Hollywood Theme Wedding
By Karen Lincoln
Whether you want to re-enact a classic movie era or have an over the top modern day Hollywood theme, the creative opportunities for your wedding celebration are endless. A Hollywood theme wedding can have many different angles including getting in to the character of your favorite movie couple. Or you can actually replicate features of your wedding that are the same as your favorite true life Hollywood movie stars such as a wedding gown or cake style. With a few key ideas and an incredible amount of creative possibilities, your Hollywood theme wedding will be a night for you as well as your guests to remember.

Having a Wedding Hollywood Style

The details of your Hollywood Theme wedding are the most essential touches to pulling off your special day. You can be creative with sending out your invitations such as wording the invitation much like a movie awards program and using a custom designed gold seal on the outer envelope. If you want to get really creative, you can make a video invitation. You can formally snail mail an internet link to your video invitation or you can send it via email. There are secure links that will allow you to restrict access to your video invitation and services that can assist with your film including providing costumes and props.

Music is another part of Hollywood that can be a great feature at your wedding. You can walk down the aisle to romantic movie ballads or dance throughout the night to movie greats. You can be even more elaborate with your Hollywood theme wedding by using props and backdrops to make your wedding site reception look like a movie set. Lighting that is reminiscent of stage lights or even using spotlights to highlight your entrance can be great additions to your Hollywood theme wedding.

Making Guests Part of the Act

Your guests can enjoy being part of the act with era appropriate costumes or the opportunity to dress as their own favorite actors or movie characters. You can also consider assigning guests characters for the night, sitting them at tables with others that are part of the same movies and encouraging costumes. Your guests may also enjoy having their photographs taken with life-size famous cutouts. And of course a red carpet walk into the reception would be expected, complete with easy photo opportunities for your hired photographer and waiting guests.

Awards events are famous for their pricey gift bags for the stars, and while you probably cannot replicate thousands of dollars in freebies, you can create bags for each of your guests, including cosmetic samples and perfumes for ladies and cigars and colognes for the men. You can also include Hollywood related items such as a DVD of an actual movie and gourmet popcorn.

A Hollywood theme wedding can be a creative and memorable way to celebrate your special day. The details of your planning can put your event over the top along with being unique for a wedding celebration. A Hollywood theme wedding will allow you to be as glamorous, funny or dramatic as you wish while providing a relaxed and fun evening for you and your guests.

Why not visit our website for more help with your wedding planning along with more ideas for the wedding themes.

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Little Girls Vanishing in India
By Shamala Pulugurtha
When her daughter-in-law delivered a second baby girl, Appamma picked up the little one, wrapped her in a wet towel and threw her on the ground. “Who wants that?” she said. Nobody dared to pick the little girl up and she soon died. In another village in southern India, a mother refused to feed her baby because it was a girl. Finally, her husband came and fed her yerakkam paal (the poisonous sap of the oleander plant). The baby soon turned blue and died. Village after village in India, the horrific story repeats itself.

UNICEF believes that, over the years, about 50 million women and girls have disappeared across India. Experts, who have analyzed the National Family Health Survey of India, estimate that about 300,000 girls go “missing” in India each year. Other surveys have put the number between 150,000 and 500,000. The 2001 Census shows there are only 927 girls per 1,000 boys, representing a sharp decline from 1961 when that number was 976. In certain parts of the country there are now fewer than 800 girls for every 1,000 boys. This is creating a major imbalance for the future.

Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in some parts of south India, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon. Traditionally, oleander sap or paddy husk have been used to kill unwanted infant girls. The more ‘modern’ families use pesticides or sleeping pills. According to UNICEF, the problem is getting worse as scientific methods for detecting the sex of a baby and performing abortions are improving. About 11.2 million illegal abortions are performed each year in India. In Southern Indian town of Salem, for instance, there are signs that reinforce the societal message: “Pay 500 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later,” a suggestion that aborting a female fetus now could save a fortune in wedding expenses in the future.

The bias against females in India is related to the fact that sons are considered breadwinners and it is believed that they’ll support the family once they are older. Girls, on the other hand, have to be married off by paying large sums of money(dowry). Dowries, though long prohibited by law, along with wedding expenses and jewellry regularly run to thousands of rupees. Some families hence, borrow heavily to pay for the rituals prescribed for a girl. “The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up.” says Kanchamma, a mid-wife in a remote village in southern India. Richer the families, greater the expenses. The anti-female bias is thus, not limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms and pressure to conform can be intense in some areas.

Infanticide is illegal in India (though rarely prosecuted), and laws are in place to stop sex-selective abortions. Governments have also introduced several schemes like those which offer financial assistance to parents of a girl child or encourage parents to bring them to government-run orphanages if they cannot look after the girl. But implementing these policies is difficult in a society with inherent bias against women and India’s gender imbalance has worsened in recent years. The progress has been offset by medical technology, unethical doctors, and strong social norms.

The only way to wipe out this evil is by an attitudinal shift. Educating women is one of the best tools that can break this inter-generational cycle of abuse, torture and poverty of women. It is also essential to prosecute the families that practice female feticide and infanticide as well as the doctors and technicians who support them. It is important to raise awareness about the consequences of low gender ratio. People and governments need to come together and spearhead the action for change. We have to protect millions of little girls from this ’silent genocide’ and as always, you can play an important part.

To find out some creative ways help non-profits leading the fight against female infanticide and other social issues, visit http://www.svapas.org

Change is bought about by a collective effort and we hope you’ll join us to make this change possible.

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