Adding Machine. By flickr user timlewisnm

After saying yes to the proposal and toasting to the bright future ahead, both the bride and the groom-to-be dive straight into making the big decisions: wedding dates, possible venues, wedding party, and the wedding budget. Traditionally, the bride’s parents get to pay for the wedding while the groom’s family can offer to host the rehearsal dinner or sponsor the reception entertainment. In the 21st century however, modern couples are now getting married at an older age – which means that they are most likely to have stable jobs, have their own homes, and have their own savings.

Looking past the traditional take on wedding money matters; couples today mainly pay for their wedding. Of course, they can still accept help in terms of the groom’s parents paying for the open bar and the bride’s dad paying for the wedding gown. Overall, the couple does plan, save up, and pay for the entire wedding day – from the flowers, to the hotel rooms, up to the wedding favors. And this is where the dilemma begins.

For two adults having their own steady jobs and fixed incomes, getting through each end of the month paying rent, buying necessities, and spending for food is a tough call in itself. Imagine adding in a wedding dinner for a hundred into the budget, is it even possible? Here are a few tips on how to throw a real wedding without throwing away hard earned cash.

Stick to the plan. In drawing up plans for the wedding, keep in mind to keep it realistic and attainable. Set up the wedding date and search for possible venues that could go with the wedding theme without busting the bank. As the date comes closer, there might be modifications in minor details but basically stick to the original plan. It helps make budgeting easier and it also keeps the nerves down as well.

Set up a scheme for the expenses. It is true that a wedding may happen only once in a person’s lifetime but then daily expenses such as food and utilities cannot be pushed aside. Plan carefully on how to handle the wedding budget and the expenses. For the reception venue for example, have a projected date as to when both parties will be able to come up with the money, saving up could take up to two or three months. It may be done for the bridal gown, live bands, wedding cake, and even the caterers. The earlier you settle the accounts, the better. Plus you get to enjoy discounts from other vendors when paying in advance.

Open a bank account dedicated for the wedding itself. Sounds weird? But it is an effective way of managing monetary issues and multiple expenses for a single event. At the start of the wedding planning, the bride and groom-to-be can start contributing to the wedding funds on a monthly basis. Christmas bonuses and raises can be set aside for the wedding without affecting the couple’s existing bills and expenses. After all the partying, the bank account can be turned into the newlywed’s house and lot fund or holiday vacation fund.

Guest lists are a must. After all the effort put into the guest list, it is a must to stick to the plan. Sending out Save the Date emails, mailing out the actual invites, and continuously pestering people to send back their RSVPs – all of this just to get an accurate, updated guest list. So as the days go by and the wedding day nears, make it a point to stick to the original guest list. It is where most of the day’s details rely on, like the number of seats at the ceremony, plates at the reception, favors at the table, and so on. Adding as little as 5 extra guests on the day itself will result into chaos, guests having no tables and you also paying the extra fees for the catering.

DIY is a lifesaver. Thanks to the crafty brides and wedding planners everywhere, the trend of having rustic, homey, DIY weddings is here to stay. When budgeting, have a few items that can be ordered or can be DIY-ed. For example, the dessert table can be done and assembled by the bridesmaids during the day of. If there’s still some money left from the budget, then go ahead and splurge on the sweets. Either way, this leaves you a little flexibility in terms of allocating funds for specific details. It won’t be the end of the world when there’s a sudden price hike on flowers and food, so don’t worry.

When all else fails, swipe it out. It is always tempting to simply charge everything into it and then worry about the monthly fees after. However, leave the card alone as it is only to be used in emergency cases and for those last minute purchases at the week of the wedding. If ever you see a beautiful designer gown on the discount rack months away from the wedding, then it can be charged. It is a great bargain and it might not ever be restocked again at the sale price. But then reserve the credit card for those late night anti-stress drinks and spa sessions with the bridesmaids a week before the wedding. And it will also come in handy during the honeymoon so don’t try maxing it out.

If you’ve used excel before, you can dive right in and start budgeting, if not then don’t be daunted – it’s a huge program but we only need to use a few simple features to get you budgeting :)

A spreadsheet is basically a big grid or table,that you can enter figures into and perform calculations with. In the following screenshot, you will notice ruled columns and rows that intersect. The rows are ruled horizontally and are named with numbers, while columns are vertical and are named with letters. You will also notice boxes joining the rows and columns. These boxes are called cells. This is where you would insert your budget items and costs. Cells are named according to the column and row, for example column E row 8 would be called cell E8.

This wedding budget spreadsheet tutorial provides you step-by-step instructions and examples to demonstrate how the Excel spreadsheet works.

Basic Spreadsheet Editing

This section will cover inserting data into cells, editing data, as well as saving and opening your budget spreadsheet.

Inserting Data

You can insert any text or numbers into cells. To insert any data, just click on the cell, type the information, and press enter. You will be taken to the cell below. You can also use your arrow keys instead of your enter/return key, to show where you want to go. Most budget spreadsheets feature a column of budget items and the costs listed next to them.

Editing Data

To edit data within a cell, just click on the cell you want to edit and rewrite. When you are done, just enter or use one of the arrow keys to show where to go next. If you want to delete, just press the delete or backspace key and enter.

Naming and Saving a Spreadsheet

You can save and open spreadsheets much like any other office application – it’s really just like saving a word file.

Basic Maths with Excel

Your budget is going to need some maths to help you out – it can get complicated, but Excel is pretty powerful. Mathematical calculations in Excel require the use of equations, which are called formulas. Formulas are used to calculate figures in cells and they always begin with the = (equals) sign. You can perform calculations with cell names, a combination of cell names and numbers or with numbers only.

For example, if you want to add, subtract, multiply, divide, or calculate a percentage, use the appropriate signs listed below.

• Use the + (plus) sign for addition, eg by entering =4+E8 into the cell. This would display the value of cell E8, plus 4.
• Use the – (minus) sign for subtraction.
• Use the * (star) symbol for multiplication.
• Use the / (forward slash) symbol for division.
• Use the % (percent) symbol for percentages.

Note: To perform calculations you will need to use a separate cell for your results; so you’d enter =4+E8 into a new (blank) cell, not into cell E8 (otherwise you’ll overwrite E8′s value with the formula and all manner of nasty things will happen!).

Formatting Cells

Excel allows you to format numbers in cells, align text, assign font and font size, create borders, assign colours, as well as protect cells and formulas. Cells are normally formatted from the Format menu. Formatting can be used in a budget spreadsheet to separate out different parts; for instance I use a light blue background for the budget items and a darker blue for the totals. It makes it more visually pleasing – budget spreadsheets don’t have to be boring!

Using the Format Menu

First, select the cell or cells you want to format – to select multiple cells, just click and drag your mouse over the cells, as if you’re selecting a bunch of files in explorer.

Then go to the Format menu, and then select Cells.

Alternatively, right click on the cell or cells you want to format then select the Format Cells option.

The Format Cells dialog box will open. The screenshots in this blog post are from the Mac version, but the windows one is much the same.

The options you’re given include:

• The Number option, to format numbers for currency, fractions, decimal, and percentage, including others.
• The Alignment option, horizontally and vertically align text.
• The Font option, edits the font and font size.
• The Border option, creates border, style and color for cells.
• The Fill option, inserts color in the background and foreground.
• The Protection option, protects and hides cells.

When you are done formatting, click OK.

I find it useful to format all my budget cost cells as ‘currency’ – then you can enter in ’12.34′ and excel will display it as £12.34 automatically. Play around with fills and text colours to get your budget looking slick, it will also help you organise your finances properly. Remember you can always use Ctrl-Z to undo, just like most other applications.

Adding Colors and Borders

To add color to your text, background and foreground, as well as create borders for cells, you will need to open the Format Cells dialog box.

* Go to the Format menu, and then select Cells. You can also right click the cell or cells you want to add colors or borders, and then select Format Cells.
o Ensure that you select the correct cell or cells before adding colors and borders.

Adding Borders

Select the Borders tab on the Format Cells Dialog Box. You can add borders with different styles, create preset borders, add color to borders, or create individual borders.

* To use a set border, go to the Presets section.
* To customize your borders, go to the Border section.
* To style your borders, go to the Style section.
* To add color to your borders, click the Color palette.
* When you are done, click OK.

Adding Color to Text

Select the Font tab on the Format Cells Dialog Box. Then go to the Color section and click the color palette to select the text color.

Add Colors to Background and Foreground

Select the Fill tab on the Format Cells dialog box.

1. To change the background color, use the color palette in the Background section.
2. To change the foreground color, use the color palette in the Foreground section.

Adding New Columns

Sometimes you’ll lay out your budget with a certain number of columns, and then realise you need another column between A and B. You can do this easily – to add a new column to your Excel spreadsheet, you will need to select the location for the new column. Keep in mind columns are inserted to the left of the current column, so in our example you’d click a cell in column B to add a column between A and B.

Adding Columns from the Insert Menu

* Click on the Insert

Menu, and then select Columns. A single column will be inserted to the left of the column.

Adding Columns using the Insert Dialog Box

1. You can also use the Insert Dialog Box; just right click on the location to insert the column, and then select Insert.

2. The Insert Dialog Box will appear. Now select the Entire column option.

Then, click OK when you are done.

Useful Formulas

Some useful formulas or functions for budget calculations are AVERAGE, SUM, ROUND and COUNT.

1. The AVERAGE function gives you the average amount for specified cells. You would write for example, =AVERAGE(A3,A4,A5) or =AVERAGE(A3:A5). This can be useful to find your average outgoings per month, or for a wedding budget, the average cost of food per guest. You can also perform averages manually; for example if you had a cell with the number of guests in it in B4, and your total food budget in A7, you could click on C3 and type =A7/B4 to give you A7 divided by B4, displayed in cell C3.

2. The SUM function adds up the total amount for specified cells. You would write for example, =SUM(A3,A4,A5) or =SUM(A3:A5) to display the totaled value of all the cells between A3 and A5, inclusive. This is probably the most useful function for budgets, you can add up all your outgoings and income and so on.

3. The ROUND function reduces the value of decimal places. You would write for example, =ROUND(A3, 3). A3 is the cell with the number and 3 is the number of decimal places to reduce the number by. This can be handy to give sensible output to averages and other divisions in your budget, for example =ROUND(10.348822582 , 2) would display 10.35; much more manageable!

4. The COUNT function counts the numbers in a range of cells. You would write for example, =COUNT(A3:A15). This formula counts the numbers from cell A3 to cell A15. One thing I do in my budget spreadsheet is to put an ‘x’ next to each item that is a bill, and then I use the COUNT excel function to display a total of all the budget items that are bills.

Wedding Cake. By Flickr user karmadude

When it comes to organising the food for your wedding, it is entirely possible to spend a lot of money on a cake.  Boutique cake and chocolate makers, such as Choccywooccydoodah start pricing their cakes at £199, but extravagant couples needn’t stop there.  For the really lavish shoppers, the world’s most expensive cake on record was the Nahid La Patisserie Artistique and Mimi So wedding cake which was encrusted with diamonds and arrived at the Luxury Bridal Show of Beverley Hills in 2006 complete with its own bodyguards.  With it’s price tag of $20 million, you may not want your guests to actually taste it!

For those who would rather save their money and avoid choking on diamonds, an increasingly popular option is that of making your own wedding cake at home.  Although this requires some effort, it does come with its advantages.  It will give your wedding a very personal touch and you can control both the quality and type of ingredients for your cake.  In the case of those whose guests may have food allergies, it can be reassuring to know for certain that there are no nasty surprises hidden in the mix. It can also give you a huge amount of satisfaction to know that you have created something beautiful and special by yourself that you and all of your guests can enjoy.

Once you have made the decision to make your own wedding cake, we would advise you to give yourself enough time to mess it up completely at least once or twice.  Your wedding is a one off event with a lot of pressure associated with it, and unless you are a master baker, you are unlikely to get your cake right the first time.  A few practice runs would therefore be advisable in order to reduce the risk of last minute disasters.  As with any plans, this part has its advantage in that you get to practice eating your cake as well as baking it!

Before you even start baking, you may want to consider baking classes in order to ensure that you have the skills and knowledge needed in order to approach you wedding baking mission with confidence.  You may also want to equip your kitchen with the implements and gadgets you need in order to help your bake to run smoothly.   Electric whisks and mixers can save you a lot of time and effort and ensuring you have the correct size tins and a decent mixing bowl can prevent panics.

Once you and your kitchen are prepared, you can start turning some serious thought to exactly what kind of cake you want to have for your wedding.  Fruit or chocolate?  Marzipan or cream icing?  Multi-tiered or a single layer?  A choice that is becoming increasingly popular with brides and grooms is beautifully decorated individual cupcakes on a multi-tiered cake stand.  Perhaps you would like to try a few ideas and decide nearer to the time exactly what style of cake you would like, although giving yourself enough time to perfect your choice for the big day would still be advisable.

Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is that of decoration.  The type of decorations you may want will be largely dependent on what kind of cake you have decided upon.  With a bit of imagination and enthusiasm, however, it is possible to create a cake which is visually pleasing and personal to you with very little added expense.  Alternatively, you may want to consider buying some wedding toppers from a website or our trusty favourite hobbycraft. You can also buy in tricky decorations such as sugar roses which might be difficult to make without a lot of training, effort and time.

Provided you have given yourself enough time to practice, we have every faith that everything will run smoothly when you come to bake the final version.  However, should anything unforeseen occur to prevent your cake from looking or tasting as well as you would have hoped, help may be at hand from your local bakeries or cake makers, as a lot of them offer a last minute cake service (although they may still need a few days’ notice, so make sure you leave enough time to have them in reserve should you need it).

Good luck and happy baking!

Facebook Wedding Invitations

With over 400 million people now sporting a Facebook page, this is increasingly becoming the way to stay in touch with your friends and family. With Facebook in particular having a nifty event creation function, it could in theory become easier and easier to create and manage your wedding via social networking, and while this writer has yet to see a wedding organised in this way, it is a definite possibility that in future budgeting couples may turn to this method in order to ensure that all of their families and friends are effectively invited and able to RSVP in an easy and efficient way. The possibility of later linking photos of the big day to the event page could also make this option an attractive prospect for a lot of people. One of the questions in your guests minds may well be “Who else is coming” and doing your invites on Facebook will answer this for them too.

Email Wedding Invitations

With websites such as eco2weddings.com offering designs for as little as £25.00 (including complimentary planting of trees for those ecologically-minded couples), the electronic route to ensuring the crowd you want for your day is affordable as well as easy, but for those who want to skim even more off their wedding budget, there is the option of designing your invites totally from scratch. It is possible to do this with ready made websites such as www.evite.com, or for those who can combine their creativeness with some technical know-how, the option is there to design your invitations with the help of programmes such as Adobe Photoshop. For those with less experience or confidence with graphic design, there are various free tutorials on the web which can set you on the path to e-invite greatness. The advantage of this approach is that you can pick out a photo of yourself and your partner and attach it to your invite for that extra personal touch.

Managing RSVPs

In short, the possibilities of electronically inviting your guests are limited only by your imagination and the ability of Auntie Ethel in Grimsby to open her e-mails. This last point, unfortunately, is where the idea of inviting your family by e-mail can encounter some thorny territory. Can you really guarantee that everybody you want to attend your wedding will reliably open their e-mails before they are swallowed up by the spam filters? To avoid these pitfalls, we would advise brides and grooms to be to develop a strong organisational strategy to keep track of who has and hasn’t RSVP’d. To stick with the electronic theme, you could design a simple wedding spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel in order to keep track of your guests, or you could perhaps use an even simpler table in Microsoft Word. Those who have strayed far enough into electronic territory may be happier keeping a list using good old pen and paper. Whichever method you use, the trick is to keep it up to date. In addition, to ensure that nobody falls through the net, a follow up phone call a few weeks after the invites have been e-mailed out might be advisable just in case anyone has missed your e-invite or simply forgotten to reply.

Whichever approach to your wedding invitations you and your partner decide to adopt, the trick is to have fun when designing your invites in order to try and make them as personal and individual to you as possible. Good luck and happy e-mailing!

Image Credit: Flickr / madprime

We’ve featured great ways to save money on the invitations by shooting a wedding invite video, or sending electronic wedding invites, but many couples feel that sending an invitation in the post gives their wedding a more personal touch. It will give your guests a pleasant surprise in their letterbox, and if done right your invites can really set the tone for the wedding. Your wedding invites can also be kept by your guests as a memento of the big day.

Pocketfold Wedding Invitations

This style of wedding invitation is very stylish and looks really professional, but the truth is that it’s very simple to achieve at home for a fraction of the cost. You’ll be shocked when you see how much we can save.

You’ll need a pocketfold invitation as a base, some coloured card from your local stationery shop, ribbon and some self-adhesive crystals to finish it off – you don’t have to use Swarovski, no-one will know ;)

These invitations will set you back £4.25 each from the supplier, but we’ve managed to recreate these pocketfold invitation cards using some craft shop supplies. What’s more, assuming 140 guests, we’ve slashed the cost to just 68 pence each by researching the do-it-yourself way.
Here’s how we did it:

• Pocketfold invitations: £0.59 each at pocketfoldinvites.co.uk.
• Self-adhesive crystals: £2.09 for 144 at StarBlaze.
• Organza ribbon: £4.29 for 25 meters at Hobby Craft.
• Pink card backing paper £4.79 for 20 A4 sheets at Hobby Craft.
• Printing 20p per sheet at your local cybercafe. You can fit at least 10 names per sheet, so that’s £2.80.

Using these prices, that’s a total cost of just £96.57 for the materials to produce 140 invites – as opposed to £595 for 140 from the supplier! That means you’ll save nearly £500. That could pay for your wedding dress!

DIY Silhouette Wedding Invitations

These wedding invites offer a simple, stylish way to ask your guests to join you for the big day. They’re subtle, classy and look really nicely done.

If you buy them in from America, they’ll cost $378 for 150. That’s around £240 in UK pounds, working out as £1.60 per invite (plus shipping from the USA to you).

But let’s think about what you’re actually getting for that price – all you get included is an envelope and a printed piece of card, the ‘accessories’ pictured are optional extras. Who ever heard of optional extras for your invites!?

We know the pocketfold envelopes only cost 59p each so where does the other pound come from?

All you need to do to make your own silhouette wedding invitation is to design the card itself and stuff it into the envelope.  For the silhouettes, you can ask a photoshop-savvy friend to produce a silhouette from some digital photos of yourselves, or give it a try yourself, it’s actually really simple – here’s a tutorial. You can even just use some random silhouettes from Google images – no-one’s going to be holding the invitation against your face to check it’s really you!

Now it’s just a case of laying out the wedding invitation wording in MS Word (or use Open Office, it’s a free Word alternative) and then getting the cards printed. Your local print shop will surely be able to beat £1 per print? Or print them at home if your printer can do card, again Hobby Craft is a saviour in this regard – 100 A4 sheets of white card for a fiver. You might even have enough left over to buy a rounded corner cutter – or ask around; everyone knows someone who’s into making their own greetings cards who you can borrow one from. All in all, you will be able to recreate these invites a little cheaper than the price of buying them in – and that’s not factoring in shipping from the USA to you. If you go for the home-printing option it would work out at just two and a half pence per invite plus ink. Adding the fancy envelopes at 59p each means you’ll save nearly £200 if you have 200 invitations to send, compared to buying them for £1.60 each. These pennies add up don’t they! That’s how you budget – look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.

Ribbon Wedding invitations

This invitation has been very tastefully put together with the wording in a matching colour as the tied ribbon, which makes it feel really professional. If you’re read the previous two DIY wedding invite instructions you’ll already be thinking about how to save money on these invites. Again it’s a case of popping down to your local craft supplies store and raiding the ribbons. Tying them is as simple as doing your shoelaces; use a blob of pritt-stick to keep the bow in place.

The rounded corners on these cards do help to make it special – you can either do it carefully with scissors (it’s really not that hard), buy a corner punch from a card making supplier, or use a bit of a cheat – do it with scissors but make the corners wiggly so you don’t need to be so exact.

This photo will give you a good start on the wedding invitation wording too so if you’re stuck on how to word it this should help.

Now, this exact invitation is quite special – it’s gilt-edged, thermoprinted (whatever that means) and will cost you a whopping $710 for 150 on the cheapest option! Do you think you can beat £450 for 150? I bet you can! It won’t be gilt edged, but if that’s important then just sign it with a gold gel pen and who is going to complain? All you need to do is lay out the wording in Word, get ‘em printed on some posh card and tie the ribbons on. If you’re lucky you’ll find pre-tied ribbons for exactly this purpose at your craft shop.

Q: First of all, what a great idea. How much did you save?

A: The cost to make the video was about $20.00 (£15), so it was really inexpensive. We went to our local dollar store and bought a pile of paperboard signs and a few packs of black markers (we ended up going through about 10 of them).

Q: Super cheap then. How difficult was it to shoot the video?

A: As far as producing the video goes, bring more people than you think you will need. We had five people in total (myself, my fiancee, a person working with the camera, and two people handing us signs). One or two more people would have been really helpful.

Make sure you have plenty of time to practice and shoot. We decided to throw all this together in one afternoon, and we pulled it off, but it wasn’t as easy as it could have been. We got a late start in the afternoon and began to feel hurried as the sun was descending and daylight faded. It took us almost two hours in the park to get this video right (many different takes when someone messed up, figuring out where to stand, people passing us signs making mistakes, errors in sequencing, etc). It would have been tremendously helpful to have more time to practice.

Q: What about post-production and editing?

A: We had the friend behind the (borrowed) camera edit the video and add music for us. Most people have at least one ultra-tech-savvy friend nowadays, and when they find out you’re getting married, they should be eager to help. He did it for free.

Q: If you can’t pull in favours from your mates for your wedding, when can you? Any final tips?

A: Final tip, we did pair this video with our online wedding invitations through punchbowl.com, which were also free. Punchbowl has an incredible party planning/invitation tool that allowed us to share all of the additional details of our wedding that we weren’t able to put into the video. Their free services are more than enough to comprehensively invite and plan your guest list.

To recreate these photos, you’ll need a digital camera (ideally not a phone camera) and either: a friend to take the shots, or a self timer and a tripod. Now it doesn’t have to be an expensive tripod, you can get really cheap little ones from poundland which will work fine for most of these shots. You just screw the camera into the tripod, one of you poses and the other sets up the shot, set the self timer and get yourself into position. It should be simple to get great results with these instructions for doing your own wedding photography.

Holding Hands with the rings

I really like this shot – it’s casual and subtle but still shows off your wedding rings. Holding hands is a sign of affection in most countries so it has a clear ‘love’ theme, though I’m told that in China everyone holds hands, even casual acquaintances. You can recreate this photo pretty easily with a cheap tripod. Try setting macro mode and focusing on the ring to recreate the slightly dreamy effect of this photo. If you want to print out this image and take it with you you can recreate it exactly, or just use it as wedding photo inspiration for your own take on the idea.

Wedding rings on the table

While you’re at a table, you can take a few snaps like this. Again macro mode will help. Note the composition – the rings are offset from the center, and the grain of the wood forms diagonal lines which really help balance the image – it would look skewed if the lines were too steep, and odd if they were horizontal or vertical. Again the photographer has used focus to draw attention to the rings. This is the bride’s engagement ring resting on top of the groom’s wedding ring, and makes a lovely metaphor for their co-dependance and unity. Here’s another photo on a similar theme – wedding rings laying on a book. In this case the photographer has used a book with the word ‘devotion’ clearly visible, which adds a nice touch (raid your dictionary for a suitable word).

Wedding Ring Heart Photo

This wedding ring photo looks lovely and it’s sooo simple to do too! You want a fairly flat book – the deeper the curl of the pages the more elongated the heart will look, a nice shallow curl will give you a well proportioned heart. The photographer has used a mini maglite torch to get the golden heart glow in addition to the shadow, which is frankly a touch of genius. If you want some more inspiration on this, a quick search on flickr will give you infinite variations on this theme. As to which book, if you’re opting for a religious ceremony then the Bible is always a good choice (Genesis 2:18-24 is a popular choice of verse), otherwise a plain notepad is another good option. If printed, make sure there’s nothing inappropriate in the text that you’ll notice later.

Engagement photo holding hands

Another photo of the couple holding hands, but this one has a very different approach; the couple are standing, holding hands and again you get a subtle glimpse of their rings. This photograph is going to be a bit harder to reproduce exactly, but you can use it to inspire your own wedding photos. Again note the composition – the rings are off center and you get a good chunk of the background to give context and space. Too close-up would risk feeling claustrophobic. This has a lovely balance, it’s moody and emotional – in a good way! Experiment with colour to see if a black and white or full colour image looks best. And don’t be afraid to ask your friends what they think of your wedding photography skills. You may even find you have a talent for it.

Classic “Roses and Rings” wedding photo

This is such a classic shot, but it’s difficult to get right – it’s worth taking time over this because it does make a lovely image if you get it right. This photographer has made great use of space to give depth; so many people take this photo really close up and you get no context. By including a little bit of the background you improve the photo loads. The hands aren’t smothering the bouquet either which is another common mistake. Also important is the way their arms sit – the wrists are bent which gives a natural, casual feel to the pose. The colours work really well together too, the reds and skin tones complementing each other nicely.

Don’t know where to get started on the DIY projects months before the wedding? Finding a way to save on favours to be able to spend out on that designer wedding gown? Having a hard time finding ribbons, trims, and flowers to match the wedding theme? Here are a few easy DIY wedding projects perfect to solve a bridezilla’s worst wedding nightmare.

Reception Seat Cards

It can be a little pricey to have them made at a local press or stationery shop – considering they’re really only for getting the guests from the door to their assigned tables. They do add a nice finishing touch to your reception thought, and they can be printed at home using free downloadable templates online or handwritten for that extra personal touch. Doing these yourself ensures they’ll be free from typographical errors, and can easily be changed without incurring extra cost – especially when guests have a habit of confirming at the last minute. Jazz it all up at the reception when you design the seat card display. You can use a clothes-peg and hang them over the registration table or pin them onto a corkboard – the bigger the display, the better.

Your wedding guest book

Guests get to leave their advice, wishes, and even their smiles at the guest book right before the reception starts. Use scrapbook paper and design a suitable hardbound cover for the book. If opting for a more simple approach, Get a huge photo or collage of the couple put together and have the guests sign the surface itself – it’ll make a great wall hanging for your home too. If you go for the traditional wedding guest book, make sure you choose a sturdy book, as it will have to endure through a lifetime with the happily married couple.

DIY Wedding Itinerary

Print-your-own programs and get them to look perfect and error-free on the big day. When we were planning our wedding we posted a program of events along with a map, directions to the hotel and important phone numbers to all our guests. We included local taxi numbers as we had guests coming from afar. This can be printed weeks ahead of the event, as soon as the itinerary has been set. Have fun with the program and get it to look as sleek and stylish or as cozy and warm as you would want. Again, doing it yourself allows you to inject your own personality to the wedding. Add in a little pop of excitement by making the programs into fans or having little bags of confetti tucked in ready for action. Be sure not the leave these behind during the day, deliver it to the venue a day before and have your ushers distribute them before the bridal march starts.

Wedding Photo Booth

This idea is becoming more and more popular – I’ve even seen someone suggesting a video game booth for the lads at the reception! A photo booth serves as an activity for both the young and old during the reception party, and it also captures all of the behind-the-scene fun that hired photographers can never see. Photo booths can be expensive but they are a fun addition to the wedding day. Construct your own mini-photo booth using a catchy backdrop, funny props, a camera on a tripod, a laptop and a printer. Numerous photo booth programs can be downloaded online for free, simply hook up the camera, the printer, and the computer and you will be all set. If you want to skip all the tech talk, go retro with a Polaroid camera and a pin board! Make sure to set up the booth at a cozy corner of the venue and assign someone to look over the area to assist with the equipment.

DIY Wedding Favours

The idea that favours are to be made in big numbers might scare you but DIY wedding favours are given more importance by guests simply because they are handmade. Offer them cookies or brownies from the family’s own secret recipes or make them their own jam or pot-pourri. If the give-aways involve a food item, it can be made a day or two before the wedding. Ask for the help of the bridal entourage and other family members, have everyone bond over the baking and packing while chatting up over wine. All your well-wishers will absolutely love the favours made with an extra touch of love from the entire family. As with the programs, have these delivered to the reception venue early on and don’t forget to make more than the expected guests, that way no one goes home empty-handed, literally. At our wedding, we bought 100 organza bags and filled them with Lindt chocolates, love hearts, confetti and a printed message saying “Thankyou for being our guest”. They went down a treat and it was fun deciding on the contents. Cheap but effective, like all budget weddings should be!

Image credit: Flickr / weddingparaphernalia

We had decided to get married because of the obvious reason of love, but also another reason that was getting pretty obvious by this point – I was exactly nine months pregnant to the day. We had waited around hoping to get more money, but we never could raise enough money to have a beautiful wedding or in our case even just a nice wedding. We decided to just go ahead and get married however we could manage it, before I had the baby.

My future husband’s uncle was a pastor and he agreed to marry us. I didn’t know it would be in his cellar! No, not some fancy wine cellar themed wedding venue, just his uncle’s cellar.

Now, let’s be honest, most brides have to squeeze into their dresses to some degree, but when you are nine months pregnant there really isn’t a wedding dress that’s going to fit you, so I decided it would be simpler not to bother. I wore a pair of ugly white maternity trousers and a simple blue blouse. My future husband wore black trousers and a blue dress shirt, so at least the colours matched, sort of.

We arrived at the pastor’s home, my first time meeting him, and he took us down into the cellar where I met my maid of honor and the best man. I didn’t even know who the maid of honor was. Later, I found out it was my future husband’s sister-in-law. The best man I never had met before either, all our family and friends were at work on our blissful day, even my own mother couldn’t get the day off work!

I bet I know what you’re thinking: there is no way this marriage is lasting. Well keep reading, and you’ll see ;) My future husband introduced me to his uncle, the pastor. He said “this is Rhonda” (that’s important, remember that). The pastor is going through the wedding vows and he said to my husband, “Do you take Betty as your lawfully wedded wife?”. You know those little silences where no-one’s quite sure what to say? My husband leaned forward and, again, said “this is Rhonda”. And this happened every time. For some reason the pastor was just insistent my name was Betty. Not that I have anything against all you Betties out there, it’s a very nice name. I just happen to be quite attached to my own name, Rhonda. You know, ’cause it’s mine.

Well, there we were, being called names that weren’t ours, in a cellar, with hardly anyone we knew around us. The rings? We could only afford cheap rings. I think they were around £20.00 so you know this is top quality. When the time came to exchange the rings, the pastor looked in my eyes, and a moment of recognition and seriousness passed over his face. He turned to my husband and said; place the ring on Betty’s finger. Oh well.

We finished the ceremony and signed the marriage certificate. I was wondering to myself if it would say Betty or Rhonda. The pastor then let us know that he couldn’t file it until Monday, this being Friday. I was thinking to myself that this is great. I’m already nine months to the day pregnant and I can’t have this child until Monday. It’s not like I can just hold on you know! After we got married, then my husband took me back home to my mom’s where I was living and he went back home to his parents. No reception, nor honeymoon, nor even a night of wild passion (trust me, nine months pregnant that’s the last thing on your mind!), and I guess a honeymoon would have been a bit silly after all “Hello, we’re looking for a holiday villa in close proximity to a beach and a maternity ward”. Not really the done thing.

Well, I’m sure many thought there was no way this marriage would last, but from these inauspicious beginnings, I can proudly say twenty eight years later we are still happily married, and still have a little giggle about the Betty incident!

Cupcake image credit: Flickr / misscreativecakes

In order to help brides-to-be steer their wedding away from disaster, here is a quick checklist of the things to check on the day before or on the wedding day.

1. Itinerary. Allow for a smooth flow from one event to the other with the use of a solid schedule. Make a schedule of everything that will happen during the day of and run over it with everyone in the family. Constantly asking the bride during the ceremony will only make her more anxious. Print out several copies of the day’s schedule, hand it out to everyone, and post it in all rooms.

2. Vendors. It may be a handful to deal with but getting confirmations from all vendors early on will help keep the bride calm. Hand in request lists for the DJ, the photographers, and even the bartender. Finalise payments and don’t forget to have them sign in for the payment, in case they deny having received payment later on.

3. Garments. The gown may be beautiful but it surely won’t go to the hotel on its own. Secure the gown and its transport from the store to the hotel or house. Inventory the bridal accessories, like tiaras, earrings, veil, etc. before and after the wedding.  Also, don’t forget to pack all other clothing for after the wedding – an overnight bag including underwear, comfy shoes, plus other necessities.

4. Assigned Tasks. This is where Bridezilla comes in. Remind the people in charge of the gifts, the marriage license, and the speeches about their tasks. It may seem like continuous reminders come out as annoying for them but then it is the bride’s day so they’ll understand. To be extra sure, keep a Plan B list of the people that could fill in for the tasks, just in case Uncle Bill gets too tipsy.

5. Wedding Items. The cake knife, toasting glasses, giveaways, and even the overnight bag – all these should be sent to the reception hall as early as possible. While organising, group all of them according to the venue for easier transport.

6. Emergency Kit. Yes, it isn’t just a wedding myth or a bridesmaid’s joke. Wedding emergency kits ideally contain aspirins, plasters, straws, snacks, tissues, smelling salts, hem tape, safety pins, toothpicks, clear nail polish, white chalk, cash, glue, camera and charger, scissors, earring backs, water, needle and thread (yes really – we had to use it for someone’s dress. Don’t ask who!) and a list of key people along with their numbers. Getting the limo or taxi driver’s number is handy especially for sudden plan changes and when there are items left inside the car.

7. Gifts and Tips. Double-check the bridal party’s gifts, these little tokens of appreciation are best given during the morning of the wedding. Let the bridesmaids feel special on the bride’s own day, too. In small envelopes, seal in tips and label them for the waiters, the venue manager, or the limo driver. No need to dig for smaller bills inside the huge overnight bag or to run outside and get cash from the ATM.

8. Groom. After dealing with all the people and the details, don’t forget that it still is about love. Prepare a handwritten note for the groom to read before going to the church. Express the shared excitement and nervousness through a simple card or a lavish gift. Also, don’t leave out the personal vows. Allot enough time to write and go through the wedding speech – it becomes more and more meaningful as the big day moves closer and closer.

Another great tip: When packing or organizing items the day before the wedding, think of the wedding day as a normal road trip. Make a checklist of all the things you need to last you through the day and bring whatever is needed to make you feel comfortable throughout the trip. Charge your mobile phone, bring your driving license, prepare for bad weather, bring the house keys, and all the things you’d normally pack.

The wedding day is meant to be cherished for a lifetime. Even if you plan the day for an entire year, not everything will go according to plan. But what matters most is the sacred unity of marriage and the grand celebration of your love. So, brace yourself for a roller coaster ride and cherish every single slide and turn!

Share your tips in the comments!

Image Credit: sxc.hu / typofi