When my son and daughter-in-law held a knife and cut the first slice out of their all traditional, butter-cream frosted, lavish, and very expensive wedding cake, I couldn’t help smiling. If we had been in the early Roman times, the wedding cake would not be one huge, tasty, decorative creation, but many small, possibly cupcake-sized, salty wheat cakes. In addition, the guests wouldn’t be eating the cakes but throwing them at the bride or crumbling it over her head for fertility and single women would try to catch the crumbs for the same reason they catch the bridal bouquet today.

In the olden times when children didn’t make it to adulthood due to childhood illnesses, fertility was important, and that is probably the reason the wedding cake tradition was born. Later on during their empire, Romans turned their salty cakes into sweet cakes. This time, they made a slightly larger bridal cake with many smaller cakes surrounding it. The smaller cakes were brought as gifts by the guests. These cakes everyone ate, but still crumbled some of those over the bride.

After the Roman conquest of the British Isles, Roman customs influenced the natives who baked dry cakes for their weddings and drank their ale with them. In old England and Ireland, there also was, and still is, the custom of a groom’s cake, dark in color and made of dried fruit.

When the English sent their pioneers into the new world, they also sent their customs with them. First European settlers in the Americas made fruitcakes for their weddings because their preservation was easier.

The fancy wedding cake with several tiers was created through the initiative of the French, and although scorned by the English at first, it was later adopted and became the norm through all Europe. The wedding cake, owing to its long history, became an individual affair for a modern wedding party, with different shapes and styles and with a rich variety of flavors, fillings, and icings.

A wedding cake, after the vows, has become a vital part of wedding ceremony in our day. It is assumed that a wedding cake reflects the style, elegance, and delicacy of the couple’s upbringing, in addition to their enthusiasm for their marriage.

Not only the ingredients and the making of the cake, but the ceremony of its cutting has become another reception by itself. Traditionally, the bride and the groom cut the cake together, with groom placing his right hand over the bride’s right hand to cut the first slice. Then, they feed each other that first slice while everyone applauds. Sometimes, the top tier is saved for the first anniversary or the birth of the couple’s first child, whichever comes first.

In some new world weddings nowadays, smearing each other with the icing has been taking hold as a custom, adding hilarity to the reception. My favorite wedding cake anecdote is a real one that may have seemed like a disaster at the time; however in hindsight, it has become an amusing joke. Yet, since the marriage has lasted, the incident might have been a good omen.

Several years ago, we attended a large wedding reception. Over the several steep stairs to the main reception hall, the wedding cake had to be carried rather than wheeled. I don’t know why nobody thought of a ramp but two waiters, one on each side, took the cake up the steps.

Suddenly, a waiter tripped and the cake fell on the floor, but with luck or heavenly intervention, the top two tiers stayed intact. A pandemonium broke out with the bride’s mother fainting and maintenance people scurrying about. Since the reception hall was part of a big hotel, the management came up with their version of a wedding cake. Several small cakes were arranged as the bottom layer with the two top layers of the original cake placed over them.

Judging from that experience, I think it might be a good idea to have a just-in-case second cake. After all, cakes are loved by most anyone and they don’t go to waste.

This article has been submitted by Joy Cagil in affiliation with Prye.Com/ Prye.Com/ which is a site for Prye.Com/ Wedding Invitations.
Joy Cagil is a writer on writing.com.

For many years now it has been customary for couples to have their wedding invitations professionally printed simply because they don’t possess the necessary knowledge and skills to produce them themselves. However, the arrival of the computer in virtually every home today means that you can now make your own wedding invitations without too much trouble at all. You really need only two things – a set of wedding invitation stationery and a guide to the wording that you should use on your invitations.

There is a huge range of wedding stationery available today for you to choose from, either at your local stationery shop or online and you are no longer limited to the traditional colors of white or cream. Wedding stationery today comes in all shapes, sizes and colors and allows you to produce just about any look imaginable to impress your guests.

Along with your stationery set you will also often get a guidebook or leaflet that will take you step-by-step through the process of producing and sending out your invitations and will even give you ideas for items to include with your invitations such as maps and directions and accommodation cards. You will often find that you will also be provided with a guide to wording your invitations and with samples of correctly worded invitations.

If your wedding stationery doesn’t include sufficient information then a quick search on any of the major search engines will soon provide just what you are looking for.

When it comes to printing your invitations out you will find that it is a simple matter to design the layout of your invitation cards in your favorite word processor and some programs will even come with suitable templates. The wording itself can be crafted in just about any style you choose from the hundreds of fonts that are also available as standard with most word processing programs today and you can easily imitate both the traditional style of card engraving as well as using handwriting and calligraphy fonts to add the personal details to each invitation.

With some basic wedding stationery and a home computer you can easily make your own wedding invitations, including response cards, maps, directions and accommodation cards and save yourself a small fortune.

For further information on how to talkingweddings.com/wedding-invites.html” target=”_blank make your own wedding invitations please visit Talking talkingweddings.com” target=”_blank Weddings today.

Why do we celebrate Father’s Day? Someone replied recently “Because we celebrate Mother’s Day, of course”.

It was always clear why we celebrated Mother’s Day. In our family, Mom worked a full-time job, kept the house, did the grocery shopping and tended to our hurts, physical and emotional. And Mother’s Day was the one day set aside to honor and celebrate our love and appreciation. So, it was breakfast in bed, a shower of gifts and Sunday dinner out. Everyone knows when Mother’s Day is and plans are made well in advance. The cards are bought and mailed, the florist called and dinner reservations made.

I think we celebrate Mothers Day because moms teach us to love and nurture. Without a mother’s love a child can barely survive, much less grow up to be a functional person. Still today, I see young mothers run to pick up their child who has fallen and scraped a knee or an elbow. Mom’s kiss always seemed to make it feel better.

But, what about Dad? In most traditional families Dad is “The Enforcer”. Remember your mom saying “Just wait till your father gets home!” and then sweating as he pulled up the driveway and walked in the door. The fear factor alone was a healthy deterrent. In the game “Good Cop Bad Cop”, Dad was always the “Bad Cop” who questioned you until you broke. In our family, Dad was also the judge, jury AND executioner. Funny, too, it seems like most people I know were taught to ride a bike by their dad. Dads never seemed to have a problem telling you to “get up and try again” every time you fell off the bike.

And while mom’s teach us to love and nurture, dads teach us how to stand in the face of adversity and not wither, to protect and honor your family, to teach his son how to be a man and his daughter how to be a lady and unyielding to sexual predators. And, dads have the unenviable task of having to tell all those old stories and corny jokes.

It’s funny how your youth shapes your adulthood. Is it any wonder that a young man wonders what his mom would think about the girl he’s dating or if his dad would be proud of a particular decision he’d made? And, don’t we hope our little girl chooses her husband based partly on what she hopes her dad will think?

So, what do dad’s think about Father’s Day? I think most dads are simply glad to be one. All a dad really wants is know his kids love and respect him and that his kids are on the right track. And while a card, a gift or dinner is nice, probably the best Father’s Day gift of all would be a hug, a kiss or a handshake and to hear “Thanks, Dad. I love you.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Tim Langley is a chiropractor, economist and business consultant. He lives and practices in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Dr. Langley writes on issues that relate to health, business, personal development, economic development and politics. He is also the developer of “The Membership Practice”. You can find out more about Dr. Langley at his web site langleychiropractic.com langleychiropractic.com or through his blog at drtim.wordpress.com drtim.wordpress.com. You can write or visit Dr. Langley at 4343 Shallowford Road #C-2, Marietta, GA 30062.

Christian marriage and intercourse should not be something difficult to discuss and practice. Rather it should be seen as a great gift to be celebrated. While there are many critiques of Christian sex practice and what should and shouldn’t be allowed within Christian marriage and intercourse, there are some general ideals that hold solid across the board.

1. Find common ground. Within Christian marriage and intercourse a couple should find common ground where they can accomplish both satisfaction and agreement. Sex is such a wide open area, that if one particular position or practice is not pleasing, physically or morally, with one’s partner then there are literally hundreds of other ways to celebrate the gift of sex.

2. Maintain openness, communication, and compassion. Being open and sharing feelings with one another is a must in order to practice good Christian communication. And it can create more open doors for intimacy and passion. Even extremely close Christian couples can suddenly clam up and avoid discussion regarding Christian marriage and intercourse. If this behavior is not reversed it can easily become commonplace and thus a seemingly permanent Christian communication block. Being open and discussing likes and dislikes can only strengthen a relationship. If dislikes or limitations are discussed, rather than viewing these certain things as limitations, view them as opportunities to seek out and practice even more passionate and creative ways to celebrate Christian marriage and intercourse.

Common ground and communication can make the difference between a cold and closed off Christian relationship and a very passionate and strong Christian marriage.

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