Michigan Wedding Photographer – Iceland Wedding Planner

Cultural Weddings

Iceland Wedding Planner — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 00:32:25 +0000

Hey Lovely!

Thanks for joining us this week! We had the pleasure of photographing our first Lebanese-Ecuadorian wedding earlier this month. The wedding was rich in cultural elements that we just loved! The gorgeous venues were the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, Wildwood Manor for wedding portraits and Central Park West for the reception. Emad (Lebanese) and Melanie (Ecuadorian) actually met during medical school in Ecuador and held a friendship of 5 years before they ventured down the path of newly wedded bliss! Both coming from very opulent cultures, they decided to plan a wedding that not only featured their love and commitment, emanated two cultures, but also celebrated the combining of two families.

The bride, Melanie brought in several traditions from Ecuador, such as her family made wedding dress and Latin music. The groom Emad, with his strong roots in the Lebanese culture, brought traditions such as an Islamic wedding ceremony (signing of contracts), elaborate entrance to their reception, Dabke dancing (a type of Arabic group folk dancing), and a tossing petals exit. This wedding hands down was one of the joyous and most energetic wedding days I have ever had the honor of being a part of. My cheeks hurt from smiling by the end of the night!

This remarkable wedding leads perfectly into our topic today… Culture + Weddings! Incorporating your cultural sparkle into your wedding day can really add meaning for both you and your guests. It doesn’t have to be the entire tradition either; it could simply be a portion. There are several different ways you can adapt a cultural tradition to complement your wedding day so I encourage you to think outside the box! Even if you’re not having an Iceland destination wedding you can still think about adding in a few of these elements you admire or to embrace your ethnic backgrounds.

Several of our favorite cultural wedding traditions are featured in the list below:

African Wedding Traditions: “Jumping the Broom.”
Asian Wedding Traditions: Both the bride and groom wear white.
English Wedding Traditions: Putting a sixpence under the brides shoe (lucky left) to signify good fortune and prosperity.
Dutch Wedding Traditions: Create a “wish tree” as a guest book. Your guests pin a happy note or valuable piece of advice to its branches.
French Wedding Traditions: The groom walks his mother and mother-in-law down the aisle to be seated at the ceremony.
Hungarian Wedding Traditions: The bride shares a dance with her mother and grandmother. (This is actually a tradition we had at our own Seljalandsfoss Iceland wedding).
Icelandic Wedding Traditions
Indian Wedding Traditions: Mehndi art is performed, which is the intricate painting of the bride’s hands and feet. Most Indian weddings also span over several days.
Irish Wedding Traditions: Incorporate a Celtic love knot or a “tying of the knot” ceremony.
Italian Wedding Traditions: May include having Jordan Almonds as a wedding favor (representing that marriage is sometimes bittersweet).
Lebanese Wedding Traditions: Sacred ceremony with family members only, Dabke dancing, and extravagant entrances/exits.
Spanish/Latin Wedding Traditions: Guests form a circle around the bride and groom while they partake in their first dance as husband and wife.
Scottish Wedding Traditions: Include some of my favorite traditions such as having flower petal aisle way, a bagpiper for ceremony music, and a hand fastening ceremony.
Swedish Wedding Traditions: The bride often has 3 wedding rings to represent following: engagement, marriage, and future outlook to motherhood.

Below, you will find a few more ideas that are embraced across many cultures during wedding planning…

Traditions to Consider While Planning Your Iceland Wedding:

A special headpiece instead of a typical veil.
Carrying a handkerchief made from your/husband-to-be’s christening gown, mothers, MIL’s, or sister’s wedding dress. (Iceland Wedding Planner Tip: If you’re not a fan of holding it…The fabric could easily be pinned on the underside of your dress or fused into your wedding bouquet).
Plan an Iceland Welcome Dinner for your guests the evening before your wedding day. In many cultures they turn the wedding day into a wedding weekend so it truly feels like a really special once in a lifetime event.
Our favorite Old English rhyme for a lucky wedding day: “Something Olde, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, a Sixpence in Your Shoe.”
Having two wedding dresses (Iceland wedding ceremony dress and an Iceland wedding reception dress) can really add an element of glamor to your wedding day. Many cultures have the bride changing throughout her wedding day.
4 Words: Day of Wedding Gift!

Iceland Traditional Wedding Ceremony Ideas:

Keep the surprises going and do not see each other before the wedding ceremony! (Iceland Real Wedding Example: Chris and I stayed together the night before but then we parted ways after breakfast. That way, his first look at me was down the aisle. This moment turned out to be the most adoring smile ever!
Both parents giving the bride and/or groom away during the ceremony.
The bride and groom walking down the aisle way together at the start of the ceremony.
Cultural decorations such as having certain flowers, lanterns, archway, or a special canopy.
Special Blessing or Poem in the native language. Can be said during your Iceland wedding ceremony, used as a toast, or simply on display at the reception.
Petal Toss (Showering the bride and groom with rose petals on an entrance or exit).
During your wedding ceremony in Iceland, incorporate having a meaningful Love Letter Ceremony. Years later we are still so excited we did this! So much that we have decided to write a letter to each other every year on our Anniversary. See our Love Letter update post here.

Iceland Wedding Reception Ideas for Cultural Traditions:

Food (having several served courses or a certain type of ethnic food).
Serving a dessert that is different than a traditional wedding cake (Example, an Icelandic wedding cake is traditionally a Kransakaka. We personally decided against both of those items and served our guests chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream).
Memorial station or flowers in remembrance of those who have passed.
Carrying the bride over the threshold.
A wedding favor that incorporates your culture in some way.
Several cultures have the breaking of plates, glasses, or vases during the reception to signify “new beginnings.”
Incorporate your parents/grandparents wedding memento (such as champagne flutes).
A special dance to your countries customary music.
Releasing wish lanterns at the end of your wedding night. Each guest makes a wish for the newlywed couple!

We hope today’s you have fallen in love with a few of these traditions and they got you thinking about possibly incorporating them into your own local or destination wedding in Iceland. We leave you today with Emad and Mela as our wedding photo inspiration!

Emad & Mela, thank you for choosing Photos by Miss Ann to tell your wedding day story! As we said above, your wedding was one with so much energy, love, and excitement it will forever be one of our favorites. We hope you are able to relive your wedding day through our images now and in decades to come! Enjoy…

With a smile,

Ann & Chris Peters

Experts in Weddings in Iceland (Feel free to contact us here).

The post Cultural Weddings appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Iceland Wedding Reception Alcohol

Iceland Wedding Planner — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:30:46 +0000

Hello to You and Happy Iceland Wedding Planning!

I hope this finds you well and super excited for the wonderfully exciting week ahead of you! Crazy busy season here at Photos by Miss Ann and we are loving every second of it! Today’s post is a long super informative one so let’s get right into it! When planning your Iceland wedding reception, it’s important to know four things:

What alcohol can you bring into Iceland? …and how much can you bring?
What alcohol is made locally in Iceland?
What selection of liquors, beers and wines may be available for your Iceland wedding reception?
What are the prices you may be expected to pay for your Iceland wedding reception alcohol?

Many items of alcoholic content are imported into Iceland and may be more expensive than other locations you may have visited. An alternative option may be to bring your own wedding champagne or specific alcohol so that you may save within your Iceland wedding budget.

Real Wedding in Iceland Example: When we held our Iceland destination wedding adventure at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Vik Beach, and Skogafoss waterfall we knew that purchasing champagne for 40 people was going to be expensive. For instance, if we would have purchased 10 bottles for our 40 guests (based on 4 glasses per bottle) to do our wedding champagne toast at Vik Beach it would have cost us $1,500 USD (if we purchased house champagne at Hotel Ranga). Chris and I decided that those funds would be better spent elsewhere in our Iceland wedding budget but did want to still have a champagne toast for our guests during the sightseeing excursion.

After further research, we found that each person could bring 3 bottles of wine OR 1 bottle of wine and 1 liter of alcohol. So we spent a weekend wine and champagne tasting in Napa Valley (see one of our destination engagement sessions we have done in San Francisco/Napa Valley, here) and found a delicious variety from Domaine Chandon in fact, it was their vintage reserve brut from 2007. We bought a case (for only $600 USD) and shipped it home to Plymouth Michigan in anticipation of our April wedding in Iceland at Seljalandsfoss waterfall. When we packed our bags for our Iceland destination wedding, we made sure to bubble wrap the bottles, and designated a few of our friends to help us abide by the 2-3 bottle per person restriction. Luckily, all of the bottles arrived to Iceland in one piece along with our champagne glasses we also imported (our wedding host hotel was going to charge us $5 USD per glass to rent).

Question #1: What alcohol can you bring into Iceland? …and how much can you bring? Answer: The specific guidelines directly from the awesome KEF Airport states the following on their website:

“Travelers can import duty-free alcoholic beverages and tobacco products as follows:
Alcoholic beverages:

1 litre of spirits, 1 litre of wine and 200 cigarettes (1 carton) or 250 g of other tobacco products;

1 litre of spirits, 6 litres of beer and 200 cigarettes (1 carton) or 250 g of other tobacco products;

1.5 litre of wine, 6 litres of beer and 200 cigarettes (1 carton) or 250 g of other tobacco products;

3 litres wine and 200 cigarettes (1 carton) or 250 g of other tobacco products.

Spirits comprise alcoholic beverages having 22% alcoholic content or more; wines comprise alcoholic beverages, other than beer, below this alcohol content. The minimum age for bringing alcoholic beverages into Iceland is 20 years, or 18 years for tobacco.”

Question #2: What alcohol is made locally in Iceland? Answer: Iceland produces some delicious beers at the following breweries: Ölgerðin Egill Skallagrímsson in Reykjavik and Vífilfell. The Reykjavik Distillery is another amazing local option for liquor. They make several schnapps called Brennivin in interesting flavors like: Brennivin 50, Brennivin 64, Blueberry, Crowberry, Rhubarb, Bilberry, and Juniper. They all have organic ingredients like potato, herbs, seeds, Icelandic water, etc.

One of the other token alcohols is called, Reyka Vodka. They have such a fun tagline too, “When you live on the edge of the Arctic Circle, you need to know how to have fun.” Ha, love! The company itself is also known for being a “green” vodka because it is produced using sustainable energy. The vodka itself is made from organic wheat and they do a final filtration through lava rock –how fun, right?

Questions #3 & #4: What selection of liquors, beers and wines may be available for your Iceland wedding reception? What are the prices you may be expected to pay for your Iceland wedding reception alcohol? Answers: They follow below!

Iceland Wedding Champagne and Sparkling Wine Prices:

House Champagne (Example: Ayala Brut NV): 19,000 ISK (Icelandic Krona) = $150 USD
Louis Roederer Cristal: 234,000 ISK (Icelandic Krona) = $1,890 USD
Tosti Asti Sparkling Wine: 5,200 ISK (Icelandic Krona) = $45 USD

Wedding Reception in Iceland Wine Price Examples:

Santa Cristina Cipresseto Rosato (Italian Rose): 6,500 ISK = $55 USD
Rene Mure Riesling (French): 7,800 ISK = $65 USD
Bolla Pinot Grigio (Italian): 6,600 ISK = $53 USD
Vina Maipo Gran Devocion Sauvignon Blanc (Chile): 8,500 ISK = $69 USD
Sky Valley Chardonnay (New Zealand): 8,600 ISK = $70 USD
Chateau Branaire Ducru Grand Cru St. Julien (Red/Bordeux): 29,800 ISK = $240 USD
Chateaunauf du Pape E. Guigal (Red/Rhone): 22,000 ISK = $178 USD
Domaine Faiveley Corton Grand Cru (Red/Burgundy): 45,800 ISK = $395 USD
Colome Reserve Malbeq / Cabernet (Red/Argentina): 25,900 ISK = $210 USD
Gen Carlou Syrah (Red/South Africa): 10,950 ISK = $90 USK
Spy Valley Pinot Noir (Red/New Zealand): 8,500 ISK = $70 USD
Delicato Shiraz (Red/USA): 6,500 ISK = $53 USD

Side Note: Typically the per glass cost is 1,600 ISK ($13 USD) and for champagne per glass cost is usually around 3,800 ISK ($32 USD).

Iceland Wedding Beer Choices:

On average a bottle or glass of beer is around 900 ISK ($8 USD) and the most often found beer varieties in Iceland follow below:

Einstok Pale Ale (Icelandic Beer)
Hrammur Lager (Icelandic Beer)
Víking Gold (Gullfoss): Best selling beer in Iceland (type: lager).
Víking Stout (Icelandic Beer)
Víking Pilsner (Icelandic Beer)
Egill’s Gull (Ölgerðin Egill Skallagrímsson in Reykjavik)
Freyja (Wheat Beer from Selfoss Iceland)
Móri (Icelandic Red Ale)
Lava Stout (Southern Iceland Beer)

If you plan to have an open bar for your wedding guests please note that the 3+ star hotels in Iceland offer a very exuberant list! This is awesome, but can become expensive very quickly. Here was our example list of what we featured for our Iceland Open Bar Menu (outside of the above we already posted):

Cost was ~1,800-4,000 ISK ($15-32 USD) per pour:

All Schnapps Available & Mixers (Like Jagermeister, Baileys, Triple Sec, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, etc).
All Beers, selected wines, and champagnes.
Berneroy Brandy
Brennivin
Bombay Gin
Chopin Vodka
Fonseca Guimaraens Port
Glenmorangie Single Malt
Havana Club Rum
Jameson (18 years old)
Johnnie Walker Gold (18 years old)
Remy Martin Cognac
Reyka Vodka
Tequila: Silver Patron
Vermouth Rosso
Whiskey: Woodford Reserve

Iceland Wedding Planner Tip: If you’re having an Iceland wedding welcome dinner the night before maybe choose 4 specific wines and beers you will serve with dinner. Having an Iceland Bar Menu helps too! Then for your Iceland wedding reception, keep the options open by the glass (not the bottle) but limit what brands you would like to have served to your guests. Example, we limited our guests to only being able to order 18 years old scotch/whiskey/brandy/ports because Hotel Ranga had some rare whiskey that were 25+ years and more than $75 USD per glass. We had selected as a couple a “do not serve” list of those rare brands and also selected our favorite brands in each mixed drink category.

We hope that this blog post today on Iceland Wedding Reception Alcohol will prove to be a useful tool to you as you plan your wedding day in Iceland! If at any time you need assistance planning your Icelandic destination wedding or need an Iceland wedding photographer, we would love to help you! Our packages include Iceland wedding planning and Iceland wedding photography (we’re a husband and wife team: Photos by Miss Ann) allowing us to be your one point of contact for you throughout this amazing process so please contact us for more details!

With a smile, Ann & Chris Peters

Expert Iceland Wedding Planners & Iceland Wedding Photographers

The post Iceland Wedding Reception Alcohol appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Photos by Miss Ann Review [Iceland Wedding Photographer]

Iceland Wedding Planner — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 08:58:49 +0000

Happy Weekend!

Hopefully you are aware that we are not only Iceland wedding planners, but we are also local and destination wedding photographers. In general we love, love especially capturing it in action. So although we have a sweet spot for photographing Iceland weddings we do delight in shooting local weddings in Michigan too!

On Saturday, June 1^st, Chris and I had the pleasure of photographing Danielle and Jon’s wedding day. When they first came to our home studio in Plymouth, Michigan to meet with us, they expressed how detailed they were. Instantly, we knew we’d be a perfect fit since Chris and I are the same way! We were so excited to tell the story of their big day, photograph the love between these two and all of the people who adore them!

The entire week before their wedding there were crazy thunderstorms, heavy rain, and even on the actual day the skies still threatened 70% chance of rain hourly. So, what are a bride, groom, and wedding photographers to do? Embrace it! I think by embracing the chance, knowing rain on your wedding day is good luck, and being armed with umbrellas we warded off most of the rain. Chris and I had a blast photographing their bridal portraits along the river at Bishop Park in Wyandotte and also at Cass Benton in Northville. You can clearly see their tenderness for each other captured in their wedding photos! Congratulations Jon and Danielle!

A few days after their downriver wedding, they sent us this wonderful note, reviewing Photos by Miss Ann’s services so we’d like to share it with you today!

“Hi Ann and Chris,
Jon and I wanted to get in touch with you right away to let you know how impressed and thoroughly pleased we were with the wonderful job you did for us on our wedding day. You were both absolutely wonderful in every way imaginable. From the very beginning for the getting ready pictures you were prompt and took initiative getting photos and working with little help or direction as to what was going on while the girls and I were busy. Then you were right in the heart of all the chaos and moving around furniture, clothes, makeup, etc. to make sure you were able to take all our pictures. You were so fun to work with and very positive, which just helped to put everyone at ease. Also, thank you for doing such an awesome job at getting all of the pictures that we listed on our must have photo list that we gave you at the last possible moment- we really appreciate that.

At the ceremony you were both great about moving around and taking multiple shots, while also being discrete and staying out of the mix of things. For the wedding portraits, family shots, and bridal party shots you did a great job of giving direction and working around our smiling and blinking issues. We really appreciated how well you managed everyone and got in so many pictures in such a short period of time.

Your attention to detail was also much appreciated and certainly contributed to making the pictures as perfect as they could be. We were also really impressed with how good you both were with navigating each different setting that we were in (i.e. you were on a ladder, moving around couples dancing, helping to hold the umbrella, etc.). We also appreciate your flexibility in working with finding the best areas at the locations we wanted to take pictures at. You had some really great ideas for pictures that we never would have thought of that were also a lot of fun as well.

Throughout the entire day you were consistently very professional, upbeat, positive, and cheerful- you were pretty much every adjective that conveys a positive connotation. So many people have commented to us at how good of a job you both did and how accommodating and helpful you were in taking requests for pictures and just doing an overall amazing job. Jon and I just wanted to convey how much we appreciate you both being such a wonderful part of our special day and adding to our confidence and happiness that day. Everything turned out so much better than we could have even imagined and you were both an instrumental part of that success. We are so glad that we chose to have you photograph our wedding day. We are truly confident that no one else would have done a better job for us!

Thank you both for all that you do,
Danielle and Jon”

Awwww! We love and so appreciate our clients! See Danielle and Jon’s gorgeous wedding photos below! Enjoy!

With a smile, Ann & Chris Peters

Photos by Miss Ann (Local, Destination and Iceland Wedding Photographers)

Iceland Wedding Planner (Iceland Wedding Photographers & Planners Combined)

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Iceland Love Conquers All Things

Iceland Wedding Planner — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 10:57:16 +0000

Oh Happy Day to You!

Last weekend was action-packed to say the least! Within minutes of arriving to the stunning Eyry of the Eagle Estate I knew it would be an eventful day and my expectations did not disappoint! As the day unfolded, I had some firsts happen: I was spat on by an alpaca (first), had goose bumps, tears (first), acquired poison ivy, and for the first time ever, I had sunset couple’s portraits photo bombed by donkeys (yes, I said donkeys)! Hilariously true and so worth it to endure for the crazy undeniable love Carrie and Wally have for each other! I love my job being a wedding photographer not only because I never have a duplicate moment; but, I also get the chance to watch wedding plans unfold with an outside eye and capture it at its very best. Truly, I really cherish that part.

This past weekend’s Michigan wedding at Eyry of the Eagle in Grass Lake really brought me back down to the basics, raw love. No elaborate frills, no buts or what if’s but just crazy awesome I will love you until the end of time, love. Carrie and Wally’s wedding day really left me inspired and grateful for love.

On that note, today’s blog post is going to be a 2 part series on some sensitive issues you may encounter while Iceland wedding planning. This week we’ll be talking about how your “Iceland Love Will Conquer All Things” and next week stay tuned for “Protocol for Family Issues & Parents” while Iceland destination wedding planning. That being said, I will add this disclaimer to my post: Sensitive Issues will be discussed with real wedding examples, followed by my personal experience/opinion on how to approach. –Thanks!

Carrie and Wally contacted me over a year ago to be their Michigan wedding photographer. Although, they were not planning an Iceland destination wedding, Photos by Miss Ann still loves having local Michigan weddings in unique locations! From the minute I spoke with Carrie on the phone, I knew that they were a fun-loving, laid back, super sweet retro couple and were oh-so excited to be engaged. They had reconnected a decade later after knowing each other in high school. A lot had changed over the years for each of them. But if you spend 10 minutes with them you would know that they were destined to come together so they could not only strengthen each other but also serve as an inspiration to all who love them.

In January of this year, Carrie and Wally stopped wedding planning to manage through a time of trials and tribulations. Even before they were married, life was testing their relationship resilience. First, they had found out they were expecting a baby, who would make her appearance into the world on April 14^th (destined by dates, I think)! After that exciting news came, baby prepping overtook their life; that is until more life changing news came. What started out as Wally having a minor back injury, evolved into weeks of doctors’ visits, MRI’s, and numerous other tests, that then turned into a very real conclusion of cancer. They found out together on Valentine’s Day of this year that Wally had a very rare form of cancer in his spine. Not only that, but that the cancer had also spread into his lymph nodes and began spotting in his lungs. Weeks before their May 25^th wedding day, Wally began rounds of aggressive chemotherapy.

The groom, Wally said to me on his wedding day while I was photographing their Michigan couple’s portraits, “Carrie has brought me an endless amount of strength. This is my second battle with cancer in 10 years and she has been there for me more than anyone. She has been my rock through the good, bad, and ugly somehow always bringing a smile to my face.” The bride, Carrie told me during her bridal portraits before the wedding that they, “have endured insurmountable struggles in the last year and prevailed. They will prevail over this too.”

Spending the day with Carrie and Wally last weekend, I saw firsthand how love conquers all things. From the positive energy they exude together, encouragement they give each other, the endless love and excitement their family’s shared, and the look of adoration they held in their eyes for each other, totally made my eyes well up! Their love has been tested, tried, and totally true.

It was fitting they have the most beautiful day in Michigan for their wedding day. The scene was set in the Grass Lake Michigan countryside where you hear and see chickens running around, a gorgeous 125 year old barn, walk a stone path passing by alpacas and donkeys to get down to a beautiful lake, stunning tall woods, a brick pathway to charming wedding pergola. The bride and groom had a playful funky style, created all of their flowers, reception decorations, and other details all themselves and were so ready to get the show on the road! Their wedding vows expressed their unremitting adoration and respect for each other. It was lovely along with the rest of the evening’s events! Feel free to check out a few of their Metro Detroit wedding photographs below.

I went home that evening and while my wedding images were uploading to the computer, (I totally interrupted the Red Wings playoff game) and bombarded my husband with “what if” scenarios. Some were valid and I’ll be honest some were farfetched and ridicules but I felt the need to ask to understand that if we were challenged with such situations how we would handle together. Chris and I have gone through our own struggles as a couple over the years with health distresses, losses, along with other sensitive family issues that have surfaced, but none to the life-threatening level that Carrie and Wally have been united through. Going through a time of uncertainty of your future is scary especially when you are wedding planning and faced with the detrimental odds.

So you ask, how do you cope? How does love conquer all things before and after your Iceland destination wedding?

Positivity. Staying optimistic is one of the most important things you can do when faced with health, economic, or other dramatic life changing events. It affects your attitude, demeanor, outlook, and those you love. At times it may be very difficult and you may have to “fake it to make it” but it will make a world of difference.
Get educated. Take the time to do research and understand what is really going on along with your immediate/long term options and a timeline.
Turn the negative into a learning lesson that you will come out of a better and stronger willed person/couple.
Honesty. Be truthful about everything with yourself, your soon-to-be, with family, and other involved professionals.
Open Communication. If you feel sad, anxious, fear the unknown, or frustrated –talk about it, don’t hold it in!
Get professional help. If its health related seek additional opinions, the best doctors, etc. If it’s economic, seek professional advice (i.e. financial advisors, resume gurus, career sites, etc). If it is personal, seek 3^rd party professional help from a counselor, psychologist, or life coach.
Be a Team. The key though is to do this together and incorporate your families; they can bring you additional support, a shoulder, an extra ear to vent to, etc!
Compile a plan of attack. Sort out what things you have control over and what you do not and create a plan of how you will tackle the situation and respond to the different outcomes. Having a strategy allows you focus short and long term.
Take up a new hobby to refocus your negative energy/thoughts. Blogging, collecting, clubs, etc!
Take time to smile and laugh with each other. This could be as simple as having a date night picnic in the living room! Even in time of hardship, let your love thrive.

With the above tools in use, you can conquer just about anything and everything together. So if you find yourself in love, engaged, planning a wedding in Iceland (or anywhere) or you’ve already been married in Iceland and are faced with a misfortune somewhere along the road remember these tips! And also remember Iceland Wedding Planner and Photos by Miss Ann is here to help you tackle that overwhelming task of planning your wedding in Iceland with inclusive Iceland wedding photography packages too! Please feel free to email us for more details!

Lots of Iceland wedding photography & planning smiles to you, Ann & Chris Peters

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Alternative Unity Ceremony Idea: Love Letter Ceremony

Iceland Wedding Planner — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:12:51 +0000

Happy Friday Ladies and Gents!

By planning a destination wedding, you are already committing to go outside of the general wedding planning “box.” So why not continue with adding an element to your wedding ceremony content that is as unique as your love?

Since we’re local and destination wedding photographers and own, Photos by Miss Ann, we have witnessed endless amounts of ceremonies that draw in religious, cultural, and spiritual elements and have seen them done in a hundred of different ways. Think: unity candle, tying the knot ceremony, sand ceremony, Irish braid, crowning, hand ceremony, etc. When we were planning our destination wedding we were looking for an alternative for our Iceland wedding.

After researching back into historical wedding ceremonies, we found it: The Love Letter Ceremony. It gracefully combined our affection for history, our love for each other, and provided a piece of our own history with our parents as well.

The idea:

teho kasino

You and your soon to be write a letter to each other talking about the following:

How you felt when you met.
Your favorite adventure together.
How much you have grown from then to now.
Your feelings as you anticipate your wedding day.
Your wishes for your future together.
Your promise to him/her.

The Parents:

The bride’s parents write a letter directly to her only. Expressing their excitement for her arrival, her childhood, successes, how proud they are, advice, etc.
The groom’s parents write a letter directly to her only. Articulating their excitement for his arrival, his childhood, successes, how proud they are, and advice, etc.
Each set of parents then write a letter addressing the couple together stating their excitement for finding each other, the marriage, wishes for the future, and words of wisdom.

This is how described the Icelandic love letter ceremony to our guests on the back of our Iceland destination wedding timeline card:

“During the wedding we will perform a ‘love letter ceremony.’ This entails the bride and groom writing heartfelt love letters to each other prior to their wedding day. Each of the parents have also written letters of encouragement, future wishes, and advice to make the couple’s marriage strong. The wedding officiant will then lock the letters in a box. The letters will be opened at a later time as a celebration and reflection of their marriage.”

How amazing, right? It gives me goose bumps just thinking about reading them as we celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary when our parents may have passed and we may have a family of our own! This is a very special ceremony I believe has an enormous long-term impact to all.

We hauled the box from Plymouth, Michigan to Hella Iceland to our wedding ceremony at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, then to Skógafoss waterfall and finally out to Vik Beach for Iceland wedding photos and a champagne toast!

How to create your own local or destination wedding love letter ceremony:

Buy or build a box that will be big enough for letters and additional mementos. We had an 8×11 box that was ~3 inches wide. This was big enough for our letters, vows, speeches, our bouquet/boutonniere when it dried out, etc. It was travel friendly. We brought from Michigan to Iceland with no problem.
Some people like the idea of it being large enough to house a bottle of wine/champagne and wine glasses – your choice!
Have your names painted or engraved on the front. Example, we had the following:

Chris & Ann

Iceland

April 14^th 2012

Purchase super cute acid-free stationary. Ours was white with a simple red heart at the top and a matching red envelope- Our Amazon Storefront may be a good source for you on this.
Plan what you are going to write at least 30 days in advance!
Give your parents time to plan and write too!
Get the letters in advance and put them in the box for safe keeping until the ceremony.
Our wording for the love letter ceremony follows below:

Wording for a Destination Wedding Love Letter Ceremony:
“Christopher and Ann have chosen as a couple to unite together in a Love Letter ceremony.

This box contains a love letter from each to the other. The letters describe the good qualities they find in one another, the reasons they fell in love, and their reasons for choosing to marry today in Iceland. Ann’s mother, Irene and Christopher’s parents, Donna and Bill have also written the each a letter individually and a letter to the couple expressing their hopes and advice for their future together. The letters are sealed in individual envelopes and the couple has not seen what the other has written.
I recommend that you keep the box in a place of honor prominently displayed in your home as a constant reminder of your commitment to each other.

Christopher and Ann, should you ever find your marriage enduring insurmountable hardships, you are to as a couple, open this box, reflect while reading the letters you wrote to one another when you were united as a couple, in marriage. By reading these love letters you will reflect upon the reasons you fell in love and chose to marry each other here in Iceland today.

The hope is, however, that you will never have a reason to open this box. And if this is the case, you are to open this box to share and enjoy on your 25^thwedding anniversary!”
All that being said, Christopher and Ann, you may now lock the box and be forever bonded.”

Hope you enjoyed and will pass the word around… Let’s get more couples inspired by doing a love letter ceremony as part of their wedding ceremony! ::Also see our update to this love letter ceremony here::

With a smile, Ann & Chris Peters (Iceland Wedding Planners & Iceland Wedding Photographers)

The post Alternative Unity Ceremony Idea: Love Letter Ceremony appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.