Your Wedding, Your Day---Your Choices.

Planning a wedding is a big deal for most people.
For many brides it's a day that they've fantasized about since being a young girl.

Most everyone who's planned their wedding has expectations and plans that they've been crafting for ages.

When it comes right down to the actual planning, it can be a stressful and emotional time.

Making everyone happy including parents,inlaws, friends and relatives can be a tricky and costly thing to do without jeopardizing your own wishes for the day.

Whether you're having a small garden party or a banquet for 200, you need to take one step and one breath at a time in order to get through it.

Many couples plan, scrimp and save for a full year for that one big day and many relationships can be nearly ruined over the plannning and the details.

I've seen more than one wedding where the planning got so crazy that couples have broken up over it, almost broken up or eloped and then regretted not having the day that they wanted.

It's best to sit down with your spouse-to-be first and agree on what's most important to you both.

Then have a meeting with the parents to discuss what's important to them.
It is your wedding so your needs come before your parents needs.

Being thoughtful and accomodating wherever possible is ideal so long as it doesn't compromise your dreams and make your wedding less than you want it to be or forever tarnish relationships in the family.

You need to make clear that it is the bride and groom's day and that while you'd love to accomodate everyone, its most important that the bride and groom have their wishes met first.

Traditionally, the bride's parents paid for the wedding.
Today, often the couple pay for their wedding or a large chunk of it and very often, the groom's parent's also chip in when they're able.

The important thing is to come to an agreement that everyone can feel good about.
Because weddings can be so expensive, you may even decide on one parent paying for something like the flowers and another paying for the reception or the photographer.
You may need to save for quite some time for your wedding and even invest your money in short-term investments to help you earn enough to pay for it.
My advice is to not go into debt for your wedding.
It is an important day but you don't want to weigh down your future with enormous debt. It's no way to start a life together, in my opinion.

A wedding can be quite costly but there are many things you can do to get more value for your dollar.

-Booking early and possibly off-season can reduce your rate for your reception hall.
-Asking recently married family members for referrals for d.j's, photographers and other services can also help as sometimes you can obtain a discount because of being referred. (We saved money on our catering and our d.j. when we got married by using someone another family member had used) Using someone whom you have already seen do a good job will give you extra peace of mind for your wedding also.
-Family friends that are crafty may be able to help you with your centrepieces, invitations or bouquets and this can save considerably on fund.
-A relative who can sew may be able to save you the cost of alterations for gowns, etc.

Also, shop around for wedding supplies.
There are a lot of choices out there for bonbonieries, wedding favours and bridal party gifts.
A great source for these items is the wedding shop at theknot.com
There are wedding cameras, beautiful personalized gifts such as jewelry boxes, chocolates and match books and all kinds of wedding accessories that are of good quality but quite inexpensive.
There are great items on this site from the planning stage right to must-haves for the honeymoon.

Remember, it’s your wedding, your choice. Even with a small budget, you can still personalize the day in such a way that you will look back with fond memories.

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