Wedding Planning - when "the big day" is extended into multiple ceremonies

Who’s to say you can only have one wedding? You’re so in love with your partner, and the day goes so quickly, who wouldn’t want to do it all over again?! If it is good enough for Tom Cruise, Salma Hayek and Gisele Bundchen (to name a few), then it is good enough for you!

Many would say having two weddings is an unnecessary extravagance. However, there are many practical reasons couples will have more than one wedding: accommodate different cultural or religious traditions and beliefs, or to include friends and family that can’t travel. Many brides and grooms hail from different parts of the world, but want to share their wedding with their entire families, so they choose to bring the celebration to them.

Recently clients of ours had a traditional Scottish wedding for the groom’s family, and then another in India for the bride’s family. Both very different, both very fabulous! Maybe you and your partner have wildly different tastes - having two ceremonies means both of you can have the day you have envisaged. Maybe having two ceremonies would save any family arguments too - having a second traditional ceremony in a big white dress will keep your mum happy, while you can still have the Las Vegas wedding you really want! Or maybe you want to have an intimate ceremony for just you and your partner, but are worried it will offend your family. A solution to this is to hold another ceremony at a later date to celebrate your nuptials with all of your nearest and dearest. Not too late though - within 3 months is recommended, otherwise it almost becomes an anniversary party!

Whatever your reason for considering having more than one celebration, keep in mind that you will likely be spending twice as much. A way of getting around this would be to have one celebration smaller and more intimate, with the other being larger and more elaborate. Although more than one celebration is more expensive, it doesn’t necessarily have to a lot more work. By keeping the colours and themes the same you not only keep consistency between your celebrations, but can keep costs down by re-using the same props. Or choose a venue such as a beach, garden or castle as one of your locations. This way, decor is built-in and money does not need to be spent on ‘dressing’ the venue. However, you will need to think about dressing you- will the same dress work for both venues? Well hey, if not, I can’t think of a better excuse to buy two dresses!

Lucy

Getting married? Contact Premier Wedding Planners Scotland for a free consultation.