Navigating an interfaith wedding

Celebrating family histories and traditions is a major component of weddings. During a wedding, two families come together and begin to merge their unique takes on life.

When couples tying the knot come from the same cultural or religious backgrounds, fi tting the pieces together may be relatively easy. However, when a wedding must incorporate two different religions - each with its specifi c traditions and requirements - a couple may not know where to start. These tips may help the process along.

Communication

It is important to open a dialogue with all involved parties at the onset to be able to craft a ceremony and subsequent celebration that aligns with the faiths of the couple and their families. This dialogue shares what everyone expects. Ask everyone to rank the rituals they would like to be included by order of importance, and then use this as a guide when planning the ceremony.

Discuss options

Certain houses of worship may be strict in regard to what they allow during interfaith ceremonies. Conservative congregations may even frown upon marrying outside of one's religion. That may spark an entirely new conversation about converting so couples can be married in the eyes of the church, temple or mosque. More reformed places may be open to blending certain traditions from both faiths. Couples often lean toward having one offi ciant from each faith at the ceremony to incorporate key rites into the wedding.

Neutral ground

Interfaith couples may opt to have the ceremony at a neutral location so they do not appear to be paying favor to one faith over another. Determine if religious offi ciants can oversee the ceremony outside of a place of worship and still have the marriage recognized by the tenets of that faith.

Secular offi ciant

In instances when it may seem like there are too many obstacles to having faith-guided ceremonies for interfaith weddings, wedding planners may suggest some creative solutions, including working with a secular offi ciant. Traditions such as lighting a unity candle or blending two different sands together to signify the blending of two faiths and families can be part of the ceremony, suggests the lifestyle company Sheerluxe.

Give others tasks

Couples may be unfamiliar with each other's religious traditions. Sharing faith-specifi c wedding planning tasks can help couples and their families become more familiar with these customs.

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Set for success

What you can do to let your stylist's work shine

BY KIMBERLY KIRCHNER Special Sections Editor

Wedding day prep is stressful enough without uncooperative hair or misbehaving skin complicating the process. Fortunately, there are steps you can take in the months, weeks and days leading up to the big event to set yourself up for styling success.

Alicia Powers, owner of Four One Three Salon, recommends clients start thinking about their wedding hair plans long before their ceremony date. “Most brides generally want to grow their hair as long as they can, so they're able to do whatever updo they would like,” she observed. “I would be planning from the time that the engagement begins and be doing regular haircuts up until [the date] to get as much length as possible before the wedding.”

It’s best to get any signifi cant haircuts done well in advance (Powers recommends at least eight weeks ahead of the wedding day) to allow the hair time to settle into its new length.

Coloring should also happen ahead of time — no one wants hair dye stains on their wedding dress! — with the timing dependent on the kind of treatment. “If you're covering gray, at least two weeks. No longer than three or four,” Powers said. “And pretty much the same with a blonding service.”

“I always recommend a clear gloss at least the week before. There's no tone or color in it, it just adds some shine and kind of seals the cuticle down, and also helps with frizz,” she said. Since many of her bridal clients are also regulars at her salon, she often works these services into their normal hair routine. “If I'm doing my client’s color a month before, I'll do the fresh gloss and then they'll just do a treatment the week of.”

She also suggests protein and moisture treatments to strengthen and condition hair. “A lot of

clients will choose to do it in the salon, because when it's used with heat, it's defi nitely a little bit more effective,” she said. “But there's defi nitely a take home version as well.”

Strategic skin care leading up to the wedding can help achieve a fresh, healthy looking face, while also creating the best possible surface for makeup. “I would defi nitely recommend some kind of facial beforehand, even if it's months beforehand,” Powers said. “And then the week before, just doing a regular exfoliation.” It’s best to avoid aggressive treatments or new products as the wedding day approaches, to prevent any unexpected and inconvenient reactions.

Opinions seem divided on the subject of washing your hair right before the wedding. Powers is in the clean hair camp. “I think the myth in the past was always, dirty hair is better,” Powers said. “Absolutely, clean, dry hair the day of the wedding. If you’re getting married on a Saturday, wash your hair at least Friday, if not Saturday.”

Booking a stylist should also be at the top of the to-do list at the start of planning. Because providing hair and makeup for an entire wedding party requires a lot of hands, it’s important to schedule as far in advance as possible to make sure the salon will have enough stylists available. Powers stressed the importance of having an accurate headcount at this stage, because it determines the number of stylists that will be needed.

The trial, however, shouldn’t happen too far ahead of the wedding date. Powers recommends scheduling the trial for a month or so before the wedding. “I wouldn't say six months ahead because your hair and your skin can change so much in six months, versus one,” she said.

On the day, the styling team will do their best work when given an adequate space within to work. “If we're traveling to you, defi nitely having good lighting and good space, and mirrors,” Powers said. “Not putting four stylists in a really, really small space, while we try to give you guys the best experience that we can give you that's not in the salon.”

Also important? “Being on time. We’re usually in a four or fi ve hour window and sometimes we have nine people,” Powers said. “Making sure that the whole bridal party is there and ready to have their hair and makeup done, and not showing up with wet hair … so we can make sure they stay on time for the day and we're not the reason that the wedding's being pushed back.”

Powers and her team have an arsenal or products and techniques to keep hair looking good all day long, but perpetually-prepared types can keep their minds at ease with Powers’ simple emergency kit recommendation. “A can of hairspray and some bobby pins,” she said. “You can do a lot with a bobby pin.”

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Fun ways to utilize social media in your wedding

Young couples tying the knot today grew up with social media, so it's no great surprise that so many want to utilize various platforms when planning their weddings. In fact, the Brides 2018 American Wedding Survey found that 87 percent of brides turned to the social media platform Pinterest for inspiration when planning their weddings.

On the surface, modern wedding ceremonies and receptions may look similar to the nuptials of yesteryear. However, engaged couples have increasingly incorporated social media into their weddings, and the following are some fun and creative ways to embrace that trend.

Create a social media photo booth

Guests may take more pictures at modern weddings than the photographers who were hired to document the happy couple's big day from start to fi nish. Social media boards are digital screens that display social media walls. Live event social media boards collect and curate content from social media channels and display it on a single digital screen. Users, in this case a couple's guests, simply use a predetermined hashtag when posting photos and the images are then displayed on digital screens in real time. This can be a fun way to engage guests during the reception.

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Live stream the wedding

Live streams became very popular during the pandemic, when couples getting married had to pare down their guest lists in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines. But live streams can continue to be used after the pandemic, as there will always be guests who can't make it to the wedding. Facebook Live was a go-to social media platform for live streaming weddings during the pandemic, and it can be utilized to involve loved ones in the festivities even if they can't be there in person. Live streaming via social media may be especially useful for couples who want to enjoy destination weddings, which tend to be small affairs due to travel constraints.

Hashtag the wedding

A couple-specifi c hashtag can serve as something akin to a wedding album, only it's one everyone can easily access via the couple's chosen social media platform. Encourage guests to hashtag photos from the wedding so everyone can have a good time looking back on the ceremony and reception once the day has come and gone.

Plan with your party

Social media can be as fun, inclusive and useful when planning the wedding as it can during the wedding itself. Brides and grooms can create their own private Pinterest boards and share them with the wedding party. Everyone can then use the private board to bounce ideas off each other. Couples can infuse a little fun into the Pinterest board by encouraging their groomsmen and bridesmaids to post outrageous outfi t ideas or submit sing-along song requests to be played during the reception.