Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Planning A Wedding On Short Notice
There are many reasons a couple can wind up planning a wedding on short notice. Some couples decide that they simply want to get married and who wants to wait a long time? Others may have changed their mind about wedding planning and this type of wedding may be their "Plan B." Or this could be a second marriage or a civil ceremony where the wedding planned is going to be a small occasion. Fortunately, no matter your reason: you can always have a beautiful wedding day you'll remember forever.
Get Organized - The most important thing to keep in mind to planning your wedding on short notice is to get (and stay) organized. Have everything about your wedding in one handy binder and know exactly where that binder is at all times. Keep all charges for the wedding on one credit card if at all possible. Save all of your receipts from the wedding. Write everything down that pertains to the wedding. This will save you a lot of time and stress.
Be Flexible - When you are planning a wedding on short notice, you admittedly have to be a bit flexible about some details that other brides might be more stubborn about. Things like your location, types of flowers and the type of wedding dress you wear. Typical wedding dress alterations can take a minimum of six months. If your wedding is being planned in six weeks, you are definitely buying a dress off the rack and having it altered only once. The location for your wedding may not be exactly what you desire -- but it can certainly have many of the key elements that you want. Make a list of the qualities that you want (for a dress, location, flowers, etc.) and think about what is the most important. This will help you really make up your mind when it comes to making a selection.
Stick to Your Budget - Some brides and grooms are very tempted to go off budget, and this is very much the case with a wedding planned on short notice. Some vendors may complain about the short notice and will press rush fees on you. Others may simply hint that you aren't the typical couple. Remember that these vendors are providing you with a service and that if someone presses you too hard for extra coin and you feel it is unfair, you always have the option to walk away. But be reasonable: if you are asking someone to create a custom-designed wedding cake with two weeks notice, it might not be inappropriate to ask for a rush fee.
Ask for Help - What is that old saying: two heads are better than one? Well many more heads can often be better still when planning a wedding on short notice! Try to delegate some of your wedding planning to your family and friends. Don't overload your loved ones with lots to do, give them tasks that are clearly outlined and don't stress the small stuff: if your mother-in-law orders peach napkins instead of pale pink no one is really going to notice. Think of tasks that would suit the people you are giving them to. If your dad is an excellent negotiator, then putting him in charge of finding the reception hall could be a great choice. Or asking your mom to be in charge of the bridesmaids' logistics for the day of the wedding. Remember to say "thank you" and -- even better -- get everyone a nice little gift from your honeymoon trip to express your gratitude.
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Labels: wedding planning
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
5 Games for your Bachelorette Party, Hen Night or Wedding Shower
If you are a maid of honour or a bridesmaid planning a hen night (as we call it here in the UK) or a Bachelorette Party (as it is known in the US) you may want to play a few games to liven things up a bit or just to break the ice. After all, not everyone may know each other and it is good to have a focus to the event..
The Bachelorette party or hen night is a time when the bride can get together with her friends and family members, receive gifts and have fun before the wedding. Not
If you are stuck for ideas here are some suggestions to help you.
(1)
Don't Say The WordThis is a great ice breaking game. As people arrive give them 10 small objects (e.g. coins). Tell them they are not allowed to say a certain word the whole evening e.g. 'wedding' or 'bride'! You can probably imagine just how difficult this could be at wedding shower or hen party! Every time someone says the word, they have to give a coin to the person they were speaking to, and there is a prize for the person with most coins at the end of the evening. Then everyone can shout, 'One ... two ... three ... WEDDING!' or 'One ... two ... three ... BRIDE!'
(2)
Wedding Dress GameThis is a fun game that doesn't need much preparation. Divide the guests up into teams and give each team a roll of toilet paper. Each team must choose a "bride" and make her a wedding dress out of the toilet paper. They can use accesssories and jewellery but no clothing items. The bride does not play but she gets to pick the winner and take some photographs.
(3)
Guess the Answer / Bride and Groom Trivia
Before the event, email or phone the groom and ask him a few questions about himself and the bride to be. These could include things like "what do you like best about your bride to be?", "where did you meet the first time?", "what is your ideal romantic date?" "how many girlfriends have you had?". The questions can be as varied or as intimate as you want them to be, depending on who the audience will be! Once you have all the questions and answers you should ask the bride to answer the same questions in front of everyone to see how well she knows her groom!
(4)
Name Game:
All the guests have to come up with as many different words as they can from the scrambled letters of the names of both the bride and the groom. You could also give a prize to the guest who manages to make the longest word.
(5)
Celebrity Couples CharadesPrepare some cards with the name of a celebrity couple on each one. The guests separate into two or more groups and each of the groups takes it in turn to select a card and then act out the names of the couple as a charade without speaking.
If the bride is planning a theme for her wedding you may also want to adapt the games to suit this and create a theme at the wedding shower/ Bachelorette Party or Hen Night .
You probably only need two or three of these games and they should hopefully make your night more memorable and lots of fun.
Labels: hen night, wedding shower
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wedding Church Decoration Tips
Are you getting married in a Church? Have you been looking for some Church Decoration Tips? If so, read on for some ideas
The type of decorations for your church wedding will depend on the location of your wedding, the time of year that you are getting married and the theme of your wedding if you are having a theme. Here are a few wedding church decoration tips for those of you going for a traditional wedding.
Flowers are one of the things that you need to think about first - a wedding would look very dull without them! as well as being important for decoration of the church, flowers are also a big feature in all of the different locations and stages of the wedding.
You could even create a colour theme to your wedding just by co-ordinating all of the flowers, including your own bouquet, the bridesmaid bouquets, the corsages worn by the mother of the bride and mother of the groom as well as the buttonhole flowers of the groom and his best man and ushers.
Usually in at a church wedding there are flowers at the altar, in the lobby and along the aisle on the ends of the rows of seats. You probably also want to have flowers on the tables at your wedding reception and you may want to use similar colours or types of flowers to the ones you used to decorate the church.
The flowers that you decide on will depend on all sorts of things including the colours and the style of your wedding dress, the bridesmaid's dresses, the type of rooms that you are using, and also the time of year. You can reduce the cost of your wedding flowers by using flowers that are in season at the time of year of your wedding. Your florist will be able to advise you of this and show you photos and examples of flowers.
Unless you have had some experience of flower arrangement you probably will not want to arrange the flowers yourself. This is one of these last-minute tasks and even if you do have flower arrangement skills you will no doubt have so much do on the morning of your wedding.
Some florists may set the arrangements up for you without extra cost if you order all of the flowers from them. Alternatively you could have a friend do it or perhaps find someone through the church that you are getting married in.
Another way to decorate the church is with candles. The church will probably already have standard candles and candleholders that they can supply but you may want to supply your own to make them more individual. Be sure to speak to the minister or priest about doing this first.
Just looking through some wedding magazines or catalogs may give you lots of other wedding church decoration tips. You will also get lots of ideas by visiting wedding fairs.
Labels: church wedding, wedding flowers
Welcome to the Wedding Planning Blog
Are you planning a wedding? If so then you have come to the right place. In this wedding planning blog you will find all the latest wedding tips and advice to help you plan your big day.
If you live in Edinburgh or Scotland you may also want to visit my website
Wedding in Edinburgh for lots of tips for brides to be who are getting married in Scotland.
I got married myself back in October 2007. You can find out how my own wedding planning went and what happened on my big day in my
Wedding Diary.
