Loans for Wedding Receptions and Venues

Having a professional create your wedding invitations can be very pricey. If you choose a wedding invitation template and simply plug in your wedding information, you can save a few dollars per invite. However, if you wish to have your own unique custom look and feel, or if you wish to use envelopments which looks amazing but requires some man hours to put together, than maybe you should consider designing your own wedding invitations, I did. Rita Putatunda write an excellent article about this topic. She points out many of the pitfalls that one can face, making your own invitations “can be a fairly nerve-wracking process, especially if all the ideas you can think of seem run-of-the-mill, or some unexpected problems crop up”. You might be saying how do I create my own wedding invitations? Here are some ideas that she suggests to get you started:

• Create Ideas
  • A good way to learn to create your own wedding invitations is to attend classes conducted by many scrapbooking supply stores. Attending such classes can give you many ideas about creating your own design, and also finding out if the design you have in mind will work. For instance, if you want to use embellishments, such as a bow, eyelet, wax seal, etc., to affix the pieces of your invitation, check whether you have the right sorts of supplies. Could there be some short cuts or tricks that could save you time and money? The Internet is also full of sites where you can get a whole lot of design ideas.

• Personalize It
  • Make the invitations by using as much of your personal flair as you can. Make your invitations a creative means of introducing your wedding and relationship to your friends and family. You can use a special font, colors and paper to produce the vibe you want. Will your wedding be fun and light? Or will it be elegant and formal? The way you design your invitations will communicate exactly how you intend your wedding to be, thus helping your guests understand what to expect. Using your picture to personalize it is also a good idea. You can duplicate photographs quite inexpensively from the machines some scrapbooking supply stores have. Find out from your local retailer whether you should bring along a CD with your picture in it or a photograph to scan. Some machines have the ability of turning colored photographs into black-and-white or sepia to match the style of your invitation.

• Think About The Logistical Requirements
  • Consider The Paper: There are some scrapbooking supply stores from where you can get larger sized sheets at reduced rates. For instance, although there may be 81/2 by 11 or 12 by 12 sized paper on the shelf, but the store may purchase much larger sizes of the paper and sell you these at a lower rate. If that is the case, see that the store also cuts the paper according to the size you want for your invitations. A few stores charge a small price for cutting the paper for you. But in case you plan to print on the paper, it is better to first print and then get it cut. You will have to decide on the number of invitations you’re planning to send. Then give a thought to each piece of paper you will need for assembling each invitation. What will be the dimensions of each piece, and what are the dimensions of the paper you are purchasing? Once you get both the dimensions, you will have to figure out how many sheets of paper you will need to purchase to have an adequate number of pieces for assembling your invitations.
  • Check Out Post Office Regulations: In case your invitations contain a number of card stock pieces, it could be heavier in weight than the regular stamp would cover. Hence, in order to prevent your invitations arriving at their destinations as postage due, it is a good idea to take one invitation sample to the post office and check the weight to ensure that you buy the right stamps. Plus, make certain that your response card is according to the regulations of the post office. Many response cards are too small. See that yours is of the right size so that it can be sent via regular mail. You also need to be aware of the fact that more postage is required for square shaped cards than rectangular ones. And, if you use a postcard instead of an envelope, you can purchase postcard stamps for the response cards, which are less costly.
  • Formatting Your Card: Keep enough time for formatting your invitations. Consider what the proportions of the paper will be after being cut. By checking out the margins on the Word Processor in your comp, you can ensure that the text is in the center according to those proportions. It is better not to set margins on your document in order to keep the spacing on the computer screen the same as the print. Another good idea is to create text boxes according to the exact size of the paper after it is printed upon and cut, to make sure that the text is placed accurately. If you want to print the invitations out yourself, it is best to test it out with a single sheet of paper before purchasing it all and having it cut. Some of the paper can be quite difficult to print on without the ink smudging, and paper often behaves differently in different printers and with different inks.

• Organize A Party
  • It can be a tedious and time-consuming job to assemble the invitations yourself. Your friends and family would be more than happy and honored to contribute to your wedding. And their help can really pay off. What would take you a whole weekend to do, can be accomplished in just hours with enough people. So, put on your favorite music, invite friends and family over, cook up some fun food, and turn it into a party!

Source: The tips of this article were provided by Rita Putatunda.

You should never spend all the resources you have on hand on your wedding. You have to remember that you will have your new life after your wedding. Since there may be uncertainties after you have a new family, you will certainly need to reserve some money for it. As a result, it will be quite problematic if all you have on hand can just cover your wedding expenses. If such case happens, you may need to consider seeking for a wedding loan.

You may think that you do not need any wedding loan since you can pay for the expenses using your credit cards. However, a wedding loan is not quite the same as the credits of your credit cards. The interest involved in the credits of the credit cards is considerably higher than that of a wedding loan. In most cases, wedding loans are more flexible than credit cards in a way that you can choose the loan based on the interest you are willing to pay. You can also negotiate with the lender on the repayment terms.

Although wedding loan can be a choice of financial sources for your wedding, it is not that easy to choose the lender. Every lender will have different offers and terms of repayments. You have to bear in mind that providing wedding loan is a business. To this end you will know there will not be a loan provider who will tell you all the pros and cons of their services. They will certainly tell you more about the pros (if not exaggerating them) and hide the cons behind. As a result you need to ask as much details as you can think of. You should also read all the terms and conditions of the services carefully. Then you will try to analyze the pros and cons of the services provided by different loan providers so that you can have an unbiased idea on the services.

Besides, you should also search for the loan providers as soon as you plan to go for the option of wedding loan. The approval process can take a long time. This will be not surprising since it is not a high interest loan. High interest loan can be approved within a relatively short period of time. In some cases it can be approved overnight. Since a wedding loan is not a high interest loan, you will need to go through quite a number of different procedures to get it approved. You will also need to provide some documents in order to speed up the approval process a little bit.

When the issue on the financial sources about the wedding is settled, you will be very close to your ultimate target – to have a perfect wedding.

The works of this article were contributed to us by Jerry Leung. Jerry is a wedding invitation designer with great interest in Chinese Style Wedding cards. He designs Unique and Custom Wedding Invitation Card. Besides, he runs a blog on weddings to share his ideas on items such as Funny Wedding Cake. You can also find Wedding Vendor in Australia from his website.

After a wedding most Bride and Grooms say that their wedding went so fast that they could barely remember it. There are a number of things that contributing to this come and go feeling. Nerves play a big part, on our wedding day most of us are so nervous about everything being perfect that we forget to sit back and enjoy the wedding. Another factor that greatly contributes to this is the obligatory “meet and greet” time that we have to spend with our guests. All of your guests will be so happy and want to congratulate and spend time talking to you. But if you have 100 guests and you spend 5 minutes with each couple, you just spent over 4 hours talking to your guests! Guess what? Add the introduction of the bridal party, the first dance, the bride’s dance with her father, the groom’s dance with his mother and the cake cutting – you’re now out of time – most likely you went over board. So what’s a married couple to do? Here are some pointers:

• Work the room together. Go to your cocktail hour and split apart to meet with everyone. You will be able to move through the room more quickly, if you get caught up with a guest who’s a chatterbox, simply get the attention of your bride or groom from across the room, have him or her wave and kindly excuse yourself to see your new spouse.
• The Bride and Groom’s meal is always served first. Ask your Maitre D to seat you as soon as your meals arrive. You can quickly consume your meal while everyone else is being seated and then make your rounds while your guests are enjoying their appetizers or entrees.

Hope these tips help you enjoy your big day

In a previous entry we talked about ways to save on your wedding flowers.  One of the tips suggested was to pick flowers that are “in season”.  For instance, Forsythias, Hydrangeas, Roses and Tulips are in season during the winter.  While Calla Lilies, Ivies and Baby Breath are typically always in season.  Picking a flower during it’s season can help reduce the overall cost of your wedding.  However, one Bridal Flower tip that we forget to mention is in addition to flowers being in season with respect to their bloom / growth, you must also be aware of what flowers are in high demand due to the season that your wedding is planned for.  For instance, yellows and oranges are typically in higher demand in the fall season, while reds are typically in greater demand during the winter, and more particular, around Christmas.  The high demand for certain colors can often times double the cost of a flower.  When meeting with a florist, ask whether or not the flowers you like will be in high demand… Additionally, once you settle, make sure you lock in a rate, and give a deposit so that if the price of the flower goes up, you will not be penalized.

We recently talked about some tips for planning and saving on your first dance. Here are some popular first dance songs that couples use. Remember to select a song that is not too long. Three or four minutes is good song length. Longer songs often lead to more repetitive dance steps, which can bore your guests.

All My Life. KC & JoJo
Always and Forever. Heatwave
Amazed – Lonestar
Angel Eyes – Jeff Healey Band
At Last. Etta James
Beautiful in My Eyes. Joshua Kadison
Because You Loved Me. Celine Dion
Breathe. Faith Hill
Can You Feel the Love Tonight – Elton John
Can’t Help Falling in Love – Elvis Presley
Cherish – Kool and the Gang
Could I have this Dance – Ann Murray
Dance Me to the End of Love – Leonard Cohen
Don’t Know Much – Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Nevil
Dream Come True – Frozen Ghost
Endless Love – Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
Everything I Do. Bryan Adams
Forever – Kiss
From This Moment – Shania Twain and Bryan White
Groovy Kinda Love – Phil Collins
Have I Told You Lately. Rod Stewart or Van Morrison
Heaven – Bryan Adams
Here and Now. Luther Vandross
How Deep is Your Love – Bee Gees
I Could Not Ask For More. Edwin McCain
I Cross my Heart. George Strait
I Do [Cherish You]. 98 Degrees
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Aerosmith
I Knew I Loved You. Savage Garden
I Remember You – Skid Row
I Swear – All 4 One
I Try – Macy Gray
I Want to Know What Love Is – Foreigner
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
I’ll Be There For You – Bon Jovi
I’ve Had the Time of my Life – Billy Medley & Jennifer Warnes
In My Life – The Beatles
In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
It Had to Be You – Harry Connick Jr.
It’s Your Love. Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Just the Way you Are – Billy Joel
Keep on Loving You – REO Speedwagon
Lady – Kenny Rogers
Lost Together – Blue Rodeo
Love Me Tender – Elvis Presley
Love Song – Tesla
More Then Words – Extreme
My Heart Will Go On. Celine Dion
Never Tear us Apart – INXS
One – U2
Patience – Guns n’ Roses
Power of Love – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Right Here Waiting – Richard Marx
Somebody – Depeche Mode
Taking You Home. Don Henley
Thank You – Led Zeppelin
The Way You Look Tonight. Frank Sinatra
True Companion. Marc Cohn
Truly – Lionel Richie
Truly, Madly, Deeply. Savage Garden
Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers
Unforgettable. Nat King Cole & Natalie
We’ve Only Just Begun – The Carpenters
What a Wonderful World. Louis Armstrong
When I’m With You – Sheriff
When It’s Love – Van Halen
When a Man Loves a Woman – Percy Sledge or Michael Bolton
Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
You Are so Beautiful to Me – Joe Crocker
You’re the Inspiration – Chicago

• Practice your dance to your song.
  • It sounds pretty obvious, but some people neglect to do it. You should always practice your wedding dance while listening to the song that you plan to dance to. When the big day comes, you’ll be very comfortable with the flow of the dance.
• Know the size of the dance floor.
  • Make sure you know how much floor space that you have to work it. If the dance floor is small, practice in a small area.

• Practice through your mistakes
  • Often times when practicing their wedding dance, a couple will stop dead in their tracks if a mistake is made. This is a bad practice. If you become accustomed to stopping when a mistake is made, you may react the same on your wedding day. So work through your mistakes, so that you can recover if a mistake occurs during your official wedding dance.
• Know your the start / stop cues
  • Decided how you want to start and stop your wedding dance. If you know the foot you’re going to start and end on, you dance will go much more smoothly.

  

If you’re at all like the most of us, you’re completely nervous about your first dance, as you’ll have to dance in front of hundreds of people at your wedding. Most of us are uncomfortable with and lack confidence in our dancing abilities. So, what’s a person to do? You can simply wing it and see what happens or you can make a smart decision and plan your wedding dance. Now, you don’t have to have a perfectly choreographed wedding dance, you can if you wish, but simply a relaxed, fun dance routine can be very elegant.

There are a number of Dance Instructors in all neighborhoods that provide private lessons and will help you find and develop your own wedding dance. A dance instructor can help you learn the basics of the waltz, fox trot, rumba, swing and more. You may feel very comfortable with one of these steps, and decide to take the basic moves a step further to design your own unique wedding dance.

There are several approaches to keep in mind when planning your wedding dance. Something we like to focus on are the money savings tips.

• Take a dance class at a local high school.
  • Private Dance lessons are not going to be cheap. So, if you’re completely new to the basic dance steps, consider learning the basics with a class. You will save a lot of money, most likely a full course – 10 classes will be equivalent to the cost of 1 – 1 1/2 private lessons.
• Purchase a wedding dance video
  • The same concept as taking a dance class applies to purchasing a wedding dance video. If you want to avoid the cost of private lessons to learn the basics, you can pick up a wedding dance instructional video to learn the basic steps in the privacy of your own home, and at your convenience.

  TotalVid’s is currently running a promotional free 7 day access pass to full length videos including foxtrot, waltz, etc. Try TotalVid FREE for 7 days! Download high-quality videos to your PC today.
  

  

So your big day is coming up and you want to look perfect in your wedding dress or your tuxedo.  There are a number of things you can do to achieve a better look, but it won’t happen without some work.  Dependent upon the goals you want to achieve, you can modify your figure with diet and exercise.  For women who are exercising, you want to focus more on your upper body, as your legs and lower body will be covered by your dress.  Note, “focus more”… This doesn’t mean that you should neglect your lower body, it just means that you need to work harder on your upper body exercises.  For men, hey guys, you have to work on everything, as it will all show the same.  You may want to focus a tiny bit more on your upper body, but it all counts for you guys.

So what are some ideas / steps you can take to achieve that perfect wedding figure?

Determine a realistic goal.  

• If your wedding is 2 weeks away, you won’t be able to safely transform your body, however, you can work on transforming your attitude toward the wedding.  As crunch time gets closer, you’ll tend to get more stressed out.  Working out can help relieve much of that stress.
• Choose a goal that you think you can achieve.  Don’t expect to loose 5 pounds a week, this isn’t healthy.  However, you may be able to safely loose 1 to 2 pounds a week.  This can safely be achieved by diet and excerise.

Hire a Personal Trainer

• A personal trainer can help you transform your body safely and effectively by teaching you muscle specific exercises. Consider higher a personal trainer at a local gym.

Hire a Registered Nutritionist or Sign Up for a Diet Program

A Register Nutritionist or the proper diet program can help you work on your weight management.  Used in conjunction with exercise, properly exceeding your calorie intake with your calorie outtake can help you loose weight effectively. This doesn’t mean that you stop eating and start exercising. You need to speak with a professional to determine the best diet program for you.

The two most important and memorable factors contributing to the success of a wedding are the food and the entertainment (who doesn’t have a story to tell about an Uncle Bob tearing up the Dance floor?) The quality of the food is easily determined by the reception hall that you choose and the menu that you select. But the entertainment is a bit more subjective… the music that you choose is very important based on the demographics of your guests, and the choice between a Disc Jockey (DJ) and a Wedding Singer / Band can make all the difference. Here are some pluses and minuses to having a Disc Jockey vs a Wedding Band to help you make the best decision:

Wedding Band Pros

• Often excellent sound quality
• Live performances are always very energetic
• Songs can be custom tailored to your needs. If you wish to modify some lyrics or sound (maybe you prefer an acoustic version of a song, it can be accomplished).

Wedding Band Cons

• Expensive, Expensive, Expensive. Expect to pay at a minimum $3,000 for a small piece wedding band and up to $10,000 for a good wedding band.
• Often times you have to buy a meal for each member of the band. You may possibly have to pay for a meal for all 10 band members, plus their sound and or lighting guy. If your reception hall doesn’t give you a discount for entertainment meals, then these numbers can add up quickly.
• Tone.. Some wedding bands are not very eclectic, they can play one music genre and that’s it. Would you like say some 70’s disco and some 90’s rock music? The band may not be able to play both sounds..

Disc Jockey Pros

• Tone.. You know what you’re getting. With the exception of disc skipping, you know the sound that you’re going to hear.. the song won’t have any surprises.
• DJ’s have access to thousands of songs that can be played… If disco doesn’t seem to be cutting it, they can easily transition into a different music genre.
• Costs are low in comparison to a band.

Disc Jockey Cons

• Cheesey DJ’s. How many of us have been to a wedding with a cheesey DJ who thinks that he’s a rock star or better yet, the center of the party? Be careful with the DJ you select, do you really want him or her running around with the microphone handing out funny glasses and top hats at your wedding?

We found a great article talking about wedding colors written by Dennis Estrada.  Here are some things to think about when picking flowers and decorating for the wedding.

• Black depicts formal, modern, sexy, and sophisticated.
• Blue calls for calmness, tranquility, truthfulness, nobleness, and faithfulness.
• Brown makes you feel comfortable, warm, and cozy.
• Green represents wealth, money, nature, environment, fertility, growth, re-birth, victory, healing, abundant, and renewable.
• Orange stands for energy, sun, warmth and comfortable.
• Pink symbolizes the femininity, admiration, love, pretty, spring, gentleness, harmony, fidelity, and sensuality.
• Purple shows nobility, royalty, luxury, authority, creativity, inspiration, and spirituality. It is a mysterious and intriguing color. The darker shades of purple represent sensuality, while the lighter shades of purple represent romance and delicate.
• Red creates excitement as red raises blood pressure. Red also symbolizes love, passion, sex, and power. Hence, we like to give red roses to show a strong affection of love. Red means good luck in China, while red means purity in India. Life, vitality, celebrations, and gifts are associated with red. The negative images about red are blood, war, danger, fire, and anger.
• White is one of the neutral colors which are common in wedding dress, flowers, and attire. White is also associated with purity, innocence, cleanliness, and virtue. Think of snow, winter, and peace as wedding themes.
• Yellow is a happy, joyful, cheerful, and hopeful color. Because it is close to the color gold, it is sometimes a symbol of wealth.

Dennis Estrada owns wedding advice, fall wedding ideas, and green weddings website.