Wedding Layers

When did it become a trend to have formal engagement pics? I am in my forties, and as far back as I can remember people only had formal pics for the wedding. Does this seem like an extra expense, and that couples are having more and more activities, like multiple parties, etc, and two or three dresses? Is the wedding industry going too far?

Shhh! Nobody wants to you to know this, but there is a conspiracy out there and it’s coming from the service industry.

It doesn’t matter what your budget is, whether you have $1,000 or $50,000 to spend on your wedding, once you understand the “insider secrets” to the wedding industry, anyone can do their own wedding planning done cheap and still have the wedding that they want.

You see, all of those vendors that you have to hire for your wedding have their trade secrets and once they hear the words “this is for my wedding” a flurry of excitement comes over them and the dollar signs start flying in front of their eyes. Suddenly charges for the most unbelievable things start cropping up everywhere.

So what can you do to protect yourself and get the best services and wedding products for your money? Arm yourself with “insider information.” That will definitely level the playing field.

It’s a fact, right now the average cost of a wedding is right around $30,000! And one of the biggest reasons that the price is so high is because of the lack of information out there for most brides-to-be. But we’re about to change that.

For example, did you know that even the professional wedding planners follow 3 basic steps every time they plan a wedding? That’s right, once you master these 3 steps, you will not only be able to plan your own wedding, but you will have saved yourself thousands of dollars and countless hours of time in the process.

Once you become engaged, the First Step that you need to take is to plan the theme of your wedding. This will set the tone for everything that follows. After the two of you decide on a theme, you will be amazed at how many other steps to planning a wedding will just come naturally.

The Second Step for wedding planning done cheap is to set your budget. This is absolutely imperative. Once you have determined your theme, setting a budget should be simple. Make sure that you have the total amount, including who will be responsible for what. This means getting commitments from anyone else other than the two of you who has agreed to give you additional funds.

The Third Step is to get your hands on a good Wedding Planning Timeline. This is where the details come in. A Good Wedding Planning List should start at least twelve to 16 months before your date and go right up to the Wedding Day itself. When you know what time frame you are looking at and what key tasks must be performed in each month, then you will not be overwhelmed. But most importantly, you will not forget even the smallest of details.

Anyone can do wedding planning done cheap. But the difference between your fairy tail wedding and a disaster lies within these 3 steps.

Learn the “Insider Secrets” to Wedding Planning Done Cheap [http://www.mybigfatbeautifulwedding.com/weddingplanningguide.htm] and save yourself thousands off of the total cost of your wedding. Get your FREE Personalized Copy of a Wedding Budget, that will show you exactly how to allocate your funds for the maximum results!

Author: Deborah Kolich
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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A wedding is something that has to be planned with lots of fore thought and arrangements. Though it may seem that the wedding planning is a hectic and tedious process, if you stay calm and keep yourself organized, you find that the planning of the wedding is not that hard.

The most important part of the wedding planning is choosing the date for the wedding ceremony and reception. Choose a date that is okay for both of you. Once the date is fixed, the venue or location of the wedding has to be decided on. You can hold the wedding ceremony and reception either in different places or in a single place. If you have a special place in mind for your wedding, you may have to be flexible weight your wedding date as you may not find your venue available on the stipulated date.

Once the date and venue is decided, you have to plan the actual wedding ceremony. When you plan your wedding, make sure it reflects your personality as a couple. Many people plan weddings that are out of the box; by imitating other’s wedding ceremonies. It is not necessary to have a big theme wedding; what is important is to incorporate your interests and priorities in the ceremony and wedding reception.

When you plan your wedding, make sure that you budget it with care as the wedding industry is always on the lookout to make a profit. This is why you will be tempted into spending money on things that you don’t need and is available for a lower rate elsewhere. Planning in advance helps in avoiding budget headaches; so shop around for the items that are found affordably, for your wedding.

It is not necessary to plan a big and fancy reception if you can’t afford it. The size and expense for the wedding is not important, it is the music, readings and wedding vows at the ceremony that is important. If you plan to have an outdoor wedding, make sure that you have alternate plans for the wedding, in case you get rained out on the wedding day. Let someone else have a list of the phone numbers of wedding vendors in case they don’t come up on time for the wedding.

Though the bride is the person responsible for most of the wedding planning; this does not imply that the groom need not be involved. Remember that a wedding is a partnership; so start the partnership by planning the wedding together. Discuss details of the wedding, and your individual preferences and make compromises if you have different views.

Jen Carter is team member and writes regularly about planning a wedding, wedding bands and rings and other common wedding elements at My Wedding Blog.

Author: Jen Carter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Is it really necessary to hire a wedding planning consultant? Many people have successfully planned and implemented their weddings on their own, but many of these same people probably would not have done all the planning themselves if they had it to do over again. Planning a wedding is a huge task. We all know that, but most of us do not really know how massive the task is until we are facing the task ourselves. That is where a wedding planning consultant comes in.

Indeed, when a bride first begins to think of wedding planning, the process may seem quite straightforward, but it’s when you really begin to get into the meat of it that you see how many little details there really are. Even a fairly small and intimate wedding can be overwhelming. There is everything from invitations, caterers, and wedding cake design to more complicated issues if you are planning a theme wedding. But an experienced wedding planning consultant is like a conductor at a symphony. They know from experience just what to put where and have proved over the years to have the temperament to be able to juggle all the details without going insane.

Moreover, a wedding planning consultant can help with many aspects of a wedding that you may never have even thought of. They can create the perfect wedding that you have always imagined, and at the same time they know enough about how the wedding industry works to give you suggestions that can help keep the cost at a minimum.

With a theme wedding it may be even more important to hire a consultant because all the rules change. We have all been to dozens of weddings that looked pretty much the same to know what the basic elements are, but planning a themed wedding changes the elements of a wedding and in doing so, changes the questions you have to ask. Without a wedding planner that is experienced in orchestrating themed weddings brides often end up with a traditional Victorian that bears little resemblance to the theme apart from one or two details in the wedding.

Wedding planning consultants take care of most all the details for you, from helping you pick out just the right invitations to go along with your chosen theme, to helping you decide what hair style goes best with your gown, and which hair stylist to use. Likewise, an experienced consultant will be able to take care of the details with the pastry chef and florist so that you do not end up with multiple clashing shades of the colors you have chosen for your wedding.

But a wedding planning consultant does more than take care of the details. Along with the size of the ribbons and the color of the icing the planner often serves as a therapist when the bride is overwhelmed, budgeting expert, and mediator when things go wrong. Furthermore, a good, experienced wedding planner is thoroughly versed in the religious practices of a wide variety of belief systems and as such is thoroughly equipped to guide a bride through potentially unfamiliar territory.

If you do decide to take on the job of wedding planning yourself, remember to create a 12 month checklist of all the to dos that you will have to attend to. It’s a big job and in today’s busy world your stress level and therefore the reduced strain on your relationship might make hiring a wedding planning consultant worth the time and money.

Jeanette Shinn is a wedding professional with over a dozen years experience making dreams come alive. Find more helpful wedding planning tips and unique wedding favors options at http://www.ExcitingWeddingFavors.com.

Author: Jeanette Shinn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are many terms bandied about in the wedding industry designed to both ease the pain and add to the excitement as we part with our cash. ‘Bespoke’, ‘Couture made’ and ‘Designer dress’ are three of the most common.

Most of us probably have a fairly good idea as to what they mean, but taking a look at what they do not mean will help us to arrive at a more accurate definition.

There are not many bridal shops that do not use the term ‘designer’ somewhere in the description of the dress they are presenting to us. All things we use in this life have a designer. Even a paper coffee cup had to be designed by someone. Try convincing the average buyer that the paper cup is a ‘designer’ cup worth ten times more than an ordinary paper cup and you might have some problems.

Yet effectively that is exactly what is happening in the case of many of the ‘designer’ labels we see in our high streets as well as the designer wedding dresses we first spoke about. Mass-produced dresses made (and often designed) in the Far East are being presented to us in this way. I don’t know about you, but this to me, seems to weaken the whole ‘designer dress’ ethos. Why pay more if it’s nothing but a mass-produced clone?

So what makes for a true ‘designer dress’?

Firstly, there has to be an exclusive element to the design. Admittedly high prices are in themselves a way of making a dress more exclusive, but there has to be more to it than that.

What about the dresses that grace the Hollywood red carpets and the latest catwalk shows? What makes them a designer dress?

The answer to that is individuality. Most of these dresses have been drawn by a designer and then made by a small, elite team of seamstresses, who are working the movie star or model’s actual measurements.

This is often a ‘bespoke’ dress in the true meaning of the word i.e. a ‘one off’ garment made for the individual.

The word ‘couture’ has in recent years come to mean a garment that is made to an accepted high standard by a skilled designer and sewing team. Originally the term could only be used in certain regions of France. Even today the term ‘Haute Couture’ can only be used when referring to ten current fashion houses based in Paris and three other correspondent fashion houses.

Is it possible to buy true bespoke, couture made designer wedding dresses in the UK? Yes of course, but you have to look for them. Many designers have to a certain extent ‘sold out’ to the enormous wedding dress factories based in China, and who can blame them?

In the wedding trade it is quite usual for a wedding dress ‘designer’ to walk in to a Chinese design room, choose from a range of fabrics, bodice patterns, embroidery styles, sizes required and then effectively leave them to it. The factory under-write the fabric required for a reasonable run of dresses and label them for the ‘designer’.

In fairness to the Chinese manufacturers, the quality is often excellent, but in the fullest meaning of the term ‘couture’ they do not qualify and you will normally have a dress ordered roughly in your dress size that will then be altered to fit you. They certainly are not ‘bespoke’ dresses.

To be sure that you are truly purchasing a couture made, bespoke wedding dress, even by a respected designer, it is best to ask whether it will be made in the designer’s own premises.

You should expect to visit the shop or design studio on more than one occasion, as it is customary to be measured for a toile (calico mock-up) of the dress to ensure a perfect fit. At least another two or three visits will be necessary.

Generally (though not always) if a dress is ready-made when you arrive for your very first fitting, it is not, repeat not a bespoke dress.

If you choose an existing style and ask for it in your size, it may be a couture-made, made to measure dress, but it is not a bespoke dress.

In conclusion, probably the simplest way to express the type of wedding dresses that are available to the UK bride is to sum up the three basic groups: Ready to wear wedding dresses (off the peg), made to measure wedding dresses (often altered to your size from an existing style), and bespoke wedding dresses (these are unique dresses made to fit you perfectly).

When all is said and done, the most important thing is that you are happy with the dress you choose, just be aware that some bridal shops are claiming their dresses to be something that they are not.

David Keffen writes for several UK style magazines. http://www.societybrides.com

Author: David Keffen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Many happy returns for the betrothed couple! Before you begin a lifetime together, all of the plans related to your wedding day must still be worked out. The sooner you begin the process, the less you will need to concern yourself with the details later.

Arranging plans for your wedding day can involve a multitude of tasks from selecting a ceremony location to making your honeymoon arrangements and everything in between. The average cost of a Dallas wedding averages $26,000 for 150 guests, with many couples exceeding that figure as special touches are added, guest lists mushroom and venues are upgraded. Regardless of your budget and stress level, you can control costs and enjoy your day rather than being saddled with tremendous debt and heartache through careful planning. One way to ensure this is to hire a wedding planner.

What is a wedding planner and what do they do?

Known as wedding planners, wedding consultants or wedding coordinators, professionals who plan and direct weddings for a living can be invaluable to busy brides and grooms trying to plan a wedding amidst their demanding careers and hectic everyday lives. Whatever the title, you want to hire a true professional one who has had proper education and training and has been certified. You also would be wise to seek a consultant who has solid experience and is active in professional wedding industry organizations. Ask to see portfolios and request references.

A good wedding planner will first assess the needs of her clients by asking vision-casting questions to determine important factors such as the style of wedding they desire, size of guest list and available budget. Once the vision is established, the consultant will help develop a game plan for the entire planning process, tailored specifically for the happy couple. Moving forward, the planner will work hand-in-hand with the bride in all of the planning details, keeping track of deadlines, payment schedules and budget adherence.

If you choose to hire a wedding planner, it is most beneficial to have them involved from the beginning, when they can save you time and stress by helping you devise a focused plan and by guiding you to wedding vendors that have been pre-researched.

Many brides feel they can plan the wedding solo, only to find themselves overwhelmed with all the details and later hire a wedding consultant halfway through the process. If a bride has the time and resources to do all of the legwork to plan her own wedding and is especially organized, she might just hire a wedding planner to orchestrate the rehearsal and wedding day. The planner can ensure that everything runs smoothly, coordinate the wedding party and vendors, relieve tensions, and allow those participating in the celebration to relax and enjoy themselves knowing that everything is being taken care of!

You may decide to plan the entire wedding yourself or have a close friend or family member help, which is sometimes part of the fun of planning a wedding. However, it can also become a major headache especially if you or your faithful helpers do not have the expertise of proper training. An experienced wedding consultant has the training and experience to do the ground work, and make sure that your day is as perfect as you had envisioned it, while you relax and watch it play out before your eyes.

How Can A Wedding Planner Save You Money?

The biggest misconception about hiring a wedding planner is that it will add to your expenses. While it does cost money to hire a wedding planner, she will be able to save you money by recommending wedding vendors that will provide service within your budget, review your contracts to look for hidden costs and possible discounts, and help you avoid making costly mistakes. In most cases, a wedding planner will already have well-established relationships with vendors, such as photographers and florists, who are sometimes willing to be more flexible with a planners client because of the planners ability to bring them repeat business, which can help in reducing some of your costs.

Here Comes the Bride!

Once your wedding plans are in place you can fully enjoy the day without worrying about the details. A wedding planner can help you stay on track and relieve you of much of the minutiae related to planning your wedding. Before you know it, the bridal march will be playing and you will be at peace and enjoying your special day thanks to some wise planning on the part of you and your intended.

Author: Michael Brito
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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