Are you following traditions on your wedding day? Or breaking the traditional wedding day standards? While we did some traditional things at our wedding, like the standard dances, we were definitely more of the non-traditional bride & groom. If you’re looking for some non-traditional wedding ideas to incorporate into your wedding day, keep reading for some inspiration from Rich & Kitch’s Cabo wedding! We can't wait to share our 15 non-traditional wedding ideas with you!
1. We knew each other’s wedding vows before getting married
Since we had to get legally married in the US before our destination wedding in Mexico, we decided to practice our wedding vows during our legal wedding ceremony! I was nervous about saying our own vows since I thought I would be too emotional. Having a small wedding ceremony in my parents backyard was helpful for me to practice saying our vows in front of our parents & grandparents before we were in front of more family & friends in Cabo! I’m SO glad Richie pushed me to write our own vows because this was one of the best parts of our wedding ceremony! If you want to read more about our legal wedding ceremony in my parents backyard before our destination wedding, check out this post. If you need tips for writing your wedding vows, which we highly recommend doing, check out Rich & Kitch wedding vow tips here. Wedding vow books we used are linked here!
2. Wear two wedding bands since we technically got married twice
Based on part 1, I 100% used having a legal wedding ceremony before our destination wedding as an excuse to get 2 wedding bands! Richie did an amazing job picking out the engagement ring of my dreams, but adding small diamond studded wedding bands on each side of the ring REALLY makes it sparkle. If you need engagement ring & wedding band shopping tips, check out this post!
3. Skipped a bridal shower & had a couples wedding shower
I’m personally not a fan of traditional bridal showers (I dislike games & opening gifts in front of people lol) so I skipped the traditional bridal shower all together. Richie’s mom hosted an amazing couples shower for us instead & you can read all about it here!
Find some of my favorite dresses to wear for your bridal shower, couples shower or any pre-wedding event for the bride-to-be here, too!
4. Had a joint bachelor/bachelorette party during our destination wedding week
Since we had our destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, we knew we were already asking a lot of our wedding party to travel far & spend a lot of money to support us. A lot of our wedding party lived in different locations, so we knew at least half of them would have had to travel somewhere. Because of that, we didn’t feel right planning separate bachelor & bachelorette parties. We also thought it would be fun to show our wedding party the iconic El Squid Roe nightclub, so we decided to have our joint bachelor/bachelorette party there! We rented out a space & ordered bottle service for everyone, & it was a blast! We’re happy to recommend our favorite spots for a night out with your “I do” crew in Cabo, too!
His & Hers bachelor & bachelorette party outfit inspo can be found here!
5. Woke up together on wedding day & went for a morning run
For both of our wedding ceremonies, we woke up together & went for a morning run! If you didn’t know, our morning exercise routine is super important to us, so this made sense for us! We were living together before we got married, so spending the night together before our legal wedding ceremony made sense. We spent the night together before our destination wedding, too! We had a nice room to ourselves at Villa del Arco, wanted to get a good night of sleep before the big day, & stick to our morning routine as much as possible, so this worked for us! Whether you want to spend the night together before your wedding or not, we recommend doing what feels right for you both as a couple & your religion.
6. Had wedding day first looks
Rich & Kitch are huge fans of the wedding day first look! I even had a first look with my bridesmaids & my dad which were super special moments. I’m so glad our amazing photographer, Anna Gomes, recommended doing these! You can read more about why we love having a wedding day first look here.
7. Included our parents in unique ways during our wedding
First, we had both parents of the bride give a wedding speech in between appetizers & entrees during our reception dinner. While it IS traditional for the father of the bride to give a wedding speech, the mother of the bride gave one, too! We also like how we positioned their speeches on our wedding day timeline to break things up in between meals for a champagne toast!
Second, we had all parents walk down the aisle during our Cabo wedding ceremony. We had Richie’s parents walk down the aisle first, followed by Richie walking my mom down the aisle. We’re so glad we did this since it made for some cute photo ops! This might not be a huge wedding day tradition breaker since we did follow tradition after this by having the wedding party walk down the aisle next, followed by my dad walking me down the aisle. However, we thought this was a nice touch to make sure everyone felt included in our wedding ceremony! You can read about other ways to incorporate your family members on your wedding day in this post!
Mother of the bride & mother of the groom outfit inspiration can be found here & father of the bride & father of the groom outfit inspiration can be found here!
8. Had an uneven number of bridesmaids & groomsmen
One wedding tradition we’re happy we broke was having an uneven number of bridesmaids & groomsmen! It is SO important to have the right people with you all day on your wedding day, so it shouldn’t matter if you have an even number of bridesmaids & groomsmen or not! You can read about ALL things wedding party in this blog post.
My bridesmaids wore dresses from Lulus & they were less than $100. Birdy Grey is another online bridesmaids dress shop I love which offers dresses for under $100, too! My favorite bridesmaid dress styles can be found here. The groomsmen wore affordable Perry Ellis linen suit pants & shirts from Macy's - similar styles can be found here!
9. Had a wine box ceremony
To make our wedding ceremony more unique, our officiant suggested incorporating a wine box ceremony into our wedding ceremony. Not sure what that is? We didn’t know at first either! A wine box ceremony includes writing love letters to one another & they are sealed in your wine box with a bottle of wine. On your 5th wedding anniversary, you read each other’s letters while enjoying your bottle of wine! Read more about having a wine box wedding ceremony here!
10. Didn’t have a grand entrance for our wedding party into the reception
While Richie & I were introduced into our wedding reception, we chose not to do this for our entire wedding party. Everyone had already gotten to know each other more in Cabo before our wedding, so we didn’t think it was necessary to introduce everyone. I also personally think it can be a little cheesy and put pressure on your wedding party if they are shy or don’t know each other well, so skipping the wedding party reception entrance felt right for us.
11. Skipped the garter/bouquet toss & opted for cold sparks after our first dance
The garter toss is a super cringe worthy wedding day tradition for me, so that was something obvious for us to skip. I don’t need my family to see my husband’s head underneath my wedding dress, thanks lol! We also skipped the bouquet toss since we didn’t have many eligible bachelorettes to catch the bouquet at our small wedding, so I thought this would be an awkward moment. I also didn’t want it taking up space on our wedding day timeline & it wasn’t something I wanted wedding photos of! Something we DID decide to include, which was probably one of our best wedding day decisions, was having cold sparks go off at the end of our first dance. I’m all about photos so I highly recommend this for the photo op (special thanks to my brother-in-law for snapping this amazing photo at this angle). Having cold sparks is also a memorable moment to wow your guests!
12. Took photos with our amazing wedding vendor team
Something that was important to us on our wedding day was getting our picture taken with our amazing wedding vendor team!!! They put so much into making our wedding day perfecto so we wanted to have pictures with them for our memories! Choosing the right wedding vendors is super important so you can read the Rich & Kitch tips for that here.
13. Had an adults only wedding
We chose to have an adults only wedding which meant no flower girl & ring bearer, too! We wanted to have an upscale party for our wedding, and planned other destination wedding week events that weren’t kid friendly, so this made sense for us.
14. Personally designed all of our wedding stationary
My DIY wedding project was designing all of our wedding stationery. But before I decided this, little did I know a wedding stationery suite went WAY beyond save the dates & wedding invitations! I did LOVE the process & now we offer affordable templates you can customize yourself! I’m also happy to work with you to custom design your wedding stationery. More details can be found here!
15. Last but not least, the groom ended up shirtless on the dance floor
I don’t think it’s common for the groom to dance with his shirt off during your wedding reception, so this had to make the list of Non-Traditional Wedding Ideas from Rich & Kitch’s Cabo Wedding because it is so on brand lol. Richie ending up shirtless on the dance floor definitely made for some of our favorite wedding day photos thanks to Anna Gomes! As wedding coaches, we think it is SO important to be yourselves on your wedding day (if this photo isn’t proof enough we don’t know what is lol) SO don’t be afraid to break some of the wedding traditions!!!
The End!
Are you going to incorporate any Non-Traditional Wedding Ideas from Rich & Kitch’s Cabo Wedding? Send us a DM on Instagram @kitchensinkit & let us know!
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