Choosing Your Wedding Dress

He’s proposed and it is time to make a decision on the most important detail of every little girl’s dream: the wedding dress. Should it be sleeveless, short, long, lacey, sequined or plain? So many questions to ask yourself, although you are sure of one thing, it needs to be perfect.

As soon as the planning begins for the big day, choosing your wedding dress becomes somewhat of an urgency for most brides, who do not want to wait until the last minute. While dealing with wedding stress and preparations, be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to try on different styles and find the one who says “you”.

The theme of your wedding will be an important point when selecting that special dress. Are you getting married on the beach? If so, you might choose a light airy style. Have you decided on a formal affair? Then by all means, go all out and wear a white dress covered in silk and lace. Whatever type of occasion your wedding will be, your dress will play one of the most important roles in it!

It’s also important to think about the month and season you are getting married in. If you are having a middle of summer wedding, then you probably shouldn’t wear a wedding dress with double layers or long sleeves. After all, this is supposed to be the most memorable day of your beginning together. You don’t want the biggest memory to be how much you perspired throughout the ceremony!

When choosing a wedding dress, try on comfortable styles. Walk around in them, if kneeling is part of your ceremony, then kneel in the dress and be sure you are not going to be uncomfortable in your choice. The beauty of the dress is only half of your decision—the other half is looking beautiful, happy and elegant. You cannot look happy if you are holding your breath so seams do not pop or you’re itchy from the lace on your arms.

One mistake that a lot of brides tend to make when choosing a wedding dress is with the size. If you are planning on losing weight before your big day, do not buy a dress the size you think you may be come the wedding day. Instead buy the size you are on the day you choose the dress. It will always be easier to take a dress in if it is too big, than to add material for a dress that ended up being too small.

With the expense of weddings, some couples try and cut back by making their own flowers, having a family member bake the wedding cake or hiring a friend to take wedding photos. Although it is okay to cut back and still have your dream wedding, don’t skimp when choosing your wedding dress. If you cannot afford to hit a wedding boutique and pay their prices, try wedding consignment shops, who offer ‘like new’ dresses at an affordable price.

Whatever style, color or price range you decide on when choosing your wedding dress, remember that you are still “You” and that is who your fiancé fell in love with, not your dress, which will only add to the ambiance of your day.

After you have chosen your wedding dress hang it in the bag it comes in and do not over show it. Give guests something to look forward to as they see you for the first time walking down the aisle. And unless it is unavoidable, do not let your future husband see your dress at all before the wedding. It’s bad luck!

Guide To Hiring A Wedding Coordinator/Planner

After reading everything in this book, you may be concerned that you don’t have what it takes to plan your own wedding. Perhaps you feel that you’re too busy or that you’re just not creative enough. That’s okay.

Finding help

Wedding coordinators and planners are professionals at making your special day memorable and stress free. They know the ins and the outs of planning a wedding. And since they’re local for the most part, they also know what your city is like. They will know where the good places to have a reception are, or where the best catering can be found.

They do the work for you and come back with options for you to select from. You work together until you find something that suits the both of you. They’ll help you work within a budget, make all the calls that you need, and even remind you of things that only you can do.

They’re really a day planner for your wedding day creation.

For the busy couple that doesn’t have the time, or needs to travel a lot, a wedding coordinator or planner can provide a sense of security and ease. A good one with attend to your every need and desire in a beautiful wedding, while also relieving you of going through the motions.

Not for everyone

One of the main reasons that couples don’t always enlist wedding coordinators is that they do charge a fee for helping throughout the process. This makes sense because it is their time and their livelihood. However, if it’s an investment in your sanity, it may be well worth the extra check.

Another thing that you may want to consider before hiring someone to help you is whether or not it will make you less stressed. Those brides and grooms that enjoy planning and being in control of tings may find it hard to relinquish that to someone else. They end up calling the planner constantly, making additional plans without their knowledge, and other destructive behaviors. This is why sitting down with a few different coordinators will help you to choose one that complements your personality and your wishes.

A wedding coordinator or planner will be with you from the first step to the last, helping you navigate the details and doing the busy work. If you’re concerned that you’ll fall behind on the wedding planning, or you just want someone else to handle it, interview a few wedding planners and see if there’s someone who can help.

Cheap Candy Wedding Favors

Cheap candy wedding favors? Yes, that is what many brides want, and you may, too. You want your wedding reception to be memorable, but you are trying to be financially responsible. You want to give candy wedding favors to thank guests for helping you make your day special, but you don’t want to spend as much on the candy wedding favors as guests spend on the gifts they will give. You want a cheap price, but you don’t want to appear too cheap.

Traditional Candy Wedding Favors

Cheap candy wedding favors can be traditional, even though you get lower prices. Jordan Almonds are a traditional wedding candy. The almonds, hidden in a candy shell, are meant to represent the sweetness and bitterness every marriage experiences. The sweet candy coating is supposed to be stronger than the bitterness of the nut inside, reminding that there should be more sweetness than bitterness in marriage. You may use all white Jordan Almonds, white with a pastel that matches your wedding color scheme, or a pastel mix.

Buy Jordan Almonds in bulk, wrap them yourself, and you will have a candy wedding favor for cheap prices. The Jelly Belly store online sells 10 pounds, about 1,100 Jordan Almonds, for $72. Since most candy wedding favors offer just 6 Jordan Almonds, 10 pounds should be enough for 180 guests, making your candy price per guest about $0.40. Tulle and ribbon for wrapping the candy will add a few cents, but you should be able to keep the price of your candy wedding favor under $.50 each.

Cheap candy wedding favors can be Peach Jordan Almonds, too. These go well with a peach or orange color scheme. At Bulk Foods website, you can buy 10 pounds, about 950 of these larger almonds covered in a sweet orange shell, for $48.50. This would provide candy wedding favors for 150 guests, making your candy price per guest about $.032. With the tulle and ribbon, your candy wedding favor price will be well under $0.50 each.

Chocolate Candy Wedding Favors

Andes Crème De Menthe chocolate candies make a nice candy wedding favor for cheap prices. Bulk Foods offers these small rectangles in bright green paper. Place three mints in a small square of white tulle, and tie with a white ribbon for cheap candy wedding favors. You can get enough Andes Crème De Menthe chocolate candies for 150 guests for about $22, making your candy price per guest about $0.15. If you don’t want to make bags, you can purchase discount organza bags online for $0.19 each. You can go up to 4 or 5 mints in a dainty organza bad, and your candy wedding favor price will still be under $0.50 each.

Hershey Kisses are another possibility for cheap candy wedding favors. You can order them in bulk in all silver wrappers, place 5 in a bit of tulle, and tie with ribbon for an elegant candy wedding favor. Or choose one of the special color combinations. Hershey offers:

• Almond Kisses “traditional” candy wedding favors wrapped in gold foil
• Red/Silver Kisses in red and silver foil with love-sayings strips
• Pastel Kisses in pink, fuchsia, silver, pastel blue and green foils
• Autumn Kisses in silver, gold, brown, and red foil
• Holiday Kisses in red, green, and silver foil

Hershey kisses of any color can be wrapped in white tulle and tied with ribbon to match your color scheme. Or use cheap plastic holders, available at party stores. This will make another candy wedding favor for cheap prices.

Tips for Cheap Candy Wedding Favors

Cheap candy wedding favors, already packaged, can be found on some wedding favor websites. Cheap is, of course, a relative term, and what seems cheap to one person will not be so to another.

The best low budget way to have candy wedding favors for cheap prices is to create the favors yourself, perhaps with the help of family or bridesmaids.

Buy your candy in bulk at a wholesale store online. If your candy order totals $50 or more, shipping will usually be free.

Buy small organza bags or tulle and ribbon at a discount wedding favor website. Choose colors according to your wedding color scheme and the candy color or wrapper.

Create your candy wedding favors 2 weeks before the wedding, and store them in a cool, clean place.

Elegant Silver Wedding Frame Favors

The time you spend planning your wedding can be very exciting. It can also be frustrating if you are trying to find just the right wedding favors. You are probably looking for something elegant and simple, yet not too expensive. You do not want edible favors, or something that will be gone in a month. You want to say thank you to those who attend with a favor that will become a memento of your wedding.

Wedding Frames Favors

Wedding frames favors have a long history. They also come in a wide assortment of styles and colors. The most elegant wedding frames favors are silver in color. They may be silver-colored metal, chrome, silver plate, or sterling silver. Silver resin is an inexpensive way to have elegant silver wedding frame favors without the cost. Even pewter has enough of a silver tone to be elegant. Whatever the metal, there are elegant silver wedding frames favors to fit most brides’ budgets.

Wedding frame favors are a lovely way to greet your guests, and may be used on tables to hold a small photo of the bride and groom or a placecard that will guide guests to their seats.

Styles

You will find a wedding frame favor to go with almost any wedding theme. Even limiting your choices to those available in silver, silver color or pewter leaves a wealth of choices. Most will hold a 2.5” x 2.5” or larger photo or card. Blank placecards are usually included.

Traditional Silver Wedding Frame Favors

If your theme is a traditional romantic or nostalgic theme, you can find wedding frame favors such as the following six.

• Simple square or rectangular wedding frame favors in silver. The simplicity of a plain silver frame is often engraved with the bride and groom’s names and the wedding date.
• Heart wedding frame favors may have 3 or more hearts in relief, setting off the photo or placecard and conveying a silent message of love.
• Rectangular wedding frames favors sized 3” x 4” hold a 2” x 3” photo or card. These frames come in a variety of silver designs. On one end of the choices are wedding frame favors bordered with nostalgic flowers, hearts, or scrolls. At the other end are silver frames with sleek bamboo lines or the appearance of twisted silver ribbon, etc.
• Cinderella style wedding frame favors feature a silver pumpkin coach pulled by sleek silver horses. Others make a frame of the entire coach, with your photos looking out from the coach.
• “Love and Marriage” silver wedding frame favors have a silver “love horse” pulling the “marriage carriage” frame.
• Some silver wedding frame favors are shaped like double wedding bells or twin hearts, highlighted by an oval photo opening.

Non-traditional Silver Wedding Frame Favors

Non-traditional silver wedding frame favors fit weddings that carry a less traditional theme. Similar in size and shape to the above wedding frame favors, the non-traditional themes are represented by these examples.

• Your western wedding theme can be expressed with western wedding frame favors. Rectangular frames often feature cowboy boots, cowboy hats, horseshoes, and lariats.
• For a beach or nautical theme, you might choose silver wedding frame favors with a lighthouse in relief, or seashells at one corner.
• A garden theme can be enhanced by wedding frame favors with a twined border of calla lilies and leaves.
• If you plan a medieval wedding, you can purchase silver wedding frame favors centered in a turreted castle, a knight in shining armor at one corner.
• An Irish themed wedding might use wedding frame favors bearing an Irish shamrock or claddagh.

Cost

Silver wedding frame favors come in a wide range of prices, dependent on the material used. Pure silver and sterling silver are at the top of the price range, followed by silverplate and chrome. Silver resin is at the low end. Prices per frame can range from about $1 to $7 or more.

Many elegant silver wedding frame favors are available in the mid-range. To give each guest a beautiful silverplate frame with glass insert and black velvet backing, you will want to budget about $2.50 each. Optional costs include engraving and gift wrapping.

Traditional or non-traditional, costly or inexpensive, you can enhance your wedding theme with elegant silver wedding frame favors.

Tips For Wedding Scrapbooking

Your wedding is meant to be one of the most memorable days of your life and wedding scrapbooking is a unique way of capturing those memories. The beauty of wedding scrapbooking is that there is such a wide choice of embellishments and other items that you can use to enhance your scrapbooking project. However, it is also worth considering all of the other bits and pieces that can be used from the big day itself. A wedding invitation, preserved flower from the bride’s bouquet and groom’s buttonhole are just some of the ideas that you can include in your wedding scrapbooking album. Instead of having a keepsake box with these items all mixed up and probably getting damaged they make a wonderful addition to the scrapbooking album and will be preserved for years to come.

Digital cameras are so popular now and this makes a wedding scrapbooking project easier, and harder! If you send out a request for all wedding guests to send you their photographs you may well be inundated with pictures to sift through for your wedding scrapbooking album but at least you will have plenty of choice. The solution for most wedding scrapbooking pages is to keep them as clutter-free as possible. The idea is to have only the key elements in the journaling to enable viewers to simply enjoy the atmosphere of the wedding scrapbooking pictures. A picture of the newlyweds need only have a few words with their names, date, and location of wedding stated on the main wedding scrapbooking page. It is easy to be overenthusiastic and purchase every wedding scrapbooking related embellishment that is available but this will only create a confusion of unnecessary items and detract from the beauty of the moment and possibly ruin your wedding scrapbooking album.

The reception is going to be the major source of pictures for the wedding scrapbooking pages and you need to be careful exactly how people are portrayed. It is worth having a lot of pictures from early on to choose from. Other aspects that can be included in the wedding scrapbooking project are a copy of the father of the bride’s speech, the cover design from the couple’s first dance song or anything else that you fancy.

The beauty of modern wedding scrapbooking is that you can alter pictures if necessary using computer software. Obviously you can crop pictures to suit but you can also change the background if it was a particularly grey day outside or remove red-eye from indoor shots to ensure that your wedding scrapbooking photographs are enhanced to their best possible extent.

Wedding Guest Book Activities

Traditional brides don’t have to have traditional guest books. Certainly you can purchase a standard guest book and ask your guests to sign it, but there are so many more guest book-like activities that are more unique.

Let’s move from the popular to the less well known. One very popular option allows guests to sign a picture of the bride and groom. Simply take a picture of the bride and groom and have it matted in a mat several inches larger than the photo itself. Place a frame around this, but don’t include the glass or Plexiglas frame. You’ll add this later. Some people prefer to use “bulldog” clips to keep the mat together instead of putting the picture in the frame. The picture can be framed after the wedding.

Most couples choose a nice photo of themselves for this picture/guestbook option, although if there’s a formal engagement photo, this is an excellent way to preserve that photo and show it off to friends and family. If photos are taken before the wedding with the bride and groom in their wedding attire, you can certainly use this photo. Many couples opt to either leave the mat empty or they place a temporary picture in the mat and add a wedding picture later.

Be sure to have a nice Sharpie marker handy and place the picture on either a sturdy easel or on a table where guests are sure to see it.

Another option is instead of providing a picture of the bride and groom to sign, the guests are provided with a picture of themselves! Simply provide a Polaroid camera and assign someone the job of taking pictures of the guests as they arrive at the reception. Once the picture is dry, provide a Sharpie and they can sign the picture, make a note to the bride and groom or hand draw a silly picture. It can be whatever the guest wants it to be. This is a unique, and personal, way for guests to “sign in” at the wedding.

Whoever handles the taking of the pictures should also handle putting them in an album of some sort. A scrap booker might provide a special memory book with the Polaroid pictures in it, or the pictures can simply be placed in a nice album and presented later to the bride and groom.

Many guests don’t give a great deal of thought to the guest book. They whiz by the guest book table more concerned with getting their cocktail and hitting the dance floor. If this is a concern, provide a “traveling” guest book. Send each guest something either to sign or decorate before the wedding.

In this “traveling” guest book scenario, there are several options. One of the easiest is to send each guest a small piece of paper and ask them to write something meaningful or thoughtful for the bride and groom on it. The pieces of paper are returned prior to the wedding (to ensure a better response, provide a self-addressed stamped envelope with the paper) and can be compiled in some meaningful way for the bride and groom and presented to them on their wedding day.

If the guest list is a creative or particularly close group, there is one other option that is even more meaningful. Again, in a scrapbook fashion, send each guest a piece of paper to sign or decorate. The paper should be the size of a photo album, so it might be a 6 x 6 piece of paper, an 8 x 8 piece of paper, or even 12 x 12, if the guests are up to that larger size.

In a letter that arrives with the paper, the guests are instructed to create a memory page for the bride and groom. They might include photos, quotes, little anecdotal stories, or combine all of these with stickers or embellishments. It’s thoughtful, meaningful and personal and it’s an excellent way to include guests who might not be able to attend the wedding, but would still like to be a part of it.

Your Wedding Theme

Whether it’s a traditional, formal or off-the-beaten-track wedding, you’re putting the whole event together yourself by planning its every phase. These days, with so much available on the Internet, it’s easy! All you need is some time and a clear idea of the feeling you want to get across.

Start with a theme and you’ll have a coherent image you can use throughout the entire wedding. You may be surprised, in fact, how potent just a word or concept can be, once applied as your marriage theme.

Love angels, for example? What could be more perfect than finding ways to incorporate angels in every phase of your wedding?

From the flowers to the guest favors to the vows, you can find a way to carry out the theme through the entire event. Is it to be a casual wedding of two Renaissance types? The Renaissance theme is compatible with the wedding ritual, and makes for an unforgettable event.

Getting married on February the fourteenth? Hearts and flowers are perhaps the most traditional and best beloved of all wedding themes!

When you’re planning your wedding, save time to choose the music with care. Get together with whoever is providing the music and talk about the right pieces for the two of you. There is nothing that sets the tone like music, and your wedding music will live in your memories for the rest of your lives.

The rings, the vows, the wardrobe…all the choices you must make to create an intimately personal expression of your love, are made so much easier by following a theme. But the idea behind it all is what counts.

You can choose one word to describe the spirit you wish to be your wedding, as if the coming together of two hearts creates a separate entity with one quality.

Is it joy? Is it contentment? Is it a giddy, bubbly, mirthful adoration? Pick a word or a phrase and keep it in mind. It’ll tie everything together and make the experience more perfect. And your wedding theme can become a foundation throughout your marriage.

For your wedding.

For each other.

For your life.

Buying Wedding Cakes: Tips And Helpful Advice

Generally, wedding cakes are is the conventional cake being dished up to the guests at the breakfast after the wedding. It is characterized as a huge cake, different from the usual cakes we have on ordinary occasions. In most cases, wedding cakes are layered or multi-layered and are heftily decorated with icing, beads, and other embellishments that would reflect the grandiose of the event. On the top is a small image of a bride and groom.

Wedding cakes can go from the simplest to the most complex decorations; each has its own artistic distinctions depending on the creative juices of the baker. They should conform to the main purpose of the cake, that whatever embellishments it possess, it can still be edible and can be eaten.

Because the wedding cake is such an important part in the wedding celebration, here are some tips you need to know in case you will be buying a wedding cake in the future.

1. Check on the length of time required for you in ordering your wedding cake.
   

   Time is such an important factor when making wedding plans. Of course, you would not want your wedding be hurriedly done or rushed. Because the wedding cake is a part of the wedding plan, it is important to devote an appropriate time in ordering wedding cakes.

   It is best to ask your favorite bakeshop on the time frame that they usually give with regards to wedding cake so that you can make early orders if it will take such a long time to create your wedding cake. In this way, you will not be in a hurry coming up with a wedding cake to be served on your wedding day.

2. Verify the details of the cake and its cost.
   

   A lot of couples are so fascinated with the luscious treats that go with their wedding cake. What they do not know is that each embellishment and every twists and turns embedded in the cake has a price.

   Therefore, it would be better to clear it out with your baker how much will be the cost of every decoration are added features you wish to add on your wedding cake.

3. Tell your baker about the details of your wedding.
   

   In today’s modern world, weddings are not just done in the church. A lot of ideas had come up in terms of wedding venues. Therefore, if ever you have any plans of having your wedding by the beach or anywhere else where it is open, it would be better to inform your baker about this.

   In most cases, icings are vulnerable to environmental hazards. So, if the baker knows that your wedding will be a garden wedding or a wedding by the beach, he could make such arrangements with your cake in order to endure the environmental conditions where it will be placed.

4. In a budget? Why not decorate your own wedding cake.
   

   It is not so uncommon nowadays to find somebody decorating his or her own wedding cake. In fact, it is a feasible idea especially to those who have a very tight budget.

   All you have to do is to order a plain wedding cake and buy the decorations from the retail stores.

So, set aside some special decisive moment when it comes to your wedding cake because there would be no better way to glamorize your wedding than to have a perfectly made wedding cake.

A Wedding Flower Guide

When it comes to choosing wedding flowers, many brides may know the wedding flower they want in their own bouquet, but are a little mystified about the rest of the wedding flowers needed to fill out the ceremony and reception.

While you can leave all your wedding flower selections in the hands of a capable professional florist and get great results, you may want to take a more hands on approach. We hope this wedding flower guide will help making planning your most special day just a little easier.

Your first decision should be whether you plan to use a professional florist to create a wedding flower arrangement and bouquets, or if you’d rather visit a wholesale wedding flower retailer and order flowers to make your own bridal bouquets, boutonnieres and so forth.

If you are the creative type, a simple floral craft book will give you all the tips and tool lists necessary to create your own custom wedding flowers that reflect your personal style. It’s a good idea to purchase some flowers to practice with ahead of time to make sure you’ll be happy with your results. Whatever you decide, there are some standard traditions and suggestions to help make sure you’ve covered all your wedding flower needs.

Wedding Flower Guide

Wedding flowers for the church would include:

• Altar wedding flower arrangements
• Pew markers/decorations

Wedding flowers for the reception would include:

• Wedding flower arrangement for the bridal table.
• Table centerpieces
• Buffet table decorations

Wedding flowers for the bridal party would include:

• Bridal bouquet
• Small Bridal bouquet to toss
• Groom’s boutonniere
• Maid/Matron of Honor bouquet
• Bridesmaid bouquets
• Best Man boutonniere
• Groomsman boutonnieres
• Flower Girl bouquet or petal basket
• Mother of the Bride/Groom corsages
• Father of the Bride/Groom boutonnieres
• Step-parent corsages/boutonnieres
• Grandparent corsages/boutonnieres

A Few Extra Wedding Flower Tips

• Maid/Matron of Honor wedding bouquets should be slightly more elaborate or in a different color shade than the rest of the bridesmaid wedding bouquets.
• The Best Man boutonniere should be slightly more elaborate than the rest of the groomsmen boutonnieres.
• The corsages/boutonnieres for the parents should differ slightly from the step-parents, and all grandparent corsages/boutonnieres should be different as well. It makes it easier for guests to keep track of who’s who.
• Wedding flower arrangements from the church can be transferred to the reception hall for double duty.
• Bridesmaid wedding bouquets could be set in waiting vases and used as decoration for the bridal table.

Remember, these are just wedding flower guidelines. When it comes to your special day, your wedding flower selections and arrangements should reflect your personal taste and style. You can keep things simple or get as elaborate as you like, as long as your wedding flowers help you create the perfectly romantic wedding day you’ve always dreamed of.

Buying the Perfect Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations are one of the most important considerations that the bride and groom must make. Wedding invitations give guests all of the information they need in order to make plans to attend the wedding. Without these, there will be no guests.

There are several places to purchase wedding invitations. Many other wedding vendors will also sell wedding invitations as a courtesy to their customers. This may sound appealing because it is one-stop shopping, but it may cost a lot more than the bride and groom have budgeted. Instead, the bride and groom should look through the invitation books and choose what they feel is right for them. Then, they should take that knowledge and look on the Internet for the same wedding invitations or something comparable. These will likely be much less expensive for the exact same product.

When purchasing wedding invitations online, it is essential that the bride and groom have their wedding invitation wording decided and spelled correctly. Examples of popular wedding invitation wording are available on most web sites that sell wedding invitations. The bride and groom may choose one of these or write their own. Either way, it is important for the bride and groom to make sure that all of the information is correct and spelled correctly. The bride and groom should choose wedding invitations that convey the theme of their wedding whether it is simple colours or a beach theme wedding. This will give guests an idea of how formal the occasion will be and how to dress appropriately.

It is customary to send out the wedding invitations roughly six to eight weeks prior to the wedding. This is early enough to give guests that chance to save the date for the wedding, but also to give the guests time to respond and the bride and groom the time to finish their planning. They must set a date for the guests to respond by in order to have a complete headcount for their wedding.

The bride and groom will need to decide whether or not to include the reply information on the wedding invitations or to include a reply card with the invitation. These are all important considerations when purchasing the wedding invitations online.

These wedding invitations will give all of the guests the information they need to attend the wedding. This makes it imperative that the bride and groom give this aspect of their wedding planning the necessary attention. Luckily, it is one of the easier planning tasks, but must be done correctly.

Purchasing wedding invitations online is a wonderful way to save money while still sending guests the same quality invitations that can be purchased through other vendors. Wedding planning is stressful but fun, and the wedding invitations are no exception!

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