Hooray, You're Getting Married!

By Now You Should Have Decided . . . So What's It Gonna Be?

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:28:00 +0000

There's an old song with a refrain that goes something like "so tell me now what's it gonna be". That comes to mind as I write this post.

This is a quick post to close out the introduction to the types of weddings and a visual treat. We will go back and revisit each of these types once I introduce the other aspects of planning a wedding. We have a few to go.

So tell me now, what kind of wedding are you going to have . . .

possibly a castle (destination wedding). . .

or maybe a church . . .

or have you decided to take it outdoors . . .

or maybe even this . . .

or you've decided to take the easy way with this . . .

or maybe you really want a real fantasy . . .

(Many thanks to the following for the pictures: www.detourguide.com for the castle, www.planetware.com for the courthouse, www.weddings180.com for the backyard wedding and www.fantasyfliers.com for the balloon.)

It doesn't matter which way you choose to go, every one of them can be made special.

May you have a blessed and wonderful day . . .

The Crucial Piece to All Your Wedding Planning Negotiations

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:09:00 +0000

Let me set the stage for you so that you will fully understand why the steps in this post are so incredibly important . . .

You have decided to plan your wedding all on your own. You’ve talked to many of your friends and they all say “no big deal – you can do it” when it comes to the planning. Weeks go by, then a month, maybe more and you are still looking at magazines for ideas about your wedding dress – forget about the caterer, photographer, etc. They can wait until you find the perfect dress.

All of a sudden you wake up one day and realize that you only have a couple of months left before the day that is supposed to be the best day of your life! You are overwhelmed by all of the things you realize you have yet to do and start rushing around like Frazzled Madge.

One week later you have made all arrangements for where you are having your ceremony and the officiant, a contract for the reception site, the invitations are in the mail, you have found a photographer available for that date after talking with 20, ditto for the caterer, and you’ve made the arrangements with the hotel for your out of town guests! Whew, you haven’t had any sleep but it is all done and now you can relax a bit before you go on to the rest of the arrangements and that all-important dress.

Time passes and all of a sudden your wedding day is a week away! You’ve managed to get everything done (you hope) and you really need to take a rest so you are at least presentable for your wedding.

THE BIG DAY IS FINALLY HERE!! You are now Mr. and Mrs. and you are feeling pretty good. Only a handful of glitches happened – none of which were big enough to ruin the day but it sure would have been nice if there had been one last fitting for your dress so that it was just perfect, oh and no one thought about a ring pillow for the ring bearer, etc., etc.

Before you leave for your honeymoon, there are last minute money matters that have to be taken care of and here’s what you ultimately end up with:

The hotel bill is way over budget and higher than you would ever have committed to. Several of the guests that you had booked at the hotel had either not been able to come or had decided to stay at another hotel. Because you didn’t take the time to read the fine print before signing the contract, you are held responsible for any cancellations.

Since the reception is also being held at the same hotel, you are charged a surcharge for all guests who are staying at other hotels rather than the reception venue! Oops – didn’t see that in the fine print either.

There’s an additional charge on the bill for all the extras that you had forgotten and asked for at the last minute, that were not negotiated up front.

When the catering bill is finalized, you see that meals are included for all of the service staff of the event!

There’s also this thing called a cake cutting charge! What’s that?

When your lovely photographer presents their bill, you realize that all of the additional consulting time is charged at an astronomical price! And you thought they were just being nice.

And the list goes on. The bottom line is that when all is said and done, you are many thousands of dollars over your budget (which most times is taken out of the honeymoon budget), have quite a few gray hairs and a splitting headache!

Sorry this is such a long post but this or some version of this is all too typical of how it goes. So how can you alleviate all (or most) of this frustration, stress, fights with significant others, and gray hair?

There are several things. First, go back and read the beginning posts about the resources I recommend to walk you through every step of the way to getting you to the alter in one piece, and able to thoroughly enjoy your special day. Whether or not you use a wedding planner, it is extremely important that you know the process, see how schedules are created so that everything just flows, and cover your butt while negotiating contracts.

CONTRACTS, CONTRACTS, CONTRACTS

Finally, here is probably the most crucial aspect of planning your entire wedding! For absolutely every agreement you make concerning your wedding, put it in writing! Even if you are in a foreign country which doesn’t do things the way we do in the States, get something in writing.

Ask questions! The place to take the time to discuss every piece of information on the contract (especially the fine print) is before you sign it. Take the time before every meeting with every vendor to write down all of the questions you have. If you keep all this in your head, most of it will be forgotten in the heat and enthusiasm of the moment when you are looking at pictures, etc. Don’t be pressured into signing on the initial consultation with any vendor - take the contract home with you for review before you sign it.

It’s a good idea to meet with vendors at least a couple of times prior to signing anything anyway. If you’ve interviewed several candidates and done your due diligence (checking references, etc.), the selection process itself will take a couple of meetings. Remember, you will have to work with these people from then until your wedding day and it will be much easier if you are compatible. Several meetings will also give you a bit of time for any questions about whatever is proposed to surface before contract signing.

Yes, this piece takes the most time and can be tedious but trust me on this one. When you take care of this in a businesslike manner, you will not have any of the above issues to contend with.

I apologize if I sound like a school marm on this but I hear from vendor after vendor about their frustration with clients because not only do they not know what they want but they didn't ask the questions before signing and were livid when paying the bill.

I think that’s enough for today. Go take an aspirin and go back and start rereading some of the earlier posts, knowing that by doing so and following these steps your wedding day will truly be one to remember.

Happy Easter Everyone

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 13:42:00 +0000

Good morning everyone. I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very blessed day. May peace follow you always.

All This Wedding Planning Stuff. Up Next - Venue, Officiant, etc., etc.

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:40:00 +0000

Well, up to this point you've worked on your vision and gotten your numbers. These next pieces are the tedious ones in planning your wedding. Where will you have your vision? If it will be at a beach or your home or at the court house, those are fairly easy because (with the exception of the court house) typically the reception will be held at the same place. If you are having a court house wedding, then a venue for the reception will need to be booked.

Who then would you like to have officiate your wedding? You will have to coordinate your schedule with theirs and also with any of the venues you are considering. This is the reason I said in the beginning that when you are selecting dates, it is best to look at ranges rather than specifics. Also, you might want to consider setting the date for the fall or winter months. These are not as busy (but are becoming more popular) so it is more likely the exact date you desire is available. The farther out you plan for your wedding the easier it will be to get agreement on the dates you would like.

If you are planning on having your wedding at a church or a castle or some other popular place, you will want to book these things as early as possible. You never realize just how many people are getting married until you try to coordinate these people and places.

It seems that the next most booked person is the photographer. I recommend contacting those people you are interested in to find out their available dates to be considered in all of your negotiations. This is the same for a wedding planner if you have decided to use one.

Once you get all of these arrangements made, you get to get on with the more fun aspects of planning your wedding, so persevere.

Planning a Wedding on a Small Budget

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:40:00 +0000

So you’ve decided to get married and also determined your reasonably available budget along with the size and type of wedding you’ve always dreamed of. There is a very big problem though – you’ve dreamed of your wedding in a castle in a far away land with everyone you’ve ever met attending but your budget might get ten people to the end of the block! Money shouldn't be too big a problem if you're clever enough to plan a wedding on a small budget.

The importance of your wedding day doesn't reside in the amount of money you spend for it, but rather on the emotional value it has for you and your fiancé(e). And the solution is not to hock your soul along with those of your future grandchildren to still be able to have a wedding you will always remember.

The first step is for both of you to really commit yourselves to having your dream wedding on the budget you’ve worked up. Making that commitment will make it a lot easier mentally and emotionally to see just how creative you can get in getting the most for your money (and possibly a lot more fun) without sacrificing your dream. It will require a bit more work on your part and probably some assistance from your family and friends to get everything done.

The next thing to do is get Tim and Lisa Spooner’s book “Wedding Planning on a Budget”. It was one of the recommendations I made at the beginning because their wedding budget was a whopping $2,000! That was for everything and they had to get really creative. The nice bottom line for them was that by sticking to their budget they were able to start out their life together with ZERO wedding debt!! You might not like all of their suggestions but it’s pretty much guaranteed that it will jumpstart your imagination.

We will be looking at a lot of ideas for planning your wedding on a small budget in the future but I think this is enough to get you started. I would love to hear some of the ideas you come up with when your imagination starts cooking.

Another Fabulous Wedding Planning Resource

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:18:00 +0000

Just a quick post today to let you know about a new resource I have come across for helping you plan your wedding.

Scarlet Spencer’s “$10,000 Dream Wedding Planning Book” is probably the one resource that I would recommend above all others. Even though the title suggests that it might be off in la-la land, trust me that this is the real nuts and bolts stuff and covers all the tiny details some books leave out. Her web page is terribly long but is packed with information about what the book actually covers.

Now I make this recommendation as a general wedding planning book. It does not cover very well the specialty type weddings such as beach or destination weddings – these have their own distinct guidelines. It also does not really do the theme development that my theme recommendation does (Unique Theme Weddings). What it does do is walk you through the entire process of putting your wedding together with hundreds of great tips to help you along the way.

So go take a look and I’ll be back again soon.

Wedding Themes – Yikes!

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:51:00 +0000

A theme is a theme is a theme as they say . . . well, that’s not quite true. And when it comes to weddings, a theme plays a fairly important role. If you have decided on a traditional wedding or a beach wedding, these are both themes. And in order to have your special event appear and flow smoothly, everything should be pulled together. Read further to see what I mean.

A wedding theme can be so much more than either of those. I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for many years and that area lends itself very well to western (or cowboy type) weddings. Now it isn’t just the clothes that make a theme. It is everything from the clothes to the invitations, decorations, location, ceremony, etc., and it requires a bit more research to make sure that all bases are covered. Just as different religious ceremonies have their unique aspects and if any of those are not included it feels that something is missing, so it is with other ‘themes’.

So just what types of themes are there? A theme can be anything from ancestral, environmental or sporty (how about the Redskins and Cowboys football teams?), to replicating a special event in your relationship such as where you met (possibly at the zoo!). A theme can be absolutely anything that you can imagine and this is what makes them so special and memorable – and also what requires all of the additional effort.

This post is really just an introduction to the idea of wedding themes. We will be looking at themes more thoroughly in the future because they are so incredibly creative. I also have an idea of maybe doing a forum and one of the major categories will be themes in order to give brides a place to come to explore theme ideas and get help in developing them.

If you do decide on a theme wedding, I recommend that you get some assistance with it to make sure that you coordinate everything that contributes to your theme. One resource I have found and recommend is called Unique Theme Weddings by Kari White. Kari pretty thoroughly maps out 19 different wedding themes from a 1920’s theme to a wilderness/camping theme. I’ve looked through this and have to say that she has really done her homework and will make it a lot easier to pull off your fantasy theme. Just by following the steps she outlines will guarantee that everything is covered, even if the theme you have dreamed up is not on her list. She says in that case to just choose the theme closest to what you want to do and modify it to make it yours.

Wedding themes truly do make your special day extremely memorable and something you and your guests will talk about for quite a long time. This is another place to really dream and let your imagination out to play. I can’t wait to hear about some of the themes you come up with. Good luck and please check back soon to see if the forum has started.

Planning a Court House Wedding (or Civil Ceremony)

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:59:00 +0000

Last but not least is the court house wedding. It used to be that this was the last resort but it is becoming more fashionable to not spend all of the budget on a large more traditional wedding and plan the ceremony for at the court house. Today’s economy has brought out a lot of creativity on the wedding scene. I’ve heard of quite elaborate affairs held in the courthouse - then almost the entire budget can go toward the reception (after the wedding dress, of course). It really just depends on your priorities and how much of a budget you are planning to use.

There is one last trend that I’ll briefly mention here simply because I don’t really see where else to put it. I keep hearing more and more about friends sharing everything they use in their weddings from decorations to clothes and everything in between. I don’t know if this is a trend that will continue to develop or is really just economy driven; and as people once again have and feel more comfortable spending money, will fall by the wayside. If it is a trend, there might be a place (other than ebay) for trading or exchanging of wedding items.

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this so when you stop by please take the time to be heard.

Next up . . . what about a wedding theme?

Planning a wedding at home

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:25:00 +0000

In light of the present economy many people today are planning for their weddings at home. If your space permits, this truly is the way to have your wedding day be exactly as you would like. There are plenty of benefits – on top of the list is that you can save a lot of money, right? Following that, there is no frustration with coordinating bookings for rental of the ceremony or reception sites. Then when it comes to food and beverages you are your own master; you don't have to worry about paying cake-cutting fees or who knows what else. And the list goes on ...

It isn’t all about the money though – possibly your family has a lovely home where your parents were married and you just want to follow in their footsteps. Or maybe you have gone out of the country for your wedding and everybody that you wanted to have share in your special day was not able to attend. Or the ceremony was not honored by your state as being legal and this ceremony will make it official.

Because of all the advantages we tend to ignore what could be obstacles with having your wedding at home.

First up is the size of the space and the number of people you would like to invite. Make sure that you look carefully at this because your wedding can easily turn into chaos if you don't take the necessary safety measures and precautions into consideration. How many toilets are there in the house? Statistics for weddings at home show that the most comfortable number is thirty five people per toilet.

Then, where do you anticipate having your ceremony? Will it be indoors or out? Most of the time weddings at home are planned for outdoors but what happens in the case of a rain shower – is there enough room indoors to be able to move inside? Or how protected is the area from the sun? You don't want your guests to get sun burned plus too much light can definitely ruin your photos. One solution to this is to rent a tent. Typically they are used as the eating area but with a little effort it can be used for both the ceremony and the eating area.

Also remember that the garden where you may want to hold the ceremony is exposed to noises such as dogs barking, lawn mowers, and so on. Please remember to ask your neighbors to avoid cutting their lawn that particular day or at least during the time of your ceremony. Most people won’t mind accommodating you for a wedding. I have not heard of a way to deal with dogs barking so if you know of one please let me know.

Another issue is that of parking – where will all of your guests park? Most neighborhoods don’t have enough parking as it is or restrictions preclude having an extra hundred vehicles lining the streets.

A couple of major precautions include making sure that all electrical cables and wires are taped down and away from any walking paths. And a huge one concerns pool areas – please make sure there are no children unsupervised in the pool area. Then check you home insurance to make sure you have coverage for any accidents that might take place.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to planning a wedding at home. We’ll explore these advantages and issues with planning your wedding at home more in the future because of all of the people doing it.

More on Destination Weddings . . . resources

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:20:00 +0000

I've had a chance to go through the books available on planning a destination wedding that I spoke about in the last post and I don't really feel that I can recommend one at this time.

If your destination wedding is a beach wedding, I recommend going back and checking out the posts on beach weddings and also looking at The Ultimate Beach Wedding Planning Guide and Workbook. This book seems to have a lot of the destination questions covered.

I make this recommendation on top of recommending a wedding planner from wherever it is that you are hoping to tie your knot. For a wedding out of the country, it is essential to have a planner as I explained in the previous post.

Whenever I recommend a book in addition to a planner it is because it is important for you to know the process and steps that must be taken to make sure you have your perfect day and this blog will not be able to cover all of the steps because of the time and space constraints. My intention here is simply to offer you preliminary information and make you aware of what your initial planning steps should be.

Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Mmmmm . . . Destination Wedding . . . Sounds Exotic, Doesn’t It?

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:50:00 +0000

A destination wedding is simply an affair that is away from your home base. More and more people these days are opting for really exotic destination wedding locations and they are saving a bit (sometimes a big bit) of money in the process. Whether it’s a beach wedding in Fiji or Bali or a castle in Europe (pricey end of spectrum), destination weddings are becoming more popular every year. This also usually takes care of the honeymoon because most people continue their stay.

As with beach weddings, destination weddings tend to be much smaller affairs since people do need to travel sometimes long distances to attend. Please see the posts about beach weddings to get more information about this.

Following are some very important points about destination weddings:

If you are planning a destination wedding out of the country, it is so important to have a wedding planner/consultant from there - every country has different laws and customs, and businesses operate differently. A local wedding planner will know all of the ropes and hopefully be able to save you substantial money in the process.

A scouting trip before the wedding is also pretty mandatory. Its fine to do your research online but just remember pictures can be very deceiving. Because of language barriers and lifestyles/customs, oftentimes what you say you want does not translate in a foreign country. We Americans tend to be fairly sophisticated, picky people in terms of the world!

When you are meeting and interviewing vendors and locations on your scouting trip, make sure that you inspect every element of what is negotiated; do not just take anyone’s word (that perception thing again). See everything that will be used for the ceremony and reception (just to make sure you’re not getting paper plates!) and make sure everything that is promised is in good working condition (you might see the hot tub, but does it work?)

With hotels, it is imperative to go through the contract with a fine toothed comb. Make sure you know exactly everything you will be held responsible for, like rooms if people don’t show, any and all surcharges that will apply, and especially taxes that will be charged (this is sometimes a big surprise!).

In a lot of places in the world, a handshake is the normal operating mode so getting written contracts is often impossible. If this is the case, always write a letter that includes everything that was agreed upon and have both parties sign it. If there are any problems with the products or services you will have this to back you up. Whenever paying, try to use a credit card so that you will have a vehicle for disputed charges, etc.

When it comes to travel, please use a travel agent who is familiar with groups and knows all of the ins and outs of group travel. It is not the same as just making your own reservations. Please check out www.destinationweddings.com (they are a travel agency) who do a fairly substantial wedding business in a lot of places in the world. They can more than likely assist with your travel needs.

These are the fairly dry aspects of destination weddings and it’s important that they be addressed otherwise you run the risk of having one of the horror stories that you hear about every day. Just remember that regardless of where you might want to be married in the world that it is a different culture and everything that you want is not always understood.

I have been in Bali for the past two weeks and while I was there I attended a fabulous traditional wedding. It was held in the village of Negara which is about 50 miles west of Denpasar (the capital) and the touristy beach areas. It was spread over an entire day and was just lovely. Since I am beginning to understand their culture I could follow a lot of what was done. Because of the thoroughness of the wedding couple, everything went off without a hitch. I’ll put up a post with pics soon.

I will be doing more posts on destination weddings in the future because there is so much more to cover. I’m also looking at a couple of books to see if there is anything out there I can recommend to help you make sure everything gets covered.

Extra, Extra . . . More on Planning a Beach Wedding!

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:14:00 +0000

Boy, I got so carried away with the last post on beach weddings that after reading it, it sounded a bit disjointed – so let’s go back and fill in a few of the holes.

Unless you live on or near the beach you are planning on using for your wedding most people will need to travel to get there, so typically beach weddings are smaller with fewer people attending. Many people opt to have a reception at home once they are back from their honeymoon.

Because of the need to travel most people typically need a 9 – 12 month lead time; not only to schedule taking that time off from work but also to work those additional costs into their budget. Therefore it is typical to send out save a date cards 9 – 12 months before your wedding.

Let me just say a word about travel: please advise all of your traveling guests to stear clear of Orbitz. After Orbitz stranded me in Southeast Asia last year and assumed no responsibility for it, it is worth the little bit of extra money you pay to book with a reputable agent or directly with the airlines. There are plenty of deals to be had to almost any destination if booking that far out and then what happened to me will not happen to them (it cost me twice as much to use Orbitz). The same goes for any hotel reservations – if anyone is planning on using Orbitz, please have them check some of the Orbitz complaint sites (there are quite a few).

Now back to beach weddings! Beach weddings are usually much more casual. Although many brides do wear the long trained gown they end up taking half of the beach with them. This is the time to wear a more reasonable length dress – it can still be long but just not quite as full and trailing. Many brides opt for a cocktail length dress for the beach. Also, because it is outdoors, hairstyles should be more casual – the breeze will definitely play a role here.

Yes, having a beach wedding is a real treat and very different from having the traditional indoor wedding. We have already discussed the weather which is a HUGE factor and I can’t stress enough to have backup plans.

If you are having your wedding on the beach of a hotel or other facility, they will provide a backup plan. They will also provide restroom facilities for you and your guests, and electricity. Most hotels have wedding coordinators on staff and offer fairly extensive packages to cover all of your needs including decorations, seating supplies, catering, etc. Going this route will definitely cut down on some of your time and effort but be prepared to pay for this service.

If you are not using a hotel beach, then you or your planner will have to take care of all of these arrangements.

There is one last thing I want to say about beach weddings: that is about the legal requirements. Please make sure that you check your local laws to determine what you will need to have – that is where you live and those are the laws you must obey. Also, please check to make sure if your ceremony in another country will be honored. Many times couples opt to have a civil ceremony once they get home. In addition, check with the authorities of where you are getting married to make sure that you satisfy all of their laws.

For further information, please see Debbbie Reynold’s “My Perfect Beach Wedding”, and the following articles are also worth reading. These are from sites that specialize in beach weddings and have been around a bit longer than I have.

www.beachweddingplanning.com has a fairly extensive library of articles on all things beach wedding from invitations, dresses, favors, etc. There is also a vendor search category with many beach areas in the U.S. and internationally.
www.aboutbeachweddings.com has articles on some unique beach wedding ideas from accessories, supplies, planning, etc.
www.yourbeachwedding.net has a couple of interesting articles on lingerie and apparel for both men and women. It also looks at several beaches around the world for your consideration.
www.beach-wedding-themes.com is a pretty full service site for beach weddings - everything from cakes, invitations, flowers, decorations, etc. It has some pretty interesting examples photographed.
www.beachbrideweddingguide.com is another full service site for beach weddings - more on planning and a fairly extensive marketplace to get some great ideas.

For Your Beach Wedding - Pure Inspiration!

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:53:00 +0000

These are just so delicious that I couldn't resist.....Enjoy! If you have never thought about a beach wedding before, maybe it is time to reconsider.

Many thanks to the following for the above pics:

www.flickr.com/en.en, www.alohaislandweddings.

com, www.coconutgrovefiji.com, www.farfallawedding.

wordpress.com, www.inheavenweddings.com, and

www.sunriseflagler_09.com

Have You Ever Dreamed of Having a Beach Wedding?

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:53:00 +0000

Can’t you just smell the salt air, feel the ocean breeze and hear the lapping of the waves on the beach? I sure remember when I had that dream but I never went through with it. Research shows that approximately 35% of all weddings are outdoor weddings – I wonder just how many of those are at the beach?

Beach weddings are popular but they do present "special issues" and planning a beach wedding may be one of the most romantic challenges in a life time; great scenery, natural decorations, originality and non-conformism of the location are among the main features of a beach wedding. But what are the issues of planning a beach wedding? You don’t want to be surprised on your wedding day because you didn’t take these issues into consideration beforehand.

A beach wedding can be in some far-off exotic location or at your own local beach – the issues are the same with the exception of needing the services of a local wedding planner/consultant if you are going to an exotic location.

The person desiring a beach wedding is typically someone who does not like to conform and is desiring to have a more casual, relaxing day. Beach weddings are typically much more creative – there is no right or wrong way to have them. Unless you go all out, a beach wedding can save you quite a bit of money over the more traditional wedding.

Also, the wedding ceremony and reception can both be held at the same place which opens up wonderful possibilities for the day and some of the activities. There are many more options available once you decide what time of day you would like to have the ceremony (remember that this is also dependent on the officiants schedule).

You could decide to make this a sunset ceremony which would be absolutely lovely on a clear, calm day; or you could decide on an all-day affair with outdoor activities before or after – it truly is up to you to create your wildest dream.

That being said, lets go back to the “issues” you will deal with when having a beach wedding. Depending on what part of the world you are planning for, the time of year will definitely have to be considered. Since it is outdoors, Mother Nature plays the starring role so you will have to plan accordingly – possibly with tents or being near to shelter; and have a backup location arranged. Another Mother Nature issue is tide – not following this schedule could be disastrous!

One of the first things to do is find out from the local authorities whether or not you need a permit to use the beach. Unless you are having a very large wedding and will require the beach to be closed off, you typically don’t but every place is different and don’t just assume anything.

Then you will have to deal with having/not having electricity and having restrooms for your guests. Very basic stuff here but so easy to overlook. Again, if you are in relatively close proximity to facilities it makes it a bit easier.

As mentioned earlier, tents and flooring might need to be considered. If many of your guests are elderly, these will be needed to protect them from the sun. Also, unless it is a very casual blanket type reception, tents will be needed for the eating area.

Typically, decorations for a beach wedding are also a lot less formal and here you save quite a bit of money. Most beach wedding brides have their ceremony performed under a wedding arch dripping with fresh seasonal flowers so that they really are the focus. Because of the informality of the beach, the remainder of the decorations are minimal.

I could go on and on here about the possibilities that are open to anyone having a beach wedding but I think the best thing for me to do is refer you to Debbie Reynold’s great resource “My Perfect Beach Wedding.” In it she shares everything she learned from her wedding planner/coordinator (who is going to be starring in his own wedding planning reality show!). Let her tell you all about the ways to shine with your beach wedding and also about all of the potential pitfalls. If I did it we would never be able to explore anything other than beach weddings on this blog and that really is not my intention. (Note to self: beach wedding blog is not a bad idea!)

Enjoy – and I really have to say that this is the way I will go for my next wedding!

Just How Do You Go About Planning for Your Wedding?

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:27:00 +0000

Even if you’ve decided to hire a wedding planner/consultant (we look at this possibility in another post), it’s important for you to really understand the process of planning for a wedding. There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle and unless you have done it a few times before (and even if you have), its time to get some education as to just how this works in order to save yourself a lot of frustration, time and money. There are many books on the market on just how to do all of this. The following are a couple of materials that I have researched and recommend depending on your objective. Read on:

In How to Plan a Fabulous Wedding, John Rehn (a male wedding planner no less, ladies) explores every aspect of planning your fabulous wedding! Even though John saved over $11,000 on his own wedding, it was by far from a budget wedding. He shows you all of the tricks of the industry to find the best possible deals on everything from photographers, caterers, even on wedding dresses. This is a 3 book series that covers all the nuts and bolts you need to know for planning your wedding day.

The Wedding Planning Guidebook is like the text on planning a wedding. It covers all of the 350 decisions that you have to make along the way. Although it isn’t marketed as a budget wedding planner, it offers extremely valuable tips on just how to make that budget stretch farther.

Then the last one is Wedding Planning on a Budget. Authors Tim and Lisa Spooner married while in college and made the decision to not go into major debt to do it. In fact, they decided that all they were spending on their wedding was $2,000! Here they give you their valuable tips and unique ideas to help you plan your budget wedding that looks like a million bucks.

Their styles are a bit different as is their focus, but each of these books has all of the necessary worksheets, schedules, budgets, etc., for you to use every step of the way. They address absolutely everything you need to know in order for your wedding day to be everything that you dream of including the invitations, locations, themes, caterers, photographers/videographers, bakers, etc., etc. If you will just follow whichever system you choose, you will not end up being 'Frazzled Madge' but have a most beautiful moment as the beginning for sharing the rest of your lives together.

I highly recommend any one of them so take a look and decide which approach appeals to you the most. If I were doing this again, I would personally look at getting either the first or second book and definitely Tim Spooner's book - it has such unique ideas which will really inspire you. They are all downloadable so there is no wait to getting started. (You can either click on them from this post or on their pictures at the top of the page.)

You've Decided That You Will Use a Wedding Planner/Consultant - Now What Do You Do?

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:46:00 +0000

You've decided that your budget will support having a wedding planner/consultant in some capacity so what is the next step?

If the area where you live is large enough to support having wedding planners, there are several places to begin looking. First, start asking everyone you know who is married (or who has been married) whether they used a planner and get names and any references. Then go to one of the following associations. These associations are either registrars of wedding planners and/or educational organizations for wedding planners with memberships.

www.weddingplannersassn.com - primarily a training organization that has a directory of 140 members.
www.aacwp.org – the American Association of Certified Wedding Planners is a certification organization with a membership of 44 located primarily in Texas.
www.bridalassn.com – large national bridal association is primarily a membership organization.
www.nawp.com - National Association of Wedding Planners, again primarily a membership organization predominately up and down the East Coast.
www.acpwc.com – Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants, a certification organization which requires ongoing training. As far as I can tell, there are fewer than 100 members.
www.bridalassociationofamerica.com – large national association that is primarily a membership organization.

If this is the route you are taking, select at least 3 people to interview and then have at least one meeting with each to determine if they are a match at all. Please make sure that both you and your fiancé/e attend all of these meetings since the prospective wedding planner/consultant will be working with both of you.

During this selection process, PLEASE make sure that you write down all of your questions before you go to your meetings – it is too easy to completely skip over very important information if you keep it all in your head. Also, you should be very clear on what your budget will allow for their services and whether or not it will allow for complete services or a la carte. And, all references must be checked – many people make their final decision based simply on what the prospective consultant says and learn too late that their track record is not quite what they are looking for.

I don’t wish to sound negative at all about wedding planner/consultants – I have seen many fabulous ones who orchestrate the most amazing events which could never have been done without them and I have also seen otherwise. Once you sign on the dotted line, you are committed!

Speaking of which – contracts, contracts, contracts. Once you do select a wedding planner, please make sure that the contract you sign is very specific as to what they will do and what you will do. Save yourself more stress than you can imagine when you find out on your wedding day that no one has gotten the ring pillow! It is better to have all of your contracts so detailed that there is absolutely no room for question as to who will provide what and when.

Also, after the contract is signed, any changes should have some type of addendum attached. Again, everyone needs to be protected.

You will see that I stress this contract stuff with every vendor you deal with. If you follow no other piece of advice that I write, please follow this one so that your wedding day is as flawless a day as possible. Another reason I stress this is because there will be some glitches – hopefully not many, but there will be some – and you want to have some foundation for dealing with them after the wedding. And verbal agreement is not an option!

Are You Thinking About Using a Wedding Planner/Consultant?

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:34:00 +0000

Many people consider their wedding one of the biggest events in their lives which totally justifies the great amount of effort taken to get everything ready. Given the complexity of the event, you'll definitely need help in planning your wedding, be it from professionals or from close friends and family. There is a psychological stress reliever that comes with help in planning a wedding. Once you get it, you no longer need to worry about every detail, and the experience becomes a true delight, not a burden. Most brides today work full time and have a limited amount of time available for taking care of the millions of things having a perfect wedding day entails, so have you considered hiring a wedding planner/consultant?

A wedding planner/consultant provides professional advice on planning every aspect of your wedding. They will help you develop whatever theme you desire making sure that all of the i's are dotted and t's crossed. Because of their backgrounds, many have created simply fabulous affairs that would be the envy of every bride. Their expertise can be invaluable in shopping and negotiating for the many services that will be required to put your day together. Some consultants offer full package wedding planning services while others often will offer services a la carte.

Will your budget allow for a planner? They are several thousand dollars of additional expense depending upon where you live or are having your wedding. If you seriously do not have the time available to take care of everything planning a wedding entails, then hire a planner. Or if you are having a destination wedding away from where you live, a planner from your wedding destination is almost a must in order to make sure that everything gets done on time and to your specifications.

If you live in a small or more rural area, a wedding planner might not be an option. I caution against using someone to take care of this most important event if they do not live where you live and are not familiar with all of the local options. In that case, enlist several friends or family members officially as your ‘wedding planners’. If you make it official, then you can and should expect them to fulfill their wedding planning duties in a more professional way so that everything gets done as you want. This option still requires a lot of your personal time overseeing what everyone does, but will alleviate some of the stress by not having to do it all yourself.

Next Step of your Plan? . . . Set a Date

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:05:00 +0000

Ok, now I’m assuming that you have determined how much money you will have available to finance your wedding and have gotten your basic wedding planning supplies together. There are several things that should happen pretty simultaneously here so I will be making references to all of them even though they may be discussed individually somewhere else.

Next up is the date. A lot of factors need to be addressed – the first one being the schedules of both the bride and the groom. Weddings are often not ‘convenient’ in fast paced lives of today so when looking at your schedules only deal with the dates that are absolutely not movable. Then, if parents are included in the wedding, what are their unchangeable dates? This will give you time frames to look at for planning your wedding.

Is there a special date you have in mind or have dreamed about all of your life? What about a particular theme for your wedding that dictates having it at a particular time of year? Is there a particular location where you would like to have your wedding (such as the beach) which will dictate a specific time frame? Also, are there budget constraints which will influence the time of day and year you plan for your wedding?

Look at all of these points when choosing a time frame for having your wedding. I say time frame because there are also elements within any choice you make that will affect the actual ‘date’ of your wedding.

Spend a bit of time dreaming here because this is your special day and you want to plan it to end up being special from beginning to end. The last thing you want is to plan say a beach wedding for February in New England! Bit extreme but I guarantee it has been tried.

Your budget also affects the date you plan for your wedding. One of the easiest ways to save some money on your wedding is to plan it for off season. By that I mean not June through August – the wedding high season – or Saturday. The latest trend is to plan your wedding for fall or winter which opens up huge options for themes and colors. If you are thinking of an indoor wedding, the latest trend is for Friday evening.

So once you have some idea of when you would like to have your wedding, you’re still not finished. The actual ‘date’ will need to be coordinated with both the location and officiant schedules.

In over your head yet? The next couple of items will help reduce some of your stress so please come back again.

Now That You Have a Budget, Let’s Get Organized to Begin Planning Your Wedding!

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:42:00 +0000

The next step is to get yourself some type of wedding planner/organizer (notebook) – you will be collecting so much information from this point forward that if you don’t write it all down or have a central place to keep everything, you will definitely be lost! Also, it’s a good place to keep all of the estimates, contracts, etc., that you’ll be collecting. Amazon has about the best selection I’ve seen at pretty good prices.

Make sure that the organizer has labeled dividers/sections for every aspect of your wedding plan. Keep extra dividers for any area that is not covered or to break an existing section down into sub-categories. Also make sure that you have pockets in each section for filing all the loose things that you need to keep. You will also need to keep at least one zippered pocket for things like pens/extra pens, markers, paper punch, paper clips, stapler, scotch tape, measuring tape, calculator, etc. Just trust me that you will use all of them and it makes it so much easier to have them with you.

Also, get a box (nothing fancy – maybe a filing box at any office supply store) and a supply of manila envelopes. Periodically go through your binder – possibly whenever you make a decision and commit on any aspect of your wedding – and remove all of your samples, pictures, etc., that you collected for consideration and put all of that in one of the manila envelopes and keep it in the filing box. You want to get everything that you won’t be using out of your wedding planner simply because after a time you won’t be able to find anything in it and it will become too heavy and junky. BUT you do not want to throw all of that information away yet; keep it just in case you want to refer back to it or something falls through and you need to have a backup replacement for anything.

It is also a good idea to get one of those large desk calendars that you can hang on the wall – this is a very visual way to see your plan dates and keep track of all of your schedules.

You will be surprised at how easy this process is if you just take a bit of time up front and gather these things. You’ll then have convenient places to automatically put all of the paper you will be collecting and a place to put all of your dates – it will end so much confusion along the way.

Ok – getting this done is a great start. Now the fun begins….

OK, Let's Get Started - First Up is the Budget!

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:22:00 +0000

The very first step toward planning your wedding day is for the two of you to sit down with your families to figure out a budget. If you haven’t done so already, go here and download the sample budget. This is really a preliminary category budget to help you determine how much you are going to spend; you can either use that form as is or as a starting point for creating your own. Individual budgets should be made for each category then compiled into a master budget.

You can find any number of budget forms elsewhere on the internet but the one here is at least a start. Several software budgeting packages are also available which contain all of the worksheets you might need; I have not investigated any of them so I can't give a recommendation.

Who is to take the financial responsibility? With the cost of weddings today averaging $30,000, usually the families of both the bride and the groom contribute to help make their childrens' wedding a success. You'll have to meet and talk and count what share each can bring. I would definitely stay away from too much credit card debt because that is a heavy burden to bear just after getting married. And as you’ll see farther on, there are so many options available to help you meet whatever budget you finally decide upon.

One final note on the above sample budget. Regardless of which budget form you use, you’ll want to have individual category budget worksheets which keep track of all expenditures. The master budget should reflect both budget projections and actual costs. If you create a database for your budget and keep it updated, it will be extremely easy to always see where you are. That way when you are over in any area, you will automatically know that you have to take that overage from somewhere else. Overages of $10 – $100 add up quickly and can blow even the best budgeting if not kept track of.

Oh – I almost forgot! What about your honeymoon budget? Don’t forget to also set aside money for that if you are taking on.

They Asked . . . You Said Yes Now Where Do You Go From Here? Let the Wedding Planning Begin!

noreply@blogger.com (admin) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:24:00 +0000

Welcome to Hooray, You’re Getting Married! There are a lot of wedding sites out there that are very fancy and if you look long enough you will find all of the information you need. I am purposely keeping this site simple and directly to the point so you have as much time as possible to get all of the things done for your special day. There are so many things that we'll be discussing here that are all part of planning a wedding: wedding themes, budget, locations, invitations, favors, catering, wedding planners, oh and let's not forget dresses, flowers, receptions, music, etc., etc.

Most people dream of making their wedding day the happiest day in their life time and it can be done easily with the proper planning. Without that planning . . . well, you can go and read about all of the disasters out there. That being said, when I said ‘easily’ before I did not mean that it won’t take a bit of time and some serious work. If you start out with a fairly well thought out wedding plan and just follow it, you can make the whole process up to your special day memorable. There will be a lot of seriously funny moments and a lot of seriously hair raising ones along the way.

Do You Want to Be a ‘Frazzled Madge’?

The secret to getting to the alter and not being a Frazzled Madge is to have some fun doing it – follow your wedding plan in a methodical way and before you know it that alter will be right in front of you. Many people I know have done just that and when they all talk about their wedding, they spend almost as much time talking about the time up to it as they do about the day itself. I’ve also known people to video and photograph all of this process so they can see it all again afterward – like your own reality show! What will yours be: a tale of horror or one of great fun?

There’s one more thing I want to say up front. Depending upon the lead time up to your wedding day, it is a good thing to schedule some fun time with your fiance/e. Make sure that you plan alone time or at least a couple of weekends away (not doing things for the wedding) – you want to make sure you don’t forget why you are doing all of this in the first place. There is a lot to do and as your wedding day gets closer it will seem like there is even a whole lot more that needs to be done and a whole lot less time to do it. If you have a wedding plan and follow it, you won’t end up feeling so overwhelmed. You will see that a lot of the last minute things have already been done if you are following that plan.