Source: www.oprah.com

I was just browsing through cnn during my lunch and came across this article from oprah.com that I thought was pretty a funny take on changing your last name.   This has been a topic of discussion long before my wedding but it’s definitely worth disucssion with your fiance prior to taking the plunge!

Source: http://www.whoopassenterprises.com

Bobbleheads

A friend of mine’s husband sent in photos of his groomsmen to this company and at the rehearsal dinner he presented each with a their own personalized bobblehead.  I thought this was a cute idea and it definitely fit the personality of the groom!  I found a few websites online that will personalizes them for your special occasion http://www.whoopassenterprises.com

Source: www.michaelzigmond.com/)

Scotch and Cigars. There is nothing like a group of guys with a bottle of scotch and cigars.  A nice bottle of scotch and nice cigar will always be appreciated but be careful with the timing of these gifts.  Some groomsmen might crack open the bottle the night of the rehearsal so beware of the potential of a hungover groomsmen.  These gifts can be bought at any local liquor or cigar store.

Source: http://www.casinogift.com

Personalized Poker Set (http://www.casinogift.com)

This is a great gift for the poker loving guys.  I think this would have a been a great idea for our groomsmen but remember that anything personalized will need to be purchased far in advance.

Source: http://mallimages.mallfinder.com

Clothing Accessories (http://mallimages.mallfinder.com)

Although these gifts seem to be traditional, every guy will undoubtedly love to have an extra pair of cufflinks or even a really nice tie on hand!   I personally love Thomas pink ties and they can be a great gift and can also be worn during a casual wedding!

What are you thinking of giving as groomsmen gifts for your wedding? Have you come across any non traditional gift ideas that you loved?

Source: http://www.bostoneventworks.com/img/1.jpg

During the wedding planning process one decision that I stressed over was deciding on a band or a DJ.    Both my fiancé’ had decided to go more casual and have a party like atmosphere then a more formal cocktail type event.  Now that being said there were a lot of considerations to make before deciding on either some which where space, atmosphere,  and your budget.  Here are a few things to consider when making your decision.

Space – I think in many of my posts I have stressed the importance of the right venue for the right amount guests.   If you have already picked your venue then you might be limited by the contract to noise restrictions or available power supply so make sure to check into these before signing your DJ or band contract.  Make sure to discuss optimal location to set up the band with the venue point of contact.   Depending on the size of the band consider all the equipment and space that will consumed by having them .  It’s best to discuss with the band how much space they will need and determine whether this can be done without making any sacrifices in space for other items like the buffet set up or a dance floor.  A DJ generally takes up very little space and can accommodate most venues.  Although if your ceremony and reception location are the same discuss with your DJ space that will be needed at both locations.   When deciding on having a band you should also consider what kind of music will be played during the ceremony.

Atmosphere – This was the most important aspect of my decision making.  My fiancé and I had decided to have our party like feel that would get all the guests out of their seats and dancing.   We had been to a wedding where the couple had a jazz band which was perfect for the venue and gave it a very 1950’s type feel to it.  We also went to a wedding where the couple had an 80’s cover band playing which had the guests on the dance floor till the end of the wedding.   Although both of these were wonderful weddings my fiancé and I have very different tastes in music and coming to a decision was ultimately a compromise.   I had checked out a few bands at some bridal shows and also called around for references and decided that I although I loved the party like feel of a band I wanted to variety a good DJ could offer.

Budget – Did I say atmosphere was the biggest consideration=) Well it was it was in terms of wants but also a major consideration was the budget.  For my friend who had the 80’s band she prioritized the band and made other sacrifices with the flowers and the food that allowed her to stay with in budget.    Having a DJ at our wedding not only allowed us to have variety but also cost about $5,000 less then hiring a band.   In the DC area most of the bands I really enjoyed were approximately $5,000 – $8000 dollars for a wedding while the majority of DJ’s ranged from $800 – $2000.

In the end the DJ ended up being the right choice for us.   It ensured space, atmosphere, variety and quality.

What are your biggest factors when choosing your reception music? Which did you decide on?

Source: www.1weddingsource.com

Giving Yourself Time to Save: I can’t say enough how nice it was to have a few extra months to save for the wedding. We ended up booking a date for our wedding that would give us 20 months to save. Although during the last few months we just wanted to get married already but having the extra time to save allowed us to add a few things to the wedding that we hadn’t originally planned.

Source: www.theweddingideasblog.co.uk

Setting Goals:  The biggest part of paying for your own wedding is that you actually get to work towards goals with your future spouse. After our engagement we decided to sit down and put together a financial plan. We noted each other’s debt, school loans, house payments, car payments etc. and came up with a set amount to contribute each month to our “wedding fund.” Over the course of our engagement there were a few times we needed to dip into the fund to cover something but we always made sure that we put it back in the following month. I think this was a great way to practice for marriage!!!

Source: www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk/

Prioritizing: If my husband had his wish we would have had a 300 person wedding. We each prioritized our guest lists and figured out a cost per person and decided what was within our budget to have. We ended up having a goal of 150 people and had it in a venue that only held up 160 people. There is nothing worse that having a wedding with a lot of empty space!

Source: www.tent-rental-chicago.com

Be Open to Options: Even though I wanted to get married in a church, deciding to have your ceremony and reception in the same location cuts back on a lot of costs including flowers, transportation and of course any site fees. I started seeing some amazing tent wedding photos throughout my planning process and really wish I had considered it earlier on in my planning. I wanted to have a relaxed wedding but nothing too simple and had originally shied away from something like this. If I had decided to go with a tent I could have paid much less for a place to have the wedding or even had it at a family member’s home. A bride can really have the wedding of her dreams in some of the modern tents that a lot of party rental companies are able to provide.

Cutting Back:  Both my fiancé and I made sacrifices for the wedding that we agreed on. One that was controversial (but necessary in our case) was moving in together. My rent payment was part of my wedding fund contribution each month. We also made a decision that we would not make any big purchases and not do unnecessary travel. We also ended up combining our cell phones to a shared plan as well as our gym memberships. Those two things alone saved us $200 a month! A few of the smaller things I did was to cook more (no more eating out!), do my own manicures and pedicures, pluck instead of wax and buy clothes on sale (small things but they helped)

Did anyone else end up paying for their own wedding? What did you cut back on to achieve your saving goals?

Source: chriskeeneyphoto.com

 After visiting all my vendors and getting all the big decisions made about my big day I started to get a little overwhelmed when it came down to the rest of the details.   Although I waited till late in the game, I highly recommend putting together a wedding day schedule sooner then later in you’re planning.  Having this as a reference can help guide your next steps and prioritize your time.

Below are some tips on how to start putting together your wedding day schedule:

Put your Day of Time line together starting with Ceremony Time and Reception Time (you can start by just putting together a running list on a piece of a paper but over time should move to excel or a table in Microsoft word)

Source: weddingbeepro.com

Also a “nice to have” would be columns for bridesmaids, groomsmen, vendors.  This will let you start keeping tracking of who has to be where and when

From there figure out when your bridal party needs to arrive and what time pre ceremony photos can be done (bridesmaids and groomsmen separately)

Groomsmen from my wedding!

Try to start from the moment you wake up with your schedule, this will enable you to estimate times to make your hair and makeup appointments for you along with your bridesmaids

Determine the Reception schedule events and start to lay them out.  Other events include:

• Time for pictures between the ceremony and the reception
• Bridal party introduction
• First dances/father-daughter dance, mother-son dance and any other special events
• Cake Cutting
• Bouquet/Garter Toss
• Bride & Groom Exit

Source: images.apple.com

In addition to be able to answer all the questions for the vendors my schedule allowed me to keep the bridal party in the loop.   When the finalized schedule is ready to go (should be a few days before the wedding) email all the vendors and bridal party the schedule.   My bridesmaids made fun of me but in the afternoon when they were complaining about not eating I let them know they obviously missed the “eat something” line in the schedule or else they would have known better!

Remember your schedule can be as detailed as you want it to be – but plan on the day of to be running behind!

Does anyone have any tips for putting together a wedding day schedule?

Source: www.1weddingsource.com

First off, unless you’re dead set on throwing a surprise shower, consult the bride before making any plans and plan early.  A bridal shower should be thrown approximately 2 months before the wedding and you should give guests around 4 weeks to respond to the invitation.  So work backwards on your timeline and talk to the bride about anything she had in mind about the shower.  Or maybe something small or just a spa trip with the bridesmaids?  Possibly just family and bridesmaids? I have also heard of some bridal showers inviting all of the female guests that are being invited to the wedding.  I would like to say this is up to the planner but ideally this shower should be what the bride wants.  Make sure to ask about any family consideration or traditions.  Most recently my friend discovered that there is a family tradition (on her groom’s side) that the groom attends the shower.   During this conversation make sure to find out where the bride and groom have registered.  Try to ensure they have registered for a wide variety of gifts ranging in price.

Source: www.blisstree.com

After you get the basic thoughts from the bride, get the bridesmaids together and make some decisions.  Who is going to pay for the shower? This can sometimes be split by the bridesmaids or in my case where my sister was my bridesmaid my mother and my sister picked up the tab although this is of course depending on the size of the shower.    Make sure to discuss location and venue as these can be important to determine the exact date.  Holding the shower in someone’s home and having the bridal power bring the food can be low cost option.  Also some places have a low cost brunch/lunch menu so sometimes looking at a caterer or restaurant can still be an option even if you have a tight budget.

Source: www.projectwedding.com

Once the basics are determined, make a task list of who is bringing what, or doing what, along with a high level schedule of the event.  Also make sure to order favors for each guest.  These can be something that is related to a theme of the bridal shower (if you chose to do so) or something as small as a bag of candy.   Unlike the wedding favors, bridal shower favors can be fun items that only women will be enjoying!

Source: www.ehow.com

Like any event bridal showers can be as formal or as relaxed as you decide.   Other nice to haves are place cards, centerpieces, pictures of the bride and groom, music (if desired).  After my bridal shower my friends and I decided to try some karaoke. It definitely made for a great after party!

Soure: www.lemondrop.com

I was just browsing through news when I came across this story so I thought I would share=)  Can you spot the surprise?

Wedding Slide Show Surprise

This weekend I ran into another very fun future bride at a BBQ and we got to talking and of course we hit the major topics like “what’s your dress look like”, “what are your colors” etc.  Then after a while we started talking and she said “are you going to keep your dress afterward.”  Now somewhere along my wedding planning adventures it had definitely crossed my mind.  Now after talking to her, I’m  seriously considering selling or lending out a lot of all the random wedding stuff I have purchased.  When will I use this stuff again?

Being one of the first girls in my group to get married I wasn’t as familiar with all the wedding related items that are available through classifieds.  I’m not sure if I would have been comfortable buying a dress through the classifieds but I’m considering selling mine along with some of my other wedding day stuff.  Is anyone else considering this?  My friend can’t wait to sell her dress, she is so excited to sell it and buy clothes she can really wear!

Has anyone had any good or bad experiences on selling or purchasing through the classifieds for the wedding?  Have any brides found any creative ways to resuse some of there wedding day items?

Source: engagement101mag.wordpress.com

Well I’m not sure if those of you shopping for wedding rings maybe celebrity gossip followers but I am!!!  A good People or Us Weekly magazine can keep me entertained for a least most of cardio work out at the gym and I love catching up on the latest weddings!!!

When I was shopping for rings I was obviously interested to see celebrity rings so I thought I would share a few of the ones that I really liked! (and one I didn’t).  Above is the very recently married Katherine Heigl’s wedding ring.  Now despite the rumors of her diva personality on set, her 3 carat ring is somewhat conservative in the Hollywood world – and I love it!!!  My coworker has one of my most favorite weddings rings, it is a pear cut and it definitely stands out among the princess and round cut engagement rings of her friends.    Her husband actually picked it all out on his own and I think he did a fabulous job!!!!

Here are a few more really enjoyed.

Below is Eva Longoria’s ring.  I absolutely love the style of the wedding band.  I don’t wear a lot of jewelry and I think the band is beautiful as a stand alone.  Not sure the whole fitting with the engagement ring but she’s Eva… she can do whatever she wants.

Souce: kourouma.wordpress.com

Source: jamesallen.com

And now to my most hated wedding ring of recent celeb weddings…..

Source: rapinterview.com

It’s Mariah’s!!!!!! Don’t get me wrong I love her and I love her new song “Obsessed” but really!!!  This 17 carat ring is beyond obnoxious.   I guess if you made a movie called “Glitter” you should probably have something like this but since only 10 people saw the movie she probably could have gotten away with something a little more life-size.  I always ask myself, did Nick Cannon really earn enough money from Drumline that he was able to afford this?

Source: pleasedbride.com

Now this may come as quite a shock but I have actually never had my hair done before and kept it.  I had my hair done once for prom and I took it out as soon as I left since I hated it!   I have a very simple strapless, satin trumpet gown.  I have decided that since I can’t predict how my hair will want to act after an afternoon ceremony in the sun (hopefully) and lot’s of pictures and dancing that I will minimize the risk and put it all up.  Since I never like the way a hairstylists styles my hair when I leave the salon, I have decided to have a trial updo.   Does anyone have any tips they could offer when going to this?

Here are few I’m considering.

Source: www.wedding-dresses-gowns.com/wedding_updos.html

Source: veganbride.com/blog/tag/wedding-updos/

Source: itsajaimething.com

Has anyone had an experience with their own wedding hairstyle that they wish they had done differently?  Is anyone considering doing their own wedding day hair?