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To Give Or Not to Give Wedding Favors – That is the Question

Wedding favours are those little things that your guests will take home as tokens of your appreciation for their presence during your special day. You can give anything and everything that catches your fancy – ornamental plastic globes with fake snow, whimsical candles, practical wine bottle stoppers, and even cute fridge magnets. Still, the question remains: Do you really have to provide for wedding favors?Of course, you have to!

If you want a traditional wedding like those of your family and friends, then it follows that you will also provide for the traditional touches of wedding favours. Of course, this is neither a case of the blind following the blind nor of copying everything hook, line and sinker. You have many bridal boutiques to choose from when deciding on your personalized favors, if you must know.

If, however, you are not inclined to traditional weddings, then you can consider the following as valid reasons for giving the go-signal for wedding favours:

– Your guests went to great lengths to attend your wedding ceremony and to participate in your reception festivities. You see them all dressed up in their finery, you knew they traveled from out of state, you received gifts from them and you celebrated the day with them. The least you can do is provide for small tokens of appreciation for all the time and effort they poured into making your wedding meaningful.

– You will be putting a sweet end to your wedding festivities especially when you provide for edible wedding favours like almonds and candies. Your guests will simply love having something to eat while on the way home, kind of like the dessert after the main course.

– You can tie up the theme of the wedding with the appropriate favors. You can look at them as the icing on the cake.

Generally speaking, your favors are your call. Not all of your guests will love your choice of favors but at least, you provided for a good way to say “Thank you for coming to our wedding”. It is a matter of social graces, one that will hold you in good stead with your guests.

No, you don’t have to!

On the other hand, you can also choose not to provide your guests with favors. You might even say that you did your guests the favor when you invited them to your wedding – free food, the chance to party, overflowing drinks, festive ambience and a roomful of single men and women are enough favors.

There is also the matter of wedding favours getting left behind by the guests. You spent a ton on them and a ton is also left over from the wedding reception. In the end, you are left with small things that you just wasted money on because your guests could not have cared less.

Besides, $500 can be spent on other wedding expenses! You can buy fancier gifts for the wedding party; you can have your groom’s tuxedo custom made instead of just rented; you can extend your honeymoon. There are simply plenty of other options to be had from the $500.

With the pros and cons of wedding favours laid out this way, you should be able to make a decision. However, you should keep in mind that while favors are not mandatory, you can generously thank your guests with them. The key is in making them attractive and useful, even edible – chocolates and candies, charitable donations, and mini-wine holders, to name a few. Your guests will recognize just how sweet a couple you are.

BestForBride.com is the best bridal boutique for your wedding invitations and wedding favors, among other wedding needs. Visit them today!

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Invite Trouble With These Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations are not just pieces of colored and embellished parchment that you send out to inform family and friends you are getting hitched. (Hopefully, for life) These speak of your personality, your preferences, and your position that affects your wedding – casual or formal, outdoors or indoors, child-friendly or adults only, all-out or budget, to name just a few. More importantly, these can result in trouble of all kinds on your wedding day when not done right the first time.Misspelled Names and Titles

Beyond social embarrassment, you will be offending your invited guests when you misspell their names and titles on their wedding invitations. To put it bluntly, you will be inviting trouble of the social faux pas kind that cannot be easily forgiven and forgotten.

To avoid this mortifying oversight, you can do research on the correct spellings of your guests’ names even if it means actually calling them up to clarify the matter. Your guests will appreciate the time and effort you exerted towards getting their names right. After all, this is not a case of a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet!

Mentioning Desired Wedding Gifts

You will run into trouble with your family and friends on this issue, not to mention running headlong into the tacky circle. Whatever you decide to print on your wedding invitations, never ever mention the desired gifts you wish to have on your wedding day even if it is a worthy donation to the homeless shelter, the cancer institute, the environmental organization and education charities of your choice.

When your wedding invitations explicitly encourage guests to bring your desired gifts, you implicitly imply that you have a “No Gift, No Entry” policy. It kind of smacks of “No ID, NO Entry”, don’t you think?

Just invite your guests to your wedding and let them decide what to bring you. Of course, you can always drop hints with your doting parents!

Map Mistakes

For destination weddings, and even for weddings where family and friends from out of state are invited, your inclusion of the wrong map cards or exclusion of travel directions will cause trouble for you and your guests. Imagine having your guest of honor arrive well after the reception simply because you gave him the wrong directions!

To avoid this oversight, always make sure that

1) you have members of the bridal party whom your invited guests can call in case they get lost;
2) you have actually traveled the suggested route in anticipation of road delays and remedies for when these happens like roadside mechanics; and
3) you have maps inserted inside the wedding invitations showing recognizable landmarks instead of aerial Google maps.

Money Trouble

There are many instances where your invitations will get you into money trouble but these two are the most notable:

1) not mentioning that the wedding reception is an “Adults Only” affair; parents are free to assume that they can bring their children thus driving your catering costs higher, among other things; and
2) not including an RSVP card, which can lead to wedding crashers brought by invited guests. There are presumptuous people in this world, if you need reminding.

In conclusion, wedding invitations are one of the first things you have to consider when planning your wedding. In fact, they are the first things to be planned since you have to send them out at least eight weeks before the wedding!

But before you get carried away with the excitement and anticipation, remember to avoid the abovementioned mistakes. After all, first impressions do last!

At BestForBride.com, you can find the perfect wedding favor of your dreams plus a wide selection of wedding dresses and wedding invitations. Visit them now and start your journey towards the perfect wedding!

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Tales of Horror – Worst Ideas For Wedding Dresses You Must Avoid Fast!

Unless you intend to marry like Elizabeth Taylor, you only get to wear a wedding dress once in your life. Of course, if by chance or choice you do get married again and again, you would have many wedding dresses! (Don’t even think about recycling your old wedding dress. You might be saving on costs but you are not doing yourself any favors)Due to the one-time nature of the wedding dress, you must carefully plan for it. And need we mention that cameras and video camcorders are unforgiving in recording for posterity and notoriety your wedding planning lapses including the worst wedding dress ideas anybody dared to apply?

Outrageously Unique Head Ensembles

When you walk down the aisle, people will start assessing your appearance from your veil to your shoes and then back again, hopefully to focus on your radiant face. What if they stop in shocked silence at your outrageously unique headgear? You want awed silence at the heavenly vision you present, not shocked silence at the horrific apparition of whatever is on your head!

You have to avoid wedding dresses with headgears that

1) look like the nests of wild animals and your grandma’s whole flower garden;
2) allow your groom to bask in the shade like very wide hats;
3) hide your face completely like layers upon layers of veil;
4) bastardize Queen Amidala’s elaborate head ensembles; and
5) get in the way of the first matrimonial kiss.

Basically, you need a simple and elegant veil that will highlight your face while providing for the traditional head cover required in most church weddings. If you want embellishments on the veil, you can always have a small tiara tucked in there.

Balloon Sleeves

You might not have arms to die-for but trying on all bridal dresses with big sleeves can be the death of your look. Why avoid big sleeves like the bubonic plague? Let us count a few reasons:

1) your groom cannot sit beside you because your sleeves take up all the room;
2) you will bump guests off the dance floor; and
3) you will bump the wedding cake unto the floor.

However, there are a few advantages to wedding dresses with big sleeves like:

1) your sleeves can serve as pincushions;
2) your groom can use them as handkerchief – just lean to the right and sneeze; and
3) you can use them as small bags. Indeed, for every cloud there is a silver lining.

Plunging Necklines

Your groom will appreciate the view but it is doubtful if the officiating priest will approve your plunging-to-the-nether-regions neckline. Maybe he will deliver a sermon on how there is a time for everything – a time to bare and a time to care. Or something like that.

If you are unfazed with the possibility of a long and winding sermon on how the modern Eves lead Adams to sin with their bridal gowns, then think about these possibilities:

1) your wedding rings can get lost in there and what a spectacle that will be;
2) your guests will stare at you and not in a good way – think jeers and leers; and
3) your turn being Janet Jackson with a wardrobe malfunction will happen on your most special of days. Do you really want your nipples to play peek-a-boo?

You have to remember that when it comes to wedding dresses, you might wear them once but you will wear their memories forever. And that is not including the guests who will remember you either in your most beautiful best or in your most horrible outfit ever! You choose.

If you are looking for an online bridal boutique, visit BestForBride.com and choose from among the best wedding favors and wedding dresses for your most special of days!

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What to Look For in an Online Bridal Shop – Five Hot Tips

Tip No. 1Budget is not an issue when you start searching for a bridal shop. These shops carry a line of designer wedding gowns priced accordingly from the most expensive to the very affordable for the budget conscious bride.

Tip No. 2

Customer service should be an issue in your choice of a bridal shop. Friendly customer service makes you comfortable in picking out the wedding dress and other formal gowns for the wedding entourage. The sales people should be patient and accommodating and not bulldozer you towards expensive gowns or to their outdated selections.

Tip No. 3

Smaller shops are friendlier than those shops offering high volume merchandise. The sales people are aware that you are looking for the wedding gown of your dreams and will offer you a wide selection plus gown alteration for a fee.

Tip No. 4

A bridal shop should carry a line of wedding services. Skip the search for wedding shoes and accessories, discounted wedding invitations, wedding cakes and wedding favors, and honeymoon destinations. It is practical to get the services from the same shop where you are getting your wedding dress because you can get more discounts. You also do not have to deal with a number of shops, which can be confusing and time consuming.

Tip No. 5

The bridal shop should have a stock for the plus sized and the petite. The salesperson should be knowledgeable about body shapes and types of fabrics that would enhance your body shape.

The Best Surprises Come in Small Packages

It is a toss-up between big bridal shops and the small bridal boutique. Small bridal shops win hands down if you want personalized service. You can find this out by visiting the local bridal store in your locality or by the prompt response to your queries from online shops.

When the salespeople don’t rush you to make a purchase, you have found the shop that wants you to help fulfill your wedding fantasies. It does not matter if you buying an expensive gown or renting an affordable bridal dress, so you are better off here. With small shops, you are in the company of sales people who are after your complete satisfaction.

Surprisingly small stores carry the latest in designer gowns and offer an assortment too. These shops provide gown and accessories rentals if you decide to rent the whole kit and caboodle for you, your bridesmaids, and your mother and your mother-in-law to be. It would be fun swooping down to the shop with your family and friends for your first look-see.

Choosing your wedding gown should not be confusing if you stick to the wedding theme and your budget. With the information, the bridal shop of your choice will steer you to the appropriate gowns if you let them know what you want.

If you cannot explain the details or describe the bridal dress, it would help to have a picture of the gown, probably a cut-out from a bridal magazine, with you. The bridal shop will offer similar gowns or may have the very one thing you are looking for. Now you are ready to shop for your bridal dress.

The best bridal shop offer shopping convenience from wedding gowns to wedding favors to discount wedding invitations. Why look elsewhere when BestForBride.com has them all and at affordable prices?

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