Other reasons include ease of planning, need for intimacy, dislike attention, marrying again and last but not least, parents don’t approve. The parental approval was probably the main reason so many young couples used to elope but these days it seems that cost and planning are the two major reasons. 

The average wedding in the United Kingdom costs around £11 000 whereas an elopement is far more simple and will only set you back at most a couple of thousand pounds. Obviously this figure would rise if you wanted to fly first class to an exotic private island for your ceremony! Some couples retreat to the countryside or favourite beaches and some are still doing the Vegas quickie wedding.

An idea for a private elopment is to bring some wedding lanterns with you to release at the end of your ceremony. You only need a couple, one for you and one for your partner. You can both release a lantern each and stand together as it floats up into the sky along with your wishes for the future. It will be a very special moment for the two of you to enjoy privately.

Elopements don’t have to annoy your friends and family either, you can always have a reception to celebrate your nuptials with them when you get back from your adventure. Your father will probably be thanking you down the track for saving him so much money!

While there's moonlight and music and love and romance...

This is definitely a unique wedding idea for those of a romantic temperament, and the best part about it is that this is one where wedding lanterns can be (literally) the star attraction.

This is a very different genre of wedding, mostly because in order for it to be a truly celestial theme, it will need to happen outdoors, under the blanket of a starry night sky. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then i’d probably advise having a smaller, more intimate wedding. So, keep that guest list to a minimum. It would also be a good idea to have a summer wedding, so that you aren’t forced into wearing bulky coats to stave off the cold. In the summer it also gets darker later so you will be able to add a sunset into the mix. Beautiful.

Alternatively, if you want a bigger wedding, you could celebrate in a celestial-themed room, such as the foyer of the Planetarium, or you could hire a marquis and deck it out in midnight blue furnishings and twinkling stars. I once went to a wedding where the whole interior of the tent was covered in dark, unctuous fabric, and it was simply stunning. Use crystal glassware, and as many candles and tealights as you can lay your hands on. A celestial theme is really about the lighting effects.

And speaking of lighting effects, the utimate star piece at a celestial wedding is the gorgeous wedding lantern. Release a good twenty or so- you can hire a team to do this so that they all go off at the same time, or get your guests involved- and gaze in wonder as they float off into the abyss.

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

Do it the Jordan and Peter Way!

Who could forget the lavish Jordan and Peter Andre Affair? If you want a truly unique Wedding, make like the celebrity (ex)couple and have the ultimate over the top, uber-meringue dressed, sparkle scattered, cinderella-styled wedding of your dreams...Sorry guys, this is possibly one for the ladies!

It might be not every little girl’s dream to have a fairytale wedding, but it’s certainly been at he back of some women’s minds for years before they even have a groom in mind. Weddings aren’t always about the other half you see. For many, weddings are really about looking fabulous and having the biggest, joyous, most spectacular celebration of your life. No one gets two larger than life weddings in a life time (except the Elzabeth Hurleys of this world of course). If you’re planning on a fairy tale wedding, you’ve got to think big, you’ve got to think Disney, you’ve got to think Technicolor.

The bride’s dress should be something you’d expect to see on a cartoon princess (think Amy Adams in Enchanted). The bodice should be jewel encrusted and there should be at least ten layers of petticoats and a crinoline- If you can easily get in and out of a car, then it won’t do. The fairytale wedding is all about hammering home those male/female stereotypes. You want to look pretty as a picture, and your groom should be stud-like. Get him to hit the gym before the big day, and he absolutely must do the full white tie, waistcoat,  and tails look. He’s your prince after all.

Consider a gold/silver colour theme. Have white tablecloths at the reception scattered with sparkly confetti, and perhaps think about laying roses on each place setting. Another idea is to choose your favourite fairytale and model your wedding around that. If it’s Cinderella, you might want to have invitations with a single shoe on them, or a pumpkin carriage. The music could also be plucked from the film’s soundtrack. If it’s sleeping Beauty you prefer, you absolutely must have the music from Tchaikovsky’s ballet blasting out in the background. You could hire the odd spinning wheel, and dress your bridesmaids as the fairies who bestow wit, virtue, and beauty onto the princess, and if your parents are game, get them to play the King and Queen!

A perfect end to your fairytale wedding, would be a mass release of wedding lanterns. Of course, I would say that, but actually I can’t think of a more appropriate wedding theme where wish lanterns could have their moment of glory. They’re elegant, graceful, and full of the magic of fairytale…

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

Make out like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers!

The more I search for Ideas for unique wedding receptions, the more I realise just what an array of original themes there are out there. This musical themed wedding- inspired by the film ‘Confetti‘ (Martin Freeman comedy) is definitely one of my favourites. Glamourous, glitzy, an all out jazz hands extravaganza.

The film Confetti is a fly on the wall spoof documentary about three couples who enter a most original wedding competition. There’s a tennis theme, a naturist theme (see blog post below) and a musical-theme. The latter, not surprisingly, wins. I love the idea of setting your wedding to the medium of song. Instead of saying your vows, sing a duet together. Instead of walking up the aisle, tap dance, and get your bridesmaids to do the whole chorus line-Ziegfield follies-esque- thing. The finale of a big number could also include the releasing of multiple wedding lanterns, like giant bulbs of confetti rising instead of falling into a scattered heap on the floor. This is definitely a crowd pleaser.

The other alternative, is not to have the full on musical-number-intercepted wedding, but just to have a musical theme as part of the back drop. Instruct guests to turn up dressed in clothes from their favourite musical, and have broadway numbers blasting out at the reception. You could fashion your invites and table decor around your favourite musical- napkins with ‘Broadway Musical of 1940′, ‘Swing Time’, or ‘Chicago’ emblazoned on them for instance. Your first dance as a newly married couple could be just that bit more rehearsed. Study the choreography of your favourite dance number, and mimic it to perfection. Better still, don’t tell anyone about it, when you get up together and launch into an impressive set of twirls and leaps and tap to the beautiful and much-loved ‘Cheek to cheek’ from Top Hat, they’re guaranteed to be stunned.

Yes… I can definitely think of worse ways to celebrate the union of two lovers… (again, see blog post below!)

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

It seems it's only their heads that have been censored!

We’re nearing the end of our unique wedding ideas series, but there are still a few more bubbling to the surface in wedding wish lanterns‘ cauldron of weird and wonderful, beautiful and  bonkers, opulent and just plain outrageous wedding scenarios.

This- a nudist weddding- is one of the best examples of the latter. Those with a weak constitution would have been advised to have looked away a few minutes ago… Nudist or Naturist weddings are actually very much in tune with current environmental concerns and society’s new found distaste for all things material and disposable (brought on by the recession). In this post, I’m not going to propose how you might go about having a nudist wedding (simply adopt the traditional model bar the clothes- oh, and warn people in advance), but rather open up the floor to debate on the subject of naturism.

Are you a naturist at heart?  If you despise people who slap on the make-up full wack and shop ’til they drop, hell, if you’re happy with your body and don’t use clothes to flatter, enhance, or hide it, then you’re probably more of a naturist than you think. Naturists are all about the back-to-basics, stress-free, simple approach to living. They see clothes as an unnecessary obstacle. Bodies are, after all, beautiful.

The naturist cause has been championed in the news recently, as Harriet Harman is reported to be supporting claims that nauturists are suffering the sort of prejudice customarily reserved for ethnic minorities, homosexuals and the elderly. It would appear that admitting to naturist tendencies is also harmful for career prospects, with those aspiring to work in care and needing to be CRB checked, being particularly vulnerable to discrimination. So, we British more than most seem to have an inherant fear of the naked form. We simply cannot cope with it. As Andrew Welch of British Naturism says, Nudity is not an offence. So why do we find it offensive?

If you see yourself as a naturist, then don’t hide away. Embrace it. Nurture it. But do for god’s sake put some clothes on in the colder months! If you’re planning a nudist wedding reception- best make it a summer one.

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

Hmm...Does the word 'taste-less' spring to mind?

This Unique Wedding Idea is a bit of an odd one, and it certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you are one of those people who take halloween very seriously, and want the focus of your wedding to be on the fun rather than the vows, then this could be right up your street.

If you are really and truly considering having a zombie-themed wedding than you’re probbly a bit of an off-beat couple- you should check out offbeatbride.com to get some inspiration and share your thoughts with like-minded newlyweds (or pre-weds). This blog is not here to judge anyone on their personal choices (though personally I believe a wedding should be a little more than a fancy dress party), the important thing is that your wedding should be everything that you and your partner want. It should be a joint exercise, a shared decision, a couple’s coupled wishes.

So…If it’s gothic you want, then gothic it is. You can really have fun here. Don’t hold back on the stage make-up. You could opt (like the pictured couple) to be carried down the aisle in coffins. I’m sure there are more than a few brides and grooms who have felt like they’re marching towards a death of sorts on their wedding day- these are the people who are now divorced of course.

For the wedding feast, go banquet style. Have an enormous long table with blood-red cloth,  laden with fruits piled high, drinking goblets and other gothicky treats. The menu could be styled around halloween theme- think green jellies with spiders (not real ones) encased inside, Perhaps for the main course, you could serve bloody steaks with beetroot, or a huge suckling pig (though this is more suited to a medieval-theme) You could adorn the reception area with cobwebs, huge (cracked if possible) mirrors, and candles aplenty.

Wedding lanterns might be just the thing for the end of the reception. On the stroke of midnight, release a handful to the chords of the Adams Family soundtrack playing in the background. With any luck, a hooting owl might chip in…spooky.

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

1920s weddings? I say, what a scream!

Enter part 5 of Wedding Wish Lanterns‘ Unique Wedding Ideas series, and here’s one for those with a penchant for all things vintage.

If you count Some Like it Hot amongst your favourite films, or think of Chicago as more than just a place to visit, then look no further than this fabulous flapper wedding theme that embraces all the glitz and glamour of the roaring twenties. Here are a few ideas to get you started on your 1920s wedding:

- You’ll need to consider your bridal wear very carefully. Instead of tights or bare legs, go for stockings with a back-leg seam. The twenties were known for the figure skimming, dropped waistline dresses for women, so go for a relatively shapeless gown cut just on the knee. Add a string of pearls, and beaded head band to complete the look.

- The Groom could be done up gangster style. Think pinstripe suit, or white tie and tails (Fred Astaire-esque) with spats- you know those shiny black round-toed shoes with white foot-bib.

- For the invitations, you could either go for simple white square cards with added 1920s emblems (champagne glasses, gramaphones, Charlie Chaplin), or you could alternatively shape your invites accordingly. Cut round discs to look like records (an idea courtesy of wedthemes.com), or style your invites to look like tabloid broadsheets perhaps.

- With the music, you can really go to town. No 1920s wedding would be complete without a bit of Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Noel Coward numbers. You could also get hold of soundtracks to films like Chicago, Bright Young Things, or Singin’ in the Rain.

- Serve classic 1920s fare- Waldorf salad was all the rage. If you can afford it, get in some caviar. For pudding offer up fruit cocktail and classic New York cheesecake, or Ice cream- Ice cream was a relatively new invention in the 1920s.

Darling, the 1920s were so terribly, frightfully divine you know. Don’t be a bore, have a 1920s wedding and have a simply spiffing time!

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

Not for the faint hearted

This Unique wedding idea- the fourth in the series- is not for the faint-hearted! If you suffer from bad circulation, or-like me- have hot baths of an evening simply to warm yourself up, then perhaps an ice cold, snow-frosted wedding is not the right choice…

This is really one for the outdoors-y, adventurous types amongst you.  You may be a self-professed ski-aholic, or perhaps your partner romantically proposed to you on the snowy peaks of mountain, whatever your attachment to a colder clime, there’s no better, nor more original way of honouring it, than having your wedding on a mountain-top.

First you will need to decide upon a location. France can be tricky as it tends to be the case that you need proof of residency. Most budding brides opt for North America- Banff in canada and Colorado being two of the favourites. Of course flying guests accross an Ocean may not be the cheapest way of saying ‘I do’, but if you have the money to spare and the desire attached, then you shouldn’t be put off. You might also want to think about having a smaller-scale wedding, inviting just close friends and family to save costs.

Alternatively, you could opt for a wedding that’s altogether closer to home, and simply create a winter wonderland theme with the aid of some fake snow, ski accessories, a wind machine, and some ice white wedding lanterns. You could even get married in full blown ski attire- though this may not be the most elegant way of walking down an aisle. You might want to think about hiring a video artist, and project images of panoramic mountain views- think planet earth, polar bears episode- which could serve as the backdrop to your ceremony.

However you choose to celebrate your snow-covered wedding, make sure you warn your guests beforehand if they need to come equipped with thermal underwear!

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

Here Comes the Bride!

Welcome to part three of the unique wedding ideas series. Fresh from the ideas bank at wedding wish lanterns. Uk, comes this wild western theme- a lassoe flingin’, knee jerkin’, hat tiltin’ hoe down of a wedding idea that will be sure to put a whopping great smile on all your guests faces.

Be warned though, if the word Oklahoma says to you Southern US State rather than much loved Rogers and Hamerstein musical, a wild west wedding may not be for you. If however you’ve long been a fan of ‘Raw Hide’, count ‘Old Yeller’ amongst your top five favourite films of all time, or sleep with a snapshot of John Wayne under your pillow, then this could be just the thing you are looking for. Here are a few ideas to get you started along the cowboy wedding trail.

1. It’s of course always important to think about the bridal wear. Do you want to go Little House on the Prairie or Brokeback mountain? Do you want to be in turn of the century dress or accessorize your wedding gown with cowboy boots and hat and perhaps the odd horse-y trinket?

2. Once you’ve decided on your outfits, then you can mould the rest of your wedding around it. If you’ve opted for period dress, then you might want to think about having a horse- driven buggy, or carriage to take you to the church. You could also take the film Oklahoma as your inspiration, and model your bridemaids dresses on the fashions exhibited on it.

3. Why not have invites and placecards with cowboy images on them? You could take this further, and have a cowboy themed cake stand, or a lassoe and horses weaving around the body of the cake itself.

4. As your wedding reception, you could have a traditional barn dance. Hire a band and have a jolly hoe down. You could also use some music from famous Westerns interjected between the live music, to muster the appropriate atmosphere. The emotionally charged main theme from Gone with The Wind, will certainly be a crowd pleaser. Later into the night, Will Smith’s, Wild Wild West might just strike the right mood…

So, there are a few ideas to get you started. If it’s a unique wedding you’re after, look no further than a western wedding!

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215

Here is part two of the unique wedding ideas series. If you want a wedding that will rival even the most unique and original of weddings, look no further than the sandy, balmy, breezy clime of a beach. Really, what could be more blissful than a beach Wedding?

There are many different sorts of beach weddings you can opt for. If the funds allow,  you could ship a wedding party out to the Hawaii, Tahiti, or the Bahamas. The backdrop of white sand, turquoise waters, and palm trees would certainly make for a truly unique wedding album! The climate would also prevent any possibility of an un-invited storm, shower, or blustery winds- conditions that aren’t a bride’s best friend. This would also be the perfect condition in which to launch a wedding lantern- Wedding lanterns and beach weddings are a match made in heaven doncha know!

There are many ways of making your beach wedding that extra bit more special. Having broused through a few beach wedding tips pages, here’s a few that I think are worth considering:

1. Always have an open canopy. This will provide neccessary shelter (for the older guests) and will mark out the location of your wedding reception against the landscape.

2. Invest in a lifeguard to keep an eye on the kiddies. This will give you and your guests peace of mind (you can’t put a price on that) so that you can relax and enjoy the day.

3. Incorporate the theme of beaches in your table decor and food. Why not have a clam bake, or serve fresh fish straight from the sea? You could make place settings by inscribing names onto seashells, or filling clear bottles with named scrolls-  message in a bottle style.

4. Choose beach-related music- the beach boys perhaps? Or ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles.

So there are a few ideas to chew over. If you want a truly unique wedding, then going al fresco might just be the answer you’re looking for…

Wedding Wish Lanterns is a specialist in unique wedding and reception ideas.To contact us either email sales@weddingwishlanterns.co.uk or call 0845 500 1215