by srqpix
Once you’re engaged, one of the first purchases you will make is your wedding invitation. The wedding invitation, in many cases, reflects the tone of the wedding. Future guests may assume your wedding will be casual, elegant or whimsical by the style of your invitation. In the past, when selecting a wedding invitation, couples went to card stores or bridal shops and searched through huge, heavy books filled with invitations. Today, however, wedding invitations are sold online and in discount stores such as Walmart.
People even choose to skip ordering professionally printed invitations and opt to design and print their wedding invitations at home. For a large wedding guest list, purchasing professionally printed invitations can be expensive. By designing your invitation on your computer and then printing your wedding invitation on your personal computer, you can save money.
Within Walmart’s Best Occasion bridal line is a group of blank bridal invitation cards. You can choose from more than ten different boarders, styles, colors, and artwork. You receive fifty invitations and fifty response cards for $19.00 in Georgia. Don’t let the low price fool you. The invitations aren’t bad looking at all. In fact, many of them are elegant wedding invitation cards.
Other stores sell do-it-yourself wedding invitations, too, such as Michaels and Office Depot. Look around at some of these invitations before your hire a professional printer. A professional printer will save you time, but the money you save on doing your invitations yourself can be put toward flowers, attendant gifts, hall rental fees, or your nest egg.
August 4th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Uncategorized, Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
by spaceodissey
Planning a wedding can be quite emotional for brides-to-be, especially for those who have been dreaming of their wedding day since childhood. No girl dreams of a disorganized wedding day; the dream is perfect, so the real wedding day must be perfect, too. Consequently, planning a wedding produces excitement, anxiety, joy, confusion, exhilaration, frustration, and giddiness in many brides. Some of these emotions can be experienced in one day or even within one hour. Here are some tips to help brides embarking on their wonderful emotional journey as they plan their weddings.
1. Secure a wedding planner. Having a wedding planner to confer with about wedding ideas decreases some of your anxiety. You won’t have to worry about some of the details because the wedding planner will take care of them for you.
2. Be flexible. Don’t be so attached to an ideal that you stress out over it when it can’t happen. For instance, if you’ve always dreamt of getting married on a yacht on the second Saturday in February, but all the yachts in your area are booked on the second Saturday, but the following Saturday date is available. Decide which is more important: the yacht or the date. Then make your plans accordingly.
3. Have a support team. Your fiancé won’t be involved with some of your wedding purchases. Invite your bridesmaids to shop with you for those items. Share your joys and frustrations with your mate and your bridesmaids. Most of your bridal attendants, especially your Maid of Honor, should be close to you anyway.
Planning a wedding is eventful and can be stressful. Hiring a wedding planner, being flexible, and having a support team will ease some of the tension. In addition to these suggestions, keep a sense of humor and enjoy yourself while your planning your dream wedding.
August 3rd, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
by paulbavol@sbcglobal.net
When I was planning my wedding, I dreamt of being wed next to a lake in the evening as spotlights illuminated the area. However, I didn’t make this a goal–it was just a fantasy. In fact, I wed in my childhood church. Today, as I visited Niagra Falls, New York, I became nostalgic for my dream wedding location as I watched a couple take wedding pictures in front of the Niagra Falls.
What a beautiful backdrop for a simply dressed newly wed couple and their similarly dressed bridal party! The groom wore a non-descript black suit, and the bride wore a floral purple, green, and black mini dress and held a small bouquet of mixed flowers in her hand. In fact, if it weren’t for the flowers and the minister clad in her white and gold ministerial robe standing nearby, it would have been difficult to discern that these were newlyweds.
As the photographer took pictures of the wedding party, I was able to talk to the minister about the couple and Niagra Falls weddings. She informed me that the photographer owned a wedding chapel in Niagra Falls, and with the permission of the Niagra Falls State Park management, they are able to perform weddings under the trees facing the falls. She went on to tell me that the couple being photographed in front of the falls had been married about ten minutes ago.
If you desire a romantic backdrop of gushing falls, raging rapids, and seagulls soaring in the sky, you should consider having a Niagra Falls wedding.
July 16th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Locations, Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
By antaresjhw
When people attend weddings, they look forward to receiving a wedding favor. Many people hold on to their trinkets for years as a special memento of the weddings they’ve attended. Listed below are some wedding favors I’ve received over the years.
1. CD. The couple created a CD of their favorite jazz tunes and gave them to guests at the reception. This is a practical wedding favor for your guests. You could make a CD of love songs or you and your mate’s favorite songs.
2. Refrigerator magnet. I’ve received variations of this wedding favor. One couple gave a magnet of themselves and their wedding date printed on it. Another couple gave out purple and gold silk flower magnets that had their names and wedding date printed on a small ribbon attached to it.
3. Bubbles. The small party favor bubbles are always a nice gift. Guests get to use the bubbles to celebrate the couple as they leave the wedding ceremony. Some people print out their names and wedding date on a file sticker and attach it to the bubble bottle. Others just put a ribbon around the neck of the bottle.
4. Candy. I’ve received candy-coated almonds wrapped in colored netting and secured with a ribbon. Also, I’ve enjoyed receiving a few Hershey’s Kisses with the words, “Here are a handful of the kisses from the new Mr. and Mrs.”
When deciding on a wedding favor, you need to decide if you want it to be something your guests can keep or something temporary, like candy. Whatever you decide, make it a token that represents you and your mate’s commitment to each other.
July 6th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Tips, Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
By david.nathan.cox
After you become engaged, one of the earliest decisions you’ll make concerns who you’ll ask to be bridesmaids or wedding attendants. Usually, being selected to join the bride and groom as they recite their vows is seen as an honor bestowed upon special family members and close friends. This is a decision you’ll want to take seriously because your choices can impact your future relationships with people.
Try not to allow others to choose your attendants for you. Ideally, the people you decide to stand up with you on your wedding day should be close to you and your future husband. You should not base your decision on other friend’s or family member’s desires. Believe it or not, some people have been coerced into including people in their wedding party whom they would not have included otherwise. Yet, with that said, I highly recommend including family members in your wedding party.
Some people expect to be included in your wedding party and will be offended if you don’t ask them to be in your wedding. Many relationships have been strained or severed because a bride-to-be didn’t ask a college friend, for instance, to join her. Sometimes you will not know about these hurt feelings until the wedding is over, and you don’t hear from your friend anymore or your friend seems distant.
Ultimately, your wedding day should be a joyous day for you and your husband. You want to be able to look back at this day without regrets, so select bridesmaids and wedding attendants whom you’ll be able to say, “I’m glad they were by my side on my wedding day.”
June 29th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Ceremony and Vows, Tips, Wedding Planning | Comments (1)
In the midst of the Valentine’s Day fury, where people are dashing through the cold streets buying cards and roses and making dinner reservations, I marvel at why we make such a big deal over this holiday. The answer I came up with is simply that it is nice. It is nice, in the middle of winter, to curl up with the one you love. It made me think about a phenomenon that I have never really understood–the winter wedding.
Being a warm weather person myself, I have never really understood why people choose to get married in the winter. I simply adore a wedding outside, amidst bountiful trees and green grass. Somehow the newness and freshness of a wedding seems oddly juxtaposed to the dormant winter. And yet, there are a surprising number of couples who simply adore the whiteness of a wedding in winter. The beauty of snow’s pure whiteness against a clear blue sky leads beautifully into a loud and boisterous and warm reception, partying the night away in celebration of a new marriage.
Perhaps the hype around Valentine’s Day and the allure of the winter wedding have something in common. When we’ve become hermits, and all but hibernated through a long and cold winter, it helps us all to have a cozy event, surrounded by love, warmth and romance. A winter wedding filled with close friends and family is like an oasis in a desert of snow.
What are your thoughts? Have any of you out there been to or had winter weddings? How did it compare to the classic June affair?
Carla Gonzalez-Hart
(photo credit: nitsrejk)
April 14th, 2009 by admin | Posted in Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
If money were no object, most of us would have elaborate affairs with all of our hearts’ desires. But, alas, many of us must compromise. While I find some things worth saving on, I find others to be non-negotiable. I am speaking about the importance of the served dinner and the appalling lack of elegance of a buffet.
No matter how experienced your caterer, by the time the last table reaches the line, some food will be cold and some will be gone. How disappointing for guests–who have taken time out of their lives, dressed in their best attire, shared in the most important moment in your life and brought you an expensive gift–at the end, to not even get a hot meal?
Meanwhile, the head table and all of the most important guests are already finishing their delicious feasts.
This brings me to my second reason–the emotional reason. A buffet inadvertently sets up a hierarchy among the guests. It makes one wonder, if you are placed at one of the last few tables, why you were invited in at all. Your guests should never feel like second-class citizens. But the process is demeaning–not to mention disruptive to conversation–even to the first few tables. Dressed to the nines, guests should feel as though they are experiencing a night of luxury. They shouldn’t be required to leave their seats, stand in line, have their plates unattractively piled with food only to walk precariously back to their seats to eat alone while they wait for their companions. It brings to mind the horror of the school cafeteria–not an image one desires during a grand affair.
I urge couples out there to please think of your guests. Show your appreciation by allowing them to relax and stay seated. Let them be served. Yes, it is more expensive to have a fleet of waiters personally bring everyone their dinner. But why should they be asked to work for their meal–and bear the wedding guest food-chain–so you can save some dollars?
If a couple finds it more important to serve pheasant and lobster than to ensure the comfort of their guests, perhaps it is time to rethink priorities. One might be surprised at how deliciously and sumptuously chicken can be prepared. Perhaps cut down your guest list, if you’re really worried about the budget. I always prefer a small, intimate wedding where every guest is accommodated than a large affair where one feels lost in a sea of anonymous faces–and is treated as such. I guarantee your guests will not remember what they ate, but they will remember how they felt.
Any thoughts?
Carla Gonzalez-Hart
(photo credit: iandoh)
April 13th, 2009 by admin | Posted in Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
All it takes is a glance back over old prom photos to feel the cringe of having succumbed to the trends of the era. Having attended my own prom on the cusp of the millennium, I regret the late nineties minimalism and the parade of simple columns that my friends and I donned.
I wish I had opted for something a bit more interesting. Those who went to their proms in the 1980s have their own set of horrific memories. Bridal fashion is much the same. It has its trends and its classics. Many a bride has looked back on her wedding pictures with “What was I thinking?” eyes.
And yet, trends persist. While high fashion pushes forward, abandoning leggings and off-the-shoulder tops in favor of early ’90s nostalgia, bridal fashion remains firmly in the ’80s–albeit, a few seasons too late. Sheer puffed sleeves, tiered skirts and huge, deeply hued shoulder and waist corsages stride down runways for Fall 2008. While I am entertained by the shows, and the dresses truly are beautiful, I wonder what these designers were thinking. Did they learn nothing from their old photo albums? A wedding is a much bigger deal than a prom. What bride wants to look back on her wedding with disgust, thinking, “Oh, my dress was SO 2008!
“But as I took in the whimsy of these creative gowns, I began to see the appeal. While most women would like their wedding photos to be timeless–as beautiful to their children and grandchildren as they were the day they were taken–there is something else at stake. There is a reason we chuckle at our ridiculous old prom dresses, rather than purely wince. They were a sign of our times, a sign of a period in our lives. While timeless wedding photos are indeed archetypal, timely wedding photos are without a doubt telling. I think it’s rather charming to look back on my prom dress as “So 2000,” because it WAS the spring of 2000.
My style was, undeniably, that of the late ’90s–just the era that signifies my high school experience. More and more, when I think about my future wedding gown, I feel I would like to embrace current trends (in a modest way, of course). After all, the stage of my life when I get married will be special, and there’s nothing wrong with remembering it for what it was.
Carla Gonzalez-Hart
(photo credit: foundphotoslj)
April 8th, 2009 by admin | Posted in Wedding Planning | Comments (0)
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