You are not alone; everyone is looking for ways with today?s economy to wow their reception guest for less money. Keep the wedding of your dreams without going broke in the process. It is possible; a lot of people are having impressive and grand parties for as low as one hundred dollars. That is excluding the rings and gowns, of course. This article will show you exactly how you can make it happen for you and your new spouse.

The big expense of food is a good place to start. Some have trading in the princess themes and gone for the picnic theme instead. Use gingham table cloths and your guest won?t mind when you put some red hots and buns, and beans on the grill. There?s also the TexMex build your own taco or burrito buffet. Catering can be a gigantic expense, if its available to you cook your food yourself or have a family member take over the kitchen duties. Family is always honored to take over an important duty like this.

Hire friends and relatives to run the bar if you have one, and for setting up prior to the party and clean up, as well. Again most will want nothing more than to help you out and will do it for next to nothing if not even completely free of charge. It is after all, your wedding day.

A great alternative to a florist is using silk flowers. They are inexpensive and many more varies of colors are available than the natural ones. The memories of your wedding can last forever in your bouquets; you can save them and reuse them for anniversaries and other occasions.

Create decorations with any children in the family. The arts and craft project can act as a babysitter and occupy them while the adults help you with other plans. Construction paper confetti or handwritten place cards can add a personal amusing touch to your tables? displays.

In order to serve your guests comfortably, ask around and try to find some tables and chairs you can borrow from somebody, instead of renting them from a company. Then you will not have to worry so much about returning equipment by a deadline, equipment getting wrecked or stolen – and you’ll save a lot of money, too.

When it is all said and done, planning and executing a great, memorable wedding reception doesn’t necessarily have to be as costly as you may have thought. With just a little bit of thought, effort and smart shopping even you can make it happen, too.

Tags: wedding music, wedding poetry, wedding favors

Often, young couples will quickly find out that popping the question may indeed be the easiest part of getting married. And while we all can’t have a wedding planner like the one played by Martin Short in the “Father of the Bride” films, some help will probably be necessary in order to have a successful and somewhat-less-stressful ceremony and an eminently enjoyable after-party. A local wedding guide or directory can go a long way towards simplifying the enormous task facing an amateur wedding planner. Most people will only have to plan two weddings in their lifetime at the most: their own and, God willing, that of their children. Even for a simple event, a whole slew of details must be sorted out to ensure the day goes smoothly and everyone has fun. Wedding guides will help the wedding planner consolidate the tasks of coordinating the clothing of all the different parties involved, from the flower girls and ushers, to the groomsmen and bridesmaids, to the bride’s mother, to the bride herself. Moreover, very specific arrangements must be made to enable everyone to get fitted for and pick up their garments before the big day arrives. A local wedding guide will provide a directory of all the businesses in a region that service wedding parties so you can compare price and styles.

Not only will a wedding guide help in finding the services you need to make your dream wedding a reality, most will provide a wedding planner where you can enter all the important names and numbers, keep track of who is wearing what, monitor the total cost the whole event, and outline a detailed schedule for the wedding day itself. Most people use a daily planner to manage their daily task and to ensure they stick to a schedule. It seems only natural that a detailed wedding planner should be kept to manage the tasks and schedule for what will be for many, the most important day of their lives. Not only will a wedding planner help to keep track of all the tasks to be done, appointments to go to and rentals to make before the big day, it will also help to maintain a budget. Those few with the luxury of a big budget will think this is less important, but then again, those with a large budget will probably just hire a professional wedding planner to take care of the details. For the rest of us, we want to know just how much the special day will cost us. It is best to decide what is really important to you and not get lost in the details. A wedding guide can assist you to find out what exactly your various options are and making sure you get the things that are important and forego the extras that will really make no difference either way. In addition, most wedding guides suggest some form of wedding insurance, as the cost for rescheduling can often postpone a wedding several months or even a year.

With so much riding on good preparations, it is folly for an amateur wedding planner to proceed in a helter-skelter fashion. A local wedding guide has all the latest industry advice as well as common conventions you may not have been aware of. Remember, this is, hopefully, a once in a lifetime event for the two people involved. Good planning can be the difference between disaster and the realization of a dream. Consolidating your wedding planning will reduce your stress level and increase your ability to enjoy yourself.

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The area around the Forbidden City abounds in interesting Chinese handicraft shops. You have to separate the wheat from the chaff, of course, as numerous shops only offer items of a mediocre quality.

When you have spent some time in Beijing, and you have seen a great number of these shops, it become easier and easier to recognize if their offer is attractive – both in terms of quality and prices – or if the owners try to make a quick buck on your back.

I found one of such cool shops in Nan Chi Zi Street, with a large selection of handicrafts from all over China.

The shop is a happy capharnam, by which I mean an organized disorder of hundred of small items which could each be offered as surprising, unusual gifts of ethnic flavor.

Such is the case of their happiness dolls, small wood sculptures originating from the region of Hebei, north of Beijing; or of the Yunnan figurines, handcrafted by the local minorities. Hanging from the ceiling, you cannot miss the Shandong lanterns and lucky pendants.

Known as ‘Huan Xi Wa Wa’, happiness dolls are believed to bring good luck and fortune, and for some models to promise life-long bonds to newlyweds.

Chinese families often give each other such small but meaningful gifts, to wish wealth, prosperity, good health, and good fortunes to their families and friends.

Among the other decorative objects offered by the shop, you can’t but notice the braided pendants. Shaped as fish and Chinese zodiac animals, or Chinese characters such as ‘Luck’ and ‘Love’, these red pendants are great handmade gifts.

I noticed a beautiful series of painted clay figurines representing old Chinese people sitting or standing at the doors of the old Beijing homes called ‘courtyards’. You can still see a few of these houses in the hutongs (the old alleyways). They tend to disappear though, to leave room for new construction projects.

The artists even thought of adding the familiar weeds typically found on old roofs in the Beijing Hutongs (the old alleyways), and the worn-out stone stairs leading up to the richer courtyards (traditionally, the higher the flight of stairs, the richer the home owner).

Truly good examples of naive art which would make a cool gift for collectors and children alike.

Tags: wedding bands, wedding music, wedding bouquets

All parents need to be commended when they give up their time and energies to sit through their children’s sports tournaments. I had good reason to think about this earlier this month when my daughter’s softball team had a tournament. The temperatures sored near 90 and the dust rolled in (hadn’t had any rain in awhile). I reflected back a how good natured my own parents were when sitting through sports tournaments that my brother and I participated in.

At the beginning of a tournament, there is a carnival-like atmosphere. There are lots of people full of excitement, bright colored uniforms, and food stands on every corner. Sometimes there are even trinket stands selling toys and sunglasses. So begins the first tip to surviving an outdoor tournament. Bring your cash, and lots of it. You will probably pay an entrance fee and then spend the remaining of your week’s entertainment budget on soda and hot dogs.

If you want to save some of that cash, bring a cooler. That’s my second tip. Always bring a full cooler and a koozie or two. Fresh fruit, cheese sticks and nuts make great snacks for athletes and their fans. Even if you think your team will not survive to the finals, take along enough drinks and snacks to last the entire day. If your team is eliminated early in the day, you still have enough supplies to have a little party. It’s OK to celebrate finishing in fifth place.

My tip #3 is that you don’t always know what the weather will be at the end of the day so be prepared for just about anything. I don’t know how it is where you live but our weather folks aren’t all that accurate more than an hour or two out. So pack for all occasions. Some items I include in the 2nd backpack I take is sunscreen, hats, a long sleeved shirt or two and wet wipes. Sometimes if I think it will be hot, I’ll even pack one of those mini fans that runs off of batteries.

Of course the next tip (we are up to tip 4 – if you’ve lost track) is the downtime and boredom issues. The first pertains to the time between games that always seems to last longer than it should. The second has to do with keeping my younger kids amused all day long. The remedies are both modern and traditional. We bring along handheld games, MP3 players, magazines, and good old fashioned cards.

And for my final and most important tip, make plans to pamper yourself when the day is done. Pull out your best bubble bath, your comfy robe and soak the dirt and sweat away. Your sore bleacher behind will thank you for it!

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Is a fall wedding a sound idea? After all, June is the premier month for weddings and it may feel a bit odd to consider going against tradition to such an extent. Yet the numbers of those choosing a fall wedding are beginning to add up and if you have ever had the fortune to attend a marriage celebration that was able to capture the very essence of the season you understand what makes this an almost irresistible season for this occasion!

When compared to the June nuptials with their soft pastels and light colors, fall is the season that inspires boldness and lush, rich colors as well as heavy textures. Warm colors in the shades of sweet potatoes, earth tones, fir trees, ripe corn, and the reds and golds of falling leaves are all invited to the party.

Of course, if you thought it was just the bold color palette that made for an exciting fall wedding, you are mistaken! Locations that capture not only the sight but also the sound of the season now add to the plethora of reasons for choosing this exciting time of year for a celebration of such life changing magnitude! Imagine the sound of the wind as it gently moves a field of rip sunflowers, or the breeze that rustles the leaves in the orchard where a few apples not yet picked will give off a heady scent. Other locales frequently chosen are vineyards, country churches, or fields.

Foods served at the reception may include not just the traditional rubber chicken dinners with which almost everyone is familiar, but instead they may capitalize on the harvest richness that includes fragrant breads, jams, jellies, hams, nuts, squashes and a wide array of fruits and other veggies. For party favors these also translate into wonderful packages to be added to candles using maple extract as one of its main compounds. Other great gifts include marzipan reproductions of fruits as well as gilded nuts.

Take the color scheme a step further by opting for a traditional wedding dress which is dressed up with special accents for the fall colors. Instead of the traditional black tuxedo, why not have the groom dressed in a rich brown suit? Make the flowers match your aquamarine engagement ring. Use special fall blooming flowers to adorn your wedding location or use them later on to provide accents of color during your reception. You will find that these rich colors and usually bigger blooms will make for an amazing effect among the smaller winter squashes.

Similarly, consider making the smells of the season one of the aspects of your reception. Light maple candles or rich beeswax candles where the scent of the wax will permeate the location and offer a way for the season to enter into the hall. A roaring fireplace instead of central heating is a great way to round out the atmosphere, and the odds are good that your wedding – rather than your cousin’s – will be the memorable event of the year!

Tags: wedding poetry, wedding cakes, wedding favors