Beautiful Weddings

There are many different ideas when it comes to wedding invitations, so it is important to look at the style that fits best, before you decide which invitations to send out. Wedding invitations are an important part of the wedding planning process because it provides your guests with valuable information about the ceremony. These ten commonly used invitation styles can help you find the best choice for your wedding.

Traditional

The traditional themed wedding invitation is making a comeback because of its simplicity, which many couples like to have. The traditional wedding invitation is a rectangular shape made from one sheet. This style generally has printing on the front of the invitation in a scripted font without any other decorations or designs. Although it is very simple and plain to look at, the couples who choose it do so for its simplicity. This is also a style typically used with formal weddings.



Contemporary

The contemporary wedding invitation is something that is drastically different from the traditional style. It is a wedding invitation that can be in any shape and in any size, and the couples usually choose it because they can customize it to their own needs and wants. This style is perfect for destination weddings. The couple may also choose to incorporate a picture on the invitation. There are many excellent choices available when choosing a modern themed wedding invitation.



One Fold

Invitations that fold in half are also very common today. On the front of the invite, there is usually a quote or lyrics from a song, or even a picture. When the invite is unfolded, the information important information about the wedding can be found. These can be opened sideways, like a traditional greeting card, or it can be opened top to bottom. Either way, many couples are choosing to use them.

Two Fold

Two fold wedding invitations were not used in the past because they take up a lot of room and can be heavy and expensive to buy. However, many couples have started to use them, especially if they can print the invitations all by themselves. These are designs that have a lot more information than the traditional invitations, because the have more room. The first fold usually has information about the couple, and the middle fold usually has information about the wedding itself.



Religious

For very religious weddings, designs like crosses and religious symbols are becoming very important to use on wedding invitations. You can find many different design elements that include religious items or symbols, and if this is something that is very important to you and your spouse-to-be, it is important to use a wedding invitation that matches your needs.

Cultural

Many people are putting cultural ideas or decorations onto their wedding invitations because they want to celebrate the mixture of two different cultures in their wedding. These can include using Celtic knots as decoration, or even using traditional colors and designs of the Native Americans. Either way, using cultural designs on wedding invitations is becoming quite popular.

Theme Oriented

A big idea when it comes to wedding invitations is to incorporate the theme into the actual invitation itself. This can mean fall leaves on an invitation, or invitations in the shape of snowflakes for a winter wedding. It can also mean a beach scene on the wedding invitation to indicate that the wedding takes place on the beach.

Transparent

A newer addition to wedding invitations are invitations that have transparent sheets added to them. A wedding invite might have a photograph underneath a semi-transparent sheet of film over the top of it. This adds depth to the wedding invitation and makes it much more fancy and interesting to look at. It can be an idea for a formal or informal wedding.

Illustrated

Another idea that is hitting the market when it comes to wedding invitations is the illustrated invitations. These have either a picture of the couple on the invitation, or a drawing of them or something else on the invite. Because illustrations were not normally used for wedding invitations, the illustrations on these types of invitations can be very interesting and can make for a completely different theme when it comes to wedding invites in general.

Non-Conventional

There are several different non-conventional wedding invitations that are out there on the market today, and couples who seek to be completely different usually do these. Often, they are used for destination weddings, as they often incorporate the overall theme. They can be airline tickets that fit into a pocket, messages in a bottle, or even cloth and paper leaves with the wedding information written on them. Non-conventional wedding invitations are usually done by hand or they are purchased one at a time, so they can be quite expensive.

According to the Bridal Association of America, the average cost of a wedding runs most couples a whopping $30,375 (1)!

Yes, now may be the time for many of us to cut a few corners by purchasing affordable wedding favors, food, and decorations, but this doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice beauty and elegance when planning your own wedding. In order to save a few bucks and even reduce overall spending, many brides-to-be are postponing their long-awaited wedding days for more prosperous times. Instead of waiting, however, you could simply scale back your wedding. Fortunately, there are many ways to make your wedding just as special if you hunt around for deals on tasteful yet affordable wedding favors, refreshments, and flowers – in fact, taking advantage of bargains and discounts while planning your own wedding day and doing many things yourself could be the very highlight of your special day.

Simple, Affordable Wedding Favors are Key: For the bride planning her own wedding with little time as it is, envisioning and making 150 affordable wedding favors sounds a little ridiculous (read time consuming), and while many sites recommend you make these yourself, the cost of construction and materials would probably be higher than just biting the bullet and buying pre-made (though affordable) wedding favors. A lot of times you can find favors for well under $1.00 each. A recent check on quality, affordable wedding favors showed charming silver mint tins for $0.52, bride and groom swizzle sticks for $0.75, and place card holders for $0.94.

In addition to purchasing affordable wedding favors, remember always to buy enough the first time around. If in doubt, buy slightly over your estimated head count. And try to order with plenty of time to spare to avoid exorbitant shipping costs, meaning you should start planning your own wedding far in advance to ensure this as shipping on a rush order alone can add well over $50.00 extra. Above all, take full advantage of volume pricing on your order of affordable wedding favors, which helps you avoid paying the lowest (and most expensive) tier price.

The Lovely but Reduced-Priced Dress Route: Finding the perfect wedding dress is considered an epic quest by many brides who are planning their own wedding, but still want to look their loveliest on that special day. Whether the bride chooses hundreds of flounces and tulle or a simple A-line design, the whole ensemble – dress, veil, undergarments, and shoes – can add up rather quickly. To save money while planning your own wedding, you have a few options, most of which present themselves online. Search for dresses on auction sites, such as eBay, or classified ad sites, such as Craigslist, to find previously worn wedding gowns at cheap, bargain basement prices. You can often find name brand or even designer dresses in great condition, along with all the accessories. If you want to take your search offline, contact thrift stores and consignment shops in your town to see what their inventories are like before hitting the pavement.

If you’d rather have something more personalized, you can have your dress made, although this will be a little more expensive. Occasionally, art and design students offer their services for a cheaper dressmaking fee than established places and can create a dress for you at well below market value. You can also have a trusted friend who has time and sewing prowess make your dream dress from scratch.

You can get a visual of your desired dream dress using this helpful online tool while planning your own wedding – the Wedding Dress Creator (http://www.weddingdresscreator.com), which allows you to select from a variety of options, such as dress length, shape, and color.

The Date Matters More than You Think: Oftentimes, the date you choose can be significantly more expensive than another. High-priced seasons, such as the spring and summer, drive up your budget noticeably – caterers charge more for a filet of fish, and florists for miles around only seem to have the most expensive lilies. During the crisper, colder fall and winter months, when most couples are reluctant to schedule or even attempt planning their own wedding, prices come down noticeably. Photographers lower their prices, and holiday decorations (especially ideal for a Christmas or Easter-themed wedding) are already up and in place, meaning you get away with not purchasing pricey flower arrangements, fragrant wreaths, garland, and candles. The venue of your choosing, most likely a church or some other community place, will have all these decorations available to you free of charge (save, of course, for the cost of renting the space). All you need are the discount dress, a budget meal, affordable wedding favors, the groom, and presto, instant wedding!

If you’re dead-set on a spring or summer fete when planning your own wedding, have it outside in a friend’s or family member’s backyard. Or, choose a quiet park and set up a garden arbor and trellises adorned with flowers to complete the look. To get your flowers at a reduced cost, check with your local florist, who might be able to give you a discount on leftover bouquets or arrangements.

You can also purchase from a flower wholesaler to get flowers at deep discounts; however, keep in mind that you will be responsible for creating, arranging, watering, and transporting the bouquets for the wedding day. Above all, ensure that your chosen flowers are in season.

Food and Refreshments that Don’t Break the Bank: Feeding 75, 100, or even 250 guests can get pretty expensive, even if you scaled back with an inexpensive wedding dress and affordable wedding favors. Even estimating $10 at the very least for each dinner can send your budget skyrocketing. And you obviously do not want to forego delicious food to help cut costs. Fortunately, you have a few options when planning your own wedding: the modern bride has realized that feeding her guests an elaborate, three-course dinner is not necessary and certainly not required. After all, guests are there to celebrate the happy couple’s special day and should not be coming for ‘hand-outs.’ So, why not consider serving satisfying, but light hors d’oeuvres? From fruit and cookies to mini tea sandwiches and crudités, you can keep your guests’ stomachs full on just a few dollars. By making a number of refreshments in large quantities, you can drive down the price. A few brides have even been known to serve fondue – of either the chocolate or cheese kind – both of which can be accompanied by a tasty selection of ‘dippable’ foodstuffs.

Instead of spending thousands of dollars on catering, you can also re-introduce a concept that used to be popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when planning your own wedding: a pot-luck reception. Sure, it may sound a little folksy, but it’s what the brides of yesteryear used to do to avoid spending a lot of money when wallets were essentially empty. Etiquette dictates, however, that the couple consider these offerings of food comparable to a wedding gift or at least a significant part of it. Even if you choose this option, decorating the tables is still a necessity – set the mood with freshly ironed tablecloths, polished candelabras, and those affordable wedding favors you purchased earlier.

And finally, we come to the cake. Remember that research conducted by the Bridal Association of America? The survey found that the cake alone cost $543. You could feasibly cut that number in half or even by two-thirds if you make the cake yourself. Have your mother, sisters, female relatives, or bridesmaids help you with this task; purchase a book on the topic or research tips on the Internet. If this sounds like it could be a huge disaster and take time away from planning your own wedding, try something easier instead: wedding cake cupcakes. Simple, easier to decorate, and just the right portion, cupcakes bake fast and are a break away from the usual.

trong>From Discount Decorations to Affordable Wedding Favors and Beyond

Cutting corners when planning your own wedding doesn’t mean your big day has to look cheap. Far from it! Focusing on little details, like simple yet affordable wedding favors, pretty, discount decorations, and delicious but homemade food, incorporates your own personal spin and infuses your wedding with character. Think planning your own wedding and showing your guests a great time on a limited budget is still impossible? Just remember that they’re there, first and foremost, to celebrate the love and commitment of the happy couple.

Sources

1. http://www.bridalassociationofamerica.com/Wedding_Statistics/

Wedding insurance is as essential to your wedding planning as your wedding dress.  Consider how much you spent on your car, was it less than the sum you are about to invest in your wedding?  Would you even consider not having adequate car insurance?  No?  Then why wouldn’t you insure your wedding – when the average cost these days can fall between two and three times the cost of an average family saloon car?

A wedding insurance policy is comparatively cheap for insurance which covers a wide range of different parts of your wedding day.  Cover can be arranged that gives you reassurance about the largest disasters (wedding cancellation) through to some parts that may give minor disruption but not devastating consequences (wedding cars not arriving, for example).

Before deciding on the items that you need insurance cover for, and the value of cover that you will need, it will be worth investigating a couple of other sources of cover that may be available to you.  If you have sufficient limits on your household insurance policy, you may find that items such as the wedding gifts, wedding rings and wedding dress/attire are covered whilst in your home.  A call to the insurance broker should be able to confirm this and/or give you a quote for the extension of cover required to the household insurance.

Items purchased or booked for your wedding and paid by credit card will often carry a level of insurance cover from the credit card provider.  In these cases, a wedding insurance policy may be duplicating cover that you already have.  For example, if the wedding car supplier went out of business before your wedding day, your credit card supplier would most likely cover the refund of any deposit or payment made by the card.

When you have considered each of the alternative insurance options available to you, if you decide that a more comprehensive wedding insurance policy better serves your needs, start shopping for it as early as possible.  Most wedding insurances offer cover on a fixed scale of fees, providing cover until 24 hours after your wedding date.  The sooner you arrange insurance cover the more reassured you can be about issuing deposit payments to the wedding suppliers, etc., so make wedding insurance one of the priorities when you’re planning the wedding suppliers list.

When assessing the level of cover you may need, take into account the various items that come together to make your wedding day:

Wedding Cars / Transport Cover

If the wedding transport fails to show or they go out of business before your wedding day, the wedding insurance will cover a refund of your costs.

Wedding Rings Cover

The age-old ‘joke’ of the best man losing the rings  – it can happen, and it’s not funny!  It’s also possible for theft or loss of the wedding rings to happen any time up to your wedding service.  Check that the amount specified in the wedding insurance policy is adequate to cover the total value of both the bride and groom’s wedding rings.

Wedding Flowers Cover

If the florist goes out of business before the wedding day or doesn’t arrive with the floral decorations or buttonholes on the wedding morning, although the wedding insurance won’t replace these, it should cover the cost that you have outlaid to the florist supplier.  It means that your last minute replacements won’t be an additional cost to the wedding day.

Wedding Dress / Attire Cover

Accidental damage to the wedding dress ranks amongst the highest of claims made against wedding insurance.  Imagine the loss and devastation that you would feel if a burst water pipe or fire or other unexpected event was to cause loss or damage to your beautiful wedding gown.  Most wedding insurance policies will cover the wedding dress and the outfits of the main bridal party, but where suits, etc. are to be hired, check who’s responsibility it is for insurance, the supplier or the hirer (most will be the responsibility of the hirer, but some suppliers will offer their own additional insurance cover).

Wedding Caterer Cover

If the wedding caterer goes out of business or – even worse – fails to show up at the wedding reception venue on the date, adequate wedding insurance will cover a refund of the large sum that you have paid to them, leaving you to be able to make emergency alternative arrangements without suffering the additional inconvenience of extra costs to your wedding budget.

Wedding Reception Venue Cover

If a last minute disaster prevented you from using the wedding reception venue that you had booked, fire or flood for example, wedding insurance would cover the last minute alternative that you had been forced to arrange.  If your chosen reception venue were to close or go out of business the wedding insurance policy would reimburse the payments you had make, allowing you to choose a different reception venue location without suffering a financial loss.

Wedding Cake Cover

The extravagant creation of your masterpiece wedding cake will be finished and then transported to the wedding reception venue.  In almost every case this is done by experienced people and is successful, but disasters can happen!  If your wedding cake isn’t delivered, or anything causes it to be damaged, your wedding insurance policy will cover the cost.

Wedding Photographer and Photography Insurance Cover

A lot of things can happen surrounding your wedding plans and wedding day that are totally beyond the couple’s control; the photographer not turning up, the photographs not being able to be processed because of technical problems, etc.  Adequate protection from wedding insurance will help alleviate the cost should these difficulties occur.  If your wedding pictures don’t turn out, then you have the opportunity to have the bridal party and many of the guests reassembled and have them re-taken, thanks to your wisdom of having your wedding day adequately insured against such mishaps.

 

Wedding Present Insurance

Wedding day insurance will reimburse the cost/value up to a specified sum for damage to, or theft of, wedding presents.  One of the higher number of claims relating to wedding insurance policies is the collapse of tables holding the gifts at wedding receptions, or accidental damage of more delicate presents such as glass or crystal items.

Wedding Guest Liability Cover

Most wedding insurance policies give a level of liability insurance if someone is injured at your wedding.  The level of cover often has an option to increase the amount should you need to do so.  Some of your suppliers (marriage location, reception venue, etc.) will carry their own liability insurance, so it may be prudent to check this out before extending the level of inclusive cover.

Wedding Cancellation Cover

If the bride or groom change their mind or run for the hills, this won’t be covered by wedding insurance!  However, if an event beyond your control, such as the death of a close family member or illness in the family (or of the bride or groom), that causes your wedding to be cancelled or postponed, then the insurance will cover a refund of your expenditure up to a stated amount.  If extreme weather conditions cause your wedding to be cancelled due to the guests being unable to attend, or the venue being adversely affected, then the wedding insurance will apply.  However, if you are unfortunate enough to have bad weather on the wedding day it is unlikely that the insurance would cover such circumstances (you may wish to try a bookmaker!). 

Marquee Cover 

Most wedding insurers offer marquee cover as an optional extra.  Not all weddings will need this and those using a marquee should check with the h
ire company if an additional level of insurance cover is needed before adding it to the policy.

The months before your wedding day can be quite stressful, while you’re trying to get everything organised and perfectly timed.  No one wants to think of things going wrong at your wedding, but wedding insurance will give you the peace of mind that your deposits and outlay to the wedding suppliers are insured and will be refunded in the event that anything did go amiss in the period leading to your wedding date or on the day itself.  Wedding insurance will take away some of the worries that you may have and is a good investment to make.