The following are some trends for all the lovely couples who are planning to get married in 2011.  One of the top wedding trends this year is vintage and retro-inspired with a modern twist. What’s old is new. We’ll see:

• vintage wedding dresses with cap sleeves
• beautiful textures with details
• natural settings, including outdoor and backyard weddings
• some vintage photography

With the environment in mind, we’ll continue to include more green, environmentally friendly weddings. Think second-hand and vintage wedding dresses, LED lighting, recycled paper invitations and programs, and food from local farms and providers. Charity donations will continue to be a popular option instead of traditional wedding favors, and more couples will be asking for donations to their favorite charity instead of wedding gifts.

The contemporary, modern wedding is still big and many rides are opting for non-traditional dress choices, such as the following

• beautiful hues instead of the usual white or ivory
• old shoulder instead of strapless
• short cocktail dresses instead of a long gown.
• mixing table shapes and sizes.
• incorporating bright and bold colors
• cool lounge settings, and after parties
• cupcakes instead of a wedding cake

Lastly, social media is playing a part in the wedding planning process. Couples are keep guests informed through wedding websites and post updates about their excitement and plans on Facebook and Twitter. Posts such as “We booked the band today!” allow friends and family to feel like they are part of the planning. It’s great to have everyone involved during the whole wedding planning through to the final reception.

Go the extra mile to show your support for a greener wedding.  Here are some things to consider when you have decided to go for a gren wedding:

Simplify
The overarching theme here should be simplification. There are eco-friendly versions of most wedding products, but the best option is usually to forego the items altogether. Reuse wherever possible – and save not only resources, but cash too.

Weigh the expenses
That said, some items you just can’t live without, and usually the green version is more expensive than the original. You’ll need to factor this into your wedding budget. To keep your budget in check, determine which areas you’re willing to spend more on for a good cause (i.e. organic cuisine), and where you can save to make up for that added expense (i.e. forego the wedding dress or favors). This wedding budget guide offers even more budgeting advice

Patronize
Many new companies have entered the growing green weddings market. Before booking your vendors, check out businesses that claim to provide green services and confirm that they really do.

Inform
One green turn deserves another. Let your guests know the steps you’ve taken to plan your green wedding, and show them that an elegant event doesn’t have to be harmful to the environment. Who knows, many of your guests may be inspired to do the same.

All in the Details – Green Wedding Ideas

Invitations & Stationery
1. Recycle – use recycled paper or paper made from alternative fiber – such as hemp or bamboo. Check out these resources for an array of custom, recycled papers: Custompaper.com or JamPaper.com
2. Splurge on calligraphy – calligraphy may cost more, but it saves inks, toners, solvents and chemicals involved in printing.
3. Condense – save trees by minimizing inserts and other paper products. Always print on front and back, and try to fit it all on one sheet.
4. Go completely green – send all correspondence via email. The etiquette gods may swoon – but if you’re dead set on being green, electronic mailings are the most earth friendly way to go.

Location
1. Rent for a cause – find a venue that will benefit from your site rental fee – such as a museum, gallery or other cultural organization. Confirm how that venue will use your fee.
2. Go outside – a beach, the woods, gardens – they all make an ideal setting for a green wedding (just be sure to leave it as you found it).
3. Find a green venue – some venues are demonstrating a commitment to saving water and energy, reducing waste, or serving locally grown/organic menus. Check out these resources for green minded venues:
- Green Hotels Association (www.greenhotels.com)
- Green Seal (www.greenseal.com)

Décor Elements
1. Use candlelight – not only are candles energy efficient, they also create a soft romantic glow for an elegant reception. Better yet, look for soy candles – they’re cleaner and longer burning since they’re made from a renewable resource.
2. Use bamboo – one of the most sustainable materials on earth, bamboo is an eco-friendly décor option with an organic, modern feel. Use bamboo stalks for centerpieces or other décor elements.

Flowers
1. Think double duty – invite your ceremony arrangements to the reception! You can use them to decorate your cake or gift table – you’ll waste less and save money doing it.
2. Buy organic, locally grown blooms – organic flowers are grown in an environmentally friendly way, without pesticides.
Getting locally grown ones will save the fuel burned from transporting the flowers. If you can’t find a local florist who can provide organic blooms, order yours from OrganicBouquet.com
3. Conserve cut flowers – using cut flowers just once is a waste. See if you can share yours with another wedding taking place on the same day.
4. Skip cut flowers altogether – top your tables with potted arrangements for guests to take and plant in their yards after the wedding.

Menu
1. Think organic – ensure that you, your guests and the staff won’t be exposed to pesticides. Many caterers specialize in organic foods, and almost any caterer can provide an organic menu if you ask them.
2. Think local – if you’re concerned about the cost involved in a completely organic menu, go local instead. Serving locally grown food eliminates fuel reliance and supports local farmers. Check out Localharvest.org or Localfoodworks.org to find farmers markets, farms and other sources of local food.
3. Reuse utensils – find a caterer who recycles materials and/or uses linen and china instead of disposables.
4. Donate the leftovers – work with your caterer to send leftovers to a food shelter or other organization.

Cake
1. Sub ingredients – have your baker use organic and/or local sugar, flour, butter and eggs. Some bakers even specialize in organic cakes.

Attire
1. Go secondhand – a used gown reduces fuels used in creating a new one.
2. Get green fibers – natural fibers like silk and organic cotton are better for the environment than synthetic ones.
3. Go couture – if your wallet can afford it, couture gowns are usually made from natural fabrics.
4. Donate – provide a green gown decision for another bride when you give or sell yours after the wedding.

Favors
Avoid wasteful trinkets – donate to a charity in the name of your guests

Transportation
1. Limit long distance travel – have the wedding in a location where few guests will have to fly to get there.
2.Walk – host your room block, ceremony and reception at the same site – or within walking distance
3. Carpool – organize car pools for your guests in hybrid vehicles
4. Getaway in low emission style – get creative and use a non-motorized vehicle for your final sendoff – bikes, horseback, sleds, skates, wagons, or any old school conveyance will do.

Other Green Ideas
The truth is – no matter how great your green intentions are, most weddings have a huge environmental impact from the fuel used transporting your guests – via car or plane – to your wedding. Since this is extremely difficult to avoid, the “greenest” brides are purchasing carbon offsets to reduce their wedding’s footprint.

How it works: calculate the mileage guests will travel, and offset their carbon dioxide emissions by donating to programs that plant trees or preserve rain forests. TerraPass.com <http://www.terrapass.com> is a website that does this for you – you enter your wedding details, and the site calculates your footprint, charges you accordingly, and then invests the money for you in energy saving technologies.

Article Author:
Cori Russell of Elegala.com and Gala Weddings Magazine

Getting engaged can be one of the most memorable and exciting moments in your life. For the first few weeks after the proposal, you both feel dizzy with happiness and are bursting with anticipation. As well you both should be! You’ve met the man or woman of your dreams, you’ve decided to get married, and now it’s time to plan the wedding — the official celebration of your love and commitment.

As you plan this wonderful day, you both will continue to feel great joy, but may also experience a few butterflies and a little confusion. After all, organizing a ceremony and reception is a big undertaking.

There will be questions about anything and everything: from the meal (fish, chicken, or beef?) to the wedding gown (low-cut, fitted, or empire-waisted?) to the reception music (live band, small orchestra, or DJ?). There will be issues about budgets, guest lists, and styles.

But in the end, just remember what this day is really about — a celebration of love. Stay focused, and keep organized. This is where this article comes in handy. It’s packed with helpful information and useful worksheets that you both can click on and print out to help you stay on top of your wedding planning. You’ll find:

• checklists for keeping track of what needs to be done
• useful charts for organizing the many little wedding-related details
• worksheets for wading through vendor candidates and potential site possibilities
• hint boxes loaded with valuable tips and other information

Plus, this article features special Stress-Busters and Budget Extenders tips that help you both tackle the tough problems and really stretch the wedding dollars.

Designed to help the engaged couple plan an entire wedding, from announcing the engagement and buying the rings to cutting your cake and planning the honeymoon, this article will help you both create a truly memorable day — without driving yourselves crazy in the process.

Every wedding is different so there might be worksheets that you both will have to reprint to have enough to cover all of your guests or all of your vendor candidates. Conversely, there might be some worksheets that you won’t need at all or that you might have to tweak to fit your needs.

Get started on the right track by beginning a list of important phone numbers — from wedding party members to the florist and musicians. Then take a look at the next page to help you establish a budget and a timetable. You both also will find information about announcing your engagement and how to choose a ring — that is, if you don’t have your rings already!

Source: http://money.howstuffworks.com

Cupcakes are for kids. Indeed, mini cakes with colourful frosting dance in our happiest childhood memories, where we recall this bake sale or that birthday party, a walk down memory lane only complete with a debate on what icing was best.

But today is a new age: Cupcakes were for kids. Now they are something else, the new raison d’etre for charm, sophistication and nostalgia all at once. A short decade ago it would have been damning to have both a cupcake and a driver’s license; now the pastries are delicious conversation starters, geared toward the kid in all of us. Retro is in, and it’s cool to be young again.

They’ve grown up with us, though; they had to. After all, adults still pride themselves on their mature sensibilities. So if there is any mystery as to how cupcakes became a sensation overnight, their success is crystal clear. We have no shortage of specialty cupcake shops, or their new availability in big box grocery stores; bakeries offer them, and brides request them. But where most present the basic cake, frosting and perhaps cute decorative topper, Eini & Co. has taken the process a step further, and created The Luxury Cupcake.
 
“It’s a niche market, and I love my customers,” says Eini Cheng, proprietor and grand cupcake master of Eini & Co. “There’s something about a cupcake that brings out the best in people.”

If cupcakes bring out the best in people, the Eini experience must send hearts a-twitter, or urge birds into flight. The cakes themselves begin with luminous, fluttery flavours like vanilla, chocolate and lemon, iced with buttercreams of lemony lychee, cocoa, mango, vanilla and honeydew.

It’s the topper that’s the kicker, luxury at its finest hour. Cutesy doodads make way for artistically glorious floral marvels, as the flowers crowning Eini & Co. cupcakes are roses, sunflowers, lilies and daffodils. A magnificent icing garden of horticultural masterpiece; spring born in sugar. Give your love a cupcake, then again, give her a cupcake topped with a morning glory flower so very lifelike that for a split second, she’ll mistake it for the real thing.

Cupcakes as art is mind-boggling in its own right, but then unconventional gives birth to its kind. Cheng was not fresh out of school or even a pastry chef by trade; she worked at a digital communications advertising firm in Toronto. But she always liked baking and she always liked cakes, an interest that persisted and led her to request an internship with Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes in New York City.

As fate would have it, a simple, random internet search had taken Cheng to Confetti Cakes in the first place, and she liked the look of Strauss’ creations: High-end traditional, novelty and wedding cakes, manifolds of which have been featured by Martha Stewart. Strauss had faith in Cheng, took her on, and taught her marvelous things with sugar.

Upon the internship’s completion Cheng was even offered a job at Confetti Cakes, but lucky us, she came back home to launch Eini & Co. in early 2006. “People have their dreams and they pursue them, and I have to say that cupcakes were something I found so beautiful. Candy taken to the next level. I think people don’t think to really put so much care and attention in a cupcake; swirlies, sprinkles, that’s it. I wanted to create something spectacular that had not been introduced to Toronto yet.”

Whereas cupcakes were already firmly ensconced in Toronto, flowers such as these only existed in fairy tales.

There are two lines of Eini & Co. cupcakes or rather, the flowers that top them: The Royal Icing and Gum Paste collections. The royal icing flowers are made up of confectioner’s sugar and meringue powder, resulting in a sweet, edible flower, candy-like in texture and flavour. The gum paste flowers are for decorative purposes only, but their sugar, cornstarch and gelatin components give them a realistic look and texture that has to be seen to truly appreciate. It isn’t the ingredients that speak for these flowers, so much as the realization of the intricate work going into each and every one.

Says Cheng of these details, “There is no economy of scale when it comes to making these flowers. That’s why they’re so labour intensive and expensive.”

Expensive they are, at least in traditional cupcake land: $60 per 16 standard cupcakes. Then again, there really is nothing standard about them, certainly not in appearance or artistry. “People who don’t understand the process don’t understand why it’s that expensive. But if you look at the process you realize it’s such a good deal. I have people coming up to me and saying, ‘This is a lot of work.’”

It could be expected that since so much has gone into appearance, taste is second rate. Not so. The vanilla sponge is airy and delicate; moist, but not to a fault. The buttercream is bar none, a likeness to a step above fresh whipped cream, as opposed to a weighed down, swirled butter. The flavour is not an overpowering, fruity mess, but rather kicks in most subtly, so it’s almost like tasting a scent. A slight lychee essence, if you will, or a breeze carrying the bouquet of a far off mango tree.

Heavenly, these cupcakes are, from bottom to top. Really, five bucks is such a small price to pay for a piece of paradise.

Eini & Co. cupcakes come in three sizes: Grand, standard and bite-size. They don’t even stop at flowers, as there are chicks and company logo toppers, too. Brides opting for the Eini experience, instead of the usual wedding cake or bonbonierre, can watch their guests ooh and ah at the gorgeous cupcakes either on towering display, or individually nestled in transparent Chinese takeout containers.

Ordering Eini & Co. cupcakes for more personal reasons, or just because, is another experience altogether: The cupcakes are delivered in a basket lavished with chocolate and blue grosgrain, customized with a message to the fortunate recipient.

The giving doesn’t even end there, as a portion of Eini proceeds are donated to charity. The company is partnered with the Hospital for Sick Children, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

For the time being the cupcakes can only be ordered online or by phone, but Cheng is looking to expand into the retail market, bakeries and even cafes. She’s had wonderful response to far, and is positive about the future. “It’s a step away from tradition and it’s also whimsical. I think the people that are open to it are positive and cheerful. That’s the thing that keeps me going.”

As for Eini Cheng herself, young in years but already so experienced in business and the fanciful, hers is the face you’ll never see featured on the website. “I prefer the cupcakes to speak for themselves.”

Photos by Ted Pun, used with permission of Eini & Co.
Source: http://www.tasteto.com/2008/07/06/the-luxury-cupcake/

Here are some money saving tips that FB would like to share with you. Use a couple of tips to save a few bucks or use more and save $1000+.

The Most Important Money Saving Tips

• You will save yourself an enormous amount of money if you get married during the off-season months of January, February, March and November.
• Getting married on any other of the week other than Saturday.
• There is no official name for this disease but many brides get it.
  • 1st Symptom – around 3 months before your wedding, you’ll begin to second-guess your decisions.
  • 2nd Symptom – You’ll get scared and think about what you can do to make your wedding better or more unique.
  • 3rd Symptom – Then you’ll ask friends, family, co-workers and anyone that will listen to you, about what they think of your new ideas.
  • 4th Symptom – and most dangerous…you make a few phone calls and start up-grading a few of your packages.
  • The Cure – stick to your original budget. As the wedding draws near, your emotions take over…ignore them.
• Vendors are well aware of the disease. That’s why every contract allows for you to upgrade a package at any time but there are rarely loopholes for downgrading.

• If finances don’t allow you to purchase a designer wedding dress, consider renting. Look at it this way, if you’re the type who wouldn’t even consider wearing your mother’s dress, why do you need one collecting dust in the closet.
• Never mind buying an expensive silk gown. Stick to polyester blends. They’re cheaper, don’t wrinkle as much and are easier to clean.
• The more beading and detail on the gown, the more expensive.
• Most of the big bridal shops have huge sales once a year, usually held at hotels or other big venues.
• To take care of the something old-new-borrowed-blue, look to family and friends for items you can use.
• Go shopping for bridesmaids’ dresses during prom season and after New Years. There’s nothing written in stone that says you have to buy your bridesmaids dresses at a wedding shop, and generally your prices will be a bit cheaper elsewhere.
• Shop for those pretty little wedding shoes in the summer, when white shoes are on the shelves of every shoe and department store, or you’ll have to buy them in a bridal shop and pay their prices. Shop in the afternoon, your feet swell during the day and they’ll also be swollen on your wedding day. FB prime advice … try “Payless”.
• Men’s Tuxedo rentals are pretty much all the same price no matter where you go. The thing to check on is the condition of the suits and accessories.

• Unless you plan on keeping your bouquet on display in your home, don’t bother with a duplicate to toss.
• Instead of tossing your whole bouquet, just pick one flower to throw. We all know what condition the bride’s bouquet is in after 30 women (or more) start clawing at it.
• Silk flowers save you a lot of money and they’re already preserved. The Bride can have fresh flowers, but there really isn’t any need for everyone else to go fresh.
• If you’re using flowers in your centrepieces, decorations or large altar arrangements, go with silk. Would be nice if your guests could actually use the centrepieces that they just won again. You could re-use the decorations and larger arrangements at home, party accents or resell them on the Babbling Brides Board to another FB.

• To decorate the head table and save money buy vases, line them up and place the bouquets in them on the table and place votives in between.
• Before shopping for candles and candleholders anywhere else, be sure to check out a couple of dollar stores.
• Dollar stores and chains like Wal-Mart and Zeller’s also carry many items that can be used to decorate your ceremony or reception locations.
• When decorating the church or reception venue use silk flowers.
• Check with your florist or garden centre to see if you can rent plants, some places do.
• Kill 2 birds with one stone and use your guest favours/bomboniere as your centrepieces. Buy a raised cake plate and display the favours on each table. Your MC can make an announcement explaining.

• To make your invitations more personal and less expensive, do them yourself. There are a number of paper stores and websites availabile where you can find original ideas and ways to make your own invitations.
• Order your invitations over the Internet instead of a printing shop (it’s a little cheaper). Mail order is another possibility.
• Order a plain invitation from a company and decorate it yourself. All you need is a hole-puncher and some ribbon and/or parchment paper.

• Please, go to a DOLLAR STORE first and check out their selection of party favours.
• Some bomboniere stores decorate the gift for free and some don’t, so make sure you ask.
• Instead of buying a trinket that will be tossed into a drawer, make a donation to a charity. This is a new trend that many brides are choosing. Pick a cause that means something to you. Your MC can say something like: “Instead of favours, the couple has decided to make a donation in their name to the Lung Cancer Society. The bride’s grandfather passed 3 years ago from this disease.” Donations always get a round of applause…ever see anyone clap for a candy dish?

• Buying a cake made with different flavoured tiers will save you money as you wouldn’t necessarily require a dessert table.
• To get away with not paying a cake cutting fee at your venue, purchase their sweet table but serve your wedding cake for dessert. This means you’ll have to do your cake cutting as soon as your wedding party does their entrance. The staff will take the cake away and have it cut and plated in time for dessert.
• If you’re having a dessert table, you really don’t need to buy an elaborate wedding cake, try renting.
• Buy a plain wedding cake and decorate it yourself with silk or fresh flowers.

• Try to hire one person or company that does both hair and makeup.
• Only the bride needs a trial.
• You can expect to pay anywhere from $40 to $100 for hair and $30 to $85 for makeup. Know that the more women you have that need these services, the cheaper the cost per person.
• If hair accessories are going to be put in anyone’s hair, make sure you buy them yourself. If you leave this up to the hair stylist it’ll cost more.
• If you have sensitive skin, we suggest that you do not go for a facial the week before your wedding. You don’t want to be all broke out for the big day.
• Please get your nails done and make sure the groom’s hands are also manicured. More than likely you’ll be getting a picture that shows your hands and the wedding bands. People will be constantly asking to see your rings.
• Lastly, try to find a makeup and hair vendor that will do a trial a few months before the wedding. It gives you time to work out any areas you are not happy with and makes the wedding day process much quicker

• Hire a caterer that supplies everything you need, plates, glassware, table cloths, etc.
• Make sure you’re only charged for the services that you need. Some caterers have packages that include decorating and other items. If your venue is decorated already you won’t need the extras. Extras should be deducted from the bill or replaced with something else you want.
• Pick fruits and vegetables that are in season.
• Stick to serving food that everyone is familiar with. Fancy food is expensive.
• Buffets generally cost a good deal less and give your guests the opportunity to get up and mingle with the other guests, and they can pick exactly what they would like to eat.
• Make sure to read your contract and check to see if the gratuity is included. This goes for all services.
• Booking a venue that allows you to buy your own liquor is more work but saves you money.
• Depending on your culture and where you live in Canada, having a cash bar is totally acceptable. This can be a huge money saver.
• Consider only serving wine and domestic beers.
• Liquor (vodka, rum, rye, scotch) plus all the different mixes you’ll need adds to your expenses.
• Liqueurs like Grand Marnier, Sambucca, etc. can put a real strain on the liquor budget.
• Do you really need that Champagne toast?
• Common sense tip – the more guests the more cash you’re going to put out.
• Holding your reception in a hotel has a lot of good points. They usually decorate, have professional services, i.e. DJ, can cater well to large groups, and most likely will include the honeymoon suite, with discounted rooms for out-of-town guests.
• If you’re having a wedding with 75 guests or under, consider having your reception at your favourite restaurant. You will already know the staff and how the food is.
• Order child meals for kids under 11.
• Order a teen meal (same as adults but no liquor) for ages 12 to 17.
• Your reception is the biggest expense. It’s also where you can save the most money if you shop around and plan well!

• Biggest tip – hire a photographer that gives you your negatives, that way you can make as many copies of pictures from your wedding day as you want without having to order them from your photographer.
• If you choose a photographer that does not give you your negatives, always find out how long they keep your negatives on file and if you can obtain them when they are ready to discard them. Most photographers in general don’t keep negatives past a couple of years. If your photographer still won’t give you the negatives after that point without charging you money, I would question the ethics of the vendor.
• $1000.00 for a photographer is a great price but if they charge $40.00 for an 8 X 10, where’s the savings. Don’t just look at the photo packages or wedding day shoot costs, ask how much their enlargements are.
• If a package includes a couple’s album and 2 parent albums, ask how much that same package would cost without any albums. Sometimes it’s worth the savings to buy your own albums elsewhere and sometimes it’s better to take the albums offered by your photographer.
• Unless you’re doing a formal shoot at the bride or groom’s house, you don’t need a photographer there. Your wedding party and family will have their cameras out anyway.
• A great idea and one that many are using now is, putting a disposable camera on every table at the reception. Then you’ll only need to book your photographer for the church, photo location and maybe to take a few detailed shots at the reception venue.
• You don’t need your photographer to stay until 1am. Once the bouquet and garter tosses have taken place, there are no more major events to shoot. Your 1st & last dances look the same on film.

• Go for packages with one camera coverage
• Pick a package with limited editing or none at all.
• If you can’t afford a professional video, ask a friend or 2 that own their own video cameras to shoot the day for you. Putting an unfamiliar camera in someone else’s hands is useless. Professionals know what to shoot and how to shoot it. So, give your friend a list of events that you want footage of and how you want each shot, for the entire day. Example:
  • Pre-Ceremony: Close-up footage for 10-seconds of the different decorations.(altar arrangements, pew bows, wreath outside and unity candle)
  • The guys waiting. Ask the groom what he’s thinking about.
  • The guests arriving (especially immediate family)

• Shop around, there are so many limousine companies out there. Prices do vary.
• There is no rule anywhere that says, “You have to have a stretch limousine.” The smaller the car the cheaper.
• Other than the car and uniformed chauffeur, you really don’t need any other extras.
• You can also save money by renting your vehicles from Budget, Hertz, etc. They all have new model luxury cars, sports cars and SUVs.
• You really don’t need the limousine to take you home after the reception. Late-night pick-ups cost $100.00+
• Before the ceremony, have the limo pick up the bride and her bridesmaids. The groom, groomsmen and parents can take their own vehicles to the church. After the ceremony, the bride and groom can take the limo and the bridesmaids can hop in the groomsmen’s cars.
• You may already know someone that owns a Cadillac or Lincoln, a fancy sports car or for fun a Beetle or an antique car. Give this person a call.
• Some couples need more then one limo. If this is the case for you, compare the cost of 2 to 3 limos vs. the cost of 1 limo bus or Chartered Bus.

• Common sense, the least amount of people providing a service, the cheaper.
  • Ceremony – An organist is cheaper than a string duo, which is cheaper than a trio
  • Reception – A DJ is cheaper than a band
• The least amount of extras the cheaper. Lighting, smoke & bubble machines, other props, costumes, give-aways, fireworks, the list is endless, all cost money. It’s up to you.
• A really expensive package doesn’t mean that your party will last longer or that your non-dancing guests will feel the need to shake their booty for the first time in their life. But a crappy DJ or band will ruin your reception.

Do I really need a Wedding Coordinator or Planner?

Let’s face it, the ONLY service you need to get married is an officiant.

• Most wedding coordinators can save you money because they know…
  • about all the tips mentioned above plus more
  • what to say to and ask your vendors
  • They have connections in the industry.
• You really don’t need a coordinator at your reception once the dance floor is open to your guests. That usually happens between 9-10pm.
• You could hire a wedding consultant to help with the final stages of your wedding; creating a detailed wedding day itinerary, making up a checklist for items at the ceremony & reception locations, and confirming with your vendors. While she won’t be in attendance at your wedding, she has planned the day smoothly on paper. As long as you follow the times closely (not exactly) and do the events in the same order as the itinerary states, you’ll be fine.
• You can appoint a friend or family member to be your honorary coordinator. Give her an itinerary, checklists (ceremony & reception items, photo and music list) and phone numbers for all your vendors. The honorary coordinator should be someone that’s organized, the more obsessive-compulsive the better and not scared to open her mouth when something goes wrong.

Source: http://www.frugalbride.com/frugalhintstips.html

In the course of every individual’s life, he must go through the process of planning his own wedding, and how spectacular the wedding is and entertained the guests are all depends on how much time and effort the bride and groom puts forth into the planning process.

Whether the person is organized and professional is all shown through one’s own wedding. Typically, if a couple is planning to marry, they should start planning the ceremony of their lives one year ahead of time. Especially in a busy city such as Toronto, planning ahead is important since numerous wedding services are constantly in demand. Not only will a couple succeed with good organization skills, good innovative thinking and creativity will also play a large role in creating the perfect Toronto Wedding.

First and foremost, before a couple decides the details of their wedding, they must decide on a specific date and setting. As soon as the time and location has been chosen, it would be wise to reserve the location immediately to avoid possible conflicts with others who are planning their wedding in Toronto. There are hundreds to thousands of beautiful wedding reception facilities and banquet halls in Toronto, and choosing the right one may take some time. As soon as the time and location is set, it would be a good idea to draw up a guest list, which actually takes an unbelievably a long time to do.

After the couple has selected their Toronto wedding location and date, they can start looking for numerous assets and services for their wedding. Choosing the bride’s wedding dress nine to twelve months before the wedding allows the bride ample time to select the perfect dress for her special night. It will also give her time to request modifications or changes if needed. Allow a few months time to carefully select the perfect decorations, chair covers, and lien. It would also be wise to spend more time in deciding the right wedding photographers in Toronto, since there are thousands of them to choose from. Choosing the right photographer is essential and possibly one of the most important parts of a Toronto wedding because these photos will be the memory pieces of the beautiful moments during the wedding.

Another crucial aspect that should be planned at least nine months before the Toronto wedding is selecting the wedding cake. The wedding cake is like a monument representing the couple in the wedding. The creativity and design of the wedding cake allows the couple to stand out during their wedding. Not only will an elegant and large wedding cake bring praises from guests, it will also instill pride within the couple, as having one of the most unique wedding cakes in Toronto.

In about half year’s time, the to-be-married couple should start creating their menu and reserve their caterers in Toronto if they have not done so. Food is also another important aspect in a wedding and is a way to show the elegance and grandeurs of the Toronto wedding. The type of food should match the decorations and central theme of the wedding. If the reception facility is a Chinese restaurant, then the food and decorations should be of an Oriental theme. Choosing the right caterer is important to deliver the best and most delicious food to impress guests.

Three months before the wedding, most of the planning such as decorations, live music and entertainment should be completed. It would also be a good time to reserve limousines or other modes of transportation to the wedding. The traditional arrival for the marrying couple is through riding Toronto wedding limousines, but one can be creative and choose something else such as motorcycles, old-fashioned vehicles or even helicopters. Be brave and try something new! Not only will a creative mode of transportation to a wedding impress guests upon arrival, it will also be fun and an enjoyable experience for the bride and groom.

With two months to one month before the grand wedding, everything should be all well planned out. The marrying couple should be in their final stages of planning. Booking make-up, hairdressers, and beauty salons should be done during this time. Also, buying gifts and favors should also be started since they are a big hassle if left to the last week before the wedding. Everything should be finalized and almost ready. Vows and speeches should be already drafted and ready to go.

If planned efficiently, the final weeks before a wedding should not be too extremely stressful. If caterers and other services have not been confirmed, it would be a wise idea to give them a call. Also give a call to all guests as a reminder of the grand Toronto wedding. Basically, the last few weeks before the wedding should be all about confirmations and making sure everything will go smoothly as planned on that special day. Have several rehearsal dinners to make sure everything will go perfectly smooth. This time would also be a good time for bachelor and bachelorette parties and close bonding with future in-laws and friends.

The amount of stress before and wedding and the grandeur impressions from guests all depends on how much time and organization the bride and groom decides to put forth. If one if dedicated and organized, the process of this commonly-deemed tedious task in planning a wedding will go as smoothly as slicing butter. With great planning and organization, the bride and groom will be able to sit down for a cup of coffee even before the day of their Toronto wedding.