When planning your wedding have you and your partner had a chat about which wedding traditions you want to follow, and which you are happy to break? If it’s not something you have thought about, Katrina Matthews of Katrina Matthews Photography has 5 easy ways you can break wedding tradtions!

I love it when couples break all the rules! To encourage you to do the same, I have put this blog together discussing 5 ways that you can break wedding traditions on your wedding day.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some wedding traditions that are great for photos and for the couple to experience, but there are ways you can improve these traditions by personalising them to be unique to you and your loved ones.

The best thing about breaking wedding traditions is how much more fun you can make it. For every great wedding tradition there are 3 that are, quite honestly, really dull. However, you can change things up and turn it into something fun, or even entertaining for your guests. The options are endless and to get you started I have some inspiration for awesome wedding planning ideas. Here are my top 5 ways to break wedding traditions!

Walk down the aisle together

Instead of having a parent, or close relative or friend walk you down the aisle why not walk down the aisle as a couple and make an entrance? This isn’t a tradition that is often broken and it’s understandable why. Of course, it’s a wonderful gesture to ask your father or loved one to walk you down the aisle but when this isn’t possible or a little complicated (like most families are) this is a great alternative for your ceremony. Plus it would be wonderful to see the groom get his big entrance every now and again too!

Why not arrange to have a first look with each other before or even on your way to the ceremony and then walk down the aisle together? Those first few seconds will create some epic photos.

Colourful Bridal Wear

You shouldn’t feel pressured into wearing a gown that isn’t right for you, and a white or ivory dress is not for everyone. There are some incredible coloured bridal dress designers out there, which look just as elegant and stunning as any traditional dress. Check out Lucy Can’t Dance and see for yourself!

Whether you are looking for an elegant statement dress in a bold colour, a super luxurious gold dress or want something a little less formal you should pick a dress that you feel comfortable in.

Have a celebrant wedding

For an ultimate personalised wedding ceremony you should definitely consider having a celebrant wedding. Not only can you get married more or less anywhere (e.g. your back garden or in a field) but each celebrant ceremony is written specifically for you, so you can say and do whatever you want.

To find out more about celebrant weddings take a look at my previous blog What is the difference between a celebrant and a registrar?

Change up the wedding cake

I’m not a huge fan of staged cake cutting photos, so I have some great alternative ideas to inspire you. One top option is to replace the traditional cake with something a little different. How about a cheese cake that you can serve with the evening buffet? or even a tower of doughnuts that doubles up as dessert?

Another option is to replace the cake with something you can’t eat… A pinata! We ordered ours from Pinyatay and it was absolutely incredible. Instead of calling everyone round a table, everyone watched us smash a paper cake that we had filled with little bags of chocolate! You could even fill it with little favours and get your guests to smash the pinata too. It was lots of fun for us, great entertainment for our guests and absolutely hilarious to look back on.

Include women in the speeches

I’m excited to say I am seeing more and more of this, as it’s so nice to see women doing speeches at weddings. Not every bride wants to stand up in a room of 100+ people and do a speech, but perhaps your maid of honor, your mum, or your best friend is up for it, so why not?

The important factor that pushed me into doing a speech on my wedding day was knowing that all the other speeches would be making jokes about the groom, whilst saying wonderful things about me. I wanted to stand up and say some lovely things about my new husband! It was important for me to let him know how much I appreciated him, especially on the most important day of our lives (I may have also thrown in a few jokes too haha).

These are just a few alternative wedding ideas that I hope have inspired you to try something a little different for your big day. We are so lucky that almost anything is possible when it comes to planning a wedding, so make sure to have the day you really want!
Let Katrina know what ways you plan on breaking wedding traditions in the comments below!