Beach Wedding Reception Ideas

Not everyone is able to have their wedding on the beach, even though they might like to. If a couple is in, say, Iowa, a beach wedding might just be too much for the budget. That does not mean that the beach can not be the theme of the wedding reception, though. Here are a few tips on how to have beach wedding far from the shore.

If you want a beach theme for your reception, check to make sure that the location you have booked can accommodate it. There should not be a problem as long as you aren't planning to bring in truckloads of sand. They may even be able to help in locating some items to help with the beach theme, like colorful nets and artificial palm trees. If you have a beverage bar, it can be set up to look like the beverage bars on some beaches.

Anything you would find on a beach can be used for decoration. Ice buckets can be plastic sand pails, for instance. Large conch shells can be incorporated into centerpieces for the tables. Beach balls and inflatable sea horses can be placed around the room and suspended from the ceiling. Whatever you can imagine finding at a beach can be used.

There are great wedding favors possible with a beach theme, too. One great idea is a blue gel candle with seashells in the bottom and fish or seahorses suspended in the middle. I bit of netting tied in a bow at the top of the candle would set it off perfectly.

Another wedding favor that would be wonderful for a beach reception is a scallop shell with a picture of the couple and their names and wedding date on it. The shells can be attached to a stand that allows them to stand up nicely. By extending the front of the stand and having a slot made in it, it can also serve as a wonderful place card holder. Your guests will be enchanted by favors like these.

If your reception is to be held in the evening, everything can be geared toward a night on the beach with candles in holders to resemble tiki torches. It can be very romantic to have a full moon on a wall as though it were just coming up. The opposite wall could have a mural of the beach with moonlight glistening on the water.

The music at the wedding reception can all be beach themed music, too. For dancing, the Beach Boys would be great. When there is no dancing, there could be sound effects of the waves gently coming ashore and seagulls calling. This would all play quietly in the background, adding to the nautical effect.

Finally, though you may be too far from the beach to actually be there, you can still have your beach themed wedding reception indoors any time of year. Just use a bit of imagination and have fun with it. It will make for a fun memory in years to come.

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!

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.