Plan Your Wedding - And Your Wedding Gift List - Online

If you're in the process of planning your wedding, you'll be well aware of just how much organisation the event really requires! After all, you'll want to make sure that this really is the happiest day of your life, and that all goes exactly the way you want it to! And while you'll be able to leave some of the more mundane aspects of wedding planning to your relatives or your designated wedding planner, there are some wedding plans and services that you'll definitely want to take care of yourself - and having a way to do this all online is sure to save you a large amount of time.

Many retail outlets with specialist wedding services now offer comprehensive online wedding portals on their sites, in order to help you plan your wedding at your convenience - all from the comfort of your living room. For instance, you'll definitely want to try on your own wedding dress to make sure you've got the perfect fit. But if you're looking for dresses for your bridesmaids or flower girls, you might want to have a look at the selection available to you online first and, if you find the perfect bridesmaids dresses for your wedding, you can buy them online.

Sometimes, you'll even be able to buy crucial items like wedding footwear and wedding jewellery for both you and your troupe of bridesmaids and flowers girls online. And if you're looking for a dress or trouser suit for the mother of the bride or an important female guest to wear, you'll be able to look for that online also. You'll even be able to browse things like wedding stationary, and get personalised wedding invitations, RSVP cards and personalised place cards to match - all online!

Increasingly, however, the most popular online wedding planning tool is a wedding gift list, and getting your wedding guests to consult your online wedding gift list can offer a range of benefits. For starters, you and your fiancé will be able to compile your list of potential wedding gifts from the convenience of your own home, instead of having to trawl through a variety of shops to find what you're looking for. It'll also cut down the environmental cost of having to print multiple copies of a wedding gift list to send out to all your friends and well-wishers.

Additionally, opting for an online wedding gift list will make it easier for your guests to buy your presents without fear of duplication, while many wedding gift list providers also provide gift wrapping services for an additional fee. So you won't just get the wedding presents that you've always wanted, you'll also receive them beautifully wrapped!

So enjoy the luxury of organising your wedding online - you might find the whole wedding planning experience a lot easier to bear!

Money Saving Tips for Weddings

There are too many irresistible options that come along when a Bride is planning her wedding. Unfortunately, you cannot have them all due to budget constraints. But you can have most of them without breaking the bank if you exercise moderation. Making the decisions of what is really important for you is essential here. Here are some simple ways to save money on your wedding expenses:

1. You need photography as well as videos but can't seem to fit them in your budget. A great idea is to ask a family member or a friend who is good with a digital camera to take photos. They will be glad to oblige. Similarly, almost is crazed about making videos on a handycam these days. These cameras are very easy to handle and give very good video quality. Anyone with a little experience can easily shoot the entire wedding and even edit it using free software available online.

2. You need floral centerpieces and decorations but the florist bills cannot find space in your tight budget. The solution is to go all silk! Buy silk flowers and start making the decorations and centerpieces yourself. Silk flowers don't wilt which means you can start making the decorations months before the wedding. Every time you find a spare hour, sit down and make some decorations.

3. You need pretty little decorations and accents that you see in fancy stores. Our solution is eBay. Go to eBay and you will be sure to find some beautiful things for much less. You can even find your wedding dress on eBay.

4. You need a lovely expensive cake, just like in the window of the upscale bakery shop. You can get the multi-tiered effect with cupcake wedding cakes which are extremely popular these days. You can also try your local grocery store bakery or find a friend who can bake well or departmental shops that have ready-made wedding cakes. Cheesecakes are also gaining popularity as wedding cakes and cost much less.

5. You need pretty wedding favors, wrapped or tied in tulle just like you see at expensive weddings. You can always have them. All you need to decide is what to put in them. Sugared almonds can be substituted by chocolates and candies. There are a number of heart shaped candies available in stores or you could simply go with the romantic Hershey's 'kisses'.

No matter what you desire to have for your wedding, you should be able to fulfill your desires by using smart alternatives and exercising moderation. At all times, remember that it is the 'Wedding' that is more important and not just the 'Celebration' of it.

Wedding Ideas & Thoughts - Wedding Themes

Weddings are such a wonderful expression in the bonding of two people in love. There are so many things to learn and take care of before the big day. One of the biggest planning issues of a wedding has to do with the theme that you choose to base your wedding. Depending on your culture or just a favorite color scheme can lead to choosing a wedding theme.

Some people have grand church weddings, while others have simple backyard garden weddings. No matter the theme, the blessed occasion is the reason for celebration and deserves a good deal of attention. However once you have chosen a theme for your wedding, though it may be hard at times and others may be considering the different types of bridal dressings or popular themes, it is best to stick with your very own theme plans and develop the wedding of your dreams.

Deciding on a theme can include the use of one to three color schemes and even some weddings stage around the type of flowers and decorations. Weddings planning and staging around budgets, endearing love songs and even the most romantically poetic verse the couple has shared and known. The ways of love help plan the wedding theme, even if the bride is choosing as she wishes. The groom has equal choosing and especially advising wishes and duties.

So when you get together with your fiancé, the planning of the music those preludes persuades through into the congratulatory parade. As well as any poem or reading that, you wish to include in your celebration day of love, should be well thought out and planned. Weddings may also include entertainment, shall that be pre-recorded or live entertainments. Choose the music that will live forever in your memories of the two of you as a couple. Keeping in mind the tone and theme of the wedding, as well as the budget, live entertainment is always most romantic. However, there is no reason not to save live entertainment for the honeymoon, when the two of you are alone when working with a modest budget.

There is the question of where to hold the wedding, so that there is music playing, candles glowing and the romance of lyrics in the air, somewhere for you to get married. So many areas to be attended to in creating a most beautiful and romantic wedding day and there are many guiding principles, time lines and checklists available that can help you plan a wedding day that will create the most lovely memories of the beginning of your lives together.

The choices of course are your own. Keep in mind also that one of the rules for planning a wedding is being able to delegate the duty of overseeing to these issues as your aid. This is where your family and friends come into the picture as all the Groomsmen and all the Bridesmaids are your attendants in more ways than escorting you up and down the aisles of matrimony.

Customize Your Wedding Aisle Runner

Weddings are supposed to be an expression of the bride and groom's personality. There are many ways to add a special touch to this very special event. From wedding favors to personalized napkins and from monogrammed floor lighting to custom designed wedding aisle runners.

Aisle runners traditionally have represented the new path that the bride will begin with her husband to be. For the most part, wedding aisle runners are normally white. Modern brides are now looking to do more unique things instead of having a cookie cutter wedding. Here are some ways that aisle runners can play a role in personalizing your wedding day.

Instead of using a traditional white wedding aisle runner, consider using a color from your wedding décor. Today, many people are also opting to personalize their wedding aisle runners with their names and wedding date.

Do you have a monogram that you love? Why not have it hand painted on to your aisle runner? Some brides are even having their monograms created by artist so that they will be unique. If you think that will add too much to your wedding budget, try having an art student create a design for you. The design will cost less and most likely will still look fabulous.

If you'd like to take it a step further, you can add a phrase to your wedding aisle runner. A few popular wedding phrases are:

* This day I will marry my best friend

* To have and to hold from this day forward

* What God has joined together, let man not separate

* And they lived happily ever after

Some vendors can now add fancy embellishments and graphic details based on your wedding theme and décor. For instance, if you are getting married in the winter months you may want to have some snowflakes hand painted on your wedding aisle runner. It is a subtle touch but it adds so much to the event.

Hint:

Have your aisle runner pulled out before your guests arrive so that they can better see and appreciate it that much more.

Gone are the days of the cookie cutter wedding. Today, brides are looking to spice up their ceremonies and show their personalities much more. If you are looking for an item that will accent your wedding just right, try a custom designed wedding aisle runner. You and your guests will surely love it!

Place Card Holders As Wedding Favors

Gone are the days when place card holders were just something that indicated the seating arrangement for your guests. Today they have transformed themselves and are back in a brand new avatar as wedding favors. Traditional plain metallic frames or card place holders are loosing favor to a more swanky new set of place card holders that are ingenious in design and can be made to suit the theme of your wedding. They are just the ticket to add some pizzazz to your wedding festivity.

Place card holders are an important part of the wedding décor and they adorn your reception tables during the wedding celebration and should complement with the rest of the beautiful décor you are planning. So don't leave out these wonderful accessories to not just brighten up your tables during the wedding ceremony but also long after as wedding favors your guests will really enjoy taking home.

Consider place card holders for your nuptials according to the theme as well as the mood you wish to set. A cheeky place card holder can immediately be the talk of the town with your guests and add a dash of humor to the atmosphere, think well of the kind of image you wish to project because contemporary placeholders can really look very chic and stylish.

For example, if you are considering a beach wedding theme, you can get these really cute Adirondack beach chairs, little flip flops and even personalized shells as place card holders and they are just so adorable that you can easily give them away as wedding favors. You can get these to suit a range of different styles, themes, colors and budgets. So what you really have is a two-in-one thing that is beautiful as well as cost effective because you can always order such wedding favors from many internet sites who will also give you a discount on their items for bulk orders.

Place card holders can also be made like little photo frames that can have the bride and groom together with your names and wedding date on the back, think of starfish and shell photo frames that can also be used as place card holders. Cleverly crafted, you can get these potpourri sachets that look like wedding gowns, all embellished and filled with scented blossoms to scent your tables and be aromatic wedding favors while serving as unique place holders for your Cinderella themed wedding. Consider little boxes shaped like a bride and groom that hold a little surprise for your guests when they get home. You can also look for such designs modified to suit your personal taste and the look of your wedding.

Finally, you are just going to be surprised by the vast array of choices open for you. so don't skimp on these as they are going to play a very important role in not just your décor but also as wedding keepsakes that your guests will cherish. Often ignored, place card holders are now gaining a place of importance at the center of the wedding reception table.

Wedding Invitation Strategies

Someone has rightly said, "Marriage is a door which looks out upon a beautiful view. As that door is opened and the horizon unfolds before you, know that nothing is sweeter than the warmth of one hand within another." With weddings being so important for a person, every one likes that he shares his happiness with others and hence, wedding invitations are of great importance. Wedding invitations are the first glance your guests will get of your wedding. Wedding invitations offer the ideal opportunity to set the style and attitude for your nuptials. Today people are trying out different ideas for wedding invitations and each one wants his or her wedding invitation to be unique and exclusive.

One of the best ideas for your wedding invitations is making your own wedding invitation at home. If your chief precedence is cost, regular invitations can be purchased online from many websites and can be delivered to you within one week. However, more and more brides and grooms are designing their own wedding invitations and making them at home. This will make your wedding invitation unique. With the effortless accessibility of home computers and printers, creating your own invitations is quite simple and you can make specially designed invitations according to your taste. Invitations can take their flash from items found in nature, like acorns, shells, or leaves with raffia bows as accents. Hand-made papers are best suited and they look very elegant. To add a special touch, you can include pressed flowers, poems, confetti, CD's, photos or ribbons to your invitation.

Once you have determined the theme and the tone for your exclusive wedding invitation card, you can go out and shop for the best hand made paper available near you. Heavy paper stock that is off white in color looks great on invitations. No matter how huge the event you plan to have for your nuptials, an elegant wedding invitation adds to the grandeur of the ceremony.

In a wedding invitation, the wording is of great importance. Usually use a script font for the heading and a traditional font may be used for writing the body. While writing the wording of the invitation, you should remember that you should use full names and not nick names. Do not use abbreviations for writing the dates, addresses and time of the wedding ceremony.

The wedding invitation wording can be in the following format. If the bride's family is the host, you can start with:

Mr. and Mrs.…request the honor of your presence at the marriage of

Bride's name


to


Groom's name.

If both bride and groom's parents are hosts for the wedding, the wordings can be:

Mr. and Mrs. …


and


Mr. and Mrs.…

request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their children

Bride's Name


and


Groom's Name

If the bride and the groom are the hosts for the marriage, they can write:

The honor of your presence is requested at the marriage of

Ms. Bride's Name


to


Mr. Groom's Name

Finally, use these guidelines to help you plan your wedding invitation strategy. Most of all, try not to get too stressed out and you will find that planning your wedding can be fun!.

Choosing The Right Wedding Music

Music is the food of love and is a must at your wedding, whether it is traditional or contemporary. Here are some helpful tips with some basic things that you need to know about planning your wedding music.

Remember the music is something that is not just background sound, but it sets a mood for the wedding ceremony and also enlivens the atmosphere and helps ease conversation. Thus you need to find professionals who consider this as well as be able to keep in mind the aspects of the religious ceremony too. If you engage a professional musician for your ceremony they should be able to guide you through the process and make a plan that suits the kind of wedding you want. Traditional ceremonies are dominated by the organ but today guitars, pianos, harps and even violins are making a foray into wedding music.

When you sign the wedding contract, you should enquire if the music is part of the ceremony site fee. If you are having a traditional wedding, this kind of music is generally played or sung. In the event that you want only pre-recorded music, you need to check with the reception site to see if they have arrangements for a sound system and a technician. In some venues, there may be certain restrictions placed on the music being played, so be sure to check with the people officiating at the venue. If you are opting for a non-traditional ceremony, you will need to hire your own musicians to suit the kind of wedding you wish to have.

You will need to start with the music in the early stages of planning the wedding so you have ample scope to select the music you want as well as locate it if you wish to have pre-recorded music. Let's go through the different sections of music that will comprise your ceremony.

Prelude Music

This is the music that plays before the official ceremony begins and while the guests are arriving and being seated. This is generally in the first half hour and keeps your guests entertained.

Processional Music

It is the music that is played when the bride enters the church or other venue of the ceremony.

Bridal Processional Music

This music accompanies the bride walking down the aisle. It can form a smooth continuity from the processional music above or be a distinct piece on its own. This music has to be grand, traditional and celebratory to mark the bride's grand procession.

Recessional Music

This is when the groom takes the bride down the aisle and the wedding ceremony is at an end. This music is very lively and cheerful.

Postlude Music

The final music played for the ceremony so that your guests retain the flavor of your wedding while they are being ushered out.

There are also some additional pieces that can be requested so, your musician has to be prepared for taking impromptu requests. You can also ask them to rehearse certain favorite pieces that your family members love, especially for your parents or grandparents or a distinguished guest. Some music may take from 4-6 weeks to order so you must be able to secure that in advance.

Before you book anyone, be sure to ask for recommendations and try to go and watch them performing at another ceremony to be sure that you like their music and service quality. Your musicians will also need some rehearsal time, so ask if you can be present at least once during their final rehearsals. Do this so you can be sure to coordinate yourself with the music. If your musicians are going to be responsible for making the announcements, familiarize them with the timeline of the ceremony.

Finally, look around on the internet for classical pieces that can be freely available or even allow you to listen to samples of popular music. Online bookstores and music stores can also prove to be good resources, especially if you are looking for some unique pieces to complement a non-traditional wedding. Scour your local music stores and ask them for recommendations, they also have music samplers and sheet music.