Looking for a hands-on way to add a personal touch to your wedding that could also cut costs? A new crop of wedding-themed classes and workshops offer expert training in various skills, from flower-crown making to wedding-vows writing.
“These are different from generic bridal parties where everyone makes candles or lavender sashes,” said Harmony Walton, the owner of the Bridal Bar, a Los Angeles-based company that connects engaged couples with bridal services. “These events are more purposeful with the end result being an element that’s incorporated into the wedding.”
Here are a few classes that can help you tackle wedding projects like a professional.
Make Your Own Wedding Band
Fitzgerald Jewelry in Brooklyn offers workshops for designing wedding bands from silver and gold jewelry or heirloom pieces. Over a one- or two-session class, you will melt, cast, design and create matching bands. “This lets couples include pieces from their family’s history that have been passed on to them that they didn’t think they would be able to wear or use,” said Michael Fitzgerald, the owner who works with five to seven couples a month. “That piece of history is now part of their most important piece of jewelry they will ever own. Because they’re designing it, couples add their own personality, too.”
Michal Rudiak, 27, who lives in Brooklyn with her fiancé, Alex Neufeld, 28, created bands two months ago in preparation for their September wedding. “This was one of the most significant experiences we’ve had,” Ms. Rudiak said. “We made something that brings a wedding aspect into something we will wear forever.”
Ms. Rudiak also appreciated the old-school experience. “It’s easy to click and buy something — it arrives at your door but there’s no meaning behind it,” she said. “We did this together. It took time and sweat. It was hard work but it was worth it.”
Costs for the workshop, per couple, are $600, for four hours (one class for silver wedding bands); $900, for six hours (two classes, for gold wedding bands). Fitzgeraldjewelry.com
New York Flower Market Tour
Couples can tour New York City’s flower district in Chelsea with Emily Mathison, the artistic director for McQueens Flowers, which is also the sister branch to the London-based shop.
“Clients want to be part of the process, they’re interested in picking the flowers themselves in their raw state while learning where they come from,” said Ms. Mathison, who started offering tours last year. She takes brides, grooms and other family members to five or six vendors in the wholesale flower market, where they learn about the flowers that will eventually be displayed by McQueens during their event.
“They’re learning about what’s in season, where their flowers are coming from, and being educated in fragrances and visuals,” she said. The tour lasts about 45 minutes. Prices vary. mcqueensflowers.com
Flower-Crown Class
Floral crowns and headpieces have become popular accessories for bridal party members, and some hotels in exotic locales offer classes that teach you how to make them.
This past May, Ms. Walton, 39, of the Bridal Bar, had a Hawaiian wedding at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, which has a traditional flower-crown-making class called Lei Po’o. Created last year, more than half of the 100-plus weddings held at the hotel each year opted to do this activity, said Katie Cotton, director of catering and special events for the Four Seasons property.
“We wanted to infuse the destination and region with something we’d wear to the welcoming party/rehearsal dinner,” Ms. Walton said. “I didn’t think I’d wear it, but once it was finished I loved it. I ended up not taking it off the whole night.”
Ms. Walton and her group used flowers, foliage and orchids specifically picked to match her wedding colors and were guided step by step by the hotel’s professional master weaver. “It was also a nice way to separate everyone in the wedding party visually from other guests,” Ms. Walton said. “It created a special bond since we had all made it together.”
Ms. Walton highlighted social media as another reason for the trend. “Everyone wants to post photos,” she said. “Taking one of the things you made gives you a leg up on reasons to post.”
$195 for a one-hour class with an instructor, plus $13 per person for materials and flowers. For more elaborate offerings, which would allow for heavier floral coverage, the cost would be $33 per person; fourseasons.com/maui/
Cake Decorating Workshop
Lisa Mansour, an owner of N.Y. Cake, in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, recently added a three-day wedding cake workshop. “Wedding cakes can cost thousands of dollars,” she said. “You can’t get a cake for less than $10 a slice in New York.”
The class offers fundamentals in baking, filling, stacking, decorating and technique. “People want to make their own things,” Ms. Mansour said. “There’s a sense of pride when they do. It has greater meaning.” She said cooking shows have helped advance the self-baking movement. “Tons of shows tell people they can do this, and people want that experience,” she said. Classes are $495 and includes three consecutive days of training, where attendees learn to make a classic white cake with either a Swiss meringue butter cream filling or a flavored butter cream like chocolate, raspberry or elderflower. The fee includes the cake; nycakeacademy.com.
Wedding-Vow Writing
You can take a deep dive into your vows, while also taking a moment to appreciate your partner, with a 90-minute interactive vow-writing workshop offered by Emily Sterling, a certified life-cycle celebrant and the owner of Rooted & Wild in Portland, Ore.
Classes are offered several times a year, usually every few months, and are held at 45th Parallel Wines, a wine bar in Portland, with a group of up to eight couples.
“This is one of the rare times where couples think about their love story and why they love their person,” Ms. Sterling said. “It’s a very connecting date night as opposed to a checklist they’re making.” Ms. Sterling added great opportunity for couples to celebrate their journey and each other through group and partner exercises. The workshop is $50 per person, which includes a glass of Champagne; rootedandwild.co.
Dance Class
Dancing at your wedding is as important, and expected, as say, cutting the cake. It’s also one of the first acts you do as a newly married couple. Whether you’re looking to master ballroom or hip-hop, the waltz or the hustle, there’s a plethora of local studios that offer private and group classes. Some are even online.
Wedding parties can join the experience by studying choreographed routines as well. “Our two-hour BYOB wedding party class offers a 45-minute lesson, in a specific dance style, for everyone to learn the same moves, time to practice and to socialize in a quality way that’s outside of traditional wedding party activities,” said Kathryn Rochelle, who is one of five instructors at Duet Dance Studio, in Chicago. Each month she sees 100 to 120 couples who start rehearsing four to -six months before their big day. Each private class is $75 to $95 per couple; wedding party classes are $400 for one session; duetdancestudio.com
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