Real Life Wedding Planning

Are you and your fiancee looking on the Internet for wedding professionals?  Great!  Almost all wedding planners, caterers, photographers, videographers and other vendors have websites and will give you the information you want to know before you contact them.  However, I recently heard that some couples sign contracts and give deposits to vendors before they meet them in person.  Please don’t do that!  You must meet with every vendor before you hire them.  Get to know them and be sure they represented themselves accurately online.  Make sure you feel confident they can help you carry out your wedding vision in the way you want before you hire them.

Are you looking for ideas to help you plan your wedding and select the right items for your gift registry?  If you live in any of the cities listed below, you are in for a treat.  Lifetime Television’s program, Get Married, and Bloomingdale’s department store have partnered to host “Pre-Wedding” Wedding Party events.  These events will feature Bloomingdale’s vendors who will offer registry tips and talk about bridal trends.  In addition, Get Married co-host, DeAnne Pappas, will facilitate contests in which brides can win some of the featured registry items.

Here are the dates and locations of the Bloomingdale’s stores that are co-hosting the event:

May 7 – Lenox Square, Atlanta, GA

May 14 – Town Center, Boca Raton, FL

May 28 – Millenia, Orlando, FL

June 4 – Wisconsin Place, Chevy Chase, MD

You can find out more on the GetMarried.com website.

If you are not in any of the cities above and need tips on planning your gift registry, check out the registry articles on GetMarried.com.

“

Planning your second wedding and trying to figure out what to wear? In the May issue of The Oprah Magazine, their Creative Director, Adam Glassman, answered the question of what to wear when getting married for a second time.  His suggestions:

• Wear whatever makes you feel alive and happy

• You can wear white, but you can also wear any other color, red, black, etc.

• The dress can be long or short and don’t hesitate to wear a big gown, especially if it is your fiance’s first marriage

Don’t just look at wedding dresses, check evening gowns at department stores, you might even find something special on the sales racks.

Planning your wedding on a tight budget?  In the current issue of Us Weekly Magazine, Jen Schefft, from the television shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, spoke about her plans for her upcoming wedding.  Schefft recently lost her job so she is being really careful about sticking to a budget.

Here are some of her cost-saving ideas:

• Guest List – keep the count low
• Venue – chose a location that has it’s its own tables, chairs and linens.
• Linens – use what is available at the venue, no special order colors or textures
• Food – have a cocktail party reception with finger food or only serve three courses at dinner
• Music – use a DJ instead of a band
• Wedding Dress – try sample sales, check online. In the magazine, she modeled wedding dresses that were priced less than $500.
• Shoes – buy a reasonably priced pair that you can use again
• Jewelry – wear what you already have
• Makeup – Schefft is doing her own, do it yourself only if you do it well
• Hair – use your regular stylist

Think about how you can use some of her ideas to keep your wedding costs low.

Is the first item on your wedding planning checklist, “try on wedding dresses”?  Not so fast.  In the Spring 2009 issue of InStyle Weddings magazine, designer Vera Wang cautions again making the dress your first purchase.  She says, “Unless you decide on the venue and know how many guests you’re having, you can’t properly choose a dress. . .”

Why?  A ball gown or a dress with a train would overwhelm a small venue with 75 guests.  On the other hand, a bride in a short, casual dress would be lost and out-of-place in a large venue with 300 guests.

So pay attention to what Vera suggests.  She is, after all, one of the top celebrity wedding dress designers in the world.

Is purchasing high-end jewels to wear at your wedding not in your budget?  Then you can rent jewels to use on your wedding day from one of the bridal jewelry rental companies on the Internet.  Jewelry, such as  David Yurman pave diamond earrings, can be rented from Avelle, The New Bag Borrow or Steal, for $94 a week or $275 a month. They also have a Vera Wang diamond and pearl necklace for $50 a week or $150 a month.

Another place to look is Adorn Brides, a company dedicated to renting fine jewelry for weddings and other special occasions.  You select the pieces you want to rent and they ship them to arrive two days before your wedding.  You send them back the first business day after your event.  Rental period prices run from $100 for earrings or simple diamond pendants to$2450 for a yellow diamond necklace.

If you are interested in renting jewelry for yourself or members of your wedding party, take a look at the websites for the companies mentioned above or the many other sites on the Internet.  Your local jewelers might have rental programs also.

To save money, some brides today are deciding to forgo a big wedding ceremony in order to spend their money on a big reception.  Getting married at City Hall gives them the opportunity to eliminate the cost of the site, musicians, and decor and many other details needed for a ceremony.  They can now concentrate their money and their time on creating a more lavish reception.

This idea isn’t for everyone, if you have always dreamed of having your father walk you down the aisle or seen yourself getting married at your neighborhood chapel, that is what you should do.  But if you have always thought of your wedding as big party, you might want to consider getting married at City Hall, or hiring an officiant to marry you in a simple ceremony at home, and having a big reception later.

By the way, a wedding at City Hall or at home doesn’t mean you don’t get to wear a wedding dress.  By all means, find something special to wear on your big day.