01.31.08
Alternative Wedding Speech
If you are somewhat confident with making the speech you can enhance it with some novelty extras! Sometimes a picture can tell a thousand words. An alternative approach might be to show a Powerpoint presentation with humorous pictures. Photographs of the couple when young will always raise a smile, especially nappy shots, old fashioned clothes/hairstyles and in dressing up garb. Visit: www.blarneyspeeches.com for a full guide to making your special wedding speech.
Here Comes the Veil
While many modern brides are opting to not have a veil, they still remain a mainstay for wedding attire. Veils today can come with rhinestones and tiaras built in and can make a dramatic statement as the bride enters the church.What you want to keep in mind though is that the more complicated the veil, the less you want to do for your jewellery.It’s another case of the competing looks and balancing the overall effect of the details. You don’t want to have so many things going on that people forget to look at your face.The best advice is to find one feature or one accessory that you love and make that the most complicated thing that you wear.Whether it’s a tiara or lovely diamond earrings, choose only one. Your pictures will thank you.
01.30.08
Glacier Wedding in Alaska
Mint Anyone?
If you really want an unusual snow wedding you could opt to have your wedding on top of Juneau Glacier in Alaska. Wedding packages, which are available from May to September, include the helicopter ride for you, your photographer and minister and a champagne and cake reception on the glacier. Wedding packages to Juneau from Alaska town start at $1,050 US Dollars per couple.
Glacier mints are always an alternative favours option for the less adventurous!
Wedding Jewellery
The Jewels
For each particular style of wedding gown, you need to choose particular styles of jewellery. And since you can’t wear your gown into jewellery shops, you will want to wear a shirt with the same colour as your dress as well as the same neckline. This is the best way to capture the right look.Starting with the earrings, you can look to your hair style to determine how to dress them up. If you have a shorter style or you’re looking to pull your hair up for the wedding day, you will want to pick longer earrings that extend towards your neck.If you want something simpler, then diamond or rhinestone studs can be equally beautiful.The neck is the focal point for most brides, so you can really dazzle them here. Look at your dress to see if you have a lot of detail or not. If you do, you will want to choose a necklace that’s a little less extravagant. If you don’t follow this advice, you will have multiple looks competing with one another and it can create a very confused and scattered look.For a simple dress with a deep neckline, you should be looking at larger pendants or a more complicated style. Pearls always seem to work, but try on different lengths to make sure that they complement the entire look (Be sure that someone else pays for them though, buying perals for yourself is considered bad luck!).
01.29.08
Wedding Speeches – when to do them
Speeches are traditionally done after the meal however an alternative approach now is to give the speeches at the start of the reception so that nervous speakers can then relax and enjoy the meal which was so carefully planned – breaking with tradition can be a good thing and hunger may also produce shorter speeches which everyone will enjoy!
Alternatively, have the speeches after the second course, by doing it this way hunger pangs are quietened and speakers still save on the indigestion! If you do decide on either of these options be sure to tell the venue management, as the chef will have to time the courses accordingly. If you do have the speeches at the beginning, then arrange to have a toast at the end of the meal to wrap things up. For a full guide on wedding speeches see: www.blarneyspeeches.com
Settling On the Size Of Your Wedding
First you need to decide if your wedding is going to be an once-in-a-lifetime huge party or smaller more intimate event.
Your budget will most certainly limit the number of guests. Once you set your budget for the reception, you can quickly do the sums and decide the maximum number of guests. Your reception will probably account for the largest part of your wedding budget. In some cases, nearly half of the total wedding budget is spent on the reception.Most reception sites charge per-head. If your budget is 6,000 euro for the reception, and the cost per head is 65 euro, you could have no more than 92 guests. There are many ways to cut expenses such as buying your own alcohol, having a buffet instead of a served dinner. Undoubtedly, you must take budgetary boundaries into account when preparing the guest list.If your parents are paying for the wedding, you are going to have to respect their input for the final list. The more your parents are footing the bill, the more you may need to compromise. The more relatives you have to invite, the longer the guest list is going to be. Your list will also be affected by the size of the reception site. Be sure that you don’t fall in love with a site until you are sure that it can accommodate all the people you plan to invite.Traditionally, the bride and groom’s family each invite half of the total number of guests. Usually, the major cheque writers are calling the shots. If you and your fiancée are paying for the wedding, you should decide the majority of the guest list.
01.28.08
‘Deadly’ Cake!
Found this gem of a cake design on the internet. It wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste but it might be attractive to the more goolish of couples amongst you! It’s from www.pinkcakebox.com.
Dos and Don’ts Of Wedding Dress Shopping
DO Shop early! Avoid the “Two Weeks ’til Wedding Day Attack.”
DO Research before your buy. The quickest and easiest way to research is by searching online. There are many Web sites dedicated do wedding dresses where you can get a ton of useful information about styles, designs, trends, etc.
DO Go to a wedding dress specialist. You should visit several wedding boutiques, and learn from the pros. Of course, keep in mind they are selling, so you should take everything with a grain of salt.
DO Expect minor alterations. Even the most expensive designer wedding gowns might need a few adjustments. If you buy your gown well in advance, you may need to alter the dress again a couple of weeks prior to the wedding.
DO Keep an open mind while you shop for your wedding dress. Try lots of things on. Often the dress you thought you’d never like is the one that makes you look and feel the best.
DO Bring shoes with the same height as your wedding shoes are going to be on your special day.
DO bring the underwear that you intend to wear on your wedding day to the final couple of fittings so you can be sure seams, straps and knicker lines don’t show.
DO enjoy it!
DON’T panic if you have to special order! Wedding dress shops can special order your dress faster than you can say “panic”.
DON’T put up with unfriendly sales people. This is your wedding day, your big purchase. The sales person who sells your wedding dress to you should share in your enthusiasm and make it exciting for you.
DON’T shop after you’ve bought. Instead enjoy the rest of your wedding planning.
DON’T give up! Finding that perfect wedding dress is going to take some work.
DON’T take too many people with you on your hunt for your wedding dress. Take a good friend or family member who likes shopping, knows your style and whose opinion you appreciate.
01.27.08
Buying an engagment ring
Diamond Buying Tips
For all you guys preparing to pop the question this Valentines Day, I though I’d give you a bit of advise. There is a lot to know about rings and about your bride before you purchase the ring.
By the time you buy the engagement ring, you should know her ring size. An easy way to figure out her ring size is to secretly take one of her rings to a jeweller. They will be more than happy to help you out. You might also ask her sister or mother, or anyone close to her who would possibly know he ring size.
You should also know what shapes of jewellery stones she likes. Does she like white or yellow gold, or platinum? White gold and platinum are the most popular at the moment. Next, you must set your budget. Engagement ring prices can range from moderately expensive to very expensive. The price of the engagement ring is only limited by your budget. The diamond is what makes the engagement ring such an expensive gift. With such an expensive investment, you should make sure you understand some of the basics of buying diamonds.
Diamond professionals use four factors to purchase diamonds, and you should use the same standards to buy the diamond engagement ring.
1. Colour – The colour of the diamond has a significant impact on the overall price. Sometimes this is referred to as the colour value of the diamond. You might ask the jeweller to place the diamonds you are interested in order based on colour value. Since the colour differences are so light, it might be difficult to see the colour difference between diamonds. Keep in mind the less colour the more expensive.
2. Clarity – Clarity is no less important when it comes to selecting a diamond. An Fl (Flawless) graded diamond shows no inclusions (inclusions = flaws) under 10X magnification. Since flawless diamonds are extremely rare, be prepared to pay extra for perfection.
3. Cut – It is the first aspect of the diamond that is influenced by humans. Cut is also called ‘make’, the better the make the more gorgeous the diamond. Valuing the diamond based on cut can be very subjective.
4. Carat – Carat weight is the basic measuring unit of diamonds. It has to do with how much your diamond weighs.There is a huge variety of diamonds to choose from. While they are all beautiful, they are very different in colour, clarity, cut, and carat weight. We hope you’ll find the above information helpful in selecting your engagement ring diamond. Keep in mind, you should only buy a diamond from a reputable jeweller.
Wedding March Music
Whatever the reason, some brides often look for other options. These days, two alternative pieces get overused: Pachebel’s “Canon in D” and Purcell’s “Voluntary,” which is also attributed as “The Prince of Denmark’s March,” by Clarke. This became wildly popular after Princess Diana used it in her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles.
Whatever you choose you have to have a short theme as the musicians need to be able to stop the music in the right place. Maybe try “Eleanor Plunkett,” by Turlough O’Carolan, paired with “Skyeboat,” a traditional Irish piece, as a processional, then “Hewlitt,” also by O’Carolan, as a recessional if you are a couple “who want to dance out of the aisle.”
March alternatives: Processional
• Apothesis/Tchaikovsky
• Doxology
• Hymn Fanfare from The Triumphant/Couperin
• Fanfares/Sir Arthur Bliss
• Fantasie in C/Franck
• La Cinquantaine (for the flower girl)
• March from Aida/Verdi
• March Nuptiale/Allan Caron
• Sarabande from Suite {nldr}11/Handel
• Sinfonia (Wedding Cantata)/Bach
• Theme from Fifth Symphony/Tchaikovsky
• To a Wild Rose/MacDowell (for the ushers)
• Wedding March/Guilmant
• Wedding Processional/(“The Sound of Music”)
Recessional
• Air in D/Handel
• Allegro Maestoso in D/Handel
• Bell Symphony/Purcell
• Hornpipe (Water Music)/Handel
• Processional/from Xerces/Handel
