Weddings

When people care about you enough to take time off from work and spend money on travel just to be a part of your special day, be sure to show them how grateful you are.

It’s often assumed that the title of Billy Idol’s 1982 pop hit “White Wedding” refers—in spite of the song’s angry overtones—to a timeless cultural convention. The fact of the matter is that white weddings are actually a fairly recent tradition, and date back to the mid-19th century.

Destination weddings gained popularity in the late 1980s, as warm-weather destinations in Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean became increasingly accessible to greater numbers of people. While the rich and famous had always enjoyed opulent weddings in exotic locations, the destination weddings trend made it possible for the less well-heeled to tie the knot more fashionably than they might at their local church or conference center.

Planning a wedding has always been a deeply personal experience for every couple. A wedding should speak of a relationship’s uniqueness and each betrothed’s personality. Many couples feel they have to follow tradition, simply because that is how it has always been done, even though they are likely unaware of the origins of most wedding traditions. Traditions have simply endured.

Hosting a wedding in your backyard provides a variety of options with a flexible budget.