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:

• platinum – strongest, most pure metal – more expensive
• white/yellow gold – most common for engagement rings – less expensive

2) Decide on the setting style:

• Solitaire Settings – most popular for engagement rings
• Settings with Side Stones – diamonds or gems along the sides of the ring to add more sparkle and color
• Three Stone Settings – ring carries diamond to represent the past, diamond to represent the present and diamond to represent the future

3) Select the diamond shape:

• Round
• Princess
• Emerald
• Asscher
• Marquise
• Oval
• Pear
• Radiant
• Heart
• Cushion

4) Decide on your diamond size. Remember, quality matters more than quantity!

• 0.25 carat
• 0.5 carat
• 0.75 carat
• 1.0 carat
• 1.5 carat

5) Remember the Four C’s.

• CUT
• COLOR
• CLARITY
• CARAT WEIGHT

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.

The moment that you have been waiting for has finally arrived û the love of your life has proposed marriage to you and you accepted his proposal with an enthusiastic “Yes!” Now begins the happy but at times stressful fury of activity, planning and decision-making leading up to your special wedding day. Wedding ceremony order of service? Wedding reception site? Dinner or lunch menu? Guest list? Bridal gown? Selecting attendants? Flowers? Entertainment? Honeymoon destination? Many important decisions lay ahead. Newly engaged couples, especially the bride-to-be, often feel over-whelmed with all of the dozens and dozens of significant details that demand their time and attention in order to create the perfect wedding day.

An option that more and more engaged couples are seriously considering these days is whether or not to hire a professional wedding planner to help navigate them through the uncertain and unfamiliar waters of wedding planning.
The wedding planner will offer you professional and experienced advice at each stage of your wedding planning. They are like a “wedding mentor,” as they have often planned many successful weddings and can offer their invaluable experience to you and your groom.

An organized and knowledgeable wedding planner will help you and your partner compare different possibilities regarding wedding necessities, companies and pricing. For example, the planner will meet with you and your spouse-to-be and discuss various options for reception sites, lay out the different packages and fees, and recommend various quality caterers to you. As an active participant in the “wedding industry,” the efficient wedding planner will be able to recommend several bridal bouquets for you to visit, saving you the time of having to page through the phone book or search countless bridal websites looking for your ideal dress.

A quality wedding planner can suggest to you and your groom where to find unique and top-notch wedding items, such as special wedding invitations or hard-to-find flowers. The experienced wedding planner will have a whole range of helpful contacts and be able to get answers to questions from her various colleagues in the wedding industry.
The wedding planner will be able to help financially-conscious couples track down the best deals for bridal clothing, catering services, tuxedo rentals, flowers and music.

The planner will help you as a couple manage your time and remind you when you need to make important decisions; for example, sending out invitations 6 months in advance, taking engagement photos to be included in the invitations, putting together the bridal registry, attending dress fittings.

The wedding planner can serve as a valuable resource for both the bride and groom on the wedding day. Most brides tend to feel very nervous and somewhat irritable on the morning of their wedding day, as they have envisioned the “perfect ceremony” or “perfect wedding photos” and place a lot of pressure on themselves for everything to work out without any problems. The wedding planner can act as a source of emotional support to the frenzied bride.

Congratulations to you and your partner on getting engaged! Now as bride and groom, you have the exciting responsibilities of planning the wedding of your dreams! Finances are the primary source of conflict among couples, so minimize any fighting or tension by working together to establish a realistic, well-researched and mutually-satisfying wedding budget.

First work together to create your over-all budget. What is the total amount of money that you have to work with? Is it $10,000? $20,000? $30,000? Take into consideration the following factors:

a) the amount of money the bride and groom have saved up for the wedding
b) the amount of money the bride’s parents are contributing
c) the amount of money the groom’s parents are contributing
d) the free services and/or gifts family and friends are contributing

Please consider the following expenses: (Feel free to create a spreadsheet or record information such as maximum budget, price quotes and actual costs in a special wedding planner or wedding journal):

1) WEDDING CLOTHES

a) bridal gown, shoes, lingerie, jewelry, veil/hair piece

b) groom’s clothes: tuxedo – purchase or rent?, suit?, shoes, shirt, undergarments

c) bridesmaids’ dresses
*consider 3 options
1) bridal couple pays for bridesmaids’ dresses
2) each woman pays for her own dress & shoes
3) bridal couple pays for portion and bridesmaid pays for portion of expenses

d) groomsmen clothes û rent tuxes or purchase suits, purchase shoes
*consider 2 options
1) couple pays for tux rental, shoes & extras
2) each groomsman pays for his own tux, shoes & clothes

2) WEDDING CEREMONY

a) MUSIC
i)vocalist(s)
ii)musician(s)

b) flowers

c) ceremony location rental: church, park, community centre, museum, art gallery

d) officiant/ pastor/ minister fee

3) WEDDING RECEPTION

a) rental of hall/ restaurant/ art gallery/ museum/ park/ church reception room

b) flowers

c) WEDDING LUNCH OR DINNER
-catering fees

i) cost of meal

ii) cost of catering services

iii) cost of tables & chairs rentals

iv) cost of alcohol – decide whether or not to serve alcohol

v)cost of desserts and appetizers

d) decorations

e) entertainment û DJ or band or musicians

f) lighting & sound system

4) WEDDING HONEYMOON

a) cost of hotel/ resort accommodations

b) cost of air or train travel

c) cost of meals/ food

d) cost of honeymoon travel; for excursions, dates, day trips

e) cost of honeymoon clothes

f) travel health insurance

5) OTHER EXPENSES

a) wedding planner

b) wedding planning book

c) bridal shower(s)
û does couple pay for bridal shower, or bride or groom’s friends/ family; lunch or dinner included?

d) engagement party û does couple pay for party, or bride or groom’s friends/ family

e) presents for husband & wife to give one another

f) presents to give bridesmaids, groomsmen

g) bride and groom’s wedding bands

I hope that you find these wedding planning ideas to be helpful to you and your groom as you plan your wedding budget. Feel free to print out this article and use it as a “To Do List” to guide your planning. Enjoy your journey towards becoming husband and wife!