Wedding Band Engravings

A symbol of everlasting commitment, the wedding band is often engraved on the inside with a special message. If you’re looking for ideas for to engrave on your wedding bands, read on.

Simple: The most commonly engraved message is His and Her names (on each other’s rings of course) followed by the wedding date.

Songs and poetry: Pick phrases from songs and poetry that are meaningful to you both, or have special significance.

Humorous: What’s love without some fun? Phrases like “Resistance is futile”, “Not to be pawned” or “Put it back on” are guaranteed to bring a smile in the years to come.

Traditional: Vows like “Till death do us part”, “To have and to hold” or “Love, honor and cherish” can be inscribed as a reminder of the promises made to each other.

Romantic: “Yours, forever”, “Today, Tomorrow. Forever”, “Mon cœur est a vous” (French for “my heart is yours”), “With all my love”, serve to reinforce everything you want to say to each other.

Spiritual: “Amen”,  “Joined before God”, “Our unity is Christ” can will reflect your personal beliefs and commitment to each other.

When choosing a phrase for your wedding band, remember to keep it limited to a phrase or a 4-5 words. While some jewelers do offer the option to insert longer sentences and quotations, these tend to be more expensive and could be hard to read.

Looking for more ideas? Follow the links below:
http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/engravefav.html
http://engagementrings.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Ideas_for_Engraving_Wedding_Rings

The Variety of Wedding Cake Toppers

Wedding cake toppers are a tradition that was started in the 50s. These began with a small model representation of the couple which were placed on top of the wedding cake. Today’s traditional wedding topper of the bride and groom is usually seen in formal attire, with the bride in a white wedding dress and the groom in a black tux.

However with changing times, and cultural diversity in weddings, wedding cake toppers have evolved to keep pace. These day toppers include flower arrangements, crystal or acrylic pieces, monograms and cake jewelry.

Traditional Ethnic Cake Toppers
If you and your beloved find a traditional wedding topper doesn’t adequately represent your diversity, have no fear. Today you can get toppers such as African American, Hispanic, Mexican, Indian, Asian, and even flexible interracial designs.

Glass, Crystal & Acrylic Cake Toppers
Hand blown glass, cut crystal or etched acrylic. All these materials can help you choose a unique shape to top your wedding cake, and have something to place on your mantel for several years to come. Bells, hearts, swans, dolphins are all popular themes and some designs will even allow you to add a touch of personalization to it.

Monogram Cake Toppers
Monogram Wedding Cake Toppers enable you to personalize your cake with your initials and come in a wide range of materials like Swarovski crystals, gold plated, crystal, rhinestone encrusted and more.

Flower Arrangement Cake Toppers
Many are choosing flower arrangement cake toppers to emphasize their floral themes. These cake toppers can either be fresh flowers or artistically created sugar flowers made into a cake topper arrangement.

Humorous Cake Toppers
If you’re planning a casual wedding, or want to particularly emphasize some quirks of you and your partner, consider the humor route, which is sure to entertain your guests and be a talking point. Funny cake toppers include brides dragging reluctant grooms, ball and chains, back-to-back spy poses, grooms inappropriately dressed or ready to head off to some favorite sport activity.

Whatever you choice, the options are available, so make your choose a wedding cake topper that represent you and will make your day extra special.

Image credit: Rennett Stowe

The Myths and Truths about Throwing Rice at weddings

The throwing of rice on a wedded couple has always been symbolic of wishing prosperity and minimizing wants. From Roman times grain, like wheat has been associated with the wedding ceremony. While expensive wheat bouquets later became flower bouquets, and the crumbling of wheat cakes morphed into consumable wedding cakes, throwing of wheat grains were substituted with the cheaper rice as the grain of choice to wish plenty upon the newlywed couple.

However the past decade has seen more and more couples refrain from this tradition considering rice to be harmful to birds that try to eat it later.

Urban Legends
This has now been revealed to be a false, urban legend. According to urbanlegends on about.com, wild rice is a dietary staple for many birds, as are other grains that expand in moisture such as wheat and barley. Snopes.com states that this myth began with a 1996 reply by Ann Landers in her column, in which she informed readers about the dangers rice has on birds.

What the Bird Experts say
“This silly myth pops up periodically and is completely unfounded,” says rice expert Mary Jo Cheesman at the USA Rice Federation. “Many migrating ducks and geese depend on winter-flooded rice fields each year to fatten up and build strength for their return trek to northern nesting grounds. Uncooked, milled rice is no more harmful to birds than rice in the field”, Chessman said.

The curator of Ornithology at the University of California, Berkeley agrees. “It’s a myth. There is no reason why birds, including small songbirds, can’t eat rice,” says Ned Johnson, a professor of biology at Berkeley who lectures frequently on the food and feeding of birds.

Other issues with rice
Many also feel that rice presents another hazard aside from the bird issue, as being round in shape it could cause guests to slip especially if scattered on a cemented or hard surface. However the wedding location should help you decide if this is a hazard or not. Rice at outdoor weddings for example would pose no issue and would be more environmentally friendly than throwing confetti and more useful to birds than rose petals. One of the reasons many wedding venues prohibit rice and confetti throwing is simply because it can present a big mess to clean up after your party leaves.

New Age Alternatives
But if you’re still not sure, you aren’t alone. The need to stay eco friendly and traditional has resulted in the development of some very unique products like Ecofetti, a water soluble confetti that’s fully biodegradable. Ecofetti comes in  “rice cuts” that give you the traditional feel of throwing rice. Another new age product is “compressed wedding rice” which are compressed rice grains that take a designer shape, like hearts. Compressed rice lies flat on the ground will be crushed when trod upon, reducing accidents due to slippage. It also degrades faster than regular rice and will dissolve on its own.

Not to mention it’s safe for the birds to eat.

Image Credit: spaceodissey

Sending out Wedding Invitations – a checklist

You’ve made things-to-do lists and shopping lists and other lists. But none are more critical than the list of people you intend inviting to your wedding. It’s the most important day of your life, and you need to make sure those close to you are there to celebrate it with you.

So here’s one way to go about making that list. It’s not unique, just a way of getting the job done in an organized manner.

Educational institutions: Start from kindergarten, and go all the way till your last day at school. Look through your yearbooks and make a list of friends and teachers you may want there.

The workplace: Think of all those you have worked with at the companies you have been employed at. If you’ve travelled on work, there may be friendships you’ve made en route. Also remember to add to your list those you’ve befriended at conventions, conferences and other office gatherings.

Clubs, teams, hobby groups: Have you been a part of a local football team? Or a dramatics society? Maybe a philately group? All places where friendships are formed, and you might find a few more additions to your list of invitees here.

The neighborhood: Those who live next door, down the street, a block away, members of the local church congregation, etc. All strong contenders to make it to your list.

The www: When you’re done with the real world, visit its virtual counterpart. Check friends’ lists on social networking sites you are a member of, and your email address books as well. Chances are you’ll find a few good friends you’re in touch with online, who you’d like to invite to your wedding.

Friends of family: Ask Dad and Mom. Ask your siblings. They will have friends they’d like to have at your wedding. Remember it’s a very special day in their lives as well.

Done? Now run through the list once again and make changes if needed. And to be doubly sure, do it again in a week’s time.

What are Cubic Zirconia Rings AKA CZ Rings

Cubic Zirconia (CZ) is the cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide. CZ is tough, flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors. Due to its low cost, similarity to diamonds and durability, it is one of the best substitues for diamonds.

Cubic Zirconia Rings look pretty identical to Diamond rings and it is believed that only Jewelers can tell them apart.  They’re both crystals, and it’s their crystal structure that bends light (refraction). However, Cubic Zirconia Rings are said to have more “fire” as they show more dazzling colors.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that like genuine diamond, CZ is available in both higher and lower grades, ranging from several tens of dollars per carat to $100 per carat for the higher grades. The highest grades of Cubic Zirconia is AAAAA (Five A’s). Also remember that synthetic stones such as Cubic Zirconia are always heavier in carat weight than genuine diamonds, as the material they are made of is more dense.

Apart from wedding rings, Cubic zirconia is also becoming more popular as a substitute for genuine diamond in stud earrings, the diamond solitaire and the tennis bracelets.

With the variety of Cubic Zirconia Rings available online, it is not going to be easy to recommend the best place to buy them. It will be dependant on the buyer’s budget, style and choice. We recommend you Google it and spend as much time as you can in browsing the prices and designs available.

Good luck