The Biggest Weddings of 2013 / Planning Your Wedding

The Biggest Weddings of 2013

Weddings can be wonderful, happy occasions that bring together family and friends. Many couples want to make the occasion as memorable as possible. Couples will plan everything to the last detail. The rings. The flowers. The venue. The dresses. With the internet at our disposal, it is a pretty cut and dry process. Couples are able to check things off a list and in the end they are left with a fantastic wedding. However, for some brides and grooms that translates to the bigger and more extravagant the wedding the better.

Nisansala and Nalin

A Sri Lankan couple now holds the Guinness World Record for the most bridesmaids in a wedding party. Their November 8^th nuptials featured 126 bridesmaids; the previous record was held by a Thai couple whose wedding had 96 bridesmaids. In addition to the 126 bridesmaids, there were 25 best men, 20 page boys, and 23 flower girls all dressed in lavishly embroidered traditional outfits of purple and gold. The bride’s sister, Champi Siriwardana, is one of Sri Lanka’s top dress designers and wedding planners, and was integral to organizing the celebration. The guests included hundreds of family and friends, and Sri Lankan First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, who was the guest of honor. Siriwardana received an award from a Guinness World Records official during the event acknowledging her accomplishment.

Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto

Another one of the largest weddings of 2013 was the marriage of NBA great Michael Jordan and Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto. The couple met in 2008 and got engaged in 2011. The event took place on April 27th in Palm Beach, Florida. The ceremony was held at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which was also the location of Donald Trump’s extravagant 2005 wedding to Melania Knauss. Jordan and Prieto hosted a reception for 2,000 at the Bears Club, where His Airness recently constructed a 38,000 square foot mansion, after they officially tied the knot. It featured a 40,000 square foot tent decorated with crystal candelabras, thousands of candles, white roses, peonies and tulips. The white rum wedding cake was adorned with crystal brooches. Guests included fellow basketball players Scottie Pippen and Patrick Ewing, famed golfer Tiger Woods, and movie director Spike Lee. Robin Thick, Usher, and K’Jon provided musical entertainment. The entire event was believed to cost $10 million.

Sean Parker and Alexandra Lenas

Another wedding of 2013 with a very large budget was the June 1st nuptials of billionaire and Facebook Founding President Sean Parker and singer-songwriter Alexandra Lenas. The couple is passionate about old growth forests and their outdoor wedding and reception took place beneath the colossal 500 year old redwoods of Big Sur in northern California. A Tolkien-esque outfit was created for each of the 364 guests by Ngila Dickson, the New Zealand costume designer who won a 2004 Academy Award for Lord of the Rings. Parker personally oversaw preparation of the site for the celebration, which supposedly cost $4.5 million alone. He organized a stunning and mystical array of planted flowers complete with vibrant garlands that adorned the base of the trees. Set designers were hired to create a ravaged stone castle, an immense Celtic cross, and pair of ruined Roman columns that were placed on either side of the altar under the biggest tree. At the reception, the newlyweds enjoyed the wedding feast from their 10 foot high throne.

It would be hard to top any of these over-the-top weddings, but there is probably a couple out there who will do their best to try.

Planning Your Wedding - Choosing the wedding rings, venue and dress

Choosing the wedding dress, the wedding rings and picking the venue for the wedding are three of the most difficult decisions you will need to make when getting married.

The wedding rings is partly a fashion issue, and also partly a measurement of dedication. If the rings are really cheap the chances are more likely that you and your betrothed aren't that serious about each other. If they are too expensive and the man is paying for it, it is rather like he is just buying your affection. (And maybe you should not be marrying a man who is either too cheap or too rich - because both are flakey when it comes to long term relationships.) Wedding rings should be expensive, yes, but they should not be ridiculously expensive.

Choosing the venue however could simply be a matter of architecture and decor. An outdoor wedding for example will typically be held in sumptuous gardens or even on the beach. Rare is the wedding that is held in the middle of the desert or in an asphalt parking lot. Price is less a factor for the location, it is more about sentimentality for the location. Often people get married at their parents' church, their local synagogue, at the family farm, where they first met, places that have special religious or memorable meaning to them. Choosing a wedding hall is a more modern convention, but an understandable one since the place comes ready-made with decorations and everything you expect to have at a wedding reception.

One of the biggest decisions a bride will make is the wedding dress itself. This is an area in which the bride gets to have as much fun and play with their options as they feel like. Typically the groom rarely sees the dress before the wedding itself.

From a fashion perspective there is a lot of room to experiment and make a truly unique wedding dress. Don't go for the same old boring wedding dress designs we've seen for decades. Find a dress designer with a vision of something unique.

Katniss Themed Prom Dresses and Wedding Dresses

Nothing says Katniss / Hunger Games fans than young women who are getting Katniss themed prom dresses for their Prom. Or even wedding dresses. Oh la la!

Choosing the Perfect Wedding Dress

Every girl dreams of how she will look on her wedding day, which is why choosing a wedding dress is one of the most important aspects of every wedding. The dress will appear in all wedding pictures, is the one all of the bride’s friends and family will see, and must be an expression of who she is. In addition, it is important to choose a dress that fits the bride’s body style and complexion to compliment her look. However, there are several common mistakes that bride’s make when they go shopping for the dress for the big day. By avoiding these errors, wedding dress shopping will be less stressful and it is more likely the bride will find that perfect dress.

Bringing Too Many People

Even though this is the most important dress a woman will wear, bringing ten people often becomes counterproductive, as each of those ten people will have an opinion and those opinions will rarely be the same. Most bridal gown consultants recommend no more than one or two people when the bride first sets out to find the perfect dress. Most brides bring a mother or sister, while some include the future mother-in-law in the process. The bride needs those with her who will be honest even when everyone else in the store loves the dress and the bride does not.

Shopping Too Far In Advance

Because many couples are opting for longer engagements, brides sometimes begin shopping for gowns too far in advance. It is important to have all the other wedding details determined, such as venue and bridesmaid gowns, before choosing a wedding dress. An embellished gown with a huge train may be beautiful in a large church, but will not be suitable for a beach wedding. The color of bridesmaid dresses may also determine whether the bride chooses white or off-white, as dresses come in many different shades of white. However, wedding dress consultants caution brides not to procrastinate in their dress shopping, as dresses take anywhere from five to eight months, and often need alterations once they arrive.

Demanding a Different Size

Wedding gowns, like most formal wear, are sized differently than other types of women’s clothing, and often run one or two sizes smaller. This means that a wedding dress for a woman who wears a size five normally, may need to purchase a nine, or even an eleven. Brides often claim that they plan to lose weight before the wedding, but that rarely happens. Bridal consultants say to purchase a dress in the size that fits when the dress is ordered, as it is easy to take in a dress that is too big closer to the wedding, but much more difficult to let one out. If a bride gains weight between the time the dress is ordered and its arrival, there are alteration options available, so there is no need to panic.

A girl’s wedding day is one of the most important days of her life, whether they plan a large, lavish wedding with all the trimmings, or they choose a small, garden wedding in someone’s backyard. Therefore, by avoiding these common mistakes, wedding dress shopping can be less stressful and the bride is more likely to discover that perfect dress. Learn more about wedding dress shopping and bridal shops in Spartanburg SC at DimitraDesigns.com.

Anna Gown from Simply Bridal

Below is the "Anna" gown from Simply Bridal. A relative of mine got this for her wedding dress. She chose it because she liked the bodice, the shape, the decorative flower on the waist... she likes it so much she refers to it as "My Precious" (she is a Lord of the Rings fan).