The first installment in a series about how you can prevent your wedding from becoming an example of a worst case scenario!

Today we focus on…

Part 1: The Bride

You may have heard the saying, “If you can’t be a good example, then be a cautionary tale.” Well, you don’t want to be that bride people talk about and you don’t want your wedding catastrophe viewed on youtube by millions of people, right? Here are a few tips.

1. Don’t try out any new foods in the days leading up to your wedding – you don’t want to have to deal with an allergic reaction or, worse, explosive diarrhea!

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2. Try your dress on again one week before your wedding just to make absolutely sure you fit into it properly.  Wear it for at least 1o minutes and wear all of the underthings and accessories you plan to wear on your big day. Bend over, sit down, dance, try out some stairs – anything you will be doing on the day of your wedding.

3. Wear your shoes in- how many hours will you wear them during the event? Try wearing them for this same amount of time and make sure you can do it. Sore, blistered feet will have a negative effect on your wedding night…

4. Don’t get drunk! There are already too many examples of drunken brides on YouTube. Yes you want to have fun, but remember you also want to look good in the photos and you want to REMEMBER the event! Try drinking a glass of water between each alcoholic beverage if you will find this a challenge. I found that I didn’t even have the chance to drink – I was so busy getting pictures taken, giving toasts, dancing, etc – the time by went so fast.

5. Don’t try out a new type of deodorant or tampon on your wedding day! And, seriously, don’t put deodorant on your FACE like this lady…

Any other tips? If you can think of any please share them in the comments and I might feature them in Part 2 – coming soon!

Are You Planning Your Own Event?

Here are some helpful tips if you want to plan your own wedding, from someone who has been through the experience!?

The Six R’s of Planning Your Own Wedding:

3 R’s

1. Realistic

By realistic, perhaps I mean pessimistic – but it’s actually for your own good. Don’t take any chances when planning this important day. Don’t leave things to luck. For example, don’t assume that someone will pick the best man up from the airport. Arrange it. Don’t assume that the caterer knows where the Main Hall you keep referring to is located – there might be several places called Main Hall in your city. Don’t hope it won’t rain, have a contingency plan in case it does.

Also, you need to be realistic about what you can ‘pull off’ all by yourself. If you’re not hiring a wedding planner, consider taking things down a notch or two. (You’ve heard the expression KISS before, haven’t you? Keep It Simple, Stupid!) Reduce the guest list size, try to hire caterers and rental companies that provide service staff and set up/tear down, or consider a destination wedding – many ‘destination’ hotels help out with services for weddings…

2. Research

There is a lot of information online and in wedding planning books. Also, make sure you research any vendors you want to use. Wedding Planners often have established relationships with vendors. Your vendor could suddenly go out of business or not show up – ask for customer references, check with the Better Business Bureau, look online to see what other people are saying about their experience.

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Planning Your Perfect Wedding Together

You’ve said “Yes!” when he got on one knee and popped the “Big” question and now you have the extraordinary but exciting job of planning for your wedding and becoming man and wife.

Now if anyone has ever told you this is easy, they are either lying or have never been married!
Fortunately, you can have a perfect wedding day no matter what your budget and resources available by planning and carefully preparing for your wedding day. Becoming engaged is relatively simple but planning and executing your wedding is the first real task confronting many couples.

The first step is to realistically budget for your wedding and this means deciding what you are going to actually include. No-one except the super-rich can have everything so this is a true test of your commitment to one another and how well you are able to compromise with each other.

Establishing the parameters of your wedding day is the part of this whole process where conflict is most likely to emerge; one side may insist on Great Aunt Ada coming to the wedding because they will get upset if not invited, or, you just simply must have a horse drawn carriage to take you away from the magnificent traditional church and the reception simply must take place at the most expensive venue in town!

Get used to the idea right now; unless you have unlimited pots of money you are going to have to give in on some things and accept others you do not like. This is about planning one day which leads to the rest of your life together and everyday together will require commitment and compromise.

Once you have established a budget, you are going to have to finance the cost of your wedding. The traditional idea that the bride’s parents will meet the bulk of the cost of your wedding is no longer a truism for couples getting married today. The sheer cost of getting married can be enormous and not everyone is in the fortunate position of having mom and dad able to write a large check. Today, it is more common for both side’s parents to contribute if they are going to help out financially and it is also even more common for the bride and groom to pay for the bulk of the wedding themselves.

The sooner you establish a budget and agree how you will finance it the less stress you are both likely to experience down the road. Saving for your wedding together is a good idea; it establishes good habits for you to have together as a married couple and also acts to make the bond between you even greater. More than this, the more money you are able to spend which you have accumulated rather than putting the bill on your credit card or taking out a loan, the more money you are going to have to start your married life together.

Starting married life in debt is not a good start – more marriages end in divorce because of financial pressures than for any other reason, so the less debt you take on from the start the more likely you will both have a successful marriage and long life together.

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For Richer or Poorer – Financial Implications for your Wedding

Getting married is one of the most exciting moments and events in your life but the best weddings do not come without a price tag. Paying for your wedding is one of the first financial hurdles for you to cross together and is also one of the first instances where you really get to see how you work together as a team.
Though it may be traditional for parents to contribute a large portion of the cost of the wedding, in reality this is becoming less of an option simply because of the sheer cost of a modern wedding. The parents of the bride have traditionally been looked to for meeting the largest part of the bill however, not everyone is in a position where mom and dad can actually do this.

Saving for a wedding is actually far more common for modern weddings than at any time previously, and it is now common for the bride and groom to be paying for most of the day and not their parents, though mom and dad are still an important source of finance and help.

The sooner you both start saving the better and not only for paying for your wedding but establishing good financial habits after you are married. It is also very important that you set a realistic budget and do your best to remain within it; a word of warning, deciding on the limitations of your wedding is one of the areas where most people experience conflict and arguments and a spirit of compromise is equally important for you both to have an enjoyable day.

Many couples find themselves going in to debt in order to pay for their wedding, however if at all avoidable, don’t go down this road. Many couples have already been together for a number of years prior to getting engaged or married and so have already started accumulating mutual property such as a home, furniture and so on, but for many couples this is also a time when they are just starting out in life together and being saddled with debt is not a way to start married life.

The “Big Day” represents a huge emotional and financial investment by all concerned, but particularly the bride and groom. Unfortunately, life being what it is there are no guarantees that everything will pass off without a glitch but careful planning and preparation can deal with minor mishaps; it is the big glitches that create real issues.

It pays to take out wedding insurance to cover the cost of your wedding not going ahead because of illness or other impediment; tales of the bride or groom getting released from hospital just in time to hobble down the aisle after an accident are rife and in many cases, weddings just don’t go ahead at all as planned. The costs have already been incurred and if you are going to look to postpone your wedding for any reason, a lot of the costs you have committed to are going to be duplicated unless you have cover in place to bail you out.

Got the Diamond Engagement ring … Now What?

He asked. You said Yes.

You’ve shown the engagement ring to your friends.

Your Mother is ecstatic.

His mother wants to plan the whole thing.

Now what do you do?

Take a deep breath, get a cup of Starbucks, grab your sweetie and do some serious talking.

There a three questions that need to be answered next.

The Date: Setting a wedding date requires some advanced planning

The Guest List: Who are the people on your must be there list? You will need to check their schedules before deciding on a date.

The Budget: The budget will determine the place and the date. If you are on a tight budget, consider setting a date that is not during peak wedding months of May – Sept and avoid major holidays, when caterers and floral shops charge premiums.

Once you have picked your date, have your guest list and made a budget; you are finally ready to go shopping.