Why Hire a Certified Wedding Planner

You’ve made the decision to hire a wedding planner for your big event, but you’re not sure where to start looking for one.Don’t just start randomly going through the Yellow Pages, make sure you’re setting yourself up to hire a true professional to handle every detail of your wedding.

A certified wedding planner is trained to handle every aspect of your wedding planning, from helping you set a budget, ironing out the details of your ceremony, and of course planning your reception.There are a number of organizations and listings that will help point you to a certified wedding planner, and taking the time to research these sources and hiring someone specifically trained will help ensure that your wedding is all you want it to be.

Financial Planning

Whether you’re an accountant or someone who loathes handling finances, a certified wedding planner can make your wedding planning process much more streamlined with their professional training.  A certified wedding planner will have the expertise to be able to help you set up your wedding budget without creating any big surprises along the way.You’ll gain the confidence of knowing that your certified wedding planner knows the business of planning weddings inside and out, and create reasonable expectations for you regarding your budget.

Ceremonial Proceedings

If you want to create a ceremony that reflects both you and your spouse to be, a certified wedding planner will be well versed in the ceremonial proceedings of many different religions, traditions, and cultural/ethnic backgrounds.A certified wedding planner can help you find a way to seamlessly incorporate various elements of both your and your spouse’s backgrounds into one cohesive ceremony.Furthermore, if your ceremony will need to involved different religious figures they can help find the right people for you.

Reception

The most time-intensive aspect of planning your wedding is probably your reception, so having someone to work with that knows the trade of wedding receptions will really work to your advantage.A certified wedding planner will have all the necessary resources to find you the best vendors for all your reception needs.Additionally, a certified wedding planner will have the skills needed to pull together your reception in a mutually agreeable timeframe.A certified wedding planner will be familiar with caterers, etc. and can help you in the decision making process for your food, beverage and wedding cake choices.A certified wedding planner will also organize your reception planning by organizing food tasting and event preview sessions for you.

How to Plan a Culturally Themed Wedding

Planning your own wedding can be stressful, especially if you want your wedding ceremony and reception to be an experience your guests will never forget.

Because even the most unique weddings can seem redundant after awhile, one of the best ways to add a little spice to your ceremony and/or reception is to incorporate your cultural heritage into the design of the wedding.

Whether your heritage is Chinese, Indian, Greek, Irish, African-American or even American, there are numerous ways you could incorporate your own culture into the style of your wedding. Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re hoping to plan a cultural wedding:

The wedding music

Finding a specific band and/or songs to play at your wedding is one of the easiest ways to incorporate your cultural heritage into your wedding.  If you are of Irish descent, for instance, you could find a Celtic group to perform at your reception, or if you are African-American you could look into some R&B performers or even traditional African drummers to perform on your special day.

If you’re lucky enough to find the right performer, you could hire them o perform a song in the language of your culture, or even dress up in a traditional outfit and dance out a routine as well.

Sometimes it’s as easy as a Google search in finding the right band to perform at your wedding, but if are struggling to find the right band and/or musician online you could always do some research into the various musicians and bands that are known for performing a certain genre or style of music, and then download their music off iTunes.

Bridesmaids dresses

Incorporating your cultural heritage into the design of your bridesmaids dresses can be a little tricky, especially if you are on a strict budget. Not only that, some cultures (like the American Indian culture for example) believe that white is a color of mourning, so be sure to do the proper research beforehand before picking the colors for your bridesmaid dresses.

Sometimes it can be as easy and choosing a specific color for your dresses that will match the flag of your country, (for instance blue and red if you are English, or red if you are Chinese). You could also try shopping around for different designs, like a plaid design if you are of Scottish descent, or even traditional Geisha dresses if you are of Japanese descent.

Food and alcohol

When it comes to incorporating your cultural heritage into the food that will be eaten at your wedding, the world is your oyster…literally.

All you have to do is do some background research into the most common and favourable dishes that are typically eaten in a specific country, and you could also look into alcohol and/or beverages as well.

If you are of Asian descent you could serve some Saki or even rice wine at your reception, or if you are of French descent you could have some classy red and white wine to leave out for your guests.

Flowers

When choosing the flower arrangements for your wedding or even the bouquet for the bride, try to research the various traditional flowers and plants that are prominent in your country of heritage.

If you are planning a traditional Indian wedding, try to pick flowers like the water or gloriosa lily, orchids, and musk rose. For traditional French weddings look for lilies or yellow and purple irises.

Superstitions and customs

If you truly want to pull off a cultural wedding, it is extremely important to look into the various superstitions and customs for each heritage and culture.

For instance, if you are planning a Russian wedding it is custom for the male guests to bring flowers, but not to give yellow flowers as they are considered to be bad luck. For a traditional Swedish wedding, the bride must wear three bands on her wedding finger, and for Spanish weddings the bride must carry twelve coins given to her by the groom in a small bag as a symbol of the groom’s passion and support.

For a traditional Korean wedding, apparently it is superstition to incorporate ducks and geese into the ceremony as they represent faithfulness, and in a traditional Greek wedding the bride must carry sugar on her wedding day to “ensure she has a sweet life.” Also, in Eastern European ceremonies, it is custom for the bride and groom to circle the altar three times to represent their “first steps together as husband and wife.”

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she’s written on online graphic arts programs along with a piece on English degree programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, playing piano, and working with origami.

Related articles

• Do Older Brides Have “Rules” To Follow? (weddingsetups.com)
• Including Some Character For Your Marriage Ceremony Favor – Etiquette (frommyexperience.com)
• 2011 Wedding Hair Trends (joyofspa.com)

Interviewing your wedding planner / event planner

Planning a wedding is a huge undertaking, which is why many couples choose to go the wedding planner route. This is a very wise decision for many couples, especially if you don’t have the time, interest or inclination to plan a wedding on your own. In addition, although you wouldn’t think so, hiring an event planner to plan your big day can actually save you money because they will negotiate with vendors on your behalf to make sure you pay a more than fair price (and that you don’t get ripped off).

When you are scouting out planners, there are some key questions to ask to make sure that you choose the planner right for you and your wedding.

1. How much experience do they have? Probably the most important question to ask. Every professional has to start somewhere, but do you really want your wedding to be planned by someone with no professional experience? Probably not. So, you need to ask fairly specific questions about how many events the planner has planned, how big they were, how big the budgets were, what were the themes of the weddings, etc.

2. Do they have a portfolio book? Nothing speaks to the quality of an event more than pictures. From a planner’s book, you can get a sense for how detailed they are, their flair for design and how polished and finished their events appear.

3. Can they give you references? Of course, any decent planner will provide you with glowing references, and you should definitely call these references. However, you should go beyond this and look for past clients of the planner via Yelp! and other wedding websites where there are reviews of the planner and then try to contact those former clients.

4. Are they credentialed? Many wedding and event planners have taken courses or even completed training for event planning, and these programs can provide planners with a substantial amount of knowledge and preparation as well as official certification. In addition, many planners belong to professional organizations like the Association of Bridal Consultants. You should definitely weigh these factors heavily when evaluating your planners.

5. Do they have tools and resources that are part of their process? Some event planners have event planning software and some wedding planners have wedding planning software to help them stay well organized and streamline their operations, and these tools can really be an asset to both the planner and to you. They also show a commitment to their business and a desire to provide the best service possible to clients.

6. What is their personality like? Although this isn’t a precise question you can pose, it is an important question to ask yourself because you are going to have to work very closely with this person, so you should enjoy working with them.

7. What other value-add things can they offer you? Some wedding planners have special relationships with vendors so they can offer discounts that you can’t get anywhere else. Some event planners use professional event planning software or wedding planning software that includes special tools and features that clients can use. Be sure to ask if there are any special things that the planner can offer beyond their base services.

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Can’t Get Over the Royal Wedding?

Here’s How to Bring Some Windsor Magic Back Home.

If you’re still burning with Royal Wedding fever, you’re far from alone. And if you’d like a little of that imperial glamour to spark things up your own wedding, then there’s no reason at all not to take some style hints from Britain’s It Couple. After all, as the Bishop of London famously remarked, “all weddings are royal.” Here’s how to make sure yours is exactly that!

Baby Bridesmaids
The European take on bridesmaids tends to involve pint-sized versions of our own. Is there anything cuter than a gaggle of cherubs in curls and formal dresses, tottering down the aisle? Nothing against the grown ladies we see here, but when it comes to the cutest entourage out there, we think the little girls have it.

Nature, Inside and Out
One of Kate’s special requests was to have live potted trees (and we mean trees … they were 20 feet high!) line the aisle of Westminster Abbey. This served to soften an intimidating structure, and brought a cozy “English country garden” feel to some very formal proceedings. Kate’s sisters across the water are just as crazy for tying the knot in natural settings, so if a garden or vineyard wedding is calling your name, just consider that a sign of your high-born taste.

A Demure Dress
Designers everywhere breathed a concerted sigh of relief when they saw Kate’s Grace Kelly-influenced gown. Why the excitement? The hope that brides, at last, will tire of regulation strapless. Kate’s lovely gown has the potential to create a tipping point, as interest in alternatives has been rising. Case in point? The new illusion necklines and tulle sleeves showcased in recent designs by Pronovias, Enzoani, Priscilla of Boston and my personal favorite, Claire Pettibone.

Of course, if you want the closest thing to Kate’s actual dress and not one merely dipping a toe in the same aesthetics, not to worry: you’ve doubtless heard that A.B.S. by Allen Schwartz and JS Collections (look for the “Duchess” dress) are both bringing brazen knockoffs to a department store near you.

Groom’s Cake
Brides went wild for groom’s cakes this year, and we’ll see plenty of them in 2012, too. Similarly, the groom’s cake stole the show at Kate and Wills’ wedding. Sure, the “official” cake was a tour-de-force fruitcake with 17 layers … but it was the death-by-chocolate groom’s cake (involving 35 pounds of chocolate and over 1500 cookies) that Prince William zeroed in on to satisfy his royal sweet tooth.

A Traditional Bouquet
VIPs have been known to be saddled with monstrous bouquets you can barely hold, but by royal standards, Kate’s was a modest mixture of rather unshowy blooms … and yet another homage to the humble English garden. A laid-back mixture of lily of the valley, hyacinth and Sweet William, her fragrant bouquet revealed her refinement all the more … not least when it was finally placed at the Abbey’s sacred Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

Stateside brides are increasingly on board with Kate’s enthusiasm for the traditional all-white bridal bouquet. Former worries about the bouquet blending into the gown in pics have evaporated, now that pro cameras pick up every shade and nuance, and brides are loving the traditional “bridey-ness” of all-white blooms popping against some cool green foliage.

Something Borrowed
As today’s brides strive to embed more personal meaning and DIY touches in their big day, the importance of something borrowed has loomed bigger than ever. Sure, yours might not be a 1936 Cartier “halo” tiara lent by a queen, but almost every bride can pinch something truly meaningful from a sister, friend or mother. The old bit of magic in this tradition is to get a love boost from a happily-married couple that’s gone ahead, so go for it: proudly wear your grandmother’s locket or handkerchief, your sister’s veil, your best friend’s drop earrings, or a scrap of your mother’s wedding dress that’s pinned to your slip or wrapped around your bouquet stems.

About the Author: FavorIdeas.com has connected brides with the perfect favors and wedding themes since 2005. From our silk favor fans to our wide variety of personalized bridal shower and baby favors, FavorIdeas has helped thousands of brides convey this heartfelt message: “thank you for sharing in our special day.”

MULBERRY PAPER FLOWER WEDDINGS

Have you heard of the latest and newest trend? Mulberry paper flowers that you can use for any occasion. They are beautiful flowers that are great for weddings, proms, baby showers, bridal showers, holidays, and home décor.

Paper flowers from mulberry let you style and design your own where you can choose the flowers and colors you want because they come in many colors and types. Plus you can even spruce them up by adding beads, sparkles, ribbon, or wherever your imagination takes you.
 
Weddings especially, because everyone wants something different then anyone else’s or just to wow your friends and family. Mulberry paper flowers can be used for anyone that is special in your wedding that you desire to have a flower for on your special wedding day, also for mothers and grandmothers corsages, groomsmen boutonnieres, bridesmaid bouquets, the groom boutonnieres, and your bridal bouquet.  You can do your church decorations like an arch way or the pews or even a center piece for the church alter, plus your reception decorations like the tables or entry way, or around your cake table, or even maybe on your cake.

The mulberry paper flowers you won’t have to worry about them ever wilting and they keep their shape so they can be put together well ahead of time and designed any way you want. It will take some of the pressure off you so you can focus on other important things for your wedding.

The mulberry paper flowers you can repurpose them, reuse them, or redesign them, by putting them in your home decor, or for someone else’s special occasion, they are also great keepsakes for everyone invoved.

 Mulberry paper flowers will last for a very long time, they will even outlast you if they are stored and put up properly so they can be past down through the generations.

 These flowers are eco-friendly due to the fact that they come from a plant called a mulberry tree, which are not harmed because these trees are not cut down. Mulberry trees are only stripped of their bark to make the paper and the bark reproduces. So this way the tree continues to grow and the trees are never harmed which makes the paper very eco-friendly.

To check out these beautiful eco-friendly flowers and learn more check out our website at http://www.paperflowerweddings.com

Choosing the Perfect Wedding Dress

When little girls spend their maths classes daydreaming of weddings what do they dream of first? The perfect wedding dress: a gown in ideal embellishments, and sweeping train, the perfect embellishments, and the ideal shoes.

Many brides are lucky. They may search high and low, braving chilly dept stores and in your face bridal shops, but eventually they come face-to-face with The One. They know this is The One as they start crying, or their mother or chums all start crying instantly. All of the planning …. the theme, the right sort of venues …. it all springs to life.

Other brides are not as lucky. They’ve searched just as hard, working their way thru shops across 3 or four states, but they haven’t found The One. Instead, they’ve found three or 4 Contenders, all of which are serviceable and nice, but not earth-shattering sufficient to tell them that now is definitely time to stop the searching and get on with the planning. These brides have it harder.

Even if you are the first kind of bride, purchasing the dress is such a significant call that you run a risk of falling into that wallet-skinning category known as the Two-Dress Bride. Here are some tips for picking the ideal dress and avoiding that horrible fate.

1. Bring the entourage, but don’t buy. It is fun and helpful to bring your mum, mates or sisters on the dress-shopping expedition. It gives you a buffer against an overbearing sales staff, and it’s entertaining to see if your impressions of perfection are shared by your family, not to say how they will love being part of such an important decision. But no matter how ardent everybody gets over a certain dress, don’t buy in the heat of the moment. Give yourself time to rethink and buy with a cool head later, alone. The vast majority of dresses are non-returnable, so when you have purchased it, you’ve bought it.
2. Don’t buy too early unless you may. Bridal gowns can take four to 10 coming months to come from the manufacturer, but there isn’t any reason to buy over a year previously, unless your selected style is going to be abandoned. Give yourself some time to sit on your decision. Once you pick a robe, you can see one hundred others nearly like it. You can become a walking encyclopedia on that style of gown. All the better if you have room to choose.
3. If you have acquired “The One,” stop shopping. Any more window-shopping at this point will only lead you down the line toward the dreary land of Two-Dress Brides. What you want to do instead is remember that blissful feeling of having tried on The One. Go get The One out of the closet, put it on and stand before the mirror. You will remember precisely why it’s the One.
4. If you have acquired “The One” and can’t stop shopping, get a second opinion. Show your first and 2nd selections to other brides. Be honest — tell them you have already remortgaged your apartment for the 1st dress, but you suspect this second dress might be It. They are going to be truthful, too — the 1st one was better. You can feel reassured.
5. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll sell the old dress and select a new one.” This old saw of the Two-Dress Bride just will not work. You’ll never get more than a fraction of what you paid for your first dress if you bought it new.
6. Don’t be scared to target high — regardless of what your position. Some brides knew from the start they wanted a designer label, but life just failed to cooperate by making them heiresses. Yet all is not lost if you’re willing to buy courageously. At any given moment, a better-heeled bride is selling her once-used St. Pucchi or Ulla-Maija on eBay. She paid thousands on thousands, but you, smart client, will pay half that or less. To take this road, you need to shop earlier than other brides so you’ll have a choice of gowns.
7. Shop on the internet, but never send a check. Bridal robe companies infrequently have a technique of vanishing overnite. Whatever what the proprietor tells you, never make a purchase as large as a wedding gown without the chargeback protection of a Credit card . If they say they won’t take plastic, move on.
8. Don’t hold out forever for The One. Some brides never find The One. What they do find is some dresses they look handsome in. If you are this bride, try beginning your planning from the theme rather than the dress. You will potentially finally get sick to death of dress shopping. When that happens, “good enough” actually will be ok. Focus on other sides of the wedding that mean a lot to you, like the venue, the food, or the inevitable adoration of your soon-to-be husband.

Choosing the right wedding dress for your wedding can be a tough decision, visit yourweddinggowns.com and find your own wedding dress.

Do I Need Wedding Insurance?

Most weddings cost far more than you would spend on a decent saloon car. It’s unthinkable that you would drive your brand new car without insurance cover, yet so many couples take a bigger financial risk by not insuring their wedding costs against the risk of total loss. By comparison to cars, house content, possessions, valuables, etc., wedding insurance costs very little for comprehensive cover. The relatively small premium for wedding insurance will give you peace of mind as you plan for your wedding.

Wedding insurance policies give a wide range of cover for many eventualities that could affect your wedding day. However, it is unlikely that small, irritating events would be included in the cover, such as rainfall, cloud, etc. but stronger weather forces that affect the wedding day almost certainly would, such as floods, landslides, earthquakes, etc. If adverse weather or other unpredicted events were to cause your wedding or reception venue to close or become inaccessible then your wedding insurance policy would provide a suitable level of cover. The same policy would cover unpredictable events with the wedding car supplier or the caterer or even if the bride or groom should sustain an accident which caused the wedding to be canceled for the planned date. A low premium insurance policy to cover all of the wedding day suppliers and events will compensate for those unexpected situations that can leave you seriously out of pocket.

Don’t Forget to Plan for Wedding Insurance Early

When you start to plan the wedding arrangements most couples wouldn’t consider including insurance as a part of their list – but you should! When you have set your wedding date and you start to book the suppliers for your wedding you are starting to make financial obligations for the big day – at that stage you should have your wedding insurance in places as well. This will give you a maximum period of cover for your insurance fee as well as adequate cover should anything go wrong in the period leading up to your wedding day that may leave you financially disadvantaged.

Wedding Insurance Policies

Most wedding insurance policies are similar, both in price and in the level of cover that they offer, but it’s still worth shopping around to find the cover that best suits you. The internet and insurance brokers are a great source of information for the levels of cover offered by different companies. A good policy will include cancellation (but unlikely that this would include a change of mind!), the wedding rings and other wedding jewelery, wedding dress, the Groom, Best man and bridesmaid’s outfits (if you are hiring formal attire, then check the insurance requirements), venue(s), caterer, transportation, florist, personal accident for the Bride and Groom if this affects your wedding plans, personal liability, wedding cake damage, photographer (including destruction of the wedding photographs), wedding gifts (ensure that cash and vouchers are included).

The insurance cover for your honeymoon should be arranged separately from the wedding insurance. Your honeymoon would normally be covered by travel insurance, generally arranged at the same time as making your travel arrangements. However, you may wish to consider that the travel insurance would not normally cover cancellation as a result of your wedding plans having been disrupted, so you may want to include cover for this with your wedding insurance policy or take out separate cover for this specific risk.

Peace of Mind for Your Wedding Day

Planning and organizing your wedding can be a very enjoyable experience, leading up to one of the most exciting and important days of your life. No one expects things to go wrong, and they rarely do, but you should have the reassurance of wedding insurance to give yourself peace of mind over any unexpected or unpredictable events that could disrupt your wedding day. When you start to plan your wedding day and book the suppliers, take out your wedding insurance policy at the same time. This gives the maximum period of cover and means you can concentrate on your wedding whilst you have the reassurance that the whole event is covered by your wedding insurance policy. Enjoy planning for the big day and your wedding day itself – congratulations, it’s one of the most enjoyable days of your life.

Article by Steve Shaw, of wedding services and information. The website offers advice and information on organizing and arranging your wedding.

Photo by lemonjenny

Five Wedding Planning Mistakes

Just as with any big show, your wedding day will not be perfect – but that’s okay. While you cannot plan ahead for every little detail or problematic situation that may arise, you can arm yourself with some helpful advice to be prepared at all times for any potential wedding mistakes. But before you begin planning your special day, consider these five biggest wedding preparation and planning mistakes that amateur ‘wedding planners’ often make.

1. Not Budgeting Costs

It’s hard to believe, but true – many couples do not create a budget when it comes to wedding preparation and end up in a deep hole of debt. The very first thing you should do to avoid disastrous (and bankrupting) wedding mistakes is devise an itemized budget, allowing for the necessary requirements, such as a venue for both the ceremony and reception, food and drinks, flowers, favors, decorations, etc. If anything is left over, either use this money for your honeymoon or spend it on something a little more frivolous, like a horse drawn carriage for your departure from the reception. Read more

What Not To Do At A Wedding Shower

Wedding showers are all about the bride.  Sometimes you know her really well and the shower is a happy, fun-filled occasion.  Other times, you barely know the girl and you have no idea how to act, what to get her, or what to say.  In each situation and every one in between, here is a cardinal list of rules of what not to do at ANY wedding shower.

Unless it’s ONE OF THOSE Showers, Stay Away from Inappropriate Gifts

Unless the shower is designated for gifts of the *ahem* more intimate nature, stay away from sex toys and risque lingerie.  One famous story is floating around the internet that regards a ninety-year-old grandmother who was so offended at a shower gift that she spit her dentures out and stormed away.  We want to avoid offended grandmothers.

Keep Your History To Yourself

There are countless stories out there about girls who attend the bridal showers of women who are marrying their ex boyfriends.  Maybe that’s not clear, so let’s put it into second person narrative.  You’re at a shower.  The girl who is getting married is getting married to a guy you used to date.  Whatever you do, do not talk about your relationship with this girl’s groom-to-be.  It’s in poor taste and makes everyone feel awkward.

Other Don’ts

Don’t:

tell dirty jokes
get naked
encourage anybody else to get naked
get wasted
get wasted and  naked
be mean to the  bride
be mean to the bride’s mother, grandmother, sister, best friend, etc.

If you follow these simple rules, you should be fine.  If you think of something other than one of these things to do to offend people, PULEASE write to tell me about it.

Fearless Photographer: Weddings

Written for the photographer who is looking for a fresh, unique approach to wedding photography. Covering new styles and concepts for shooting such as fashion bridal photography and photojournalism, Fearless Photographer: Weddings, teaches readers how to use both their equipment and their people skills to capture beautiful and creative images of weddings that truly show the couple’s personality and the emotions of the day. The book also shows how to make the most out of any setting to get great photos whatever the wedding location might be. Fearless Photographer: Wedding Photography Sample Images (Click each image for a larger

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