How do I not make my wedding Cliche
You’re engaged! Now time to plan the wedding, but how do you plan a wedding that you and your guests will enjoy? There are different traditions, dances, speeches and activities that you’ve seen at a wedding and you’ve probably thought, ‘does this need to happen at every wedding?’ or ‘Why does everyone do this at their wedding?’
There are going to be traditions that you like, some you want to skip and things that you just think are the best and most original ideas. But no matter what you do at your wedding, someone’s going to think one of those activities, dances, speeches or traditions is a cliché. You’re not going to please or surprise everyone with your ideas. When planning your wedding you want to make it fun and interesting for your guests but there will just be some people that have “seen it all” and that’s ok.
How To Not have a Cliche Wedding
We’ve put together this post with ideas on how to not have a cliche wedding. These tips may help you eliminate the clichés that you have seen at weddings and don’t want appearing at your wedding but remember – this is your wedding, do what you want, even if some people think it’s a cliche. Don’t stress about making it the most original thing anyone has ever seen. Traditions can be very very good (and important) and some wedding elements are here to stay. SO if it makes you happy and doesn’t hurt anyone go for it!
Here’s our top things to avoid or consider to not have a cliche wedding
Be on Time!
“It’s my wedding, I can do what I want!” This may be the attitude of some couples out there who start their ceremony or reception entrance 20 minutes late. Being 5 minutes late isn’t a big deal, but if you leave your guests excitedly waiting for 20+ minutes, you throw off all the other things you’ve planned. This could lead to shorter periods of photo taking, preparing for the reception, or something as simple as taking away from down time. Being “fashionably late” can come across as rude to your guests who may have hired a babysitter, the next booking at your ceremony venue, and to your vendors who have planned out their schedule for the day (to best take care of you and your guests). If you’re a chronic tardy person work with your wedding party to get you out the door earlier and give yourself an extra 45 minutes in your prep schedule (your Wedding Planner can help you with this too)
Don’t Clink them glasses
We’re sure you’ve all been to weddings where the guests clink the glasses to encourage the couple to kiss. The cliché with this is that everyone expects it and it’s so over used. The problem with clinking glasses is the glassware could break or chip, or someone could clink too hard, break the glass, and get hurt (not to mention the large fees you will incur from the venue to replace the glassware). Both options result in a mess. Instead of the clinks, put together a Plinko board, trivia game, or another options to get you kissing – or better yet, for your guests to kiss!
White Dresses
So we happen to love this tradition. A bride wearing a white dress is one of those traditions that we’d love to keep around forever. BUT if we’re talking about cliches it does fall into that category.
White dresses are the tradition but consider whether a white dress complements the theme or venue of your wedding. And also – do you like white? You could pick a totally different colour if you want!
Some negatives to white is it can get easily dirty or wash a bride out in pictures. Open your mind when looking for dresses and look at a few different colours. The majority of bridal designers have other colour options but we opt for trying the white ones because it’s what we know. When you are looking for the dress, we recommend keeping in mind what makes you happy and flatters you!
If you want to keep with tradition sort of consider off white, mauve, dusty rose, or a different underlay colour. There are lots of options out there that still fall into the “traditional wedding dress” category.
The Cake
You don’t have to have a wedding cake just because it’s the thing you do at a wedding. You don’t have to have a tiered wedding cake because it’s the thing to do at a wedding. And you certainly don’t have to smash the cake in each other’s faces.
If you want a cake and you’ve always dreamt of a cake, get yourself a beautiful cake. If you don’t care about cake at all skip it all together. If you want to have that moment where you cut the cake consider getting a smaller cake. You don’t have to fill a large table with desserts just to have your wedding cake either. Arrange to have a small round table and decorate your little cake with flowers and greenery. Do it the way you’re comfortable with.
If you want to do a dessert table as a treat to your guests, your late night snack, or your party favours we are TOTALLY with you. You could do doughnut wall, a DIY sundae bar, make your own cupcake (with all the fixings), a pie bar, candy bar, cookie station, or a sweet & savoury crepe station. Get creative with it! This gives your wedding a more personalize and original vibe because guests get to indulge in something you truly enjoy!
The Bride’s Tan
Remember Anne Hathaway in the movie Bride Wars? She wanted the bridal glow and she came out orange like an Oompa Loompa. Stop there. Many brides (and possibly grooms as well) want to look their best on their wedding day. We get it; there will be pictures, videos, and memories that will last a lifetime. The cliché with tanning is people over do it or do it wrong – spray tans should not be done two days before the wedding. If you’re looking at doing a spray tan for your wedding, try a few in the months prior to your date. This will help you narrow down what shade works best for your complexion and you can try your dress on to make sure everything looks perfect! If spray tans aren’t for you, try a tanning bed with the proper lotion. This way you can better monitor how much of a glow you get and then try on your dress and stop when you’ve got it right. And please – brides – don’t go to the beach the week of your wedding unless you’re going to wear a bandeau.
Speeches with inside jokes
A great speech gets all the guests in the room talking, laughing and, sometimes emotional. However, some speeches leave guests confused and feeling out of the loop. We aren’t saying opt out of all speeches, but try to limit what is said in the speeches. Speech clichés are often inside jokes which no one but the people involved understand, extremely embarrassing stories about the bride or groom that may have been private, or jokes that can come across as offensive or not funny. We suggest that speech givers keep to being honest and keep it light. Tell inspiring stories, and say kind and thankful things about the couple. It is a wedding after all.
Surprise Choreographed Dances
At first, when choreographed dances came out they were amazing. You’d be standing around watching the father daughter dance or the first dance, then all of a sudden you had no idea what was going on and the music switched, the pace picked up, and you were entertained with this fun dance. The surprised choreographed dance has become a bit cliche because SO many people did it. You’ve seen it on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, and how many times have you just scrolled by feeling you’ve seen enough of it.
Unless dance is a big part of your life we suggest skipping the choreographed dance. It’s also a huge time commitment and in the busyness of planning the rest of your wedding this might be the last added thing you need. There’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple and just dancing to the songs you pick for your first dance, father daughter dance, etc.
At the end of the day…
At the end of the day this is your wedding. You want to make it personal, fun, and interesting for your guests, and enjoyable for you, but it’s a wedding – there will be a touch of cliche no matter what you do. And you know what, we think that’s sorta what makes it a wedding. Just remember it is yours, plan it your way, and keep the things that are important to you a part of it all.
