Before you choose a gown or decide on a menu, there’s one task that you must begin as
soon as possible. A well-thought out guest list can save time and money as you plan your
wedding.

Many prenuptial arrangements can’t be made and checks can’t be written until you’ve
prepared a meticulous guest list. Invitations, postage and deposits for ceremony and
reception sites, caterer, baker and rental of tables, chairs, linens and place settings all
hinge on the length of your guest list.

Get started on your guest list as soon as the diamond goes on your finger, and refer to it
often as the weeks progress.

Start with a mini file box full of index cards or create a spreadsheet. Either way, you’ll be
set to stay organized as you receive RSVPs and gifts. Keeping track of the thank you
notes you’ve sent will be a breeze if you make notes as you go, plus your efforts will
provide a head start on future Christmas card and baby announcement lists.

Keep track of the guests’ names, address, phone number, email address, and number of
guests for that address. As they RSVP, everything you need to know will be at your
fingertips.

Ready to begin your guest list? It’s easy as A-B-C! An A-B-C list, that is.

The A list is family, the B list is long-term friends of five years or more, and the C list is
people you’d like to invite if your budget allows.

As you get along in the planning and it looks like you can only afford 75, cut it at the B
list and leave it at that. Move on. Or, as you receive regrets from people on your A and B
lists, begin sending invitations to those at the top of your C list. If you’ve planned ahead
and mailed your A and B invitations early enough, your C list invitations will arrive in
mailboxes with time to spare – and your C list people won’t even realize they were on the
C list at all.

How many guests do you anticipate from your side of the family vs. your fiancé and his
family? Start out on your road toward marital bliss by deciding early on how you’ll
divide the invitations. Should your family send out half and his family the other half? Or
maybe you’ll divide the stack of invitations into fourths, keeping a portion for yourself
and giving the rest to your fiancé, your parents, and his parents.

How many guests should you expect? Each invitation usually represents two people.
However, that doesn’t mean 200 invitations will yield a crowd of 400. Most brides end
up with fewer guests than originally expected. There will always be a few guests who
send an RSVP but don’t attend for whatever reason.

Will children be welcome at your wedding, or had you hoped for an adults-only affair?
The best time to make this decision is while honing your guest list – not when your
distant cousin with screaming triplets shows up at the ceremony.

The best way to let guests know whether kids are invited is by writing on the invitation’s
inner envelope only the names of those who are invited. Instead of “John, Mary and
family,” write “John and Mary.” Whatever you do, don’t state, “No children, please” on
the invitation or the envelope.
The Foundation of Planning Your Wedding

To make sure certain guests are in attendance, send save-the-date cards. They’ve gained
popularity in recent years, and are an especially thoughtful way to provide out-of-town
guests plenty of time to schedule time off work and make travel arrangements.

Feeling pressured to invite your entire company? Invite immediate co-workers and those
you interact with each day. Others will understand. If necessary, pass the word that the
hall only holds so many people.

Bottom line, invite those who will be honored to attend and will consider it a compliment
to be part of your day.

Wedding planning can be challenging and very stressful if you don’t have the right tools.   Wedding Planning Resources can be hard to find unless you know where to look!       http://www.brides413.info Has what you need!

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Make your own invitations. Office supply stores have wedding invitation paper that will shoot
through your computer’s printer and look fabulous for a fraction of the cost of engraved invites.
Your favorite scrapbook store’s paper selection

Buy simple dinner napkins in bulk at a wholesale club or party store. No one will care if the
napkins aren’t stamped with your names, the date and swirly hearts.

Pass on the trend of setting disposable cameras on each table at the reception. The cameras aren’t
cheap and the development costs multiply quickly. A better bet is to ask your photographer to get
candid shots of each table.

Instead of buying new ones and having them engraved, borrow toasting glasses and knives for
your cake cutting ceremony from you parents or another relative. Plus it will add a touch of
sentimentality to the day knowing you’re using the same set as Mom and Dad.

If a poufy wedding dress just isn’t your style, browse through the selection of bridesmaid gowns.
Find a flattering style, order it in white or ivory, and you’ve just slashed several hundred dollars
from the bill.

Get more duty out of your flowers. Order floral arrangements for the tables at the rehearsal
dinner, and then place them on the tables at your reception site. After the ceremony, set the
bridesmaids’ flowers along the front of the head table at the reception.

Instead of having a limo at your beck and call, skip it altogether. Or order the limo for the
minimum time allowed, which is usually two hours. With a little planning, you’ll have the limo
and driver long enough to deliver the bride to the church, and get great photos as you leave the
church and arrive at the reception.

Take things down a notch. Choose smaller and unique bouquets rather than elaborate ones.
Bridesmaids might carry a few striking stems rather than a bouquet. The impact can be stunning.

One way to stay within your budget is to shut the bar down when dinner starts. Or eliminate the
bar and have just enough champagne for everyone to toast when it’s time to cut the cake.

Many couples are choosing to forego alcohol altogether, for religious reasons, to keep costs
down, or because they prefer to avoid any liability issues of guests drinking too much at the
reception.

Another alternative, albeit a controversial one, is to open a cash bar, although many feel strongly
about this option. Why would you invite friends and loved ones to an elegant wedding reception
and then ask your guests to pay for their own drinks? You’re throwing a party. Either throw it or
don’t.

A gorgeous wedding cake can make a great focal point. But large cakes are expensive, and you
may not have enough guests to eat it all. Why not rent an artificial cake? Some bakeries offer
elaborate faux cakes. Just imagine the feast for the eyes created by a four-and-a-half-foot tall
cake. Your bakery can prepare enough layers of real cake to feed the crowd at the reception so
that the couple can have the traditional cake-cutting ceremony after dinner. None of the guests
will realize part of the cake wasn’t real.

With a little creativity and shopping in the right places, you’ll be pleased with the results and stay
within your budget.

For more Cost Cutting Ideas, Be Sure to Visit The Bible of the Bride!

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In the wedding ceremony –
“Marriage is an Athenic weaving together of families, of two souls with their individual fates and destinies, of time and eternity–everyday life married to the timeless mysteries of the soul.” – Thomas Moore

“Relationships–of all kinds–are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold onto some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remain intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost.” – Kaleel Jamison

A toast to your new partner at the wedding reception –

“Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.” – Roy Croft

“If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you’ve made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand.” – Anonymous

“Your eyes are the sweetest stars I’ve ever seen.” – Moulin Rouge

In the wedding invitation or wedding program –

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle

“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
“You don’t marry someone you can live with – you marry the person who you cannot live without.” – Anonymous
“Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart.” – Anonymous

Movie love quotes to use whenever the time is right –
“I love that you get cold when it is 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle in your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” – Billy Crystal from When Harry Met Sally

“I would rather have one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.” – City of Angels

“Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place, suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace, suddenly my life doesn’t seem such a waste, it all revolves around you.” – Moulin Rouge

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For a wedding with three bridesmaids, three groomsmen, and a buffet for about 100
guests, wedding coordinators estimate that you’ll spend $6,000 to $10,000.

But the average wedding has a few more guests than that. Estimate a formal affair with
200 guests and heavy hors d’oeuvres costing as much as $12,000 to $15,000.

Why the big range between dollar signs? There are so many choices, and they run the
budget gamut. Not only are there many types of flowers to choose from, but also the size
and style of the bouquets, how labor-intensive they are, and whether you choose out-of-
season flowers that must be special ordered or seasonal blooms that are plentiful and less
costly.

It’s not easy to pin down a price on a cake either. How many people will it serve? How
elaborate? Buttercream frosting or rolled fondant? Would you like a fruit filling? All of
these choices can lead to bigger checks being written.

With our seemingly endless fascination with celebrity lifestyles, the bar has been raised
and people’s expectations have become a lot higher.

A nice wedding can be put together for far less than the celebrities spend. If you want to,
you can get married for $15,000, for $1,000, or even for less. It depends on what your
expectations are and what kind of reception you want.

The reception, often the biggest expense, can be controlled by the time of day you
choose. Which would you prefer — a morning wedding with a brunch reception or an
afternoon wedding with light finger foods? For an evening wedding, will you choose
heavy hors d’oeuvres, a buffet or a sit-down dinner?

One of the more popular options is to choose heavy hors d’oeuvres, but sometimes that
can be more expensive than a served meal. The reason? You’re paying for more items and
paying by the piece.

If you want to cut expenses on your food, the time of day you plan your reception is a big
factor. The cheapest time of day is the middle of the afternoon. That’s not a time people
are usually hungry, so they’ll eat less, and you can get away with serving less food.

Looking for other ways to cut costs?

Be creative and put your personality into it. Be creative in your thinking and pick one area
of your wedding to really, really shine.

Keep in mind it’s possible to create a beautiful occasion no matter what you can afford.
It’s smart to avoid going into debt for your wedding. You should not still be paying on
your wedding when you start paying the hospital bills for having your first child.

Whether you spend $1,500 or $30,000, you’ll still be just as married.

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So you’ve decided to have a destination wedding, now you need to pick a location. By location I mean where exactly on your destination are you are going to have the big day.  St. Thomas has so many beutiful and amazing locations to have a wedding. We wanted a location that reflected our lives and what living here was all about. Naturally for us it was a beach wedding. We wanted to share our Flip flop lifestyle with our friends and family but at the same time we wanted the beauty and splender of a more traditional wedding.

Having a beach wedding may seem like a lay up but there is so many things to take into consideration. We wanted a quiet beach that would be facing towards the west so we would have the added effect of the sunset since we where planning to get marreid later in the day.

The beach we chose was Bolongo Bay. It is on the south side of the island about half way between town and the other side of the island. Bolongo Bay is also home to Bolongo Bay Beach Resort. I’m not going to get into the resort part in this post but will cover it later.

We decided to do a barefoot on the beach wedding.  We would get married under a small arch with everyone facing the water from the beach. The idea of having the gentle lapping of the waves as a back drop to the ceremony was exactly what we where looking for.

Now Having an outdoor ceremony has it’s problems. Weather being the number 1 concern. What if it rained?? What about Hurricanes??  I mean we where getting married in the middle of Hurricane season. We knew the risks, looked at past weather reports during the beginning of September and crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

Don’t forget that this is the Caribbean and it can get hot during the day and I don’t need to tell you what that could do to makeup and sweat stain dresses and shirts. A photographic nightmare!

Other considerations included, uninvited guests, basically roaming herds of tourist wedding crashers! LOL Seriously though, we didn’t really want tons of onlookers and beach goers gawking at us. We had enough anxiety about being up there in front of our friends and family never mind complete strangers! Fortunatly September is the slow season in St. Thomas so we figured there wouldn’t be much to worry about.

Having our wedding later in the day cut down on the heat issue and most beach goers have headed out by 4:00Pm. We where confident that the weather would hold and the day would be perfect.

The weather was perfect, the beach was empty and the air conditioned rooms before we went out helped minimize any sweat problems.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the resort at Bolongo Bay and the benefits to having the ceremony and reception in the same place that everyone is staying! Can you say Huge Discounts!!!

Till Tomorrow then..

Tiffany

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The dude and I had been living in Sin in St. Thomas for about 3 years, when I decided to make an honest man out of him. Our families are scattered all up and down the east coast of the US and trying to find a central location that would be easy for everyone to make it was clearly impossible.  We decided why not invite everyone down for a week and just get hitched here!

In doing so we knew that the number of people who actually be able to make would be much less than if we did it in Florida or Boston. But on the other hand the people closest and dearest to us would definatly make the trip to paradise. The key for us was early planning.

We sent out Wedding announcements to everyone almost 1.5 years in advance. We did a really cute announcement card that we actually bought at OfficeMax! It was very caribbean and simple.  On it we included the date of the wedding, and all the relevant info for the big day. On a seperate sheet of paper, we listed all the airlines that flew here, we gave the name of the Resort that the wedding was going to be held at. We where able to secure a discounted rate for all of our guests because we where renting like 20 rooms and having the wedding and the reception on property. Nice little budget saver there.

We let everyone know that this was not only a trip for a wedding but it was there vacation for 2007! The wedding itself was on a Saturday so we had everyone arrive on Tuesday prior. That way they could relax and hang out, go exploring and enjoy them selves for the first couple of days.  We also scheduled for everyone to leave the following Monday, so they got almost a whole week of Vaca and a Wedding all in one!

In the next couple of days I am going to go through every aspect of a Destination Wedding in the USVi, Specifically St. Thomas, so make sure you check back everyday for the next installment!

I look forward to your comments and questions and will help all of you in any way that I can, well except for offering for you to stay at my place!

Till tomorrow,

Tiffany

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Celebrities often choose unique wedding cakes. Of course their budget is much higher than the average but even if you cannot do exactly what they might choose, you can get some interesting ideas from looking at pictures of celebrity wedding cakes.

Celebrity weddings often include these features in their cakes:

- hundreds or even thousands of sugar paste flowers

- real crystals

- gold flake, either on the topper or on the cake itself

- many tiers

However, you can easily create a unique wedding cake on a small budget. You can incorporate many of these items in another way, for example using candies instead of crystals.

You can also have a themed cake featuring something that is special to you as a couple. This is probably the simplest way to have an unusual wedding cake that everyone will remember.  Here are some ideas:

- Have your cake designed around a sport that you both enjoy.

- Have your cake made to look like your home. This one is especially appropriate for couples who are moving into a new home when they marry.

- Create a design in Photoshop that can be printed onto edible paper and spread over the top of your cake. An example would be a mock newspaper front page featuring words and pictures about the couple.

- Take a simple white wedding cake and place real, fresh pale and dark pink roses in a cascade over the top and down one side.

- Have your cake in the shape of your car, boat, or other special item that you own.

- If you both enjoy gardening, have the traditional bride and groom topper surrounded by a blossoming backyard scene.

- Where did you meet? Recreate the scene in the design of your cake.

- For a mixed race couple or if one of you is dark haired and the other blond, have alternate layers of chocolate cake and sponge with chocolate and cream-colored frosting.

Just about any cake baker will understand your wish to have a cake that is a little different. While they usually have standard recipes for the cake itself depending on your tastes, they will be open to your individual ideas when it comes to the decoration. Usually they have a file of pictures of cakes that they have made and you can consult this as a starting point for discussion.

When you are ordering a wedding cake it is always wise to have the baker make a sketch of what they plan to do, to check that they have correctly understood your wishes. This is especially important with unusual wedding cakes.

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This can be as formal or informal as you like and it is your choice to decide whether you want long or short wedding speeches.

Make sure that you do know what people are going to say if they are giving a speech as there is nothing more embarrassing that to have someone reveal some information that you don’t want made public on your wedding day.

Often people don’t realize that they shouldn’t be mentioned particular events so it is always wise to discuss the contents of any speech before the event.

The people who are giving the speeches also need to understand that there might be people from various different generations at the wedding and what might be acceptable for younger members at the reception might not go down as well with the older generation.

If you are preparing a speech for yourself then take a copy of it to the wedding so you don’t forget anything or forget to thanks people for the work they have done or the support they have given you.

You should write your speech in such a manner as though you are talking to friends as it will be a lot more natural and you will be less likely to make mistakes or forget what you are saying.

Read it aloud to your partner and see what comments might help you to improve.
It is only when you read it aloud that you will realize if it is a suitable speech or not as we often write in a different manner than we speak.

Start preparing your speech early on in the planning as you will probably want to make changes along the way as you get closer to the day.
Having a copy of the speech will also help reduce the chance of nervousness affecting the outcome because you can always refer to the notes and always talk (or read) slowly to give yourself time to breathe and it will also help people to hear what you are saying.    The absolute best resource online today for Wedding Speeches

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This is one of the most important parts of the wedding because it is after the recital of your vows that you will be officially married.

More and more people are becoming very creative with their wedding vows and this adds a personal touch that represents what you and your partner believe your marriage means to the both of you.

It is a chance for you to both express your true thoughts on why you are getting married and what it will mean for you in the future.

Here are the typical wedding vows…
“I [your name] take you [your partners name] for my lawful [wife/husband] to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part”

Many people use these traditional vows as the foundation that they will modify to suit their needs by adding personalized touches where they like.

Some people find the traditional vows a bit too formal and the wording no longer appropriate to get the true meaning of their care for one another across. If that’s the way you feel then changing them is the right solution for you.

These words are more important than all the wedding speeches combined so it is well worth spending as much time as necessary to come up with something that is really special.

Get ideas from books and poetry and songs. Bounce ideas off one another and you will soon know when you have hit the perfect combination that will lead you into your married life.

Just remember to never stop having fun because that’s what it’s all about – getting the most happiness in your life by sharing it with someone you love.

I found one of the best resources for Writting your own Vows.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

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