If you’ve never hosted a bridal shower before or want some fresh ideas, today’s blog post is worth a read. Bridal showers generally happen a few weeks before the wedding and are a fun part of the wedding process. Not only will the bride get showered with gifts but female guests for the wedding from both the bride and groom’s side get a chance to mingle and get to know one another. It can be a great pre- wedding icebreaker.
How are bridal showers generally structured?
- Welcome
- game playing
- food
- gift opening
- cake and coffee/ tea
Any shower, be it bridal or baby, should have great food to serve the guests. You can have it catered or prepare it yourself and you can also make it a bit of a pot luck affair where close friends of the bride chip in to help. Traditionally, the maid / matron of honour and the brides maids help. The mothers (of the bride and groom) may also lend a hand.
Here are some tips for a great bridal shower :
- If you’re having it at the bride’s house, consider having people who bring food, bring it in/on a brand new serving platter and make that part of their gift to the bride. If that’s the case, be sure it’s recorded for appropriate thank you notes.
- Online party favor shops can help you with decor and party favors and you can personalize and theme the shower to the bride and groom’s colors, etc.
- Consider buying the bride a buffet server as a gift to leave for her. This helps keep hot food hot
- You can often rent large coffee carafes from your local grocery store
- Don’t forget to buy some sponges and carpet cleaning solution to keep on hand in case of spills
- There are some great bridal shower games to play and some even involve the shower food
- Be sure there is enough food variety in case of dietary restrictions such as allergies, Celiac disease, for vegetarians, etc.
What about the men?
This is absolutely optional but many family weddings ensure there is something organized for the men to do while women are at the bridal shower. Since all the ladies in the two families will be together for an afternoon, if possible, set up a location for the men to congregate. They can have refreshments and hang out at someone’s home or something can be set up at a restaurant or sports bar where many of the men can socialize during the shower. Many people also opt for jack and jill showers today where the bride and groom are showered with gifts together.
Tags: bridal shower food, bridal shower games, bridal shower planning, bridal shower tips, Bridal Showers, jack and jill showers
Planning your wedding can be lengthy and time consuming and there are a lot of choices to make. Companies in the wedding business know that and as a result, a lot of them want you to see that their products are wonderful. For that, many will send you samples for free.
You can get free wedding invitation samples, free party favor samples, free passes to wedding shows, free meals at restaurants and banquet halls who want you to sample their fare and choose them as your venue and more.
How do you get free wedding stuff?
The fastest way to get free wedding related samples is to buy bridal magazines and complete the surveys in them. This will get you on a lot of mailing lists for the duration of your planning period. You’ll find that surveys will generally ask for your wedding date so you’ll get a myriad of offers and invites from the time you subscribe / submit to the big day. If you attend wedding shows, you’ll also want to complete surveys there to get entered in draws for wedding freebies and for samples as well.
If you’re prepared to get inundated with mail and offers, you’ll likely get a lot of free wedding stuff to play with and to use to help you choose the perfect everything!
We spent a fortune on our wedding dresses,don’t we? Seems a shame to spend all that money and find a dress you adore and then just get to wear it once. Whether you’re still searching for the perfect wedding gown or have already been married, here’s something you can do with your expensive designer wedding dress later on.
Some women say they’ll save the dress for their daughter or have the wedding gown made into a christening gown for their babies but regardless of what you do, how about a girl’s night where you’re all dressed in your wedding garb? I read an article that suggested this years ago and have always thought it was a fabulous idea!
Bride Party Night!
Most women love the feeling of looking like a princess the day they get married. You can get that feeling back! Organise a girl’s hen night or girl’s weekend and arrange for everyone to wear their wedding gowns. Dance the night away! Even consider renting a limo and getting everyone ready to go out. Can you imagine the heads you’d all turn?
Instead of keeping the gown stashed in your closet, arrange the girl’s night with your closest married girlfriends. If any of you never wore a wedding gown, consider going to a charity shop and buying an old one. You’ll still have a blast!
Tags: girl's weekend, uses for wedding gowns, wedding dress party, wedding dresses, wedding gowns
One of the latest crazes in wedding favors is to do a candy buffet with take home bags as wedding favors. This is a hot trend that’s increasing in popularity but is still so new that most wedding attendees are pleasantly surprised when they attend a wedding with a candy buffet.
How candy buffets work
There are no hard and fast candy buffet etiquette rules but here are some tips for you:
- Themed candy works great. Colour, season, wedding themes all work for types of candy! If you can’t find something that fits, don’t fret. Just have fun with it!
- Have the candy table unveiled instead of leaving it open all night. It’ll be a nice touch!
- Send guests a table at a time to the buffet. If you’re worried about there being enough for everyone, ask a bride’s maid and usher to do the serving for the guests
Candy Bar Buffet Ideas
- A candy topiary looks beautiful. Do candy mountains, candy tiers, lollipop boquets and consider a pretty chocolate fountain with strawberries as well
- Personalized favor bags work great for handing out the candies and allowing guests to take them home. Little fabric sachets work great but so do printed bags or little boxes with the bride & groom’s names and the wedding date
- Look online for ideas. You’ll find great layout options. You can go with simple buckets and scoops or a more elaborate setup if you wish.
- Candy can be personalized too! Chocolate lollipops or chocolate roses with the bride and groom’s name make a great touch!
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Tags: candy bar buffet, candy buffet, candy buffet ideas, wedding buffet, wedding candy, wedding candy bar, wedding favors, wedding favours
Pre-wedding weight loss might be on your mind. After all, stress-eating and running around ragged before the wedding day may have taken a toll. Here are some quick and simple fad diets that can help you whether you need to lose five pounds, ten pounds or more.
Top Quick Diet Picks:
Special K
Target: 5lbs
Difficulty level: moderate
Special K Diet: Replace 2 meals with bowls of cereal a day for 2 weeks and lose five pounds. Eat your regular dinner and plenty of healthy low cal snacks.
Sacred Heart Diet
Target: 10lbs
Difficulty level: moderate
5-10 lbs: Sacred Heart Soup Diet. Eat lots of soup, fruit and veggies and follow a special diet plan for a week and lose up to ten pounds.
Calorie Shifting / Fat Loss 4 Idiots
Target: 10-15 pounds
Difficulty level: Fairly Easy
Go with Fat Loss 4 Idiots. This plan can help you shed pounds fast with an online generated diet plan that is selling like hotcakes!
Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet
Target: 20 lbs
Difficulty Level: Hard (but effective)
15+ pounds: Willing to fast for a week? Try the Master Cleanse.
If you’ve got a few weeks and some resolve, you can trim down before your wedding day!
Tags: fit into your wedding gown, wedding diet, wedding weight loss
When you plan your wedding reception, dancing is a big part of the fun. Having great music is important but having music that means something to you as a couple is what will customise your wedding and give you and your guests really fond memoires. When talking to your DJ, you’ll have to give some information so here are some special songs to plan for:
Your First Dance
This is the first dance as husband and wife and all eyes are on you. Do you have a ’song’? If not, time to shop around for one. You want your first dance to be really memorable.
Dance With The Wedding Party
It’s traditional for every wedding party to dance together. Best man gets paired up with matron of honour and ushers are paired up with bridesmaids. Even the little ring bearer should dance with your flower girl. (Awe!) Great songs for this dance include songs that speak friendship as these people are probably your best friends. Together Forever by the Nylons, You’ve got a Friend by James Taylor, etc are great songs for this dance.
Dance for EVERYONE
One Love by Bob Marley, Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung, We Are Family, Celebration and other classic songs can set the tone for the evening! A great song will get everyone up to dance!
Don’t forget these dances:
- Father Daughter Dance
- Mother Son Dance
- Parents Dance
- Last Dance of The Night
There are a lot of online suggestion lists of various songs for these dances that might mean something to you and your family. Your DJ will probably play music for classic dances in there such as line dances, YMCA, The Macarena and other wedding classics but don’t be afraid to ask for specific music to be played as well.
Digital Wedding Resources:
Tags: father/daughter dance, first dance, mother/son dance, parents dance, wedding dances, wedding dj, Wedding Music, wedding party dance, wedding planning
Planning your wedding is the ultimate test in patience for many brides. It’ll test your friendships, your family bond, your future marriage and your own sanity. Between the finances and the seating plans and the choices and everyone’s whining you might deserve to be crowned as queen of the saints by the end.
Here are a few tips to keep you sane during the process:
- It’s YOUR day. Despite trying to please everyone, you want to look back and remember the day fondly instead of with disdain. Ultimately every single choice is yours and your future husband’s.
- It’s only ONE day. Don’t let it ruin your relationship and breed bitterness between you and your future spouse. Compromise.
- You can’t please everyone all the time so choose to please yourself.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff. In the bigger scheme of things, all that is TRULY important is the vows you and your man share. At the moment you gaze into his eyes and get ready to say “I do” nothing else will matter.
- Marry for forever. Don’t take the plunge unless you’re convinced this man is someone you want to grow old with; flaws and all.
Styles come and go and you want your wedding day hairstyle to be beautiful and timeless too. No one wants to look back in twenty years and think, “Gawd..that was awful!” when they look at their wedding snapshots.
Tips for Perfect Wedding Hair
- Go for classic and timeless instead of trendy
- Don’t have a haircut within a month of the wedding unless it’s a trim only to avoid a bad hairdo
- Go for a trial run (or two) with a new hairdresser to see what the hairdo will look like. Don’t leave it till the day of the wedding!
- Take a friend who will tell you the truth when you have your trial run for an updo.
For hair ideas, you can find countless magazines and use the internet as well. There are also some great online programs that allow you to import a snapshot of yourself and try on different virtual hairdos to help you choose. Follow the tips in this post and you have a much better chance of having the glorious mane you want for your big day!
Tags: wedding hair
Is there such as thing as wedding cash etiquette? Knowing how much cash to give at a wedding is a good question and depends upon many factors including: how well you know the couple and how much they have spent on the wedding.
If you are aware of the price of the dinner plate, it is often customary to provide enough funds to cover that. However, that’s not necessary. When a couple invites you to their wedding hopefully they’re not counting on your covering the cost of your food. Feel free to give as much as you are comfortable with.
We researched several posts online and a very common gift per couple (if in cash) is about $100.00 for a wedding gift.
Weddings can be expensive, especially if you’ve already had to attend a wedding shower and a Jack and Jill or Buck and Doe party. Do what you can and be as generous as your budget allows.
How much do you generally give as a wedding gift?
Tags: cash wedding gifts, wedding cash, wedding gifts, wedding money
Instead of having separate bachelorette and stag parties, think about having a Jack and Jill or Buck and Doe party where everyone comes together to have a casual party with the bride and groom. The benefits of this type of party are multiple:
Benefits of Couples Bachelor Parties
- There’s no need for separate parties which often cause friction in the relationship where things like strippers are involved
- There’s money raised to help with the wedding expenses or for the honeymoon
- It’s a great ice breaker for the wedding.
In terms of the final reason, the icebreaker…this is the best reason of all really. When you have everyone attending a wedding come to a party in casual clothes with lots of dancing and drinks, everyone gets to know one another. That way, you are all friends by the time the wedding rolls around and it can make for a much more fun event.
From a cash perspective, here’s how they are typically structured. This is flexible but these are guidelines for you:
-sell tickets to the event. Have everyone in the wedding party try to sell tickets as well. Make the door fee a little higher than the advanced ticket fee.
-have food available as a buffet but have that included in the ticket price
-Sell a cash bar. Get a liquor license and pocket the profits. (Don’t forget to set up designated drivers and awaiting taxicabs for the end of the night)
-Raffle items off for a fee. You can buy rolls of tickets at party supply stores.
The Jack and Jill (or Stag and Doe) can be a lot of fun for you and your wedding guests as well as help everyone get to know one another better before the big day, not to mention helping you with some expenses. Many couples use the fund as their honeymoon money.
Update:
Are wedding fundraisers tacky?
I’ve seen some people link here stating that they feel that Jack & Jill parties that charge fees are ‘tacky’ because people expect other people to pay for their wedding. In a lot of communities, having this type of party is the norm. It used to be considered ‘tacky’ to send a cash wedding gift (and in some cultures, still is) but cash wedding gifts seem to now be the norm.
What are your thoughts? Are fundraisers for a wedding acceptable?
Tags: are wedding fundraisers tacky?, bachelor's party, bachelorette party, buck and doe, jack and jill party, stag and doe, wedding fund raising, wedding fundraiser, wedding party
