Posted on 05 January 2010.
Posted in Wedding Planning Videos0 Comments
Posted on 04 January 2010.
Many brides love flowers and delight in planning the flowers for their wedding ceremony and reception. Fresh and healthy flowers really create a beautiful and polished atmosphere both for the wedding ceremony and reception. All those brides and grooms who have gardening and horticultural knowledge will be able to utilize their experiences when it comes to deciding upon which flowers and floral designs you would like for your special day.
I myself have been gardening for fifteen years and have experience working in a flower shop, so I will share my own tips for selecting bridal flowers.
1) Consider the bride and the groom’s favorite flowers and colors.
2) Consider the appearance, size, shape, color and fragrance of the flowers.
3) Consider buying flowers in season and locally grown, as this is cheaper and better for the environment as the flowers don’t have to be imported from another country or state.
4) It is recommended that the bride and groom make a consultation with florists at two or three different flower shops. Come prepared with your questions, your price range, and a list of your favorite flowers.
5) Select flowers with shapes and colors that compliment the bride’s complexion, hair color, overall appearance and wedding gown.
6) Choose flowers that flatter bridesmaids and their dresses, and the groom, groomsmen and their tuxedos.
7) Think about the style your want to achieve:
a) traditional
b) contemporary/modern
8) Think about the time of day of wedding ceremony, wedding photographs and wedding reception. The goal is to have the flowers remain fresh and healthy for the ceremony, photographs and reception. Flowers like roses need water picks to hold water and Gerbera daisies require a lot of water to remain healthy.
9) Keep in mind the location of your ceremony and purchase flowers to decorate that flatter the colors and lighting of the church or hall.
10) Think about the location of your reception and purchase flowers to decorate that flatter the colors, furniture and lighting of the reception site.
11) Get recommendations from family and friends on the flowers that they had at their own weddings.
12) Discover ideas for floral designs in wedding magazines and on bridal websites.
13) Remember to keep in mind the cost of each flower. Flowers that are readily available are cheaper than more exotic and hard-to-find flowers.
14) Reflect on all of your wedding floral needs:
Enjoy planning your wedding. Take time to smell the roses!
Posted in Featured Articles, Wedding Planning Tips5 Comments
Posted on 04 January 2010.
Congratulations, bride-to-be, on your engagement! As you begin your journey towards becoming husband and wife, close your eyes and envision how you want to look on your wedding day. Long traditional bridal gown with cascading train? Knee-length strapless dress with short silk veil? Every little girl dreams about getting married someday and walking down the aisle in a beautiful dress.
Here are a variety of tips and suggestions for selecting the perfect bridal gown.
1) Talk to trusted friends and family about where they purchased their wedding dresses.
2) Ask to see photographs of friends, family and co-workers wedding dresses for ideas.
3) Research wedding dresses online. Ask friends and family to recommend bridal websites.
4) Purchase several good quality wedding magazines to search for ideas. Pay attention to the specific styles, fabrics, and colors that appeal to you. Cut out photos of wedding dresses that you like and place them in a notebook or scrapbook.
5) Have your mother and/or bridesmaids accompany you to various wedding boutiques. Try on various dresses. Avoid settling for first or second dress you try on. Don’t settle shopping in just one boutique.
6) Consider putting several possible dresses on hold and return to the wedding boutique several days later to try on the dresses again with a fresh perspective.
7) Consider the style that you want:
8) Consider the length that best suits your needs:
9) Think about the head-piece that you desire:
10) Think about the color that you would like:
11) Consider the material/ fabric that you would feel most comfortable in:
12) Consider your body type and what dress style best flatters your figure.
13) Consider the month of your wedding and the typical weather at that time.
14) Consider the destination of your wedding:
15) Consider any cultural or familial traditions that you want to uphold.
16) Try on your bridal shoes with your gown:
17) Purchase jewelry that compliments your body type, face and your wedding dress.
18) Practice good time management. Begin looking for your dress shortly after getting engaged, so that you allow for plenty of time to shop at various boutiques and getting necessary fittings and alterations.
Posted in Wedding Planning Tips1 Comment
Posted on 03 January 2010.
DO: Book your reception site/ hall as soon as possible, ideally within several weeks after getting engaged and selecting your wedding date.
DO: Go together as bride and groom to various possible reception sites. Arrange meetings with a representative from each location. Ask about pricing, special features and amenities. Inquire about sample menus if the reception site requires that you use their own catering service.
DO: Brainstorm together what you both consider to be your “ideal wedding reception.”
DO: Consider different creative places to hold your wedding reception: hall, restaurant, art gallery, museum, church, park, country club, own home or family’s home.
DO: Remember the following expenses that need to be planned and budgeted for:
DO: Think about the following catering fees:
DO: Decide as a couple whether you would like to have buffet-style or traditional plate-dinners served by the wait staff.
DO: Remember that it is less expensive to have buffet-style meal.
DO: Remember that a lunch reception is less expensive than a dinner reception.
DO: Regarding menu options, make sure that both the bride and the groom get the opportunity to sample all of the different menu options, including the appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts.
DO: Look in wedding magazines and search on-line wedding websites for photographs of various wedding reception. Figure out what flowers, decorations, colors and themes appeal to both the bride and the groom.
DO: Cut out photos from magazines or print out photos from websites of wedding reception dΘcor that you enjoy.
DO: Talk to family and friends in order to find out what DJ or band or musicians they hired for their weddings. Get recommendations from family, friends, co-workers and neighbors.
DO: Meet with at least two or three different DJs or bands. Find out what genres of music they specialize in and what types of music they feel comfortable playing.
DO: Listen to the band or musicians play one or two sample songs for you
DO: If time allows, attend one of the band’s or musician’s performances to evaluate how they would sing and play with an actual audience.
DON’T: Just select a band or musician in a hurry without listening to them perform.
DO: Go as bride and groom to wedding exhibitions and talk to and listen to various DJs, bands and musicians. Get their contact information, find out about the services provided, music specialties and fees.
DON’T: Invite friends, family, coworkers, neighbors simply because you feel obligated to invite them.
DO: Invite the people who genuinely support you two as a couple. Keep it smaller and more intimate.
DO: Plan your seating arrangement carefully.
DO: Seat family members and couples together.
DON’T: Seat strangers together.
DON’T: Seat people who don’t get along together.
Posted in Wedding Planning Tips0 Comments
Posted on 03 January 2010.
Many girls dream of someday meeting their Prince Charming and enjoying a fairy tale wedding. Destination weddings help make that dream become reality.
Let’s discuss the benefits of a destination wedding:
(1) Holding your wedding ceremony and reception in an exotic location like Europe or the Caribbean provides a special
vacation opportunity for both the bridal couple and the honored guests who attend. Getting away from the chaos and business of everyday life and flying off to an adventurous new location can make the wedding into a special one-week or two-week lovely holiday, instead of a rushed and sometimes disappointing one-day event. Brides and grooms often have to take a week off before their local wedding, scurrying around with last-minute details, which often results in having a shortened honeymoon. With a destination wedding, your honeymoon really begins the moment you arrive at your glorious destination.
(2) Imagine holding your beloved’s hand as you stroll along the ocean the evening before your wedding. Romance is in the air. Everywhere you look, you feel love and romance; a beautiful sunset, the relaxing sounds of waves on the beach, tropical birds singing in the distance. Choosing a destination wedding increases the “romance factor!” Getting married in a foreign location also provides countless opportunities for romantic, one-of-a-kind wedding photographs that will be cherished forever.
(3) Many couples spend months worrying over the wedding guest list and often feel pressure from both the bride and groom’s families to invite distant relatives or their parents’ friends, leading to a potential guest list of 200 or more people. Deciding on a special destination wedding automatically means having a smaller guest list. Distant relatives and parents’ friends and colleagues would feel less inclined to accept the invitation, due to time restrictions and financial considerations. For all of those brides and grooms wishing to have a small, intimate wedding of 20 to 50 guests, the destination wedding is the ideal choice. A lovely small wedding allows the families to have a wonderful reunion and explore the area together over the course of one or two weeks.
(4) The destination wedding is a cost-saving measure for the bridal couple. The average American couple invests about $30 000 into their wedding. A smaller destination wedding saves hundreds of dollars, as fewer guests equates to a much less expensive reception lunch or dinner. With some time and effort, engaged couples can search wedding and travel websites and consult travel companies to find some wonderful yet affordable destinations for their big day. Many foreign resorts offer excellent wedding packages, including accommodations and food, plus discounts on the accommodations for the wedding guests.
Posted in Wedding Planning Tips0 Comments
Posted on 02 January 2010.
You have finally discovered the woman that fills your heart’s desires and you are planning your romantic proposal. A man often has various questions, concerns and insecurities when it comes to presenting his girlfriend with her engagement ring.
Let’s first offer you some basic education about shopping for engagement rings. Consider the following decisions:
1) Select the metal of the ring:
2) Decide on the setting style:
3) Select the diamond shape:
4) Decide on your diamond size. Remember, quality matters more than quantity!
5) Remember the Four C’s.
Tips for selecting the special ring that girlfriend will love and making it a surprise:
1) Consider her lifestyle and her personal tastes.
2) Carefully examine the colors of the jewelry your lady wears. Does she wear platinum or white gold or yellow gold?
3) Ask your girlfriend’s mother or friends if she talked about liking a specific type or style of ring.
4) The other option is shopping for an engagement ring together with your girlfriend. Then she can show you the exact rings that she likes and you can find the style that flatters her the most.
Remember to focus on making your relationship with your girlfriend as loving, strong and mutually-fulfilling as possible so that she will be so happy to accept your wedding proposal and she will not be envious of other women’s engagement rings because she is marrying you, the man of her dreams.
Posted in Featured Articles, Wedding Planning 10115 Comments
Posted on 01 January 2010.
Planning and paying for a wedding ceremony and reception can easily become very expensive. The average American wedding costs $30,000. Many financially-conscious couples are eagerly searching for ways to reduce the tremendous wedding bills. Be comforted in knowing that there are a whole variety of techniques that couples can follow to reduce the cost of their wedding ceremony and reception.
One effective way that money-savvy couples save on their wedding is by saving money on their wedding cake. Listed below are some ideas to save on your wedding cake and wedding desserts:
(1) Telephone and visit various bakeries in your city or town, and consider expanding the geographical search to include maybe a 30 mile radius. Ask about price quotes for various styles of cakes and accompanying desserts. Record the price quotes and additional information in your wedding planner or notebook.
(2) Ask a trusted family member or friend to bake your wedding cake themselves and give it to you as their wedding present.
(3) Ask a close family member or friend to purchase the wedding cake from bakery and give it to you as their wedding present.
(4) Consider alternate desserts that are less expensive:
(5) Consider purchasing a small wedding cake for guests to eat and for you and your partner for the cake-cutting ceremony.
(6) You could purchase a non-edible cake for decorative reasons, meaning that it is a cake made of a foam cake-frame, decorated with icing, to look good for photo opportunities.
(7) Consider purchasing two smaller-sized cakes rather than one more expensive larger cake.
(8) Consider purchasing a cake with less fancy and ornate decorating.
(9) Look in local newspapers and magazines for coupons offered by bakeries for discounts on wedding cakes.
(10) Search wedding and bakery websites on-line for affordable yet beautiful wedding cakes.
(11) Attend local wedding shows for ideas about different bakeries, different cake styles, colors, designs and flavors.
(12) Some ambitious and domestic brides or grooms take cake decorating classes and actually design, bake and decorate their own wedding cake. However, special skill and extra time and pre-planning are required to bake your own cake.
(13) If having a beautiful and top-quality wedding cake is very important to you as the bride or groom, consider splurging on the wedding cake expense and cutting back finances in another area, such as musical entertainment for the reception, or the amount of alcohol being served.
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