How to Choose Wedding Decorations and Favors: For Your Special Day

The right wedding decorations can transform any location into a magical place. However, the location itself will influence your choice of wedding decoration. For instance, are you having your wedding indoors or outdoors? Is the wedding ceremony going to be held in church? If not, will the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception be held at the same place or at different places? What time of day will the wedding be held? Also what time of the year will it be? All these factors should be kept in mind while choosing your wedding decorations.Before you decide on your wedding decorations, it is extremely important to check out the locations and find out if they have any specific rules or regulations regarding wedding decorations. If you are getting married in a church find out what decorations will already be in place on the day of your wedding. After all, you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money getting beautiful wedding decorations and then find out that they look all wrong in the location or that the rules of the place forbid you from using those or that you didn’t need them in the first place. Also keep in mind the style and colors of the wedding and the theme, if any. When thinking about the wedding decorations, keep in mind not just the decorations themselves but also the kind of lighting you need.For the ceremony itself, focus first on getting your wedding decorations for the altar or the altar equivalent. This is because that is where you will be getting married and that is where the entire focus of the guests will be. The other two important areas requiring wedding decorations are the pews and the doorway through which you will be entering. When it comes to the location of your reception, the areas that deserve top priority for decoration are the head table where you will be sitting and which will be the focus of the celebrations, the centerpieces for the tables, the entrance and the dance floor. In addition to this, there may be some other aspect unique to the locations of your wedding that you may want to highlight or camouflage through the use of wedding decorations.When it comes to wedding decorations, the most popular tend to be flowers, candles and ribbons. Flowers, both real ones and silk ones, can transform any place. Ideally, pick flowers that come in the wedding colors. Also if you decide to go in for real flowers then keep in mind what flowers will be in season. Candles and candelabras are equally magical and few things are as romantic as a wedding ceremony by candlelight. For added drama, shallow bowls of water with floating candles. Votives are a great idea as well. However, the amount of natural light you get at the wedding location is something that you should check out before you go in for this option. Ribbons are also a popular options especially when combined with flowers or candles. Ribbons are also a great way to enhance a certain theme. The ribbons can be of satin, organza, tulle or even simple netting.Now that your choose a theme or the wedding decorations, you can decide and select wedding favors. The exact origin of wedding favors is lost in the mists of time. However, clearly the custom of giving guests something to take back with them has been around for sometime in many cultures. Records from Rome at the turn of the first millennium show that nobility frequently handed out gifts to the guests at a wedding banquet. In 16th and 17th century England, it was common for the happy bride and groom to give their guests love knots made of lace and ribbon. Whatever the origins, the custom has stayed on and is today one of the integral parts of the wedding celebration.These days there are a variety of favors to suit every taste and every budget. However, if you like the simple elegance of the days gone by and are having a traditional wedding ceremony, you may want to take a look at some traditional wedding favors. You may get some ideas that will help you find a wedding favor that fits right in with the traditional theme of your wedding.The earliest of wedding favor traditions consisted of ribbons and lace knotted together to symbolize the knot of marriage. If you like the idea of ribbons, but are looking for a way to update it a bit, one way of doing so is to tie up your favors in a mass of different colored ribbons. That’s a combination of the old and new that you just can’t beat.Is there anything that symbolizes love better than flowers? Flowers, especially orange blossoms, are very popular at Spanish weddings. For a traditional wedding favor with a modern twist, consider giving your guests orange blossoms in a bud vase or even seeds or bulbs for flowers that they can go back and plant in their own gardens.A Dutch traditional wedding favor that fits right in with our times is that of “Bridal Sugar” – five pieces of candy to symbolize the five wedding wishes of love, happiness, prosperity, loyalty and fertility. Candy coated almonds, also known as Jordan almonds, are similarly as rich with symbolism as they are with taste. While the slightly bitter taste of almonds represents the fact that life is not always joyous, the candy represents the hope that marriage will coat the bitterness of life with sweetness. To add a further layer of symbolism, give out an odd number of almonds – odd numbers cannot be divided equally into two and thus symbolize the hope that the married couple won’t be divided ever again. Dried fruits are also a great wedding tradition, symbolizing fertility and the bounty of the harvest. The best part about these favors? They taste delicious! Bon Appetit.