And You Will Marry

When it comes to wedding flowers and decorations, the key to pulling off a look that works really lies in the planning. Since there are no rules when it comes to wedding flowers, it really is all about what the couple, well mainly the bride, wants and can afford. Decorating options are limited only by the imagination and even the most outrageous floral images can be made to fit practically any budget, if you’re willing to research the many options and ideas that are out there.

From do-it-yourself arrangements to using silk floral arrangements that can even be rented for the occasion, planning your wedding flowers can be a lot of fun. Involving your bridal party will help generate ideas you might not have thought about and besides, helping the bride is one of their responsibilities so why not? But forget about the groom, though. The most he’ll probably care about is that you stick within the amount that has been budgeted.

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Probably no other part of wedding planning causes as much frustration and ill-will as the guest list. Just who will be present to bear witness to the big event is something that no family has ever been able to totally agree on. Sure there are those fairy-tale weddings where money is no object, but even those weddings have their limits. More often than not, it is the case that some of the prospective guests never actually make it onto the final guest list. And you know what? As devastating as it may seem at the time, it really isn’t the end of the world for those who don’t get invited.

When should the couple put together the guest list? Although it doesn’t have to be set in stone, a fairly approximate head count is needed early on in the wedding planning stage. The number of guests invited to your wedding will have a considerable impact on your wedding budget. Remember, they’re your guests and you’ll need to accommodate each and every one of them! You’ll need a venue large enough to hold all your guests comfortably, you’ll have to feed them, they’ll need invitations, and if they’re coming from out of town, they’ll likely need overnight accommodations. With an average cost of $25 per guest for food, every 4 guests will cost approximately $100 just to feed!

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The key to making wedding flower arrangements yourself is in knowing what you want to do in the first place. Making wedding flower arrangements can entail everything from the wedding bouquet to the boutonnieres to the displays on the altar and reception tables. The great news in doing things yourself is that you can save quite a bit of money by not contracting with a florist but you have to know where to start, especially if the whole flower arranging thing is not the norm for you.

Getting Started

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Wedding invitations do more than tell who, what, where and when. Wedding invitations set the overall tone of the event. From the way the invitation is addressed on the outside to the font used for the text inside, a wedding invitation says whether the event will be formal, casual, grand, intimate, themed, traditional, or something entirely different. Who could have imagined that an invitation to a wedding could say so much?

While many of the ‘rules’ dictating a wedding are often broken by today’s couples-to-be, don’t even consider going against generally-accepted etiquette when sending your wedding invitations. In addition to providing the details and setting the tone, a wedding invitation should also convey what is and is not allowed. And as tempting as it may be to put your guest’s names and addresses into a database, select a script font and print out a sheet of stick-on labels, don’t do it! If you’re having a casual affair, it may be okay, but anything else requires handwriting. If your handwriting is not up to par, hire someone for this task. Many couples hire calligraphers, which is a great option if your budget allows.

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When planning the wedding, work backwards from the ‘big day’ according to the timeline presented below.

Six to Twelve Months Before Wedding

Six to twelve months before your wedding date is the time when you need to make most of your reservations and put down deposits. You’ve got to get a rough but fairly accurate estimate of the number of guests you’ll have because each wedding location can accommodate a certain number of people and you want a location that can comfortably accommodate everyone. Here’s what needs to be accomplished during this timeframe.

o Select and reserve locations for the wedding ceremony and the reception
o Interview and reserve your professional talent including: Musician or DJ, Photographer/Videographer, Floral arranger, Caterer, Wedding cake baker, Wedding official, Wedding planner or consultant (optional)
o Select and confirm wedding party attendants for both bride and groom
o Select wedding party attire and coordinate fittings
o Arrange transportation for bridal party on the big day
o Place engagement information in local newspaper

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The day you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. Your partner has proposed marriage and you’ve emphatically said ‘YES’! Now what do you do? The answer to that simple question will make a tremendous difference in how the real ‘big day’ plays out. Gone are the days when weddings were simple affairs that took place on family farms with all the neighbors pitching in to help. Today the bride and the groom are the ones calling all the shots. Others will try to get involved, but overall, it’s the two people getting married who decide what’s going to happen, when and how.

With so much to coordinate, it’s amazing that weddings go on at all. Considering that both the bride and the groom are likely holding down full-time jobs, who has time to work out all the details? And there are so many. Well the big secret is it’s all in the plan. Having a well-thought out plan that starts with selecting the perfect wedding date and ends with arriving at the most romantic honeymoon destination is the only way to keep nerves from fraying and budgets from being blown.

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