Delegating the Responsibility of Selecting Wedding Favors

For many couples shopping for and selecting wedding favors can seem like an overwhelming task. There are a number of reasons why couples might feel this way. One of the most significant reasons why a couple may feel overwhelmed about selecting their wedding favors is simply because they have so much to do while planning their wedding. There are a number of important details such as selecting a location, choosing centerpieces, coordinating the catering and other details that couples may simply just have too much to do. For these couples it might be a good idea for the couple to delegate the responsibility of selecting the wedding favors to a trusted friend or family member. Of course this is only a viable option if the couple is willing to allow their friend or family member complete freedom to select the wedding favors. If they are constantly trying to oversee the effort it will cause additional stress. This article will examine the concept of delegating the responsibility of selecting wedding favors to a friend or family member and will offer some advice on how to do this and still ensure you will be thrilled with the wedding favors your guests receive at your wedding.

The most important thing to remember when delegating the responsibility of selecting wedding favors to a friend or family member is that you have to carefully discuss your budget with the friend or family member beforehand. The person responsible for selecting the wedding favors should know exactly how much you can afford to spend on wedding favors so they do not exceed this amount. They should also have a good idea of how much you would like to spend on wedding favors is this number is less than the absolute most you are willing to spend. For example you may have $1000 available to spend on wedding favors but you may prefer to spend only $750 if possible.

Another factor to consider when delegating the responsibility of selecting wedding favors is your own personal taste and preferences. You should discuss your preferences for wedding favors with the person in charge of selecting them beforehand to ensure they will be seeking out wedding favors which you will like. One way to do this is to do a little research before delegating the responsibility. This way you can provide your friend or family member with a few favors which you like as examples of the type of favor you would like to give. This way they will have a good idea of the types of favors you are looking for and will likely select something you will think is appropriate.

Finally, if your friend or family member will not only be selecting the wedding favors for you but also making the purchase, you should make sure they are well aware of how many guests you are expecting and how many favors you would like to purchase. This is very important because it will help to make sure you do not find yourself with too few favors or that your friend or family member doesnt order too many favors. The number of guests will also be important in the process of selecting wedding favors because this relates closely to your budget. However, if you do not want to give your friend or family member this information or are unsure of how many guests to expect you can give them a budget for the costs of each individual favor instead of an overall budget.

Cheap Wedding Favors

Depending on the size of your wedding the budget for your wedding favors can be very important. This is important because you may be planning on allowing for one favor for each guest or one for each couple. Whichever you decide to do, if you are having a large number of guests it may greatly impact the amount you can afford to spend on each favor. If you are only have a few guests you may be able to splurge on more expensive favors. However, if you are having a large number of guests on a limited budget you should consider searching for cheap wedding favor ideas.

Candles are one of the simplest ideas for cheap wedding favors. You can find simple candles available at very affordable prices. You might even consider purchasing personalized ribbons to tie pretty bows around the candles. These ribbons can usually be ordered and may include your names and the wedding date. This may sound like a pricey item but if you purchase these ribbons on a reel instead of precut it can be very affordable. A simple taper candle tied with your personalized ribbon can be placed at each place setting to create a really inexpensive wedding favor.

Candy is another cheap wedding favor idea. You find a number of different ways to give out candy as an inexpensive wedding favor. One way to do this is to purchase a pretty fabric and some ribbon, cut the fabric into small squares, put a few small pieces of candy on each square and pull the corners together and tie with the ribbon. This is not only a very inexpensive wedding favor idea but it is also a very simple idea which can be assembled at the last minute. Another way to use candy as a wedding favor is to purchase small tins and fill them with the candy of your choice. You can purchase the candy in bulk to keep the price down and separate the candy into small portions for each guest. A final way to give candy as a wedding favor is to buy candy bars with personalized wrappers. The wrappers can include your name and wedding date and even a picture of the two of you. This can be very affordable especially if you are ordering in bulk and are only using one design for the wrappers.

Packets of flower or vegetable seed also make great wedding favors which are also very inexpensive. You can stack up a few different types of seeds and tie each with a ribbon to create an attractive presentation which will not blow your budget. Another way to give flower or vegetable seeds as a wedding favor is to put the seeds in a small pot. The pot does not have to be big enough to grow the flower or vegetable it is merely a symbolic gift so it can be rather small. The pot only needs to be large enough to hold the packets of seeds. This is important because small pots can be purchased rather inexpensively while larger pots will be significantly more expensive.

Another great idea for a wedding favor which is also very affordable is pen with the names of the bride and groom as well as the wedding date inscribed on the pen. These can often be purchased for very little and can be paired with stationary and a note encouraging your guests to stay in touch. This is such a great idea for a wedding favor because it is something your gests can really use plus by including some stationary and a note encouraging the guest to stay in touch you are letting them know you truly value their friendship. You might want to even consider including a self addressed stamped envelop with the favor so your guest will be more likely to follow your suggestion and send you at least a short note after the wedding.

4 Ways To Choose Between Bridal Gown Designers

Most brides will spend months trying to find the perfect bridal gown for their wedding. These brides will search through hundreds of dresses and designers in an attempt to find the perfect dress. They fail to realize that they could simplify their search by focusing on the bridal gown designers. There are four major ways to choose between these designers to find your dress. Each of these paths will lead you to the best designer based on the aspect of the dress that is important to you.

Cost

Cost is one of the easiest ways to choose between wedding dress designers. Different designers will have different price points. You can simply look through a plethora of designers to find their median price. You will be able to easily identify the designers that you can afford. At that point, you simply sift through all of the dresses of the designers in your price range. This option does not narrow down your choices as well as the other variables will.

Previous Work

An easy way to choose your wedding gown designer is to choose a dress that you enjoy. When you find a dress that you like the look of (through images or magazines), find the designer. You can then go through their collection to find a dress that you like. While this does not always work, it can lead you to some of the dresses that match the look that you enjoy.

Famous Names

An easy way to choose a designer is to go with a famous name. There are some designers that have cheaper lines of wedding dresses available. There are other designers that have more expensive wedding dresses available. Their dresses are well known, and their name has become well known in the wedding dress world. If you are worried about brand name, you can choose a brand name that you want. You can then find the dress that you like the most out of their collection of wedding dresses.

Custom Wedding Dresses

If you are trying to choose a designer, you may want to look for a custom made wedding dress. You can find a designer that you generally enjoy, and ask them to create a wedding dress for you. For many, this is the only way to find the perfect wedding dress. It is important to note that this is the most expensive option for wedding dresses.

Brides will each use different methods to find the perfect wedding dress for their special day. Focusing on bridal gown designers will help any bride to find this dress as quickly as possible. Brides can focus on the aspect of the wedding dress that they are most worried about, including cost, design, brand, and personality. Focus on the aspect that is important to you, and explore the dresses by the designers that fit that aspect. By focusing on a few designers, you will make your dress search efficient and enjoyable.

Wedding Guest Book Activities

Traditional brides don't have to have traditional guest books. Certainly you can purchase a standard guest book and ask your guests to sign it, but there are so many more guest book-like activities that are more unique.

Let's move from the popular to the less well known. One very popular option allows guests to sign a picture of the bride and groom. Simply take a picture of the bride and groom and have it matted in a mat several inches larger than the photo itself. Place a frame around this, but don't include the glass or Plexiglas frame. You'll add this later. Some people prefer to use "bulldog" clips to keep the mat together instead of putting the picture in the frame. The picture can be framed after the wedding.

Most couples choose a nice photo of themselves for this picture/guestbook option, although if there's a formal engagement photo, this is an excellent way to preserve that photo and show it off to friends and family. If photos are taken before the wedding with the bride and groom in their wedding attire, you can certainly use this photo. Many couples opt to either leave the mat empty or they place a temporary picture in the mat and add a wedding picture later.

Be sure to have a nice Sharpie marker handy and place the picture on either a sturdy easel or on a table where guests are sure to see it.

Another option is instead of providing a picture of the bride and groom to sign, the guests are provided with a picture of themselves! Simply provide a Polaroid camera and assign someone the job of taking pictures of the guests as they arrive at the reception. Once the picture is dry, provide a Sharpie and they can sign the picture, make a note to the bride and groom or hand draw a silly picture. It can be whatever the guest wants it to be. This is a unique, and personal, way for guests to "sign in" at the wedding.

Whoever handles the taking of the pictures should also handle putting them in an album of some sort. A scrap booker might provide a special memory book with the Polaroid pictures in it, or the pictures can simply be placed in a nice album and presented later to the bride and groom.

Many guests don't give a great deal of thought to the guest book. They whiz by the guest book table more concerned with getting their cocktail and hitting the dance floor. If this is a concern, provide a "traveling" guest book. Send each guest something either to sign or decorate before the wedding.

In this "traveling" guest book scenario, there are several options. One of the easiest is to send each guest a small piece of paper and ask them to write something meaningful or thoughtful for the bride and groom on it. The pieces of paper are returned prior to the wedding (to ensure a better response, provide a self-addressed stamped envelope with the paper) and can be compiled in some meaningful way for the bride and groom and presented to them on their wedding day.

If the guest list is a creative or particularly close group, there is one other option that is even more meaningful. Again, in a scrapbook fashion, send each guest a piece of paper to sign or decorate. The paper should be the size of a photo album, so it might be a 6 x 6 piece of paper, an 8 x 8 piece of paper, or even 12 x 12, if the guests are up to that larger size.

In a letter that arrives with the paper, the guests are instructed to create a memory page for the bride and groom. They might include photos, quotes, little anecdotal stories, or combine all of these with stickers or embellishments. It's thoughtful, meaningful and personal and it's an excellent way to include guests who might not be able to attend the wedding, but would still like to be a part of it.

Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Games

Wedding rehearsal dinners are a time to relax, calm down and enjoy a quiet evening before the big event the next day. But adding some fun and games into the rehearsal dinner isn't such a bad idea. It's a great way to help everyone let off some steam, calm down and enjoy each other.

If you're planning a sit-down formal dinner, fun games and activities can still be on the menu. In fact, if a formal dinner is part of the plans, having some interesting activities on the agenda is not only a good idea, but also an excellent one. There's been a lot of planning, and a lot of stress and the wedding party and close friends and family will welcome the opportunity to have a little fun.

The success or failure of any games or activities largely depends not just on the planning but your venue. If you're having a sit-down dinner in a restaurant, try to get a private room. Then a myriad of fun activities can be planned, such as "pin the veil on the bride", in which blindfolded guests spin around a few times, then try to pin the veil on a picture of the bride. Silly, yes, but also fun.

One fun activity sure to help everyone blow off some steam is charades. Whoever is up will act out a scene from the bride or groom's life, so it might be when graduating from college, or getting a huge promotion at work. The "it" person might choose to act out when the bride tripped and fell at another person's wedding or when the groom saved a dog from getting hit by a car. This is a little twist on charades that helps people get to know the bride and groom better, and adds intimacy to what is already an intimate event.

If the wedding rehearsal dinner is a bit less formal and held in someone's home, there are many more activities that can take place. For example, how about a night of playing board games? Who needs formal food? You can have that the next day at the formal wedding. At this rehearsal dinner party, the games are center stage.

Bring in some sandwiches and tell everyone to wear their comfortable clothes and settle in for a night of board games. You can set up games on different tables, divide people into groups of 4 or 5 and have everyone rotate tables at designated times. You can even instruct game players that when they move to another table, the game stays out the way it is.  So, for example, dad might begin playing Monopoly where the bride was and he's stuck with only a little money in the bank and no houses on Boardwalk.

So, let's say the bride and groom are big into sports. If the wedding is to be held in the summer and the days are long, how about a game of touch football or baseball? You can play bride's family against groom's family, men against women, or for a twist, the bride plays with the groom's family and the groom with the bride's family. Any combination works. The idea here is to have some fun, relax and enjoy each other's company.

Other outdoor activities can include anything that is physical and might help people blow off steam. Has the bride been more a "bridezilla" than anything? How about a game of tag where she's it? Or you can create two bridesmaid's dress-up trunks. Go to a thrift store, fill the trunks with old prom dresses and large-size shoes, and costume jewelry. Divide the guests into two different teams and have someone sit with a timer. The team who dresses one of the men (ideally, the groom and best man or perhaps the two dads) first wins. Be sure to have a camera at the rehearsal dinner/event, because this is one activity you'll want to have pictures of!

Where To Find Cheap Wedding Dresses

If you don't want to spend too much more on your wedding dress, read on! There are lots of places, where you might want to spend more money on your wedding. You might want to spend more on a DJ, the reception or get more beautiful flowers. This means cutting on some other expenses, and your wedding dress might be one of them. Don't worry, as you can still purchase a beautiful, elegant wedding dress even if you have a budget.

Here are some ideas for you and some places to look to save money on your wedding dress:

- Your Mother's Wedding Dress. Some brides love the dress their Mom wore when she got married, and choose to use again, when they get married. If you love your Mom's dress, and she is going to let you wear it, you are in luck. All you might have to pay for are some alterations and cleaning, instead of paying for a whole new wedding gown.

- Clearance Racks and Sales at Bridal Stores. Bargains are everywhere; remember to look for them and to ask for them. Many retailers discount items at the stores from time to time, and bridal stores are not an exception. Look for clearance racks at bridal stores, ask about when sales are - you might find out that your perfect dress there is on sale right now!

And do look at the department stores even if you are looking for something a bit more formal. You never know what you can find sometimes.

- Sales and Clearances at Department Stores. Especially if you are looking for informal wedding dresses, department stores might be a great place to look. Sometimes special occasion dresses get discounted a lot, and you can buy a very pretty wedding dress for under $100.

- Online Stores and Sales. Search for wedding dresses online, including online web stores and auctions. Sometimes you can get a much better deal online, then you would ever find at stores.

Good luck with finding that perfect dress. Once you have an idea about the dress that you are looking for, as well as the price range you are willing to pay, you should be able to find that perfect dress.

Pre Wedding Reception Activities

There are so many little details to worry about when planning a wedding some might get forgotten. One tiny detail that often gets overlooked is how to keep guests entertained before the wedding reception "officially" begins.

There is no requirement that brides entertain their guests at all. After all, they have already attended your wedding ceremony (which was surely engaging and entertaining, right?) and they will soon get music, food and drink. What more could they want? It turns out, a lot. While the bride and groom are off having pictures taken, the guests are left to their own devices, chatting with other guests and wondering when the buffet will open.

In that light, it's worth at least considering some pre-reception options for keeping wedding guests entertained until the reception begins. Here are a few options, some tradition, some not so, but still fun.

First, you can do the traditional thing and provide guests with drinks and perhaps some light snacks. If the wedding is in the summertime, how about providing lemonade and iced tea? Or if it's the winter, coffee and hot tea or even hot cocoa depending on the style of your wedding. Providing a light snack isn't a bad idea, either, and that can be some appetizer-type food or just nuts, especially if the meal will be heavy.

Now, if you want to stray from tradition, there are many options. Some brides opt for entertaining the guests in the truest sense of the word. Clowns, anyone? How about live music?

If you want to venture into the fun and funky, consult the party planning pages of a local children's or parent's magazine. Here, you can find people who will entertain your children at their birthday parties, but many of them will happily take on wedding jobs. You can hire a clown to make balloon animals for the kids (and adults) in attendance, or to juggle a few things. Some clowns are true entertainers and will happily get the crowd involved by fetching items out of women's purses and juggling them.

Other non-traditional options for entertaining your guests include hiring a band to play music beforehand. If you plan to have classical music at your wedding, you can have a band come and play covers of current pop songs, or you can simply have your hired band arrive a bit early to entertain guests waiting for the full reception to begin.

If there are many children at the wedding, it's not too expensive to hire a children's band to sing and entertain the children for a bit. Then if the kids are a bit bored at the reception, they'll still have the memory of the earlier entertainment with them. In addition, while the children are being entertained, the adults can have a chance to chat and they will surely thank the bride for thinking of them in that way.

Some other options for entertaining your restless crowd before the festivities begin are to include them in the reception before it begins. This is a great time to ask people to sign the guest book and write something meaningful, since they will have more time than they would usually have as they file into the reception hall.

If the reception and the wedding ceremony take place in the same location, but the bride and groom are off having pictures taken, it may not seem as if there's this dilemma of how to keep the guests entertained, but there in fact, is.

In this case, you can have servers circulate with appetizer trays or you can do something more elaborate, such as some of the suggestions above. One popular option doesn't involve entertaining the guests at all. Say the wedding is being held at a historic house or mansion. During the lull before the reception, guests can be given a tour of the property. If the wedding and reception are both being held at the couple's new home, a tour of the property might be in order (assuming the guest list is fairly small).

Fun Ideas For Unity Candles

If you are planning a wedding and plan to have a unity candle as part of the ceremony, you might want to think outside the box.

Traditionally, the unity candle involves three candles. The bride has one, the groom the other, and their two lighted candles light the third candle. This is done to represent the coming together of the two people to make one unit. In some alternate methods, family members are invited to participate in the unity candle lighting, often the mothers of the bride and groom, or other close members of the family. Each family then lights a candle, and together they light the unity candle to symbolize of the coming together of the families.

Now, there are a few twists you can add to this fairly conventional aspect of a wedding ceremony. You can provide each guest with an unlit candle when they arrive at the ceremony. After the couple lights the unity candle, they can ask the guests to move to the front of the church (or wherever the ceremony is being held) and light their candles with the lighted unity candle. This can take a bit of time and might be best with a smaller guest list. But it is a meaningful way to not only get your guests involved in the ceremony itself, but also symbolize the union of family and friends with the marriage.

If there is a large guest list and it would be a prohibitive waste of time to do a candle lighting involving everyone at the ceremony, some brides and grooms like to bring the unity candle to the reception. Light the candle again and provide each guest with a small votive candle (the candle holder will be on the tables at individual table settings). As guests come into the reception area or hall, they can light their votive and take it to their table to place into the votive holder. This small votive candle can double as a wedding favor, particularly if you decorate or enhance a plain votive candleholder in some way to coordinate with your wedding.

Of course, you can forget having a unity candle at the ceremony altogether. Many brides these days are trying to reduce the length of the ceremony and spend more time planning the reception. In that light, some choose to do away with a unity candle altogether. You can certainly do this, or you can cut it out of the ceremony and make it part of the reception.

To do this, you can use the votive candle option suggested above, or you can simply incorporate the unity candle lighting into the reception activities themselves. For example, you might choose a quiet moment in the reception to have a lighting of the unity candle. It might be during a short prayer prior to the serving of the meal, or right before the cake is cut. In this case, the unity candle can then be used as decoration on the cake table. As the bride and groom cut the cake and pieces are served to guests, the candle can also serve as a reminder of the couple's new bond and that the bond is shared with all the guests as well.

Although having a unity candle at the wedding or reception isn't necessary, it is certainly an option that many brides and grooms opt to include. But it's important to remember that as with so much surrounding wedding planning there are ways to make it unique and interesting and special to the couple getting married.

Fun Wedding Music Activities

Music is as much a component of a good wedding as food and drink. You can have a wedding without music, but it's likely it will seem a little quiet and dull. So whether you have a full live band, a string quartet, a DJ spinning tunes or recorded music from a boom box, it should be included.

But music's not just for dancing. There are a myriad of activities you can plan around the music that will add an element of fun to your wedding.

One popular idea is to play musical chairs. Sure, this is a fun kid's game and you don't want to insult your guests in any way, but you can have some fun with this version of musical chairs. The chairs can be just about anything, from chairs lined up from the food tables, to the floor, if you think your guests might be open to sitting on the floor (and then having to get up and down again). One fun option is to use the men as the chairs - they kneel on the floor, with one knee on the floor and the other bent. The women sit lightly on the men's' knees as they are playing musical chairs. When either the man or woman falls down, that couple is out, until one couple is left.

Some brides and grooms like to play musical chairs in order to give away the table centerpiece, which many guests like to take home. Instead of assigning a number and awarding the centerpiece to the person in possession of that number, you have each table play musical chairs until the person left standing is the one that gets to take home the centerpiece.

How about a rousing game of "name that tune"? This is a game that's best for a smaller, intimate wedding where everyone knows the bride and groom well. Prior to the wedding, whoever is planning the wedding should get a list of favorite songs of both the bride and groom. Create a CD of those songs, and then create a game of "name that tune". Guests can be divided into teams and then be played just a small snippet of each song.

After guests hear that first snippet, they can then "bid" on how quickly they can name the tune. So one group might say they can name the tune in 10 seconds, while the other group might say 5 seconds. Once one group has bowed out, the other group will then have to "name that tune". This is a fun game that gets everyone involved and which the bride and groom are particularly delighted by.

Depending on the style of the wedding, there are many fun games you can play to get the bride and groom out on the dance floor. Now, if this is a very large and very elegant wedding, this option might not work since there is certain decorum to maintain, but for a casual, fun, family-centered wedding some of these games can be fun.

If guests want to "call out" the wedding couple onto the dance floor, they can be asked to get out on the dance floor themselves first and hula hoop or perform their own version of a break dance. Much in the way guests sometimes have to "perform" to get the couple the kiss this is another way to get the guests involved and having fun in order to create fun wedding memories for the bride and groom.

Five Reasons Las Vegas is the Wedding Capital of the World

Las Vegas is the known as not only the Entertainment Capital of the World, but also the Wedding Capital of the World.  Over 120,000 couples now flock there every year to say I do.  There are many reasons so many couples choose to take the plunge in this glitz and glamour city. Let's examine some of them:

1. Where else can you get the exciting wedding options that Las Vegas has to offer?  The wedding packages Las Vegas offer are vast and unusual and many of them can't be found anywhere else.  Drive thru wedding chapels, Elvis ceremonies, and a wide variety of themed wedding packages are just some of the unique wedding opportunities you will find if you choose to say I do in Las Vegas.

2.  The ease of obtaining a marriage license is a big draw for many couples. There are no blood tests and no waiting periods making it easy to be spontaneous. You can wake up one morning and decide you want to get married, hop a flight to Vegas, and be married by that evening.

3. No time consuming wedding planning. Chapels all over the city offer pre arranged wedding packages that include everything you need for your wedding. This takes the stress out of having to plan your nuptials. No having to coordinate the minister, site, photographer, florist, etc. They do it all for you. The biggest decisions you will have to make is deciding which Las Vegas chapel or location to wed at and then choosing the wedding date, time, and package that you want. The wedding coordinators at the location you choose will help you with the rest.

4. It can be very inexpensive. A marriage license costs $55 and a no frills Vegas wedding package starts at about $40 (not including the minister fee) so you can easily say I do for around $200. Figure in the cost of airfare and other travel costs and you can still get by with spending between $1000-2000 which is well below the average cost of a wedding which is now somewhere between $20,000-30,000.

5. After the wedding is over, you can take advantage of the fact that you are in one of the most exciting cities in the world and enjoy some of the wonderful entertainment and attractions that Las Vegas has to offer.

So if you are contemplating Vegas nuptials, know that you can have an easy, affordable, and exciting wedding ceremony if you decide to say your vows in the Wedding Capital of World.

Find Out What Kind Of Wedding Gown Suits You

If images of white dresses are dancing in your head, then you must have been recently engaged. Of course, many women have had an image of their wedding in their head since the time they were born, but will the real life live up to your dream?

Capturing a personality

Although it may seem that all wedding dresses are alike, there are many ways to capture individual styles. White may be the traditional wedding gown color, but more brides are choosing off-white or a light cream as an alternative. This can show your fashion consciousness, while still remaining true to the traditional coloring.

If you’re a bit more vibrant and outgoing, you may want to do something daring at your wedding. This thought may be accentuated if you are looking to do a themed wedding as well. Try a different color altogether. Do something wild like red or purple. While they might not be the standards, they will definitely liven up a wedding photo.

And if you’re looking for a theme for your wedding, you will want to study related dresses to the time period or culture. If you’re looking for something that is renaissance inspired, then you may want to look in costume shops for styles that can be turned into wedding gowns.

Using your body type

If you’re looking for something that is flattering, then you’re going to need to try on a lot of dresses before you do. But this is a good thing. Many times, brides find that their dream dress doesn’t always look like the dream in their head.

For women who are shorter in stature, you may want to select a gown with longer lines and seams. Although your high heels will help to create a taller look, the cleaner and simpler the dress, the more it will elongate you. You should pick something that doesn’t have a lot of detailing because it may cause the eyes to look at one particular area rather than you as a whole image.

For the taller woman who is looking to create a less lengthy style, you will want to find a dress with more detail toward the bottom of the dress. This helps to draw the eye away from the height.

All in all, whatever dress makes you feel beautiful is the one that is right for you. So, don’t let convention or tradition stand in the way of your dream. Short or long, detailed or not, your wedding dress should reflect everything that you are feeling on your wedding day.

Fantastically Unique Centerpieces make a Wedding Memorable

A couple wanting to really impress the guests at their wedding should invest in truly unique centerpieces. Typically, most reception facilities do not provide a great deal of creativity in the decorations because they usually utilize standard table linens and place settings. However, utilizing unique centerpieces is a great way for the wedding hosts to make their reception memorable.

Using live fish in centerpieces is a unique idea for a wedding reception. Glass bowls can be used with a few glass marbles or beads along with some exotic and colorful fish. A person could even include a small amount of fish food at the table where children will be sitting with instructions on how to avoid hurting the fish. The kids will have fun and will be less distractive if there was a more traditional centerpiece on the table. This lively and interactive centerpiece is a sure fire hit idea with kids and will even keep adults occupied.

Another great centerpiece idea is to place board games at each table. The idea is very unique and usually the attendees choose to play the games; the games also provide the guests at the table the incentive to introduce and have conversations with those seated at the table if they don’t know them. This is a great option for people who do not like dancing because they will not perceive being left out of the wedding.

Pastries or cakes arranged on a tray and decorated with fresh flowers also make a lovely centerpiece. These sweets can be used to replace of the wedding cake. This often speeds up receptions and makes the logistics of large wedding parties getting a piece of cake simpler. Using several pastries as centerpieces is extremely unique but it also allows the guest to select from several different types of pasties and flavors. These centerpieces can be accompanied by traditional wait staff and the pastries and cakes prepared in the kitchen for desert or they can be sliced at the individual tables for additional esthetic value.

An attractive journal that accompanies the theme of the wedding along with several pens will also provide a unique centerpiece. This type of centerpiece will look lovely on the table and should be used by the guests to write messages of congratulations or advice for the couple in the future. The couple has a unique centerpiece and they also have a treasured souvenir of their wedding day in the kindred words recorded by their guests.
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Emerald Gardens: An Elegant Las Vegas Wedding Venue

Emerald Gardens is a beautiful wedding venue located in Las Vegas, west of the famous Las Vegas Strip. This location offers a breathtaking outdoor courtyard for wedding ceremonies and is a great alternative if you aren’t interested in the wedding chapels that Las Vegas is famous for. The courtyard features lush landscaping, flower beds, palm trees with twinkle lights, a gazebo, and amazing views of a golf course and nearby mountains.

Emerald Gardens also has a beautiful banquet room that is great for a memorable wedding reception.  The banquet facility offers a glass staircase, mahogany dance floor, granite bar, and views of the outdoor courtyard area.

Packages offered include a ceremony only package as well as packages for a ceremony and reception.  The ceremony only package is offered Monday through Thursday only.
Ceremony packages include the site, an officiant, music, and a bouquet for the bride and boutonniere for the groom. If you prefer not to have your wedding outdoors, they can arrange your ceremony in the reception room. A bridal dressing room and groom’s room are also available.

Reception packages are available for up to 300 include a disc jockey, wedding cake, buffet style or sit down dinner, and choice of bar packages.  The delicious gourmet menu that they offer is extensive and includes everything from Cornish Game Hens with Herbed Wild Rice Stuffing to Virginia Baked Ham with Brown Sugar, Cloves, and Cinnamon Apple Slices.  Emerald Gardens also gives you a lot of choices when it comes to choosing your wedding cake.  They offer many cake flavors and fillings and have many designs to choose from so you can create the perfect cake for your wedding.

Emerald Gardens is definitely worth looking into if you are looking for an elegant and scenic locale for you wedding ceremony and reception.  Their wedding coordinators can assist you and help take the pain out of planning your special day.

Edible Wedding Favors

There is one type of wedding favor which is almost always appreciated by the guests at the wedding. This is an edible wedding favor. Whether you opt for sweet or savory items you and your guests are likely to enjoy your edible wedding favors. The downside to giving an edible wedding favor is it is likely to be consumed shortly after your wedding instead of being saved for years to come as a memento of your wedding. However, you can rest assured that your guests will greatly enjoy the gift. This article will provide a few ideas for edible favors you can give to your guests on your wedding day.

One of the most popular edible wedding favors is a simple chocolate bar with a personalized wrapper. These chocolate bars can be simple milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate are can be filled with items such as almonds or raisins. There are even more options available for the wrapper of the candy bar. This is very important because this is the first thing your guests will notice about your favor. Most brides and grooms opt to have their names and the date of the wedding printed on the wrapper and select a wrapper design which relates to love, weddings or the specific theme of the wedding. However, some brides and grooms may even decide to have their pictures on the wrapper along with their names and the wedding date.

Tins filled with candy are another option for brides and grooms who want to give out edible wedding favors. These tins can be filled with any type of candy you wish. They can be filled with mints, hard candies, candy coated almonds, chocolates or any other favorite candy. There is also typically the option of personalizing the tin by including the wedding date and the name of the bride and the groom. The guests may eat the candy soon after the wedding but they can keep the candy as a reminder of your wedding and use it to store other small items such as change, sewing needles, rubber bands or virtually anything which is small enough to be stored in the tins.

Candy is a very popular choice when a bride and groom are considering giving edible wedding favors. One unique way to give out candy as wedding favors is to use large glass bowls as the centerpieces for the tables and fill the bowls with the bride and grooms’ favorite types of candy. You can give each of your guests a small container which matches the theme of the wedding such as a sand pail for a beach themed wedding or anything else which is appropriate. The guests can fill the containers with some of the candy from the centerpiece at the end of the evening.

Cookies are other options for brides and grooms who want to give out edible party favors. There are a number of different options in this case. You can select cookies which are rather plain in nature but place them in keepsake boxes with the bride and grooms’ names as well as the date of the wedding. They can also give out personalized fortune cookies with each fortune depicting a quotation which is related to love. Another way to use cookies as wedding favors is to give out cookies displaying a photo of the couple. There are many bakeries that can make these cookies for you in a variety of sizes and shapes. You simply need to select a design and give the bakery a photo to use in the design process.

Cocoas, teas and coffees are still another option for couples who want to give out edible wedding favors. You can select specialty cocoas, teas or coffees or you can have the packaging customized to include your picture, an appropriate quotation, poem or other message related to loves and weddings. Putting the couple’s names as well as the wedding date on the package is a good idea as well as including a picture of the couple.

Elegant Ways to Say I do in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is known as the Wedding Capital of the World and is famous for it’s wedding chapels, drive thru ceremonies and Elvis nuptials.  Although these popular options are available, there are also numerous other ways to say I do in Las Vegas.  Many hotels, resorts, and other locations in the Las Vegas area offer some very elegant and breathtaking wedding sites.

Lake Las Vegas is quickly becoming a very popular destination for weddings in the Las Vegas area.  Located about 17 miles from the famous Strip, this stunning lake location offers ritzy resorts and amazing views of the mountains, desert, and Vegas skyline.  There are many wedding venues to choose from at Lake Las Vegas.  The Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas offers several including a cobblestone courtyard in a garden and a lakeside location with a bridge and gazebo.  They also have a beach venue which provides a waterfall, bridge and a dock in a lagoon which acts as the altar.  The MonteLago Village Resort Lake Las Vegas also has several wedding sites to choose from.  A balcony in a hotel suite, a gazebo, and golf course locations are just a few of the wedding settings offered there.  Another great option they offer are yacht weddings on Lake Las Vegas.  The Wedding Company of Las Vegas offers a wedding package that offers a gondola wedding on Lake Las Vegas and includes helicopter transportation to and from the wedding as well as a helicopter tour of the Las Vegas lights.

Las Vegas is home to many top notch golf courses and country clubs which also provide amazing wedding sites.  At Siena Golf Club, you can have your ceremony on their lawn under a wedding arbor.  You can then hold your reception in their clubhouse or community center which both offer wonderful views of the golf course, a lake, and the Las Vegas Strip.

Mount Charleston is another wonderful alternative for a wedding in the Las Vegas area.  Located about a 45 minute drive from the Strip, this beautiful mountain locale offers not only cooler weather than the Valley but also stunning scenery.  The Mount Charleston Hotel provides packages for wedding ceremonies and receptions.  You can have your wedding ceremony outdoors with all the beauty of the mountain surrounding you.  Receptions can also be arranged outside, or can be held inside the hotel.

Planning your Las Vegas wedding no longer means that you are limited just to wedding chapels, drive thru ceremonies, and Elvis.  These are still great options but they are not for everybody.  If you dreamed of something more extraordinary for you big day, Las Vegas provides you with plenty of options to consider.

Dream Weddings Don’t Have To Cost A Fortune

It has finally happened - your partner has finally popped the question, you said yes and put on the ring, and now there is a wedding date hovering somewhere in the future. At this point, you may be asking yourself how on earth you are going to afford all the essential parts you have so longed envisioned as part of your dream wedding. The good news is that with the proper length of time, you can plan your wedding in such a way that you will find the best bargains possible and the proceedings do not cost you a fortune.

As in any money-saving endeavor, the most important rule in saving on the costs of your wedding is to shop around religiously. Remember to compare every price on every part of the wedding that you are going to be shopping for. This is especially important when considering the various service providers for your wedding, including the florists, the photographer, the caterer, and even the venue. Do not jump at the first price or location that comes along- the payoff of patience may be a lot of money.

Setting your date well ahead of time will often also allow you some wiggle room when it comes to many of the areas where you will be laying out finances for your weddings. Setting an early date will mean that you will not be desperate for any particular service when the time of your wedding comes along. Often the people who provide services for weddings begin to be booked up very quickly when it comes to specific times, such as the wedding “season” and around other occasions that are particularly geared towards the same services that might be used for weddings, such as graduations and even holidays such as New Year’s Eve. Planning and booking well ahead of time will mean that you are not desperate when talking to the agency, and thus you will not be stuck with one of the higher-priced options after having left the decision to the last minute.

You can also end up saving quite a bit of money for your wedding by choosing to do some of the tasks involved yourself. With the huge increase in the popularity of various crafts, and the subsequent rise in the number of craft stores, many people are now making a lot of their own paraphernalia for their weddings themselves. Wedding invitations, favors, decorations, and thank-you notes are all projects on which you can save money and add a unique touch by doing the work on your own, often with the help of your bridal party and other family members.

In order to save money on your wedding, you will also want to pay close attention to your networking possibilities. Many people know friends and family who just seem to have a knack when it comes to some of the skills that will be necessary for your wedding. Having friends who know what they are doing could significantly reduce your costs when it comes to decorating and even catering the weddings. Many friends will also be able to do the videography for your special day, although the photography is best left to a professional (and if you happen to have a friend who is a professional, so much the better!)

There are many ways to make sure that your dream wedding is a success without mortgaging you future. With the right amount of time, planning, do-it-yourself will and contacts, your wedding may be much less expensive than you would have believed!

Don't Overlook The Importance Of Your Wedding Music

There are two aspects of wedding music that need to be addressed when planning your big day. First, you may wish to select certain music or arrange for professional soloists or musicians to play during the actual wedding ceremony. But at the wedding reception, it's pretty much anything goes when it comes to selecting wedding music, provided it's tasteful.

Right away is the time to plan your wedding music. Good talent gets booked fast and you don't want to end up having to select the brand new DJ with only a few weddings under his belt or something even worse. Booking your music a full year in advance is advisable but at a minimum, you should know who will be showing up and what he or she will be playing at least six months prior to the wedding date.

For most weddings, selecting the music for the wedding ceremony isn't that complicated because most often, it's controlled by the person in charge at the location where the ceremony will take place. When you're researching your wedding ceremony options, be sure to inquire about any guidelines with respect to wedding ceremony music as these could possibly impact your decision. If the ceremony is being held outdoors, check for electrical hook-ups or book live musicians.

Wedding music during the ceremony is basically secondary to the ceremony itself so the music is really meant to sort of 'fill in the gaps' during the non-speaking periods such as while guests are being seated, during the procession, and while lighting the unity candles. Of course, it's your wedding and it can be custom-designed.

The music that's played at the reception, however, is going to mean the difference between a successful reception and one that's ho-hum. And this is where things can start to get complicated. When you begin searching for wedding reception music, you'll realize rather quickly that you have a lot of options. You can book a live band, or a DJ that'll play pre-recorded music, or you can buy that CD full of top wedding songs and have someone act as the DJ.

It's important that you both agree on the type of wedding music you want played at your reception. There are 'traditional' songs that almost always are played at certain points during the reception such as the father/daughter dance, the cake cutting, the dollar dance and so on. And then there is all the music in between. Do you want jazz, country, R&B, new age, Italian, Latin, Jewish-inspired, or a little bit of everything? That's an important decision to make because the musicians you select have to be able to deliver what you want or you won't be happy.

Try to book experienced professionals for your wedding music. Always ask for and check references. Even contact the Better Business Bureau. If booking live talent, arrange to hear a live performance before booking. Scrutinize the contract before signing to make sure all parties agree on the number of hours music will be provided and that everything that has been agreed to is in writing. Find out the cancellation and refund policy, too.

Do Something Smart And Unique: Earth-Friendly Wedding Decorations

It might seem wasteful to you to decorate and use all of these cut flowers in order to make a big room beautiful for one night. Are there any environmentally friendly options?

Change the setting

The easiest way to keep from using cut flowers and dried petals is to have your reception and ceremony outside. This sounds like trouble in the making, but it’s a lot easier than it sounds. If you have a large space in someone’s yard or in a park(with everyone’s permission), you can set up a large tent for the reception hall and even the ceremony if you’d like.

Since guests will be under a roof, there is little need for worrying about the weather and they can still see the beauty of the outside as they eat. Find a beautiful setting and light some lanterns around the tent, it creates a soft glow well into the evening.

New ingredients

Of course, if you’re looking for the most earth friendly eating options, you will want to select the buffet option with a limited portion of food. Any additional food can be donated to the local shelter if you’d like.

You will not be using any plastic forks or cups, so you will need a lot of glasses and silverware to make sure that you don’t run out. Napkins can be cloth and washed instead of thrown out.

As decorations, you can spread lavender along the tops of the tables and then include small tea lights as well as larger candles as needed. Find candles that burn clean (as soy ones do), and these are quite friendly to use.

If you’re looking for a centerpiece, you can choose to have tall silver or gold vases in the middle (metal) and fill them with ice and a bottle of champagne for the table. This looks great, plus it serves a function. You can then give away the vases for planters at the end of the night.

Using kegs instead of individual beer cans is a great way to cut back on waste—even if it can be recycled. Recycling tends to be more and more difficult to do as the night goes on.

Let the conversation and the happiness decorate the night, not things that you will only throw away the next day. Being earth friendly isn’t difficult when you think of other ways that you can use things after the wedding is over.

Crash Course on Wedding Crashing

What you're about to read is a 'labor of love'.  

Hours and hours of learning and research went into gaining this experience and compiling it in a form you can benefit from.  This article was meant to be a useful, educational and instructive resource for anyone interested in this topic.

Enjoy it - and let us know what you think.

For most occasions, there are invitations. In every invitation, there is an invited guest. There-in lies the subject of our discussion. You see, for every party, there are bound to be party crashers.

A prime example is wedding celebrations. There are people who come to the event without an invitation and who in fact are not even invited. These are known as the wedding crashers.

Wedding crashers are “unexpected guests” mainly because they were not invited to the event. These crashers are drawn to these occasions like moths to a flame.

So, for anyone who wishes to know how to become a wedding crasher, here are some tips that you can use.

1. Try to be a long-lost cousin or someone who is “within” the family.

In most wedding celebrations, the family is always included. In fact, most of the wedding invitations tend to be some sort of family reunions since many family members are present from out of town.

And because there are a large number of relatives present in the celebration, the bride or the groom will be less inclined to notice who you are or where you came from. This makes the "long lost cousin" strategy effective.

The above "crash technique" works particularly well when carrying a beautifully wrapped gift box with you. After all, who would question somebody who has brought such a lovely and beautifully wrapped gift with them.

Sidenote:  Hope you're finding this useful? I have always been curious about this matter.   And when I found very little quality information about it, I decided to share a part of what I've learned about it - which is why this article came to be written.  Read on.

2. Try being a staff member of the wedding caterer or wedding coordinator.

In order to be able to crash a wedding, you could always pretend to be a staff member.

In a wedding, there are lots of people being hired in the planning and preparation. So one way of crashing into the scene is to impersonate a staff member of the catering company or the flower arrangement company.

This added bonus will allow you to enjoy a very nice meal. If questioned by another guest, you could always explain that you are a friend of someone who is also at the party.

Pick the name of your choice. You can always find someone else’s name when you are being asked why you are at the party or who you are with.

This is a safe tactic if you do not feel like choosing whose side of the couple you will take in order to introduce yourself. With this strategy, you can be quite sure that with over a hundred or 200 guests in the party, not many people would even think of verifying your name or identity.

4. Dress to kill.

The best part of being a wedding crasher is to dress up a little bit in order to suit the occasion. Even if it means that you were “dressed to kill,” it would be better to dress appropriately in order to fit in the event.

After all, wedding crashing is not all about free food and wine. It can also be one way of finding that one true love.

5. Proper Timing is essential.

One of the most important things one should remember when crashing the party is to arrive very late. This is because by the time you have arrived, most guests have started drinking and socializing, to a point where their guard is down and there is no defense is relatively low.

As a result, when you arrive, most people will not notice your entrance and you may easily join the party and blend in.

Indeed, wedding crashing can fill up your social calender quite quickly if you so choose.

I hope you gained something from this article.  Be sure to check for additional information online on this topic. You may drop me a quick note to share your thoughts and comments on it.

There's also more to come so please keep visiting often to get the latest information!

Civil Service Weddings Explained

A civil service wedding doesn’t have to include just the couple, an officiant and state provided witnesses anymore. Many states offer the option of a civil service wedding in small conference rooms that can accommodate as many as 50 guests. A civil service wedding is ideal for a couple that wants to be married but doesn’t want to deal with all the hassle and stress of planning an elaborate wedding. A civil service wedding is also an ideal alternative for couples who have different religious backgrounds and want to eliminate religious connotations from their wedding rather than trying to plan a wedding that blends the two religions. Some couples may also opt for an affordable civil service union and use their wedding savings for other options.

Civil service weddings are extremely affordable and convenient. In many states you can plan your entire wedding for you and a small number of guests for under $1000. If you budget correctly this fee could include the use of a decorated wedding suite or chapel, an officiant to perform the ceremony, a notary public who is capable of obtaining and filing your marriage license and even certified copies of your license that can serve as official proof of your marriage. You may also be able to use the suite or chapel for a limited time to host a small reception following the wedding ceremony.

A bride and groom who come from different religious backgrounds may opt for a civil service wedding. While there is an increasing trend in multi-denominational weddings that do an excellent job of creating a ceremony that blends the two religions beautifully there are some people who would rather have their religion not be a part of the ceremony than be compromised in a blended ceremony. While the issue of how a couple intends to deal with their religious differences in their married life is nobody’s business but their own, there are many friends and relatives who would be offended by a wedding ceremony that is not true to their religion. In this situation a couple may choose to have a civil wedding that is devoid of religious connotations in the effort to not offend any family members or friends. Of course the couple should not compromise their beliefs and if they desire a wedding with blended religions then they should go ahead and have their wedding exactly as they had planned. However, if the couple does not feel strongly about having a wedding that blends their religious beliefs then it might be wise to opt for a simple civil service wedding.

Another reason that couples may opt for a civil service wedding is to use their wedding savings for another cause. Although some couples may have saved for over a year to host an elaborate wedding, they may decide that they would prefer to invest their savings in a dream honeymoon or a down payment for a new home or even making a donation to a charitable cause. A couple that spends months or even years saving up for an elaborate wedding may decide in the end that they don’t think wasting their entire savings on a one night wedding extravaganza is such a good idea. If the couple makes this decision before the planning has gone too far they may be able to scrap their wedding plans without too much of a financial loss and choose to have a civil service wedding and use their wedding savings for another purpose.

The connotation of civil service weddings being strictly for couples needing to get married quickly for either citizenship reasons or due to an impending pregnancy is a thing of the past. Couples are beginning to see the value of a civil service wedding and are opting for these simple unions for a variety of reasons. The affordability and convenience that a civil service wedding offers is very appealing to couples who either do not have a large savings or the time required to plan an elaborate wedding. Religious differences also drive many couples to opt for a religious ceremony. Couples who come from vastly different religious backgrounds may opt for a wedding that is devoid of religious elements in order to not offend any of their friends or relatives. Couples may also choose to have a simple and inexpensive civil service wedding so that they can splurge on their honeymoon or on a new home instead.