Archive for January, 2011

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

The title alone was enough to reel me in, and so I sat down at 9pm last night tuned into C4HD and sat there with my jaw dropped around my chest area somewhere for a full hour.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding was not only shocking and thought provoking, but also cracking TV entertainment.
For those that didn’t witness the TV Wedding of the year so far, I will attempt to shed some light on the courtship rituals of the travelling community in England for you here.

According to the documentary narrator, Gypsies (or travelling communities, not sure which is the PC name we should be adopting) have been around for 500 years in the UK, and something that appears not to of changed very much during this time is the way that family life operates when it comes to relationships.
Firstly, they rarely mix with people outside of their own community, perhaps this is why their lives are so different from mainstream UK residents, they simply think their lifestyle is perfect and will not change it for all the china nick-nacks in er… China.

Last night’s episode followed 2 individual families, one of which was focused on a 17 year old girl planning her wedding day, the other on a 7 year old girl and her brother planning for their first communion.
Both stories started at the dress makers, where perhaps the only explanation about the dresses I can offer for those who didn’t see the episode is… think Jordan on drugs.
Two of the ugliest dresses ever seen on TV, were talked about by their new owners as if they were more beautiful then a sunny day at Southend.

The little girls dress was bright pink, weighed double her body weight, and made her look like a strawberry meringue with a tiara, and a couple of eyeballs poking through the 4,000 miles (or close) of pink netting. It was apparently based on the princess from “Coming to America” movie.

To stand beside her, her gypsy brother John-Boy (named presumably by the kennel club) wore a white suit, also selected to look like the Prince from the same 80′s movie.
To make matters even more amusing (for the viewers) they arrived at the church, hanging out of the window of their stretched Hummer limo, and were joined by children from their school, who just stood there in a state of giggling shock at their school chums dress sense.

Gypsy Wedding Dress

Then we had our 17 year old, marrying the man of her dreams, who recently bought their 1st marital home from the Caravan Club and who “worked with horses” – presumably trying to learn from them.
It has to be said, the bloke had some taste, because this young bride of his was stunning, sadly, unlike her chosen wedding dress.
Having left school at 11 years old to help her mother bring up her gang of children, and clean the home, she had opted for a white virginal wedding dress. She described it as having a split up the front. That’s like calling the Grand Canyon a pothole.
The “split” was a 2 foot gap in the middle of her wedding dress, which looked like something straight from a porn movie.
But it didn’t matter to her, the dress was so tight that she hoped it scarred her, something that gypsy’s apparently gauge the brilliance of her wedding dress by.

But My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding wasn’t just about cheap laughs at bridal wear of the travellers, the show also looked at how courtship started amongst the girls and boys of the community.
The girls, standing around a car park still dressed in their favourite movie attire (think, the early scenes of Pretty Woman) are basically hanging around trying to catch the attention of a gypsy boy, they are not permitted to approach a boy though.
Should a boy decide that he’s potentially spotted the girl of his dreams, he will decide to “grab” them. The term “grab” is used quite literally too, in one scene where a teenage girl had been grabbed, she was pushed up against a wooden fence being held by the boy who constantly requested a kiss before he let her go, it was one of the more disturbing scenes of last night’s episode.
The gypsy girls culture states that they must remain virgins until they are married, and they all are looking for men who will go to work whilst they look after the marital trailer.
These two traits, coupled with the true community spirit amongst the families are probably why their lifestyle remains so steadfast.

Whether you found the Big Fat Gypsy Wedding funny, sad, disturbing or otherwise, you can guarantee I’ll be watching again next week.
For more details, take a look at the C4 website – My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

Unique Wedding Rings

Several times in our blog we’ve spoken about unique or quirky wedding ideas, we’ve also written about Unusual and Unique Wedding Rings – but today we found something even more “unique”.

Kiley Granberg describes herself as an Art Jeweller and Fine Artist. She lives in Alberta, Canada and today we stumbled across a rather unique style in one of her jewellery items, these gold plated wedding rings pictured below.

Unique Wedding Rings

Described by Kiley :

Wedding Bands are about commitment. The inherent connotations are a huge part of the piece and, quite often, reveal themselves as a social or sexual comment.

The rings are constructed out of brass then plated in 24k gold. And although the stone is set into the men’s ring, when screwed together, the stone actually sits against the woman’s finger.

They are certainly very different, so if you’re looking for something a little quirky for your wedding rings, then you may wish to speak to Kiley.

Welcome to 2011, with every year we all start today with high hopes and ambitions for the new year.

Maybe you’re planning to lose weight, get fit, stop smoking, learn a new language ? Maybe you’re reading this blog post because you’re planning your wedding in 2011 – whatever your aims for the new year are, we at Essex Wedding Services wish you the best best of luck.

No doubt hundreds of romantic men proposed to their girlfriends over the Christmas and New Year period, so if you are one of those lucky ladies in Essex whose boyfriend just became your fiancée – then many congratulations to you, you’ve already started thinking about your wedding or you wouldn’t of found your way to this website

So if you have just found yourself amending your Facebook status to “Engaged” – then the excitement starts here. Not only does Essex Wedding Services have this blog, which is packed with ideas and articles to help your wedding planning, but we also have over 60 different categories in our wedding directory, all full with Essex based wedding professionals.

Our website is celebrating it’s 4th year in 2011, and during that time, some of the finest wedding professionals have listed their business with us, and helped many brides and grooms enjoy a fantastic wedding day.

So whether you find yourself looking for a DJ or wedding flowers, a wedding dress or suit hire – sit back and spend some time browsing through the pages of Essex Wedding Services, click the “Email” buttons alongside the listings in the directory and let the professionals know what you’d like for your wedding. We also have a fantastic list of Wedding Venues in Essex.

Wedding planning is the most fun and exciting time of your life, so enjoy it without any stress or worries – bookmark Essex Wedding Services and keep coming back when you’ve decided what you want from your wedding day, and whilst you’re thinking about it, here are a few wedding articles to help you plan your special day :

Wedding Insurance

Avoiding Wedding Day Problems
Wedding Cake Ideas
A-Z of Weddings

Happy Wedding Planning in 2011 from everyone at Essex Wedding Services.