Groom Issues: Think about a fake ring for the Honeymoon
By Jimmy Horner, WedNet Specialist Blogger on Groom Issues, The Man Registry, http://www.themanregistry.com
Everyone knows that a diamond is a girl’s best friend. Your bride will treasure her engagement ring and wedding band for the rest of her life. That’s why it’s so important to buy her a fake diamond ring right before the honeymoon. Sound absurd? Trust me — I’m trying to help you out.
Chances are that you’ve heard horror stories of people being robbed while on vacation outside of the country. Americans are easy targets outside of our borders because criminals assume we have money and valuables. Whether it’s a face-to-face robbery or a staff member at your resort stealing from your room, it happens. I can’t think of a worse time than the honeymoon for such an incident to take place.
A great way to combat the risk is to buy a fake diamond ring to be worn on the trip. Cubic zirconium, moissanite, and white sapphire are great substitutes for diamonds and can be purchased inexpensively. To the naked eye, it’s hard to tell the difference between these substitutes and a real diamond. Some jewelry stores even offer replicas of the exact ring you buy. If you and your wife will be traveling outside the United States frequently, this may be something to seriously consider. As always, I recommend having your ring insured. However, if you don’t, this precaution takes on added importance.
The Bottom Line: Pay the small amount and pick up a fake rock. You can’t put a price on peace of mind. At the very least, make sure you have ring insurance before you leave.
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Photography: Secret to Getting Great Portraits at Your Wedding
By Daniel Sheehan (WedNet Specialist Blogger for Photography): A Beautiful Day Photography, http://www.abeautifuldayphotography.com
Weddings can be very stressful for the bride and groom. It is hard to make a great photograph of a relaxed wedding couple if they are stressed out over too many details of their wedding day. One proven way to reduce the stress level during their wedding is to get help from a wedding-day coordinator. This can be someone hired for the task or it can be someone recruited from the ranks of friends or family.
While the bride and groom may prefer to plan out all the events of the day, the coordinator is given the responsibility of all of the little details that can cause the bride and groom to get stressed out and prevent them from relaxing and enjoying their wedding day. Then they can be photographed looking their best, relaxed and not preoccupied with the goings on around them. The will smile more easily with the anxiety missing and in general the wedding photographs will be better for it.
The one detail that I have found to reliably improve the process of making the posed formal portraits of the wedding party and family members is to insist that the bride and groom prepare a shot list at least a week or two before the wedding. This is simply a detailed list of everyone they want to include in the making of formal portraits. Listing the actual names of everyone makes it easier to work with. It should look something like this:
1. Bride and groom with John and Mike and Sally.
2. Bride and groom with Bride’s parents – Jack and Kate
3. Bride and groom with groom’s parents – Kit and Kim
4. Bride with Bridesmaids _ Cat, Rita, Bea and Blanch
5. Bride with Roger, Frank Peter and George
6. The entire wedding party
7. Etc…. but try to keep it from going much past #12.
The shot list goes to either the wedding day coordinator or a good friend or relative who already knows the majority of these folks. (It helps if they have a drill sergeant attitude. It’s funny, but in my experience it seems everyone knows just the perfect person to give it to). It functions like this. When the photographer is making the first photo on the shot list, they are rounding up the people in shot 2. and holding them in the on deck circle. Then when the first shot is done, he says next and they proceed to the location to be photographed in their turn. Then the folks in shot #3 are gathered up to stand by. This continues until the end of the list.
This allows the bride and groom to not have to make any stressful decisions on the day of the wedding. It also helps them to know exactly who to tell to come early if the photos will be taken before the ceremony. That is also a stress reducing factor in itself. Take the portraits before the wedding for for a more relaxed wedding day for sure.
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Green Weddings: Going Green with the Gift Registry
By Mireya Navarro, WedNet Specialist Blogger on Green Wedding, Author of “Green Wedding: Planning Your Eco-friendly Celebration”, http://www.mireyanavarro.com
I loved the March 15 Sunday Styles article in the New York Times about wedding gifts. As the economy gets worse, guests are re-thinking the wedding present. Is it necessary at all? The Times article presents a variety of opinions on the subject – “The only event for which a present is absolutely required is the bridal shower”…”Go to a small, unknown antiques shop and buy something very inexpensive,” then write a note saying it’s 100 years old and it came from Vienna!
Green weddings present two alternatives that may suit your guests’ taste much better than lying or forgoing the present: the practical registry and the philanthropic registry.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that brides and grooms committed to rooting out waste in their lifestyles have extended their distaste for excess to their wedding presents. Why suggest luxuries like a porcelain gravy boat from Tiffany if what you really need is help renovating your new home?
Why not turn over the gift-fest to a charity or environmental organization?
For eco-friendly registry options try:
- A subscription for a regular fresh-produce basket from a community-supported farm
- A subscription to a green living magazine
- Do you want to help rehabilitate prisoners, support literacy programs or stop global warming?
Send your guests to the websites of your favorite organizations or to portals for charitable giving like JustGive.org.
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Groom Issues: Who should be invited to the bachelor party?
By Jimmy Horner, WedNet Specialist Blogger on Groom Issues, The Man Registry, http://www.themanregistry.com
The bachelor party will likely be one of the best parties of your life — especially because the groom is the guest of honor! There are a couple easy things you should think about during the planning process so you don’t forget something important.
First, think about what you want to do for the party. Should it be an all-day affair spent with your best buds playing golf or paintball or perhaps watching a movie marathon, and then moving on to dinner and drinks? Or maybe a full weekend celebration is in order — such as going to Vegas or arranging a float trip, hunting or fishing trip or anything else you enjoy? Let your best man and groomsmen know your thoughts asap so they can have time to plan.
Once you’ve figured out the plans for the day, you should think about guests to invite. This is probably one of the most important, but sometimes overlooked areas. Some guests to consider including are the fathers — both yours and your future father-in-law. They’ll definitely appreciate the invite. Just make it clear if they’re being invited only to dinner or to dinner and a couple drinks, etc. You may or may not want them around later in the night, depending on plans and if any bachelor party games are going to be played.
If you’re planning on a small wedding or a destination wedding and the bachelor party will be in your hometown, you should feel free to also invite guests that may not be invited to the wedding. Remember, the bachelor party is your chance to celebrate your life leading up to marriage, so you don’t necessarily have to only include only those who are invited to the actual wedding.
The last thing to think about is friends from different groups that may not be friends with each other, such as your fiancées brother and your frat brother, for example. You may want to think about talking to one or both of them as to what would be considered acceptable conduct and discussion during the party. Do yourself a favor and consider possible problems ahead of time and either warn people or tell them to keep things mellow to avoid offending anyone — especially your future relatives.
The Bottom Line: The bachelor party should be a party to celebrate you. If you’re not sure if you want to invite a particular person, it probably wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and invite them. Even if someone isn’t going to the wedding, they may be part of some of your favorite memories growing up and would make a great addition to your bachelor party. Put some time into making your guest list, so you don’t have any regrets later on. Planning ahead will make this party one to remember. Cheers!
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Green Weddings: Finding Green Vendors
By Mireya Navarro, WedNet Specialist Blogger on Green Wedding, Author of “Green Wedding: Planning Your Eco-friendly Celebration”, http://www.mireyanavarro.com
On a recent panel about green weddings, a fellow panelist, a bride, made an interesting point: when asked whether a green wedding was harder to plan than a traditional celebration, she said it was actually easier because there are not as many vendors to choose from.
This is true, but the green market is rapidly expanding and it has become a challenge to tell who’s a true green vendor and who is a green washer, a business that makes false claims just to get on the green bandwagon. Here are a few guidelines to make sure you pay for truly environmentally-sound products and services:
* Look for trustworthy labels, such as USDA Organic for food or LEED for venues that market themselves as green buildings. The labels mean the product is certified by outside parties that vouch for its green
credentials.
* Most products and services are not certified, unfortunately, but you can do some research when there’s no seal of approval. Go to the vendor’s website to look at its environmental policy. The transparent ones vouch for their commitment to sustainable practices in detail. Ask questions, like "Where does this product come from?" "How far was it shipped?" "Do you recycle?" A long pause on the other end of the telephone may be all you need to tell who’s who.
* Check with watchdog websites, such as www.GreenerChoices.org by Consumer’s Union.
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Wedding Money: Money and Marriage with a Twist of Humor
By Dr. Taffy Wagner, CEPF, WedNet Specialist Blogger on Wedding Money, http://www.DebtAtTheAltar.com
You sitting there, bride-to-be, yes you. Come close to the screen. I know you have some financial questions that you want to ask yet you do not know who or where to turn. Congratulations, I am here for you. The voice of money and marriage for Wednet to provide you with tips, answer your questions and encourage you to not operate in fear. Let me share, one of the things about fear, especially when it comes to finances is it keeps you from taking action. Why? You are afraid of impending response or reaction. So we are not going to operate in fear but operate with the idea of succeeding, living, laughing and loving all the way down the aisle as we talk about money.
Are you ready? I sure am. I can imagine some of the questions you have are how do I manage to accomplish the wedding planning when our budget just got sliced in half or do we postpone our wedding until it is more affordable? Let me ask you, if you did not have any money, would you marry your groom? If the answer to this question is yes, then you have already answered that second question. There is no need to postpone the wedding. The wedding is a way of expressing your love and commitment outwardly for those family members, friends and colleagues. Didn’t you just say if you did not have any money you would marry the groom? There you have it. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on the wedding.
Caution – you are not planning your wedding with monopoly money. Honey, the money you are using is real and someone whether it is you or your family is paying for the wedding. Start talking now with your fiancé about money and what is important to each of you for the wedding day. You can begin the art of compromise now which can be beneficial to you throughout the marriage. The marriage is not all about the wife or the husband individually. The marriage is about the unit.
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Planning: Beauty tips for looking your best on the big day
By Kristal Joiner (WedNet Specialist Blogger for Wedding Planning): Weddings By Kristal
In order to have flawless makeup you need to start with flawless skin, or at least as close to flawless as you can get. Here are a few tips to keep your skin looking its best:
Wash your face everyday: Morning & night use a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer (oil free). Only moisturize where it feels like you need moisture. 3 days a week use an exfoliating facial scrub to sluff away dead skin and bacteria. When washing make sure to go all the way down your neck and upper chest (the parts that will show the most in your gown), and, like my mother always says, “Always wear sunscreen!”
Resurface your skin once a week: About every 30 days your skin renews itself, but often times it is uneven due to dead skin build up, bacteria, and oils on the surface. This causes the skin to become uneven looking, and often causes blemishes. Try an at-home microdermabrasion treatment once a week to keep your skin fresh and clear, and be sure to finish it off with a cell block serum with at least spf 30.
Get lots of sleep: When you hear “I need my beauty sleep”, it’s absolutely true! Sleep is the most important and most overlooked part of your beauty regimen. If you’re having trouble sleeping try taking an aromatherapy bath, reading a boring book, drink a glass of warm milk or chamomile tea. Also, try to avoid television or any wedding planning one hour prior to going to sleep.
These are just a few simple tips that will go a long way to making you look and feel your best on the big day! Happy Planning!
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