Architexters

Finding a stunning unique wedding reception location is one aspect of your wedding theme. Since the wedding reception generally follows the theme established throughout the ceremony, invites etc, it is usually best to plan for the wedding and reception to follow the same general themed format, although this is not written in stone. Aim to make the reception a place to ‘let loose’, a place to bypass the formal setting often created in the ceremony.

Unique wedding receptions usually begin with an unusual, creative location. A drab and lackluster location for your reception, no matter how well it is decorated, will not ‘wow’ your guests. A unique setting will inspire you to create wonderful ideas, to ‘break out of the box’ and create something totally your own.

No matter where you choose to host your reception, there are essential details you need to look after when planning:

1. Weather / Environment – is the wedding reception inside or out?

2. Setup – Is this a non-traditional location? Will it have sufficient power for the entertainment? Adequate parking space for guests? Also consider distance – most guests do not want to drive into the deep woods to attend your reception.

3. Cleanup, setup – Most ‘traditional’ wedding reception venues have cleanup in place. Make sure to inquire about this when selecting the venue. Otherwise, you may need to draw on family and friends to help with this aspect.

4. Theme – Does the location fit the theme you have chosen for your wedding. Keep in mind, you do not need a theme for your wedding, but it does help to keep things on track.

5. Does the location invoke ‘wows’ from friends? Take a small group of friends to the location, and ask them what they think.

Truly Unique Wedding Reception Locations:

Corn field clearing. Now don’t laugh, I seen a stunning Western wedding theme done up perfectly in a cornfield clearing. Complete with rented gazebos, a fire pit and a Country band for entertainment, the event went off very well.

Sports Venue. Why not host your reception at your favorite sports venue, if you are a sport fan? Theme the reception with sport favors.

Building Top / High Rise. A wedding reception on the top of a city skyscraper can be both exhilarating and memorable, although this might be on the ‘pricy side’ depending on where you live.

More common wedding reception locations might include Barns, Gardens / Display Gardens, Ranches, Beaches. Since the wedding reception is only limited by your imagination, take the time to sit down and really brainstorm some great ideas. It will be well worth it in the end

Jen Carter is owner of My Wedding Blog, a free wedding planner. The above article is found in our wedding receptions category.

Visualize weddings as like a jigsaw puzzle of traditions. Everyone has their own customs they bring from their family and culture. When a man and woman decide to marry, they each bring a piece of the puzzle to create a unique tradition of their own. The lighting of unity candles is one of these traditions that have become more popular within the past ten to twenty years.

When referring to unity candles, there are actually three. Two thin tapered candles stand for two individuals who will unite in marriage. There is also a large pillar candle that will be lit which signifies the joining of the two individuals. Depending on the location and preference, sometimes you will have a special candle dish or holder which will house all three unity candles. Other times you will have the large candle in the middle and the other two flanking it. Individual candle holders may be used for the unity candles as well.

The lighting of the unity candles has no religious connotations, but is representative of what a marriage is all about. There are no written rules on how the lighting of the unity candles should be performed. Therefore, you can create your own traditions and tailor this ritual to suit your wedding ceremony.

Typically, though, the unity candles are lit right after the wedding rings are exchanged but before the bride and groom are announced as husband and wife. There are also variations on who originally lights the individual unity candles. Sometimes, the individual tapered unity candles are lit before the ceremony starts and stay lit throughout the entire process. Other times, the parents of the bride and groom step forward after the ring presentation to light the candles.

The practice of the lighting of the unity candles also may have the bride and groom each lighting their own during the ritual. Then they come together and light the larger one in a symbol of unity, of two becoming one. Some debate exists about whether or not to blow out the individual tapered unity candles or leave them lit. One argument for blowing out the individual candles is that it symbolizes your forsaking the single life and committing to one another in marriage. On the flip side, leaving them lit means that while you are committed to one another in marriage, you are not forsaking your own individualism either.

Now that you have an idea about the ritual of lighting the unity candles, did you realize that are so many to choose from too? The unity candles are made in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes. Some are simple and unadorned. Others are elaborate and showy, decorated in a style suited to match your wedding décor.

These unity candles are customizable too. You can make them personal by having your wedding date printed on it along with your names. A special quote or short poem might be appropriate to convey your sentiments about marriage.

Marriage is the biggest commitment a person makes. Lighting of the unity candles as part of your wedding ceremony makes a big impact. Not only are you reciting vows before your loved ones, but you are also symbolizing your union in a very visual way.

So what do you do with the unity candles once the ceremony is over? Keep them to light for special occasions like your anniversary or the birth of a new child. You will be able to enjoy your unity candles for years to come.

Dave Poon is the owner of Go Wedding Gifts. We take the headache out of selecting gifts for your wedding party, whether they are Groomsmen, Best Men or Bridesmaids. Stop by and see our selection of bridesmaid gifts and groomsmen gifts at http://www.GoWeddingGifts.com

The concept of wedding jitters or cold feet (leaving the bride or the groom at the altar) is not a new phenomenon but has been around for as long as anybody can remember in some form or shape.

Movies like “runaway bride” and the recent news in the media about brides walking away from their pending nuptials has captured our attention in more than one way.

What is behind this “Cold Feet” concept? I am sure the root cause is some psychological reason for both men and women which terrifyies them to take the plunge into holy matrimony. Leaving the Bride or Groom at the alter and undoing months of wedding planning and expense is far more serious than the normal anxiety attacks suffered by an average person.

As many studies and surveys show that contrary to the popular perception of happy bride or Groom to be before the wedding many women and men find this time of transition a very trying and stressful period in their life and some go to the extreme of not going through with the wedding at all. Our Society has experimented with many ways to cope with the fear of commitment, the most popular and now an accepted norm is living together before any kind of serious long term commitment.

The point is if there is more than normal panic attacks involved here then the whole relationship needs to be examined carefully before taking the plunge into marriage(and before the pending Wedding day).

If the both the parties involved sit together and take a look at the practical aspect of the relationship as opposed to emotional then this anxiety and concern can be addressed in a much more constructive way and will save loads of heartache and embarrassment for everybody involved. To have a long lasting and fruitful union in any form it is best to get the little issues out of the way and then the big issues will be resolved in the same manner. The key is communication. If you communicate your fears and concerns beforehand, there will be no body alone at the altar on the Wedding day.

This article is brought to you by courtesy of www.weddingfavorsandgiftideas.com, etailer of quality wedding favors, wedding party gifts, groomsmen and bridesmaid gifts, personalized and unique wedding favors, wedding favor packaging and much more for budget concious brides.

There is an interesting and sometimes unfortunate phenomenon that occurs in the lives of physicians that I think requires more study. It pertains to observations I have made over the last 20 years in my conversations with physicians who have committed themselves to very demanding practices.

I have noticed very busy physicians often find themselves challenged with someone in their own family, usually a spouse, who succumbs to some form of chronic illness (usually a mental illness). At first one might simply explain this away by saying that this can happen to anyone. Yes, that is true however it is my hypothesis that an epidemiological study of this phenomenon in the lives of physicians might reveal an incidence that is somewhat higher than in the general population.

After giving some thought to this I am concluding that physicians are at greater risk of this phenomenon occurring in their lives. I hope to explain why this should be.

It has been my experience that some physicians tend to, knowingly or unknowingly, draw to themselves individuals who are unconsciously looking to them for emotional rescue. It appears to be the nature of the profession for physicians to become, if they are not careful, lightening rods for drawing individuals with immature personality characteristics who are skilled enough in eliciting sympathy from them. Physicians who themselves are narcissistically invested in being able to rescue others are at greatest risk for such unfortunate occurrences.

Early on in a relationship, as in many relationships, the full form of the dysfunctionality that is to manifest remains dormant. Infatuation and romance often leaves a trail of naiveté that many only become aware of much later, if at all.

As the years move on and the physician becomes drawn increasingly into his/her practice this creates an increasing strain on the spousal relationship and more often than not, if it doesn’t end for this reason, the non-physician spouse will often develop some form of mental illness.

When relationships do end, ironically, this is often a sign of the mental health of the non-physician spouse in refusing to tolerate the ongoing absence of the physician spouse in the relationship.

When it doesn’t end however it’s almost as if the ill spouse is conveying a message to the physician spouse that more attention is needed from them. Although neither partner realized it consciously earlier on, it becomes clear that the main foundation for the relationship is based on the need of the ill spouse to be “cared for” by the physician spouse. This is the so-called “unconscious contract” that was made by the lovers.

As the ill spouse becomes progressively more ill this places increasing pressure on the physician spouse to “re-enter” the relationship and to care for the ill spouse. Whether this actually happens however often depends on two significant factors (although not the only two) a) the amount of guilt the physician spouse can tolerate in not responding to the ill spouse’s needs and b) the degree to which the physician spouse can tolerate feelings of intimacy.

What often happens is that the physician spouse begins to feel trapped in an untenable situation which only adds to the energy drain that they are experiencing.

Interestingly the energy drain is also driven by the narcissistic investment or “need” the physician has in “rescuing others”. Such a pattern is conditioned in early childhood when a child is left in the unfortunate position of having to care for an emotionally ill parent.

This sets up a need in the child to help the parent “survive” so that they themselves can ward off feeling their own inner feelings of sadness and annihilation that threaten to emerge. They then become conditioned with a fear of feeling sadness or emotional pain coming from within.

The fear becomes enacted through compulsive behaviors of rescuing those (i.e. one’s patients in later life) who evoke feelings of emotional pain in the growing child. Through the rescuing behavior the child is also hoping to evoke loving appreciation and security for themselves from the ill parent.

The rescuing pattern in the physician’s adult relationships (i.e. marital and patient relationships) simply repeats the relationship they had as a child with their ill parent.

The sad part about all of this is that the physician feels trapped “in” the rescuing pattern themselves. Trapped because they can’t tolerate the feelings of sadness they experience when others around them are ill, yet they can’t leave because their own emotional integrity depends on being able to help the other.

So many physicians caught under such a strain often are tormented with feelings of guilt about wanting to leave. Such guilt paralyzes them and undermines their health in serious ways.

If this is you, or someone you know then kindly visit the web link below for help.

Dr. Nick Arrizza is trained in Chemical Engineering, Business Management & Leadership, Medicine and Psychiatry. He is an Energy Psychiatrist, Healer, Key Note Speaker,Editor of a New Ezine Called “Spirituality And Science” (which is requesting high quality article submissions) Author of “Esteem for the Self: A Manual for Personal Transformation” (available in ebook format on his web site), Stress Management Coach, Peak Performance Coach & Energy Medicine Researcher, Specializes in Life and Executive Performance Coaching, is the Developer of a powerful new tool called the Mind Resonance Process(TM) that helps build physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being by helping to permanently release negative beliefs, emotions, perceptions and memories. He holds live workshops, international telephone coaching sessions and international teleconference workshops on Physical. Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Well Being.

Business URL #1: http://www.telecoaching4u.com/Doctors.htm

Among the many social traditions followed since time immemorial, the wedding is arguably the most prominent and unique one. The mere mention of the word “wedding” forces us to think of grandeur, excitement, new challenges and people, a special relationship and so on.

The term wedding is used to refer to the ceremony celebrated to mark the beginning of a marriage. It is either religious or civil. Whichever country it may be, the simple meaning of a wedding is that it marks the beginning of a new stage in life. Weddings require both the bride and the groom to meet new people and learn to live with them.

A wedding is celebrated in different ways in different parts of the world. For example, in the Western countries, the tradition of the bride wearing a white gown is common. Also, other customs like the wedding cake, wedding reception, etc. can be found in most Western weddings.

A wedding may be celebrated in an extravagant and pompous manner. Or, it can be a simple and brief ceremony. In some cases, the wedding reception is celebrated in a grander manner than the wedding itself. In the reception, the bride throws a bouquet to the crowd and the woman who catches it is supposed to be the next one to ring the bell.

On the lighter side, there are some funny aspects to weddings. To quote, “Before marriage, a man yearns for a woman. After marriage, the ‘y’ is silent.”

Through the ages, the original meaning of the term “wedding” has undergone changes to such an extent that the ceremonies and other rituals associated with it have lost their real significance.

Some say that a wedding is destiny. If we ponder upon this, the original meaning of a wedding can be understood. Destiny is something that cannot be predicted or avoided. The same holds true for weddings, too. It brings together, or in other words, creates a bond between a man and a woman, who once married, will become life-partners. A wedding kicks off this special relationship and the real challenge of a successful wedding is the transformation of two people into most compatible life-partners.

Weddings provides detailed information on Weddings, Wedding Vows, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Cakes and more. Weddings is affiliated with Maui Wedding Planning.

Every bride and groom is into personalized vows. They want to have their little say about what love and marriage means to them – and they want the whole world to know. Some of these vows, dragged out of love-filled hearts, are a pleasure to listen to. Others, just dragged out, make painful listening. The profundity is somehow lost in the open air of a wedding day.

That a bride and groom might have difficulty in compiling a wedding vow is not to be wondered at. Much higher powers than they have lost a lot of sleep ensuring their appropriateness and completeness.

In times past, when a bride and groom were bound to each other as husband and wife merely by stating their intention, ‘I take you to be my husband,’ and ‘I take you to be my wife,’ pretty well said it all.

But, of course, with time and education, every bride and groom wanted their say.

So then it was, ‘I will be you wife, to love and to cherish and do all sort of things for you’.

Immediately, those who cared, detected a problem. Wasn’t ‘will’ a future verb? Didn’t its use tend to suggest that the woman would be the man’s wife at some future date, but not at the moment?

Sure, the future verb when used at a betrothal which, in those days, was as binding as the marriage itself, was good enough. But during the marriage ceremony the phrase to be used had to be a very define, present tense. In short, unless it was ‘I do take you as my husband’, it just might not end up being as legal as it was meant to be.

Needless to say, there was a lot of hair-splitting between those in favour of the future verb and those who insisted that only the present tense would do. Those for the future verb pointed out that a lot of other provisions had to be met to ensure the legality of a marriage. In effect, the vow was little more than trimming. Those for the present tense insisted that the vow was just as important, if not more so, than all the other requirements put together.

The war of the verbs continues to surface when legal minds get together on the subject of marriage. Couples are asked to consider very carefully how they structure their wedding vows. Well and good all that poetic staff that they want to overwhelm their partner with on the wedding day. Somewhere in the midst of all that fluff, however, there has to be a definite commitment to a legally binding union.

Vlady Peters is an Australian Civil Marriage Celebrant authorised to perform marriages in Australia. She also perform general ceremonies such as Baby Naming, Renewal of Vows and Commitment Ceremonies. To learn more about her as a celebrant and an author visit vlady at http://www.weddings-celebrant.com

One item that you may not think about but is really important to your reception: a great host. Just imagine, your guests arrive at your party but you’re rather busy attending to everyone. Your host or hostess for the night will need to get the party jumpstarted on your behalf and keep the party fun and flowing so that everyone, including yourself, enjoys the event.

You have the option to hire a professional to host your event. The great thing about this is that this gentleman or lady is very familiar with handling events and are used to dealing with crowds and strangers. If you give them a clear program to follow, they can liven up your party and help you make the transition between each activity smooth.

Of course, you may prefer to have a member of the family or your closest friend host the event for you. One advantage to this may be that he or she knows almost everyone at your wedding and can easily get them to participate. The disadvantage is that if they are nervous you’ll get a lot of dead air on the microphone and some garbled speech.

If you do go for a professional, check that you like their style. Ask if you can observe them at work if they are hosting another event. Check if you like their sense of humor as well. Keep in mind that you need someone who knows when the jokes are getting too risque or bawdy and are beginning to offend your guests.

You also don’t want to end up with someone who just wants to hit on your female guests. You’re looking for someone who can be both dignified, charming and an absolute source of excitement and control to face your family and friends on this important day.

It’s also very important that they dress appropriately, and speak articulately and eloquently on your behalf. After all, they are representing YOU for this major event

With 800 years of experience, there are few cities that can boast the atmosphere that Riga offers for stag parties. A vibrant, modern city with a special love of music, Riga offers a blend of adrenaline-raising activities and heart-pumping night life that make stag parties in Riga the sort that you’re still talking about years later. The Old Town in Riga boasts clubs, live music, DJs, casinos and bars that cover the spectrum from posh to dodgy. And if shopping is part of your agenda, Riga’s city market is the largest in the world.

Shopping on a stag weekend? Stag parties in Riga find some unusual things to do, and shopping is one of them. The City Market is housed under four enormous renovated zeppelin hangars, and is a great place to test your Stag’s mettle in the face of the local ’scenery’. It’s just a few minutes walk from Old Town Riga, where dozens of pubs and bars offer an excellent venue for a Riga stag parties pub crawl. If you’re not certain of the best watering holes in the city – and who’d expect a bunch of tourists out on a holiday stag jaunt to know? – you can turn the planning over to a tour organizer that specialises in arranging activities for stag parties in Riga.

One Riga stag parties activity that you won’t find in many other cities is an afternoon of – bob-sledding. Hurtling down an icy bobsleigh track at speeds approaching blurring, with no brakes to slow your downward descent – is there a better metaphor for the journey your mate is about to embark than that? Other daytime activities for stag parties in Riga include paintball, quad biking, off road karting and… wait for it.. bungee jumping! Let your stag literally take the plunge before he jumps off the cliffs into married life, eh?

Stag parties in Riga really hit their stride in the evenings, though, with dozens of clubs and music venues that offer a taste of every entertainment imaginable. Hit the nightclubs with a guide, or rent out a limousine for a bangup start to your night with a lapdance limo ride. If you make your arrangements in advance, you can end up your pub crawl in one of Riga’s lap dancing and strip clubs for a night of ogling the best girl flesh that Eastern Europe has to offer.

Bobsleighing in Riga is just one example of a fun stag parties activity that a professional tour operator can help you arrange. If you’re looking for more unique ideas for stag parties in Riga or any other city, contact Chillisauce, a tour operator that specialises in unique and unusual stag nights, bachelor parties and stag weekends.

Brett Danielson works for http://www.chillisauce.co.uk, a tour operator
specialising in unique and unusual stag weekends and stag parties to UK and
European cities. For more information on Riga stag weekend activities or
options in other cities please visit Chillisauce for a full listing of available destinations and events.

Marriage is one of the oldest customs known to us. It is difficult to answer about why a couple would like to marry, if they can live together even otherwise. But marriages are considered a proper union world wide in most of the cultures and religions.

If one looks at a married couple, one can plot a graph of happiness in marriage and the years of married life. With most of the couples, one may find that the happiness decreases as the years pass. There may be many reasons for this, and every study will bring out newer results. Let us think about how a married couple can have a marriage of hearts that will have happiness forever like we find in fiction books.

How does one define marriage of hearts? One way of saying would be that both the partners are very emotionally attached to each other. They care not for themselves, but for their partner. Their thoughts become one, their views become one and they live with each other in all the senses. There are no compromises. Look around yourself and you will find the neighborhood full of marriages where compromise is a way of life. What true joy can a marriage full of compromises can give?

True togetherness comes with the marriage of hearts. How to make one’s marriage a marriage of hearts? The first step should be absolute openness about everything. To begin with tell your partner about everything that you feel about him/her and about yourself. All of us do self talk. Isn’t. We talk to ourselves. During this kind of talk, we are very open, because we don’t worry about the reactions. Let your talk with your partner become something like self talk. Openness gives two benefits. One – your partner knows very precisely about your views, your likes and your dislikes. So there is no tension to think about what is going on in other’s mind. The second benefit is faith. When you tell everything very openly, you are sending the message of faith. I have full faith in you. I feel totally open with you. I want to hide nothing from you.

How to react to your partner’s openness? Once your partner begins telling everything very openly, you will get many shocks. You never knew that he/she was thinking like this for this issue! What to do? First – appreciate the openness. If you are shocked with few thoughts, put yourself in his/her shoes in find out if you also don’t have opinions that may shock the other party? One always think of two issues. Who is the person who is holding the views that I don’t like and are the views more important or the person. Also, am I always the best judge of vies. Who am I to say what is right and what is wrong? I myself change my opinions from time to time.

With the openness of thoughts, there will be no possibility of any conflict about suppressing your personality to keep the marriage alive. As both of you open up, dialogs will improve in quality. And slowly both of you will begin understanding each other very well. As you come to know more about the true thoughts of your spouse, you will make efforts to see that he/she is not hurt by you unknowingly.

Respect the other person and his/her views and desires at all the times. If you feel bad about anything, tell. Don’t suppress. Let the other partner know that you want her/him to change in certain areas. Request for change. In most of the relationships, people are unaware of the thoughts of their partner for a very long time. Both the parties suppress themselves to continue the facade of sharing and love. Such marriages may outwardly look successful, but give no happiness in life. Happiness and marriage of hearts comes only with openness and confidence about the relationship.

Talk this out with your spouse and if you feel that you should become more open with each other and proceed towards true sharing in every sense, please do. One compromises in every relationship in life. Should marriage also be one such relationship?

CD is a content writer for CupidEcards, and ValentinesDay-Cards

So you’ve set a date with the man of your dreams? The only thing, well one of the many things, you have to do to get ready is choose the perfect dress. If you want help with that, you’re reading the wrong article. This advice is to keep you from choosing the WRONG wedding dress. Below are practical ideas to keep you from making a very expensive mistake (no, I’m not talking about your fiance).

1. It’s gotta fit. This might seem obvious to you, but many brides swear they are a size six and cram their bodies into dresses much too small for them. This unflattering approach to wedding dress shopping can make for bad pictures, not to mention discomfort on your big day.

2. Style is a must. Not every woman has the desire to be current with wedding dress fashions, but there are some definite no-nos. Stay away from halters, giant puffy sleeves, and mermaid style skirts (tight around the hips and knees and flared at the ankles). Also avoid any dress that you saw in a wedding more than 5 years ago.

3. Consider the setting. Don’t choose a dress for a different wedding, even if it’s been your dream since you were a little girl. Long sleeved dresses should NOT be worn at an outdoor wedding in August. (I knew a bride once who did this and put a ziploc bag of ice down the back of her dress) Conversely, don’t choose a sleeveless dress for an outdoor reception in November. (Again, the bride who did this turned into the Wicked Witch of the West during pictures) Lastly, and this is a little known fact, don’t wear lots of tulle for an outdoor event. This one I learned personally. The fabric attracts bees like crazy. I had those flying pests in between all 12 layers of my tulle skirt.

4. Love it. Don’t buy a dress that you don’t absolutely love. You only get one chance to have your perfect day. Choosing the cheapest, or the most sensible, or even the one that your best friend likes the most will not cut it for your wedding. If you don’t love it, leave it.

Hopefully this advice will keep you from making a mistake when it comes to your wedding dress. This is one of the only elements of planning a wedding that is almost entirely in your control. You may order flowers that come in silk instead of fresh. Perhaps your invitations spell your parents names “Joan and Jill.” Maybe your caterer had a death in the family. Well, you won’t have all of these things happen. At least, probably not. But, at least you will have not picked a bad dress.

I’m glad you read this because when you look back after a few years, you will remember nothing except your sheer joy, and your pictures will remind you of many wonderful moments in your beautiful wedding dress. Jessica Deets writes articles of interest for the general public. The website at http://www.BeautifulWeddingDresses.com has more information and news about wedding dresses.