King and Queen of Lurve

I'm sorry for the huge amount of posting today, but I'm trying to make this blog worthwhile and full of helpful content for other historically inspired brides and grooms. I do apologize for the storm of Medieval and Renaissance content. Like I said before, my wedding is focused on that period and, as my wedding is in October, I'm very much preoccupied with it. I will do my best to find content for other wedding periods though!

Anyway, yesterday the wonderful Offbeat Bride posted a link to iDiY (I-Do it yourself), a blog dedicated to do it yourself wedding-related projects. It's an excellent source of inspiration. I actually noticed a lot that could be used for Victorian weddings.

Today's post features the latest "love stamp" issued by the US Postal Service. Super cute, right?! My mum pointed them out to me a few days ago, and indeed I think my fiance and I will use them for wedding-related mail. iDiY's latest post features some "Love Stamp Inspired Freebies." Very cute.

Plague Doctors and Medieval Music!

Ah, the plague doctors, or beak doctors as they were also known... What an oddity of history.

And yet, my future brother-in-law wants to dress as one for my upcoming Medieval/Renaissance wedding. At first I wasn't fond of the idea. He is in the wedding party after all. Then I decided that, as long as the mask stayed off for the ceremony, I didn't much care. The main point in getting people to dress up is to have fun, after all. At least that's become my opinion. :P

A friend recently showed me this amazing plague doctor costume. How cool is that? My brother to be is hoping to experiment with leather for his mask. If his plans work out, I will post the results for the world to see!


I also want to share a website I found about musical instruments used in early music. I don't know about you, but, while listening to pieces of Medieval or Renaissance music for wedding ideas, I often wonder what certain instruments are. Of course, many of us are very familiar with the harp, the lute, the bagpipes, and the dulcimer. But what about the lizard? The rauschpfeife? The psaltery? Or the haunting gemshorn? Many of the instruments come with sound clips and sometimes whole songs. You can even see what the inside of a hurdy-gurdy looks like! This site is an excellent resource for anyone concerned with period music!

Medieval Wedding

When I type "Medieval Wedding" into my Google search bar, the first items are some images. One of which is this impressive gem of a medieval wedding shown above. For more information on this impressive event (including some neat ideas for invitations) check out this article.

One of the first links to information about Medieval weddings and their history is a site called Marriage during the Middle Ages. It's a helpful tidbit of info, but they don't site anything. Their website instead encourages visitors to do their own research to back up the claims they put forth. Of course I believe that people should do their own research to gain different perspectives, but scholarly articles have a bibliography for a reason. It was just a bit annoying to someone who enjoys history and learning.

The next helpful link is aptly called Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Page. This page has all sorts of information on it and it includes a bibliography (yay!). It was created by Kirsti S. Thomas who is also a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. The SCA, for those who don't know, is also an excellent place to look for historic wedding ideas. ANYWAY! the Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Page seemingly contains loads of information about clothing, food, music, and even a discussion on the validity of handfasting. However many of the links are broken, which is a real shame. That can be a bit of a setback for anyone researching Medieval and Renaissance weddings online.

Getting Together for a Drink!

Many cultures have used sharing a glass of something or other as a means to express unity. Most of my family is Catholic so I've been to plenty of Catholic weddings where I witnessed couples drinking from a chalice during Eucharist. Shinto couples may have a san san kudo ceremony in which they sip wine to celebrate their marriage. A moddern Ár nDraíocht Féin Druid wedding ceremony may also include sharing a glass of wine, ale, or mead.

Sure, you could use a basic wine glass. But why not a fancy Chalisbury Grail from Museum Replicas? How amazing is that? Now of course, I always try to find local artisans, but Museum Replicas does have some nice and, usually, affordable merchandise for the theme-happy bride and groom. If you're hoping to have a Germanic inspired wedding, how about the Germanen drinking horn? Or if you're a Celtophile like myself, the horn of Cu Culainn may be just what you're looking for.

These horns are appealing to me because they're not from an actual bull. I'm a vegetarian who loves the idea of drinking horns, but I'd feel really hypocrytical drinking the standard Burger King leftovers. Until now, I had never seen a man made drinking horn. I'm impressed.

Of course, if you're an omnivore, Museum Replicas offers a traditional Viking drinking horn.

If you have any other ideas for historically themed drinking vesels, let me know!

Germanic Traditions Anyone?

For anyone in the Central New York region, there's a German festival called Saengerfest happening at the Whitesboro High School. I thought that it could provide a little inspiration for anyone hoping to add some German flavor to a Medieval or Renaissance wedding.

My First Post!

Oh what an original title...

How to begin? I'm jumping on the blogging bandwagon. I have a Live Journal but I don't think that really counts... This is intended to be public whereas my lj is very private. I had never intended to start a blog. I didn't really have anything to talk about besides my day to day life... Blogs seem to work best when they have an actual purpose or theme.

In fact, "themes" are very much what drove me to start this blog. You see, I'm getting married to a wonderful man in October. We're having a Medieval/Renaissance/Fantasy themed wedding! Type in "Medieval Wedding" in your Google search bar and be prepared to sort through a myriad of sites, articles, flicker accounts, and whatnot. Many sites are selling outfits, but outfits are only part of planning a historically themed wedding. What about favor ideas? What about seating arrangements? What about accuracy vs. inaccuracy? What about secular Medieval weddings? Christian? Pagan? What about getting the family involved? What about cultural appropriation? There is so much to sort through, and the purpose of most sites I encounter is to sell sell sell. Rarely do I find anything informative. I also love finding inspiration! Not just people in costumes! What about Arthurian centerpieces or invitations? I find them every so often, but rarely in one place. I love looking at Medieval/Renaissance "wedsites" - there's so much great stuff on them!

I'm a huge fan of the amazing Offbeat Bride. I'm a member of the Offbeat Bride Tribe and have met some amazing people there. The community has popularized the term "wedding porn." I sometimes spend hours looking through such porn - photos of happy couples doing what reflects who they are. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to find an example of a historic bride!

I'm not intending to rip Ariel off in any way. I have a ton of respect for her. For starters, I believe she makes some money through Offbeat Bride (correct me if I'm wrong!). I don't intend to at this point, for better or for worse. There's also a group on the Offbeat Bride Tribe dedicated to historic brides, but I wanted to do something a little more. There are so many wedding related websites and blogs out there related to contemporary weddings and contemporary wedding styles - so here's one for historic-minded brides (and grooms!).

Although my main focus is on Medieval and Renaissance weddings, I'll try and find things on Victorian, 50's, 60's, Ancient Greek, and other such historically themed weddings. I love weddings that go for historical accuracy, but I equally love weddings that add in some whimsy. Even though it's a piece of lore, I'd still count Arthurian weddings as "historic." Basically, any wedding that looks to history and/or mythology as inspiration will be intriguing to me. I mean, think about it. We live in the here and now, and yet countless people, including myself, have decided that another time, however accurate, is representative of their weddings! That's pretty interesting.