Fans of Amish Fiction discussion

So, as most of you know, I'm getting married next year. Just thought I'd keep you updated with how plans are going!

So far, we're booked the church and the hotel for the reception for the 5th of July 2012. It's a Thursday, as we get a 10% discount at the hotel for a mid-week wedding.

We're also got some lovely friends who are going to make our wedding cake, and I'm planning to make my own invitations with the help of friends and family - very Amish! It's going to be a card-making "frolic" :)

And my mum is going to make my wedding dress. We went to try on some yesterday and had so much fun!

I feel like we're making good headway with the plans considering the wedding is over a year away, but it's been quite fun so far. We've not had any major hurdles, except Simon's mum worrying about how much it's going to cost and trying to impose her ideas, but I guess that's expected! Simon's parents are both divorced and remarried, and while his dad and step-mum are really calm and laid back and happy for us to let them know what we're planning and so on, his mum and stepdad are really fussy about money (despite the fact they're way to more wealthy than my family) and don't trust us to make good decisions. It's a bit stressful in that respect, but hopefully the in-law situation will improve and they'll see that we're adults and capable of making our own decisions. I think his mum's just struggling to let go of her little boy!

One thing that I'm not entirely sure about yet is wedding favours - little things for the guests to have on their dinner plates. My parents never had them so I'm not sure if I want to do that. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Or another idea...how to incorporate Amish values into the wedding? :P I like the idea of having family and friends help make things, like my mum making my dress, my friend Sarah making the cake and making our own invitations. Any other thoughts? :)

How big a wedding are you planning???

You could always have a centerpiece of a bouquet of celery! Now that's Amish!

As for favours, I've seen votive candles, candies or maybe small jars of homemade jams or jelly. I'm thinking something homemade with a label saying "Made with love for Rachel & Simon!"

We're thinking probably 60 guests for the meal and 100 in total for the evening, but that includes about 20 kids! It really depends on who can come as a lot of our college friends aren't from the UK so we don't expect them to travel during their vacation to come back to Scotland. Simon's family is huge as his parents divorced and remarried, so we're not sure who will want to come. Originally we wanted something quite small and simple, but we've realised we can keep it simple while having a decent amount of guests, which is nice :)

I'll have to run the celery idea by Simon! My mum told my dad he needed to get planting celery yesterday and he was really amused by this tradition. He's quite amused by all our Amish books :)

I thought making something might be nice too, but my mum is worried about the fuss. Maybe making sweets/candies and wrapping them in nice bags wouldn't be too time-consuming? And sweets would last so we wouldn't have to make them too close to the wedding. But yeah, I like that idea - thanks! :)

Maybe you could do a specifically Amish sweet. A lot of the books have such great recipes, but most are baked goods which would have to be more fresh.

Jodie wrote: "Rachel, just remember this is your wedding and you need to have what will make you happy! Don't let someone else stress you into doing something that you don't like or don't really want to do. It's..."

I love that idea! Simple and adorable and who does not like Hershey Kisses??!!

Jodie wrote: "Rachel, just remember this is your wedding and you need to have what will make you happy! Don't let someone else stress you into doing something that you don't like or don't really want to do. It's..."

I agree with Jodie, it is your wedding, but I also know that walking the line between what makes you happy and what keeps the mother-in-law to be happy can sometimes be, difficult, for lack of a better term. Tact and patience will be your best friends for awhile.

On another note... I'm reading Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women by Cindy Woodsmall and last night read where Miriam, the Old Order Amish co-author, made trail mix for a wedding. She wrote that it's a traditional Amish wedding treat and the recipe was in the book. It's something that could be made ahead of time, personalized to what the two of you like, and in small airtight containers (little jars or plastic boxes) make a wonderful favor. Just a thought.

I love the trail mix ideal. At my daughter's wedding we had a children's table. We borrowed table and chairs from the preschool department at the church and put coloring pages and colors for the children on it. They loved it! They sat there and ate also.

Patsy wrote: "I love the trail mix ideal. At my daughter's wedding we had a children's table. We borrowed table and chairs from the preschool department at the church and put coloring pages and colors for the c..."

Completely missed this comment last month, but I love the idea of having fun things for the kids to do. Me and my mum are going to put together sort of party-bags for the kids with colouring books and sticker books and pencils so that they have something to keep them occupied if they get bored during the meal and the speeches.

Trail mix is something we really don't have over here - must be an American phenomenon! I shall have to investigate.

trail mix can b made up of cereal,M&m,nuts, raisins whatever u want if u want a coating u can do that also, i made some this week for granboys-after school snack

All the weddings I've attended have been of the plain and simple sort, but some of the best fun of all is blowing bubbles as the bride and groom head off for their honeymoon! (Instead of rice, which makes a mess, another alternative would be birdseed.)

God bless your wedding, Rachel... and of course more importantly, may He bless your marriage too! :)

Another fun tradition I am seeing at weddings is for an evening reception when the bride and groom head off people hold sparklers which are lit as they make their way to their car! It's beautiful and a lot of fun, but has a tiny element of danger too. ;)

Sarah, I really like the idea of bubbles instead of rice and confetti! I've seen a few weddings where this has happened and it looks really nice :)