A Beautiful Wedding Tradition - 1,000 Origami Cranes

There are numerous traditions that can be incorporated into your scenic wedding near Knoxville to make it even more beautiful and meaningful. A good place to start looking for these traditions is within your family's heritage, or you can borrow a tradition that you have discovered that symbolizes what you wish for your marriage. Today, Country Jewell is exploring the gorgeous tradition of folding 1,000 paper cranes. 

Tradition Origins
This began as a Japanese tradition, but brides all over the world have fallen in love with both the beauty of using 1,000 paper cranes in their wedding day decor and the meaning behind it. Cranes are considered mystical and holy creatures in Japan, and  they are said to live 1,000 years. That is how the number of cranes was decided, one for each year of the crane's long life. 

According to Japanese legend, anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish by the gods for their patience and dedication to the process. Other stories say that it will gain you happiness and good luck for eternity. The tradition was adopted into weddings as a wish for a long, harmonious, and happy marriage. 

Originally, the task of folding the cranes was assigned to the bride's father so the wish for many years of married bliss came to the couple from him. Later on, it became the responsibility of the bride, and often today it is a labor of love for the wedding couple to create together. It's a wonderful exercise for developing the patience, commitment, and communication needed for a successful marriage, plus it can be special time together for the two of you.   

Crane Colors
You may choose to make paper cranes from paper that matches your wedding colors, but you can also make a rainbow of cranes strung together, each of which represents something different. 

• Dark Red - Inner beauty and inner strength
• Red - Endless love
• Pink - Happiness, tenderness, and friendship
• Yellow - Overflowing creativity
• Green - Long health
• Blue - Unwavering loyalty
• Purple - Deepened spirituality and elegance
• White - Innocence and purity of heart
• Ivory - Tradition
• Brown - Grounded and down to earth
• Orange - Enthusiasm and energy
• Gold - Eternal love and loyalty
• Black - Strength, power, and stability

Decorating Ideas
1,000 origami paper cranes turns out to be a LOT of cranes. There are plenty of different ways that you can incorporate them into your wedding decor, so none of your hard work will go to waste. Here are 10 wonderful ways that we have seen them used. 

• Hang the paper cranes on strings that stretch from ceiling to floor as a ceremony backdrop.
• Hang them from the trees at an outdoor wedding. They also look breathtaking hanging down from the gazebo at our scenic wedding venue near Knoxville. 
• Put them in your bridal bouquet, or make an entire bouquet out of just paper cranes. 
• Use them as boutonnieres for the men.  
• Paper cranes can hold place cards and be used as escort cards. 
• They can be incorporated into the table centerpieces. 
• Hang them from the ceiling over the dance floor.
• Put them at every guest's place setting as a favor.
• Place them on top of the wedding cake. 
• Have your photographer take a photo with your wedding rings around two of the cranes' necks. 

If this is a tradition that you may want to use in your own wedding at our rustic wedding venue near Knoxville, you will want to begin folding your cranes as early in the planning stages as possible. Today, it is also acceptable to let family and friends help you make them. When they arrive at your Country Jewell wedding, they will feel like they had a part in adding a special touch to this very special day. 

A delightfully quaint Knoxville wedding

& event venue.

6550 Hickory Valley Road

Heiskell, TN 37754

865-494-0552

Visit our website:  www.CountryJewell.com

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15 Fun Wedding Facts For National Trivia Day

January 4 is National Trivia Day, and all of us here at Country Jewell love weddings and everything about them. Those two facts wouldn't normally go together, but combining them gave us the inspiration to write a blog filled with fun wedding trivia. Some of these will be merely interesting to you, but some of them may give you a little inspiration when you start planning your ceremony and reception at our rustic wedding venue near Knoxville. Have fun reading! 

1. Wearing a white wedding dress became a tradition after Queen Victoria got married in white on February 10, 1940.

2. In Japan, while their brides traditionally always wore white, they would often change to a brightly colored dress, usually red, at some point during the celebration.

3. Bright colors are worn by brides in India for the wedding ceremony, and those gowns are often covered with intricate designs and details. Instead of a veil to cover their heads, Indian women wear saris. 

4. The bridal veil originally was worn to disguise the bride from evil spirits that might be jealous of her happiness and try to ruin it. 

5. Irish weddings use bells to keep the evil spirits away from the bride and groom. Some brides even carry small bells in their bouquet for added protection.

6. While diamonds are generally the jewel chosen for an engagement ring (because diamonds are forever), a sapphire in a wedding ring represents marital happiness.

7. Wedding rings go on the fourth finger of the left hand because the belief is that the vein in that finger leads directly to the heart.

8. Ever wonder why a bride is expected to have "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?" Each of those things symbolizes:

• Old = the bride's past, her family, and tradition
• New = future happiness and good fortune
• Borrowed = This should come from a happily married person in the hopes that their good fortune will rub off on you.
• Blue = fidelity and love. 

9. Don't jump with fright if you spot a spider on your wedding dress. Discovering one of those little guys on your bridal gown is supposed to bring good luck! 

10. Another occurrence that might seem bad but is actually said to be lucky is rain on your wedding day. Hindus believe that the natural shower brings fertility and cleansing to the couple. 

11. Do you want to sweeten your marriage? Then pick a wedding dress that you can wear gloves with and place a sugar cube inside one of those gloves.

12. The song that most people refer to as "Here Comes The Bride" is by Wagner and actually titled the "Bridal Chorus." It is from the 1850 opera "Lohengrin.

13. People often have Jordan Almonds as favors at a wedding. While this isn't a candy often eaten on a regular basis, it is significant for weddings because the almonds have a bittersweet taste, which represents life, and the sugar coating is added in the hopes that the marriage will have more sweet than bitter. When given in amounts of five, each almond represents a wish for the bride and groom: health, wealth, happiness, fertility, and longevity. 

14. Be careful picking out your gift registry items. Apparently, receiving knives as a gift is a bad thing because people used to think that it symbolized a broken relationship. To ward off those bad vibes, it is suggested that you give the person gifting the knives a penny. That way, you're "buying" them instead of getting them as a present.  

15. The word "honeymoon" originated from an ancient Norse tradition. Newly married couples used to go into hiding for 30 days (or one moon) after the wedding, and a family member would bring them a cup of honey wine each day.

Traditions and old tales and superstitions can sometimes spark an idea for something wonderful to add to your own wedding. There are lots of different chances during both the ceremony and reception at your rustic wedding near Knoxville where you can put in all sorts of personal touches. The history behind Country Jewell itself only adds to the beautiful story being created on your wedding day. 

A delightfully quaint Knoxville wedding

& event venue.

6550 Hickory Valley Road

Heiskell, TN 37754

865-494-0552

Visit our website:  www.CountryJewell.com

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Fun New Twists on Old Wedding Traditions

When it comes to a wedding, most people may expect you to stick to tradition, but it's your wedding, so you should do things the way that makes you the most happy. Just because something has "always been done this way" doesn't mean that you have to have it in your rustic wedding near Knoxville. 

On the other hand, you can choose to include some of the old traditions, but put a new spin of your own on them. Country Jewell has a few ideas for some fun ways to put a new twist on old wedding traditions.

The Unity Candle

The traditional unity candle is still used, but there are lots of other options for couples to choose from now if they want to do something different, or if they are having an outdoor ceremony and a candle may not stay lit easily. A few sentimental ideas for your unity ceremony include: a sand ceremony, a wine ceremony, or a tree planting ceremony.  

The Guest Book

A book full of your wedding guests' signatures is not something you are likely to flip through often, if ever. Instead, have everyone sign a piece of artwork to hang in your home, or the matte around a big, framed wedding photo. If you will be having a photo booth, have your guests leave their pictures from it in a scrapbook in place of a regular guest book. 

Cutting the Cake

You don't see a gigantic, tiered wedding cake very often anymore. Lots of couples prefer to offer a variety of desserts to their guests. You can have a small cake specifically for the two of you to cut among the smaller desserts, or you can switch it up completely and cut a wedding pie or another favorite sweet treat that you both love. Some couples even choose to use desserts for the guests as table centerpieces or as a favor at each place setting. 

The Bouquet Toss

If you don't want your single friends fighting over your bridal bouquet, there are a few different things you can do in place of throwing one big bunch of flowers. Toss loose, single stems or small bunches instead of just one bouquet. Rather than throwing anything, you can choose to present the bouquet to someone special, like a close friend, relative, or the woman in attendance that has been married the longest. 

The First Dance

Some brides and grooms like to wing it, others choreograph a number, and other couples don't like dancing and want to skip this tradition completely. That's totally your call, depending on your comfort level. If you will be having a dance, but don't want to be alone on the dance floor, ask all of the married couples or your bridal party to join you instead of going it alone. You can also ask the DJ to keep your first dance down to only one verse, then fade the music out, keeping it short and sweet. 

When you host your wedding at our scenic Knoxville wedding venue, you're the boss. You are free to stick with all of the traditions that you love, leave out the ones you don't, and make up your own brand new traditions. This is your special day, and Country Jewell is here to help you make it an amazing one you will never forget. 

A delightfully quaint Knoxville wedding

& event venue.

6550 Hickory Valley Road

Heiskell, TN 37754

865-494-0552

Visit our website:  www.CountryJewell.com

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13 Wedding Traditions for Luck, Love, and Happiness

St. Patrick's Day is this week, bringing the "Luck of the Irish" to our minds. There are many wedding traditions that you may be incorporating into your Knoxville wedding, many of which were created to bring good luck to a newly married couple. In case you were curious as to where some of these superstitions came from, or what they mean, Country Jewell came up with a list for you explaining a few of them. 

Something old, new, borrowed, & blue

These are the four things that a bride is supposed to collect and carry with her on her wedding day. 

• Old = This is symbolic of the bride's past, her family, and tradition.
• New = This is for future happiness and good fortune.
• Borrowed = This should come from a happily married person in the hopes that their good fortune will rub off on you.
• Blue = This symbolizes both fidelity and love.

Wedding bells

The Irish would keep evil spirits away and ensure a harmonious family life for the couple by ringing bells. Some brides choose to carry small bells in their bouquet.

Spiders

According to English lore, you shouldn't panic if you find a spider on your wedding dress. This means good luck.

Sugar cubes

A tradition from Greece is that putting a sugar cube on the bride will sweeten her marriage. Many brides used to put a sugar cube inside of their glove on the wedding day.

Rain on your wedding day

Even though most brides pray for clear skies on their wedding day, it is actually considered a good omen if it rains. Hindu tradition believes that the rain brings along with it fertility and cleansing for the couple.

Burying a bottle of bourbon

If you don't need "good luck rain" on your wedding day, southern folklore says that you should bury a bottle of bourbon upside down at the wedding location one month before the wedding day. This is supposed to prevent any rain on that particular day. 

Pinching the bride

Egyptian women believe it is good luck to pinch the bride on her wedding day. We're actually not sure if this luck is for them or for the bride! 

Knives as wedding gifts

Receiving knives as a gift was once thought to be bad luck for the couple, symbolizing a broken relationship. If you really want them on your registry but are superstitious, give the person gifting them a penny. Then you are technically buying the knives rather than getting them as a gift. 

Coins in your shoes

Swedish brides believed that they would "never do without" by placing a silver coin from their father and a gold coin from their mother in each shoe.

Wearing a veil

Originally, a veil was worn by a bride to disguise her from the evil spirits that were jealous of her happiness.

Carrying the bride over the threshold

In medieval Europe, many believed that the a bride was extremely vulnerable to evil spirits through the soles of her feet. The groom carried her over the threshold of their new home to avoid bringing any evil spirits inside with them. 

Throwing shoes

Way back in medieval times, good luck would be given to the wedding couple if the men threw their shoes at the newlyweds. Today we take a much safer approach to this tradition and tie shoes to the back of the getaway car instead.

Throwing the bouquet and garter

This is another tradition with roots in medieval times. It was once thought to be lucky to get a fragment of the bride's dress as a souvenir. Guests would follow the couple to the wedding chamber and try to rip pieces of fabric right off of the bride. Women began throwing their bridal bouquet to distract the crowd so a getaway could be made. Once they were safely inside the wedding chamber, the groom would crack the door and throw out the bride's garter to appease the crowd waiting outside. In other cultures, throwing the garter out of the bedroom was a sign that the marriage had been consummated. 

Even if you are not a superstitious person, sometimes it's fun to bring in a little bit of tradition when you are planning your wedding. Some of these old customs may fit perfectly into your Country Jewell wedding. Use what you like, and disregard the rest. The only way to assure that you will have a good marriage is to love and respect each other, and work to make each other happy every day for the rest of your lives. In that, our rustic Knoxville wedding venue wishes you the best of luck!  

A delightfully quaint Knoxville wedding

& event venue.

6550 Hickory Valley Road

Heiskell, TN 37754

865-494-0552

Visit our website:  www.CountryJewell.com

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