July 28th, 2009 | by admin | Tags: 
Register for anything you want with AGreatAffair.com - honeymoon, home downpayment, couple’s golf lessons, plasma tv, new puppy, or traditional gifts like china and home furnishings!
June 17th, 2009 | by admin | Tags: 
When planning your wedding, its often difficult to decide which particular vendors you’ll truly need for your big day. Of course hiring a caterer, DJ or band is a must… but what about other vendors like a wedding videographer? After all, when you’ve already hired a wedding photographer, do you really need a videographer too? The answer is it’s up to you. Keep in mind, however, that hiring a videographer to create a wedding day video of your most memorable moments can truly be something special as a video can capture those treasured moments you’ll want to relive again and again – like your father’s speech at your reception or your first dance together as husband and wife! More than likely, you’re wedding day will go by so quickly that you’ll miss parts of it yourself so why not have a video tape to relive and appreciate those special moments. It’s always a good idea to book a professional wedding videographer soon after you’ve booked the ceremony and reception site. When selecting a videographer, however, always ask to see a sample or two of their prior work. Often times, videographers will have past wedding videos to show you. If you’re truly on a limited budget, however, you can try to cut down on costs by limiting the number of hours you need from a videographer. Perhaps you can limit your taping to the ceremony, or your reception entrance, your first dance or the toasts. All of those events can occur within a two hour time span (depending on how far your ceremony location is from your reception). If you really can’t afford a videographer, try asking one of your friends to capture those few moments. But keep in mind, your friend is not a professional and chances are won’t deliver a professional quality video to you when all is said and done. Also, since your friend will likely not have a professional microphone the sound quality won’t be as good - make sure your friend stands close enough to capture the speeches! Consider also registering for your videographer. You may be surprised to find that family and friends would prefer to gift you this over towels anyway. Whichever path you choose, a video is something you’ll appreciate a lot more than you think you will - so don’t skip it!
June 2nd, 2009 | by admin | Tags: 
Ever thought of renting your beautiful wedding dress just to save some money? There are many websites to choose from which allow you to do just that such as weddingdressmarket.com and wedding-dress-rental.com. But first, you need to ask yourself whether renting versus buying your dress is the right thing for you. More often than not, you can actually rent a wedding dress for a fraction of the cost it takes to buy it. For example, you could potentially rent a wedding dress for $250 rather than buy that very dress for $4000. Some brides may see this as a great savings since a wedding dress is generally something that is worn once in a lifetime – so why pay thousands of dollars to wear a dress only once!
There are of course some limitations and risks to renting a wedding dress on-line that you must be aware of: (1) Will you find the right style in your size?; (2) Will the original owner of the dress allow you to have the dress fitted, hemmed or altered to fit your body type?; (3) Who will pay for additional potential charges such as the shipping and handling of the dress to bring it to you? Of course, other factors to consider is that the dress will ultimately need to be steamed and dry-cleaned before wearing it on your special day. But these are aspects you would normally have to consider and pay for anyway even if you were purchasing your wedding dress.
The ultimate benefit to renting here however is that you SAVE money – potentially hundreds or even thousands of dollars! Renting will also give you the option of wearing a more expensive wedding dress you may otherwise not be able to afford to purchase. And for those brides who are on a budget, renting is probably one of the best options around town! So be assertive and ask a ton of questions before you commit to renting your wedding dress – ultimately you’ll make the best decision that’s right for you!
May 27th, 2009 | by admin | Tags:
1. Picking people who are special to you. The right individuals to give special toasts at your wedding can be a stressful process. In choosing the right people, however, you simply need to ask yourself some basic questions – who are the people who matter most to you and your fiancé? Are they your life-long friends, your parents, or your siblings? Who has been there for you during the good times and bad? And whom do you and your fiancé necessarily want to hear from at your wedding? The people you choose should be able to speak to a special time in your life before you met your better half.
2. Establish some rules. You may or may not want to establish some rules for the toast-givers to follow such as letting them know they’ll have a certain time-limit in which to give their toasts. Also, if you’re concerned that certain toast-givers may mention some personal or intimate details about you or your fiancé, it would be a good idea to personally and privately sit down with them and let them know not to do so. They’ll hopefully respect such boundaries and prepare their toasts accordingly to be both entertaining and respectful. After all you want your wedding day to be filled with special moments, not embarrassing ones!
3. Timing. Space your toasts throught out your meal. Also avoid having one speaker after another but instead space the toasts around the bride-groom dance, the bride-father and the groom-mother dance. The magic number not to exceed is 5 toasts at the reception. If you have more than 5 people you would like to have speak, consider having some of them speak at the rehearsal dinner.
April 28th, 2009 | by admin | Tags: 
There are a few must-dos when it comes to you getting the beautiful pictures you want. Follow these easy steps:
1. You are going to be crazed on your wedding day and the last thing you will remember is whether you got that picture with a special friend or relative. Create a list of “must have” shots and give it to your photographer ahead of the big day. Include on the list the people that he needs to find and get a picture of with you. Remember not all pictures go into the album, many of them are framed or given to family members and friends who would love a picture with you on your big day.
2. Tell your photographer whether you want posed pictures (where everyone smiles and looks into the camera) or candid pictures (pictures taken without people noticing or posing) or whether you want a mixture.
3. Let you photographer know what percentage of pictures you want in color versus black and white.
4. Make sure the photographer takes pictures of the ceremony location and the reception location before the people arrive. You will want to capture the beautiful arrangements that you put so much time and thought into perfecting.
5. Decide whether you want your photographer to be there while you are getting ready. The special moments with your bridesmaids and family before the festivities begin make beautiful pictures.
6. You will get tired through the day. Make sure to tell your photographer to remind you to smile!
April 2nd, 2009 | by admin | Tags: Programs can be a classy touch to any wedding ceremony. It’s a chance for the wedding couple to mention by name and honor those in the bridal party, as well as write special acknowledgements to the parents and family of the wedding couple. Furthermore, a wedding program that outlines the special moments of the ceremony is also helpful to the wedding guests who can usually follow along and better appreciate the different components and uniqueness of your wedding ceremony. In addition, classy wedding programs are generally very affordable and you can easily order them on-line. Finally, a wedding program is a nice addition because the wedding couple may also include a special message of thanks and gratitude to their guests letting each guest know how grateful the couple is for their love and support. This may be especially important as the bride and groom may be so busy on the day of the festivities to personally thank each of their guests. A warm yet universal message of thanks included in the wedding program may be the best way to ensure your guests know you appreciate their attendance and that you are truly happy to share these special moments with them.
March 31st, 2009 | by admin | Tags: Brides often face the big wedding dilemma of how to afford the wedding of their dreams while on a limited budget. Here are some cost-saving ideas that may save you thousands of dollars in planning a beautiful yet affordable wedding. Here are a few helpful hints:
1. When it comes down to selecting your vendors (i.e., your DJ or band, the florist, the caterer, etc.) the rule is to bargain with each and every one of them. Sharpen your negotiating skills, or send in your hubby to negotiate the price down a bit – doing this could save you hundreds of dollars as many vendors would be amendable to a 10% discount off the price if asked. The key here is to ask for a discount – because let’s face it, if you don’t ask or negotiate for it, you’ll never receive it!
2. Choose to have your wedding during the wedding off-peak season (i.e., the winter months). You can generally find venues at a lower cost then. Since the demand to book these venues is much lower during the off-peak season, venue operators could offer their venue locations at a reduced price in order to attract more weddings and business that way.
3. Keep your bridal party small. Who says you need 7 bridesmaids and groomsmen in order to have a terrific wedding? Keeping your bridal party small reduces the number of floral bouquets, boutonnieres, etc. that will be required. This simple idea alone can potentially lower your florist vendor costs by the hundreds.
4. Keep your guest list small to the absolute must-have attendees, like of course your family and close friends, after all these are the people who truly make you happy and who you really care to have at the wedding.
March 19th, 2009 | by admin | Tags: Deciding to change your last name to your husband’s last name is a big step in every woman’s life. Some women will decide to hyphenate their last name with their husband’s last name. Others will choose to keep their last name for their profession, but adopt the husband’s last name socially. Others will simply take the husband’s last name as their own. If you decide to change your last name, actually figuring out how to do that legally can be a very complicated process. MissNowMrs.com is a great online service that simplifies the name-change process for brides and newlyweds nationwide. Their legal forms and letters can be completed online, printed, and filed all from the comfort of your home computer. You can complete the forms anytime, but you’ll need to get your marriage certificate before making it final.
Whether you are in the planning stages of your wedding, or are now celebrating being a newlywed, you may complete transitioning from Miss…Now…Mrs in 3 easy steps: Questions, Forms, File. You will have up to 6 months to access your online account, so that you may complete your forms at your leisure.
By having them complete the process for you they can save brides tons of time and get it done right!
March 18th, 2009 | by admin | Tags: 
give and receive gifts. These registries look and feel like traditional registries but they allow a couple to register for anything they want by listing the gift, and breaking its price down into “gift segments” that their guests can purchase. Ultimately the couple gets cash to buy the gifts.These registries allow couples the total freedom to personalize their registry and request the items they really want without being constrained by what any one store stocks, and without being forced to only register for items within a certain price range. www.AGreatAffair.com and other cash gift registries allow couples to register for traditional items like toasters, blenders and cookware — but they also allow couples to register for their honeymoon, a new car, to payoff debt, even a family pet!
A cash registry is a convenient, online service that allows couples to skip shopping around at various stores - instead the registry can be created from the comfort of your own home computer. Also, as charitable donations are down due to the economic downturn, some sites are encouraging couples to include a charity on their registry by promising to donate a portion of their profits to charity.
www.AGreatAffair.com Wedding Gift Registry
March 18th, 2009 | by admin | Tags: 
Most engaged couples get sticker shock when they learn how much wedding cakes can cost. On top of that, there are a lot of decisions a couple has to make about their cake…what style? how tall? what fillings? Here are a few things to keep in mind when selecting your cake: