Wedding Proposal & Marriage Advice : How to Announce Your Engagement to Family & Friends
February 22, 2010
Announcing an engagement to family and friends should be done by a pecking order with immediate family notified first. Tell family and friends about a wedding announcement withtips from an experienced marriage analyst in this free video on marriage advice. Expert: Joe Cuenco Contact: www.ihatehimsomuch.com Bio: Joe Cuenco is the author of Married For 5000 Years, a research book that analyzes marriage. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz
Fun Ideas For Announcing Your Engagement
January 19, 2010
This article provides some excellent tips on how to announce your engagement that you and your future spouse can consider. I hope you enjoy the read and get inspired for your upcoming wedding.
Mail Announcements
The traditional way to announce that you have just been engaged is to mail letters or cards to family and friends. You can buy ready-made engagement cards on stationery stores. But the better way of course is to make a personalized letter or card so that the recipient can feel how important he or she is to the couple.
To save you money, and effort, use this also as a save-the-date card. Now, if you are techie and you do not want to consume too much paper, electronic mailed announcements can be the ideal option for you. Just bear in mind that you should only send out mail announcements to people you intend to invite on your wedding day.
Publish in Local Newspaper
Another customary way of announcing an engagement is by having a published announcement in the local newspaper. First, you have to call up the newspaper staff to inquire about guidelines, fees, deadlines or rules about announcements. Ask if you can send in photographs, graphic designs, and your own words. Typically, a newspaper engagement announcement includes information about the two of you such as educational background, professional credentials, and parents’ names. Wedding date is not usually included to avoid gatecrashers or home burglaries.
Throw a Party
For those who love to party, the most fun way to announce the news is to throw a wonderful bash consisting of family and friends. To add to the fun factor, do not tell anyone that you and your future spouse are engaged so that it would be a surprise. Instead, let them think that it is just a regular gathering. Do not forget that you should only invite to the party those whom you are going to invite at the wedding so that you do not offend anybody.
Make a Wedding Website
The Internet is a great venue for announcing your engagement. It is accessible, easy-to-do, and simple! You do not have to be a techno-savvy to pull this one off. Many wedding websites offer guides and templates on how to create personal wedding websites as well as user-friendly website building tools that you can use to inform family and friends about the upcoming wedding and keep them updated with the latest details.
Give Away Announcement Gifts
This is not a common practice but if you want to make your engagement extra special, you can consider sending little gifts that would come with the engagement announcement. For example, you can give away small potted plants with a tag line that says, “You have seen how our love has bloomed so we want to share with you the news that we are getting married soon!” You can also send a set of decorative ribbons that recipients can use for wrapping gifts. To give it a fun creative twist, tie one of the ribbons into a knot and scribble on that ribbon something like, “We are tying the knot!”
There are various traditional and creative ways you can use to let people know that you are getting married. At the end of the day, it depends on your and your partner’s choice on how you are going to announce your engagement. Whatever way you choose to do it, you can expect surprised and happy reactions from people closest to you.
Bridal Speeches
January 18, 2010
Bridal speeches are becoming ever more popular, but as they are a relatively new tradition, it is often a daunting task to undertake. As a bride you need to be clear about your reasons for wanting to make a speech so you can incorporate this into your preparation.
Embracing New Tradition
Wedding traditions have evolved over the years to encompass the integration of different cultures and norms, as well as the transformation of the modern bride. One such tradition is the growing trend of the bride making a speech at her wedding. In old tradition, it has always been the responsibility of the best man, the groom and the father of the bride to make a speech. However, with the modern woman becoming more independent and more empowered, bridal speeches are becoming an increasing norm. The advantage of new tradition is that you are pretty much free to set the precedent as there are no set rules as to when or how a bride delivers her speech. Whatever you decide, make sure you are confident with your method of delivery and you are clear about your objectives for doing a bridal speech.
The Bridal Speech
Although bridal speeches are a new phenomenon, there are certain guidelines you can follow when preparing your speech. Keep your speech short and sweet, you don’t want to overshadow the important tradition of the groom and best man speech. Be prepared that if you are planning to deliver a speech that you do not have slurred speech. Keep in mind that is will forever be part of a very special memory. Generally the bride chooses to do a speech because it is particularly important to the bride to be able to personally thank family and friends for attending and particularly to pronounce a special message to the groom in front of an audience. So it is important to prepare your speech well in advance and to then deliver the speech loudly and clearly, and with confidence. It is also useful to be prepared that your nerves may get the better of you, and that if the time comes, you can opt out of delivering your speech as nobody would traditionally be expecting it.
With the bride giving a speech as the new addition to the wedding tradition, there is an open slate to prepare a speech as she sees fit. The key is to have a clear message to impart and to be earnest when making your speech.
Thank you for the time you spent with me reading this article about bridal speeches! I’d also love to meet you on my blog to have a chance to tell you more about wedding speeches – actually you could start by browsing the category page for bride and groom speeches right away – you will want to share it with others.
Beautiful Wedding Favours and Table Decors Worth Remembering
January 6, 2010
Weddings are one of the most memorable days in anyone’s life. This applies not only to the couples during the ceremony and reception, but also for the family and friends who join to witness the blessed event. Emotions run high on wedding days, with tears shed by bridal couples, family, and friends alike. While the bride and groom will always remember their special day, how are the guests supposed to hold onto that day as well? To make the event truly memorable, proper wedding favours should be given to guests at the special event in order to leave guests with a lasting memory of the day.
Wedding favours are tokens of gratitude that you as a couple impart to your guests to thank them for taking their time to attend and witness your blessed union. Unlike food, which can vanish quickly, favours are meant to be a lasting memory. These favours are supposed to have decade’s long shelf life. It would be wonderful to be 60 or 70 years old, to look back at your life and have wedding favours from family and friends along the way to reminisce about as reminders of the love shared by others along the way.
In this regard, the first token given to your guests is the most important because it symbolizes the start of your commitment to each other as a devoted and loving couple. Therefore, what are examples of beautiful wedding favours that can be given to last for the ages? Wedding tokens can be given separately as guests are about to leave or these can be laid out on the dining table during reception so that guests may easily pick them up. Of course, in each instance it is best to prepare extra in case guests decide to take more than one.
Using favours as your wedding table decorations can be quite convenient. Imagine being less burdened because the table decorations used would be the favours! In addition, if you are very innovative with your designs, these could potentially be used in the course of dinner as well. Examples of good table décor which are usable as favours are candle sconces, candles, greeting cards, menus, programmes, napkins, fragrance bottles, and stuffed toys.
The type of token that you give away should depend on the overall theme of the wedding and the table design. Using a pile of cuddly teddy bears embroidered with your initials as your wedding table decorations would be great for a child-like themed wedding. Likewise, using embossed wine glasses would complement more serious and formal wedding. No matter what theme you choose, it is extremely important to personalize each and every wedding favour that you give away. Without any mark of personalization, wedding table decorations are just table décor and will lack the special and unique feel intended for everyone who attend the event.
Wedding Speeches: A Quick Outline
January 5, 2010
Wedding speeches are reserved for the most important members of the wedding party and closest family and friends.
If you are one of the ones expected or asked to do a wedding speech, then preparing is a must. Winging it just won’t cut it especially when your wedding speech will be on video from now until eternity.
Wedding speeches should not last more than three or four minutes. It reminds me of that famous quote by John F. Kennedy,
“Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.”
It’s actually much harder to do a short wedding speech than a long one which reminds me of another quote,
“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” –Mark Twain
You have to have an opening and closing. You probably want to throw in a story and at least one piece of humor. And it all has to make sense. Please, please, please don’t apologize for how bad you are as soon as you stand up, which reminds me of yet another quote by Kin Hubbard,
“Why doesn’t the fellow who says, “I’m no speechmaker,” let it go at that instead of giving a demonstration?” hahaha I love that one.
Here’s a quick outline for a wedding speech:
Note: each one of the bullet points below could have many variations
· Opening – Could be comments about the lovely affair · Comments about the bride and groom · Story about your interactions with the bride, groom or both. · Humor- Pick something that applies to them and is appropriate · Closing – Something touching · Toast – Brief and touching or funny
You’ll rarely be the hit of a wedding because of your wedding speech and rightfully so. The bride and groom are the stars. But poor preparation of your wedding speech certainly could make you the laughing stock.
Remember, you are going to perform your wedding speech live, but you’ll be on video forever. Take the time to prepare.
Tom Antion is a speech expert and author of Wedding Speeches This immediately downloadable e-book gives complete wedding speech instructions and etiquette along with 200 pieces of wedding speech humor.
Bridal Showers
January 5, 2010
So you recently were engaged and the wedding day is rapidly approaching. It seems as if time is flying by and you can’t stop to relax for just one moment. Well, bridal showers can do just that for you. Bridal showers provide a break from all the stress of planning a wedding. If you have freindly bridesmaids or nice family members, then they might throw a bridal shower for you. What a wonderful time for a bride to enjoy herself, her friends and family, and last but not least, her gifts!
Bridal Showers can be a fun time or they can turn out to be a not-so-fun time. It all depends on how the bridal shower is set up and what happens at the bridal shower. Once someone has set up a date for your bridal shower, make sure you invite family and friends that you are close with. It’s always a special time when people that are close to you are with you for a get together. It’s probably smart to invite people that live close by and not far away.
Bridal showers are a time of fellowship and gift giving. Whether it be wedding jewelry or bridal jewelry, the gifts are to be welcome and enjoyed by the bride. If you were to invite someone to the bridal shower and not to the wedding, this would seem rather rude, so try to avoid this at all costs.
As for guests that are invited, make sure that you bring a gift that is on the bride’s gift registry. When a bride and her groom go registering for gifts, they have in mind that they will be getting some or most of these gifts at the bridal showers and the wedding. It is always nice to open a gift to see that it is one that a bride registered for.
If you decide to not give a gift on the registry, but rather give a gift that you would like to choose yourself, then try giving wedding jewelry. The wedding jewelry can be made from pearls or crystals. Bridal jewelry comes in all kinds of styles and colors and a bride would love to recieve wedding jewelry that she could wear at the wedding.
Make sure that you record everyone who gave you a gift at the bridal shower. This is probably the most important thing you should take care of at a bridal shower. Make a list of all the people and what gifts they gave so that you can personally thank them by sending them a thank you card. Mentioning what they gave you shows that you remember and took the time to care.
What makes bridal showers fun are when games are played. If it’s all women, you can get a little rowdy by playing fun games with a hint of sexuallity in them. This always add a little spice to bridal showers.
Hopefully by reading this article you are better prepared for your bridal showers and will have an exciting and memorable bridal shower for yourself. Best Wishes!
Wedding Party:- Wedding party is the most precious life activity
January 5, 2010
The most memorable day in one’s life is wedding. So to make this wedding more memorable people organize there wedding parties as these parties are the way to get together with the family and friends. Wedding party decorations are really a pleasure to see as they are differently decorated with respect of other parties. There are many different ways to decorate the party venue. Some decorate them with lots of flowers and some with lots of lights. These parties are held at special places like resorts and five starts hotels but now a day to make them really special they are planned at cruses. The decoration of every weeding party is almost same what changes is the theme of that party. Some have fixed dress codes to make it look more extraordinary. The decoration should be done in such a superb way that it reflects the happy mood of the organizer and set very one amazed. While the decoration is done the most important thing to keep in mind is that see whether the decoration is done according to your need and it should not be over done.
Invitations are the formal way of inviting people to join them. These party cards are bit different from the wedding cards. These cards have simple design and minimum content. In olden times wedding cards are given hand to hand but now a days party invitation cards are sent through mails and posts. The cards can be made according to the requirement they should be neither to loud nor be to dull. The illusion should be minimum and good. Colors like ivory, off white, white, silver and other soft and light shades are elegant for wedding party invitations card. The cards should in such fonts that every one can read it they should not b very small and direction of the venue should me mentioned for everyone which make card more beautiful.
As wedding is very important for family people same as gifts for it. Gifts are the glorious way to express greet and happiness for the occasion. Wedding party gifts are chosen with lots of understanding as it is not only special for the family but for the one who is getting married. A wedding gift can be as simple as a flower and as expensive as a diamond ring. There are few ideas for the gifts which u can give on some ones weeding party:-
1. Wall Clocks
2. Personalized Crystal Glasses
3. Purse / Wallet
4. Jewelry Box
5. Pendant and Photo Frames.
Party without songs is like party wasted. So make the wedding party more funky music is added as a flavor. Like all the parties wedding parties are also entertaining. In wedding parties not only traditional but jazz and rock also played with a lot of contemporary music. Few lists of wedding songs which are played and groove the people are:
1. Paisa – De Dana Dan
2. Tan t Nan – kaminey
3. Blame It on – The Boogie by Jackson 5
and many more rocking songs. As wedding party is the first and last party the one can enjoy with the special one.
Save Yourself From Going Over Your Wedding Budget
August 26, 2009
Couples spend an average of almost $25,000 for their once in a lifetime wedding. This is usually over the budget they plan on spending. And by wedding, I consider just the cost of the wedding day itself. The honeymoon and wedding rings are separate expenses altogether. I’m sure you can imagine why most newlywed couples go into debt for the first couple of years after marriage. Debt problems can sure toss out the idea of your honeymoon phase lasting for too long. A wedding planner can keep you on track and find you the affordable rates you need to plan the wedding you always wanted. A wedding planner can be so resourceful, that it’s possible to spend less than you imagined it would cost.
Because of the long standing relations a Wedding Planner has with a variety of contacts, it’s easier for them to get a discount than others. This would be for the flowers, the wedding venue, the catering, the wedding decorations, lighting and sound equipment, etc. So you’ve got that Vera Wang wedding dress you’ve been thinking about since you were a girl? Why not save some cash in other aspects of your wedding. Being on a budget doesn’t always have to mean that you compromise on class. You can still have a classy, beautiful, impressive wedding on a budget.
Don’t feel guilty as the big day gets closer, to include that friend of a friend, or that colleague you kind of talk to. Adding to your guest list will mean rearranging your seating chart, adding another table and which means your catering order also goes up.
Most newly engaged couples are sending their invitations by email these days, which saves a lot of cash. Even if you feel a printed wedding invitation is necessary, you may want to think about printing them only for immediate family and friends and sending the rest by email. Also see if you can hand deliver them to family and friends nearby. If you tell your guests to RSVP by email, it will make it easier to organize which guests are coming for your wedding.
Evenings during the week or Sundays are the most unlikely days for holding a wedding. If you choose one of these days you will get a better rate than others interested in booking that venue. When you talk to your wedding planner see if you can have a per plate entrée sequence for your guests rather than an open buffet. Open buffets are more expensive than a per head catering expense. Check out your options and then consider what easily gels with your budget. Instead of an open bar, arrange with your wedding planner to have wine and beer served to your guests for limited hours during the evening.
Evaluate how many bridesmaids you have and reflect if the number of dresses is tipping your budget overboard. 2 or 3 bridesmaid will look just as nice as 5. After all, it is your big day and you shouldn’t be worrying about the expense of your bridesmaid dresses. Save yourself and your husband from dealing with uncomfortable cutbacks in your daily life for the next couple of years after marriage. Hire a wedding planner in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoy a beautiful wedding at an affordable budget.
How to set up a wedding budget?
August 26, 2009
Every wedding has a budget. And some necessary steps should be kept in mind while planning any wedding. All your preparations and arrangements should be covered in decided budget. The only way to keep your wedding expenses to go out of control, is to create a realistic budget for every element of your plans about the wedding. Sticking to a budget is not so easy, with a wedding, but you can take the sting out of controlling your expenditures by taking these smart first steps in setting up a budget that will work for you instead of against you. While planning any wedding you should thing as a professional wedding planner.
You my start planning your wedding with the below given steps:-
- Make a final list of things you need most importantly. Think about that what is most important for you, such as the venue, decoration, catering or a designer wedding gown, the flowers, a great photographer. Those categories are going to be where you’ll devote a greater part of your available budget, since they are vital parts of your dream wedding.
- Make a list of what is not very important. Keep them in the list of less necessary things. If at last you save some money you can add to these less important things.
- Check out the cost of each and every thing. No need to rely on others. Try all the costs by yourself and from different places and then final the best based on quality and reasonable cost.
- Divide all the items on your budget list according to who is taking on which portions of the plans, and then find ways to get the best product or service for less. You can share the information with family and friends.
- Venue decision is the main part of wedding planning. Venue should be easy to find, comfortable to enter with a wide entrance and a nice decoration as per your budget. A good parking space is necessary. Sitting arrangements should based on number of guests.
Creating a smart and flexible wedding budget is a team effort, so work on it together with your family and friends. Just make all the arrangements with a confidence that you can arrange and manage everything within the desired budget. Do not take wedding planning with stress, instead you can enjoy it.
Wedding Planning and Organization on a Budget
August 25, 2009
Wedding planning and organization is so important. If you find that you are an unorganized person you will need the help of someone with some experience. A personal wedding planner is someone who helps you create lists such as your to do list, your budget and then begins helping you select your cake, invitations, church and so on and so forth. If you do not have the money available for a personal wedding planner then you can use an online wedding planner.
An online wedding planner can help you create your budget. This is the most important element to create before you begin shopping and spending. A budget will give you an idea of all the costs involved in a wedding. If you realize that you went over the budget in one area you will then need to take some funds from another area of the wedding planning.
A budget will help keep a lot of stress out of the planning. If you stick with the budget you will find that you are able to get more for your money. You will be surprised at the discounts various facilities will give you when you share the amount that you have budgeted for that service or product. The flower shop may take an extra thirty percent off of the flowers that you really want. Be sure to get a few prices to compare and choose the price that fits best in your budget.
The wedding planner will assist you in creating an online gift registry. It will help you in creating your guest list as well. Your guest list should be created within your budget. If you find that you do not have the budget needed to invite all your family and friends then you may need to consider other creative ways to share your day with everyone.
You could also opt to have an additional small reception right at the church with cookies and finger foods for everyone and then have a small intimate reception for the very close friends and relatives. You can also create a wedding website where you can share you love and excitement with everyone without having to invite them all to the reception.
Planning an organized wedding on a budget is easy with the help that is available from online experts. There are many wedding planning tools available online that can assist you in planning the perfect wedding day.
