Issue May 16-31, 2004

Our Brides and Grooms have danced the night away at their fairytale weddings! Let us help you plan Your 1st Dance and MORE! Offers the most full service Bridal Dance Packages. We hope you enjoy our Wedding newsletter, full of fun and useful information to help with your wedding day planning. Don't forget to book your wedding dance lessons!

Table of Contents

Click on a topic or scroll down.

1) A Different Celebrity Wedding Photo from Past or Present!

This issue's Celebrity newlyweds smiling for the camera are Brendan Fraser & Afton Smith,
and Prince Maximilian Von Und Zu Liechtenstein & Angela Brown.

2) A Wedding Tradition Explained!

"What is a Hope Chest?"

Hundreds of years ago, marriages were formed for reasons other than love and included some exchange of property between the families of the Bride and Groom. The Groom's family would pay money or land to the Bride's family for the Bride. The Bride's family reciprocated by providing the couple with a dowry of various household items for their new home, such as dishes, pots and pans, china, silverware, etc. As a Bride planned for her future marriage, she would add to this dowry with items she either collected or made (i.e. embroidered linens, towels, quilts). All these items would be kept in a special Hope Chest which would go with her when she married. In the olden days a hope chest might be the only possession a single woman would have.

This is an old european tradition, but some of the most beautiful hope chests were and are being created in this country. These large chests were often made or at least lined in cedar to safeguard the stored treasured items. For hundreds of years fathers lovingly painted or created wood inlays to adorn these chests of dreams. Mothers would teach their daughters from a very early age to do all the proper handiwork skills a future wife and mother might need (quilting, sewing, knitting, crocheting and embroidery. Young women would dream of the men they might marry as they worked. The creations would be placed in the hope chest to wait until the day she went to her own home. Hope Chests are made to last and many have been passed down through the generations. They are, in fact, tangible symbols of the hopes and dreams of the young, which become heirlooms filled up with the cherished keepsakes as we mature.

Kim: "My grandmother began teaching me handiwork at age five. She told me that these skills would help me fill up my Hope Chest someday. She loved her Hope Chest and always stored her most precious things there. It now lives at my house and still holds her wedding dress, the 200 year old family bible, the veil my mother wore at her confirmation and my son's baptismal outfit."

3) Kim's Wedding Tips!

We recently tied those knots and have tips, tricks and trials to share:

Your Registry, make it obvious, easy and with a wide range of price options. For some of your guests the trip will have been a serious expense while others will floor you with their generosity. Try to register with some stores from which your guests can order easily online. Many couples do a wedding web site to get responses and give directions but it is also a great place to put phone numbers and links to the places you are registered.

4) Wedding Dance Tip "Focus on Your Dance Partner!"

When you are announced as Husband and Wife and make your grand entrance at your reception, you can certainly smile, wave and acknowledge your cheering guests. However, once your foot hits the dance floor the audience should melt away as your gaze focuses on your beloved. Paradoxically, the "First Dance" is both a public display of your unity and affection and an intimate moment to be cherished. Too many couples do not enjoy their First Dance because they pay attention to all the people watching them instead of each other. At that moment, focusing on your partner is not only the most appropriate and respectful thing to do, it is the only LOGICAL thing to do. You cannot possibly lead or follow each other if you don't. Loving gestures such as a kisses or smiles shared between you will show how relaxed and in love you are. They will also ease your stage fright . Get lost in the moment and let your guests feel like they are catching a glimpse of a fairytale!

5) Group Classes

Our teachers run events and perform locally on a regular basis.

Check out the current Wedding Ezine for Group Lesson availability

6) This issue's Featured Vendor!

Click on the banner above to visit The Planners Guide or
Click here to e-mail Valerie Tillery, Owner of The Planners Guide

The Planners Guide is a site chock full of information and all sorts of great Victorian style invitations, marriage certificates, old style fans, calligraphy services and other unusual wedding accessories. While I was not aware of this site when planning my own wedding, but I have since recommended it to others; they also have a wonderful selection of birth certificates which you can have personalized with calligraphy. For those of you with slow connections, please wait as there are an unbelievable number of cool graphics!

7) Poems, Prayers & Promises

A romantic quote to simply to elevate your mood or to help you find the right sentiment for your vows or ceremony.

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech
when words become superfluous."

Ingrid Bergman

8) A New Bridal Themed Wallpaper for your computer desktop!

Now your computer screen can be dressed up too! Simply right click your mouse on our background and tell your computer to save ("set") as wall paper, BUT be sure you have saved the current background on you computer desktop first, if you want to get it back! If the background does not show up immediately, right click on your desktop background and click on refresh.

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