Wedding Couple Doreen & Josh

Bride, Doreen standing in front

of the Pleasant Home fireplace

On September 11, 2010, I had the pleasure and honor of being a part of Doreen and Josh's special day at the Pleasant Home Mansion in Oak Park, IL. The weather was beautiful, the food was great, those two could not have asked for anything more. The bride and groom chose to have their ceremony at the bride's parents home a month before the reception, which was a small ceremony and only consisted of the immediate family. Because of the the bride and groom's different ethnic backgrounds (the bride's family is from Bangladesh and the groom's family is Czech American), both decided to have a separate reception to include friends and family. They wanted a more laid back feel than a traditional banquet-style reception, which is why they chose the Pleasant Home mansion to host their reception.

History of The Pleasant Home Mansion

The Pleasant Home is a historic home located in the heart of Oak Park, Illinois, an architectural treasure designed by noted Prairie Style architect George W. Maher for investment banker and philanthropist John W. Farson. The Pleasant Home is very beautiful and the feel on the inside was "pleasant." The Pleasant Home also has a nice outdoor area and the outdoors was thoroughly enjoyed by the children who were present.

Special thanks to David Hernandez Photography, who will be sending me images soon from the beautiful reception. August Bloom Florals for the wonderful bouquets and rose petals, Pierre's Bakery for the delicious cake and desserts, M&M, The Special Events Company for their lovely linens and Maya Del Sol for the delicious cuisine. A special thanks to Todd Gunderson of Maya Del Sol who went above and beyond to make things happen.

Please come back next week as I will have pictures from Doreen and Josh's lovely reception, but for now...

Cheers!

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"What's Your Specialty?"

I specialize in weddings. My "About Me" section sums up exactly what I specialize in: "Candace enjoys creating stylish, sophisticated, and elegant events for her clients. She believes in turning your dreams into reality and prides herself with her meticulous attention to detail to ensure that your event is nothing else but fabulous." I do not have a specific type of wedding that I specialize in because as a wedding consultant I will plan any wedding. Whether it's a Jewish wedding, Irish wedding, Indian wedding, African wedding, Asian wedding, African-American wedding, or just a regular 'ole traditional wedding, as it states above I create stylish, sophisticated and elegant events for ALL of my clients.

I absolutely love weddings and I welcome all cultures. This is a common question asked of potential clients and after being asked this question a few times, I decided to share my answer in my blog.

* * * * *

During this journey of wedding planning, I have learned so many things about different cultures. As a wedding consultant, it is important that we learn, research, and study about different cultures because every culture is different especially when a wedding is concerned. I have spent hours learning about different cultures and have reached out to vendors (designers in particular) and venues (most will host a cultural and multicultural wedding/reception) who specialize in cultural weddings and/or multicultural weddings/reception. I especially enjoy planning multicultural weddings because I love how two different cultures blend together their beliefs and culture into their wedding ceremony and/or reception.

For me, planning a cultural and/or multicultural wedding is exciting because of the opportunity of working and meeting different vendors who specialize in that particular culture and meeting the bride and groom and hearing their story, etc. I love it. For instance, there is so much that goes into planning an Indian wedding and more involved if the bride and/or groom is Indian and marrying someone of another cultural background. Most of the time in these cases, both individuals want to incorporate their beliefs and culture in the ceremony and reception.

Though I do not specialize in Indian weddings, I do specialize in weddings and I have extensive knowledge and resources from research, attending Indian weddings, attending Indian wedding shows and working with vendors who specialize in Indian weddings (designers, Henna artists, restaurants, etc.). I am also a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants which exclusively serves wedding professionals and trains wedding coordinators. It is our responsibility as an ABC member to attend seminars so that we are kept current on wedding trends, etc.

It is so important to be knowledgeable in all areas of wedding planning because as a wedding planner, we want our clients and/or potential clients to feel confident that we will make their dream wedding become a reality. Whatever wedding assignment I am given, with my knowledge and understanding of various cultures, I will make their dream wedding a reality and can't wait to make yours come true ~ but for now...

Happy Planning!

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Multicultural Wedding Favors

I was visiting a website www.chicweddingfavors.com and found information regarding Multicultural wedding ideas and wedding favors. It is becoming increasingly more common for couples of mixed background and ancestries to marry. Hence, there is more demand for creative ways to have a multicultural wedding. At any multicultural wedding each family’s traditions are both wonderful in themselves and important. Therefore, it is important to incorporate both cultures and not to neglect one culture while spotlighting the other. There are little ways to put special cultural touches to the wedding, including in such aspects as wedding favors, food, décor and entertainment. Even if the couple themselves don’t have strong ties to their individual cultures, it is important to consider the feelings of the family members. (Sara Macy of ChicWeddingFavors.com)

One of the easiest ways to approach a multicultural wedding is to let one culture dominate the ceremony and the other the reception. Often the wedding ceremony takes place in the pride of the bride’s cultural and the wedding reception follows the traditions of the groom’s culture. The wedding reception can have traditional food, entertainment, and toasts to honor the cultural background. Many modern Asian American couples will have a traditional Asian wedding ceremony in tradition Asian wedding attire and then the wedding reception is usually a modern traditional American wedding reception.

As the wedding ceremony is of a spiritual nature for most cultures, it is often important to ensure the wedding attire, vows, music, décor and procedures of both the bride and groom as closely as possible. It is common to hold two ceremonies when the two cultures are extremely different. Couples often like to take separate religious vows at each of their given religious houses. Multicultural weddings are often elaborated and last several days in order to incorporate both cultures and events.

There are also innumerable ways to include both cultures at a wedding without lapsing into a multiple days wedding. One way is to have the bride and groom wear the traditional attire of one heritage, while proceeding down the aisle to traditional music of the other. Another take is to have the bride and groom dress according to each other’s cultural heritage. This will symbolize their total willingness to embrace one another’s traditions.

Wedding Favors

Another nice touch is to give out a little wedding favor at the ceremony to symbolize one culture and another wedding favor at the reception to symbolize the other culture.

Give out wedding favors from both cultures or mix it up. For example, at an American/Asian wedding give out truffles or all American M&M’s in a traditional Asian takeout favor box. Asian favors are very popular and inexpensive. Some pictures are below of a few Asian themed favors I found on www.beau-coup.com.

Double Happiness Wedding Favor Bag

Cherry Blossom Glass Coasters

Personalized Themed Cookie Jars

Wedding favors are one of the most creative ways to express yourselves and show gratitude to your guests. That is why it is important to be creative and symbolic with the multicultural wedding favors.

Multicultural weddings are on the rise. There is an increasing need to find thoughtful ways to blend two cultures so that wedding guests can cherish and enjoy the special day. Do you know anyone who has had a multicultural wedding? Care to share your experience? I would love to hear form you with your ideas or suggestions for wedding favor ideas for a multicultural wedding, but for now...

Happy Planning!

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Sources: www.beau-coup.com and Sara Macy of ChicWeddingFavors.com, 2007.

Interfaith Ceremonies

When a couple blends traditions, cultures and religions when planning a ceremony, that can be a harrowing obstacle when planning a wedding, or it can be the perfect opportunity to share your spiritual beliefs and begin to blend your two worlds.

Below are five instructions on how to plan an Interfaith wedding between the bride and groom:

1. Sit down with your fiance and discuss one another's values. Identify what is most meaningful to each of you about your wedding ceremony and your religions, then start to find ways to compromise.
2. Do your research. Talk to other couples, look to the many resources available in your community, set up a meeting with religious authorities.
3. Mull over the possibility of asking both your respective clergy members to officiate at the wedding. Or, as an alternative, you might even consider having two separate ceremonies.
4. Choose a neutral setting in which to hold the ceremony and reception, such as a hotel ballroom or country club.
5. Keep a good perspective. Remember, each couple's wedding day is unique to them - this is a way to further personalize your ceremony.

{EHow.com}

What I find is helpful when planning an Interfaith wedding, is that the couple incorporate both faiths in the ceremony and reception. This will make the families happy and give the other family and/or friends the opportunity to learn and participate in unfamiliar traditions. It is important to find an officiant (or two) who believes in your union and who you feel comfortable with. Another suggestion is to perhaps have two ceremonies. Recently, I watched an episode of one of the wedding shows (I watch so many) and the couple had two ceremonies. The bride was Christian and the groom was Indian. The first ceremony was a traditional Indian ceremony (the location of the first ceremony was a destination wedding on an island) and the second ceremony was a small gathering of friends and family where the couple lived in a Christian church. This pleased both parents and was acceptable.

In a recent article that I read in The Knot Chicago (spring/summer issue, p. 111), there's an Interfaith couple who married recently. The bride is Jewish and the groom is Indian. There were two ceremonies. The first ceremony was an Indian ceremony and then the couple had a Western ceremony. In honor of the bride's Jewish faith, the groom stepped on the glass. Mazel Tov!

Other things to consider when planning an Interfaith wedding is the reception. It's time to think about celebrating your different cultures with your friends and families. Some ideas are:

Ethnic Food: At the reception, you can do a buffet, including different food stations that reflect your background (for example, a sushi station and a Jamaican grill) or if you prefer sit down, you can split the courses between two types of cuisine.

Music: You can incorporate songs that compliment your religion or culture and if one of you is Jewish, you've just got to do the horah!

Decor: Get inspired to decorate to play up your cultural theme...this is the part I so love.

There are many ideas when having an interfaith wedding without all the worries because there are ways to compromise. These are just a few ideas that I have found in my research that I wanted to share, but for now...

Happy Planning!

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Sources: The Knot (spring/summer 2009 issue), theknot.com, EHow.com
Photo Credit: The Knot (Geoff White Photography, Redwood City, CA)

Multi-Cultural Weddings

This month I will be sharing with you what I have learned through my ongoing research and experience of Multi-Cultural Weddings. I enjoy learning about different cultures and the many different traditions that goes into the planning of specific cultures weddings. Coming from a multi-cultural background myself, I know how important it is to include specific traditions into your wedding ceremony and/or wedding reception.

Wedding traditions are varied among every culture and faith and more and more couples who are tying the knot these days are in a multi-cultural relationship. As such, when they come to planning their wedding, it is not always a traditional white wedding, with western ideals and traditions. Multi-cultural weddings are more likely to incorporate different aspects of each person's culture and heritage.

The fact is with over 1.6 million multicultural marriages in the United States, it is apparent that multicultural weddings will be the trend of the future. While many couples prefer their weddings to be culturally neutral, others are facing the multiethnic issue face on and are incorporating both cultures in a unique style of their own. (www.buzzle.com, Frank Duru)

This month I will be sharing how two people from two cultural backgrounds incorporate their traditions in their wedding, how to plan a multicultural wedding, multicultural themes, and the difficulties interracial couples are facing when planning a wedding.

Planning a wedding is not easy for anyone. There are still many ways of getting help with difficult planning choices. Wedding planners, caterers, friends and family are excellent resources for designing a custom multicultural wedding. Weddings are personal experiences, and the best one's are the most unique. I hope you find this series of various cultures that I will be sharing with you in the coming months is both helpful and useful in planning your wedding, but for now...

Happy Planning!

Find this blog interesting? Mention us in your post, subscribe to our feed, link to us, or bookmark this site. Thanks for your support.

Sources: http://www.buzzle.com (INTERRACIAL COUPLES: Multicultural Weddings - a New Kind of Celebration, by Frank Duru); http://www.associatedcontent.com/ (How to Plan a Multi-Cultural Wedding, by Sophie)

Photo Credit: The Knot