At Confetti & Cake we love a great wedding proposal and would love to hear about yours. This is the best we have seen so far! This guy made a movie trailer for the proposal and sprung it on his unsuspecting girlfriend. Did he pull it off? Did she feel it was a little to POPcorny? Watch this video and find out – and hey use the comments box to let us know what you think and about any wedding proposal stories you have.

Image Courtesy of Paul Martin Eldridge / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Common law marriage has not existed in this country since the passing of Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1753. Up until this time there was no requirement in this country to register a marriage or have the ceremony in a church. All that was needed was for the Bride and Groom to say their solemn vows in front of witnesses. This was known as marriage by consent, poorer people tended to opt for this, although it was not recognised in law.

The Act stated that the Bride and Groom would have to have the consent of their parents if they were under the age of 21, the banns had be read 3 times or a special licence bought from the church before the ceremony and at least one of the party had to have been resident in the parish for at least 3 weeks, prior to the ceremony.

The Act was passed to prevent clandestine marriages. These were ceremonies that were presided over by a clergyman but no banns were read, or church licence obtained. Clandestine marriages were very popular as they were cheaper and of course got around the problem of not having parental consent. These marriages were recognised as legally binding and many a rich heiress was persuaded to marry in this way, so unscrupulous grooms could obtain their fortune. Being sent for Transportation to one of the colonies could be the punishment for any clergymen, who disobeyed the law, following the passing of the Act.

Formal marriage ceremonies tended to be the preserve of the rich, as it was a way of ensuring political alliances, in the case of the monarchy, or protecting family fortunes in the case of the aristocracy or middle classes.

Marriage by consent was still popular for many decades following the passing of the Act, and as the Act was only enforceable in England and Wales, many people would elope to Scotland and get married in Gretna Green, where marriage by consent was still legal. This is still of course popular today.

Some amendments were made to the Act in 1836, such as removing the restriction of marrying only in an Anglican church; it was now possible to have a non-religious ceremony in a Register Office, recently set up in towns and cities all over England and Wales, for the purpose of recording Births, Marriages and Deaths. Until 1929 the minimum age for marriage was 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy, this was then raised to 16 for both.

In 1995 it became possible to have a civil ceremony, somewhere other than a Registry Office. Many hotels and stately homes have licences, in order to conduct these ceremonies. In 2004 the law was changed again, to allow same sex couples the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples, by forming a civil partnership. This has proved to be very popular with over 50,000 having taken place since 2005.

Kate Middleton’s Wedding Dress Revealed – The Royal Wedding – Courtesy of BBC and YouTube

Love this this cheeky video by T-Mobile, wonder if they exchanged ring-tones???

Image Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So the wedding of the generation is now been and gone. How was it for you? Did you have your wedding that weekend? Did you have a a street party? Were you there? Did you have a wedding free weekend, get out the BBQ and avoid it all. We would love to hear from you so please post your comments and feedback using the form below.

Image courtesy of Sharron Goodyear / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Visiting a wedding fayre can be a great way of getting inspiration for your wedding and meeting with suppliers.  It is also a great way of checking out the venue without the feeling of being sold to.

This is a list of the fayres we know off in North Wales and Chester.  If you are organising a wedding fayre contact us with the details and we will promote it on this listing page and blog.

Please note Confetti & Cake do not run these events and they are subject to change.  Please contact the venue and organisers before making plans to attend to confirm they are still running, times etc.
 

May 2011

September 2011

October 2011

Contact Us if you have Wedding Fayre in North Wales & Chester you wish to promote>

We are currently researching and writing about a whole host of wedding themes, but would really love to know what interests you. Sign-up for our newsletter and indicate which themes interest you and we put them to the top of the list to write about.

Image courtesy of Paul Martin Eldridge / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Getting married? Get wedding news, wedding tips and much more from Confetti & Cake by subscribing to our free email newsletter. Our newsletter will contain a summary of great stories and tips and everything else on our site. Don’t miss out, get notified of all great content we are posting on the site – and it’s all free.

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Image courtesy of Sharron Goodyear / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Visiting a wedding fayre can be a great way of getting inspiration for your wedding and meeting with suppliers.  It is also a great way of checking out the venue without the feeling of being sold to.

We don’t normally list wedding fayres outside of the North Wales & Chester area but we have been asked nicely by two good friends of Confetti and Cake, Sarah Bellis of Elegantly Funky and Bec Waterford of Sunflower Events – so how could we resist.

The wedding fayre takes place at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Liverpool on Saturday 5th March from 10-3pm.

Good luck to anybody exhibiting there may you sign-up many nearly-weds.  If you are going have a great day!

More wedding fayres are listed in the Confetti & Cake, Wedding Fayre Calendar>

Girls, do you have a perfect vision of your wedding day?

Is it the most important day of your life?
Have you bought the magazines & prepared the scrapbook…
BUT are your dreams bigger than your budget?

Grooms, would you spend £12k to pull off the ultimate wedding?

Do you want to prove you can organise the perfect day – in your own unique way!
And create a wedding that you will both remember forever?

Confetti & Cake have been asked by Renegade Pictures producers of BBC three’s hit series Don’t Tell The Bride to help in the search for a couple who want to appear in a Royal Wedding special of the programme and are willing to give the lucky couple £12,000 to help their dreams for their big day to come true.

If this is of interest to you or a friend then email weddings@renegadepictures.co.uk or call 0207 449 3292 and tell them you are calling about the feature on ConfettiandCake.co.uk.

Good luck – we hope to see you on TV soon!