Grooms Wedding Attire – Traditional Wedding Attire for your Groom

Usually the grooms wedding attire will dictate what the other male members of the wedding party will wear so he needs to choose the right attire in the right style. With a formal church wedding it is traditional to wear top hat and tails whilst a simple trouser suit is suitable for a less formal wedding. But whilst you maybe fussing over various styles and fabrics it is easy to forget that the choice for his wedding attire is fairly varied too!

Morning dress is a traditional grooms wedding attire choice for a formal wedding, whether it is in a church or civil ceremony. Traditional morning dress consists of tailored grey stripe trousers, a black or grey tail coat, wing collar shirt, waistcoat, silk tie or cravat and a top hat (which can be optional). The waistcoat and tie or cravat can be color coordinated to match the wedding colors.

If morning dress doesn’t appeal you could choose a frock coat which is slightly more flamboyant and can be made from plain fabric, patterned brocade, velvet or silk. These are longer length coats which usually reach mid thigh and are worn with a standard or Nehru style collared shirt which should be white. Trousers should be black and plain and should be accompanied by a cravat.

Highland dress or kilts are popular grooms attire choices all over world especially for those with family links to Scotland. Kilts come in a range of different tartan fabrics and are available in a morning or evening dress style.

If you groom is a member of the armed forces then he may wish to wear his military uniform for your wedding. If the other members of the wedding party are not of the armed forces then different attire will need to be chosen for them.

A lounge suit is a popular choice for a modern or contemporary wedding and will give grooms the opportunity to splash out on a designer suit. The other members of the wedding party will not mind purchasing their own suits either as they can have something they could wear again.

Black tie is an elegant choice for an evening wedding and ‘black tie’ should be written on your wedding invitations if you intend to make your wedding a black tie affair. This can be a dinner jacket, trousers, white shirt and bow tie, although traditional black tie would include a tail coat jacket which is cut shorter than those in morning dress. If the male guests wear black tie then the female guests should wear evening dress.


By Georgina Clatworthy, The Wedding Source

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part 4: Fonthill Abbey

As Regina mentioned in Part 3, a popular vacation pastime for 18th and early 19th century people was the visiting of the large country estates of the rich and famous. Though it seems odd to us today, back then it was considered perfectly permissible. A lot of those houses are still open for viewing today…but today we’re going to visit a popular stately home that alas no longer exists, yet was quite famous in its day for its sheer…well, over-the-top-ness.

The Beckford family of Wiltshire was a fabulously wealthy one, thanks to its extensive plantation holdings in the West Indies which gave it a preeminent place in the sugar import market. Young William, heir of the family, got nothing but the best growing up—piano lessons from the young Mozart, for example—so when he came of age in 1781, he threw himself a party that cost ₤40,000. Um, wow.

However, scandals within a very few years drove him from England and his popular place in society. Despite his vast wealth, his life was not a happy one. He lost his young wife in childbirth while in exile on the continent, and spent the next several years traveling, writing (among his works was a well-known Gothic novel, Vathek) and collecting art. In 1796, much to everyone’s surprise, he decided to return to England and build himself a new house to house his art collection…in the form of a Gothic cathedral. He had the former Beckford home, Fonthill Splendens, torn down, and hired the brilliant but troubled architect James Wyatt to build it for him.

What emerged was one of the largest private homes in England. Fonthill Abbey featured 50 foot high windows, three-hundred foot corridors, staircases of enormous height and width…and a 50 foot table in the dining room, which seemed odd as no one would visit or even speak to Beckford (remember that scandalous past?) Yet alongside this excess, most of the bedrooms were small, stark, and bare, and over a dozen of them didn’t even have windows. Up to five hundred men were at work on the enormous house at any given time, and due to Wyatt’s frequent absences (he was notoriously unreliable, and often disappeared for months at a time on alcoholic sprees), Beckford himself did much of the directing of the building and landscaping of his monstrous home.

The process did not run smoothly. The main tower, planned to be three hundred feet tall, collapsed twice before finally staying put. The house was finally completed in 1813…which year also saw Wyatt’s death in a carriage accident.

Beckford lived alone in the gloomy splendor of his house for the next ten years, only entertaining once when Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton spent Christmas with him. Unfortunately, the outrageous cost of his building (not only the Abbey itself but a twelve foot high wall extending for twelve miles around his lands) combined with a drop in the price of sugar and the loss of some of his Jamaican plantations led to his needing to sell his white elephant abbey…which he did in 1823, amazingly enough, for the tidy sum of ₤300,000.

The new owner of Fonthill Abbey, gunpowder magnate John Farquhar, rarely visited his new acquisition, but happened to be there at Christmas 1825 when, for the third and final time, the 300-foot tower of the Abbey collapsed, demolishing about a third of the house with it. Farquhar himself died the following year, having neglected to write a will, and none of the relations arguing over his fortune was interested in taking on Fonthill. It was torn down, and only the gatehouse and a small portion of the once enormous house remain.

And Beckford? He took his money and moved to Bath, erecting a shorter (only 120 feet tall) and much more solidly built tower in which to house some of his art treasures. Though Fonthill is long gone, you can still visit his Lansdown Tower today…just as inquiring young ladies might once have done.

Adventures in Jam Making

Yesterday mom and I had a jam session, raspberry jam that is. My mom is the "jam master" if you will, she makes jam every year; strawberry, marionberry, blackberry, you name it! It's kinda her thing. This jam session was extra special because jars of this raspberry jam will be the favors at our wedding - pretty sweet, huh? Here are a few pictures from our jam session.

In a funny way, making jam reminded me of that episode of FRIENDS where Monica makes jam as the "jam plan to get over my man," and Joey totally devours it all, and has jam all over his face...remember that one? Love it!

Thanks Mom, plus I knocked another thing off my summer to-do list. Yes!

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Dinner Last Night

I was in the mood for a pizza, but needed a wave of inspiration, so what did I do...google "Summer Pizza Ideas." And what popped up, lemony zucchini goat cheese pizza...BRILLIANT! This recipe was unbelievably quick and easy to make. Added bonus: the goat cheese/lemon spread was divine and the perfect salty-and-tart compliment to the crunch of the zucchini and squash slices. Definitely will be making this bad boy again.

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Red, White and Black Wedding Inspiration

It's the beginning of a new month! This summer has been flying by! I continue to be amazed by the enormous talent of artists who hand make gorgeous details for your wedding or bridal shower! Today was inspired by seeing these gorgeous red poppies:

They are actually sugar flowers made by Two Sugar Babies. You can dress up any plain cake with their amazing creations and voila! You have a work of art! Two Sugar Babies  makes cookie toppers, cake pop decorations, and even brownie toppers! Their creations even coordinate with social stationary designed by Kelly Lyden of WHHostess. 

So, finding the poppies led me on an adventure of red, white and black! I fell in love with this sassy feather fascinator (veil is not included in the price but can be purchased individually) paired it with bridesmaid dress style 7104 from Bonny Bridal (about $165 suggested retail price) and then found these adorable peep toe pumps! The price is AMAZING - only $39.99 and free shipping from Your Shoe Store. Lastly, I headed back to Etsy for one more look around for wedding items in my color theme. Luckily for me (and you) I found these handmade paper flowers. The price is awesome: $3.75 for 25 flowers. These flowers gave me all kinds of ideas! They are small (approx. 5/8 in diameter). My mind started racing with all the things these dainty flowers could embellish for your wedding and DIY projects: invitations, placecards, will-you-be-my bridesmaid cards and so much more! Are you using Red, White and Black as your wedding colors? If so, share any of your amazing finds!

A Chapter from the Cosmetic Chronicles~

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Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

Phew...this past weekend was a busy one! We had back-to-back weddings, first my fiance was a groomsman in a wedding on Friday, and then on Saturday, my good friend and coworker got married. Busy busy! I've never done back-to-back weddings before, and while we had an amazingly fun time, it was also utterly exhausting.

Sunday morning, we grabbed brunch at this new brunch spot, and relaxed for the remainder of the day. After two nights of nonstop dancing, drinking, and celebrating, it was pretty awesome to kick up our heels and relax.

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