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:

• rental of reception site
• flowers
• cost of entertainment – band or DJ
• lighting and sound system
• wedding lunch or dinner

DO: Think about the following catering fees:

• cost of lunch or dinner
• cost of catering services
• cost of tables & chairs rentals
• cost of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks; decide whether or not to serve alcohol; cash bar versus open bar
• cost of desserts and appetizers

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.

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.

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:

• cupcakes
• fruit (berries, grapes, orange and kiwi slices) and cookies
• tarts
• pastries

(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.

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!