Wedding Planning Advice and Tips to Stave Off Wedding Stress!

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Choosing a Theme for Your Wedding - First Step In Planning Your Wedding

Theme weddings are more than a desire to be different - they're reflections of the couple's personality and style. Consider a couple who met while playing roles in a Renaissance Fair.

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The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner:
Worksheets, Checklists, Etiquette, Calendars, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Their attraction to each other developed in their favorite setting, the Middle Ages. For them to be dressed as the King and Queen at a candlelit, medieval style ballroom wedding is the only setting that makes sense.

Other couples are fascinated with certain cultures or places. Beach weddings often have a Hawaiian theme that blends with the sand and surf setting.

A couple who rejects the excesses that are common in wedding expenses in favor of simple elegance may prefer an Asian theme, where less is more in a tranquil Zen garden.

Draw from your family heritage for theme wedding ideas - like the sunburst vibrancy of Tuscany (Italian) or a silver and blue snowflake theme for a winter Nordic wedding.

A theme features your interests on your special wedding day.

Planning a Wedding on a Shoestring Budget? 

Quality sources of wedding planning advice can give you some ingenious wedding planning tips to get the sumptuous best for far, far less!

Bridal Bargains, 8th Edition: Secrets to throwing a fantastic wedding on a realistic budget

Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 11/09/2009)Buy Now
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"I particularly liked the lists of suggested questions for vendors -- When I emailed one photographer with some of the questions in the book, he wrote back and said, "You couldn't have asked better questions if I had given them to you myself!"

Release Date: 12/31/1969

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Planning a Wedding Budget Fit for a Bride 

Keen Wedding Planning Can Deliver Caviar Quality On A Chicken Salad Budget - Here's Some Practical Wedding Planning Advice

Your wedding budget is a central factor in planning your wedding. But with a little care and attention, you can have the wedding of your dreams on a shoestring budget.

Before you set foot in the first bridal salon or visit reception locations, make a wedding budget. Even average weddings can cost upwards of $20,000 if you don't know how to cut costs. You have to know how much you can spend before making any plans or purchases.


Tying the Knot:
The Complete Wedding Organizer

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Start by choosing the 3 items that are the most important to you and rank them in order of importance. Is it the dress? Reception? Full dinner versus cake and punch? Photography? Once you have the top 3 items, then decide what percentage of the total wedding budget you can spend for these.

If the top 3 are full dinner reception, dress and honeymoon, then expect these to take 50-60% of the budget. You can find budget sheets free online or create your own with an Excel spreadsheet. Each item spent needs to be added immediately.

That way if you save money on the reception site, then you can either add more guests or upgrade at the honeymoon hotel. Planning a wedding budget is vital regardless of whether you're o a shoestring budget or plan to spend money like there's no tomorrow!

Planning A Beach Theme Wedding - Have The Perfect Wedding Of Your Dreams With This Wedding Advice 

Beach weddings can have all the glamour and romance of a $100,000 wedding at a fraction of the cost - IF you get good wedding advice, plan your wedding right and avoid the pitfalls

This beach wedding planning guide was written by someone who's been there, done that... It includes all the advice Debbie's father paid $8000 fees for from a top wedding planner (and saved them $45,000 in wedding costs).

Save money on your beach wedding, and save money on the guide... Now you can get the digital book version of Debbie's My Perfect Beach Wedding - Wedding Advice and Planning Guide at a 70% discount from the printed version with all the same information.

Armed with expert wedding planning advice and personal experience, Debbie will show you how your beach wedding can be:

- Easy to organize even from thousands of miles away

- A whole lot less expensive then you might think

- Not risky at all when you know all the secrets

- Completely secure from strangers and lookie-loos

- Much less costly, more flexible and fun than a traditional wedding

- The envy of your friends...

- And most of all, SUPER romantic if done right...

If you're planning a beach wedding, you MUST get this guide. Don't leave home without it!

My Perfect Beach Wedding Guide

Wedding Advice For Planning A Perfect Beach Wedding - Our Favorite Links 

Fun, fascinating, money-saving and helpful wedding planning advice for a beach wedding that is as unique as you are!

Great Wedding Advice - Many of these gorgeous wedding dresses, money-saving wedding reception ideas, and the outline of who pays for will help you plan ANY WEDDING ANYWHERE!
Beach Wedding Dresses - Romantic And Versatile
Flexibility and ideas abound for beach wedding dresses, from lacy to silky, floating chiffon to cool cotton, formal or casual beach wedding dresses... But when planning your beach wedding, remember... there are some limitations imposed by the beach environment, the uneven beach surface, sand and water.
Beach Wedding Budget Ideas
You can save money with cool beach wedding ideas without sacrificing quality or romance. Planning a beach wedding can be creative fun for all, designing a fabulous, elegant, even luxurious yet affordable beach wedding that's as colorful, unique and special as you are! The beach wedding theme itself gives ample fodder for your creative genius. Here are some nifty beach wedding ideas with flair to help you pull it off in style.
Beach Wedding Ideas - Who Pays For What?
Let's face it. Weddings are expensive. Paying for every detail is enough to drain any family's financial coffers and - even worse - leave them wrestling with debt. Especially for new couples paying their own way during the wedding, the expenses quickly add up.
The following is a traditional guide to dividing expenses equally and fairly among the four major participants in planning the four main parts of the wedding celebration...

Favorite Wedding Planning Lenses 

Unique wedding photography sessions, beautiful wedding dresses for beach or indoors, beach wedding ideas... These lenses are loaded!

Wedding Music for Any Type of Nuptials 

Our research through Wedding Planning Advice and Tips found this perfect Wedding Music for your most special day!

25 Wedding Favorites

Amazon Price: $4.98 (as of 11/09/2009)Buy Now
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"The CD consists of 25 traditional wedding songs played by big orchestras; the music was beautiful and made a small ceremony into a special, unforgettable ceremony."

Release Date: 09/05/2000

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Picking the Perfect Flowers for Your Wedding 

Flowers are part of the style expression for your wedding. Whether you like a natural spray of field flowers and heather tied with a ribbon or a cascade of roses, a bride simply wouldn't look right without a wedding bouquet.


Wedding Bouquets:
Over 300 Designs for Every Bride
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Plus - there are flowers for the attendants, mothers, ceremony and reception. Flowers can quickly become a major item in your wedding budget. You'll get the best price on flowers by choosing those in season that are locally available.

Flowers out of season that are flown in may cost more than the plane tickets for your honeymoon. You can save money on the look of exotic flowers by using silk. Another trick is to mix silk and fresh.

Use fresh flowers for the wedding bouquets and silk flowers for larger arrangements at ceremony and reception. Another way to get beautiful fresh flowers for less is to buy direct from a grower's market and make simple, casual wedding floral arrangements.

Finding the Perfect Wedding Flowers for Your Special Day: 

Here's the best advice we found for awesome wedding flower bouquets.

Bouquets: A Year of Flowers for the Bride

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"This is the book to get if you want to make fresh wedding bouquets for a wedding. Especially helpful are the detailed materials list for each bouquet project, plus an estimate of how far in advance the bouquet can safely be made. Each project features flowers that are in-season for the time of year stated in the book, and styles range from the traditional to the unique and unusual. There is something here for every taste! I highly recommend this book!"

Release Date: 12/31/1969

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Planning The Wedding Attire You'll Need to Plan to Buy (or Rent) 

This is my favorite part of the wedding planning process - the wedding dress! Here are some helpful tips and advice for the perfect wedding attire.

Whether you want to be a princess in a cloud of organza or simply elegant in a silk slip dress, the wedding dress is the centerpiece of the day. First the bride chooses the length, style and tone of her gown. Then the attendants' gowns are selected to complement the bride.

Long train wedding dress
LONG TRAIN WEDDING DRESS

After those decisions are made, the men's attire is matched to complete the overall look of the wedding party. You can stay traditional with a long wedding gown, attendants in matching gowns and groom with groomsmen in tuxedos.

Or, you can stay closer to your personal clothing styles. Some guys find it wasteful to spend so much renting a tux. Why not have the men wear black suits, something to use later? To overcome the difficulty of finding one style for all the women, have each attendant choose the style of her dress from the same color and brand.

Don't forget - most brides go on a strict bride-to-be diet that's just for those special occasions when you need to lose a lot of weight fast, and tone up so that you look amazing in your wedding dress.

Every Little Girl's Wedding Dress Dream: 

With just a little wedding planning, you can have your dream wedding dress - like this one! - even on a shoestring budget.

Look Like Royalty In This Dress

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"You may choose zipper or lace up, beading or embroider (if it applies), dress can be made with a train or with out a train. Please allow at least 20 days for delivery. Dresses may be made in various colors."

Release Date: 12/31/1969

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Which Wedding Invitation Is Right for You? 

Cheap wedding invitations can still be classic, with style and grace. Here's a great wedding planning resource to help you create just the right wedding invitation.

Wedding invitations have traditionally been embossed on white paper with overlays of tissue paper inside a second envelope. Today's brides are less formal and more cost conscious. They're also more willing to have fun with the invitations, so that these reflect the theme or style of the wedding.

wedding invitations
Wedding Invitations

You can get the look of embossed classic invitation by purchasing these sets at craft stores or office supplier and printing from a high quality laser printer. In boxes of 25 or 50, you can print smaller quantities for less.

Many couples choose to have their engagement photos as background for the invitation. You can also print the invitation on parchment scrolls, place inside a small gift box with candy hearts or on recycled paper for a "green" wedding.

Wedding invitations can be any color, from cream print on chocolate to wedding colors used for the print. Shapes may vary from tri-fold to round or flower image. Another trend is to add the URL of your wedding site, which also serves as the place to electronically RSVP.

Wedding Invitations and Wedding Announcements with Style 

Here's a great resource for planning unique or traditional, quirky or frilly, elegant or casual wedding announcements - do it yourself wedding invitations to suit the tone and personality of your wedding theme.

The Artful Bride: Wedding Invitations: A Stylish Bride's Guide to Simple, Handmade Wedding Correspondence

Amazon Price: $10.39 (as of 11/09/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $12.99

"The projects in this book range from fun and quirky (like my favorite - The Bride in a Can) to beautiful and classy. There are ideas here for weddings on the beach, old fashioned weddings, nuptials that include travel, and for simple ceremonies too. A lot of the ides in this book could be converted for use for other kinds of invitations, I used one of the pretty ones to make invitations to a party for my mother's birthday. Lots of color photos inside (nicer than the photo on the cover would make you think!) There are also illustrations & templates. I also gave this book as an engagement gift to a friend and not only did she love the gift, she made her invitations based on a project in the book."

Release Date: 12/31/1969

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

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Best Advice For Wedding Favors 

Let the largest supplier of wholesale wedding favors help you in your wedding planning with ideas to save money with unique wedding favors and gifts.

Ultimate Wedding Planning Guide For Best Wedding Advice 

This Wedding Planning Guide pays for itself with savings from the Checklists alone!

This practical companion to The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World acts as a stand-alone guide to the nuts and bolts of planning a wedding. The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner is where the bride and groom can record wedding ideas, create budget guidelines, check items off their to-do list, generate the guest list, store contact information for their wedding vendors, and get tips and advice on the best way to plan their big day.

The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner: Worksheets, Checklists, Etiquette, Calendars, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 11/09/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $16.95

"Hip, informal and humorous, this book includes all the basics of modern matrimony.
--Dallas Morning News -- Review

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What Wedding Planning Advice Do You Need Help With? 

From wedding planners and caterers to wedding veils and romantic wedding flower bouquets, the details and options can be daunting. We are here to help with wedding planning tips and advice to give you the best, yet affordable, wedding of your dreams!

Wedding-Planner-Me wrote...

Very helpful lens. Thanks! You can see that I love weddings, too - and beaches - so I'm now focusing on Beach Weddings with multiple lenses and sites on different aspects for planning a beach wedding. You've given me more ideas for my own next wedding and helped some other people I know, too. Really appreciate it. 5*

ReplyPosted May 26, 2009

Wedding-Planner-Me wrote...

Very helpful lens. Thanks! You can see that I love weddings, too - and beaches - so I'm now focusing on Beach Weddings with multiple lenses and sites on different aspects for planning a beach wedding. You've given me more ideas for my own next wedding and helped some other people I know, too. Really appreciate it. 5*

ReplyPosted May 26, 2009

BethErickson wrote...

This is really great for planning a marriage. Nicely done! I believe this will be very useful for people planning a wedding. I'm forwarding this to a friend. 5 stars for a very informative lens.

Drop by some time to my lenses. :)

ReplyPosted October 09, 2008

gaganraoh wrote...

Theme based weddings are the in thing now, I have been visiting weddings these days and amazed to see some creative ideas adopted, have been looking around for a unique idea for my wedding.
Your lens is great got to knwo a lot, I also found some good stuff at Wedding Decorations

ReplyPosted June 24, 2008

mulberry wrote...

Great lens to make the planning easier without overwhelming people with the choices!

ReplyPosted May 23, 2008

MarSi wrote...

I've never been maried but I've been involved in over 350 weddings party over the last 15 years as MC and/or DJ. Everytime it's magic!

ReplyPosted May 13, 2008

Gatsby wrote...

Paws up and five stars to an awesome lens well done!

ReplyPosted March 14, 2008

DogWhisperWoman wrote...

When I get married I will be doing some shopping here!

ReplyPosted March 14, 2008

Guinness wrote...

With the resources you provide here, I can have a beautiful wedding, long train wedding dress and all, without breaking the bank - so we have plenty left over for the dream of a lifetime honeymoon! Thanks for an excellent wedding planning resource.

ReplyPosted March 09, 2008

Home-healthcare wrote...

An incurable romantic, I love weddings, wedding gowns, wedding bouquets, and that sweet moment when the marriage is "sealed with a kiss." But for the bride and her mother, there can be much wedding stress as they stew over the myriad details. I love how this lens lightens the load with resources for checklists and many of the other things you need to ensure a picture perfect wedding day!

ReplyPosted March 09, 2008

by Home-healthcare

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