Insider Tips to Wedding Planning

Wedding Negotiations - Getting What You Want from Vendors

No one wants to extend themselves for an overbearing, demanding person during wedding negotiations. Being a pleasant person implies that you will be a pleasant customer. A surly client will cost them time in handling complaints and making last-minute changes.

Besides, how likely is it that a pushy customer will provide good word-of-mouth for their shop or venue? An experienced vendor knows the value of time and goodwill and that will translate to savings whenever you enter your own wedding negotiations.

Did you hear about the vendor from a neighbor? Were you impressed by their product or service at an event you attended? Are their designs unique custom creations? A reputable vendor takes pride in his or her work and talking about it to them helps with wedding negotiations.

If you have an honest compliment, don't hold back. Expressing interest in working with a certain vendor will benefit you more than appearing indifferent. Flattery will get you everywhere in wedding negotiations.

The "I" in wedding should be capitalized. That day is all about you. In the planning stages, focus on the "we." See your vendors as teammates and coaches leading you to a successful big day whenever you meet with them to discuss wedding negotiations.

They have the power to allay your fears and guide you to solutions. Turn "me, myself and I" into "You and I" and then "we and us." You are both working towards the same goals: a beautiful wedding and a happy bride and wedding negotiations can make everything pleasant for both parties!

Now that you're engaged, disengage when planning your wedding. You don't have to develop multiple personalities, but the more you can separate your emotions from the process of wedding negotiations, the better.

Think, "WWMWPD?" translated into, "What would my wedding planner do?" They would sit down with you, elicit what you wanted for your wedding and then go out and get it for you during wedding negotiations. If it helps, no one has to know you are the bride, just that you are handling the arrangements.

When you make an appointment to be introduced to their services, try your best to be on time. If you must be late, be sure to call and ask if they still have the time to meet with you, and offer to reschedule the wedding negotiations.

Be mindful of the time during the meeting, too. If it gets close to closing time and you are not finished, offer to come back again. Most times they will insist you stay, but you don't want to run the risk of keeping them from going home. Being considerate and acknowledging that they have a life makes you a customer worthy of receiving a discount during wedding negotiations.

Discussing prices for services on a Saturday afternoon at the height of wedding season is a recipe for hearing "No" often. Keeping an open mind about setting a date and time, design and delivery of a certain element - even the type of reception can open affordable unconsidered alternatives to you if your wedding negotiations take place in the right setting.

Not everything needs to be negotiable, but you can save money in the adjustable areas The vendors know the tricks of their trade, and being flexible gives them room to use their knowledge to accommodate your needs whenever you and your groom meet for your own wedding negotiations.

Wedding Date Dilemma - Marrying a Military Man on Leave for the Holidays

If you're one of the thousands of women engaged to a military man, you may be faced with an unusual dilemma - the inability to preplan your wedding date too far in advance.

What's worse is that many of our soldiers serving in Iraq and other places around the globe only come home for the holidays - a time when wedding guests might want to be celebrating with their own clan on your exact wedding date. 

As the bride and hostess, you want to take your guests into consideration.  But ultimately, if you don't want to wait until your soon-to-be groom is retired from the armed forces, you may have some tough decisions to make regarding your wedding date. 

If your fiancé is home over the Christmas holidays, you might be trying to decide how a wedding date close to Christmas or close to New Years will affect your guest list. Look at it from the other person's point of view. 

The days leading up to Christmas are usually quite hectic for many people.  There are last-minute gifts to buy, meals to plan and purchase, and trees to pick out and trim.   So, a wedding date right before Christmas may be more of a burden than a blessing for many guests to consider, especially if they're coming in from out of town. 

A wedding date close to New Years, however is more flexible.  The most people usually do to get ready for New Years is buy a new outfit and determine which party they plan to attend.  Even if they attended your wedding on the 28th or 29th, there's still plenty of time to fly home and get ready for New Years without interruption.  

Another thing to consider in regards to your wedding date is that on New Years, many wedding guests will be spending time with friends and acquaintances.  But the Christmas holiday is geared more towards close family, so your guests won't mind missing a New Year's celebration as much as a Christmas get-together, if they plan to fly in and stay over the New Year's holiday. 

Your job as the bride and groom is to first take your own marriage plans into consideration.  If you can only get married December 22nd, and your fiancé is set to re-deploy right after Christmas, then you may have to choose a wedding date where you celebrate with fewer guests.  Although heart-wrenching, your guests will understand and support your decision. 

Or, if you've always dreamed of having the perfect wedding with everyone involved, you may have to postpone your wedding date - but do so with the knowledge that you can't predict your fiancé's military future with the ability to pinpoint a wedding date in advance. 

Another vital consideration for women engaged to a military man - look into wedding insurance.  You never know what world events may turn your fiancé's leave upside down and cause your wedding date to be postponed without your knowledge far enough in advance to work out a deal with vendors - and you don't want to lose your deposits. 

Look to your future wedding date with excitement and joy knowing you'll soon have the honor of marrying an honorable military man!  Try not to get stressed about who will or won't be able to attend.  The life the two of you have chosen is certain to be filled with unexpected twists and turns in scheduling and this is the first of many planning decisions you'll face. 

Wedding Cakes - Selecting a Tempting Taste to Please Every Palette

A wedding cake no longer has to be the sickly-sweet concoction of the past. Whether you have a penchant for pineapple or papaya, you can select a wedding cake flavor that will please and delight you and your wedding guests. 

If you're planning to choose a wedding cake that's out of the ordinary, begin with the taste. You may be surprised to find that you'll have a plethora of delightful and unusual flavors from which to choose. 

Also consider the theme of your wedding when selecting your wedding cake. If you're having an island wedding, go with the tastes and temptations of the island - coconut, mango, and pineapple are just a few. 

You can even choose a wedding cake made of towering Krispy Kreme donuts - if you have a great sense of humor. Believe it or not, it's been done before at a trade show for Jewish weddings when the donut maker created Kosher Krispy Kreme concoctions.

Before you arrive at the "wedding cake tasting party" that the caterer will happily stage for you, convey your taste preferences. If you don't really know what you want - only that it be different, let them know what your theme is - or your favorite cake flavor.

Don't forget to select a unique flavor for your groom's cake. You can get funky and creative by breaking away from traditional chocolate or spice flavors. Simply continue the theme or favorite flavor criteria that you used for the wedding cake.

Cutting the wedding cake is usually the final act in the celebration of your wedding day. If it tastes unique and delectable, your guests will leave the festivity with a fond memory.

Whether you choose a traditional taste for your wedding cake or decide to reflect the theme or place of the wedding, it should be the flavor that you, as a couple prefer and enjoy.

Choose wisely…remember, you'll be tasting it again a year later at the celebration of your first wedding anniversary!

Post Wedding Festivity Ideas

If you go to many different countries or look at many different cultures you will see a wide variety of different post wedding festivity ideas. In the UK, people tend to have a sit-down meal after the wedding, followed by a disco with music and lots of alcohol where people tend to overindulge. 

In Bulgaria it follows a similar line, but there is a lot more tradition involved and the post wedding festivity ideas dictate that alcohol is replaced with a lot of traditional dancing.

Look at traditional weddings from around the world and see if any of the traditional post wedding festivity ideas might interest you.  An example is Greece where they have a traditional dance that involves a lot of plate smashing.

Why not hire a band or dancers to entertain the guests and give your guests something to talk about?  One wedding involved people dancing with the cake and one of the ushers had to dance up to the person with the cake and try and steal the cake from them - unusual post wedding festivity ideas are often off-the-wall!

You may want to choose a theme to your evening festivities.  A lot of the celebrities choose to post wedding festivity ideas where they theme their receptions to make it more interesting and to give the guests an interactive part in the wedding.

Maybe you will want to make the first dance even more special with balloons falling from above as you kiss at the end.  Some post wedding festivity ideas occur right as the party is winding down. 

One suggestion for post wedding festivity ideas to make a special time at the end of the meal to go around to each table and thank everyone individually. Visiting each guest at their table is practiced in a lot of cultures where the gift received is normally money.  The bride and groom visit each table and say their thank you as they are passed envelopes full of money.

There is an endless array of post wedding festivity ideas you can use to make your wedding party one to remember.  It doesn't just have to follow the normal process of a meal and a dance - it can be full of innovative ideas to keep everyone amused until it's time to say goodnight.