Wedding Check List, Step By Step Guide
Planning a wedding is a difficult task for both the families of the bride and groom and the bride and groom individually. There are so many preparations that must be made, and in many cases, not enough time to do it.
It’s little wonder that many resort to paying professional wedding planners to do the job for them. However, for many, that is an added expense they can’t afford or, takes away from the fun of planning the wedding. For those who need guidance concerning planning the wedding, here are some steps you will find helpful.
1. One of the most important things to do, as soon as you set the date, is to decide where you want to hold the reception. This may seem like a backward way of doing things, but the reasoning is that reception halls tend to book quickly, especially in the summer or during certain holiday seasons, such as Christmas.
In order to assure you will be able to have the reception at the place of your choice, book well in advance – sometimes you may have to plan as much as a year in advance. Of course, you will need to have a general idea of the number of guests you plan to invite, just to be certain your venue of choice is big enough.
2. If you plan to have a church wedding, your next step is to make plans for the use of the church, minister, organist, and any other church facilities you need. If you already belong to a church, this process is much easier than for those who don’t have a home church. In fact, this should probably go hand in hand with booking the reception hall, since you have to make sure the church is available at the date and time you desire. This is especially important if you are planning your wedding around a holiday season or on a Sunday afternoon.
3. Whether you’re having a band or just a disc jockey, you want to book several months in advance. Again, this will depend on the season, but during Christmas with many parties going on, they will book quickly.
4. Unless you have booked a venue that provides catering, such as a fire hall or banquet hall of a restaurant or hotel, you will also need to contract with a catering company. Even if your parents are paying for the wedding, you and your fiance should have a say in picking the menu items as long as your choices fall within the allotted budget. Alcohol is optional, and if many of the guests are underage, you may wish to eliminate it, except for the wedding toast. If costs are a factor, a cash bar is an alternative.
5. Once you have booked the reception hall and the church, many of the other preparations can go in any order you choose, since they all need to be started at about the same time. However, most brides like to begin by choosing a wedding gown and dresses for the bridal party. Both of these require one to two months’ preparation in case alterations may be necessary and in case any of the styles are sizes need to be ordered by the bridal shop. Allow enough time to ensure your final fitting and any additional alterations will be ready several days before your wedding.
6. You should order the flowers approximately two weeks in advance to allow the florist time to put the order together appropriately and have time to schedule delivery to the church and reception hall on the day of the wedding.
7. You also want to order your cake a couple of weeks before the big day – preferably even one month, depending on the policy of the bakery. In fact, some may only want a week’s notice, but check with your bakery first.
8. Finally, a few days before the wedding, confirm that everything is in place, all guests have responded, names have been provided to whomever is going to make up the place cards (if you plan to have reserved seating), the caterer is clear on the menu and whether it’s sit down or buffet style, the wedding party (male and female) has picked up their attire, and the cake will be delivered by the bakery to the venue.
Of course, your wedding trip is already planned, and though that is part of the wedding, it is not included in the wedding checklist here since many people choose to do that at a later date or it is booked separate from wedding preparations. The same holds true for house hunting, especially since many couples today either live together or already have a place of their own before the wedding.
The Perfect Wedding Guide is a useful resource that offers wedding tips, wedding checklist and everything related to weddings for you to plan a memorable celebration. http://www.theperfectweddingguide.com
Making Your Wedding Receptions Budget Friendly
Wedding receptions are normally the single biggest expense when putting together a marriage. But, with careful planning, anyone with a tight budget can find ways to make the wedding reception spectacular without needing to go into debt or causing a financial crisis for the couple or the parents.
Experts in planning wedding receptions say that the real secret to a budget friendly and beautiful reception is making sure to combine personal taste, creativity and even good old-fashioned ingenuity. Choosing a marriage theme can establish the personality of the reception and can actually make the arrangements flow more easily and less expensively.
With a good wedding theme in hand, the planning of wedding receptions can often take a turn for greater ease and money savings. Shopping at some of the big discount stores with your theme in mind can help you find some real bargains for your wedding party favors or for some of the wedding decorations. Anything you can save in those areas can be redirected to other areas of the marriage budget.
Creating beautiful environments for wedding receptions on a budget can be quite simple, according to marriage and reception planning experts. As you strive to give each element of the wedding reception, from centerpieces to personalized marriage favors, a thoughtful personal touch, you can actually save money while creating memorable aspects that will be cherished through the years. Following are a few tips from experts that can help you save money and make the event spectacular.
For either indoor or outdoor ones, flowers are an important part of creating a magical and romantic tone. One way to economize, but still enjoy the effect of flowers, is to choose from the many beautiful, realistic silk flowers that are abundantly available. One clever trick is to add silk flowers into arrangements of fresh flowers, helping to keep the floral costs down while still beautifying the reception venue. Plus, the newlyweds can use the silk flowers in their new home as a beautiful reminder of their special day.
For something unique and fun, you can create a dramatic entrance to a marriage reception by simply lining the entrance pathway with sweet-smelling rose petals. Your guests will immediately be in a jovial mood if you rent a bubble machine which will add extra fun and magic to the ambiance of the event.
Renting a reception tent is a good way to economize for marriage receptions and you can easily increase the romance factor by getting some nice sheer fabric and quality wide ribbon which you can use to drape around the perimeter of the canopy. You can also incorporate small white lights and wrap the tent supports or make a swag for the entryway that will add to the romantic feel.
Creating handmade keepsakes to give at wedding receptions is a growing trend because it helps keep costs down while having a very personal memento to share. For your bridesmaids, you can use the marriage theme colors to embellish plain white note cards. Such handmade cards with a sincere note will most likely be something your attendants will keep and treasure for years.
Mike Selvon’s portal at http://weddingspeeches.niche-education.com/ will expand your horizon on budgeting your wedding receptions. Visit us and leave a comment at our blog at http://www.mynicheportal.com/relationships/wedding/ where a free gift awaits you.
How Do You Avoid the Pressure from Wedding Planning?
There is no doubt that wedding should be one of the most important events in your life. In fact it should be as important as your birth. After the wedding you will start a new life. Understanding the importance of wedding, you, as well as all other couples, will most probably want to make the wedding as unique as possible. To this end a good planning will be very essential. You need to plan for all different items and details for your big day. You will also need to plan for the honeymoon.
Although most couples will agree that planning for a wedding is, and should be, full of fun, you still need to face a lot of pressure and stress. It is especially true when some of your ideas are different from that of your parents. And they will certainly give you a lot of “advices” which are conflicting with what you have in your mind. Some couples will lose their temper when facing these pressures. In a more extreme case, a couple may even make a decision that they will not get married. I am sure that this should be a rare case and most of us will still decide to have the dreamed wedding come true. So, how can you avoid the stress and pressure during the process of wedding planning?
As advised by most wedding planners, you have to start to plan for your big day as early as possible. You have to make sure that you can have plenty of time to plan for every item in your wedding. You may even need to allow extra time in case that there is something wrong with a particular item. For example, if it takes three weeks to print the wedding invitations, you should order them six weeks before you send them out. In case there are defects on the wedding cards, you will have enough time to have a second run. This is very important since you will only have your wedding once in your life. You should try to make sure that everything should be as perfect as possible. And the key is always having enough and even extra time.
Besides, you have to organize your planning well from the first day you start your wedding planning. You should always file the findings of all your researches in appropriate places. If you are using a computer to handle the researches, you should put the findings in different folders, according to the category of items. You will also need a checklist and a time table in order to get everything organized. What is good about a checklist is that you can easily know what tasks have not been completed. The schedule and time table is also very important. You will need to push to work faster when you are behind your schedule.
As discussed at the beginning, planning for your wedding should be full of fun. You should try not to lose your temper even when you are facing very great pressure. You have to always keep your mind peaceful and only by doing that you can solve the problems you are going to face easily. In this way you will find your wedding planning less stressful.
Jerry Leung is a wedding invitation designer. He has a great interest in Chinese Style Wedding Invitations. His works can be found from http://www.983wedding.com. His personal blog is http://www.weddingabc.net and some other wedding vendors can be found from http://in.imarry.org
Great Wedding Photography Ideas In New Orleans
If you’re getting married in New Orleans, why go with the same old wedding shots? There are so many great photography opportunities in the “Crescent City.” You just have to get out of the chapel and find the right spot. Here are some great wedding photography locations in New Orleans.
On The Mississippi Riverfront
The riverfront area of New Orleans was not always as nice to look at as it is today. This is because of a renovation project started in the 1970’s to improve it. They have since added Woldenberg Park and the Moonwalk, two great places for scenic pictures.
Woldenberg Park is a large open field where you can take your pictures on the grass with the Mississippi gently rolling in the background.
The Moonwalk is a plaza that goes along the edge of the river. In the background, you can see the calm waters of the river, the bridges and the distant shore. On the land side, there are stately historic buildings for background.
Another great riverfront spot is Spanish Plaza with its giant fountain. The fountain was a gift from Spain, and it makes a great backdrop for a picture, along with real Mississippi riverboats docked behind it.
If you really want to get out on the river, you can take the Natchez, an old Mississippi steamboat that has been preserved and offers rides. You can have your photos taken rolling down the mighty Mississippi.
Among The Great Oaks Of City Park
New Orleans City Park is also a great place for bridal pictures. City Park has beautiful historic buildings, as well as bayous, bridges and lush greenery. It is also big enough that there are lots of places to choose from. It is also known for its large, old live oak trees.
Audubon Park also provides beautiful scenery. Audubon Park is a place for bridal pictures in a totally natural setting. It also has the Audubon Zoo, Aquarium of the Americas and other great sites.
The Fabulous Architecture Of The French Quarter
The French Quarter, with its renowned architecture and truly New Orleans feel, is one of the most popular places for wedding ceremonies and pictures in the city. One of the best spots in the French Quarter is Jackson Square, the famous park where New Orleans trained its troops for the war of 1812.
Today, the park is used just for civilians, and its authentic feel and lush green vegetation make it a perfect spot. Many couples get married at the St. Louis Cathedral, a grand landmark still used for weddings, and then take their photos in Jackson Square with the Cathedral in the background.
Everywhere in the French Quarter, you will find photo opportunities. The French and Spanish architecture give the French Quarter a romantic, European feel that is great for wedding photography.
New Orleans may be one of the best cities in the world for wedding photography.
Your Big Easy pictures will be as beautiful as they day itself!
For scenic, creative wedding photography, New Orleans knows Fine Art Exposure has the photography style needed to capture the unique mood of your wedding. For wedding photos with elegant New Orleans ambiance, visit http://www.fineartexposure.com