My medieval wedding - the ceremony

I finally got married in September, and now we are in December, Christmas fast approaching, so obviously I have been taking a break from the blogg. After two years of intense wedding planning I just needed to focus on something completely different for a while. But I still want to share our wonderful day with you, because it was amazing. Sadly I got ill during the main course, but after a few hours sleep I was able to dance and enjoy the wedding cake for the remainder of the evening.

The ceremony took place at the medieval museum by the lake. I wanted no lavish decorations and had only arranged for benches and DIY pennants at the site. Waiting for the music to start I was so nervous, crying, then laughing and so touched by the powerful moment. Then my sister-in-law came running and proclaimed that neither the rings, the rice bags or the programs were at the ceremony site. She ran to get them, making me slightly more nervous in the process, but frankly I wasn't to bothered, because all I could think about was getting married to my man.

I walked up to The Wedding by Enaid with my dad and my sister and was so wonderfully surprised to see that everyone had found a medieval costume to wear. It was difficult to do anything but look to Robert and I could see he was struggling with the tears as well.

 

My dad had prepared a beautiful speech about marriage and love. It was special to me to have him bless us with those words.

 

Robert had his 3 brothers with him and I had my sister, whose hand I was squeezing the entire time. Then the Official got up and married us. I don't recall what she said, only that Robert and I smiled at each other because of the severe and dry legal phrases. The sky above was dramatically clouded, emphasising the feel of moment.

The whole ceremony was simple and beautiful. We sang two songs, one of them a medieval sounding tune about a knight and a maiden. It was a favourite of mine when I was little. We exchanged rings and had that magical kiss and a long warm hug. I wanted to stand like that forever.

We ended the ceremony with another song and we enjoyed the minutes just sitting holding hands and smiling till our cheeks hurt. It was perfect.

Coin/Disc Earrings

There aren't a lot of examples of earrings in the medieval paintings I have been looking through so it is hard for me to advice you on the subject.
From the early renaissance in Italy though, all the fine ladies have earrings made with gold and pearls. Italy is a European centre of innovation during the medieval times and the renaissance and this earring is from the early Middle Ages, 7th century:

Link

You might be able to find something similar - gold, colorful stones, circular and cross motives.
Along with the tendency to use coins in jewlery in the prior nordic periode of the Viking Age I thought I would post you some earrings inspired by coins:

Etsyseller GenJewel

Etsyseller donnaKBaker

Etsyseller onelifejewelry

Armstreet.com

The last pair I bought for my wedding this september. :)

Julie & Shaun's Medieval Wedding

A beautiful June day in 2010 Julie & Shaun had a mindblowing medieval wedding! Their photos from photographer WeddingsBySamuel takes you right back to the Middle Ages. I hope my wedding will look this wonderful. This wedding really shows how attention to detail, focus on historic acuracy and a talented photographer can make a medieval theme.

The groom prepared himself at a nearby hotel which wasn't easy with all the armor he had to wear.

The ceremony was held at Kenilworth Castle where the guest were greeted with waving red and yellow lion banners. To accomodate the theme the guests too were dressed in period garbs.

The first part of the ceremony -the leagal stuf - was conducted within the gatehouse in a room with dark wooden panels. Rings and vows were exchanged.The bride arriwed in her silky green dress with golden twisted trim.

 

Then they crowd walked outside and among the ruins Julie and Shaun was bound together by a handfasting ritual. It included the sharing of drink to ensure that the couple would always experience bounty together. I love the look of the bride's har from the back.

As the ceremony neared the end, a black knight appeared, threatningly claiming the right of Prima Nocta (if you remember from the Braveheart movie - it's the local nobleman's right to sleep with the bride on her wedding night.) Obviously that resulted in a dramatic fight.

The black knight was utterly defeated and the happy couple could continue to a walk in the ruins - a perfect place for proper pictures.

For the following reception Julie and Shaun had hired Guinevere's Dream Events, to transform an ordinay modern venue into the ultimate banquet dream. The bride and groom entered the room first and then guests were announced one by one. The entertainment during dinner consisted of several guests put on trial.

The night ended in dancing and merriment:

Congratulations on the incredible day and hopefully a happy marriage. :-)

Medieval hairdos for medium long hair - by Lillith moon

Youtube is a bride's treasure chest when it conserns guides to do your hair. That is the wonder of this computerized world, so much information a couple of links away. I love these guides to a medieval knot inspired updo, and decided that I wanted to post it. It is the beautiful Lillith Moon, who has made the instructions. So here it goes:

Hope some of these may inspire you, for your weddingday :)

Medieval seating chart - Bow and arrow

I came across this very medieval seating chart idea by Tammy from Uniquity Invitations / Cora's Photography /via Ruffled. It is something you can do yourself and it's a fun way to direct your guests to their seats.

It's worthy of a Robin Hood wedding to plant an arrow in a target board and have a couple of lists hang down from the arrow with the names of each guest at each table.

Best way to make sure it's stable is to use a big round slice of wood, drill a hole in it for and arrow-like long cylindrical stick and make the stick look like a real arrow by adding fletchings in the other end. The target board can be painted with concentric rings in shifting colors.

The table number notes can be printed on parchment paper to give it a medieval feel.

An medieval engagement shoot

Charlene & Phil had a magnificient medieval photoshot together, captured by Josh Cornell | Renaissance Studios Photography Toronto Weddings. I love that they incorporated ruins, waterfall, chess, Wilhelm Tell apple shoot all wrapped up in the tranquil forest. I'll just throw all these wonderful pictures at you then :)

 

 I love her dress, it's cute with the light blue fabric with a white pattern and the purple ribbons. They look very much in love and all their little props makes the shoot perfect.

The Tutor Groom

Better late than never aye? The tudor era is sort of the English transistion from the Middle Ages to Renaissance, and a time of lavish clothing. I watched The Tudors, a series about Henry VIII, and marveled at the princly costumes. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who played Henry looks every bit a prince charming, in spite the darkness of the story. The producers have paid a lot of attention to the costumes and therefore I am comfortable showing them to you here as a historical reference. Henry got married quite a few times, and the screenshots below is from The Tudors: Henry and Jane's wedding.

Wealthy men in the Tudor Times, often wore either a fitted jacket with a high color and pants or a very broad almost square upper coat, and slim pantyhose like this:

So if you want to look like Henry, go for rich silky fabrics, often with a metal shine and a big impressive hat with feathers. The white tight hoses might seem strange to a modern man, but I donøt think that there's anything girly about a tudor man. A final touch could be the golden chain of office around his neck, an important power symbol.

Tudorshoppe

There are a couple of amazing jackets/doublets that would suit the tudor groom. These are from the Vikingstore and the tudorshoppe.

There are a few vendors who specializes in the tudor period like The tudor shoppe. You can also always have a tailer make the costume which will probably enable you to make it much more authentic. Just keep in mind that those handsome fabrics can be expensive.
The tudor king groom is majestic, powerful and rich and such a costume would be a very fitting for a wedding.