Creative Ceremony Ideas

If you would like to add special touches to your wedding ceremony, try one or two of the below listed ideas:
1. The mother and father walk the bride down the aisle.  
2. The bride walks down the aisle solo, or perhaps even dad can meet the bride midway down the aisle.  
3. Have the groom escort his mother to her seat.  
4. Allow a family member or friend to do a special reading or solo.  
5. Have a rose ceremony - The bride and groom exchange two red roses symbolizing the giving and receiving of their love for each other throughout their marriage.  
6. Hand out roses to the mothers during the rose ceremony.  
7. Have a family member deliver the final blessing.  
8. Include a prayer of thanks to the families.
9. Have a single flower given out to each female guest as they are seated for the ceremony.  
10. Jumping of the Broom  
11. For the big kiss, have the wedding party hold up score cards to rate the kiss.
12. Do a tasting ceremony - The bride and groom will taste four different flavors, something sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. These different flavors will represent the sweet, salty, bitter and sour times the couple will go through during their marriage. Guests usually get a kick out of the funny faces made by the couple as they taste the different elements.  
13. Include some of your engagement photos in your wedding program. Happy Planning!!!

Engagement Sessions - Be Your Best Self

When doing an engagement photo session with your photographer be sure to look your best. I usually recommend that my brides meet with a make-up artist the day of their engagement session to do a trial run for their wedding day make-up. This way she kills two birds with one stone (figure of speech to all my PETA friends), and then her make-up is perfection for her engagement session and she has now had the necessary make-up trial run for her wedding day. Happy Planning!!!

Meet Gia - Designs by Cornelia Intern

Hi my name is Gia Allmond, I am from Jacksonville, FL and currently, I'm attending the UCF Rosen College for Hospitality Management, majoring in Event Management with two minors in Hospitality Management and Spanish. During my time in high school I greceived the opportunity of a lifetime and worked with the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce for two years in the Membership Department. Working there really opened my eyes and confirmed how much I love working events. That was when I decided to attend the University of Central Florida. Working with people and events is my passion. There is nothing that I love more than to see or hear the feedback from someone when you've just created and executed an event that was everything that they imagined or even exceeded their expectations. I simply love being able to meet and talk with new people and help them to create their dream event that will stick with them for a lifetime.

Tipping Your Caterer

I am often asked "How much should I tip the caterer?". Well, it depends on whether the gratuity is already included in your total bill or whether it is left up to your discretion. Be sure to check with your caterer first on this. In the event that the caterer does leave the gratuity to your discretion, you should expect to pay 18 - 20 % of the catering bill evenly dispersed between the supervisor, servers, and bartenders. At least $50-$75 should be given to each person. SN: Be sure to factor in tips and gratuity when putting together your wedding budget.