By Now You Should Have Decided . . . So What's It Gonna Be?

There's an old song with a refrain that goes something like "so tell me now what's it gonna be".  That comes to mind as I write this post.

This is a quick post to close out the introduction to the types of weddings and a visual treat.  We will go back and revisit each of these types once I introduce the other aspects of planning a wedding.  We have a few to go.

So tell me now, what kind of wedding are you going to have . . .

possibly a castle (destination wedding). . .

or maybe a church . . .

or have you decided to take it outdoors . . .

or maybe even this . . .

or you've decided to take the easy way with this . . .

or maybe you really want a real fantasy . . .

 

(Many thanks to the following for the pictures:  www.detourguide.com for the castle, www.planetware.com for the courthouse, www.weddings180.com for the backyard wedding and www.fantasyfliers.com for the balloon.)

It doesn't matter which way you choose to go, every one of them can be made special. 

May you have a blessed and wonderful day . . .

The Crucial Piece to All Your Wedding Planning Negotiations

Let me set the stage for you so that you will fully understand why the steps in this post are so incredibly important . . .

You have decided to plan your wedding all on your own.  You’ve talked to many of your friends and they all say “no big deal – you can do it” when it comes to the planning.  Weeks go by, then a month, maybe more and you are still looking at magazines for ideas about your wedding dress – forget about the caterer, photographer, etc.  They can wait until you find the perfect dress.

All This Wedding Planning Stuff. Up Next - Venue, Officiant, etc., etc.

Well, up to this point you've worked on your vision and gotten your numbers.  These next pieces are the tedious ones in planning your wedding.  Where will you have your vision?  If it will be at a beach or your home or at the court house, those are fairly easy because (with the exception of the court house) typically the reception will be held at the same place.  If you are having a court house wedding, then a venue for the reception will need to be booked.

Planning a Wedding on a Small Budget

So you’ve decided to get married and also determined your reasonably available budget along with the size and type of wedding you’ve always dreamed of.  There is a very big problem though – you’ve dreamed of your wedding in a castle in a far away land with everyone you’ve ever met attending but your budget might get ten people to the end of the block!  Money shouldn't be too big a problem if you're clever enough to plan a wedding on a small budget.

Another Fabulous Wedding Planning Resource

Just a quick post today to let you know about a new resource I have come across for helping you plan your wedding. 

Scarlet Spencer’s “$10,000 Dream Wedding Planning Book” is probably the one resource that I would recommend above all others.  Even though the title suggests that it might be off in la-la land, trust me that this is the real nuts and bolts stuff and covers all the tiny details some books leave out.  Her web page is terribly long but is packed with information about what the book actually covers.

Wedding Themes – Yikes!

A theme is a theme is a theme as they say . . . well, that’s not quite true.  And when it comes to weddings, a theme plays a fairly important role.  If you have decided on a traditional wedding or a beach wedding, these are both themes.  And in order to have your special event appear and flow smoothly, everything should be pulled together.  Read further to see what I mean.

Planning a Court House Wedding (or Civil Ceremony)

Last but not least is the court house wedding.  It used to be that this was the last resort but it is becoming more fashionable to not spend all of the budget on a large more traditional wedding and plan the ceremony for at the court house.  Today’s economy has brought out a lot of creativity on the wedding scene.  I’ve heard of quite elaborate affairs held in the courthouse - then almost the entire budget can go toward the reception (after the wedding dress, of course).  It really just depends on your priorities and how much of a budget you are planning to use.

Planning a wedding at home

In light of the present economy many people today are planning for their weddings at home.  If your space permits, this truly is the way to have your wedding day be exactly as you would like. There are plenty of benefits  – on top of the list is that you can save a lot of money, right?   Following that, there is no frustration with coordinating bookings for rental of the ceremony or reception sites. Then when it comes to food and beverages you are your own master; you don't have to worry about paying cake-cutting fees or who knows what else.  And the list goes on ...

More on Destination Weddings . . . resources

I've had a chance to go through the books available on planning a destination wedding that I spoke about in the last post and I don't really feel that I can recommend one at this time.

If your destination wedding is a beach wedding, I recommend going back and checking out the posts on beach weddings and also looking at The Ultimate Beach Wedding Planning Guide and Workbook.  This book seems to have a lot of the destination questions covered.

Have You Ever Dreamed of Having a Beach Wedding?

Can’t you just smell the salt air, feel the ocean breeze and hear the lapping of the waves on the beach?  I sure remember when I had that dream but I never went through with it.  Research shows that approximately 35% of all weddings are outdoor weddings – I wonder just how many of those are at the beach?

Beach weddings are popular but they do present "special issues" and planning a beach wedding may be one of the most romantic challenges in a life time; great scenery, natural decorations, originality and non-conformism of the location are among the main features of a beach wedding.   But what are the issues of planning a beach wedding?  You don’t want to be surprised on your wedding day because you didn’t take these issues into consideration beforehand.

They Asked . . . You Said Yes Now Where Do You Go From Here? Let the Wedding Planning Begin!

Welcome to Hooray, You’re Getting Married! There are a lot of wedding sites out there that are very fancy and if you look long enough you will find all of the information you need. I am purposely keeping this site simple and directly to the point so you have as much time as possible to get all of the things done for your special day. There are so many things that we'll be discussing here that are all part of planning a wedding:  wedding themes, budget, locations, invitations, favors, catering, wedding planners, oh and let's not forget dresses, flowers, receptions, music, etc., etc.

Most people dream of making their wedding day the happiest day in their life time and it can be done easily with the proper planning. Without that planning . . . well, you can go and read about all of the disasters out there. That being said, when I said ‘easily’ before I did not mean that it won’t take a bit of time and some serious work. If you start out with a fairly well thought out wedding plan and just follow it, you can make the whole process up to your special day memorable. There will be a lot of seriously funny moments and a lot of seriously hair raising ones along the way.