Category: Weddings

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Donations As Wedding Favors – The Perfect Way to Make Your Wedding Memorable and Helpful

Everybody likes to receive wedding favors from the couple, whether it is of the edible kind, the practical type, or the displayable variety. For your wedding, you are thinking along this line and looking at catalogs for wedding favours like cute wine bottle stoppers, quirky scented candles, sweet mints and candies, delectable cookies and cupcakes, sweet picture frames and fridge magnets.

However, you can make your wedding more memorable by giving donations to charitable causes of your choice. You can always provide for the above mentioned wedding favors if you have the budget for them and you want concrete objects to have and to hold; your guests will surely love your thoughtfulness.

Do Your Research

Before you make charitable donations to the organization of your choice, be sure to do your research. Organizations have different approaches to accepting donations and spending contributions, which you need to be aware of before you sign that check. You can check the Internet first.

You have to make sure that your choice of organization issues an official receipt for your donation, which could be used for tax deduction purposes. Otherwise, you need to start looking somewhere else lest you run into trouble with the law. With the problems you face in your wedding preparations, you definitely do not want trouble in your wedding favors where there is none expected.

Donation Ideas

First, determine who and what you would like to help. This way, you can narrow down your wedding favors cum donations to these choices:

* Environmental Causes

Visit the website of your favorite environmental group and make a donation through your credit card, which should take you very little time. You can check out National Arbor Day Foundation, Save the Elephants, Greenpeace or any local environmental group you want. For example, National Arbor will plant trees in the name of your guests.

For presentation, you can place a table card with an image of a tree, the guest’s name and your favorite tree quote. Your guests will be thrilled to know that a tree is planted in their honor!

* Disaster Causes

You can donate to organizations helping to assist victims of disaster rebuild their lives. Check out the Twin Towers Fund, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and any local organization helping your neighbors.

Furthermore, you can save on the cost of your wedding since you determine how much you donate. You can present this donation through cards with messages of thanks from the organization and from you.

* Cancer Research and Patients

You might have a family member battling the Big C. Your donation to cancer research will warm his heart and those of your guests, too. You can check out the hospitals that have cancer wards and ask around for the patients who need help the most. You can also directly donate to cancer research institutes.

The documentary requirements to make the contribution legal will be more complicated but it is worth the trouble. Check out the Make a Wish Foundation, The American Cancer Society and your local hospital.

These donation ideas are just a few but when you put your mind to it, you can find other causes to support. How about feeding the hungry? Or clothing the poor?

Whatever you decide on for your wedding favors, always remember that it is your thought that counts. If you decide to give both donations and concrete favors, then everybody gets to be happy on your most special day.

If you are looking for a bridal shop that can help you with discount wedding invitations and personalized wedding favors to help you achieve your dream wedding, visit BestforBride today!

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Simple Tips for Budget Wedding Planning

Every bride dreams of having an amazing and memorable wedding. Yet, planning out the perfect wedding can be quite costly. In order to save some money while still having a dream wedding, you might want to implement some simple wedding planning tips.

Go Secondhand

One of the best moneysaving tips you can follow with your wedding planning is to purchase a secondhand dress or to use the dress a family member wore. Some brides are apprehensive about wearing a secondhand dress because they fear that it won’t be quite so special if it was worn by someone else. Remember, it is now up to you to create new memories with this dress and the memories of its past don’t taint the memories you are creating in any way. You can actually purchase a very extravagant dress that you may not otherwise be able to afford if you choose to go with a secondhand dress.

Let the Family Pitch In

One of the biggest expenses of a wedding is the food and the cake. By enlisting in family members to help with the cooking, however, you can save a significant amount of money on your wedding day. You might also want to consider having an early afternoon reception so you can serve finger foods rather than a sit down dinner, which will be much easier for your family and friends to prepare for you.

Bypassing the DJ

Rather than hiring a DJ, you might also want to consider preparing your own mix of music and setting up your MP3 player to play the tunes for you. With the help of your MP3 player and a good sound system, which the venue may be able to provide for you, you can shave hundreds of dollars off your wedding expenses.

Reducing Your Guest List

By reducing your guest list, you can save a great deal of money while also making your wedding celebration cozier and more intimate. In fact, by eliminating your 2nd cousin’s best friend from the list, you may find that your guests enjoy your special day even more.

Choosing Your Venue Wisely

Selecting the right venue is another great way to save some money. Having your wedding outdoors at a beach or in your own backyard are two options that can save money while also making your wedding unique and romantic. You might also ask a family member or friend if you can have your wedding at their home.

By following these simple budget wedding planning tips, you will easily be able to have an incredible wedding while keeping more money in your pocket.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Getting In To That Dress

Six months to the big day, and one two three – panic!

No, it doesn’t have to be like that!

It may be tempting to fling yourself into a crash diet, join a gym, buy brand new gym wear and flog yourself half to death on the treadmill, or even opt for the surgeon’s knife in an attempt to get into shape for that big day, but unless you have allowed yourself to develop seriously bad habits, it’s hardly essential.

Instead, with a generous six months to play with, there’s plenty of time to tone up. Start by taking a long hard look at your current diet and level of fitness. It may be that simply cutting out cigarettes and alcohol, or at least, cutting down, can make an enormous difference to the overall level of fitness. Worried about having bingo wings or a less than flat tummy? There’s still plenty of time to do a spot of toning and exercising to pep up those areas of the body that you may be less than proud of.

This doesn’t even need special equipment – doing arm curls with a bottle of water in each hand, or a series of sit ups and stomach flattening exercises can make big changes to your body shape with little real effort. In between booking the reception and choosing the bridesmaids, a few brisk walks in the fresh air really help to boost circulation and get that peaches and cream complexion. Try a deep muscle massage or a body wrap to improve the look of the skin – with no effort at all required on your part!

Do bear in mind, though, that making any kind of drastic changes to your body shape once you’ve chosen your dress will probably mean a few extra trips for additional dress fittings. Better, then, to tone up sooner rather than later, and you’ll walk down the aisle looking and feeling a million dollars.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Buy or Rent for Him

As a groom, would you buy shirts and rent the suits for your wedding?

The cost of a wedding these days can be £15000 and upwards.  With church, reception, cars, bridal gown, along with bridesmaids, ushers and all the accessories, the price is just too high for many couples.  It is tempting to compromise on some of the costs involved, especially for formal wear, which tends to be packed in the loft, gathering dust for many years following the happy event.

However, brides tend to be sentimental over their choice of gown, lots of time is spent choosing materials, styles and cut.  Different shops and boutiques are visited before any decisions are made.  It’s a major part of the event and enjoyed by most females.

Males, on the other hand, tend to be more practical and concerned with cutting expense where possible.  Most grooms would be happy to hire their suit and accessories, especially considering the difference in costs between hiring and buying.

The first name people think of when hiring suits is Moss Bros.  If you hire four or more wedding outfits from them, the groom’s wedding suit will be free!  The price for hiring a three piece morning suit, plus shirt and cravat averages between £70 and £80.  The quality of material and styling is generally superb.

Many hire companies offer lower prices that this, depending on quality.  Most towns have specialist hire shops, many conveniently situated on the High Street.  The groom, best man and ushers can visit the shops, feeling the quality of material, style and cut.  They can try on various styles and check which suits them best.  Hire firms will also do alterations where necessary and deliver to the home, all at little extra cost.
A designer morning suit of similar style and quality would cost anywhere between £600 and £800 to buy.  There is such  a huge difference in price for a suit which would be probably never be worn again, that it’s no surprise that more grooms than ever before are choosing to hire!