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Wedding Shrines

A previous poster asked what to do with leftover wedding momentos, and the idea of a shine was frowned upon. I was curious as to why exactly?

H  and I have a series of shots I was going to display - a couple of 8x10's mixed in with a 4x6 collage in our bedroom where only we would see it. After reading some of the responses I too thought it would be really cool to have a shadow box in the middle with our invitation and a pinecone. (We were married in December). The big difference here is that its A: In our bedroom and B: they are not typical wedding photos (no wedding dress/flowers/cake etc.) We decided to throw a party for our "reception" so we have shots of people having a blast - nothing traditional about these photos!) But the pictures H and I took are more of the engagement style with our dogs included.

Anyway - all personal for no one else to see but us. And if someone did, it would be our parents who occasionally stay the night (but rarely enter our room). Is that too weird? Too "shrine"?s - - ok it is a shrine but for my eyes only.

Re: Wedding Shrines

  • It's really up to you as to how you have your house decorated. I think having pictures and mementos of your wedding in your bedroom would be a good reminder of how happy you were that day and a good thing to see when you wake up in the morning. Really, who is going to see it?
  • I'm all for "shrines" in your bedroom. So few people besides you will be in there and if YOU like it, then that's what matters! I think a shadow box with an invitation and pinecone would be cute. I say go for it if it's what you like. :)


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  • IMO, the master bedroom is the perfect place for a 'wedding shrine'.   Actually, if we display any photos in there, they are just of us....we prefer not to have pictures of other people in our bedroom. ;)

    I don't mind wedding photos or shadow boxes in public spaces, as long as it isn't shrine-like.   I have been in homes with so many wedding photos displayed that you would have thought that they were selling them or something.lol

  • I mentioned not liking the wedding shrine and it is because soooo many people have "wedding walls" in their house.  I get that your wedding day was great...so was mine, but when you devote entire walls and displays to it in your public spaces it is too much.  I also think it is somewhat silly to display your veil and jewelry.  As for photos, one or two photos in the house is one thing...beyond that and it gets boring IMO.  I feel the same about people who have baby shrines.  It isn't interesting to see 20 photos of a baby in the same clothes/day.   

    If you want to put it in your bedroom, go for it.  But when I walk into a house and am greeted by wedding photos on every wall, a huge photo above the fireplace, and shadowboxes with dried up wedding flowers everywhere, it makes me wonder if that is the ONLY event you had in your life that was special and if you really just like looking at yourself in photos.  I prefer to look at photos of family/friends and special memories from a lifetime--not just ONE day in my life.  I realize this might be an unpopular opinion, but wedding shrines in public places just seem very egotistical to me.

     

    ETA:  I also think that it is a very "newlywed" thing to do because it is often the biggest event you have had as a couple. 

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  • I didn't read the other post, but IMO put it where you want don't bother with what everyone else thinks.  It's YOUR house, YOU'RE the one that lives there.  I really don't mean this snarky, but why would you ever give a 2nd thought to what someone online thinks (I assume you're trying to get a general feeling of what your friends might think when they walk in, but either way, they don't live there so IMO it still doesn't matter)? 
  • In our house we have a wall in a very public, for the house anyway, that we have a collage picture frame without 4 pictures from our wedding in and 6 from our honeymoon in.  Around that frame are 3 pictures from our first anniversary.  Since we intend on taking a trip for every anniversary, we want to add 2 or 3 pictures each year to the wall.  I know it's not quite a wedding shrine, but now I'm wondering if it's too many wedding pictures.Embarrassed
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  • I think that how many wedding pictures you have on display in your house is a function of how long you've been with your spouse, how big your families are and how much space you have to display pictures.  To me, it is all about balance. 

    We've got 3 8x10s, a 4x6 and a 5 x7 shadowbox in our entire house, plus our album.  1 of the 8x10s is in our room, the others plus the shadow box are on various shelves of the shelving unit that holds our pictures, the 4x6 is in a collage frame with various picture of H and his friends. 

    I don't think it is overkill because these are 5 items of 75 or 80 displayed in our home (album is on a shelf).  We've been together since we were 18 though (so more than 8 years), we have pictures on vacation, with college friends, at graduations, at parties, etc.  We each have a sibling and parents and we have 2 goddaughters, a dog and a new nephew.  All of those pieces of our lives are also displayed. 

    I think it is harder to do if you weren't together forever and a day before you got married, or if you were only children or weren't close with family and/ or friends to achieve the wedding picture to other picture balance.  I've been to tons of houses that have more wedding pics than we do and tons that have less- it is just about what you want.

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  • Hmm, I think in your bedroom is fine to build a wedding shrine, if it floats your boat. I have four pics of my wedding on display, through out my whole house. One is in the bedroom.

    Honestly, I have way to many pics of my kid up! LOL I got to make room for future pics of her and the bun! 

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  • We don't really have a shrine, but more wedding pictures up than we probably should.  Most of them are in the bedroom, though.  I think we have 2 wedding photos and one engagement pic in the rest of the house. I have a photo collage thing going with wedding and honeymoon pictures (mostly landmarks) in the bedroom.  Most of the photos we do have up are wedding photos.

    We're just not the sort of people who take a lot of pictures, especially of ourselves, so there's a lot more landscape/object art in our house.  It's not that the proportion of wedding photos has anything to do with an obsession with the day, but rather it was the most heavily photographed day of our lives and, well, we just have a lot of them (mostly confined to the bedroom).

     I would agree that displaying veils and jewelry is a bit over the top--that should be boxed up with the wedding dress if you went that route--but a shadow box with an invitation and a pine cone is perfectly tasteful.

     ETA: I lied.  We have a few in the guest room.  But the only other person who's stayed there is MIL and she loved it, so... 

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  • I haven't read the other thread, but here's my take on it:

    It's your house.  If you want to put up photos of your wedding go ahead.  I might look at you a little weird if EVERY photo displayed is wedding related, but I'm just a visitor and I'm there to see/visit with you.  And really, aren't photos taken so that you'll remember fun and important things in your life?  That's why I have photos up of my graduations, our vacations, my bachelorette party, our wedding, our honeymoon, our engagement photos, our friends acting crazy, pretty scenery, etc.  It's also why my husband framed the napkin from our Junior Prom (our first dance together) as my first anniversary present.


  • imageAussie*s_Mom:
      (I assume you're trying to get a general feeling of what your friends might think when they walk in, but either way, they don't live there so IMO it still doesn't matter)? 

    Yes that's exactly what I was looking for. Our friends and family is notorious for looking in your face and telling you how lovely something is and then you find out later they were making fun of you to so and so weeks later about it. This is exactly what I try to avoid.

  • imageJustinlove:

    I mentioned not liking the wedding shrine and it is because soooo many people have "wedding walls" in their house.  I get that your wedding day was great...so was mine, but when you devote entire walls and displays to it in your public spaces it is too much.  I also think it is somewhat silly to display your veil and jewelry.  As for photos, one or two photos in the house is one thing...beyond that and it gets boring IMO.  I feel the same about people who have baby shrines.  It isn't interesting to see 20 photos of a baby in the same clothes/day.   

    If you want to put it in your bedroom, go for it.  But when I walk into a house and am greeted by wedding photos on every wall, a huge photo above the fireplace, and shadowboxes with dried up wedding flowers everywhere, it makes me wonder if that is the ONLY event you had in your life that was special and if you really just like looking at yourself in photos.  I prefer to look at photos of family/friends and special memories from a lifetime--not just ONE day in my life.  I realize this might be an unpopular opinion, but wedding shrines in public places just seem very egotistical to me.

     

    ETA:  I also think that it is a very "newlywed" thing to do because it is often the biggest event you have had as a couple. 

    You are my new favorite person :)  I've never been able to put into words what bothers me so much about it, but this is exactly it.

  • imagekcgrl:

    imageAussie*s_Mom:
      (I assume you're trying to get a general feeling of what your friends might think when they walk in, but either way, they don't live there so IMO it still doesn't matter)? 

    Yes that's exactly what I was looking for. Our friends and family is notorious for looking in your face and telling you how lovely something is and then you find out later they were making fun of you to so and so weeks later about it. This is exactly what I try to avoid.

    Those are people that you're too good to have in your life then IMO.  I could see for example going to my cousins house and not liking how many pics of ______ she had up and telling my mom that it wasn't my style, but to "make fun of you" is BS, childish, and hurtful.  Family can be tricky, but if I ever found out that my "friends" were making fun of my behind my back we wouldn't be friends anymore.

    *I'm not trying to flame you in any way, shape, or form, but tell you that you're too good for that.

    ETA:  BTW I think it would be fine in the bedroom, or really any room other than the bathroom.

  • I think Justinlove summed it up quite nicely. Yeah, it's your house so do what you want, but you should be aware of what your guests are thinking. We have some friends whose main decor is wedding and honeymoon pictures, including an 8x10 closeup of their rings on the flowers and a picture in a frame that says "Just married" and is shaped like a getaway car-- not very tasteful or artistic. And they will be celebrating their 5th anniversary next month!

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  • imageAussie*s_Mom:

    Those are people that you're too good to have in your life then IMO.  I could see for example going to my cousins house and not liking how many pics of ______ she had up and telling my mom that it wasn't my style, but to "make fun of you" is BS, childish, and hurtful.  Family can be tricky, but if I ever found out that my "friends" were making fun of my behind my back we wouldn't be friends anymore.

    *I'm not trying to flame you in any way, shape, or form, but tell you that you're too good for that.

    ETA:  BTW I think it would be fine in the bedroom, or really any room other than the bathroom.

    but isn't the point of this post to find out if someone would go home and tell their mom they didn't like something?  Whether or not what the person says is mean is a whole different subject, she's trying to prevent doing something that a lot of people may dislike.  I don't see anything wrong with asking.

  • imageamandasw:
    imageAussie*s_Mom:

    Those are people that you're too good to have in your life then IMO.  I could see for example going to my cousins house and not liking how many pics of ______ she had up and telling my mom that it wasn't my style, but to "make fun of you" is BS, childish, and hurtful.  Family can be tricky, but if I ever found out that my "friends" were making fun of my behind my back we wouldn't be friends anymore.

    *I'm not trying to flame you in any way, shape, or form, but tell you that you're too good for that.

    ETA:  BTW I think it would be fine in the bedroom, or really any room other than the bathroom.


    but isn't the point of this post to find out if someone would go home and tell their mom they didn't like something?  Whether or not what the person says is mean is a whole different subject, she's trying to prevent doing something that a lot of people may dislike.  I don't see anything wrong with asking.

    Yes, but everyone has different taste, you're never going to please everyone so someone will probably have an opinion no matter what you do.  Like I said, I think wedding pics (or shines) are fine pretty much anywhere and others don't (so that's not something that I would tell someone wasn't my style).  Again, I can see the reason for asking, but in the end the OP is the one that will be looking at the pics and as long as she and her DH like them then I think they should put them where they want, and if friends are making fun then they need to get lost and she needs friends that are there to see her and not judge her picture choices.  We don't have ANY wedding pictures out, we only have 4 picture frames out and they all have our kids or are family pictures, someone might comment that I don't have any pics of just DH and I, but I like looking at pics of our kids so that's what I've chosen to display. 

    And I agree that I don't really think there's anything wrong with asking, but I do think that in the end people should do what they really want.

  • Thanks for the input everyone. I agree that it is my house and I'll do (or hang) what I want. I just don't want anyone thinking I"m crazy....

    Family doesn't "make fun" of us - it's more like "Cousin Jane has better landscaping and Cousin Joe has a bigger kitchen." It's not my parents thank God - and so far I have been able to keep this side of the family away. I can't keep doing it forever though because they are constantly trying to find way here.

    Anyway I just didn't want any more arsenal. The photos we have displayed in our family room are just that - family. 1 of the 15 are of DH and I from a couple years ago - the rest are our family in the middle of having fun (camping, horseback riding etc). It's fun :)

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