“Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe”

This short rhyme is believed to bring good luck and a happy marriage. “Something old” for continuity with the past and with her family; “Something new” to bring hope for the future; “Something borrowed” from another happily married woman gives the new bride some of their good fortune; “Something blue” may be to symbolize the bride’s purity and for various reasons a sixpence in the bride’s shoe should bring wealth.

The rhyme symbolises some of the old traditions and customs that were involved with a wedding and many brides today still want to adhere to those traditions. For example, it is deemed unlucky for the bride to make her own dress, however one stitch was left undone and the bride would sew “the last stitch” on her wedding day and this would bring her good luck.

Most girls dream about their wedding day for most of their adolescent years and by the time they settle on the perfect suitor they have a rough idea of what style of wedding they want. With the help of these pages we try to provide you with the information that you may need to achieve your dream wedding, as well as a directory of local wedding suppliers.

The Wedding Dress

The wedding dress is one of the most important purchase that you are ever going to make and can be just as important as the venue in achieving your dream wedding. How a Bride arrives at her Wedding is one of the most iconic moments of the Wedding Day. Arguably this is one of the most important parts of the day included with walking up the aisle and the exchanging of vows. The choice of carriage is endless and is only limited by your imagination and budget.

Marriage is such an important decision, so perhaps this is why the tradition of the Bride arriving a few minutes arrived late has become an important and expected part of the Wedding Ceremony? A good driver will be able to calm pre-wedding nerves as well as advising the Bride on how to make maximum impact, so bear this in mind when choosing who takes the Bride to one of the most important days of her life.

The Perfect Hens Event

The Hen Party traditionally involved the bride dressing up in old clothes, the louder the better, and going round the town with a chantie pot full of salt exchanging kisses for money. Nowadays its more likely involve a night at the theatre, a meal and a drink down the pub with much singing and shouting! Its popular also to make a weekend of the event when the bride and friends head off somewhere as a group and do something different like an outdoor activity or attend a spa. The Maid of Honour is responsible for making all the arrangements and the bride should not have to pay for anything. That’s what the money in the chantie pot was used for!

Wear White or Not?

Should you wear white or not? “Married in White, you have chosen right, Married in Blue, your love will always be true, Married in Pearl, you will live in a whirl, Married in Brown, you will live in (or out of) town, Married in Red, you will wish yourself dead, Married in Yellow, ashamed of your fellow, Married in Green, ashamed to be seen, Married in Pink, your spirit will sink, Married in Grey, you will go far away, Married in Black, you will wish yourself back.”

White symbolises innocence and purity but nowadays a wedding dress can be of any colour or shape that suits the bride. Ivory and blue are close runners up in popular colours. One of the deciding factors will be the budget that is available as some dresses can cost more that the honeymoon!

Wedding Vows

Your wedding vows may depend on the type of wedding you are planning i.e in a church, is it a faith based wedding or is it a civil ceremony. You have the choice to stay with the standard wedding vows for that faith or make up your own. Traditionally wedding vows mainly came from the book of Common Prayer which had the famous lines of “love, honour and obey”. That phrase is losing popularity today! and most couples have a choice to add something to the standard vows for that faith, or completely write their own vows. The bride and groom can have different vows and remember that they will be said in front of a lots of guests and this can make the task of writing your own vows daunting. With some thought and preparation and consulting the celebrant who will conduct your ceremony, writing personal and meaningful vows is a real and public declaration of love and commitment.

Maid of Honour

Being a maid of honour, aka chief bridesmaid, comes with lots of responsibility that will see you help with both the planning stages and on the wedding day itself. It is traditional for the person selected as the maid of honour to stand out from the other bridesmaids such as a dress of a slightly different style or colour or to carry a slightly different bouquet. The Maid of Honour has many tasks to perform and one of the main ones is to organise the Hen Party. Other tasks can be to help with the planning and just assist the bride on the big day as well as dancing with the Best Man after the Bride and Groom have had the first dance. She should also organise the “Something Borrowed, Something Blue” for the bride. It is not usual that the Maid of Honour makes a speech.

The bride should always arrive at the ceremony location in style, and a little late! There are many options available locally for carriage hire and we have included a list of some of them.