Five Things to Remember When Planning Your Wedding

    Wedding Seating Chart..

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    While planning for a wedding certainly brings a good amount of stress, it is also a fun and exciting time.  Make sure that you take care of all the details well ahead of time so that you will not be scrambling to catch up as the date of the ceremony approaches. While there are a myriad of things to do, we list below the top 5 that should take priority in your planning.

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    1. Select your Maid of Honor and Best Man (and Bridesmaid and Groomsmen). The first task is to select those who will stand up for you at the ceremony. You will want to consider family and close friends, with the roles Maid of Honor and Best Man reserved for those with whom you are closest. Talk with your fiancé and decide how many bride’s maids and groomsmen you will have. While it is common that the number of bridesmaids equals the number of groomsmen, this is not a steadfast rule. When you have decided, make sure you contact these people as soon as possible so they are able to reserve the date.
    2. Choose Wedding Bands. You will want to spend some time browsing and selecting wedding bands. While some couples choose matching bands, others simply choose the bands they like best. No right or wrong answer on this one. Choose the ring that best symbolizes the love you have for your partner and that you will cherish for a long time to come.
    3. Prepare a Guest List. Create the guest list separately to ensure that no one is left out. When finished, combine your lists and narrow it down from there to arrive at the final version. Be sure to double check to ensure you are not leaving out important people. If some of the people on your guest list live a good distance away, you want to contact them well in advance of the date to be sure they can attend.  
    4. Reserve a Wedding and Reception Venue. Many of the more popular wedding venues book early. This is why the majority of couples plan their wedding early. This is a fun activity and the choices are many. Some couples opt for a traditional church ceremony with the reception in a formal hall. Other couples opt for a garden wedding and reception. Research all your options keeping in mind the total number of guests as this will determine your space requirements.  
    5. Choose your Wedding Gown and Tuxedo. Last on this list (but certainly not least) is to choose your wedding gown and tuxedo, as well as the attire of those in your wedding party. For the bride, her wedding gown is a very special keepsake so take your time and choose the gown that best fits your style and budget. Traditionally, the bridesmaids wear the same color gown while the Maid of Honor wears a different color.  For the groom and groomsmen, tuxedo rental may be the best option and there will be a variety of styles from which to choose.  As with the bride, choose the style of tuxedo that best fits your taste, keeping in mind monetary considerations as it is customary for groomsmen to pay for the tuxedo rental.

    Ashyia Hill blogs at CreditDonkey, a credit card deals website.  She says, don’t forget to plan your honeymoon – visit her page for handy airline credit card deals to earn free flights.

    Photo source: Salicia


     

    A Wedding From the Groom’s Perspective

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    As a male who was recently married and who works in a job where I am constantly in contact with wedding related literature, I have become aware just how much the whole industry is geared towards women. The groom is to some extent marginalised in both the build up to and day of the wedding, with the main focus given to the bride. To be fair most men are happy enough with this kind of arrangement; however the result is that many grooms are unsure of exactly what is expected of them. Here are a few pointers from my personal experience that I hope will help at least a few soon to be grooms.

    Getting involved

    There are so many little jobs to take care of in the build-up to the wedding that it can become a bit daunting – especially for one person. Try your best to take as much of the stress away from your fiancé as you possibly can. My now wife became annoyed at me for taking a back seat and letting her get on with things and so demanded that I sort out the wedding invitations. After spending a few hours carefully selecting what I thought was an appropriate design and colour scheme she then took the job back off me and chose something completely different. The truth is that your fiancé knows what she wants in pretty much all areas of the wedding and is only asking for your opinion on matter so you can confirm her choice. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be supportive and I soon realised that I could help most by taking on the donkey work. So whilst she was picking the bridesmaids dresses and selecting the flowers; I was delivering the invites, collecting items from shops and getting the groomsmen to their fitting on time.

    Things I worried about

    For me the most daunting part about the whole day was the speech I had to give. Trying to remember everyone I had to mention and thank and in what order was troubling me. In the end I just settled for some prompt cards that had the names in the right order with a few bullet points. What is important to remember is that everyone is behind you and wants you to do a good job. I threw a few small jokes in there that went down well and managed to make the right people cry. But even if I had totally messed the speech up; I have since realised that it really wouldn’t have mattered too much and people would have already forgotten about it. In fact they would probably have forgotten about it before the end of the wedding meal.

    The only other aspect that I really worried about in the build up to my wedding was going on the stag-do, as some if my friends are a little wild to say the least. Fortunately I chose a really great best man who looked after me during the long-weekend in Portugal. He also handled all of the planning prior to the trip which gave me more time to focus on the wedding. Finally he was brilliant when the big day came and helped me stay calm when we were waiting at the venue for everyone to arrive. Make sure you go for a best man who you know you can rely on, rather than one that you think might be the most fun. I know people that have taken the other approach and watched the relationship deteriorate as the best man fails to take his role seriously.

    Bio:

    For any UK readers in the Yorkshire region I’d like to recommend The Secret Garden in Baildon, Shipley, where Ellen did an amazing job. I also had a great experience with Paper Themes for wedding invitations – once my wife had vetoed my design and we started from scratch.


     

    Planning for Your Wedding Day as a Couple

    When you get ready for your wedding together as a couple, you can coordinate better and make sure that slip-ups don’t occur. That apart, doing things together and motivating each other for the wedding day provides a great bonding opportunity as well. Here is a list of things you can do together to get prepare as a couple for your wedding day.

    COORDINATE WEDDING DAY PRIORITIES

    1. Discuss whom to select as your maid of honor and best man. The maid of honor and best man will have to coordinate several aspects of the wedding together; it’s necessary to select competent, dedicated and mature people who’ll get along with each other.

    2. Make a master list of everything together, and then delegate tasks to each other’s team. Coordinate with each other and tick items from the master list as you go along. When you do this, you won’t feel that you’re carrying all the weight by yourself.

    3. Don’t forget to go over signed contracts or pre-nuptial agreements just before the wedding. Clarify details with your lawyer and with each other before the D-day.

    FIGHT WEDDING JITTERS TOGETHER

    4. On the day before the wedding, make it a point to meet up or schedule a long call. Discuss your mutual love, plans for your honeymoon and the future and so on. Make your private vows to each other over phone. This will calm both of you down.

    5. Don’t talk to other people about your fears. Whenever you feel nervous, call up each other and take support from each other.

    6. Send each other notes of love, comfort and reassurance through text message service, email or through friends. This goes a long way towards mitigating wedding jitters and reinforcing the reason why you’re together.

    WORK ON YOUR DANCING SKILLS

    1. If you have two left feet, any wedding can give you the blues, much less your own. Join a dance class with your fiancé a few months before the wedding. This will help you shape up and give you the confidence you need, as well.

    2. Choose the music for your wedding according to your dancing abilities. Choosing robust tunes that your feet aren’t comfortable with will be counterproductive. Remember, the focus will be you as a couple; choose wedding songs according to your expertise level.

    3. If you’ve decided your wedding music in advance, practice couple dancing to the tunes. This extra practice will hold you in good stead when you have to dance at your wedding reception.

    COORDINATE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEOS IN ADVANCE

    1. Set the expectation with each other about the photos you’d like taken on your D-day, to prevent unpleasant surprises later on.

    2. Look over your photographer’s previous wedding albums together and select a theme beforehand.

    3. Walk your photographer together through the wedding and reception venue in advance. Make sure your photographer marks out the best sites with the right lighting and depth for couple poses. This will save time on your wedding day and spare you last minute fumbling and adjustments.

    4. Hand over a list of important family members and friends NOT to be missed in the pictures and video.

    Marina Chernyak is a Freelance writer and co-owner of a retail specialty products website with decorative vanity mirrors, corner etageres and lot more.

    Image source: Imagine Vegas


     

    Do I really have to invite that person?

    Do you feel obligated to invite certain people to your wedding, even though you really don’t like them? What about people who assume they will be invited, but you never intended to have them at the wedding? Maybe your parents have some friends you’ve never liked or you have some obnoxious distant relatives. No matter how nice a person you are, there are always some people that you just don’t like and don’t want to have at your wedding.

    But when you stroll down the aisle, when you dance at your reception, you should only be surrounded by those who make you happy. If that means not inviting the boss, or telling your mom’s best friend of 30 years she’s not going to be able ruin your day by signing in on line 21 of your wedding guestbook, so be it!

    What should you do?

    How do you tactfully go about not inviting these people, especially if they are are people who assume they’ll get an invitation? And what about those clueless idiots who you weren’t planning to invite, but they start talking to you about showing up? Have you resigned yourself to the fact that their signature will be one of the ones in your wedding guestbook – or are you going to do something about it?

    1. Let someone else be the bad guy

    Professional wedding planners often work with brides who make them the bad guy. Most don’t mind. They know it’s difficult to un-invite a guest or tell them they’re not invited without breaking down in tears. The bride has enough stress on them already without worrying about who’s going to be showing up and signing the wedding guestbook. It’s just another part of the wedding planners job to alleviate the bride’s stress level.

    2. Involve your parents:

    Some brides have to sit down with their parents and explain that their best friends, acquaintances, or neighbors aren’t going to be receiving an invitation. The mother of the bride might be disappointed, but they should stand by your decision on who you want signing in to your wedding guestbook.

    3. Tell a white lie:

    If you want to take the soft way out, you can always claim it’s just a small affair – immediate family only.

    4. Just don’t do it!

    But what if you’re having a large wedding? What if every man, woman, and child within a 100-mile radius is coming but the person who makes your skin crawl? Will you cave and look back on your wedding guestbook 20 years from now and see their name in print?

    Don’t do it. Be a bride with guts. This is your one day where everything should be about you and your groom. Your non-invited guests can nurse their wounds at home with a box of chocolates. Maybe they will even have a moment of introspection and think about why they weren’t invited.

    If anyone scolds you or tries to make you feel guilty about not inviting someone, just say, “This is my day and I really don’t want people there who I don’t feel very close to or who I really dislike.”

    Don’t worry about being a bridezilla!

    One final caveat:

    Be prepared for any backlash. You may have just made an enemy. Or that person may not talk to you again for a long time – if ever. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing!


     

    Do I Really Need a Wedding Planner?

    You’ve laid the numbers on the table and started envisioning your dream wedding. Maybe you have even looked at a few venues and browsed through bridal magazines.  However, once you start looking at prices, you may start going into a financial panic. When you begin planning your wedding and taking a look at the budget, one of the first things you may think about is where to cut costs.

    Many brides believe that they can save money by doing everything themselves. We think we can do all of the planning on our own, only to realize that the endless to-do list is overwhelming. This is where a wedding planner can come into play. These expertly trained individuals are skilled in vendors, decorations, negotiations, and ensuring that your special day goes exactly as planned.  But, is the cost of a wedding planner worth the extra help? Will it completely blow your budget?

    Before deciding to hire a wedding planner, consider the following:

    How Much Planning Time Do You Have?

    A wedding planner saves the couple time by taking over the planning tasks. Since the average couple spends over 200 hours planning their own wedding, this can be a difficult number of hours to put in, especially if you both have full time jobs. The wedding planner can save you time by researching vendors, researching venues, and even selecting dresses for you so that all you have to do is show up and try them on.

    How Much Will It Really Cost?

    Believe it or not, a wedding planner can actually save you money. Since weddings are expensive, wedding planners are trained to work within a couple’s budget and find ways to cut costs. This can include negotiating better deals with vendors, suggesting decoration alternatives, using their own industry contacts to get discounts, and even assigning DIY duties to the couple.

    Can You Handle the Stress?

    Planning a wedding is a very stressful ordeal. Often this tension affects the bride and groom in a negative way and can impact their daily lives. By hiring a wedding planner you can eliminate that stress and leave the planning to them. You simply discuss your visions and preferences, meet periodically, agree on suggestions, and sign the contracts.

    Do You Know The Drill?

    How well do you know what is involved in planning a wedding? Wedding planners are experienced in the wedding industry. Their sole purpose is to plan and host weddings. That means that they are experts in design, catering and cakes. If you find yourself at a loss during the planning process you may want to seek the advice of a professional planner. Often they can answer your questions based on their own experience.

    Who Will Oversee Everything on the Day?

    Wedding planners do much more than planning. They also coordinate everything on the day itself, making sure that everything runs smoothly. They make certain the decorations are being done correctly, ensure that the vendors show up, and they oversee the timing of the entire ceremony and reception. If something comes up that you didn’t plan for, your wedding planner is there to take care of it so you can relax and enjoy yourself.

    Even if you intend to plan everything yourself, you should consult a wedding planner to see what your options are. Some professionals offer a la carte planning packages in which you can consult them for research or just have them on site as the wedding day coordinator. Either way, make sure you have someone who you can go to for advice and a helping hand. While your mother may be the one to do that for you, a wedding planner is a great option if you need a professional who is just looking out for your own interests.

    Need some advice right now? Read some of our Wedding Planning articles in the Tips and Ideas section.