Dos And Don’ts Of Shopping For Your Wedding Dress

DO Shop early! Avoid the “Two Weeks ‘til Wedding Day Attack.” Get your wedding dress early.

DO Research before your buy. The quickest and easiest way to research is by searching online. There are many Web sites dedicated do wedding dresses where you can get a ton of useful information about styles, designs, trends, etc.

DO Go to a wedding dress specialist. You should visit several wedding boutiques, and learn from the pros. Of course, keep in mind they are selling, so you should take everything with a grain of salt.

DO Expect minor alterations. Even the most expensive designer wedding gowns might need a few adjustments. If you buy your gown well in advance, you may need to alter the dress again a couple of weeks prior to the wedding.

DO Keep an open mind while you shop for your wedding dress. Try lots of things on. Often the dress you thought you’d never like is the one that makes you look and feel the best.

DO Bring shoes with the same height as your wedding shoes are going to be on your special day.

DO Slip a bustier, a control-top panty hose into your purse.

DO Have Fun!

DON'T panic if you have to special order! Wedding dress salons can special order your dress faster than you can say "panic."

DON'T put up with unfriendly sales people. This is your wedding day, your big purchase. The sales person who sells your wedding dress to you should share in your enthusiasm and make it exciting for you.

DON'T shop after you’ve bought. Instead enjoy the rest of your wedding planning journey.

DON'T give up! Finding that perfect wedding dress is going to take some work.

DON'T take too many people with you on your hunt for your wedding dress. You shouldn't take more than five people with you on your shopping trip.

Cost Cutting Ideas For Your Wedding

Don’t leave your shopping to the last minute. The more time you have to shop around, the more you can negotiate. It’s difficult to find bargains under pressure, so leave plenty of time to work with wedding vendors. Never hire the first vendor you meet. You should always make your decision based on several vendors.

Avoid a Saturday wedding. Saturday is the busiest wedding day of the week, and the most expensive. If you can try to have a Sunday or Friday wedding.

When you pay your bills use a credit card with a reward program. You have 30-days to pay the bill, in addition, you might earn enough miles to cover your flight to your honeymoon destination.

Avoid the busy summer wedding season. You might be able to get better deals during the fall and winter months.

You might be able to wear your mother’s or your grand mother’s wedding dress. In addition to saving a bundle, but you also might make you mother very happy. Buy a sample wedding dress or rent your wedding gown.

Hire businesses you know to get a great deal. If you have a friend who is a musician, a photographer, a caterer, try to work out a deal with them.

If you want to save a lot of money, hire a non-wedding photographer. Almost any good photographer should be able to do a good job photographing your wedding.

Buy your wedding accessories from non-wedding professionals. Many of your wedding accessories might be available at non-wedding vendors. Shop online. You can more effectively comparison shop online than trying to visit your local bridal shops.

Work with a wedding reception venue that allows you to provide your own alcoholic beverages. In addition to the obvious savings, you can return the unopened bottles to the store.

Work with an airline to get a group discount on the plane tickets for your wedding guests. Your wedding guests will appreciate the savings, and you might save on your plane ticket to your honeymoon destination.

Choices In Wedding Reception Music

An important decision you’ll make during the course of creating your perfect wedding is that of wedding reception music. After all, what’s a wedding reception without music? Do you hire a band, hire a DJ, or just throw on some tunes for everyone to dance to? The choice is all up to you from what type of music you want at your reception to how it’s delivered.

One possibility that a number of people opt for is to hire a band to provide their wedding reception music. A lot of working “cover bands” (musicians that specialize in performing spot-on renditions of popular songs) are available to work wedding receptions. The cost for hiring a band varies according to the experience and popularity of the band itself. A band that is highly skilled tends to be highly sought after and therefore more expensive to hire. A live band brings a certain level of excitement to the party atmosphere of a wedding reception and your guests are sure to enjoy the interactivity that comes along with live wedding reception music.

Some couples forgo the band in favor of hiring a DJ for their wedding. The advantages of hiring a DJ as compared to a band are threefold. First of all, a DJ tends to cost much less to hire than an entire band does. In addition to the monetary savings, the DJ will have access to original recordings of popular songs. Your guests can shimmy to Baby Got Back or The Locomotion by the original artists rather than a rendition performed by an unknown singer. Additionally, the DJ will have access to a far greater number of recordings than any band is likely to have in its repertoire. For these reasons many couples enjoy hiring a DJ to supply their wedding reception music.

Another option is to simply supply the wedding reception music yourself. Armed with a computer that is equipped with a CD burner you can create CD’s full of .mp3 files to play at the reception. Because of the .mp3 file compression, nearly ten hours of music can be squeezed onto one CD. You can choose exactly what songs you want, place them on the CD in the order that you like, and just pop it in to play at the reception. This is possibly the most cost effective option as it will cost very little or nothing at all to compile the CD. The downsides are that you’re left with just a group of songs and no live interactivity whatsoever and you must have a specific type of CD player in order to play a disc full of .mp3 files. You will also need to provide a decent sound system unless the reception hall happens to come equipped with one.

There are a number of options available for providing music for your wedding reception. Choosing which one is right for you is merely a matter of deciding what you want and what you can afford.

Asian Wedding Traditions

Incorporating ethnic traditions into your wedding can create a more intimate environment for you and your family.

While we most associate the color white with wedding in this country, the color red is the color of weddings in China. Red is the color of luck and joy, and it makes perfect sense that it is such an important color for weddings. You can incorporate the red color in a variety of ways such as the tablecloth, candles, napkins, and other decorations. You may change into a red dress during the wedding reception. You may choose red wedding flowers, or your bridesmaids may wear a red dress. You can create a Chinese feel without red by dressing in a tradition Chinese dress. White is not a color used in Chinese traditional weddings. White is used at funerals, so avoid white on your invitations, decorations or bridal clothing. Do not use red ink on white paper, because white implies death and is used at funerals. Gold on reddish paper or cream color paper works well.

Chinese couples honor their ancestors with a tea ceremony. It is not only a beautiful ceremony, but it could be very educational and entertaining for your guests.

Another Asian tradition, from India, is having the brides and groom’s hands and feet painted with henna. The tradition is normally performed by a henna professional. The hand and foot henna stains the skin for up to a few weeks.

Japanese weddings include a sake ritual. It is also know as the sake sharing tradition. This ritual represents building a strong bond between the families. The sake ritual can be part of the wedding ceremony or the wedding reception. Sake cups can make great wedding favors for a Japanese wedding ceremony.

There is no law that you have to have an ethnic wedding, but it may add sentiment to your big day.