Your Wedding. Your Style.
One of the first decisions you must make in planning your wedding is choosing your desired wedding style. This decision will influence all other aspects of your celebration, such as the style of your wedding dress, the size, time, and location of the ceremony, your attendants’ attire, the type of reception to follow the ceremony, and the invitation style. Weddings range from the lavish ultra formal to the modest informal. It is important to pick a style that will reflect your personality and maintain your budget. Remember, your wedding is a reflection of you; show off your personal dreams and desires while keeping within the realm of beauty and taste.
Ultra Formal Weddings
If you wish to celebrate your love with tradition, elegance and grandeur, you may choose to have an ultra formal wedding. Your elaborate white or ivory gown will reflect the formality of this celebration with a cathedral train and equally impressive veil. Six to twelve bridesmaids will share in your joy along with 200 or more friends and relatives. Your attendants’ stunning full-length dresses will enhance the ceremony as will the long dresses of your mother and future mother-in-law. Your groom will await in a grey or black cutaway coat, striped trousers, and matching ascot. A beautifully decorated church, synagogue, or hotel will serve as the setting for your ultra formal ceremony, which may take place in the afternoon or evening. Following the ceremony, you will celebrate with your guests at a lavish reception of dinner and dancing. Invitations of fine quality paper and classic engraving or thermographed printing will inform your guests they will be attending a wedding of magnificent splendor and tasteful elegance.
Formal Weddings
On a smaller scale, the formal wedding is rich with the tradition and beauty of the ultra formal wedding. Choose a gracious floor length gown with chapel train and flowing veil. Highlight your gown with pastel colors or a bright bouquet. The full-length dresses of your two to six attendants will compliment your breathtaking couture. Your handsome groom wiljproclaim his love in a tuxedo as your tearful mother stands by fo Her floor or ankle length dress. Mornings, afternoons, or evenings are all ideal for a formal ceremony performed in a church or social club. A festive reception for 100 or more friends and relatives allows you to rejoice in your marriage with food and beverage befitting the hour. Choose engraved or thermographed invitations of a color and design reflecting your joyous day with beauty and brilliance.
Semi Formal Weddings
Break away from tradition and make your wedding truly special with a semi formal ceremony. Your floor or tealength wedding gown may be white, ivory, or a beautiful pastel. Select a short veil, hat, or wreath of fresh flowers to frame your face with radiance. One or two attendants will accompany you down the aisle in delicate tea-length gowns similar to the tea-length dresses of the mother-of-the-bride and mother-of-the-groom. Your future husband will greet you at the altar in a dark formal suit and bow tie. A chapel or private home will house your intimate ceremony and possibly your reception of hors d’oeuvres and champagne. Fewer than 100 guests will receive invitations of beautifully colored papers adorned with flowers, decorations, and your unique proclamation of love.
Informal Weddings
Informal weddings lack the pomp and ceremony of other wedding styles; however, they may be as beautifully memorable. You may choose to wed in a modest floor length gown or striking street length dress or suit. One maid of honor and best man will complete your intimate wedding party. You and your groom will share your vows in a judge’s chambers, private home, or small church. Traditionally, your afternoon informal wedding will host fewer than 50 of your closest friends and relatives. Printed invitations of personal poems or photographs will inform your guests of a quiet ceremony in celebration of genuine love.