Archive for the ‘couples’ Category

A Guide To Wedding Invitations

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Wedding invitations are an integral part of a wedding’s theme and the “mood” you want to set for your ceremony. After all, if the purpose were to solely inform the guests of the details of the event, then you could just send an email or postcard. However, the invitation also serves as a souvenir of a special occasion, and an announcement of a couple’s love. Like the wedding ceremony itself, it must be beautiful and personal.

Selecting the Wedding Invitation’s Design

There are thousands of ready-made wedding invitations to choose from; simply select a design, send the details, and the printer can have it ready within weeks. With such a wide selection, it may be difficult to pick which one is best. Here are the things to consider: * Formal or casual. You want a wedding invitation to complement the overall theme and mood of the wedding. Is your wedding formal or casual? A formal wedding may need classic script fonts, formal wording, and the traditional double envelope. A more casual invitation may use more modern fonts and more natural wording (i.e., instead of “we cordially invite you”, say “please join us…”), but care must be taken to retain the solemnity of the occasion. Let’s say you want to enclose a photo of you and your fiancé—not typically done for traditional invitations. Wear appropriate clothes to the photo shoot: shorts and tank tops simply don’t work.

* Color. You should always choose a subdued color. If you are using a rather bright color for your motif, like turquoise, opt for a delicate ribbon trim or small accents at the sides or corners rather than applying it to the whole invitation. This makes the invitation look more classy, and again, is in keeping with the nature of the event. It’s a wedding, not a night dancing at a trendy club.

* Personal Touches. You can add a short poem, a photo of the couple, or a song lyric from the wedding ceremony.

Wedding Invitation Inserts

Most wedding invitation companies can provide a selection of templates where you just have to fill in the specific names, places and dates. However, many couples prefer to make their own, to make the invitation less stiff and more personalized. If so, here are a few guidelines:

* It is not necessary to put the entourage in the invitation. However, you can have a separate piece of paper listing the members that can be inserted in select invitations—specifically those that go to the entourage themselves, and to the more immediate family and friends. They would appreciate the souvenir; plus, it is a way of thanking them for their participation.

* You’d never forget to put the date and the venue, but many couples forget to put a map to the church and/or reception area. A map would be very helpful, and would save many guests any inconvenience especially if the wedding is located in a place they are unfamiliar with.

* If you are trying to control the number of guests, insert a small card that says, “We have reserved # seats for you.” This is a subtle and polite way of minimizing the headcount.

* If you are moving to a new home after the wedding, you can include another small insert announcing your new address.

Posted in announcement, casual, couples, formal, formal or casual, getting married, wedding invitataions, wedding theme | 1 Comment »

10 Must Have Gifts Ideas For The Wedding Party

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

It is traditional for the bride to give the groom a gift on the wedding day. Although the wedding rings that the couple exchanges can be considered gifts, many brides choose to honor their groom with an additional gift that suits his personality.

One unique gift ideas for your bridesmaids is an evening bag to be used as an accessory on the wedding day. This gift can be a lovely gesture and will serve the purpose of keeping the accessories of the bridesmaids’ uniform and will free your bridesmaid from the burden of searching for an evening bag that matches the dress. In this case you may choose to give the bridesmaids their gifts early in the wedding planning so that they don’t purchase a bag specifically for the occasion of your wedding.

A photo album complete with a picture of you and the bridesmaid or the entire wedding party can be another unique gift idea for the bridesmaids. You could purchase photo albums with the date of your wedding engraved on the front cover and start the photo album with a picture of you and the bridesmaid. This is a wonderful gift idea because the bridesmaid can place her photos from the wedding day in the album and will always have a precious souvenir from your wedding day.

Gift certificates to a spa or a salon also make unique gift ideas for your bridesmaids. Your bridesmaids most likely spent a great deal of time and energy in helping you to plan your wedding. The week prior to your wedding was also probably especially hectic with a great deal of last minute details to attend to and errands to run. While you will have your honeymoon to relax and renew your energy your bridesmaids do not have this luxury so by honoring them by presenting them with a gift certificate to a spa or salon you are giving them the gift or being pampered and the gift of relaxation.

A few more unique gift ideas for your bridesmaids’ gifts include handcrafted or homemade gifts. For example you could put together a CD of some of your bridesmaids’ favorite songs. You could make the CDs different for each bridesmaid and include a photo of the two of you on the cover and include a heartfelt poem on the inside of the CD cover. You could also create a scrapbook for each of your bridesmaids. You could either make the scrapbook a memory of your entire friendship together and include photos and other items from your various adventures throughout the years or if you plan ahead and take many photos documenting your wedding preparations, you could create scrapbooks as a remembrance of the wedding planning that you shared.

Personalized cosmetics bags can also be used as unique bridesmaids gifts. You could purchase attractive cosmetic bags and have them embroidered with your bridesmaids’ initials and the date of your wedding. Another nice touch with this gift is to include a few items such as lipstick or nail polish that complement each of your bridesmaids’ style and complexion.

Another unique gift idea for a bride to give to her bridesmaids is a gift certificate to a local restaurant. Assisting in your wedding preparations was probably extremely stressful and time consuming for the bridesmaids and they certainly deserve a night on the town and the opportunity to not have to cook for a night. This simple gift lets your bridesmaids know that you appreciate their efforts and that you want to thank them for all that they have done to support you.

Unique gift ideas for the bridesmaids can also stem from the wedding theme. For example if you are having a beach themed wedding you might want to give your bridesmaids a gift of a tote bag, a beach towel and a novel to enjoy on the beach. This unique gift idea ensures that your bridesmaids will remember your wedding fondly the next time they are at the beach.

Although the tradition of the bride and groom exchanging gifts on their wedding day is beginning to fade, many couples still wish to honor this tradition. Many couples spend so much money on their wedding and reception that they feel as though they cannot afford the additional expense of buying gifts for each other. While it may be true that the couple cannot afford one more extravagant gift it is also true that a truly thoughtful gift for the groom does not have to be overly expensive. If the couple is partaking in this tradition it is advisable that they exchange gifts that truly reflect the personality of their spouse.

Posted in Bride, Gifts, Groom, bridesmaids, couples, getting married, gift ideas, wedding party | 1 Comment »

Four Pillars For A Long And Successful Marriage

Monday, August 18th, 2008

It requires constant effort from both partners to have a long and successful marriage. After some time, some couples become very desperate and they are ready to throw the towel. They usually wonder how they spent so much time together as they can no longer love each other. Then they turn for help from counselors. These counselors usually advise the couple to follow the tips given below which are the four pillars holding the institution called marriage.

Attend to Your Spouse’s Emotional Needs:

Marriage is an emotional support that a husband and wife provide to each other. Over a period of time, the understanding of each other’s needs take a back seat. To have a long and successful marriage, it is very important to rediscover the ways to meet the emotional needs of your spouse. You have your own priorities and your partner have another set of priorities. In order to have a successful marriage, both of you should talk together and arrive at a joint decision in giving correct priority for the needs based on their importance.

Don’t Become the Cause of Unhappiness of Your Spouse:

Both the partners should take a conscious decision not to become the cause of unhappiness of your spouse. This decision is to be followed everyday. Even if you attend to each other’s emotional needs, it may not lead to a long and successful marriage. You should not hurt your partner’s feelings with your behavior and cause unhappiness for your mate.

Honesty:

This is the most important step in a long and successful marriage. If you are honest in dealing with your spouse, it helps in understanding each other in a better way. If you are not honest in the marriage, the adjustments you are making with your spouse become fruitless and it becomes a major cause in destroying a long and successful marriage.

Spending Time Together:

This is an important step in having a long and successful marriage. Without spending time together, you cannot attend to each other’s emotional needs. Especially after the arrival of children, spending time together with your spouse becomes secondary. However, you should give highest priority to spend time together. By prioritizing your career, home maintenance and other needs properly, you should find time to spend in each other’s company.

Conclusion:

All the steps listed above are just pointers leading to a successful marriage. Both the partners should try to follow the tips sincerely. This is the only way for a successful marriage.

Posted in couples, marriage, marriage partners, partners, spouse, successful marriage | No Comments »