it. The most listened to play lists on my iPod are titled "Dirty Dirty" and "Boot Scootin" or hip hop and country. This would be my ideal concert:

Snoop Dogg & Jason Aldean at the CMA's 2008

As much as I like to think I could create the ultimate play lists to meet all of the above genre's, I just know I couldn't. At my friend J.Summer's wedding in July I chatted with the DJ's she hired...who also happen to be the guys that spun for high school parties back in the day, so I know they got skillz. I sent them a Facebook message, they sent me the contract, and just like that we've got ourselves some DJ's. Even better is that since I've been friends with them for over a decade (that makes me feel real old) they are giving us a deal on the price. It will be nice to have friends be the ones in charge of setting the dancing tone of our evening, which is why we ultimately decided to let go of the iPod reception. I can craft, I can't spin. An added bonus was that by filling out the contract I was forced to make some decisions about important wedding songs. A few more things knocked of that ever growing list, hooray!

Where do you fall in the music vendor arena? iPod, band or DJ? More importantly, who else is a fan of hip hop AND country??

My Motivating Song

We are all too familiar with the mile long To-Do list that we as engaged ladies face. My checklist on The Knot is 150 items overdue, needless to say, I don't use this tool like I should. I get overwhelmed easily with the amount of tasks a wedding requires so I tend to avoid the lists like the plague. This is more my style:


Image via SME Marketing

I go through phases where I'm 100% sucked into all things wedding and completely motivated to slumps where I find every excuse to go play rather than think about writing our ceremony. Or whatever needs to be on the list. 

When I first got engaged and began reading blogs, I always loved reading what song the bride walked down the aisle to, which is funny because it's something that never crossed my mind. You mean we all don't walk down the aisle to "Hear Comes the Bride"? Thankfully, not. There are the common songs that no matter what, conjure up images of a bride and the aisle. But I love hearing the alternative songs that are chosen for a bride to make her trek down the aisle. Now I anticipate this moment at weddings. The most recent wedding we attended, the bride chose to walk down to Sweet Pea by Amos Lee, and now that song gives me chills thinking about her walk down the aisle.

Since this aspect of the wedding was not given much thought prior to being engaged, it's funny that choosing the song to walk down the aisle occurred within the first couple of months of being engaged. I had never heard the song prior to my ah-ha moment; it popped up on Pandora one day and that was it, I had found my processional song. Everybody by Ingrid Michaelson. Go ahead and push play, I'll wait while you listen and envision this Honey in full bridal attire.

From You Tube

The lighthearted chords and soft tone of Ingrid's voice just make my heart pitter patter. I love the lyrics, they encompass such a peaceful thought of love. The beat is slow enough to hopefully prevent me from charging down the aisle, but have enough of a tempo to not be boring. The song makes me smile and I love that. It makes me want to walk down the aisle, like, yesterday.

What does Ingrid's song have to do with motivation? I envision myself walking down the aisle to this song so strongly that when I'm far from motivated in the wedding planning department, I push play on this song and it reminds me that all of the hard work done now will put me at the top of the aisle, walking to become a wife. *Chills*.

Do you have a song that helps motivate you when you are feeling unmotivated? Did anyone else find their processional song in an unexpected and random time?