Planning a Medieval Wedding

Interested in a one-of-a-kind wedding?A Medieval wedding can provide you the setting for a ceremony that will long live in the memories of your guests (and produce some great wedding photos as well.) For tips on how to plan a Medieval wedding, we've gone to the expert: Rose Smith of WedThemes.com. Rose has authored two ebooks on Medieval weddings--How To Create a Beautiful Medieval Wedding and 71 Medieval Wedding Favors & Decorations both available for immediate download.

What are some of the more popular venues for Medieval weddings? Are
Renaissance festivals an especially popular place for these weddings?

Some venue ideas are local parks and gardens, historical homes, chalets, inns, and actual castles that may be found in the surrounding area. You can start researching these by contacting your local City Hall or Historical Society to find out what's available. Two other very popular locations are the Medieval Times Restaurants, which are located
in several U.S. cities and the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas .

Surprisingly, Renaissance Festivals are not a top choice among couples. Many festivals do not permit weddings outside their membership, and those that do seem to have many restrictions included in their wedding packages. Some restrictions included using only the festival's vendors, caterers, food, entertainers and musicians. Guests are often limited to a small size and there were many extra charges for items that most people would assume to be included in a wedding package, driving up the cost.

Should you choose to have your wedding at a Renaissance Festival, I would advise you check it out thoroughly to find out what is provided and the exact cost, once all the "extras" are added on. Many couples have opted to have a small wedding at a festival, then held their reception someplace else nearby.

How can couples get their guests to participate in the spirit of the Medieval wedding through their attire?

Include a suggestion on the invitation that it would be wonderful if guests would dress up for the occasion, however I would make it an optional choice. Perhaps including a short note giving suggestions on what types of outfits to wear and ideas on where they could be obtained would help (local costume shops, web sites, sewing pattern suggestions, second hand vintage clothing stores and local theatre productions.)

If nothing else, you can ask your guests to dress casually in flowing shirts, long skirts, laced vests, and brown or black slacks. Handing out children's swords, medieval style hats, and tabards at the reception door to those who didn't dress up, may prompt them get into the spirit of the affair as well.

How can brides work to maintain the Medieval theme in all aspects of their wedding, from the invitations to the reception?

Use colors that are rich and deep if you are planning a Medieval wedding that would be more appropriate for "royalty". Invitations should be more elaborate, plus use wording reflecting the language (ye's, thou's, etc.) Decorations could be pennants and banners from your "house", swords, shields, and tapestries adorning the walls, and more elaborate flower arrangements.

For a peasant style wedding, keep things on a simpler level. A garden wedding (whether in a local park, backyard or atrium), or a ceremony in a local country church would work well. The wedding invitation might have wildflowers on it or be rolled up like a scroll. Keep the decorations on an understated level as well: wicker baskets for flowers or food, wrought-iron style candleholders and beeswax candles, plus other types of greenery would be appropriate.

My ebook, How to Create a Beautiful Medieval Wedding, addresses many of these issues and provides plenty of ideas in keeping with invitations, decorations,menus, entertainment and more.

What forms of entertainment are especially popular for the reception?

Popular choices for entertainment would be hiring specific entertainers to be jesters, jugglers, magicians, bards (storytellers), mimes and strolling minstrels. Board games, treasure hunts, and mazes were also very popular during this period. In my ebook I explain how to set up a human chessboard match and even a jousting tournament (without horses). Any of these types of entertainment would definitely get guests involved in the spirit of the wedding.

What wedding favors work especially well with Medieval weddings?

Some ideas that I think would work well would be:

* small wicker baskets with wildflower seeds
* beeswax candles
* handmade soaps
* small chests filled with chocolate gold coins
* personalized Celtic CD with your favorite songs
* small bottles filled with homemade herbal vinegar, oil or homemade
wine
* a small recipe book with your favorite recipes.

There are many more favor ideas that you could choose from. However, the idea is to do whatever you feel best doing, whether in attire, decorations or favors. Most couples aren't looking for an exact replica of a Medieval wedding, but just want to add appropriate touches to capture the feel of that interesting historical period. Do what makes you happy and have fun with it. After all, it's your wedding.