Wedding Officiant Trivia- Do You Know Why Women Are Escorted On The Left?

Wedding Officiant Trivia- Do You Know Why Women Are Escorted On The Left?

by Amanda Doumanian Reeves News

             Wedding Officiant Trivia-   Do You Know Why Women Are Escorted On The Left?

We are quite often asked these questions at rehearsals and at wedding ceremonies:

What arm does the woman go on? Why do we escort women on our left arm? Here is the answer!

When a man escorts his partner, tradition has it that he offers his left arm. This tradition originates from medieval times when men escorted women around town and through the fields. Should a threat arise or the woman’s honor require defending, the man’s sword hand (his right hand) would be free, giving him quick and easy access to his sword, worn on his left side.

To this day, the left arm rule still applies while indoors. However, with the rise of wheeled vehicles and non-pedestrian streets, the proper escorting etiquette evolved over the years for outdoor environments. Today, when escorting a women outdoors, you should position yourself on the outside (closest to the street) to protect her from traffic, mud splashing, etc.

Now you know 🙂

Of course, you don’t have to do it this way. We see couples creating new traditions all the time! So if you prefer to have the women escorted on the right- do it! It’s your wedding ceremony and we encourage you to personalize it and make it yours.

Kristen's Dad walking her down the beach for her Sand Key Park wedding ceremony

Kristen’s Dad walking her down the beach for her Sand Key Park wedding ceremony

Creative Weddings

Creative Weddings

by Charmaine Doumanian News

This past weekend I performed two very creative weddings ceremonies. I love all weddings and always love seeing the creative ideas couples come up with for their weddings.

The first wedding I officiated was on Indian Rocks Beach. Caitlin and Nick rented a beach house and invited family and friends to the wedding on Friday afternoon. Caitlin is very creative and DIY. She made paper flowers and decorated the wedding arbor with them.

Arbor decorated with creative

Wedding ceremony arbor on Indian Rocks Beach decorated with paper flowers that Caitlin made herself.

She also had paper flowers made and attached them to post to line the aisle walkway. She had little tambourine’s in a chest that she decorated with colorful ribbon streamers. Each guest picked up a tambourine to use at the end of the ceremony to use to cheer and make noise!! The bridesmaids had paper flower bouquets, as did, Caitlin.

Ribbon

Ribbon streamers for guests to wave as newlyweds walked down the aisle

Caitlin made reserved parking spaces signs and placed them in the small area in front of the house where limited parking was available for wedding VIP’s. She even made one for me!!!

My special reserved VIP parking spot. So thoughtful of them to do for me!

My special reserved VIP parking spot. So thoughtful of them to do for me!

It was a beautiful afternoon ceremony. After the wedding Nick went off to celebrate, and I was able to capture a photo of Caitlin chill in on the couch while waiting for reception to get started.

Caitlin taking a chill break before the reception.

Caitlin taking a chill break before the reception.

Later that evening, I officiated a ceremony for Stephanie and Efrain. The ceremony was at their home in Palm Harbor.  The ceremony was outside by the pool overlooking the water. They decorated with a Fall theme. The inside of the house had an awesome candy bar. The guest would fill mason jars with assorted candies. They had tootsie rolls, M&M’s, caramel twist and many more yummy candies.

Candy station

Delicious candy station

Outside by the pool they had a photo booth and decorated the white folding chairs with ribbons and fall flowers.  Stephanie said she wasn’t going to cry!! HAHA she was so tearful. I could see that they were truly a fun loving couple. It was a beautiful night for a ceremony.

Beautiful backyard wedding ceremony setup at home in Palm Harbor

Beautiful backyard wedding ceremony setup at Stephanie and Efrain’s home in Palm Harbor

On Monday night Stephanie submitted a 5 Star Review on WeddingWire.com saying,

Happy couple

Happy together

“Charmaine was truly wonderful to work with. She was courteous and professional, and was very helpful in providing different templates that we used to create our vows. She was on time and very patient on our special day. We did not feel rushed or stressed. Our private beach ceremony could not have gone better – thanks to Charmaine and A Beautiful Wedding in Florida!”