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Wedding invitations are one of the few pieces of mail that people enjoy receiving. It’s fun to open up that envelope knowing there’s a custom invitation inside. But amidst all of today’s junk mail, how can you make your envelope stand out to get your guests’ attention?

via What Will Your Wedding Invitations Say About You?.

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For many years wedding rituals have stayed the same, but the key steps to finding the band for your reception have changed dramatically. Today, most brides are finding the music for their wedding on the Internet. Via the World Wide Web, you can now see and hear bands from all over the state play right in the privacy of your own home. Starting with their web site, there are 5 key steps to booking the right band for your special day.

via Wedding Bands – Choosing a Wedding Band.

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Contrary to what they say in the magazines and on-line now, you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a wonderful, memorable wedding. I tell my clients and my readers that the most important part of making a wedding memorable is focusing on and prioritizing what you want to achieve. Fortunately, that same focus will help you save money as well!

via Planning a Wonderful Wedding on a Realistic Budget.

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Flowers can make the wedding sparkle, but can also cost a fair bit of money! The best way to save money on your wedding flowers is to buy them in bulk and arrange them yourself. If the idea of entrusting your floral design to your own inexperienced hands scares you, here are a few suggests that mayhelp you save money without the worry!
1. Silk Flowers – silk flowers can make beautiful wedding bouquets, and may also be cheaper then real flowers, especially if you want flowers that are out of season. But the biggest bonus is that you can arrange and rearrange them in advance, and you have enough time to work at it until it is perfect!

2. Find a unprofessional professional! Do you or your fiance have a friend or family member with floral experience? Ask around! You may find that someone you know, knows someone who is a retired florist! Or check out the local Seniors center, they may have suggestions as well! A retired florist will often offer their services at a much lower cost, and if they are friends or family, they may be willing to do it for free!

3. Take a class! Many local colleges and art centers offer flower arranging  evening classes to help you learn the basics of arranging flowers for yourself! Local craft stores will often offer similar classes as well!!

4. Search online – many craft stores have websites with craft projects and ideas, including wedding arrangements! Check out  Michaels for example! They carry a selction of 20+ bouquets with complete assembly instructions online!

If none of those ideas are particularly calming, and you would prefer to have a professional florist do your flowers, there are still ways that you can save money! Here are a few steps you can take to ensure you get the best flowers for your money.

1. Pick flowers that are in season, they are automatically cheaper then out of season flowers. For example, tulips for a spring wedding would be much less expensive then tulips in December. If you are unsure what flowers are inseason, ask your florist for advice.

2. Pick a bouquet that uses more affordable flowers (carnations, for example) accented with a few exotic flowers for a beautiful finish! When looking through my mother’s wedding photos, I found a stunning photo of her bouquet, which was a cascading bouquet of white carnations with one goregous stargazer lily in front! It was goregous, and much more affordable then it woudl have been if she had used roses!

3. Shop around, get quotes from all the shops in your area, and make sure they know you are going to be getting quotes from other shops as well. Often, they will quote you a lower price if they know you are going to be looking around!

4. Look into the cost of silk flowers – especially if you want flowers that are out of seaon. Many retailers, both online and locally, carry exquisite silk flower designs that are fabulous in appearance and in price! Ask around and find out if there is a local craftsperson who does arrangements from their home. Their prices will be lower becuase they have less overhead to deal with the retail locations.

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Global warming. Holes in the ozone layer. Extinction of species. Climate shifts. The side effects of our use of fossil fuels and a century of conspicuous consumption are readily apparent, and only by changing our ways can we begin to reverse the process that brought us to where we are today.

Many people are already doing what they can to preserve the environment by recycling, composting, using green or recycled products, buying natural or organic foods (or even growing their own) and cutting energy consumption through a number of means. If you’re a green-leaning bride or groom and want to extend your conservation efforts to your wedding, here are a few things you can do to ensure the only mark your wedding leaves is on the minds of your guests. Call it wedding planning with a decidedly green perspective.

1. Reduce your paper usage
Elaborate printed wedding invitations and save-the-dates are a time-honored tradition in announcing weddings, but they are also resource intensive. Now there are many e-mail programs and services available that allow you to send creative e-invitations from your computer, saving paper as well as the fuel required to deliver all those printed missives.

In addition, there are many paper products used at weddings and receptions (programs, napkins, table coverings, etc.). Find out if there are viable alternatives to these products or if you can use recycled versions.

2. Minimize and streamline guest travel
Take a moment to think of all the guests attending your wedding and the distances they will have to cover in getting there. That’s probably quite a bit of fuel. In fact, airline travel is one of the most fuel-intensive methods of travel period, and if your guests are travelling one or two people to a car, that isn’t exactly efficient, either.

One way you can cut down on the energy consumed through guest travel is to arrange carpools for your guests traveling from the same areas. In addition, you can contract vans or shuttles to haul groups of guests from your hotel, ceremony and reception locations to mitigate having everyone driving separate cars to each destination.

3. Use recycled or re-useable items whenever possible
Instead of buying decorations that will be thrown away after one use, rent your decorations from a local rental vendor so that they can be reused. Or instead of wasting rice or releasing helium balloons when you leave the church, use biodegradable confetti that will quickly turn to compost. Whatever wedding product you need, there’s probably a green alternative now being offered.

4. Take a green approach to wedding gifts
Unfortunately, many of the gifts on the typical wedding registry come enclosed by lots of earth-unfriendly packaging, and sometimes the gifts themselves may not have been made with eco-friendly processes. When filling our your registry, take the extra time to make sure your desired gifts are as kind to the environment as you are. In addition, forego all the fancy wrapping paper and instruct your guests to either leave your gift unwrapped or to wrap it in newsprint.


5. Select green vendors
Many green vendors often have earth-friendly practices that will make a big difference when it comes to conserving the environment. For example, photographers can shoot with digital equipment instead of using film, and they can also preview your shots electronically instead of printing them all out for your initial review. And caterers can use organic or naturally grown produce and range-fed meats.

6. Offset your carbon footprint with carbon credits
No wedding is going to be completely off the grid, and it’s virtually impossible in your wedding planning to eliminate all consumption. So for the amount of carbon that you will use, you can purchase what are called carbon credits to offset your wedding’s carbon footprint. Carbon credits can be purchased from organizations that invest in carbon reduction products, so every credit you purchase goes to counterbalancing the carbon you have used or will use. TerraPass is such a company and has a calculator for determining the carbon usage of a wedding at http://www.terrapass.com/wedding/.

Jeff Kear is co-owner of My Wedding Workbook, the next-generation online wedding planning software that’s free, easy-to-use and helps engaged couples manage every wedding detail, from your engagement to your honeymoon and everything in between. Try our free online wedding planner today.

Article Source: http://www.weddingarticles.net

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A Basic Spring Wedding by Budda Oliver

 The spring season is often the most popular time of year for a wedding. It is a time of rebirth and renewal, when flowers begin to blossom and the weather becomes the perfect temperature for a couple short months. The following is a list of ideas and things to keep in mind when planning your spring wedding.

Consider getting married in April or May. March can often be colder and more unpredictable when it comes to weather, so it is a harder month to plan with precision. Remember that Easter often falls in April, and most high schools host their proms in May. Book your church, limousines, and tuxedos early-you wouldn’t want to miss out on the best of each just because your wedding coincides with other events.

Wedding dresses are usually designed in a way that is perfect for spring weather. Long skirts will keep your legs warm, and showing some skin on top won’t be uncomfortable in the mild climate. As a wink to the month in which you are getting married, throw in a colored sash, section of embroidery, or wrap in baby blue, light pink, light yellow, or soft green.

A great way to keep things in line with the season is by allowing your bridesmaids some versatility in their attire. Perhaps they can stick with a single, earthy color. Otherwise, allow them to choose their own dresses. Doing so will keep things looking fresh, understated, and classy.

Your menu can reflect spring as well. Use a colorful and rich variety of vegetables, such as carrots, asparagus, yellow and green squash, potatoes, green beans, yellow and red peppers, and tomatoes. Carrot cakes are an unconventional choice for a wedding cake, but can really evoke the season as well as provide an unexpected twist. A spring wedding is also the perfect time of year to offer a wide variety of fruit, such as strawberries, blackberries, plums, peaches, rhubarb, and melon. Serve fruit with sides of cool yogurt or whipped cream, and you’re all set!

Flowers will obviously be a big theme at your spring wedding, and luckily, this is the perfect time to find a wide variety of beautiful options. Try mixing and matching bouquets of roses, daisies, tulips, lilies, and hyacinth. Top bouquets off with maidenhair or lemon leaf as a beautiful filler.

White orchids and roses can be used to decorate your reception hall, and will look especially beautiful by candlelight. Finally, tie your bouquets together with pastel colored ribbons or earthy twine. Place many bouquets at different levels and sections of your church and reception area. Surround your floral displays with candles, rose petals, or bunched up fabric and lace.

Article Source: http://www.weddingarticles.net/Article/A-Basic-Spring-Wedding/1

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Who knew babies could be so expensive? BabyCenter’s here to help, with great coupons for baby supplies plus special discounts and savings just for you. Check out all our latest baby savings: baby coupons, free baby stuff, and fun sweepstakes for you and your family! See all

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birth announcement

Welcome to BabyCenter Birth Announcements. Spread the news about your baby’s arrival with a BabyCenter custom online birth announcement. It’s free and easy. In just four quick steps, you can create your own beautiful announcement to send to family and friends.

Choose a design that suits your style – from cute to elegant. Then add a photo and birth details and you’re on your way! Your announcement’s interactive, too, so recipients can leave comments and congratulations right on the page…  Read more

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 Wedding Photo slideshows, DVD Photo Shows

Planning a wedding can be exciting, stressful and expensive all at once. Many couples begin by planning the big items such as the reception venue, transport & photography. One of the hardest things can be making your wedding different by adding a special touch that people will remember. There are many special touches on offer but one that offers a truly personal touch is a DVD Photo Show presentation screened during the Wedding Reception. DVD photo shows are produced using a bride and grooms personal photographs and brought to life with motion, transitions and music, Read more…

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