Remember I mentioned I was using my Grandmother's ring on our wedding day as my Something Old? I promised I'd get back to tell you more about it. So here I am.
My Grandma and Grandpa (my mom's parents) lived in Ohio and Michigan my whole life. Before that, they both actually were born and grew up in Philadelphia. In fact, my Grandpa used to take the same train from the same train station that I did when I was living in Chestnut Hill, because they're house was just around the corner! One weekend my mom came to visit me and we spent the day driving around Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy, and Northeast Philly, looking at all the places where my grandparents lived. It was pretty cool to see all of that.
Anyway. As I said, they lived in Ohio and Michigan for my entire life. We spent every Thanksgiving and Christmas with them. Those road trips are some of my best memories - me, Mom, Dad, and my sister, driving along the Turnpike in whatever incarnation of the VW Bus we had at the time (seriously...my family has owned Volkswagon vans since before I was born), singing songs, playing games, reading books, and torturing each other. Well, that last one might have been more me and my sister than my parents, but...you know. I used to love driving out there because it meant we were going to get to hang out with our grandparents and cousins. I miss those road trips.
Grandma passed away when I was in high school. She had Alzheimer's, and was pretty out of it by the end. Because of how far away they lived, and then because of the Alzheimer's, I really never felt like I knew her very well. Once she died, we started hearing all these great stories about her. Listening to my mom and uncles talk about her, I realized that Grandma was a social worker without being a Social Worker. I wish that I'd known her better, but, well, that's life. Grandpa is still living, at the retirement community where he'd moved Grandma when she started getting sick. He's 95 and still goes to the gym a few times a week. He's healthy as a horse, and has so many incredible stories to tell. Grandpa is a pretty cool dude.
When Grandpa and Grandma got engaged, they didn't have a lot of money. So the ring he bought her was pretty simple. A few years later, they upgraded. My sister got married first, so she got the first ring. I got the second engagement ring. When my mom gave it to me, it looked as old as it was. The diamond was cloudy, and the gold was flat. But I took it with me last week when Matt and I went to Steven Singer to shop for wedding bands, and they cleaned it for me.
The cool part of this (aside from the obvious sentimental factor) is that it's engraved. It's kind of hard to read, but it says F.H.H. to C.D.H. 7-13-40. The band also has the same engraving on it, but because of where they got bridged together, you can't read most of it.
And here's my silly attempt at a fancy photo shoot.
As you can see, I wasn't very impressed with myself and gave up after one photo. Hee hee.
I'm really touched to have this for our wedding day. Matt and I talked about re-setting the diamond some time in the future - maybe for our 5th or 10th Anniversary.
Every time I say that word, I hear this in my head.
Anyone else? No? Just me? Well, I am a Broadway nerd, so...somehow I'm not surprised.
There's an awful lot of tradition in weddings. However, I think it's safe to say that Matt and I are not exactly traditional people. Not that we don't believe in traditions - we do! But we also like to put our own spin on traditions.
Something Old, Something New... You know the old saying - "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." I also recently learned that it continues with "...and a sixpence for her shoe." So, my something old - my mom gave me my grandmother's first engagement ring, which I'm going to have JDK tie into my bouquet wrap. My something new - my dress, hair clip, bracelet, etc. That one was easy-peasy. Something borrowed - I haven't figured this one out yet. Got something you want to lend me? And I'm totally in love with my something blue. I'm planning to have a mani/pedi with my sister/MOH on the day before the wedding at the wonderful Chocolate Spa at the Hotel Hershey. I'm going to have the pedicurist (?) paint my toenails blue! And, I'm going to have my girls all sign the bottom of my shoes with a blue sharpie marker! When I told my mom, she asked if we were having communion - would people see that if we had to kneel down during our ceremony? We're not, and this is the only reason I wish we were! And the "sixpence" for my shoe will be a 2010 penny that I'll tape into the bottom of one of my shoes. Although, knowing me, I'll have to put one in each shoe, because having it in just one will probably drive me crazy.
Unity Candle/Sand Ceremony Lots of couples do this at their ceremonies. We're skipping it. We just decided that we would like to keep our ceremony short and sweet, and although this is a tradition that we appreciate, it's not one that we felt was absolutely necessary.
Flower Girl/Ring Bearer Another tradition we're bucking. Ours is a child-free wedding. We know lots of people with kids that we could easily include in our wedding - Matt has a niece and nephew, and I have 2 nieces and 4 nephews. But...ok, here goes a major confession. That cute little ring bearer in his adorable little tux, or the precious little flower girl in her fancy little dress? I don't want them stealing my spotlight! I mean, really, how many times can you remember being at a wedding and those little cuties do something really cute or funny and totally steal the show? Yeah, not at my wedding! All eyes on me! Ahem, I mean, us! All eyes on us!
Bouquet/Garter Toss I hate this tradition. I've always hated it. There is nothing more humiliating than being called out for being single, and being forced to compete with other humiliated women to catch a bouquet and be told, "You're next!" if you catch it. Especially if you truly are single. Or if you're in a relationship with a guy who has absolutely no interest in getting married (which is what happened to me a couple of years ago...before Matt came to terms with the whole marriage thing). I also hate watching the groom dig up the bride's dress for her garter. That's always felt a bit voyeuristic and creepy to me. And it's even worse when the groom tries to be funny and pulls out a pair of gigantic underwear...or when he takes the garter off with his teeth. Dude, your grandmother is watching. Have some class. So, needless to say, we're not doing this. I am considering doing something with my bouquet - perhaps handing it over to some special lady to honor her. But I'm not totally committed to that idea. I might just want to keep my pretty bouquet all for myself!
So that's it. Just a few of the "normal" wedding traditions that we're either not partaking in or changing to make them our own.
The cool part of this (aside from the obvious sentimental factor) is that it's engraved. It's kind of hard to read, but it says F.H.H. to C.D.H. 7-13-40. The band also has the same engraving on it, but because of where they got bridged together, you can't read most of it.
And here's my silly attempt at a fancy photo shoot. 
As you can see, I wasn't very impressed with myself and gave up after one photo. Hee hee. 