Planning a Wedding with a Teacher

Most of the time when couples are planning a wedding, the vast majority of the work is done by the woman. However, since I happen to be an English teacher at a local high school, I wanted to have a lot of input on the way everything was put together. My favorite language subject is British literature, so I wanted to make sure that the majority of the decorations and other factors had some historical value. I’m also quite the history buff, so having other historically accurate elements from the ancient world was also of value to me. Here are some of the things that I wanted included in my wedding because I am such a detail oriented person.

Favors and Entertainment

As a history buff, I really wanted a band that was authentic to a period from antiquity. Fortunately, we have a very large renaissance fair that happens every year locally, and my wife and I frequent the event in full attire. We happened to know a band that played period music on authentic instruments while dressed in period attire, so we chose to hire them for the entertainment portion of our wedding reception. As a fan of history, I also wanted to incorporate something fun for the guests. No matter how strange or weird your wedding theme happens to be, every good wedding has some sort of fun favor to give to the guests.  They were a bit difficult to track down, but they were also well worth the effort.

Decorations

The decorations for our wedding were one of the most difficult parts to put together because buying authentic period pieces would have cost a small fortune. Fortunately, my wife (or fiancé at the time) is a very resourceful woman and is very handy with crafts and sewing. She took the time out of her busy schedule to make tablecloths for all the tables with some vintage fabric we found hiding in the back of a fabric outlet, and she even crafted her own wedding dress in the style of late 1700s English style. I’ll admit, the amount of work she put into just researching her dress let alone actually stitching it together is more than most people can probably imagine, but it was gorgeous when she finished and was well worth the effort in my opinion.

Food and Drink

As I mentioned before, my wife and I have some fairly deep ties at our local renaissance fair, so we decided to recruit some vendors to cater the event. My favorite food is turkey drumsticks while my wife’s is beef stew in a bread bowl, so we decided to offer both to our guests so everyone could enjoy. For beverages, we served a choice of beer, mead, and red wine so everyone could indulge in their “primitive” pleasure of choice. We had to bring in some modern day soda pop for the handful of kids who attended, but most of the guests stuck with the appropriate period beverages.

All in all, I must admit that planning a wedding with so many historical features was quite challenging; even for a teacher! I do recommend that more men get involved in the planning process because it was very rewarding and my wife appreciated the help. Though my personal tastes may not be for everyone, take the time to make your wedding exactly what you want it to be and you will have lasting memories to cherish for the rest of your life.