Wedding Bouquet Alternatives

A bridal bouquet is a feature of the bride’s wedding attire, but today’s brides are finding alternatives to the traditional wedding bouquet. Their options for gorgeous accents make for suitability and uniqueness as they are walking down that aisle. The bouquet alternatives are as lovely as the classic blooms of a cascading bouquet. You will be saving money especially when flowers you want are not in season. The thing that is great with alternatives besides being less expensive is showing off your personality. Some brides choose an alternative for different reasons:

• Cost: Bridal bouquets cost as much as $100 alone.
• Usefulness: The bouquet has limited lifespan making the bride reluctant to spending a large amount.
• Their personal choice: A lot of brides just don’t want delicate flowers and frilly attire.
• Uniqueness: Using an alternative makes a more unique celebration.

There are a variety of different materials for a bride that wants a bouquet but not the real blooms. Floral arrangements can be made by sewing, molding, and folding these materials. Many are fashioned with silk flowers, origami bouquets, carved wood, clay, glass or crystal, suede or leather, cookie and candy bouquets, ribbons, peacock feathers, and even Barbie dolls.

• Whimsical or Religious Bouquet Alternatives:
• Jack-o-lanterns for autumn weddings.
• Jeweled rosaries for the Catholic wedding.
• Bible or prayer book for religious ceremonies.
• Lighted candles for an evening event.
• Painted or lace fan for a spring wedding.
• Beaded bridal purse for uniqueness.
• Bouquet of shells or large conch shell for weddings at the beach.
• Horseshoes carried to bring couples luck.
• Lit lanterns for rustic or barn weddings.
• Delicate parasols carried for the vintage event.
• Porcelain flowers to add class to the celebration.

A lot of brides like classic bouquets with no flowers, using greenery and some unique plants to create beautiful and most stunning bouquets. Some popular plants used are ivy, fern, grains, autumn leaves, pussy willows, and herbs. A woman once carried bunches of herbs, grains, and garlic to ward off bad spirits on their special day. After time, they got replaced by flowers that symbolized eternal love and fertility.

Some brides chose an alternative because a family member, her groom, attendants, or she may be allergic to pollen. Some good choices could be bouquets of peacock feathers, beaded bouquets, fake fur muffs for winter, herb bouquets for summer, Christmas ornaments for a December wedding, umbrellas or parasols for outdoor weddings, vintage buttons with leaves of leather, or a personalized clutch to carry.

Whatever the choice, anything is easily coordinated, adding accents to the decorative theme or the chosen wedding colors. Some brides might not wish to carry a thing, opting for elegant gloves, intricate hairpieces, stunning jewelry, or a brooch worn on the neckline.

How to Delegate Tasks to Reduce Your Work Load

Planning your wedding can be a stressful time even though the process should build intimacy and closeness. Recognizing and managing stress makes the difference between people that are overwhelmed and those that are not. Some stress reactions are stomach aches, racing thoughts, irritability, moodiness, poor concentration, sleeping problems, and headaches. It is very important that you recognize these overload signs for stress and manage them accordingly.

Recognize the source of stress. There are many new roles, expenses, expectations, decisions, and wanting perfection in arrangements that contribute to pre-wedding stress. This stress can affect relationships and happiness. Other stress factors include illness, travel, work, moving, over committing, financial problems, and the loss of a friend or family member. Illnesses and personal losses are out of your control, but you can control wedding perfection and whether to commit to social invitations.

Manage the source of stress

If you have stress overload symptoms, figure out how to reduce your work load. Make sure wedding arrangements reflect true desires of both you and your significant other. If the budget allows plans for a large wedding, then you might consider employing a wedding planner or coordinator to handle the details.

Also you can reduce stress workload by some time taken off work. Saying no to social invitations is sometimes necessary and easily understood. Don’t hesitate on delegating some tasks or chores to your friends, family, or your partner. Try to be selective when supervising tasks personally and don’t take on tasks that are not easily handled. Doing everything yourself causes extra stress, stress causes grouchiness, and you may end up taking frustrations out on people you love. In all events that involve many people, there are bound to be imperfections, in later years they are cherished moments of your big day. Saying no to social invitations is sometimes necessary and easily understood. Stress support for your self.

Marrily has the sharing features built-in, so you can add your significant other, family member (mom or dad), or friends.  You can only let them see certain part of your planning too keep the details to yourself.   This way you can delegate the tasks you wanted them to help you on without revealing too much.

Additional things to do to recover and handle stress are:

• Exercise.
• Get enough sleep.
• Moderate, regular meals.
• Discuss stress with others.
• Avoid excessive sugar, nicotine, caffeine, drugs, and alcohol.
• Include some pleasurable and fun activities.
• Spend time and connect with your partner.
• Don’t make a lot of changes that put extra pressure on you.
• Don’t take on an abundance of tasks.
• Be realistic, things will and can go wrong, keep calm.

Stress happens when waiting to do things at the last minute. Take some time for yourself and just relax, getting your mindset off the wedding, get a massage at a spa, go to a movie, just have special alone times. You could also consider going with your partner to a seminar called Marriage Success Training (MST) These seminars cover increased stress for wedding couples and helps them handle it to deepen intimacy instead of stress.

How to Work with Vendors to help you Reducing Stress

How to work with vendors to help your reducing stress comes through many avenues from the wedding photographers to the mode of transportation. Hiring the right ones can ensure an elegant wedding with your sanity completely still in tact. Stress is unavoidable when there is so much planning to do for your dream to come true on your wedding day. There are many things to remember for your wedding, like decorations, catering, disc jockeys, invitations, bakers, floral arrangements, candles, lighting, transportation, wedding gowns and the photography that will capture the memories of your special day.

Limos or other transportation can be another clear area where working with vendors to help you reducing stress will be necessary. How you will get to the reception from the church upon closing of the ceremony is an aspect that many overlook. Transportation for the bridal party can be as fancy as a limousine to the quaint carriage ride, if the distance isn’t too far. A true fairy tale wedding in the winter can consist of a sleigh ride to the reception for the bride and groom, with the party following.

Begin with making out a wedding day timetable in order to work with vendors to help reducing your stress. Lists will be invaluable during the planning period and setting the time line in which to get them accomplished will lessen your stress. If you do not already have a wedding budget set, you should sit down with those that will be handling the financial support of your wedding. Parents and relatives or bride and groom will have to work together to create the budget, as well as help in sticking with it. Wedding vendors are priced affordably compared to the time, effort and legwork involved, let alone the stress that it will save you in getting ready for your day.  If you start your planning early, you can negotiate the price more since you’re not too pressed on time.

Reducing your own involvement in the legwork for the wedding and unnecessary work load will help you keep your sanity for a calm and comfortable walk down the aisle. Set up appointments early in the planning to meet with photographers and disc jockey, so that you will know what to expect and what you will be getting. When you find the right vendors to help you reducing stress go ahead and book their services. Another thing will be marked from your list and off of your crowded mind.

After you have hired the vendors and feel that plans are underway, take some time for yourself. Spending time alone with your spouse and relaxing throughout the wedding planning can alleviate stress from your life. Reducing additional stress can be achieved by getting enough exercise, eating healthy meals without unnecessary sugars or caffeine, getting an adequate amount of sleep and not waiting until the last minute for the planning and preparations.

Don’t forget about your photographer

Also, Kimberley Whitman, a wedding expert, recently shared one of her regrets about her wedding, that she did not have any photos with her grandmom during the ceremony and reception.  Her photographers took a lot of good shots, but they did not include any with her and her grandmom.  Kim’s tips is to have a list of people and shots you want to have  and give the list to the photographers.

Guest Invitation Etiquette

It is so exciting planning for a wedding, picking out the gown, flowers, music, decor, minister, and the wedding announcements. There is always some confusion and concerns when it comes time to make out the wedding invitations; making a guest list, using correct wording, then addressing and mailing them.

Following are some guest invitation etiquette tips:

Proper timing

Sending the invitations six weeks in advance of the wedding date is ideal. This will give your guests time to clear schedules and make arrangements for travel if they live out of town. Making an RSVP date for three weeks after they are sent will allow time for head counts, seating arrangements, and amount of food to order for the wedding.

Who to invite

Most invitations are made out to friends and families of both sides that they want to attend their wedding. It is nice to invite guests even though you are sure they can’t attend for one reason or another. At least they will feel good just knowing they got an invitation.

Proper wording on the invitation

If both families paid for the wedding, then both should be mentioned on the invitation, otherwise one set is mentioned. In the case of a deceased parent, omit their name because including it could cause awkwardness for some guests. It would be fine to include the deceased in the ceremony program.

Formal or informal attire

The invitation will let guests know whether it is casual or formal attire. Using traditional invitations on ecru or ivory with black script trimmed in silver or gold borders, and reading where the wedding is held, will suggest the attire.

Reception card

If the reception is being held in the same building as the wedding, then no reception card is needed. Just add “Reception to follow” on the invitation. Inform ushers how to direct guests for a convenient route to the area.

Address the envelope

Couples living together and unmarried should be listed on the outside envelope on separate lines. A widow is usually addressed as Mrs. using her married name (Mrs. James Johnson) and a divorced woman addressed as Ms. using her first name (Ms. Jean Jones). A couple not living together should each have an invitation of their own.

Small weddings

It is not improper to omit the words “and guest” if your budget allows for few guests and most will understand that is for only them.

Handwritten or fancy font

Guest invitation etiquette advocates never printing outside envelopes with computer fonts, they should always be handwritten. After all, this event is extremely personal and intimate, and should be reflected as such.   It will be obvious that you added a personal and polite touch.

Return address

In case you happen to have a wrong address for a guest, writing your return address on back flap of the envelope is a very good idea. Return address is made out for the people designated to handle responses, whether it is the wedding couple, groom’s or bride’s mother.

How to Find Good Wedding Vendors

Knowing how to find good vendors can be as easy as an online search, asking friends and family or using the online directories that are widely available. Everything from wedding gown vendors to the bands that will play at the reception can be found easily online.

Bridal shops and boutiques for your special gown and bridesmaid dresses can be found either locally or in the closest major city to where you live. There are listings of excellent bridal shops online, as well, if you would prefer to order your dresses conveniently. Wedding gown vendors should be located within a close proximity to your home, in case of any mishaps with shipping or incorrect dresses being sent. Give the ordering process enough time for these possible things to occur without hindering your special day. Six months to a year ahead would be perfect, though a four month period would be sufficient when ordering dresses for the wedding party. Not every woman is the size that they initially order, nor are all sizes the same for every woman’s shape. Also, you should go ahead and pick out an alteration service for any last minute adjustments that will need to be made to the dresses.

When you need to find out how to find good vendors for making your reception as sophisticated as possible, there are multiple options. Caterers and bakers are the next vendors to find for the wedding cake and the reception dinner, if you choose to have one. These caterers can even be friends or family members, if you are planning an inexpensive wedding. Having a professional cake made for your special day is encouraged over having a novice baker to create it, even if it is only going to be crammed in your face by your new spouse. The wedding cake is important in the photographic memories of your day, too. Disc jockeys or musicians can be found online or in the yellow pages of your phone book. Sometimes, friends and family members can be the best way to figure out how to find good vendors when it comes to the musical entertainment.

Wedding consultants can assist with many of the above things like finding proper wedding photographers, getting the best disc jockey or how to find good vendors that you can trust. You can have the beautiful wedding that you have always dreamed of having, without all of the stress that comes with doing it all yourself. Consultants are experienced in planning weddings, whether it is going to be extravagant or a small, quaint wedding at home.

There are nationwide service directories, as well as international listings provided on the internet. By picking the best vendors that are in close distance to your residence, you will decrease the stress and headaches that may come with doing all of the wedding arrangements for yourself. Additionally, when you delegate some of the planning to vendors, it will ease up some nice quality time to spend with your soon-to-be spouse.