My husband and I have been successful in raising our children through high school and college. Our youngest child graduated from college this year. We thought that we were going to be able to sit back and take some extra time this summer because the financial obligations of tuition was behind us. In fact we were looking at purchasing a small recreation vehicle and taking leaves from our jobs for a month to travel areas that we have yet to visit. This talk ended with our two daughters announcing that they were engaged to be married. Our oldest daughter has been dating the same young man for so long that there are times that I forget that they are not married. They decided that they want a late summer wedding and our younger daughter is going to wait until next spring when her fiancé will have finished his master’s degree. Instead of taking prolonged time off and buying an RV we are now looking into caterers, florists, and reception halls. There are so many things to consider when planning a wedding. My oldest daughter has very strong opinions and wants things to be just so. She has attended many wedding ceremonies over the past few years as her friends have been getting married. She has seen something’s that she would like to duplicate for her wedding and other things that she wants to make sure are not par of her special day. She was looking for a way to place the wedding guest book so that people are not standing in line as soon as they arrive at the reception to sign the book. One of her friends had their wedding guest book at the church. As people arrived they signed the book before sitting down for the ceremony. The wedding guest book was then taken to the reception hall for the guests to sign that did not attend the church service or did not have time to sign prior to the ceremony to begin. This decreased the number of people you have standing in line, and people same more patient waiting to sign a book before entering church than they are before entering a reception hall where there is food drinks and music. I told my daughter that I thought that this would be a great way to handle the wedding guest book. We could also make sure that the book is far enough away from the door at the reception so that the doorway is not blocked. There is a great deal more details to work out. My younger daughter, who is much more laid back than her sister, is enjoying watching the preparations. She feels that her day will be a snap to get ready because her sister and I are working through all the details already.
Although there are many opportunities in event planner jobs, few people become involved in it unless they have an inside connection. After all, a wedding planner job is all about getting things done quickly and efficiently. The easiest way to do this is to have a network of connections built up. Many people in wedding planer jobs have friends and family members in a lot of related industries. They know where to get wedding tents for cheap, what musicians they can hire in different areas, how to find the best wedding locations, and even how to help the bride and groom schedule a great honeymoon vacation. Nonetheless, with the right work ethic, anyone can succeed in a wedding planner job. The key is hard work and dedication. Many people who have their own businesses in wedding planner jobs are small contractors, eager to work with bright, talented people who can get the job done. This is classic on-the-job training – you learn by doing. You can work as a wedding caterer, a DJ, or wedding event planner. It really doesn’t matter where you start. Once you get involved in one field, you slowly but surely begin to understand the job as a whole. After that, a variety of wedding planner jobs become available to you. Although many beginning wedding event planners do not make a lot of money, once you get in the field you can make a killing. Wedding planner jobs exist at all levels, but advancement is usually based on reputation. So much of it is done word of mouth, you see, so one wedding planner can do all of the party planning for the whole circle of friends. It is amazing how much good a few referrals will do you in finding more prospective clients. Although advertising helps somewhat, word-of-mouth help so much more. Of course, a great way to succeed in wedding planner jobs is to develop several skills. If you, for example, can work as an ordained minister, have some basic catering skills, know how to DJ an events, and have interior decorating experience, you will be much more valuable in a wedding planner job. Basically, the more skills you have available, the better. Wedding planning people are an eclectic bunch, but the things that really matter most are being able to promote yourself and being able to get the job done. If you can do both those things, you can go places.
Everyone has their likes and dislikes. Some people want to be similar to everyone else and others like to stand out in a crowd. We all have our opinions on our preferences. Some of those opinions are to agree with others and others are to disagree depending upon our personality. Fashion trends bank on people wanting to be the same as others. The industry introduces a trend and hopes that it will catch on with the general public. Many times their target populations are teenage and young adult women. I have two daughters. They are two years apart in age. They resemble each other in looks, however in personality they are miles apart. Our oldest daughter is very driven. She is an over achiever. She likes to dress in jeans and sweaters. She wears some make up and has an easy to care for hair cut. Her focus is her education and plans for the future. Our younger daughter was a fashion divan from the age of two. She would change her clothes several times a day. She wanted to wear bright colors and have her hair fixed different ways. She is not only trendy, she sets trends. Both girls are now done with college. Our oldest daughter was married last year in a very traditional wedding ceremony and reception. Our younger daughter is in the process of planning her wedding. I was not surprised when she announced that they were getting custom wedding rings. I knew she would not be happy with a traditional ring. They have looked at jewelry stores and boutiques however they have not found what they want. The custom wedding rings are posing a problem also because neither on of them have an idea of what they want. I suggested that they look at antique rings. We have a large antique store in our area that specializes in jewelry. I thought even if they did not find exactly what they wanted they may get ideas for designs to share with the person that would make the custom wedding rings. They did go to the antique store and found a design that they both loved. The bands had two different metals woven together. The owner of the antique store also designs jewelry. He drew up a few designs and also showed them samples of custom wedding rings that he has made for other people. They decided to use a combination of the antique rings as well as one of the jeweler’s designs. I am sure that the rings will be very beautiful as well as unique.
wedding planner books
Those who don’t have the inclination, or the budget, to hire a wedding planner often do it on their own. Though friends and family can help, it is up to the bride to make sure that everything is taken care of when it needs to be done, and that nothing was forgotten. This can be hard. Most people marry once or twice, so its not like an event that one just automatically knows how to plan. When I married, I was over the moon when I realized that I could get wedding planner books that would take some of the work out of the wedding for me.
Good wedding planner books will list every imaginable thing you have to do or get for your wedding, and will give you a timeline. Some don’t know how early they should order bridesmaid dresses, and they are often left scrambling to be sure they are done. The wedding planner books I found told you when to do something and even how to do it. Not only that, they had great checklists that you could use to be sure you didn’t miss anything. If you worried you forgot something, you could easily go back and see that you had indeed finished it up.
You can find good wedding planner books for free at times, but they are always worth the price you would pay if you had to buy one. I don’t know what I would have done without mine. The one I got was free, but I did buy another version that I gave to my maid of honor so she could remind me of things I needed to do. The free ones are often put together with money from advertisers. They get free advertising space in return for helping finance the book. That aside, they are really valuable, and you may find the advertisements to be very helpful.
You can even find great wedding planner books online. Some you can use for free, and some have a fee. Either works well, and it really depends on the size of your wedding as to what you want to buy. If you prefer a paper version of wedding planner books, you can find them online and have them mailed to your home. Most bookstores have them, and you may find them in some wedding sections of regular stores. Don’t forget to ask where you are buying your wedding dress, as they may have some as well.
Wedding Reception Ideas If you have ever been to a lavish wedding, you know how stuffy these affairs can be. There may be something beautiful about a very expensive reception, but it may leave many of the people there feeling cold. I guess it depends on your family and what you have experienced as you have gone through life. Many people have different wedding reception ideas, and everyone has a different budget. Though most of the receptions I have been to have been wonderful, a remember feeling very uncomfortable at my best friend’s madly expensive wedding reception. My friend has very rich parents, and they could afford no matter what it was that she wanted. They simply booked time at a ballroom at their country club, and the wedding reception ideas were pretty much put in place for them. There were strict rules about the what they could and could not do there, so this left very little room for making the event their own. We had a wonderful time, however, but I do know that she wishes there had been a little more space for her own wedding reception ideas that day. If you don’t want to use the same old wedding reception ideas you don’t have to. There may different things you can do, and many different things you can do with different budgets. Even if you don’t have a lot of money you can come up with something wonderful for your friends and family. When it comes to wedding reception ideas, you should keep in mind how many people you will have there, and what your budget will be. There’s nothing wrong with having an outdoor barbecue for your wedding reception if that is all that you can afford. In fact, this may be something that your family enjoys even more than a stuffy reception at the reception hall. You can look online for wedding reception ideas, and you can find many uncommon ones if you look around. Those who have gone with different wedding reception ideas and had great success with them want to share these ideas with everyone else. Weddings and wedding receptions are changing drastically, and people are learning how to make these days completely and entirely their own. You may find that if you go with unconventional wedding reception ideas that you will have more fun than you could have ever have imagined. Your family may thank you for it as well.
I will admit that being a photographer in Las Vegas has given me a skewed vision of wedding chapels. Even so it seems like they have changed a lot from the way they used to be. Back in the day, there was no difficulty with picking out wedding chapels. In most cases, you would simply be married in the church you had attended since birth. Your wedding chapel was just, well, your chapel. It made a lot of sense, if you think about it. Although not all wedding chapels are gorgeous, the one you were raised in is the one that most accurately symbolizes your faith. A wedding is not so much a new beginning as a relationship meant to symbolize your continued commitment to community life. Why go to some exotic location, when you can do it at home? Las Vegas chapels, of course, are the antithesis of this. In some ways, they actually seemed to pride themselves on their phoniness. Las Vegas wedding chapels are almost unreal. Some of them have gigantic, ornamental organs that don’t play – mere props to create an impressive, Gothic image. Other ones are set up to look like ancient Egypt, or perhaps a woodland scene complete with neon flashing trees. Basically, modern American weddings have become something much different than what they used to be. Rather then symbols of lasting commitment, they are journeys into fantasy. It is no wonder that so few marriages last. Of course, as a wedding photographer, I am definitely a part of it. Wedding photography, after all, has nothing to do with capturing reality, or even personality. Because images of beauty have become more and more standardized, good wedding photographs should be digitally edited until they most closely resemble conventional standards of beauty. Granted, there are some couples that want a wedding photographer with an artistic touch, but they are fewer and fewer. Just as people want their wedding ceremonies to be held on California beaches, they want their wedding pictures to show them as California beach dwellers – lean, tan, and flawless. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with using a wedding chapel you find beautiful. Wedding chapels should be beautiful. Everything about the day should be beautiful. Even so, however, it is helpful to keep in mind that a wedding ceremony and a wedding party are different things. The ceremony should be quiet and sacred. the party is where you let loose.
When planning a wedding, you’ll quickly learn there are a thousand details requiring your attention. You may never have heard of wedding guest books, but when you look at the concept, it really makes a lot of sense. Wedding guest books can hold a lifetime of memories you’ll treasure even more thirty years from now! In older and yes, stodgier times, a wedding guest book was more like an address book than a beloved memento. Yes, it can help you keep track of who came to your wedding, send thank you notes and fill out an address book, but times have changed. Along with it’s practicality, today’s wedding guest books can be so lovely, you’ll look through it again and again throughout the years. If you use the conventional wedding guest books, you may like the idea of the elaborate, ornate and beautiful pens made especially for signing wedding guest books. There are traditional, contemporary and exotic styles, including silver and glass, some of which are genuine quill pens or sport plumes with a flourish. There are stands to hold the pen and there are even scented inks! These pens just beg to be used. One less conventional, but popular wedding guest book is the “Adesso” album. With just a Polaroid camera and this specially made book, guests can take photos at the reception. The developed picture slips right in to a perfectly sized sleeve within the book. There’s even space for a personal note right in this sleeve. Whether using conventional wedding guest books, or the Adesso-Polaroid style, here’s an excellent way to personalize your guest book. When you send out your invitations, include on a separate sheet of paper a handwritten note, asking each guest to write a personalized page for the bride and groom prior to attending the wedding. People often love doing this. Your Aunt may relate her favorite memory of you as a child, which you perhaps never knew. Your sister may remind you of a hilarious moment you’d forgotten. Your Italian friend from work may give you her family’s secret recipe for the best lasagna you’ve ever tasted. You can also let your guests know they are invited to include photos of happy times spent at the beach with the bride or groom. Your wedding guest book can be one spectacular bank of memories. There’s no reason you can’t have two wedding guest books. In addition to the book form, consider this idea. Buy two large silver goblets. Ask each of your guests to sign their name on a sheet of paper. Take the goblets to an engraver, who with his many talents and experience, will engrave each signature on to the goblets. Alternatively, you can purchase engraving pens and a large silver tray which your guests may “sign” right at the reception. In any case, fond memories of your wedding may be enjoyed at each holiday and anniversary of your marriage, not to mention the conversation piece value.
Though June has always been the most popular month for weddings and late spring/early summer the most popular season, more and more couples are deciding to have a fall wedding instead of the traditional summer affair. Not only is it usually less expensive to get married in the fall due to a lower demand for wedding rentals, reception and ceremony venues, and caterers, it’s often much more beautiful. It’s tough to beat the explosion of fall colors as a backdrop for a wedding (though granted, the weather can be a bit tougher to plan for). One of the centerpieces for any wedding is the wedding bouquet. Wedding bouquets can range from the simplicity of a single red rose to the extravagance of nosegays bespeckled with jewels or pearls costing thousands of dollars. Next to the dress, the bridal bouquet is perhaps the most visible accessory to the bride, and therefore one of the most visible accessories to the entire wedding. Fall wedding bouquets usually vary considerably from their spring and summer counterparts, both in the types of flowers used and the colors combined in the bouquets. Most contemporary weddings incorporate some sort of color scheme, and fall weddings are no exceptions. Many fall weddings incorporate at least some hints of the gorgeous fall colors, often working in some shades of orange, yellow, or red into the flowers and decorations, since soft pastels have a hard time competing against the bold foliage. Fall wedding bouquets usually incorporate at least a few of these colors as well, placing the fall color explosions into the hands of the bride. Some flowers particularly fitted to fall wedding bouquets are white, yellow, and orange roses and calla lilies. Usually it’s advisable when designing your fall wedding bouquet to avoid using too many fall colors, since you probably don’t want your bouquet to exactly mirror the trees outside. A hint is all it takes, usually in a shade of red, orange, or yellow. White flowers provide a great backdrop for this splash of color, and allow your bouquet and your wedding to seamlessly blend contemporary color with traditional elegance. Once you have the bridal bouquet decided on, it’s time to move onto the flowers for the rest of the ceremony and reception. Though it’s customary for the bridesmaids to carry flowers similar to the bride, don’t feel so constrained as to make all of the flowers in the wedding to mirror the bridal bouquet. Though the rest of the flowers should coordinate with the bridal bouquet, feel free to have fun with your floral arrangements and combine coordinating colors and types of flowers to create a custom feel to the flowers of your wedding.
50th wedding anniversary There aren’t many who reach their 50th wedding anniversary, but for those who do, it is a very special moment in their lives. People are getting married later in life now, and many marriages aren’t making it past five years let alone fifty, and that makes this type of milestone even more special. If someone in your family is coming up upon this special time, there are many things you can do to make it extra special for them, and to remind them of how much you love them. One great thing you can do for someone on their 50th wedding anniversary is to build them a book of memories. You can do this as a scrapbook if you want, but remember that it does not have to be anything fancy if you don’t have the time or talent. Scrapbooks can be rather elaborate today, but that doesn’t mean yours has to be in order to be special. You should gather memories, letters, photos, and anything else from family members that celebrate their marriage of fifty years. Many families also like to have a large party of the 50th wedding anniversary. This can include family and friends of the couple, and it is a good touch to include children. Though some like to have events without the children, this is one time when they should be there. Nothing will symbolize the success of their 50th wedding anniversary than the reminder that their family is alive, strong, and still growing. Great grandchildren are especially important, if there are any, because many don’t live to see them. You can decide what would be the most special for someone celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. If you don’t want to do a scrapbook, you can always have a slide show of pictures, or play a game that includes memories of special things the couple did together. You can also get out old home movies if there are any. If you only have film (like 8mm) you can get it transferred to VHS or to DVD so that you can play it without the film breaking or having to worry about finding a projector if you don’t have one any longer. Not only should this celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary, it should also be a celebration of love and marriage, it should also be a celebration of family and all that everyone holds dear in life.
I love my fiancé. I would not be marrying her if I didn’t love her, after all. Still, there are some aspects of planning a wedding that really bring out the worst in people. From the very beginning, I vowed to stay out of the planning. I didn’t mind taking orders as long as I didn’t have to argue about details. Despite my best efforts, she refused to hire a wedding planner. Her and her mother, neither of whom have experience at holding events, nonetheless decided that they would plan the wedding themselves. I knew that it was pointless to argue. I let it go.
Still, the situation got more and more dire. They couldn’t decide on wedding centerpieces, they couldn’t find someone to cater the wedding who they trusted, and in terms of wedding bridal gowns – forget it. It was a nightmare for them to pick out anything. The worst moment, however, came when we got down to printing out wedding announcements.
Naturally, I had assumed that we would get our wedding invitations and announcements printed by a professional stationery store. I actually had a contact in the business, a man who had been printing wedding announcement cards for years and was very good at what he did. He offered to give us discount wedding invites because of his friendship with me, but my wife would have none of it. Although she did not directly insult him over his offer for wedding announcements, she was rather brusque. Apparently, she had her own ideas, and she did not appreciate me butting in.
Not only did she decide to do the wedding announcements by hand, but she neglected to even tell me about it! She didn’t consult me on the wedding announcement wording, something which I didn’t mind very much. Still, when I saw the wedding announcements she was making, I was a little bit shocked. You see, my wife is no more than a journeyman at calligraphy. Her writing is pretty, but it is certainly not professional. The first dozen wedding announcements that she finished looked awful. I was truly torn. The last thing I wanted to do was to fight with her about the wedding invitations, but they really did look awful. I didn’t want my friends to see such a shabby job. Eventually, however, I decided to just keep my mouth shut. Now if she finishes the invites, we can finally get on with it!
