If you are getting married in the near future you may be well aware that you are in for the best of times and the worst of times. A wedding can and should be the happiest day of your life but the stresses and strains of organizing and planning this celebration can be unbearable. In this article we will aim to give you some basic advice and suggestions in our free wedding planning guide.

The first piece of advice in our free wedding planning guide is the venue for the reception. You need a place with enough space available for guests, food and dancing if you so choose one piece of advice is to hire a hotel or a banquet hall. Many choose this option despite the expense. Hotels and banquet halls are used to catering for large numbers of people and have their own facilities on hand to suit your needs. Many will help with the organization and take the stress off of you.

Our second piece of advice in our free wedding planning guide is to help with the rings. You and your spouse to be should choose the rings together. This way you’re both assured of getting something you like and feel you have contributed. Try to avoid fashion statements when choosing wedding rings. These are mint to lat a lifetime and you don’t want something that will be out of style in a few years time.

Our third piece of advice in our free wedding planning guide has to do with flowers. You may have to call around to several different florists if your wedding is during the high wedding season, or near a major holiday. Florists get extremely busy at these times so as soon as you know your wedding date get on the phone.

Hopefully the advice in this free wedding planning guide is helpful. Being organized and working months ahead can save you a lot of stress and heartache when it comes to planning your big day. When it is affordable and practical, let the places do all of the planning for you. Hotels and halls quite often have this available. Choose important items with your spouse to be and don’t wait until the last minute to get those oh so important wedding accessories. Following the simplest of advice can ensure your wedding goes off as planed and add years to your life.

Your wedding should be one of the happiest days of your life. People now days are abandoning the old traditional weddings for more personal and specialized ceremonies that are a truer reflection of them. Weddings with theme around music, movies and television characters are on the rise. Among these specialized ceremonies, weddings centered on a particular location are also rising in popularity. Destination wedding planning is becoming more and more popular and provides some clear advantages.

You may be wondering, why destination wedding planning? Many people choose a particular destination because of physical beauty and sentimental value to them. Where and what you desire depends on you and you spouse to be.

You may be wondering about licensing laws in particular areas. This may come as a surprise but some of the most beautiful areas in the world Idealic for a wedding have very few restrictions for marriage licenses. The state of Hawaii has no residency requirement and foreigners from other nations are welcome to marry there as well. All you need is identification and the marriage license fee. The island nation of Fiji is quite similar. You simply need to present your passport in person, pay the license fee and you are on your way. Some locations do have residency and visa requirements so before you realize your dream of saying I do at the top of Mount Everest do your homework.

You might be wondering what the advantages are to destination wedding planning. Well 1 is to have the wedding of a lifetime in an ideayllic location the other is economy. Usually, you combine your wedding and honeymoon together. With packages and clever planning you may even save some money.

Destination wedding planning is a way to have the perfect wedding day centered on an ideal holiday spot or an area of great sentimental value. If traditional weddings are not what you want, look into destination wedding planning. It’s your big day so enjoy it.

A wedding is a large and important event. Lots have to be planned, coordinated and organized. Some of the planning is fun and enjoyable but it can soon get on top of you. This article is designed to give you some wedding planning advice and to help you get organized and plan your big day with as little stress as possible.

A wedding planning tip is to decide your venues for the ceremonies and the reception well in advance and book early. Places such as these tend to get booked up quite quickly especially at the peak time of your weddings. If you’re having a religious ceremony, booking your church, temple or synagogue a year in advance is not unheard of.

Another good wedding planning tip is to use friends and family. Find out everyone’s talents and use them .This is also useful when you are trying to pan a wedding on a budget. Using friends and family provides 2 functions. It takes a lot of the stress and strain off of you and allows your friends and family to get involved and be a part of your big day.

A good third wedding planning tip is to book your florist well in advance. This may not seem as important but remember, florists get bust with wedding as well as every other holiday out there. Decide what you want in the way of flowers early and order as soon as you know.

A final good wedding tip is to choose a reputable photographer. Again, Plan ahead and interview several. Ask to see a portfolio of previous work and if possible get testimonials from other customers. You’ll want to remember this day for the rest of your life so it’s important you hire someone who is professional and can provide high quality work.

By being organized and following these simple rules, you’re increasing the changes of your wedding day being perfect with the least amount of stress on you. Your wedding day should be a happy occasion but it requires planning and work so get organized.

Do Wedding Planning Schools actually exist?  In a nutshell, yes.  Providing prospective event and wedding planners with comprehensive training in comprehensive organizational skills, wedding planning schools teach students how to interactively direct formal banquets, weddings, conventions, and other structured events.

Future bridal consultants enrolled in a wedding planning school will gain an in-depth understanding to the basics of running a successful wedding consulting business.  A wedding planning school will teach students how to conduct interviews with the bride and her mother to gain/suggest an outline of the particular style of wedding they are seeking; set fees (usually fifteen percent of the cost of the wedding); attain and combine necessary resources for the main event; make engagement/wedding announcements; create spreadsheets with regard to wedding costs and plans; compile and keep track of guest lists; and much more!

In addition to the above topics, wedding planning schools typically provide a curriculum in a variety of bridal consulting courses including but not limited to training and education in communication skills; engagement party planning; customs, etiquette and traditions; ceremonial styles; time management; budgeting and negotiation; assisting the bride and wedding party with appropriate bridal outfits and accessories; catering and menu selection; how to select adequate musical, photography and floral arrangements;  honeymoon planning; stress management; business management; marketing strategies, and additional skills in common wedding planning forms such as checklists and vendor/contract forms.

Teaching essential skills in everything relevant to the wedding from how to coordinate seating arrangements to arranging the honeymoon vacation, wedding planning schools are excellent for individuals who are creative “people persons” that enjoy working with the public and can work well under pressure.  Generally, graduates of a wedding planning school go onto entrepreneurial businesses in the field.

If you are thinking about enrolling in a Wedding Planning School to attain your education in bridal consulting or event planning, feel free to visit the Traditional Schools Directory at SchoolsGalore.com for more information.

©08/28/2006 – Wedding Planning Schools:  Do they really exist?

By C. Bailey-Lloyd in association with Media Positive Communications, Inc., Managing Organization for SchoolsGalore.com

The first thing to do when you plan your wedding is to figure out what it is about a wedding that matters to you.  What’s really important?

Don’t think that there is only one right answer to the question of what’s important.

If I believed that it’s wrong to have an overly lavish wedding or a Halloween-themed wedding or any other particular kind of wedding, then I’d recommend that you listen to every word your wedding vendors (and other wedding “controllers”) say.

I’d praise them when they feel compelled to point out to you that YOU are not a wedding professional.  THEY are wedding professionals.  THEY plan weddings all the time.  What can YOU possibly know about planning a wedding?!

But I don’t believe that.  I believe that you know something critical, that no wedding vendor on Earth can know better than you.

You know YOUR dreams.

You know what YOU want, whether it’s a very typical thing to want from a wedding or a very unusual thing to want doesn’t matter to me at all.  What I care about is that you come to the end of your wedding and think, “I made my dreams a reality,” not “I sure am glad I didn’t make my vendors do anything unusual!”

I don’t care if what you want is average.  Average is fine with me.  Not average is fine with me.  I care that you want it.  No matter what “it” is (as long it’s not harmful to yourself or others, of course).

By “Figure out what matters,” I don’t mean, “Forget about all those fanciful details that you should be mature enough to know aren’t important.”  Not at all.

If what matters to you is having swan-shaped ice sculptures twice the size of the ones your sister-in-law had, more power to you.  There’s nothing wrong with what’s important to you about your wedding.

It’s just that you need to know what it is.  Then you need to convey that to others.

The process to getting the wedding of your dreams is as follows:

1.  Know what’s important to you in your wedding.

2.  Make it easy for others to know/remember what’s important to you in your wedding.

3.  Watch others like a hawk to ensure that they create what’s important to you in your wedding.

EXERCISE

Ask yourself why you are having a wedding at all.

Why not go down to the courthouse and get married in front of a judge tomorrow afternoon (or as soon as you can get a license)?

Think about that question carefully.  Your answer to this question reveals a lot about what’s important to you in your wedding planning.

If the first thing that pops into your head as a response is, “Oh, no, I can’t elope.  I’ve always pictured myself in the white dress with the veil and gloves, holding flowers,” then you know that achieving those elements in your wedding is important to you.

If your response is, “I can’t elope.  I really want to have everyone I know in attendance,” then you’ll know that you should spend money on your guest list (in terms of affording food and space for all your guests) as you plan your wedding.

On the other hand, if your response is, “I can’t elope.  My mother would kill me” then maybe you should let your mother plan your wedding.   Did that suggestion just give you the chills?   Even if it didn’t, you should really try to get an image of what you want from your wedding, or don’t bother having one.

Think about the courthouse thing again.  Really get the image in your head.  Today you’re engaged.  Tomorrow you and your man go to the courthouse and come out married.  You’re married forever.  That’s the end.

How do you feel about that?  What doesn’t feel right to you?  What elements of that image make you feel disappointed?  Are you saying, “But I won’t have any wedding photos to show my children” or what?Identify those elements of a wedding that it would really break your heart to live without.

1.  Ask yourself:  “Why do I need a wedding in addition to a marriage?”

2.  “If I couldn’t have a wedding, what would I miss most?”

3.  “What does that suggest is most important to me in my wedding?”

4.  “What area of my wedding does that suggest I should spend the most money/effort on?”

Copy that list a few times and post it in strategic places around your home. By your phone and taped to your fiancй’s head are a couple particularly good posting spots because those are likely things for you to be looking at when the wedding frustration rises too high, and you have to remind yourself why you started this extravaganza in the first place.

Just as an aside, if thinking about the courthouse wedding raises no negative feelings in you whatsoever, maybe you should consider it.  There’s nothing wrong with getting married the cheap and easy way.  You can always throw a party or an anniversary “wedding” celebration some time in the future when your circumstances warrant it and your heart desires it.

This is your wedding.  Now that you know what you want, you can go out and get it.

(c) All Rights Reserved — Debbie MacGuffie

I don’t know about you, but I planned my wedding off-and-on for about  four years before my boyfriend even asked me to marry him.  Some women I  know planned their weddings off-and-on from the time they were eight  years old.   For we Pre-planners, the execution of the actual event can  come as somewhat of a shock.

You’re no longer allowed to say, “Let’s get married on a pier beside the  ocean” one week and then, “We should get married in an ancient stone  cathedral in Scotland” the next week.  You have to decide, once and for  all, and then you have to make it happen (and then, darn it, you have to  find a way to pay for it).  Be warned, this is not as much fun as the  fantasy was.

On the other hand, there are some women who never spent six minutes of  their lives planning their wedding before someone asked them to get  married.  In fact, sometimes these women haven’t thought about planning  their wedding until long AFTER someone asked them to get married.

Eventually these women notice that nothing seems to be moving forward on  that wedding front.

“Hmm,” one of these gals says to herself.  “You don’t suppose I’M  supposed to do something about this?!”

Sorry to be the one to break the news, but yes.

Regardless of which type of woman you are, successfully planning a  wedding without losing your mind requires vision, organization,  creativity, and knowledge of how to play nicely (but firmly.  Repeat  after me, “FIRMLY”) with others.

Never fear!  Taken with the right attitude, planning a wedding can be a  blast, and it should be.  This event is one of the defining moments of  your life.  Define it.  Rule it rather than letting it rule you. Why  would you do it if it weren’t going to be fun?

(c) All Rights Reserved — Debbie MacGuffie

You know it is coming.  And it is sad to say that you are planning your wedding without any help.  Sure, you have spare time, but unless you have a tremendous relationship with every wedding vendor in your city, disaster is looming.  Don’t let that dark cloud of disaster overshadow your dream day.  Start planning your wedding by getting vendor references from friends and relatives.

A wedding vendor depends on its reputation to get referral work and a poor recommendation can go a long way to ruin an established vendor.  Look for vendors that have been in business for a few years.  If the business is relatively new or inexperienced, ask for references.  Find out whom they have worked for and call that person!  Get names, dollar-amounts, styles, attitudes, etc.  Do your homework.  Find out what your vendor will offer you and what makes them different from everyone else.  Do they offer you little mints on your pillow, or a free 8×10” keepsake photo?  Lastly, find out their terms.  That means this:  ask when they will expect their final payment.  This frightens many brides because they expect to shell out thousands of dollars without seeing the fruit of the vendor’s labor.  Read your contract.  If the photographer’s payment is due 10 days prior to the wedding, don’t expect him to show up on the day of the ceremony if you haven’t sent his payment.

Next, make sure your bridal party is on the same page as you.  Give them some instructions, but let them know that you expect them to be on time if they will participate in your nuptials.  Give them a timeline with dates and times of the rehearsals, dinners, bachelor/bachelorette and/or bridal showers, photos, etc.  Let them know how they are supposed to dress and how the bridesmaids should wear their hair and make=-up.  Be as specific as possible – no one is a mind reader.

Find out what family members and friends are WILLING to do during for your wedding day and find out who is paying for it.  If Aunt Mamie is going to help you coordinate the wedding, find out where she plans to be during the wedding day.  I have seen some relatives who helped to plan the wedding not in attendance on the day-of the ceremony.  If parents and relatives are going to pay for a portion of the wedding, find out which.  Will Cousin Joe pay for the alcohol?  Are Mom and Dad paying for the reception?  Will the groom’s parents foot the bill for the rehearsal dinner?  Find all of this out ahead of time so there will be no disappointments when the wedding day arrives.

In coordinating the vendors, make sure each of them has all of your contact information as well as a finalized timeline where they can find out the time of their arrival, their allotted set-up time, and their estimated time of departure.  Give the photographer a very detailed timeline so she will know where she is taking pictures of the bride and groom and when.

Make sure to have everything you will need for your wedding packed an placed by the door including:  keys to your car, change of a $20, cell phone, the ring(s), marriage license, change of clothes, bridal trousseau, passport, driver’s license or other ID, scissors, needle and thread, white chalk, makeup, toiletries, etc.

Even the most organized people experience some difficulty at their wedding.  If you don’t have the time or the stamina to plan your own wedding, consider hiring someone else to do it for you.  It is no longer a luxury to have your own wedding consultant.  A wedding consultant is there to help you make your day more special by managing the details of the special day while you are enjoying your husband and your other guests.  It is an expense that is well worth it!

Why not set your wedding apart by choosing a special north Eastern Victoria country wedding venue and create a real surprise for your guest’s. Today’s bride and groom can give their wedding that special something to make their wedding different without breaking the bank.

There’s no need to relocate the wedding party, family & all of the guests to some far off exotic location, many city people are now planning & relocating their wedding in the magnificent North East Victorian Country Side.

And why not, there is no shortage of professional wedding service providers located across the North East region of Victoria, who will be only too happy to tend to your every whim.

Reception venues range from small intimate restaurants, which are ideal for the smaller wedding groups, or you can hire the services of the larger venues willing to cater for the large guest list.

Some of the restaurant & reception facilities are also located at many of the vineyards scattered throughout the North Eastern Valley, you’ll truly enjoy the European style of catering now on offer in the King valley, you could almost be excused for thinking that you have just been transported  to the Mediterranean, Oh yes, there’s more than just a hint of Tuscany in the king valley.

The North Eastern region of Victoria is synonymous with excellent food and wine, it is exciting and a wonderful feast of gastronomic delight awaits the bridal couple planning to entertain friends and family intrue style on their wedding day, it will surely be a memorable occasion and remembered by all for many years to come.

While most of the social activity occurs down in the valley, don’t forget the pure delights of an alpine country wedding set amongst the snow gums on the Bogong high plains. The best time for a high country wedding is definitely in the summer time.

There’s nothing quite like a romantic summer wedding in the north east Victoria high country, with the snow long gone, the mountains are ablaze with alpine wild flowers and soft summer grasses, imagine the stunning Alpine backdrop for wedding photographs the alpine location will provide, especially if you hire a local photographer who is willing to listen to your ideas, and capture the images that you really want.

If you want your country wedding to be successful, then you also need to find the right people to help organise and bring your special day together.

The best way to look for wedding service providers is to search online using a wedding directory. A one stop shopping point where you can quickly gather information and business contact details and begin your planning, say goodbye to the endless driving and walking around finding and talking to people.

A regional specific wedding directory can be an enormous help in planning your wedding, you can make direct contact with businesses and ask questions via email from a computer in the comfort of your home, office or Internet cafe, it is just so easy to do.

More and more city couples are deciding to tie the knot in one of the many truly exotic North East regional Victorian locations, the cost of which is much less than big city reception venues. Country weddings can be as casual or as formal as you wish, but, most people opt for the casual approach, but your wedding can still have that air of super casual sophistication without being sloppy and boring.

Wedding planning success is something that can be achieved in a couple of different ways. If you intend to employ the services of a wedding coordinator/planner, then the overall job is made a lot easier for both bride and groom. Bear in mind, however, that this will mean additional costs that need to be accounted for. A rather cheaper option is to delegate some planning responsibility to friends and family, if possible. The couple getting married can do a lot of this planning as well, further saving money that can be allocated elsewhere. These plans must be well organized with nothing left to chance and completed in good time.

Planning for a wedding is a time consuming process. Whilst it can be done relatively quickly, you do not want to be in a position where you are left worrying about anything that may have been overlooked. You should employ the help of several people, both to save time and get things done with the viewpoint of several people. They will be able to offer you constructive and helpful advice. As it will be your wedding, the planning and detail must remain geared to your overall vision of what proceedings should be.

Another tip to bear in mind when it comes to planning a wedding is your personal ability to plan a successful wedding by remaining organized for the planning that you will need to do. Take some time to purchase the right guidebooks and do some research on the internet. Have a look at some wedding sites that help with planning and also employ the services of skilled wedding service providers. Planning your wedding does not have to be an uphill struggle if you can stay organized. Best of luck.

By now you have figured out it’s not about the wedding reception, flowers, dresses, tuxedos, etc…, but about the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with.  If you are certain of this then wedding planning should be an enjoyable experience.  Here are some quick tips that we discovered when planning our wedding:

BudgetSince this is a second wedding, most parents have already done their fair share once before.  Therefore they will probably not be contributing financially to your special day.  In many cases, this should be perceived as a good thing as the only opinions that should count are the bride and groom.  Most couples by now realize that the cost of a wedding could be the down payment on a new home.  Make sure to set a realistic budget!

Wedding SuppliesWe found that using the internet to order all of our wedding favors and supplies alleviated a lot of unnecessary stress.  We were able to shop at our convenience and have the packages delivered to the location of our choice.   Ordering from one website may alleviate some of your concerns and possibly reduce your shipping costs.

Bridal PartyLimit the number of bridal attendants.  Let all of your bridal attendants know what color you have selected, and let them pick a dress of their choice that is flattering to them.  This will alleviate the pressure of picking the perfect dress for everyone’s figure.

Out-of Town GuestsIf you plan on inviting many out of town guests, choose a month that is climate favorable to all.  This will make traveling and attending your wedding a lot less stressful.  In addition, choose to get married in a hotel which can accommodate the wedding ceremony, reception, and accommodations for your guests.

ChildrenMany second weddings occur when we are a little older and many of our friends now have children.  If your wedding is going to be in the evening and children are not invited, try to arrange for babysitters for out of town guests.

Hopefully these wedding tips will help alleviate some of the stress you may be feeling.  Remember, keep it simple.  Sometimes less can be more!  Don’t forget to take time for yourself and relax.   Don’t stress too much over this one day.  You have found your life partner and you will have many years of happy days to come!