Why hello the lovely readers of Betsy Transatlantically! My name is Belinda and I blog over at Found Love. Now What? where I share the highs and lows of moving to Wales all in the name of love and adventure. I picked up my life in Seattle and moved 5,000 miles to Northern Wales last summer, and I have found my new British life nothing short of eye-opening!
When Betsy invited me to write a Wedding Wednesday post sharing Welsh traditions we incorporated in our May 2012 wedding, I immediately thought of one to share with you all: our wedding favor of Welsh Lovespoons.
Let me share with you a little bit about this lovely tradition, and how it made my heart happy that we could incorporate it in our 65+ guest wedding. Welsh lovespoons date back to the seventeeth century, and were originally given to a young woman by her suitor, to prove his skill in woodworking. Many times, the lovespoons were carved by sailors during long voyages, which is why many include anchors in the designs. Along with anchors, other carvings would be symbols for wishes and hopes for the future: horeshoe (luck), bells (marriage), hearts (love) , lock (security) and wheels (support of a loved one). {Lovespoon history courtesy of Wikipedia.}
Not only did the meaning and origin of the lovespoons, tug at my heartstrings but it was also the first gift Neal gave me in our long distance relationship. {Swoon, right?} When we began thinking of what favors we wanted at the wedding, we knew that love spoons were the perfect solution. It shared a bit of our history as a couple, incorporated Welsh culture and was more substantial than Jordan almonds. {You get what I mean, right?} We selected lovespoons with a carved heart, bell and knot symbolizing love, weddings and everlasting love respectively. Attached to each lovespoon was a little card explaining the historical significance, and inviting our guests to hang the small momento in their home to remember our wedding day. We greeted guests from cocktail hour, and gave each household their lovespoon personally with a greeting and a hug. {Think of a very informal receiving line with just the who of us.}
Since the venue had a separate room for a bar, we wanted to give it a fun and authentic pub feel. Along with the lovespoons, Neal brought over bunting, flags and even coasters from the UK to decorate our bar area.
And since we used the American and British flags in our engagement session {left}, I wanted to make sure that were able to get at least one lovely pic with us sporting some home country pride. This was the last picture our photographer took that night, and I couldn't be more happy about it.
My advice for any wedding planning bride when thinking about wedding favors is to think of a momento that has meaning to you both as a couple, and reflects a bit of your story!
Feel free to pop over to my blog, Found Love. Now What?, to see more about our wedding last spring plus read about my musings on expat life and travels throughout Europe. I look forward to meeting you!
