Plan My Winnipeg Wedding » Bridesmaids

12 Ideas to Keep Your Wedding As Simple As Possible

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:31:04 +0000

“My fiance and I are having a little disagreement. What I want is a big church wedding with bridesmaids and flowers and a no-expense-spared reception; what he wants is to break off our engagement.” – Sally Poplin

I’m getting married at the end of this week! Actually, I’m getting re-married — my wife and I have been married for awhile now, but the first time was a super small civil wedding with no reception (we just went to a restaurant). This time we’re getting married in our church, with a bigger reception (300 people).

And while it’s a fairly large wedding, my wife and I have tried our best to keep this wedding as simple as possible. I’d like to share some of the things I’ve been learning for those of you who might be getting married in the future, and who don’t want a big complicated affair.

But I need to start by saying this: if you want a fairly traditional wedding, with the wedding dress and bridesmaids and a reception and all of that, there’s no such thing as a really simple wedding. A wedding can be simple, but only if you and your bride and a few friends go to the court and get married and go to dinner afterward (that’s what we did the first time, essentially). What we’re talking about in this post is the more complicated, traditional wedding, but with some traditions thrown out to keep things a bit simpler.

Even with our wedding plans a bit simplified, we’re still feeling the pressures of the wedding preparations, although things are definitely much easier than they could have been. Here are some ideas to take some of the stress off your wedding:

1. Keep the guest list small. If you can pull this one step off, the cost for just about everything else will go down, and everything will be fairly simple in comparison. My wife and I weren’t able to pull it off. Well, in a way, we were — we both have extensive families, and on Guam, it’s custom to invite everyone (not only cousins but second and third and fourth cousins, and all the aunts and uncles and grandparents and children at each level). But we limited the guest list to just the first cousins of our parents, and that was an accomplishment. We added just a few close friends, when we could have invited dozens and dozens more. So we ended up with a list of 300 instead of 600, when I would have liked it to be closer to 150.

2. Keep the menu simple. The biggest cost for us has been food, but we were able to keep it to a reasonable level because we didn’t go for an extravagant, fancy dinner. We didn’t choose a large amount of dishes and desserts either. We chose a few key dishes, all of them simple, and left it at that. While we would like people to enjoy the food, they are not coming there to have a fancy meal — they’ll be there simply to celebrate our marriage and enjoy our company. If that’s not enough for them, it’s not my problem.

3. Have it catered. When it comes to food, you can go two ways — simple in terms of how much trouble it’ll be (go with a caterer) or simple in terms of costs (have family prepare food). On Guam, it’s customary for family to prepare the food, and we have lots of family that was willing to help. It would have saved us money. But we didn’t want to go through all that trouble — it’s a major hassle — so we went with simple, and we’re happy with that. This way, family can just get dressed and show up and enjoy the celebration.

4. Get help, and delegate. While we saved our family from having to cook, we are asking for help from a few friends and family. Instead of trying to do all the preparations on our own, others are being enlisted. And trust me, they love to help. There are a lot of little details that need to be taken care of, and if you try to do everything yourself, you’ll be running around like crazy. Instead, allow others to help out, delegate certain tasks, and when they do them, check them off your list. It makes life a lot easier.

5. Go with the easiest attire. For me and the other guys in our wedding party (my three sons, the father of the bride, and my best man), we chose the simplest attire in terms of how much work it’ll take, and that’s a rented tuxedo. Sure, we could have gone simpler, but we would have had to buy the suits, and that’s a lot of trouble trying to shop for attire that’ll fit all of us. Tuxedos are hassle free. For the girls, we had a cheap dressmaker (from a hole-in-the-wall shop) create some simple dresses for the little girls, then bought some very simple dresses (I mean really simple – like beach dresses) for the bridesmaids. The bride, of course, had a nice dress, but it was fairly inexpensive, with a pretty and classic look.

6. Forget fancy invitations. Traditional wedding invitations have a couple different envelopes, tissue paper, some other paper, and that’s all before you even get to the invitation itself. It’s way too much trouble and too expensive for my tastes. So we printed our invitations ourselves, on our printer, on stock stationary we got at an office supply store. We didn’t even put them in envelopes or address them. We just printed two invitations per 8.5×11? sheet of paper, cut the paper in half, and passed out the invitations like that. And instead of mailing them, we had family pass them out — we live on a small island, so there’s not a lot of driving involved.

7. Don’t try to impress. This is key — if you try to impress people with your fancy wedding, you’ll go to a lot of trouble and expense. It’s really not worth it. Everyone has been to fancy weddings, and while they’re nice, they last for one day and they put you deeply in debt. We decided we’d rather stay out of debt, minimize our stress levels, and spend some of the money on our honeymoon. It really doesn’t matter to the guests anyway — like I said, they’re just there to celebrate your wedding, and don’t really care if you don’t go all out. If they do, that’s their problem.

8. Keep the decorations simple. We’re going to have a few floral arrangements, some candles, and that’s it. Very minimal, very little trouble, very little expense.

9. Simple favors. We’re going to have some traditional Guam-style candy (coconut candy), put in little inexpensive favor boxes. And that’s all.

10. Simple entertainment. We’ll have some traditional island-style cultural dancers, an accoustic musical group, and that’s all.

11. Have a coordinator. This doesn’t have to be a fancy wedding coordinator, but can simply be a family member who you trust to run things according to your plan. If you have someone else taking care of all the details on the day of the wedding yourself, you don’t have to worry about it, and can relax and enjoy the festivities.

12. Hold it early in the day. Our church ceremony will take place at 9:00 a.m., and the reception will start at 11:00 a.m., so it’s a lunch buffet. This minimizes costs, and allows us to finish early and go to our hotel room afterward before we’re completely exhausted. Plus, it’s on a weekday (Friday), so many people will have to go back to work after lunch, meaning the party won’t last that long and there won’t be any drinking. That keeps things even simpler.

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Preparation Guide Outline

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:52:40 +0000

** FOR BOTH OF YOU**

10 to 12 months prior to your wedding…

- Plan the type of wedding you both want to have: religious/civil/single/double ring

- Decide on the degree of formality and size of wedding.

- Set a wedding date, and have at least one other possibility to fall back upon.

- Discuss your wedding budget fully with each other.

- Compile your guest list together, with family input.

- Arrange for your Church ceremony and wedding rehearsal (consult clergy person).

- Engage the organist/musicians and soloist immediately.

- Acquire a suitable reception location (enquire re: change room, kitchen, facilities,bartender, liquor license etc.)

- If need be, book the services of a caterer.

- Hire the reception entertainment.

- Select your bridal party – use one usher for every 50 guests as a guide here.

NOTE: Contrary to common belief, it is not necessary to have the same number of ushers and bridesmaids.

** FOR THE LADIES**

- The bride begins to shop for her wedding gown. She should visit all the shops possible and choose to deal with the one where she received the nicest service and best selection. Although the bride accepts the opinions of her mother and/or maid of honor in making her choice, it is still her decision alone as it is HER wedding day.

*The bride’s personal attire includes () wedding dress ()veil and headpiece () shoes () bride’s garter () lingerie () going away outfit and accessories.

- The bridesmaids may now choose their dresses so as to compliment the wedding gown.

NOTE: The flower girl usually wears a replica of the bridemaid’s dresses or a fancy white party dress with a belt or bow of a color that matches the bridemaids’ dresses.

4 to 6 months prior to your wedding…

Order your stationery supplies, which may include:

- invitations *- wedding scrolls for guests’ cake

-announcements *- confetti/ rice or rice bags

- “thank you” notes *- sketch maps – to church

- guest book – to reception hall

- gift record book *-matches

- serviettes *- place cards

* (Optional)

- Decide on your reception menu and notify the caterer of your choice.

- Visit the jeweler for groom’s ring (if double ring ceremony).

- Choose and register your patterns for : ______ fine china

______ every day china

______ crystal

______ silver

- Order your wedding cake – use color swatches so that everything matches. Cakes may even be decorated with replicas of flowers found in your bouquet.

- Arrange for the groom’s cake at the same time , if required.

3 to 4 months prior to your wedding…

- Together with the intended groom, choose gifts for your attendants. Remember that engraving may take a number of weeks to get done.

- Complete your invitation and announcement lists.

- Pick up your invitations and other stationery supplies that you ordered.

NOTE: The flower girl’s memento is usually her basket of silk flowers. The ring bearer gets to keep the ring pillow. A nice touch is to have your first names and the date of your wedding embroidered on the pillow.

INVITATIONS

Proper etiquette dictates that invitations be sent out to all our relatives, guests and members of the wedding party. Two envelopes enclose the invitation and often a small self-addressed stamped enveloped containing R.S.V.P. (reply if your please ) card is enclosed.

Remember to include on your list the clergy person ( and spouse), Church musicians and photographer.

NOTE: All guests over 18 years of age should receive their own separate invitation. Invitations sent out of the country require that country’s return postage.

Since weddings are really family affairs, approach other members of your two families as the addressing of envelopes may take two or three weeks to complete. Your maid of honor may also offer her assistance here. Postal and Zip code books are available through your local post office or library.

Invitations should be mailed out at least 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding. This will allow for possible delivery delays. Reply cards are to be returned to the bride’s mother , who then checks them off as they come in. The reply cards should be dated at least three weeks ahead of the wedding date.

NOTE: If children are to be included at the reception, add their names or the phrase “and family” to the invitation.

- Send a wedding announcement to the local paper’s social editor. Announcements are usually sent to relatives and friends who were not invited to the wedding or who were unable to attend the wedding.

- Choose music for organist and soloist after consulting with your clergy person.

- Notify organist and soloist of your final choices.

2 to 3 months prior to your wedding…

- Arrange to have a display area if your gifts are to be displayed.

- Book the hairdresser appointments for bride, bridesmaids, mother and flower girl.

- See your beautician or make-up consultant . Use your color swatches to ensure that make up and nail colors used match the colors of the dresses and flowers.

- Together with your groom to be, select suitable accommodations for after the honeymoon.

- Make arrangements for any necessary furniture and appliances.

1 to 2 months prior to your wedding…

Check and reconfirm _____ reception entertainment

_____ reception menu

_____ photographer/video arrangements

_____ florist orders

_____ wedding cake status

_____ hair dresser appointments

- Complete trousseau.

- The bride, bridesmaids and mothers go for their fittings during the last month.

- Begin to record or acknowledge each gift as it arrives. The “thank you” cards are mailed out after the honeymoon.

- Make up a seating outline for the bridal party, parents, grandparents,clergy and other special guests attending the reception.

- Plan a bridesmaids’ luncheon or a rehearsal party. A barbeque, a picnic, a potluck dinner, a buffet supper at home, a restaurant meal or even a poolside party are all acceptable and any one may be used here.

NOTE: – if not provided through the Church, the bride and the groom must obtain their own marriage license – birth certificate will be needed. If previously needed, bring the divorce decree. If under age, parental content may be necessary.

- some locations require blood tests and physical examinations as prerequisites before a marriage license can be issued.

2 to 3 weeks prior to your wedding…

- Begin packing for honeymoon.

- Arrange to have someone record late gift arrivals.

- Verify the arrangements for picking up or delivery of flowers and cake.

- Check on commitments made with the organists or soloist.

- Confirm time of wedding rehersal and inform all participants.

- Notify the caterers of the final guest count.

- Get inoculations for the honeymoon. (if needed)

- Pick up passports. (if needed)

- Maid of honor and bridesmaids plan hall decorations.

- Draw up a possible seating plan for your reception guests.

- Make up place cards for the head table and the parent’s table.

During last week…

- The bride remembers her rehearsal party gifts for the groom and all female attendants.

- Pick up wedding cake if it is not to be delivered, as well as any rented items.

- Have your belongings moved to your new home.

- Give a bridemaids’ luncheon.

- Hair appointments are kept.

- Complete your honeymoon packing.

- Pick up all dresses at least 2 or 3 days prior to the wedding.

- The maid of honor and bridesmaids arrange to decorate the location of the reception as close to the wedding day as possible.

NOTE: Remember to arrange to have your honeymoon suitcases and going away outfit at the location where you plan to go and change on the wedding day.

* FOR THE GROOM AND MALE ATTENDANTS*

10 to 12 months prior to your wedding…

A good idea is to first read over the Preparation Guide with your intended bride. Then as soon as possible , do the following together.

- Plan type of wedding.

- Set date.

- Discuss and set a wedding budget.

- Make out guest list.

- Acquire organist.

- Pick a reception location.

- Book reception entertainment.

- Select wedding party.

8 to 12 months prior to your wedding…

(With your bride to be)

- Discuss honeymoon possibilities.

- Set a honeymoon budget.

- Book honeymoon trip.

- Arrange for passports (if needed).

- Inquire as to any needed inoculations.

4 to 8 months prior to your wedding…

- Select wedding ring with the bride. Ring should be engraved with date and initials of both the bride and the groom.

- Offer to assist in any way.

- Possibly to help to acquire photographer or video personnel.

- Give input re: reception menu.

- Purchase gifts for the male attendants.

- Give input for music at Church.

- Buy wedding gift for your bride.

3 to 4 months prior to your wedding day…

- Offer to help address invitations.

- Together select accommodation for after honeymoon and arrange for any necessary furniture or appliances needed for your new residence.

- Choose your tuxedo and related apparel.

- The male attendants should come in as soon as possible, preferably with in the next two weeks, and order their wedding attire from the groom’s same Men’s formal shop.

- The ring bearer may be included here or many wear any other appropriate attire.

- The best man chooses the proper attire in order to complement what the groom has chosen.

NOTE: Ensure that colors chosen do not clash with bridal attendants’ attire or the dresses the mothers will be wearing.

1 to 2 months prior to your wedding day…

(With your bride to be)

- Acquire the marriage license – these papers will be needed: birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and proof of citizenship.

- Pick up tickets and confirmations of honeymoon travel arrangements.

- Notify all wedding rehearsal participants of the time, place and date of rehearsal party.

- Assist the bride-to-be in the seating arrangements for the reception.

- The best man should take the lead in the planning of a rehearsal party.

2 to 3 weeks prior to your wedding…

- Groom plans transportation for bridal party.

- Begin your honeymoon party.

- Groom arranges suitable accommodation for out-of-town guests. Try for a hotel group rate and send out confirmation cards. Guests usually pay for their own room.

- Acquire inoculations (if needed).

- Get blood test (if needed).

- Best man and ushers plan appropriate car decorations.

During last week…

- Groom remembers the wedding rehearsal gifts for his bride and male attendants.

- Groom arranges remuneration for organist and instrumentalists, etc.

- Financial arrangements for honeymoon are dealt with.

- The men pick up all rented formal wear.

- Groom completes his honeymoon packing.

- Have your personal belongings move to your new home.

- The male attendants decorate wedding party vehicles as close to the time of the wedding as possible.

NOTE: Remember to arrange to have your honeymoon suitcases and going away outfit at the location where you plan to go and change on the wedding day.

Plan My Winnipeg Wedding

High Efficiency Furnaces Winnipeg

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