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Planning your wedding does not have to be as difficult as it seems.
I am sure you will be well organised and
confident in doing this yourself with a lot of help from your family
and close friends. Listed below are various wedding topics that will
be very helpful for you when making decisions and deciding what to have. We
will continue to add more content to this page so keep watching.
Bridal Shower
Bridal showers are generally
informal occasions with your friends (some of who have not been invited to the
wedding because of numbers) and you may wish to send invitations but it is
certainly acceptable to make telephone calls if your guest list is small
enough. It is customary to provide guests with refreshments. You can make this
a special afternoon shower and indulge in delicious platters of finger food
washed down with champagne or have an early morning breakfast shower (if you
are a morning person) and feast on a five star breakfast. Depending on the size
of your guest list (and your budget) as to whether you decide on a caterer or
not. Bridesmaids Selecting your bridesmaids should
not be too difficult because they are usually your sisters, best friends,
favourite cousins or sisters of the groom. From that choice you should have a
few to choose from. Lots of brides have their bridesmaids picked out when they
are still at school and discuss these sorts of things with each other.
Obviously a choice you have to make is how many. There are a number of factors
to influence your decision being proximity to where the ceremony will be held
(eg. all of your friends live in London, cost for travel etc., time of the
year, who is available, do they have plenty of notice. I am sure whoever you
ask will be absolutely thrilled for your coming wedding and also for being a
big part of it. Choosing a Wedding Date
When you have had the big proposal and
accepted, the next thing to do after you have made the announcement is to
decide the date. A number of matters may be taken into account here or you
could just elope and forego all the hype and planning! The choice is normally
made between both of you and maybe both sets of parents being present, or you
chose the date and give them some options. What season do
you prefer? A country wedding in spring? A beach wedding in summer? Or does the
season matter at all? Once you decide the time of year, then how much time have
you got and need to plan. Also working around dates such as school holidays
(for guests being away), brothers graduation (parents cannot attend both),
place of venue with too many bookings, best friend is pregnant, favourite aunt
is going overseas. Whatever date you chose, you will probably not be able to
please everyone so once the date is set, that is it! Double Wedding If your sister has asked to share your
wedding day with you, it could be a real bonus certainly cost-wise. It will be
no good if you and your sister are tearing each others hair out all the time or
are not too happy with each other some of the time. If you are able to share a
wedding day with the person you have grown up with and have very happy family
memories, this will work out for you just fine, and you will continue to have
happy memories of your wedding day together. For this wedding there would be one
invitation for both couples, one band for the reception etc. By having similar
tastes with music and the same level of style and formality with other things
will make for more easier planning. You will not want to turn up in mini skirts
and your sister has decided on formal attire. With the double wedding the older of the
two brides will have her ceremony first and proceed down the aisle with her
wedding party and then the next one. As you can imagine, it may get a bit
crowded with too many people, but you will be able to work this out yourselves.
For bridal showers and other pre-wedding events, these can be combined or
separate, depending on whether you share joint friends or you wish to be
individual in this instance. Flower Girl The flower girl is the last person
down the aisle before the bride. Traditionally, she sprinkles fresh flowers
petals for the bride to walk on, but if this is deemed too slippery you may want
to consider her tossing paper petals or carrying a pretty basket of fresh
flowers. Try to avoid having children under five in your wedding as their
behaviour is too unpredictable. Just the same, they would look so cute! Gift Registry The gift registry is usually a free
service offered by some department stores which makes choosing a gift for you
so much easier for some guests. It is not essential that guests use this
service. It is sometimes easier for everyone instead of sending your guests all
over town! You and your groom will register with the store and chose a
selection of goods you would like to receive including quantity, colour, brand
etc. When your list is selected, your guests can be notified with their wedding
invitation, the store will usually issue you with a small card for you to
include. Some of your guests will probably be relieved that their gift
selection has been taken care of for them whereas others will still purchase what
they intended. Either way, you will receive some beautiful gifts! Guest List Some of you will see this topic as a
nightmare but it shouldn’t be. Decide by making up a list of who you would like
to invite and a list of who you think should be invited. Obviously in many
cases the budget will have a lot to do with how many guests are able to attend.
Don’t forget to allow for the groom’s parents list. Often couples will pay a
third of the costs with both parents paying the other two thirds. In this case
each will invite one third of the guests. If you have decided there are to be
no children invited (the cut off age can be 16-18) be sure their names are not
included on the invitation and also that your mother is aware of your policy.
If you decide on the no children policy, stick to it – no matter what!
Otherwise someone is going to be upset just because ‘little Johnny’ was invited
because he is the bride’s
favourite nephew. When you have arrived at the final list, preparations can
start to be made for the invitations. See later...... Invitations Other Than Weddings
Here at Ushers If you are having teenagers at your
wedding and they are related to you (it doesn’t matter if they are not) they
could assume the role of usher. These boys will feel very important and be
delighted to be assisting in some small way for your big day. Some of the older
ladies will love to be escorted to their seats by good looking boys in their
formal wear. The ushers should arrive at the wedding location early to assist
with lighting candles, tying bows to reserved seating and anything else that is
required of them. When guests start to arrive the ushers will meet and welcome
them and before you arrive, show them to their seats.
Wedding Planners Your wedding day will be one of the
most important days of your life and you will want everything to go ahead as
planned. There are a lot of wedding planners out there that do a great job and have
access to so much information that is required when making your decisions.
Check out the wedding advertising pages on the internet and you will have a
large selection. Many of them will forward you a DVD of their work. Before you
decide to go ahead, be sure that they suit your budget and you feel comfortable
with them. |
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