Are you in your late twenties or early thirties? You may well feel like you are invited to a wedding every few months.
You are at that age where all of your friends and cousins are getting married. Maybe it is you getting married?
These weddings usually follow certain traditions.
Wear a white dress, exchange rings, throw confetti, and toss the bouquet. Not many people know what the meaning behind them is.
Nonetheless, whether we are aware of the meaning or not, Brides like to honour old traditions. And to make them more meaningful to them, they want to put their twist on it.
Something Old
Something New
Something Borrowed
Something Blue
And A Silver Sixpence In Her Shoe
The poem is one of my favourite wedding traditions. It is a British custom and dates back to the 19th Century.
The Bride would wear or carry five items relating to the poem in the hopes of having good fortune and luck in the marriage.
So how can you creatively incorporate each one on your wedding day?
Something Old
Something Old represents the past. Some creative ideas for a modern twist:
- Leave in a vintage get-away
- Recreate a photo from your Parents wedding day
- If you are lucky enough to have your Grandmother in attendance, why not give her the honour and embrace the trend of Grandma’s as flower girls
Something New
Something New represents the future. Some creative ideas for a modern twist:
- Design new matching tattoos
- Make a new Instagram hashtag that your guests can use to tag your wedding photos
- Wear a new perfume so that the scent will always remind you of your day
Something Borrowed
Something Borrowed represents borrowed happiness. Some creative ideas for a modern twist:
- Borrow ideas from the wedding of a loved one. Dance to your Parents first dance song or replicate their wedding cake
- Celebrate your borrowed last name by stitching it inside your wedding dress
- Serve a personalised cocktail at the reception called Something Borrowed
Something Blue
Queen Victoria started the tradition of wearing a white wedding dress in 1840. Before this, most Brides traditionally wore a blue dress to represent purity, love, and fidelity. Some creative ideas for a modern twist:
- Wear a pale blue nail polish on your ring finger
- Ask your Bridesmaids to wear silk blue robes on the morning of your wedding
- Use a pretty blue wedding journal to plan the finer details
And A Silver Sixpence In Her Shoe
A Silver Sixpence represents future success and wealth. The Bride’s Father was traditionally responsible for placing the sixpence in her shoe. Some creative ideas for a modern twist:
- Use a coin from the year you met
- Use a coin from the year you get married
- Go on a date to the Royal Mint and strike a coin
Brides can have some real fun by creatively blending the past, present and future! The wonderful thing about this tradition is that other people can take part in it.
Bride-to-Be Gift Hamper
As a Bridesmaid for my Best Friend, I, along with her other Bridesmaids, came up with a fun way to put a twist on this old tradition.
We all stayed at The Old School Cottage the evening before the wedding.
We surprised the Bride with a Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue gift hamper.
We paid homage to her favourite childhood band, The Spice Girls, for her Something Old. We wrapped up the Spice Girls Greatest Hits album in hope it would remind her of happy memories spent with her sisters and cousins.
For her Something New, we framed Say You Won’t Let Go lyrics by James Arthur. We hoped a framed print of the couple’s first dance song would bring luck.
For Something Borrowed, each of the Bridesmaids lent a piece of advice. We typed them up onto a scroll and fastened it with a ribbon.
For Something Blue, we included celebratory bubbles tied with a powder blue ribbon.
We presented the gift hamper in a wooden crate filled with soft blue heart tissue paper.
With just a little thought and imagination, you can incorporate this custom into your wedding.
How did you modernise an old tradition into your wedding? Leave a comment and let me know.
If you enjoyed this post, share it on social media and subscribe below to keep up-to-date with the best party ideas!
Teacups and Glitter 