Farheen and Farhan Nikkah Ceremony
February 6, 2010
Our Nikkah Ceremony from April 21, 2007 with all our friends and family
How to find an idea For Newlyweds
January 22, 2010
As a new chapter in both the new bride and groom begins together, there are so many things that are going through each other’s mind that it sometimes is best to sit down, document each one and start from there.
If the traditional values hold true, and you are getting married, the next order of business, chronologically is to plan for the honeymoon once you have become newlyweds. There are some newlywed couples that go ahead and plan their honeymoon at the same time as they are planning for their wedding, however, for other newlyweds, the idea leaves them wanting to plan once they have completed the incredible stressful planning of their wedding day. This could be considered an idea that newlyweds could find to do together and work towards planning something that will benefit the both of them.
With your lives together only ahead of you, ideas to find for newlyweds can come from so many people within their circle of friends and family that it is beneficial for the new married couple to embrace the advice and to learn and explore for themselves. Some advice that can be given is on what to do in terms of purchasing a home, a condo and anything else that involves wisdom that will help a younger partnership in life engage in better decision-making skills and making the right choices for themselves.
Other ideas for newlyweds include deciding on whether or not to start a family and if so, when. Then there are hard decisions on how to raise a family, renovate our home and small decisions that will shape the relationship that newlywed couples will have together. In the end, whatever a newlywed couple decides to do, that they have plenty of ideas for them to find and to implement those ideas together to flourish.
The Maid of Honor and Wedding Preparation
January 16, 2010
The wedding day is commonly referred to the day of the bride. The story behind this reference develops from a woman’s childhood imaginings of the perfected wedding image. When the bride takes the leap into marriage and has a goal of achieving the perfect image she must turn to friends and family in the marriage party to assist with the planning to make that fantasy a reality. The Maid of Honor often represents the leading individual found in these supporting wedding parties. The position of the Maid of Honor goes beyond the honor of an individual being awarded the position. The Maid of Honor is the support pillar for the bride during this time of great stress. When the bride needs to vent she turns towards the Maid of Honor, when she needs emotional support the Maid of Honor is there, and when she needs advice the Maid of Honor knows the Bride best. The Maid of Honor plays a pivotal role in the events pertaining to a wedding and wedding preparation.
In addition to wedding preparation support the Maid of Honor acts as a free wedding planner during the wedding process. On many occasions both the Maid of Honor and the Best man take part in coming to decisions regarding wedding preparation. For the bride the Maid of Honor represents an individual who will support her decisions during the wedding preparation process and always have her best interests in mind. The Maid of Honor also represents a buffer between the groom and bride when wedding preparation decision become heated. When issues over budget occur a bride is more open to hearing the opinions of her Maid of Honor over the opinions of a male pushing the issues of cost management. The Maid of Honor is also often the individual that knows the marrying couple best so she has a unique insight into the preferences of the couple. In the process of wedding preparation the Maid of Honor represents the best free wedding planner a couple could ever have.
Another event that the Maid of Honor has the pleasure of planning is the bridal shower. The style of a bridal shower can vary greatly and really depends on the tastes of the bride. When the Maid of Honor pursues the bridal shower portion of wedding preparation she should remember that this party needs to be designed around the brides preferences. All too often these parties turn south as the Maid of Honor makes the mistake of planning a party to her preferences rather than keeping the style of the bride in mind. Wedding preparation is a stressful time and the bridal shower represents an occasion where the bride can shed wedding responsibility and fall into the capable hands of the Maid of Honor. For the Maid of Honor this part of wedding preparation represents her chance to relieve the stresses of the bride and help reset her wedding stress clock. Picking out the right Maid of Honor is an essential task for the bride and groom due to the responsibilities this individual will undertake.
Choosing a Wedding Photographer – the 4 Ps of Wedding Photography
January 15, 2010
A month or so ago, Sarah (my fiancée) and I decided it was about time to find ourselves a wedding photographer for our own wedding. I therefore found myself in the unenviable position of meeting and interviewing photographers and trying to choose one that’s right for us. Our first port of call was of course the Internet. This gives us an idea of the photographers’ ability to make a nice photograph, clear, crisp where it should be and well exposed (not too dark or too light.) Most of the websites also give us an idea of the price – of how much we have budgeted to spend but not much else. The websites themselves generally seem to be designed by someone other than the photographer, as you’d expect and it’s very difficult indeed to get any sort of idea of the photographers personality. There are many, many variables that present themselves when selecting a photographer – as I’ve found… Are their pictures any good? Are the photographs artistic enough without being overly pretentious? Have they photographed enough weddings to know what they’re doing – but not too many to mean that ours will be just another job? Do they provide a disk of all photographs in hi-resolution? Will they try to make me buy an album? Will they put the photographs on the web for friends and family to view – at a decent resolution without watermarks? Will they visit us at home? Are they flexible with timings? Is the price right? Is the photographer someone I want to have at my wedding? Will they be presentable? Do they have full liability and indemnity insurance? The list goes on and on and on.
We decided the only way to cut through the hundreds of questions was to prioritise issues that mean a lot to us. These came down to Pictures, Professionalism, Personality and Price. I’ll call them the 4 Ps of choosing a wedding photographer if you like. I’ll share my thoughts on the wedding photographer selection process and how we picked our perfect photographer.
Pictures
This speaks for itself. Decide what’s important for you, (that’s the only thing that matters btw – not what your photographer thinks – it’s your opinion that counts…) for us it’s clear, crisp, well exposed pictures. Artistic, semi posed – some “posed candids” – but all looking natural. That’s what we want. You may want something different. Let your photographer know, s/he may not agree. If they really disagree – choose someone else, there are loads of photographers out there.
Professionalism
This is easy. My criteria is that ideally they should be members of one of the professional bodies SWPP, MPA etc – this means the photographer has to have signed up to a professional code of conduct and will be on time (early) well dressed (suited) polite and generally professional. This isn’t too much to ask, you can probably tell whether someone will be “professional” on the first meeting. First impressions count – trust your instinct. This person is comming to your wedding, one of the most important days of your life. If everyone else is in a suit looking smart, you’ll probably want them to be suited too. If you’re having a very casual wedding where the guests wear jeans – you might want the ‘tog to match.
Personality
Meet them. For us, they should be bending over backwards to want to photograph our wedding. They should not expect us to travel miles to meet us, they should come to us. The photographer we eventuallu chose is based in Derby – we’re based in Solihull (near Birmingham). It was totally acceptable for him not to want to travel the 60 odd miles to see us before we’d confirmed him; so he suggested meeting in the middle – which was fine by us. Another wedding photographer near Worcester, wanted us to visit them – a round trip of 100 miles. They weren’t willing to meet in the middle – so we didn’t. We met photographers that were a little over the top, and ones that struggled to make eye contact. One of the reasons we chose our photographer was the basis that he was a really nice bloke with whom we had instant rapport who travelled to meet us and chatted to us enthusiastically about our wedding for over an hour. If I’d have met this guy under different circumstances, he would have become a friend. This is someone who’ll get on with our friends and family – and we look forward to him being at our wedding.
Price
Don’t start me on this. 25 page A4 and a bit albums should not cost £750. Photographing a wedding (8 hours) editing 500 photographs (colour, crop, saturation, white balance, exposure) and putting them on a CDROM should not take 2 weeks full time. It should take one day (8 hours) for the photography and about 10 hours full time for the editing. For us, that’s 18 hours highly skilled labour (£35 per hour) plus tax, plus costs. Do the maths as they say. Albums are extra – but not extortionately extra.
My advice – work out what’s important to you and choose a photographer based on that. Meet them, see their work in print and book early as the good ones get booked up, and if you’d like me to photograph your wedding – or at least have a look at some of my work, go to www.yourhandinmine.co.uk
Good luck!
Steve Causon.
Best Marriage Proposal EVER!!!!!
January 7, 2010
I have know my fiance Tracey Wade for over 14 years and wanted to propose to her in a very unique way. Tracey thought we were just going to the movies on a Sunday afternoon. Little did she know, I had rented the entire theater and filled it with 160 of our friends and family. I made it seem as though we were showing up a little late to the movie and went in to the theater after the lights had gone down and the movie trailers were already playing. This was done to keep her from recognizing …
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!
Some Creative And Unique 40th Birthday Party Ideas In New York
August 18, 2009
Birthdays are always a great time to reflect on the past and welcome the life that lie ahead. It is always great to celebrate your birthday with your friends and family. Whether it is some milestone birthday such as 21st, 30th and 50th, or just another year, birthday always calls for a celebration. There are various creative and unique birthday ideas to make your day a very special and memorable one. You might even want to improvise and come up with other creative birthday ideas. There is virtually no limit to the creative 40th birthday party ideas. The 40th birthday party needs to be presented in such a way that is remembered for a long time. You may always consult your friends and family and come up with some truly creative 40th birthday ideas. You can also look over the internet for some truly unique and creative 40th birthday party ideas.
It is a common saying that “life begins at 40”. People often gets tempted to go for dull and boring 40th birthday party ideas due to the perception that largely surrounds the age. People at 40 are not expected to have fun. The common perception about 40th mark couldn’t have been more distant than truth. In fact the 40th year signifies a new beginning in the life of an individual. Choosing some wild birthday party ideas is the best way to show that you are still young at heart. New York offers several amazing and truly creative 40th birthday party ideas to make it a memorable event. It has some world class restaurants and event spaces to host a remarkable 40th birthday. The menu for any party has to be well planned and decided well in advance. The dishes may include fresh fruit, grilled chicken, sweet deserts and tasty snacks. A great menu and wine is the key to keep the guests happy and the fun going.
The most important thing in planning any birthday party is choosing the right them. Go for themes that would reflect your mood and break the common perception of dullness at 40. You may consider choosing themes such as Hollywood theme, Hawaii theme, beach theme, camping theme or the murder mystery theme. The activities planned for the night largely determines the success or the failure of any event. Include several fun activities that would keep the guests in their toes throughout the evening. Plan them properly so that enough time is devoted to each of the activity.
Inspiration for Your Wedding Favors
August 12, 2009
When it comes to choosing wedding favors many brides find themselves facing a dilemma over what they can afford and what is perfect for their wedding. The hardest part about favors is knowing what you want in the first place as the choice is so vast these days, brides find themselves overwhelmed with favors which may or may not fit the bill!
As with many things related to your wedding it is all too easy to go over the top and blow more of the budget than you can afford when it comes to your wedding favors. Many forget to add in packaging to the initial budget or fail to buy sufficient favors in the first place to give one to each guest! So when you start shopping for favors it is important to have a clear idea of what you want and how you want your finished favors to look.
Start by looking at the theme or look of your day. If you have chosen a specific theme for your wedding then that should be your guide for your favors. If you don’t have a theme then you will need to coordinate your favors to your wedding according to color or to some other common element used throughout your wedding – perhaps you have flowers on your invitations and wedding cake? Your favors provide the finishing touch to your tables and need to be able to unify the whole look you want to create.
Bridal magazines can be a good source of inspiration but they only really tend to feature a handful of pictures of ‘the latest trends’ in wedding favors all of which may not be relevant to you. It can be useful at this stage to make a few notes and to collect some pictures of favors you like and pictures of packaging and decorations that suit your wedding style.
If you find yourself too overwhelmed by pictures of seemingly perfect favors then bring friends and family to help you see the wood from the trees! They will be able to look at your choices with a more objective mind than you and can help you to eliminate some if not all of your initial choices. Friends and family also make good sounding boards and you should ask them what their thoughts are on your favors – you never know they could just come up with an idea that is bang on perfection!
Your final choice will inevitably come down to the size of your budget. But as you hit the shops you need to remember just three things – style, color and price. Eliminate those favors that don’t match on style, eliminate those that don’t match on color and eliminate those that don’t match on price. Finally, eliminate those you just don’t like! Hopefully whatever is left should present itself as being your perfect wedding favor.
Learn How to Choose a Wedding Dress
July 26, 2009
Choosing your wedding dress does not have to be a daunting experience. If you approach it with the right attitude it can be a fun experience. Remember every bride is beautiful on her wedding day so don’t make yourself and loved ones crazy choosing the right dress.
Get : Wedding Dress Advice
First, set yourself a budget of what you want to spend for your dress. What you want to spend will dictate where you will shop. If you are on a small budget you may want to shop at one of the large bridal discount stores. If money is not as much an issue there are many small bridal boutiques that offer a wide variety of lovely dresses.
Free : Great Wedding Advice
Secondly, make sure you have yourself properly fitted by a person who knows what they are doing so when you start your shopping you will know what size you need and what dress would have the proper fit for you. Make sure that you check out several styles and fits so you can narrow your search to make iot easier to decide.
Lastly, it is always a good idea to take a camera with you and an objective person when shopping. You will want to share how your final choice with folks at home and at the same time it is good to have someone there to help with your decision. Try to have only a few people helping you make the final decisions because too many opinions can make it harder for you. Only have your closes friends and family at the final decision session.
Learn How to Choose a Great Wedding Cake
July 26, 2009
Choosing the cake for your wedding can be both fun and tasty. Many bakers let you taste the variety of cakes and fillings they offer, while showing you pictures of the many decorative cakes they offer. Let them know the look you are interested in, the number of guests and what your budget is.
Get : Wedding Cake Advice
First, you must decide where you will get your cake from. Many venues that hold weddings offer cakes or you may choose to go with a bakery in your town that has a great reputation for wedding cakes. You should talk to friends and family and see if they know of a good place to get a wedding cake for your special occasion.
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Secondly, The kind of cake you want would be your next decision. Chocolate cake, white cake, yellow cake or a combination. Then what kind of filling you want for your cake, such as chocolate, fruit or different type of mouses for example. With so many options to choose from you want to ask the baker if you can try some of them to make your decision easier. You want something that is nice to look at but it is also important that the cake taste great.
Lastly, the shape of your cake, round, square, heart shaped. Then you must decide how many layers you want. This is usually dictated by the number of guests at your wedding. The greater number of guests the more layers on the cake and remember you do not want to run out of wedding cake.
