6 Tips For Making Your Own Wedding Flower Bouquet

The key to making your own wedding flower bouquet are the three P. First you have to Plan. Then you must Prepare. Finally, Practice makes Perfect. Use these following tips in order for you to make your wedding flower bouquet arrangement a memorable experience.

1. Get tons of ideas. Flip through magazines and books. Drop by floral shops. Take pictures of the floral arrangements you see whenever you are out in public.

2. One of the best places where you can get inspiration are 5-star hotels. If you're free on a Saturday, that's the best day you can go because there are weddings set up and are about to take place there.

3. The more ideas that you have in your head, the more inspirations you have which you can incorporate into your own wedding.

4. Now that you have tons of idea in your head, go through it by not being clattered. Put all of it in place and in a single perspective. Jot it down on a notebook because it is such a waste if you lose an idea just because you are not organized. Put the flower pictures in an envelope. When you're ready to decide which arrangement you prefer, then throw the photos you won't need anymore.

5. Decide on a color. Different flowers can provide you with the colors you prefer. From roses to carnations, orchids to iris, their colors can complement the motif you are in your head. It all depends on the flowers that you choose and can afford.

6. Get help. Flowers are perishable, therefore they must be prepared, arranged and fixed when the wedding is a minute away. If you have tons of flowers, you will also be needing a lot of help.

Gather the materials you need in one box so it is easy for you to access. Make sure that you have sets of supplies which can make you and your helpers work faster and smoothly. Get clippers, floral tape, floral moss, rose strippers and ribbons. Soon enough, you are good to go.

Funny Best Man Toasts

The Wedding Toast by the Best Man has to live up to high expectations and the addition of something funny is sure to liven up the wedding. Here are ideas for some funny wedding toasts that will never fail to please:

1. Here's to the bride for choosing (Groom's name). I tried to tell her all about him and she is still brave enough to be going ahead with it.

2. Here's to the groom for displaying his good sense in choosing a wife as lovely as (Bride's name) and asking me to be his Best Man.

3. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's raise our glasses. Here's to all my friends, the groomsmen. May your glasses be always full.

4. Here's to all the lovely bridesmaids. You all looked stunning today. And now that I have made my compliment, you can thank me by leaving your phone numbers.

5. Here's to the lovely couple. May your wedding days be few and your anniversaries many.

6. To our wives and lovers . . . may they never meet!

7. Here's to the bride and the groom. May he always forget and she always forgive.

8. And before we raise a toast to the groom, one last piece of advice, always remember the three magic words: "You're right dear".

9. To the 2 secrets of a long lasting and happy marriage ...Here's to good sense of humor and a short memory!

10. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's raise our glasses to the beautiful bride. May Lord bless her with courage to tolerate her husband's snoring.

Destination Wedding Etiquette

The wedding is all set for romantic and enchanting on the isolated island, great hideaway, mountain alpines, and panoramic castles. Here is list of etiquette for proper manner and behavior on destination wedding.




The bride and groom spend a large amount of funds for the lovely wedding. It is only natural that guests give a wedding gift to help the couple to the new life. Many times, the bride and groom already have most of the wedding gifts. The couple may want cash as wedding gifts.





The wedding gift registry may subtly give the guests the ideas for the wedding gift in which the couple wishes to receive. The wedding gift registry makes it easy for the guests to figure what the couple needs. In times, the guests give duplicate wedding gifts. The couple can exchange or replace the wedding gifts.




To ask for cash as wedding gifts may be a little embarrassing. The presentation only on the wedding invitation may give the hint to the guests that the couple needs cash as wedding gift.




There are times when the couple cancels or annuls the wedding. The wedding gifts that the couple receives must be return to the guests.




Sometimes, the couple will receive gifts from out of town. That guest might send a wedding gift to the couple. So, the gift may come earlier than the wedding. The wedding gifts must only be open or use after the wedding.




For the destination wedding, the couple must give at least three months in advance to the guests. So, there is enough time for the guests to prepare for the destination wedding. Many employers like to receive vacation requests two months in advance.




The couple must make it easy for the guests to get to the destination wedding. So, the couple must help them find the accommodation and transportation. Look for group rates and discount.




The guests are expected to pay for their own accommodation and transportation. The save the date card tells the hint to the guests to pay for their own accommodation and transportation. In the card, it says the special event location.




The general rule is to invite only the guests for bridal showers who are invited to the wedding and reception. As you know, the destination wedding is smaller wedding with fifteen to twenty guests than the hundred to hundred fifty guests of traditional wedding.




However, the couple may also set up a late wedding reception after they came from destination wedding. This is for the guests who could not make to the destination wedding. Jetlag may overcome the newly husband and wife. So, the couple can set the late wedding reception two weeks after they came destination wedding.




Always greet the guests to the wedding, airport, or reception. Now, the couple may be busy. The couple can ask the bestman, groomsmen, maid of honor, and bridesmaids to greet the guests for them. Especially, the guests hardly know the destination.




Write an itinerary for the guests. So, the guests can make plans to enjoy the extra time in the destination. After all, the guests are on their vacation.




It is important to look good in the destination wedding. The couple can take an extra six hours of sleep to avoid jetlag before the wedding. The caffeine pills can also help reduce the affect of jetlag. Also, the couple must come a lot earlier to prepare for the wedding.

Roles in The Wedding

Traditionally when the first time a bride and groom marry, each family has certain identifiable wedding expenses that they each pay for. Although modern day weddings many couples pay for everything, and sometimes the expenses of a wedding split three ways. Actually, it is a matter of choice and budget concerning all.

Traditionally, the bride and her family paid for all the reception expenses, which may include food and beverage as well as renting the rooms that the reception will take place. As well, the bride's family also pays for any decorative accessories and music and flora arrangements for the wedding ceremony and the reception with the possible exception of flowers for the bride, which the groom shall purchase.

The bride buys the groom's wedding ring as well as his wedding gift from her. Her family expended for the photography, and perhaps the art of videography today, as well as the bride's gown, any bridal accessories and her trousseau. Wedding stationary, which can include the invitations and thank you notes and postage come from the bride's side. All transportation and parking expenses for the wedding and the reception as well as the hotel accommodations and gifts for the bridesmaids the bride's family furnishes as well as the bridesmaid luncheon.

The groom provides flowers for his bride as well as her engagement and wedding rings and her wedding gift from him also the costs of their marriage license and honeymoon. He shall also provide the floral accessories of all other special ladies and groomsmen of the wedding party. All special gifts, accessories and accommodations of the groomsmen in the wedding party come from the groom and his family. The officiates fee is also to be provided and also the rehearsal dinner as well. The Groom's family, like the bride's family, provide for their own clothing as well as travel and lodging expenses.

Each attending family or individual shall provide their chosen wedding gift for the newlyweds, at the wedding of the parties. As all others, presence shall provide their own traveling expenses and dressings for attending the wedding and reception. Members of the wedding party shall share in the cost of the bridal shower and bachelors party correspondingly with the exception of children, as they are also not responsible for party gifts however if their parents should care to bring one gift, this is acceptable. However, the adult members of the wedding party shall bring both a shower gift and a wedding gift for the wedding couple.

Presently, many families may graciously split the cost of the intended wedding three ways. Thus, having the bride's family pay one third, the grooms family paying one third and the bride and groom joining together to split the last third. This also provides an avenue of having the pick of one-third the whole total of guests invited to the wedding. On the other hand, there are many couples who provide for the complete wedding by creating their own savings and spending budgets.

Income for Wedding Planning

Planning a wedding had been a big headache for me. It was not just the amount of expenses I had forked out for my wedding, but also how much of my savings had depleted for this one-time mega wedding project.

If your savings for your wedding is alot, there is no need to fear. However, if your saving is limited or may not even be enough, then you ought to do something about it.

In Asian culture, man is the sole bread-winner of the house. Though time has improved, this traditional belief is still valid and holds true in Chinese families especially.

I know right now you may be thinking how you can earn more money for my wedding. Or you can be thinking what can you beside holding a full-time job. Or you can be thinking that let's use up your savings and see what happens next.

I have friends who are like earning S$2,500 per hour and I have known those who earn much more. How did they do that?

One of the ways is through stock-picking and securities trading. Trading stocks has been termed as one of the passive income generation means.

The other is Internet Marketing and it has been a buzz ever since last year. Sad to say, many people had the misconception that one can get rich overnight without the need to work hard.

It is never true. I worked 16 hours a day and generating websites like My Wedding Blog to benefit readers. In addition, I also do email consultations.

However, when I first started off, earning money has never crossed my mind. It has been a fulfillment for me to see some couples' relationships have changed for the better after reading my wedding blog. Other couples planning their weddings have emailed me thanking me how much time they have saved and how much wedding-planning pain they have been spared.

Internet Marketing has been more common than you think. The idea is not fresh. I have made friends (brides and grooms) who have their websites and are monetising them.

Some are selling wedding products while others are selling wedding services.

Some are doing really well as they bring home paychecks of at least US$5,000 a month beside their primary source of income.

Internet Marketing is another source of passive income for you.

3 others passive income sources are:

1. real estates


2. investment


3. business

Do note that passive doesn't mean no work involved. Work still has to be put in to put the passive income generation in place.

Wedding Finance... Where is Your Money?

Money is the root to all evil. Most of the time, money issue is the root to married couple's worries.

Before married, our finance matters do not overlap. I took charge of mine, she took charge of hers.

After married, we have to plan for our family. There are other issues to look into such as saving part of our salary, having joint account, saving for a new flat and for our children.

Looking at all these commitments, we seriously have to sit down and discuss our financial road map.

Wedding planning is a mega-project. It not only take up lots of energy, man-power but also lots of financial resources.

Those wedding couples who have average salaries and have been saving for a few years for their weddings, may find their bank account completely dried up by the end of their weddings.

I have shared earlier planning a wedding does not start after proposal. It comes way before proposal. I took two years to save up for my wedding before I popped the question to my wife on wedding proposal day.

I find that one needs to be financial savvy to save up for wedding. Some who had much better salary will park aside part of their money each month. Others may take up tuition and save up what they have earned. The rest who are even smarter invested what they have saved and their money pond grows bigger.

I know there are some friends of mine never got married even though they wanted to as they have no idea where their money has gone to.

If expenditure is not tracked well, there is no way to save up.

5 things we find helpful for our finance,


1. Discuss how much we are going to save per month and stick to it


2. Plan how much we need to save up


3. Plan by when we need to save up that amount


4. Plan how we can reach our goal


5. Write down the plans and goals on a piece of paper and stick somewhere we can see everyday

Wedding Entertainment

Wedding dinner has always been so routine and we kind of expect what will definitely happen at a typical wedding dinner.

No doubt, we are there to give our blessings to the wedding couples, it could be really very boring at times especially you have to sit with strangers you may not have seen before.

Dishes were dished out one after the other and we just ate and ate, avoiding conversation.

Even if relatives do get to sit together and their bond is not close, the few hours could be one of the longest in their lives.

That is why allocation of guests to every table is important and this will determine if the guests really enjoy themselves.

A typical wedding dinner goes like this:

1. Cock-tail reception


2. Wedding 1st March-in


3. Presentation of 1st dish


4. Showing of 1st video of wedding couples' childhood photos


5. Wedding 2nd March-in


6. Cake-cutting and champagne pouring


7. Showing of 2nd video of wedding couples' courtship days

I managed to type the list out in less than a minute and it only shows the many weddings that I have attended are mostly the same.

The only wedding dinner that I have enjoyed most was that of my cousin's. There was songs being sung by live singers throughout the wedding dinner.

The guests were so hyped out that they were waving hands in the air when the singers sung. It was just like a concert.

Other wedding entertainment that I could think of is playing of music by a group of musicians.

And while surfing the net, I happened to find this group of musicians who call themselves "Grace Notes"

Wedding Reception - 5 Cheap Ideas To Save Your Wedding

Contrary to popular opinion, cheap wedding reception ideas aren't necessarily synonymous to having a tasteless reception. It's your prerogative to take advantage of cheap wedding reception ideas if you want. It's your wedding so what you want matters!

1. Get a sponsor. It can be your godfather, godmother, or anyone else close to you and is wealthy enough to pay for all the expenses of your wedding reception. Keep in mind that the operative word there is "close". Close ties are necessary so you don't have to twist anyone else's arm.

2. Hold the reception at your house. This could be your last resort if you've got an absolutely embarrassing house, but if your house's great to look at and it has adequate space for your guests to mill around then why not? You can also ask your friends to pitch in for the decorations. It's similar to transforming the high school basketball court to your prom venue overnight.

3. Hold the reception at someone else's house. If you don't like how your house looks then you could always hold it in someone else's...provided that someone offers, that is. If and when you do hold your wedding reception in another person's house, make sure that you set up strict house rules for the party to prevent your guests – and yourself as well – from unwittingly abusing your friend's generosity.

4. The keyword here is rent. If you're not so poor that your friends won't pity you, but you're not so rich you can afford a full-out wedding blast then why not work with a compromise and rent everything that can be rented? No one else except you has to know that you're renting anyway. Remember: what they don't know wouldn't embarrass them!

5. Think about mass-produced stuff. Who needs unique centerpieces, flowers, and favors anyway? It's all about taste and elegance and contrary to popular opinion, mass-produced stuff – especially those coming from China – can be visually pleasing too! It just takes a longer time to find them in the marketplace, that's all.

Want to Have a Celebrity Wedding?

Weddings involve a lot of planning, creativity, and most of all…money! In the world of weddings, there are several styles to choose from. Some include casual, formal, semi-formal, destination, and beachside. Many brides have a general idea of what type of wedding that they desire and these ideas are sometimes inspired by a celebrity couple's wedding. Some brides have emulated a celebrity wedding in its entirety, while others simply borrow the look of the bride's attire—including the gown, bridal jewelry, hair, makeup, and bouquet. Having a celebrity-inspired wedding is possible even with a not-so-celebrity budget.

The first step in pulling off a celebrity-style wedding is to search popular magazines for Hollywood weddings that most inspires you. Be sure to choose a look that fits your own personal style and personality. Do not be intimidated by the diamond bridal jewelry and accessories. The average couple spends approximately $30,000 on their wedding, while the average celebrity spends hundreds of thousands of dollars. Swarovski crystals will achieve the look without ruining your budget.

After you have chosen your star studded look, the next step is to do what you do best…go shopping! Many wedding shops carry bridal gowns that are designer knock offs.
Be sure to take a picture of the wedding dress and bridal jewelry to the bridal shop. More than likely, a store clerk can help you find the look that you are trying to achieve. If you don't find what you are looking for right away, don't give up; just move on to another bridal shop.

The wonderful thing about having a celebrity-motivated wedding is that everyone gets to be a star. Most Hollywood stars have other celebrities standing up in their wedding, which means that your attendants should have designer-inspired attire as well. Your bridesmaids will love the idea of being celebrity-inspired for a day. Wearing a designer knock-off and diamond like bridal jewelry is an inexpensive way of looking like a star!

After you have selected the bridal attire for your Hollywood-inspired wedding you can move on to the other details—the cake, dinner party, decorations, etc. The best way to communicate your ideas to the florist, caterer, and wedding coordinator is to use a picture. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you have chosen pearls as an accent, it is a good idea to take your pearl bridal jewelry along with you in order to coordinate the appropriate colors. Those that are experienced in the wedding industry are perfectly capable of accommodating a celebrity-style wedding on a strict budget. Before you know it, you'll be walking down the aisle as if you were going down the red carpet.

The Perfect Homemade Wedding Favor

Creating the perfect homemade wedding favor is a great way to cut some of the cost from your wedding. Since you are making them yourself, you also have control over the finished product. This will prevent the nightmare of ordering one specific type of favor and receiving something totally different. The following are a few hints and tips to help you create the perfect wedding favor for your special day.

The Chocolate Homemade Wedding Favor

Chocolate is often used to make wedding favors. Follow these simple steps in order to create great chocolate wedding favors:

1. Pick up some chocolate from your local grocery store, or any store that sells chocolate cheap. Bags of chocolate chips will do just fine.

2. Find an arts and crafts store and pick out a candy mold that has a design suitable for a wedding. Candy molds come in many different types of designs. What you would be looking for is something that has to do with a wedding such as hearts, doves, etc.

3. The arts and crafts store should also have foil wrappers in the same section, but if they don't you can find many different kinds of foil wrappers online.

4. Once you are home, you want to place the chocolate chips that you purchased in a plastic sandwich bag, loosely seal it, and heat up the bag. In order to heat the bag you may want to place it in hot water. Be sure that no water gets into the bag. Continue heating the bag until the chocolate has melted.

5. Once the chocolate has melted, you want to cut a small hole in the corner of the sandwich bag and begin to slowly squeeze out the chocolate into the candy mold.

6. Once the mold is filled with chocolate, you place the mold in the refrigerator in order to cool.

7. Once the mold is cooled, you can pop it out and place it in the foil wrapper. Enclose the chocolate in the foil and there you have it, instant chocolate wedding favor!

Hint: Make sure that there is enough space in the refrigerator in order to store all your wedding favors until the day of the wedding. Please do not store the finished wedding favors out in the open because they will melt and all you work will be wasted.

If you are looking to save a few bucks when planning your wedding, it may be a good idea to make your own wedding favors. With some good planning and a little creativity, you can make awesome wedding favors that look just as good as the professionals.

Deciding on Your Wedding Favors

Preparing for a joyous life-time event - Wedding, could mean making tons of decisions, in a compressed time frame for some. That would also mean putting our communication and coordination skills to good practice, just to ensure that the preparation goes smoothly.

One of the things we are concerned about is Choosing Wedding Favors, a gesture of appreciation to the guests who are willing to take time to attend and shower their heartfelt blessings to us.

When deciding what kind of wedding favors to present to our valued guests, the following points may be helpful:

Pricing

Wedding planning involves proper financial planning and budgeting. Wedding favors cost can add up to a substantial amount, and needs to be worked out as soon as you start the wedding cost planning.

Choose a wedding favor that suit your budgeting size, always allow cost expansion (additional charges) for wedding favors. Wedding favors cost may be risen by the increase of guests added into your guest list in the last minute.

Theme

Decide on a theme if you are choosing to customize and personalize your wedding favors. Customization requires a longer lead time, therefore, you may need to work out a theme as soon as you have decided on a venue.

Theme can be worked around with Color Themes (pink, blue, multi-color etc) , Ambience Themes (Romantic, Exotic, Fun, Wacky, Dreamy, Zen etc), Season Themes (Winter, Autumn, Spring, Summer etc), Style Themes (Simplistic, Loud, Contemporary etc). It's your wedding, you call the shots and decide what theme you want to engage.

Types of Wedding Favors

The size of your budget will decide on the wedding favors choices. For more economical favors, you may consider using the favors provided by your venue vendor, which are normally at a minimal fee, or complimentary.

If you have larger budget size, you may decide on customized favors. There are many choices for customized favors and off-the-shelves favors.

Edible (chocolates, cookies, candies etc)
Keepsake (Magnets, plushie dolls, photo frame, albums, bookmarks etc)
Wearables (cell phone charm, pin back badge, keychains, handkie etc)
*All items can be personalized with personalized tags, or personalized packaging, if you are not ready to go into full customization service.

Seller/Buyer Relationship Management

It's preferable to work with someone whom you are comfortable with, especially when it comes to customized services. Personalization requires good quality communication between your seller and yourself to communicate effectively in order to produce the desired wedding favor of your style and requirement.

On the first appointment, you may like to establish these conditions:

Pricing (check if packaging is included in the quote or charged separately)
Additional charges (design fee, layout fee etc)
Lead time for job completion
Flexibility of additional order (this will determine your order volume, if the seller is able to produce any additional order in short time, you need not order too many excess, but to add in the order later)
Charges of additional order (clarify if design fee, layout fee is to be imposed again on repeat order)
Payment method (a 50% deposit of total invoice value is commonly required, some sellers require full payment)
Delivery method and charges
Read the terms and conditions carefully and make sure it includes a clause to your benefit of unfulfilled job order.
These are the samples of customized wedding favors. This is a set of fully customized fridge magnet, complete with a thank you note, and the magnet backing insert to hold the magnet in place.

Helpful Tips on Announcing Your Engagement and Inviting Guests to Your Wedding

The days when wedding invitations came in one size and color are long gone. Today couples invest a lot of time and effort in designing a wedding invitation that not just accomplishes the task of inviting guests to the wedding but is also a great memento.
Designing the wedding invitation and getting it printed should be one of the first items in your wedding plan. Ideally, wedding invitations should be sent out to guests at least six weeks before the wedding so that they have plenty of time to make travel arrangements. If your wedding is taking place during the holidays, send your wedding invitations out even earlier.

If you want certain relative or very important (VIP) guests to be there at your wedding ceremony and reception, you should consider sending out advance announcements so these special guests can calendar, reserve and save the date reserved for your wedding. Formal written announcements letting family and friends know you popped the question and are engaged are also a nice way to let your guests know in advance when and where you plan to get married.

There are a number of new items on the market designed just for this purpose. When you get married--they'll be sure to reserve the date on their calendars if you send them a magnet that says "This is the Day--we're getting married!" These Save the Date magnets come with mailing envelopes to make it easy for you to give them enough advance notice. There are 'save the date' magnets with
elegant, three tiered wedding cake graphics or bold, black and white magnets with intricate cut out paper doll like shaped like bride and groom that announce the date of your wedding.. A classy way to announce your engagement. There are pretty pink and white magnets pink hearts, iced wedding cakes or ones with pink roses to get their attention and decorate their refrigerator in the kitchen where many family's post and keep the family's calendar of events.

If money is no object, you can also send your friends, family and VIP guests personalize zed 'save the date' mint candies in tins decorated with beautiful, personalized labels. These wedding mints also are available in adorable designs. The mints are delicious and will be appreciated, thoughtful little gifts. Everyone buys mints at the grocery store in decorative, reusable tins. Sending these creative engagement announcements can be done before you send out the wedding invitations.

The typical format of the wedding invitation consists of the names of the bride and the groom, the invitation to the wedding, the day, time and venue of the wedding and the reception and an RSVP card and address. Within this broad format, lots of variations are possible. The names of your guests can either be written on the card itself or on the envelope. As far as possible, include the names of all the people you are inviting and avoid generalized suffixes like "and family."

The first thing that you need to decide is the tone of the wedding invitation – will it be formal or informal? A formal invitation typically starts with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith request the honor of your presence…" A more informal wedding invitation can start with something as simple as "Please join us…". You also need to decide on who is going to announce the wedding and invite the guests. Traditionally, it was the bride's parents since it was they who paid for the wedding. However, this is no longer the case. It is up to the couple to decide whether the wedding invitation should go out from one or both sets of parents or from the bride and the groom themselves.

Remember to clearly spell out the day, date and time of both the wedding and the reception in the wedding invitation. Specify the time zone if there is likely to be any scope for confusion. Also give the full address of the wedding venue and the reception venue. It is a good idea to enclose a map as well especially for out of town guests.

The RSVP card is now an integral part of most wedding invitations. This is usually a card with a simple message where the guests enter in their names and indicate whether they will be attending the wedding or not. It is the done thing to include a self-addressed and stamped envelope as well with an RSVP card. In case you decide not to enclose a separate RSVP card with your wedding invitation, just indicate by when you expect an RSVP and give them your address, email id and phone number so that they can do so in a way that is convenient to them.

Those are the essential elements in a wedding invitation. Apart from this, it is up to you to use your creativity to design a card that is truly unique. Some couples do this by including a personalized message. Others include a poem or a quote from a favorite book. You can also play around with the look and feel of the wedding invitation. There are many different materials and designs available for you to choose from. If you are having a theme wedding, it is a great idea to include some design elements in the wedding invitation that are related to the theme. After you ask a friend to be your Maid of Honor and decide who you want as your bridesmaids, you can ask them for help in addressing and sending out your engagement announcements, save the date magnets or mints and your formal wedding invitations.

How To Plan A Wedding Budget

Planning your wedding is quite a daunting task and romance can be subjected to the harsh reality of the budgeting that has to be done. This is the first and foremost step that will decide everything that is to come later. So if you are having some trouble completing this dreaded task, here are a few tips that can help.

This first step is where many falter because money is going to be a cause for all tensions and frustration if you have to ask your parents for it. If they are willing to contribute, sometimes strings can be attached. They may become unhappy about certain choices and, in the bargain, try to restrict your choices because they want to direct their money towards something which is not what you have in mind.

The planning of your wedding budget and putting everything down in black and white will help you to see the bigger picture and know how to exactly allocate the funds correctly. So if you need to start, what should be your first step?

Of course you are very excited and wish to have everything planned to perfection. So at this point, we are just trying to get a handle on how much the wedding ceremony will cost and where the reception will be. Sit down with your fiancé and try to agree on the basic details. If you specifically dreamed of having a three tiered cake for your wedding, then say so. When ideas are bounced back and forth between the two of you, there will emerge a stable ground for both of you to stand on instead of regretting anything later or having misinformation.

Now after you have at least a basic plan, meet each others parents. You can choose to have this meeting with both sets of parents together or separately. Leave out any extra people like the maid of honor or the best man if they are not going to help with the finances. The reason you must meet your parents and let them know what is on your mind is to make clear certain facts about the guests you will invite and the planning to be done. If you are paying for the wedding yourselves, it may not be possible to have 500 guests at the wedding ceremony.

Now begins the stage that you may want to opt out of, but is very, very important. Parents will each have their own dreams and hopes for their child's wedding, so there may be differences of opinions. Calmly sit down and sort everything out. Also, make sure not to offend anyone. This is a very delicate situation.

Next, start with the actual number crunching. Figure out the total amount that you are going to have to work with. Now from this figure, subtract an amount that you will need to set aside for last minute expenses.

Sit down with your fiancé and come up with what you would like to spend on the day's important features. Here are some guidelines.

· Wedding and Engagement Rings (15%)


· Wedding Dress and Veil (5%)


· Wedding Reception (Site, Ceremony and Catering) (35-37%)


· Photographer/Videographer (10%)


· DJ/Band/Entertainment (4%)


· Invitations/Stationery (4%)


· Flowers (8-10%)


· Cake (3-5%)


· Wedding Party Gifts (2%)


· Rehearsal Dinner (2%)


· Decorations (3%)


· Transport (2%)


· Tuxedos (1%)


· Pre-Wedding Parties (3%)

Yes, there is more and you have to find a way to introduce these into your budget. Things like beauty salon appointment, marriage documents, and jewelry must be accounted for. Also, don't forget expenses like alterations, dry cleaning, wedding favors, and the honeymoon.

The list can seem endless! You will have to keep adding to this as you go along. However, these figures are an average, if there is something that is important to the both of you, feel free to go ahead and allocate more for that. Start modeling your budget.

Congratulations! You should be proud, you have just done what most bride and grooms loathe, but what is most important. Planning the remainder will be fun!

Choosing a Wedding Ring

The most important task to do is to choose the wedding ring that symbolizes your love for one another. It is important that both of you engaged to do this portion.

Design of the ring

What sort of design should you go for? Modern? Classic? Contemporary? Is there a particular design which can be a token of love?

Should you go for a custom made ring or to buy it off the shelf? How much does it take to get a designer to design the ring?

Material for the ring - A diamond or a gem stone?

Should it be a diamond ring or a semi precious gem stone? Should it be made of gold, white gold or sliver? Depending on your preferences, choose the material which both of you are comfortable with. This is one important question you should both decide as it would mean eating up a substantial part of your budget. If you are opting for the 1 carat diamond, then you should know that the budget might be lesser for certain items elsewhere.

A good diamond should sparkle brilliantly than those of lesser quality. The way it is cut and how the facets reflect light would determine the quality of the diamond. Go to a merchant whom you trust or have a good reputation to buy the diamond ring.

Clarity, which is the tiny flaws in a stone that can only be seen under magnification, is one other thing to look out for. If you are looking at semi precious stone, you might want to determine the grade of the stone.

Budget

The budget should be one of the considerations which both of you should be looking at. It is not the cost of the ring that matters but rather the heart. If you cannot afford to buy a fancy ring, you might want to buy a normal ring. A simple plain design might be one that is evergreen and lasting.

One other important thing is that you should be buying the rings together. Do your homework first. Look at the magazines and keep a lookout on shops that offer discounts. It helps to do a little homework instead of hunting blindfolded. Good Luck in your wedding ring hunt!

Unique Wedding Cake Toppers - Personalize Your Wedding Cake Toppers

Today, wedding cake toppers are becoming more popular. Many couples are choosing to step away from the more traditional wedding accessories and are showing more flare and personality at their receptions. Here are a few unique wedding cake toppers that may fit into your wedding theme.

Simple

If you choose not to get to creative with you wedding topper you could choose to go with the old stand by. The tradition choice is the initial of the last name of the bride and groom, or the monochromatic bride and groom wedding cake topper. These choices have been used for years in traditional weddings. You really can't go wrong choosing either of these wedding cake toppers for your reception.

Unique

If you feel like being a bit more creative and adventurous you should try to find more of a unique cake topper. Today, more brides (and grooms) are moving away from the traditional toppers and moving towards unique wedding cake toppers. For instance, a really elegant idea would be to use a monogram topper for your cake. This type of wedding cake topper can be made from glass, or fiberglass, and sits atop your cake mounted via platform or metallic base. The first initial of the bride and groom's last name and the first initial of their first names are usually engraved into the glass. This look is absolutely gorgeous and will definitely have your guest talking.

Custom

As people continue to move away from the classic and traditional wedding cake toppers, brides and grooms are really beginning to show their personalities at the wedding receptions. Today, custom made wedding cake toppers are becoming a hot commodity. These accessories are custom made to suit the needs, and usually the personalities, of the bride and the groom. The more popular toppers are clay figurines. For example, a fun idea would be to have a figurine made that depicts the groom carrying the bride over the threshold.

Sports

If you are a sports fanatic, you are in luck. It may even be possible to order sports related wedding cake toppers. Whether you are a basketball fan or a hardcore football fan, you can show your allegiance to your team, even on your wedding day. You may be thinking that this is just a groom's thing. You may be surprised that many brides would love to have their college team represented somewhere in their reception.

Different people have different personalities, and this really shows when choosing a topper for their wedding cakes. Some choose the conservative route and will simply have an acrylic initial or a representation of the couple atop their cake. Some choose to be a bit more creative and will elect to have their topper custom made. Whatever the choice, be it simple or unique wedding cake toppers, be sure that the accessory does not over power your reception in order to keep the focus on the bride and groom.

Bridal Shower Invitation Wordings - Verses

. Here is a list of things that are normally included. Necessary items are starred:

 A cute romantic verse or quote

 *type of event - brunch, shower luncheon

 *bride and sometimes groom's names

 *day, date

 *place, address

 *hosts

 *RSVP to hostess - at phone number

 bride is registered at XXXXX

If the shower is a surprise be sure to state that clearly so the guests will get there before the bride to be. Also be sure to mention the theme if there is one, such as a garden, kitchen, bath or linen shower.

When you choose to make bridal shower invitations you have free reign over the design, color scheme and wording. Have fun, pick a verse that either matches the bride's personality, the them of the wedding and or shower.

If you are having a kitchen shower, ask each guest to bring a favorite recipe with their name on it to create a recipe book for the soon to be newlyweds. Then invitation might be worded like this:

You are invited to a kitchen shower






for Krista Hollenback



on day, date, time



please bring a favorite recipe



on the enclosed card



and a picture of yourself



to be added to a recipe/scrapbook



feel free to bring a gift for the kitchen



regrets only: to Harli at phone number

Look on line at sites that have shower invitations to get ideas for your invitation design. For a bath shower you could use clip art designs of a bath tub full of bubbles or his and hers towels hanging on a rack. For a kitchen shower a bag of groceries, a pot on a stove, a beautifully set table, or a couple in chef's hat, would all make delightful invitations. Choose the right bridal shower invitations wording - verses and you have a perfect unique invitation.

A growing trend in wedding showers is "couple showers". These parties are held for both the bride and groom and gifts are usually suitable for both. Also the guests are both male and female.

Bridal showers before wedding flowers



Loren and James are getting married



let's shower them with love



and a few gifts



Join us for a barbecue



at the home of Kay Mulligan



address



day, date, time



RSVP by date



to: Kay at phone number

There is an almost endless number of themes you might use and reflect in the invitations you can create. Are you aware that you can download free templates to use at will? Then you can import graphics and use sample invitation wording as is or adapt to suit your invitation theme.

Another popular type of shower is an around the clock shower. Each guest is given an hour or part o a day and is asked to bring a gift appropriate for that time of day. For instance 7 to 10 am may suggest a coffee maker or alarm clock while 7 pm may bring to mind a set of wine glasses or a cd by the couple's favorite artist. Such a bridal shower invitation wording - verses may be similar to this:

You are invited to an

around the clock shower

for Dominique

your time is _____

please bring a gift suitable to that

time of day

Bring Back The lLve of Your Life- How to Rekindle Lost Love

The first months of a relationship are one of the sweetest and the happiest. Attraction is still there as well as the anticipation and the excitement of being in love. But as soon as the bubble bursts and lovers fall back on earth, they will soon realize that what they have expected from the relationship is actually not there. When reality falls short of their ideals, that is when they will start to think if the relationship is the right one for them. But it's always worth it to try to rekindle lost love.

This is what usually happens for people who have stayed so long in the relationship that they have started to make it a routine. The lack of excitement and newness can result to infidelities and even break-ups. For some couples, this can happen after just a few months while others can stay together for 10 years only to separate afterwards.

In order to not face this kind of dilemma, it is important that you also nurture the relationship and bring something new into it. That way boredom can be avoided. Here are some ideas on how to rekindle lost love and bring back the passion that has been missing for some time.

Take a vacation together

A vacation together will help couples to rekindle lost love. You will not believe the wonders that a vacation can do to a relationship, no matter how short or how simple it is. The relaxed atmosphere will allow lovers to take things in perspective and bring back the spice that have brought them together before. Of course the alone time, away from people and work also does not hurt in strengthening the intimacy. Do something for fun and romantic during your vacation to rekindle lost love. Laugh. Make out. Be teenagers once again.

Talk to each other

This does not mean that you should start those heavy talks that are guaranteed to scare away anyone. After all, who wants confrontational open forums where you will be pressured to say things that you do not really want to say?

What we mean by talk here is talking in the purest sense to rekindle lost love. Just chat about anything and everything. Talk about your childhood. Tell things that you have not revealed to anyone. Share stories and experiences. Oftentimes, during the course of your talk, the major issues in the relationship will come out. That's when you resolve things and rekindle lost love.

Introduce new things

Provide the spice in your relationship to rekindle lost love. Try out new things together. This will not only enrich your lives together but will also develop your individual selves. Doing something new will also supply the excitement that can beat the routine and the boredom. New experiences also tend to bond people together as it creates memories that will not be taken away.

As much as you can, make this a habit. Plan to do a new thing every anniversary or maybe even monthly. It will be good for couples trying to rekindle lost love.

Reminisce

Another way to rekindle lost love is to go back memory lane and reminisce of the things that you have gone through in the years or months that you have been together. Visit the restaurant where you had your first date or rent the DVD of the first movie that you've seen together. This will help bring back the memories and hopefully the love that you once felt for each other.

Try Cupcake Wedding Cakes

There are a numerous amount of decisions to be made once a couple is engaged and finally has gotten around to planning the wedding. How many people are going to be invited? What are going to be the color combinations for the wedding party? The list goes on and on. One of the key decisions that needs to be made is what type of wedding cake to have. You could decide to go with the more traditional wedding cake. But why not try a unique cupcake wedding cake and make your wedding stand out from others?

Creative couples everywhere are turning to this creative cake idea in order to add a touch of flare to their receptions. This is a relatively modern idea that is gaining widespread popularity. Who would have ever thought that creating a wedding display entirely made from cupcakes would even be possible. Well, if done correctly, this idea can really turn out to be fun as well as elegant.

Creative brides are working with forward thinking bakers to create a "cake" made entirely of cupcakes. The tried-and-true birthday party standbys have zoomed in popularity in recent years, and fun new creations are being made everyday for the bride and groom. A display made entirely of individual, mini-size cakes is extremely versatile and can accommodate any theme, style, and color of wedding. Among the advantages of the cupcake wedding cake is the fact that you can choose several different flavors of cake. Some of your fist-sized cakes can be healthy, low sugar, or low fat, while others are the most decadent chocolate imaginable. You and your betrothed don't enjoy the same flavor? No problem. Have a dozen carrot, two dozen chocolate, a smattering of custard filled, and the remainder traditional white cake. The combinations are endless. Also, you can order all the cupcakes frosted in the same color, or let your imagination run wild with each cupcake a different color.

Picture the latest wedding movie you've seen. Of course there's a sight gag somewhere in the movie where someone falls into the cake, or the baker, while delivering the cake, drops it. With a cupcake creation, this scenario is all but impossible. The baker can bring all the cupcakes to the venue and assemble them right where they'll be displayed.

Finally, one of the key advantages to cupcake wedding cakes is the serving size. Because the desserts will be individually wrapped, there is no need to figure out whether you are cutting big enough pieces for you guests or not. There is no need to figure out how many layers you want and what type of cake layer filling or syrup to put on each layer. Your decisions will be extremely simplified and reduced to about three details. How many, what flavors and what type of icing? This makes life so much easier.

Romancing Technology With Your Own Wedding Website

Technology has ushered in new traditions that complement the old in their modernity. In olden times, announcement of betrothal was a very important step for any family and for establishing the couple a special status. Similarly, wedding memories were preserved in photo albums and more recently in videos too. Nowadays, we use the internet. Here are a few tips on how to create your own wedding website.

Then came along the reach of the internet into weddings when couples started to build websites to announce their weddings, having a wedding blog, and uploading pictures and information to share with their friends and loved ones as well as the world wide web.

Wedding websites are being launched every single day and they are a great way to spread the word and share your wedding memories. Many movie stars and celebrities are into it as are savvy couples who are jumping the bandwagon for a number of reasons besides just the thrill of it. With a wedding website you can add several features to your site like a blog which both of you constantly update to let people know the goings-on on a regular basis.

You can also add reception pictures and videos too. A single image says a thousand words. You can add background music to your site too to let your visitors listen to your favorite tunes while surfing your site. You can allow a person to RSVP your invites online. A single email is all that is needed.

If you have registered for gifts online, you can provide a link on your wedding website and not only can people see what you wish to receive but they can shop and send you the gifts online too! If you have a camera attached to your computer, you can upload your wedding ceremony as a live feed.

You can add many fun bits too – like a love meter to check the percentage of love, a poll, a guestbook and obviously a countdown to the days for your wedding. You can also add information for your out-of-town guests to tell them about the wedding venue as well as something about your city.

You can really stand out and make a lasting impression on people. You also have the ability to introduce yourself to distant relation that you may not know very well. It will not only make them comfortable at the actual event but also get a chance to know you and your future husband.

It is really easy and affordable even if you are using a professional builder to build your site for you. Look around for the people offering you the best price and be sure to compare it against their features. You can easily get many free templates and web sets to decorate your pages and all you need is a PC with an internet connection, a scanner to scan your photos or a webcam and some basic working knowledge of websites.

If you are a graphics pro, designing your invitation cards, thank you cards and any other printable items is very easy and for a fraction of the cost. You can have these to co-ordinate with the graphics used on your site so they look part of your signature theme as well as save you time and effort making any special graphics. Even your online web host could have many templates for making these easily and all you would need to do is add text to personalize them. You could also match these graphics with your wedding favors to really make your reception decor pop!

In conclusion, imagine sending out your paper wedding initiations with your self-designed graphics and with a link to your very own, personal website link. That is indeed a very thrilling option for you to consider seriously in this digital age.

Fantastic Wedding Planning for Perfect Celebration

What if I tell you, I got the most important things that you need? It will make you relax, from the stress may be you got before. Yes, I got what you need to know about how to plan a perfect wedding celebration. So, you can make your own wedding planning. You will learn and find out how to find a location, what kind of food & drink for the reception, hire a photographer, and flowers for the decoration.

Wow, a location that you dream about. If you want a simple wedding party, it is not using a bigger place. May be you dreamed about party at the beach or pool side? On the holiday, this two location will be crowded by their customer. So, you must consider about that too. If you choose the location out of town or too far away from your home, you must think about the accommodation. Usually, you have to make a plan for the transportation too. From pick up them until go to the location of wedding party. Of course, this idea needs extra money to spend. So, you can choose location easier than you think. Finish with location, you have to looking for the food and drink.

Yes, a delicious food for your wedding that can satisfy all your guest. But, first, you must make decision about how long your wedding party will be organized. It is taking 3 hours or may be more. For example, if you want a dance party after your wedding party, it's taking more time till midnight. So, you must spend more money to serve an extra food and drink for your guest, right? Beside the main menu, you need to think about snack. Next important thing is a photographer.

A perfect moment in your lifetime should be recorded by photo documentation and video recorder. So, it must be an unforgettable moment, and you must be wanted the best. Now a day, outdoor photographer becomes popular. Yes, background of natural forest, beautiful beach or just only background of the ancient building can make your photo look gorgeous. You have to hire the right photographer for that. Because, they have their own specialized. So, don't be confused. Before you decide, first, you can see their result. Then, how about choosing flower for your wedding decoration.

A good decoration can be done, if you choose the right one. Yes, you may choose what flower do you want for your wedding reception. It's depending on the theme and your wedding location too. A party at the beach only uses a small amount of flower than a party at the Building. The color of flower also an important things you should think about. They are coloring your whole party. It has to match up with your theme of wedding.

After all this discussion I wish that you could make the best wedding planning and make your dream come true. And I wish all the best for you.

Planning Your Wedding...While Suffocating Yourself?

Wedding planning is a big project. It could be seen as a mega project, many times bigger than the multi-million project you have ever handled in your career.

Wedding planning can be such a large scale event that it may have suffocated many brides and grooms physically, mentally, emotionally and even in terms of their relationships

I have heard from some friends who mentioned that their boy-friends specifically told them not to include them during gown-fitting as it is going to be a waste of their precious time.

Others take it much more easily and are not really bothered when they failed to get the hotels, the bridal studios or the gowns the bride wanted. They just take it easy.

Though such way of coping can be healthy by not increasing unnecessary stress, it can be quite a disturbing scene to bride who will become doubtful of the committment from the groom.

There will also be cases when the groom had to go overseas to work and leave the entire planning to the bride and only to blame her when things didn't go the way he wants to be.

The abov scenarios can happened to anyone, not just the bride. Situation can be caused by some insensitive brides too.

I remembered while I was planning my wedding, my wife was very busy with her new adjsutment to her career and she really needed the space and time to get herself familiarise with her new environment. Thus I did some of the planning and execution initially.

Later, due to my coming exams for my second degree, my wife helped me alot by taking over the coordination and planning.

Wedding-planning became a partnership between us and we definitely learnt alot from there.

We learnt about prioritising and delegating the tasks based on our strengths…my wife is more vocal and she did all the calling. I did most of the planning and coordination and sourcing out for hotels for example.

And what is really interesting, we partnered to squeeze the 2nd free helper's room from the hotel. We didn't really intend to get it and it is not a must.

However, it turned out to be fun when I strategised how to go about "demanding" from the hotel what we want because "they have screwed up somewhere else". It was really exciting to do something so dangerous together.

Planning wedding should be fun and no doubt it can be a roller-coaster ride with times the tram may even veered too far off the track. Iit should also be exciting.

In addition, what had been helpful for us is we live with the decision each other made and we didn't question why or ask for more. We know we had done our best.

So you too, can lighten the load of planning your own wedding by getting the wedding planning ebook that I have compiled for you.

How were you feeling during your wedding planning? I would love to hear from you.

Wedding Planning Can Be Stressful - Worldwide

Lately, I realise from other foreign wedding blogs that it is a worldwide trend that the wedding couple is stressful during the planning period…

According to my opinion and my experience, these are the 2 categories that I have found out.

Common concerns for bride:


1. Wondering if they have made the right choice?


2. Coping with the parents (especially the mother's expectation)


3. Coping with the stress that comes from work and planning the wedding


4. Concern of their weight and facial look


5. Concern with new adaptation to the new family

Common concerns for groom:


1. Money


2. Coping with the stress that comes from work and planning the wedding


3. Concern about relationship between wife-to-be and mother

From my planning wedding experience, thes concerns are unique to each of us because we are all unique. Sometimes, depending on couples, some are able to cope alone. Other couples cope as a pair.

My experience was I do cope alone because I have the habit of solving problems myself and I try not to let it affect my family, including my wife. Sometimes, such way of coping is not good and this is what I find out in the end. I believe that couple should be able to confide in each other, sharing the burden of the problems.

Wedding planning is about two persons, not one…

Sad to say, this is always easier to be said than to be done. Each of us has our own problems too and we always go into advising mode whenever we hear a problem. We want to solve them or at least "tell the person not to worry". Putting ourselves into the stressful person, is this what we want to hear? Not to worry? Not to think about it?

During wedding planning, though it is important to complete the weekly tasks, it is also important to take time out to destress and unwind.

Do It Your Self Wedding Planning Tips

Planning your wedding can be extremely fun and exciting but also very stressful. The key to maintaining your sanity during this wedding planning stage is to stay focused, motivated and have a great time. In this article, we'll discuss 5 proven tips that can help you avoid stress during the wedding planning phase.

1. Adhere to your budget. First of all, make sure that you not only know your budget but that you stick to it! Many brides and groom get so caught up buying wedding gizmos and extra that they end up in debt. By throwing caution to the wind, they end up in debt before they even say "I do". Therefore, always make sure that you know and adhere to your budget. Be realistic about what you can afford to spend and then don't go over that amount (even if you're tempted).

2. Don't procrastinate. As soon as you have a date in mind, start planning and taking action. This includes booking your church, choosing your attire, reception hall, florist and photographer. By staying on top of the planning phase, you can avoid procrastination induced stress.

3. Enlist assistance. Don't be afraid to delegate duties. Everyone loves weddings and your family and friends would love to assist you with your wedding planning efforts. You simply have to be willing to ask them for their assistance. The key to delegating effectively is to administer tasks to someone's skills. For instance, if you have a cousin who is a brilliant seamstress then she can assist you with the crafting of your dress or picking it out.

4. Remember romance. Don't get so caught up in the wedding planning process that you don't enjoy the romance and excitement. After all, you're marrying the partner of your dreams so make sure that you take time to enjoy them and nurture your relationship during the wedding planning process.

5. Don't sweat the small stuff. No wedding is perfect and you'll likely experience a few glitches here and there so don't worry about it. Just enjoy the planning process and trust that everything will in fact work out. After all, you'll soon be sharing your life with the one person who completes you. So, focus on that when you feel stressed.

In conclusion, planning your wedding can be fun, exciting and stressful. However, you can maintain a cool head and enjoy the process. You simply have to adhere to your budget, not procrastinate, enlist help, remember romance, and not sweat the small stuff. By doing all this, the wedding planning process will be a positive experience just like your wedding!

Planning A Wedding? Read on to Avoid Common Mistakes!

Regardless of whether your plan is to have a small or huge wedding, undoubtedly the initial planning process is extremely important. Commonly the female and her family and friends will be the most actively involved in the organizing side of things, although now days more men are participating as well. Don't be surprised if five minutes after the "I do's" are out of the way, the bride to be begins gushing out hundreds of ideas that have been brewing since she was thirteen years old! The goal is to work out together what kind of event would make your wedding a memorable event for both of you, then get out your pen and paper and start writing.

Mistakes happen, and it isn't humanly possible for a couple to plan a massive function without any hiccoughs when they have never had experience in that area. Admittedly, most errors involve something not being booked on time or followed up with booking fees on time, such as bands, hotels, caterers, priests, flowers and cars. Leaving bridesmaids dresses, the brides dress or shoes till too close to the date also often results in disaster. When you make your first list, you must include a column just for recording anything that requires bookings and confirmation so you can organize all of them before anything else. If you find your wedding is too far in advance for most services, clearly diarize when you can call to make the commitment.

Confirming every booking is very important too, and you can't just presume that because you have your name down everything will run smoothly. By paying a percentage in advance to confirm the details is a good idea, and regular phone calls every month or so is good follow up and also good for report. One bride in particular had verbal confirmation from a singer and piano player who promised to work her wedding. Having trusted this to be a booking, she arrived at the wedding to see no musician anywhere! Her mother was frantically trying to call while her father scoured the guests for a potential fill in. Unfortunately, the bride walked down the isle in silence, and although she fared well considering, it will forever play on her mind that something was really missing.

A wedding is an occasion to remember, and one mistake often made is supplying too much alcohol. If it is your style, many people like to have a few drinks at a wedding, but be aware that horror stories have come from too much alcohol. Sometimes it is best to have a plan in place where you supply a glass of champagne on arrival at the reception, followed by a glass with the toasts. You can provide one glass of wine or a beer to each person with food, then another drink with desert. When the speeches are over, the tables are cleared and everyone is ready to dance you may decide to provide an open bar for the people who choose to have a later night, but having copious amounts of free alcohol the whole time can be a bad idea.

Don't invite too many guests and stick to your agreed budget. If a relative offers to assist in paying for your wedding, don't see it as a sign to be extravagant and instead use it to pay for your existing plans. Too many couples today are starting marriage off in debt from their wedding, and when the party is over this causes a lot of stress on the relationship. Not a good way to begin marriage, and it never would have been like that in your ancestor's days. They would have saved for the wedding upfront or been lucky enough to have parents or in-laws pay for them. Now days loans and credit cards are easy to use, but you only want people at your wedding you will enjoy sharing your special day with. For those who you rarely have contact with you may want to consider sending them a DVD of the events afterwards, explaining that it was a small wedding but you still wanted to share it with them.

Another problem arising on the wedding scene is couples asking guests to only pay money in place of a gift: Many potential guests will be put out by it, and it takes the personal touch out of it. Friends and family prefer to express their love and caring for you through picking out something special you will have and use through your whole married lives, and when you ask for money everyone is individually forgotten. If you don't want a sterile or greedy undertone to your wedding, let people give gifts from their hearts, after all you are getting married to be with the one you love not to increase your bank balance!

Having a Green Wedding

So the big day is rapidly approaching, and you are racking your brain trying to think of the perfect wedding, the wedding that you have always dreamed of, but what exactly is that anymore? In reality, nobody can afford the picture perfect wedding that we dreamed of as little princesses, but that is not always financially possible. If you care about the environment and the world that you and your children will have to live in and you are looking for a creative way to celebrate your marriage on a stricter budget than you would prefer, consider the benefits of having a green wedding.

What is a green wedding? A green wedding is a wedding that takes place with the environment in mind. Large parties can be very upsetting to certain ecosystems and a lot of unnecessary waste can take place in preparation for and during wedding ceremonies, from the invitations and RSVP envelopes you send out, to the treatment that you use on the grass before your reception to keep the bugs away from the food.

There are a variety of things that you can do to help have the economically sound, environmentally friendly green wedding that you are considering, including the way you shop for rings and enjoy your post wedding ceremony food and refreshments.

As far as your apparel goes, many of those who have green weddings have dresses that are made of natural fibers, such as hemp, or else they dress something up that is already in their closet or that they can wear again. Wedding dresses are often wasted, and they tend to take up a lot of space in the garbage heap as well, so it is best that they be used more than once if they must be used at all. If you want to buy a brand new dress for your wedding, try to pick a dress that you can actually foresee having to ever wear again in the span of your life, at least.

Here are some other tips on how to save the earth bit by bit, starting with your green wedding:

*Buy antique rings or pawn shop rings; you often get a more unique product this way and you can save a lot of money in the process.

*Use biodegradable disposable cups, plates, spoons, knives, and forks at your reception. The environment and the dishwasher will both thank you, not to mention whoever pays the water bill.

*If the above option does not suit you, consider renting your dishes and eating utensils from the caterer. That way, you don't have to worry about the dishes and you don't have to worry about plastic cups and spoons up to the ears.

*Have your wedding ceremony and your wedding reception at the same location, if at all possible. This saves your guests on gas having to get back and forth between the two locations, it saves them a possible change of clothes, and it decreases the amount of pollutants in the air by decreasing the amount of driving they have to do in the name of your ceremony.

Have fun!

Why Your Wedding Might Include A Bus Party Rental

A Bus Party Rental is one of the BEST ways for you to create a memorable experience when staging a stag party, team party or even a kids party. Utilizing a Bus Party Rental can not only be lot of fun for you and your guests but a Bus Party Rental can also be one of the safest modes of transportation during an event includes alcoholic beverages.

A bus party rental will save you the worries of wondering if one of your carloads of friends is travelling with someone who's had to much to drink, and a bus party rental also ensures that no one gets lost while getting to one of your destinations. Everyone is all in one place enjoying themselves, while safely travelling under the guidance of an experienced bus party rental driver.

Forget imitation party buses, expensive limos or trying to find your own way around a city. Check in your city for a "Bus Party Rental" company that specializes in bus party rentals, almost EVERY city has one! Then, you don't just have a boring old bus charter company but the ultimate party bus! Many of them include lightshows, state-of-the-art sound systems and often times - lots of room for dancing! We've even seen bus party rentals with a dance pole for those of you that like to get a little crazy!

One of the best reasons to find a bonafide bus party rental company is that the good ones have established relationships with the top bars and nightclubs in your city, so bus party rental passengers can enjoy benefits of VIP treatment like no cover charges or long lines.

I have even used a bus party rental for a stag with 30 of my drunk friends to get into the ritziest club in Vancouver! It took some planning, but I got the bus party rental lined up 1st, then called the club 2 months in advance and instead of telling them I'd like to bring a "Stag Party" to their club(which they would have said NO WAY" to, I told them I had a group of foreign exchange students visiting our fine city and would like to bring them there.

The bus party rental company wasn't aware of this fact either and it allowed us to bring 30 guys "on a stag" into the fanciest club in our city at the time. Naturally we only lasted an hour before they figured out we weren't foreign exchange students after all, but at least we had our bus party rental waiting outside for us.

Check out the bus party rental in your town for your next special event!