For years I’ve been telling brides how to plan their dream weddings on any kind of budget. I do it for several reasons, and not only because I want brides to know that they can have a great wedding with budget wedding planning the right way to save money.   But that’s not the only reason I’m here to help brides out with budget wedding planning. I understand that planning a wedding is hard, and it should be one of the happiest days of your life. If you’re stressed out over your budget wedding planning and think you can’t afford anything for a nice wedding, I’m here to lift you out of that hopeless feeling as well. Budget wedding planning is possible – and not nearly as hard as you would think. I’m not going to advise you to take up glass blowing so that you can make 200 wedding favors by hand for each guests – that’s foolish. You see, when I was planning my own wedding, I learned a lot about budget wedding planning, and I didn’t learn it the easy way. I mean, nobody took me aside and showed me all the different ways to save money on my wedding, not enough money to make a difference anyway. My wedding vendors certainly weren’t interested in the fact that I was budget wedding planning, they’re out to make their own money. No, I had to learn budget wedding planning the hard way, and many things I didn’t learn about until after the wedding (and believe me – I’m still kicking myself now!). So here are some great tips for budget wedding planning that can really help you out that I can show you right now. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 20k, Brides, Budget Planning, Budget Wedding, Different Ways, Dream Weddings, Enough Money, Happiest Days Of Your Life, Lot, Many Things, planning a wedding, Planning Wedding, United States, Ways To Save Money, Wedding Budget, Wedding Favors, Wedding Planning, wedding vendors

I was shocked while in high school about the girls who already knew exactly what they wanted in their weddings, had their dress and cake picked out, and all that was lacking was the groom. While I’ll tell every bride that you need to plan your wedding, I’m not sure that it should really be done that early. If you’re in high school or college, then why not just enjoy where you are? But I digress. There are really a ton of great advantages that you have when you plan your wedding. Perhaps the best advantage is that you can really have your hands in it and you get to enjoy all those little planning details that you’d miss if somebody else was doing it all for you. Really, meeting with the caterer, picking out your wedding dress and even the little things like all those little wedding favors and trying samples of wedding cakes are part of the fun when you plan your wedding versus hiring someone to do it for you. But there are several great advantages when you plan your wedding. Here are more reasons why you should, and how to get started and plan your wedding.

Advantages When You Plan Your Wedding

Like I mentioned before, when you plan your wedding you get to have your hands in it, and have fun doing all those little wedding tasks that really make you feel like you’re a part of everything. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Amount Of Time, Blog, bride, Caterer, Decisions, Fun, Girls, Great Advantages, Money, Plan Wedding, plan your own wedding, plan your wedding, planning a wedding, Tight Budget, wedding cakes, wedding dress, Wedding Favors, Wedding Plan, wedding planner, wedding planners, weddings

Most women have been planning for their wedding day from from the time they were little girls, putting pillow cases on their heads, wearing their mom’s high heels and imagining a handsome prince charming down at the altar waiting for her. Well now that you’ve gotten engaged and you can start planning that dream wedding you’ve always wanted, you may discover that when it comes to how to plan a wedding, you’re totally stuck. Truthfully, weddings are the biggest, most important and most expensive days of your entire life, and you want everything to be beautiful and go off without a hitch. But if you don’t know how to plan a wedding, how in the world can you make sure that you’re remembering everything – or that your wedding will be exactly how you’ve always dreamed it would be. I know that when my husband and I were planning our own wedding, I didn’t know the first thing about how to plan a wedding – simply because I’d never done it before.  Nearly all brides are in the same situation that I was in, you’ve got this wedding to plan for and coordinate, and up until now the most complicated party you’ve ever thrown was a pizza party in your dorm room. But did you know that there is a perfect place to start when you’re looking at how to plan a wedding? It’s simple, and I can get you started.

How to Plan a Wedding – The First Place to Start

When you’re looking at how to plan a wedding, the first step that you want to take isn’t anything close to what most brides assume that it is supposed to be. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Beautiful, Brides, Dorm Room, Dream Wedding, Handsome Prince, High Heels, Little Girls, Mom, Pillow Cases, Pizza Party, planning a wedding, Planning Wedding, Prince Charming, Reception Halls, Sweetie, Wedding Budget, wedding day, Wedding Plan, Wedding World, weddings

Some brides have always dreamed about looking like a fairy princess on their wedding day, with all eyes on her as she walks down the aisle.  Other brides can’t stand the thought of having a traditional wedding and would rather be married in a private ceremony on the beach, or in someone’s backyard. But the fact remains that all brides want to look their best on their wedding day. Fashion forward brides want to look glamorous and in style, but may not know where to look since nearly all wedding dresses sold in stores are the same? One great place to look is at pictures of recent celebrity wedding dresses.  Celebrity wedding dresses are a great way to take the pulse of the wedding fashion industry and have the most stylish wedding dress that you can find. But the thing about celebrity wedding dresses is that not everyone can afford the fabulous designer wedding dresses that celebrities can. So what good does looking at celebrity wedding dresses do for you anyway? I’m glad you asked!

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Are you finding yourself completely overwhelmed with just how many details are involved in planning a wedding? It seems every time you turn around you find yourself having to choose over the length of  your tablecloths, the cutlery for your dinner, and yes, even wedding cake stands. Just when you think that picking out  a wedding cake is going to be easy, they have to throw in the option and make you agonize over wedding cake stands.  While not nearly as crucial as picking out a wedding dress or flower arrangements, wedding cake stands have their importance in your reception because they add height, elegance and sense of professionalism to your wedding cake. Not only that, but they help your wedding cake rise up (sorry for the pun there – couldn’t help it!) to be the focal point of your wedding reception on the cake table. So if you just don’t feel like dealing with the choices of wedding cake stands and are tempted to forget about them completely, or are just researching ideas for wedding cake stands for your wedding cake, here is a quick rundown of some of the stands available for your wedding.

Wedding Cake Stands with Pillars

Just as there are lots of different kinds of wedding cakes, there are lots of different choices when it comes to wedding cake stands. Wedding cake stands with pillars are one of the most popular kinds of wedding cake stands. A wedding cake stand with pillars means there are pillars and bases between each tier of your wedding cake. Wedding cake stands with pillars can really give your wedding cake some height, and has a really elegant look than a stacked wedding cake. The pillars you use between the layers of your wedding cake could be glass balls, wine glasses, decorated wire and any number of other possibilities.

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Tags: Cake Stand, Cake Table, Central Column, Cutlery, Different Kinds, Flower Arrangements, Focal Point, Glass Balls, Pillars, planning a wedding, Pun, Rundown, Tablecloths, Wedding Cake Stand, Wedding Cake Stands, Wedding Cake Wedding, wedding cakes, wedding dress, Wedding Reception, Wedding Wedding, Wine Glasses

I’m sure you’re finding that planning a wedding is hard and expensive…really expensive. Many brides who are having to watch their wedding dollars are discovering the wonderful world of DIY weddings. DIY, of course, stands for do-it-yourself, and there are lots of different places in your wedding where you can save a bundle just by doing some of the jobs yourself. One of the things I really love about DIY weddings is that you really don’t have to be an expert craftswoman or really crafty to get a lot of your wedding jobs completed and save a ton of money.  When we were planning my wedding, we found lots of great DIY wedding tips that we used to save a ton of money, and I’m super glad we did. So if you are looking for some great DIY wedding tips that can help you save money on your wedding and are super easy to do, look no further!! Here are some DIY wedding tips that anyone can do, and you’ll be suprised by just how much money you’ll save.

DIY Weddings – Wedding Programs

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Times are tough to be planning a wedding. Everyone seems to be worried about the housing crisis and rising gas prices, which leads to higher costs everywhere else. Now typically the wedding industry has pretty much been immune to any of these kinds of concerns. This is because couples getting married tend to want to splurge a little bit when they’re planning their wedding to make it the fairy tale wedding they’ve always dreamed of having. A wedding is typically a once in a lifetime event that parents, brides and grooms don’t want to skimp on it. But in times like these where the dollar is losing it’s value, you’re actually going to be getting less wedding for your money than you would have if you had gotten married a year ago. The cost of gold is up as well as the cost of food, and with rising travel costs the price tag on an international honeymoon is skyrocketing as well.

So how are couples handling the dollar crisis? By looking for extra ways to save money on their wedding, of course! Many brides and their families are starting to hunt for bargains for their weddings, and are starting to do away with any special but unnecessary extras. Many other couples are trying their hand at do-it-yourself weddings, which of course can be a lot of extra work, but totally worth it for the dollar savings. Many other brides are planning morning and afternoon weddings in an effort to save money on their wedding receptions. A morning or afternoon wedding will save money on not having to provide a large fancy dinner with a caterer. Instead, a morning or early afternoon wedding will allow the bride and groom to host a small snack reception which is less formal, but also a lot less money.

There is nothing wrong with looking for bargains when doing your wedding planning. If done properly, your wedding guests will not be able to tell how much you spent on any particular item, and you’ll be glad of the savings when looking at your finances after the wedding. Your wedding is most certainly a once in a lifetime event, and you should have a beautiful wedding, but you shouldn’t have to spend a fortune on it. When I started this blog, I wanted to help brides find lots of different ways to save money on their weddings. The recession (or “slow down”) wasn’t in place when I was planning my wedding, or even the thought that it could happen in the near future. But I wanted to give brides lots of ideas on how to save money on their weddings, and not forgo a great wedding look. The same thought still remains. There are lots of great about how to save money on your wedding ceremony, wedding flowers, wedding dress, catering, and even your honeymoon so that you can have the wedding of your dreams without breaking the budget. In times like these, it’s certainly worth looking at.

Tags: planning a wedding, Wedding Budget

Planning a wedding by yourself can be difficult. If you have friends or family helping you out, then you are truly blessed, but typically even with help planning a wedding can be difficult. I had some help from family and friends, but a majority of the wedding planning details were left to me. Wedding planning is an exciting time of your life, but it can also be pretty stressful as well. In previous articles, I’ve advised many brides to buy themselves a huge binder or other organization helper to keep track of all of their wedding vendor information, quotes and pictures for the wedding. But personally, I think it needs to go a little farther than that. I think that by creating a personal wedding planning list that you can really help maximize your time, and make sure that everything gets done. Here are some great ways to create and use a wedding planning list to aid in your wedding planning.

Using a Generic Wedding Planning List

When I first started my wedding planning, this is what I used. I went on the Internet and found a free wedding checklist that went month to month on what tasks I needed to have completed in this time frame. This wedding planning list was helpful, but it wasn’t tailored to fit what I needed to have done in my wedding planning, so I could only use it so much. My only advice here, is that if you use a generic wedding planning list, be sure that most of the tasks listed in the list are items that you need to worry about…otherwise you could be forgetting something important.

Creating Your Own Wedding Planning List

While this option can be a bit more tedious, you can be sure that your wedding planning list has everything that applies to you. You can even use one of the generic lists as your guide and set aside what you need to do month by month. But when you create a wedding planning list yourself, you know what needs to be done and when, and every item on your list is something that applies to your wedding.

Using a Combination Wedding Planning List

As I mentioned above, I started out using a generic wedding planning list, and then quickly found out that it wasn’t going to fit what I wanted to have done for my wedding. So I ended up printing off the generic wedding list and crossing off the items that didn’t apply to me. Then, I added to that wedding planning list the items that weren’t on the original wedding planning list. It saved me a lot of time creating a whole new list, and everything applied to my wedding. Plus, there is some level of satisfaction in being able to cross items off of your list.

I’ve found that creating lists in my day to day life really helps me to stay on task and complete what needs to be done each day. The same applied to me with my wedding planning. I can’t imagine a time in someone’s life when they have more things to do and remember than when they are planning a wedding. My piece of advice for staying organized? Definitely create your own wedding planning list….it will keep you from going crazy and forgetting things later on.

Tags: planning a wedding, Wedding Planning, wedding planning list

A wedding planning website is simply that, a website that gives ideas, tips and tricks for those planning a wedding in the near future. Many sites allow you to create a free personal wedding website in order to share photos, use checklists for the bride and groom alike, as well as online calendars and much more depending on the quality of the website you use. There are a lot of quality, tried, true and trusted sites that not only aid you in planning your wedding, but also in sharing your plans with family and friends around the country. One common mistake when planning a wedding is assuming that the more stress you endure while planning your wedding will proportionally make your wedding more successful, and thats just not true. A wedding planning website can help reduce your stress and give you ideas for every aspect of your wedding.

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Tags: free personal wedding website, personal wedding planning website, planning a wedding, wedding checklists, wedding planning website, wedding planning websites

With the rising costs of weddings every year, couples everywhere are trying to find ways to extend their budget while still planning a wedding and reception of their dreams. Many couples are starting to use other themes for their wedding receptions instead of serving a large dinner, or a cake and punch reception only, and the ideas are getting more and more creative. A dessert reception theme is starting to take off. You may have looked into it without knowing where to start or what to serve. Here are some of the most popular ideas for desserts in your dessert only reception. You can choose to implement only one of these ideas, or several for more variety so that everyone can have their ‘favorite’.

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Tags: beautiful wedding cake, chocolate fountain, dessert only reception, dessert reception, planning a wedding, rent a chocolate fountain, sugar free snacks, Wedding Cake, Wedding Favors, wedding receptions