Wedding Checklist
Soon after announcing your wedding
• Prepare a wedding budget and if relevant discuss it with who is paying.
• Prepare a tentative guest list.
• Decide upon a date for your wedding ceremony and reception. Confirm the dates with the chosen venue and officials.
• Determine what hire equipment and facilities may be required.
• Check with appropriate authorities if you need to book photo venues such as parks and gardens.
• Decide the size of your wedding party.
• Nominate your Matron of Honour and best man.
• Begin the search for your wedding dress and those of the bridal party.
• Identify suitable photographers and videographers. Be sure to view their past works and book your photographers and videographers early.
• Decide upon invitations.
• Book the entertainment for your wedding including jukebox
• Book your wedding cars / vehicles.
• Research possible honeymoon destinations.
• Research Florists
• Research hairdressers and make up artists. Book once you have found suitable providers
• Consider wedding insurance.
Six months before wedding
• Choose your wedding dress, and bridal party.
• Choose wardrobe for groom and groomsmen.
• Order wedding rings.
• Book your honeymoon. If required ensure your passports are valid.
• Review guest list.
• Register your gift list at a Bridal Registry.
• Complete an “Intention to Marry” form which your celebrant or church can assist with.
• Finalise guest numbers. Order invitations, place cards, Thank You cards and Wedding.
• Keep a list of gifts received and who they are from. Ensure you send thank you notes within 2 weeks of receiving the gift.
• All honeymoon travel should be booked.
• Consider dancing lessons
Two months before your wedding day
• Ensure all wedding invitations have been sent. Maintain a list of acceptances.
• Arrange for Dress fittings for the wedding dress and bridesmaids.
• Shop for wedding shoes and begin to wear them in
• Confirm grooms suits have been booked.
• All pre-wedding parties should be planned including wedding shower, hen’s night, bucks night etc.
• Book in wedding night accommodation.
• Contact your florist and select flowers.
• Choose your Master of Ceremonies.
4 weeks before the wedding day
• Arrange for final fittings of your dress.
• Trial runs for hair and make up.
• Draw up the reception seating plan.
• Hold pre-wedding parties.
• Organise ‘Thank You’ gifts for bridal party
• Make any final payments for venues, cars, honeymoon etc
• If travelling overseas for your honeymoon, arrange traveller’s cheques, foreign currency, credit cards and travellers insurance
• Invite people you would like to make speeches at the reception.
1 week before wedding day
• Confirm everything.
• Pick up the wedding dress, grooms suit and ensure the bridesmaids and groomsmen have theirs
• Have a rehearsal of the ceremony.
• Pack for your honeymoon.
• It is a good idea to have an ‘emergency’ kit prepared. This may include Band Aids, a hanky, spare lipstick, spare pantyhose, etc.
• Collect honeymoon tickets and reconfirm flights.
The Wedding Day
• Get a good night sleep before the wedding.
• Eat a good breakfast, you may find the day rushes by.
• Meet bridesmaids at the hairdressers and make up artist.
• Remember wedding rings and marriage licence
• Have a great wedding.
Jamie Horne is the webmaster of several Victoria, Australia websites with wedding features including:
Geelong Weddings,
Bendigo Weddings and
Echuca Weddings
Wedding Planning Gen Y Style
Every time I go home, I am reminded how very different my generation is from those preceding. My parents are usually in the throws of some technology crisis, or in other words, enduring the ‘someone-changed-something-and-we-can’t-change-it-back’ paralysis. They are not idiots. Indeed, they are quite intelligent and worldly. However, while the digital world emerged right under our noses, they were busy cleaning those noses. Generation Y is shaping history in exponential ways – and so, why not the history of getting married as well?
I’m not referring to untraditional living arrangements, eloping, exchanging vows under the ocean, or anything like that. I’m talking about merging the traditional wedding with the digital world. Times have changed and you are getting married this year, not 20 years ago. When a gigantic portion of everyday is spent surfing the net, blogging, emailing, and texting, doesn’t it make sense to utilize these modes of communication on the big day as well? The following are some technology-based ideas you could incorporate into your modern wedding, or at least help you get the silicon juices flowing:
Create a central online site for your wedding. You could post something simple with blogspot.com and facebook.com or join various online services to help (check out wedsimple.com and wedsite.com). This can be a simple, easy way to keep both you and your guests informed and organized. Items to post may be a calendar of events, wedding colors, photo gallery, maps & directions, bridal party contact info, etc…
Utilize the internet to help get the word out. While paper invitations are nice, email is practical, free, easy, convenient, customizable, and is quickly becoming an accepted wedding protocol. If you simply can’t imagine a wedding without paper invitations, then consider an email blast to save the date (try evite.com) and include in your paper invitation online RSVP directions.
Make gift giving easier. On your ‘wedsite’ you may include a wish-list and links directly to your bridal registries. Or instead of gifts, perhaps you would appreciate help with the honeymoon. A great option is an online honeymoon registry. The idea here is that your guests purchase parts of your honeymoon. For example, one night lodging in Fiji @ 0.00 or Dinner for Two on a Catamaran @ 0.00. This is fun because guests are able to view your entire honeymoon itinerary and buy items out right or contribute what they want toward an item. There are many websites that facilitate this process (visit honeymoonwishes.com or thehoneymoon.com).
Have an electronic guest registration. Instead of an elaborate book that will get stuffed in a box or trendy picture frame matting, have a laptop at the reception entrance. Choose a program that works well on the laptop and that you are comfortable with. Create a document and have guests type in their well wishes as they come in. If they choose to, they could change the fonts and colors that they want to use, but if they don’t you can easily change everything after the fact. Don’t forget to enable to auto save feature. You will probably still want to have one of your bridal party members man the station, just to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Skype in guests that can’t attend the reception. Perhaps your mother is ill and can’t make the flight or your sister lives overseas, use Skype.com to include them in your big day. Skype is incredibly user friendly and, best of all, free. All you need are webcams on both ends and the internet.
Trick out your wedding with a high tech photobooth. Serving mainly the west coast Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and soon Orlando check out HD Photobooth. This ultra modern setup takes the most amazing portraits you have ever seen of yourself with some insane equipment and custom processing software. Better yet all captured images are available for free download the next day. You can also comment on others portraits or transfer images directly to Facebook.
Always Lounging in the sun.
Travel is Now a Wedding Gift
These days, chances are that betrothed couples already have all of the blenders, towels, dishes, silverware, and other household items they need. With the swing toward men and women getting married later in life, most couples either have individual homes that they’ll combine once they’re married, or they have been building their own trousseau while living together. Because they’re often footing the bill for all or part of their wedding, the one thing couples don’t have is money for the honeymoon of their dreams. That’s why the latest trend in bridal registries is the honeymoon travel registry.
Perhaps a couple wants to go on a cruise, vacation in Europe, or enjoy a Disney vacation. They may dream of four-star hotel accommodations or flying first class on their favorite airline. Whatever their fantasy honeymoon, more and more couples are opting to register with an online travel agency.
With a bridal travel registry, the couple can have their dream honeymoon while wedding guests can be assured that their gifts will combine to form memories that will last a lifetime. And, the process of both registering and giving is easy and straightforward.
Essentially, a honeymoon bridal registry allows the couple to set up a personal registry web page. If the couple already knows their honeymoon destination, they can reveal that on their web page and select items to include in their gift registry. For example, if the couple is traveling to Hawaii for their honeymoon, they may decide they’d like to go to a Hawaiian luau and list two luaus (one for the bride and one for the groom) in their registry. They may also select a romantic candlelight dinner, breakfast in bed, and a hotel room upgrade. They can include entertainment and activities, such as scuba diving lessons, a helicopter ride, horseback riding, and snorkeling. The couple can even add travel items like inter-island flights, limousine service, and a rental car.
Similarly, if the bride and groom have decided that London is their destination of choice, they can include an English afternoon tea in their travel registry, dinner for two at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, a medieval banquet, and a Harrods’ shopping spree. Perhaps they would like tickets to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, London theatre tickets, or a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. If so, they can add those items to their travel registry as well.
For wedding guests, a honeymoon travel registry makes it easy to find a personal, yet remarkable gift. Giving a sunset cruise, for example, is much more memorable than a set of mixing bowls. Gift givers can even opt to send the couple a customized gift card, or print one out and bring it to the wedding.
A honeymoon signifies the beginning of a couple’s life together, and is a welcome relief from the stresses of planning their wedding. Having a honeymoon travel registry can help make the couple’s dreams come true and give them memories to last a lifetime.
Read about ficus microcarpa and ficus natasja at the Ficus Plant website.
Make Your Daydream Caribbean Beach Wedding Come True!
Just imagine that you are taking your promises under credible palm trees on an immaculate beach rounded by the calm turquoise water of the Caribbean! Couples can make their daydream Caribbean beach weddings come true without any hassle and at less expense that one can imagine with all inclusive plans tailored to their own desires and needs. In fact, through the purchase of three day or extended honeymoon stay in the Caribbean, wedding beach ceremony is proving out to be free!
All inclusive wedding at the Caribbean beach package generally includes the wedding license, affidavit preparations, documents, and minister’s fee, a wedding planner, record music, decorated marriage party place, sparkling cider or champagne, witnesses, wedding cake, boutonniere, bouquet, candlelit supper, continental breakfast at bed time in the morning for the groom and bride.
So, in addition to this, getting married at this paradise, in an all comprehensive Caribbean beach wedding displays no stress at all for couples on their special day! It will be like a free honeymoon wedding registry services such as gifts registry even permits your friends and family to give the couple the wedding dream honeymoon as a gift! You can get more information through society blog reviews.
Wedding as well as honeymoon all-encompassing resorts also shows that the couple and the invited guests cannot only enjoy and have fun in the immaculate personal beaches as well as tranquil blue water, but also take part in a huge variety of entertainment activities and sports.
Activities can embrace gourmet dining, fitness facilities, and luxurious spa, at variety of great restaurants, tennis, scuba diving, PGA golf, windsurfing, nightly entertainment for guests at less cost, and boating. All drinks and meals, from the wide breakfast buffets, lavish supper feasts at free of cost. All water and land sports, including top in the line professional and equipment instruction are for free. Lodge taxes plus airport transfers included as well with no tip as it is not allowed!
Some all wide-ranging Caribbean hotels you can celebrate your wedding in Victorian style wedding chapel situated right on the Caribbean beach, with impressive views of ocean in front of you and may be background! Other resort provides other facilities for a little extra fee. For instance, at few Negril Jamaica all wide-ranging resorts a couple can select a personal wedding reception, Chandon as well as hors d’oeuvres, sunset hours with Moet, full body massages, chiropractic services, in room beautician services like for hair, make up, and nails, personal dressing supporter, tuxedo rental, floral arrangements, bouquets of red roses, disc jockey, personal 5 piece band, video services and a photographer.
You can search various websites through Society Blog Reviews that helps in the planning of the great Caribbean beach weddings for you. You can search different blog reviews to choose the reliable websites for you.
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Wedding Gifts For Older Couples
In the good old days choosing a wedding gift was a fairly simple. Since most couples were young and just starting their lives together wedding gifts were chosen to help them furnish the home they were be sharing. Since both parties were usually going from their family home to a home of their own they needed everything to set up housekeeping so the choice of a wedding gift was almost limitless. You could choose a toaster or another small appliance, gift a gift of towels, artwork, or anything else to decorate their home or apartment.
Today, marriage isn’t just for the young couple starting out. There are many middle aged and older individuals who have been married and divorced or widowed, or single professionals who are older. These couples already have their own completely furnished homes and have little need for the basic housekeeping appliances that once made the choice of a wedding gift so simple.
So how do you choose an appropriate wedding gift for those couples who seemingly have everything they need?
Check the Gift Registry
Many couples both young and not so young sign up at a stores gift registry choosing gifts that they would like to receive as wedding presents. This can prove useful when you are not sure exactly what wedding gift to choose for the happy couple. Many wedding invitations today come with a note telling you what store or stores the couple is registered with so that you can go and view which gifts they are anxious to receive.
Give a Gift Certificate
Gift certificates always make wonderful gifts as they let the newly married couple choose a wedding gift of their own choice. For those of you who want to give a more unusual gift you can give a gift certificate to a particular event such as seasonal tickets to the symphony, opera or other event the couple may enjoy attending as a couple.
Pitch in on the Honeymoon
Many older retired couples who choose to marry are on a limited income and may not be able to afford a honeymoon. Pitching in with others to give the couple a weekend away to celebrate their marriage can make a wonderful and surprising wedding gift. This may also be true of a young couple who is just starting out and can’t really afford a proper honeymoon.
Give the Gift of Money
Money always makes a good gift and comes in handy for the new couple to use however they please whether it is to purchase something they particular want, use on their honeymoon, or simply put into a savings account for the future.
The age and financial status of couples getting married may have changed somewhat over the last few decades but, the desire to give a gift that the couple will appreciate and like remains the same. Choosing a wedding gift is your way of joining in the celebration of the couples love for one another.
Amanda J. Peters is a writer for Wedding Favours Kingdom. This article was brought to you by Wedding Favours Kingdom, a wedding favor store located online, specializing in beach wedding favors, unique wedding favors, wedding shower favors, bridesmaids gifts, groomsmen gifts and wedding accessories to help celebrate your special
Wedding Gift Ideas For You
You will need to prepare a wedding gift when your friend is inviting you to his / her wedding. Yet a lot of people may be a bit confused when they are trying to select a wedding gift. This is because you would like to buy your friend a really special gift. And this will be more difficult for you to select the most perfect gift if you friend does not have a gift registry. In fact, searching for a unique wedding gift is always a difficult task. However, you may consider the following tips and ideas if you do not have any specific ideas in your mind.
As a matter of fact, a lot of couples will prefer cash as gift nowadays. This is because the bride and the groom may have been living together for a while and they have already bought what they need. To this end a wedding gift may not be something really practical. However, it is also true that it will be a bit impolite if the couple ask for money directly. As a result, the couple will not really ask for cash. Yet you have to understand that the couple may have spent a lot of money and what they really need after the wedding is cash! If you can give them cash as your wedding gift, it will be a good way to finance their honeymoon.
One thing you may not know is that in the context of a Chinese wedding, all the guests will give the couples cash instead of buying the couple a gift. It will be a bit strange if you give a Chinese couple a wedding gift. As a consequence, you should try to give the couple cash as wedding gift if you are going to attend a Chinese wedding.
As mentioned, it will be a good idea for you to finance the honeymoon of the couple. Yet you do not really need to give the couple cash directly. Instead you may try to sponsor the honeymoon. You may buy the air tickets for the couples. Of course air tickets can be something very expensive. As a result, you may try to work with the other guests. The air tickets will not be something expensive if the cost is shared by for example 10 to 15 guests.
Of course you may also sponsor the other parts of the honeymoon of the couple. For example, you may try to sponsor the accommodation of the honeymoon. You may even sponsor the meals of the couple when they are traveling. As a matter of fact, there are some couples who will prepare a honeymoon registry so that the guests will know how they can sponsor the honeymoon.
In fact, it is not that difficult to prepare the wedding gift if you can prepare it with your sincere. However, you should also choose a gift which the couple will find useful. Otherwise you will just miss the point of sending the couple a wedding gift.
TM Lung designs Chinese Wedding Invitations. He has sites on Wedding Vendors and Wedding Planning.
Wedding Presents From The Registry Or Something Not On The Registry?
So you’ve glanced at their wedding registry and haven’t found any item on there that is ok a for your taste or budget. Or you waited but know that you don’t want to give a blender, a toaster or a vacuum cleaner. Instead, you want to send something personal, extraordinary and thoughtful. The quandary is how do you find something they’ll enjoy if it’s not on their registry?
Go broad. You could get an envelope with money or a gift card from their favorite store. This way you ensure they’ll be able to purchase the things they truly desire or put it aside for the house or honeymoon of their dreams.
Be thoughtful. Create a scrapbook of their life together and leave a handful of blank pages for them to keep going. A framed wedding menu can serve as a decorative item in the newlyweds’ home. Give them a present that will outlast a bottle of wine and mean more to them than a toaster.
Get Handy with DIY. If you are creative or know a friend who is, you may want to consider having an extravagant piece created just for the two of them. It’ll be sure to remind them of you for a long time.
Pass it down. If you have jewelry, a handmade quilt or other family item, this would be a good opportunity to pass it down. You can keep an old family tradition alive, or start a new one.
Honeymoon help. A new pair, just starting out, is sure to appreciate when one offers financial support with their honeymoon plans. Get in touch with family members before the wedding and find out about the details of the pair’s honeymoon. You might be able to financially help with their limo or give them a gift certificate for a restaurant that they are going to as a surprise wedding present.
Give them what they like. If this couple is into wine, consider enrolling to be a member of their preferred winery. Wineries can send upwards from 2 bottles or more a month. Your offering of fine wine will be enjoyed by them on their honeymoon trip. If they are big football nuts, get them a certificate. A spa gift card for two would be a relaxing gift for couples to relieve stress before or after the big day.
Maid services. Another non-registry gift can be maid service. After all, who cares to clean their house when there’s so much honeymooning to do?
The key in coming up with the perfect non-registry gift is to know the couple you are purchasing it for. Think long and hard and think about what makes this couple unique, and you’ll discover the best gift they didn’t list.
A professional writer on matters baby, wedding, and parenting, Criss White has authored many articles. For more original ideas for wedding presents, check out unique wedding favors (http://www.bridalandweddingfavors.com/unique-wedding-favors.html). Note: As long as the credits and resource box stay in place and the hyperlinks active, you are welcome to reproduce this article in your newsletter, on your website, or e-zine.
Benefits of Using a Honeymoon Registry
Today more couples are getting married after they are already established in their careers and already have apartments or homes. These couples already have the items that are usually considered traditional wedding gifts, such as dishes, toasters, and most household items. There is a new trend becoming popular that replaces the traditional bridal registry with a honeymoon registry.
A honeymoon registry allows friends and family members to buy the happy couple something that they will always cherish. A honeymoon registry service allows guests the opportunity to help pay for the resort and airfare connected with the couple’s honeymoon. They can also buy romantic gifts such as a candlelit dinner or a champagne welcome. Guests can also buy activities for the honeymoon couple such as scuba diving, tickets to shows or some other activity they would enjoy.
This is a new way of helping the couple start their new life together. This is something that will always be a part of their honeymoon memories. Most couples today are on a pretty tight budget when planning their wedding and honeymoon. By using a honeymoon registry instead of a bridal one it allows them to do special things on their honeymoon that otherwise they probably couldn’t afford to do.
So if you are planning a wedding and honeymoon you might want to look into this option instead of a traditional bridal registry. You should research the different registries before you decide to do this; because not all honeymoon registries are the same. Some travel agencies say they have a honeymoon registry service but in fact all they allow is for family and friends to send money for accommodations and airfare. They don’t have a list of options that a person can choose from.
You want to ask a lot of questions when you are looking for the best possible service. You will want to know whether the company has an itemized list or do people just simply contribute money. This is important because friends and family want to feel like they are purchasing something meaningful for you. By having an itemized list to choose from your guests will feel like they are a part of your honeymoon.
You want to make sure the registry makes it easy for friends and family members to purchase items for you. Make sure you find out if they accept credit cards and have a toll free number. Also find out if this can all be done over the internet. This will make it easy for out of town guests to help make your honeymoon extra special.
You also want to make sure that this is what they specialize in and that they are a reputable company. Most of the reputable companies will offer different ways that you can inform guests that you have joined a registry, such as mailing invitations or sending emails. They will also have a record of who bought what so you can properly thank them.
This is just something you and your groom-to-be may want to look into. If already have a home established this might be the right idea for your guests to give you something you will always treasure. This is a great way to have the honeymoon of your dreams.
By Lawrence Reaves, president of DanforthDiamond.com your best source for wedding rings, diamond rings and high quality jewelry at 40% off of retail. Danforth Diamond has trained staff to assist you in choosing the right ring for your tastes and your budget. Come visit the engagement ring experts at DanforthDiamond.com or call 877.404.RING
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A Gift Registry Is A Great Way To Make Great Occasions
Aside from wedding registry and honeymoon registry, another fad that is fast catching on with engaged couples is the gift registry. The idea is actually very simple. A gift registry is a place where you can register your wish list for bridal or wedding gifts.
Are there occasions other than weddings for which you can use a gift registry? Register for baby shower gifts. Or a board exam or bar mitzvah. You can have gift registry for any graduation, holiday, retirement, anniversaries, and just about any special occasion.
A traditional gift registry generally is created at a single store and confined by the stock of the store. With online gift registry, however, you now can register at several stores from the convenience of your home and even register simply for cash needed to purchase the items you really want. An online cash gift registry is a great way to cut down on the time you spend planning your special event.
With the advent of online gift registry sites, not only can you sign up for a registry online, but also you can now register for items to be purchased from several different stores with a single gift registry. A universal gift registry site even allows stores and the registry site to share information. This provides added convenience because those who want to purchase gifts from registered wish lists can see if someone already purchased those items elsewhere.
Another popular type of nontraditional registry is a cash gift registry. People who are getting married may already have all the household goods they want. Couples in such situations often opt for the cash or bridal registry. It allows them to receive cash gifts that they can gift toward a large ticket item, a nice honeymoon, or gift toward a down payment on a house. A cash gift registry is an especially nice way to register for a honeymoon or other personal gifts. Expectant parents creating a baby registry could list gift items such as an education fund along with their nursery furnishings.
Whether you prefer traditional or nontraditional gifts, a gift registry can give your guests some direction and make your party planning easier. Try one at your next special event! Come and visit http://www.agreataffair.com/ for that special gift registry for any occasion.
A computer professional who works on the internet helping Agreataffair increase its viewers through optimization. For world class Honeymoon registry visit us online at www.agreataffair.com.