Adventurous Wedding Themes

A wedding cake with insects? Tattooed frogs instead of a wedding ring? The bride and groom in Halloween costumes? It's not an episode of X-Files, it's the innovative and unique way some couples have recently embarked on married life. More couples are choosing non-traditional weddings so they can have fun, not stress, on their special day.

Ed and Joann Oechslin were married two years ago. Their wedding ceremony and reception was based on a theater theme complete with old movie posters decorating the walls, and invitations that resembled a program for a Broadway play. The wedding invitations had their faces superimposed over actors Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley. It was very campy and goofy. After the ceremony, wedding guests attended a theater performance, and although the ceremony took place in a church mid-afternoon, the wedding was anything but traditional.

An unusual wedding reception took place last summer at a local park. It was a very casual and relaxed wedding, with a cookie decorating table for the kids. A horse and buggy brought the bride and groom and then stayed afterwards to give the kids a ride.

One couple got married last October with a Halloween theme. All the guests wore costumes and a celtic rock band provided entertainment. The bride and groom came dressed as Anthony and Cleopatra. The bride had black hair with straight bangs, a toga, long dangling earrings, and big false eyelashes. The groom looked like a gladiator with sandals and a short skirt. Among the nuptials' other unusual elements were invitations that read ''party your face off,'' and a loony bar, which donated all funds raised to endangered species breeding and research programs.

Last summer, there was a wedding with an insect theme. The bride and groom had frogs tattooed on their fingers instead of wedding rings. Marzipan frogs decorated the wedding cake, as well as other insects. The bride and groom did wear traditional wedding attire.

Dixon and Chelsey Brown originally planned elaborate traditional nuptials in a city park. A nearby community center was chosen to hold the 150-guest reception. However, only a few days before the wedding, the river rose to dangerously high levels and weather advisories predicted flooding. Just three days before the wedding, the ceremony site was submerged beneath four feet of water. In desperation, the couple found alternative sites for their ceremony and reception and spent two days evacuating their houses in anticipation of the flood. In the end, the wedding was held at a school cafeteria and the smiling bride and groom said their ''I do's'' on a bright, sunny day.

Traditional wedding brings with it a lot of stress. There is an expectation that a woman has to behave a certain way on her wedding day. Couples seem to be moving away from more traditional weddings. The trend now has been to move away from church organs, and instead use brass bands, classical guitars, rock bands, and even Irish Celtic bands have become popular.

So, don't be afraid to be adventurous when it comes to planning your wedding. Make your most memorable day your most memorable party!

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