Wedding Tips & Bridal Trends

Many are down on funds and weddings aren’t getting any cheaper. Prices continue to rise and all to often future couples are trying to cut the wrong costs. When planning a wedding, make your day special and save big by investing a little of your creative time to cover some of the wedding decorations and arrangements. However, leave some of the wedding planning to the professional wedding planners. Some wedding arrangements aren’t made for the do it yourself approach.

Saving money is always important, but cutting the wrong corners can end up
costing a couple a lot more. Below are some items that should not be attempted
by the bride & groom. Instead hire the appropriate professional and save
yourself a lot of headache.

Can you make this with ease? If not, consider a professional wedding cake baker.

Wedding Cake: It may seem simple enough, a great idea comes
to mind and big savings are ahead. Make your own wedding cake, with your own
personal design. Not off to a good start, this is a bad idea. Wedding cakes
are always the main attraction at a reception, the center of attention. The
cake must look extraordinary, impressive and stylish. In addition, taste is
of utmost importance. A wedding cake bakery is highly skilled and professional.
Did you ever watch ‘Cake Boss’ on TV? That’s the kind of establishment you want
making your wedding cake. Cutting corners with this item is always one of the
worst decisions any bride & groom can make.

Hiring a professional florist for wedding flowers is a good idea

Bridal Flowers & Floral Arrangements: Even if you are
an avid gardener you really don’t want to take this one on. Going green is a
big deal these days but don’t try to put on a green thumb for your wedding day.
Flowers and floral arrangements must be kept at precise temperatures, in a controlled environment, until the moment comes where they are to be used as bouquets for bridesmaids and decor for reception tables, and let’s not forget the traditional wedding boutonnieres and corsage arrangements. Not convinced? Imagine what we’ve seen at dozens of weddings where this route was taken. Flowers bending over on reception tables, looking like U-Turn street signs and petals falling off, onto dishes on the table. Half-dead bouquets, and more. It is an enormous undertaking and should be left to the florist who has the proper training and skills, and the support of staff to handle all the arrangements.

Wedding Planner: OK! Maybe you’ll pass on this one, it can
be another large cost and it’s tough to find a wedding planner / coordinator
that actually knows what they’re doing. All too often wedding planners are ‘self
pro-claimed’ professionals of the industry. Make sure they are, check references
and check with your state or local jurisdiction to ensure they are licensed
and insured. Wait! Don’t stop here, keep reading. There is a plus side to all
this. A legitimate wedding planner can take away any headaches you run into
with all of the wedding preparations that are involved in making that perfect
marriage begin. A wedding planner is like a coach, keeping everyone in their
place and making sure every part of the wedding celebration goes exactly as
planned. Those in the industry often work under extreme pressure and handle
very stressful situations, but don’t worry, you can bet they have a unique contingency plan for everything from missing wedding party members to an accidental stain on your wedding dress. When wedding planning goes this way, the bride usually makes all the decisions, but the wedding planner does all the work and relieves a lot of stress and hardship. There’s enough to worry about, consider passing some of it to a third party and save yourself the heartache.

Elegant or simple, it really doesn't matter. Only your happiness does.

Reception Dinner: Yes, the tradition at a wedding is to have
a wonderful dinner fit for a king, but some have different arrangements for
their marriage ceremony and instead offer breakfast, lunch or even a late night
meal. Regardless, the food needs to be fantastic. Food served at the reception
fits right in like a puzzle piece with that gorgeous wedding cake. Some serve
food through a catering company and others through the hall itself. That doesn’t
mean you have to do it this way, but however you do it you want the right people
in place, they must know their food like you know the back of your hand! This
means professionally prepared food and serving of this food in a professional
manner. Maybe you know someone with a great restaurant, or maybe you’re in with a catering company, but either way just don’t try and do it yourself. Instead,
you decide on the menu and any extras like little snacks or appetizers but let
them do the work, including the clean-up after the reception.

Wedding photographers use professional equipment that offers much better quality imaging

Wedding Photographer: I can tell you from my own wedding that
we considered skipping this expense, but thank God we didn’t! Although friends
& family will take many pictures and video on their own, nobody can capture
the most special moments like a wedding photographer. There were so many photos shared with us during the weeks after our wedding ceremony but none of them expressed the joy and love for each other like the pictures taken by our photographer. We actually used a company in our area called Photos
By Rick and they are based in Tinley Park, IL. – directly recommended by Favors Depot – probably not near you but if they are you certainly want to check them out (and paying a little extra to have ‘Rick’ take your photos exclusively is well worth the tiny additional fee).

In summary, paying for some of your wedding decorations, planning and arrangements really is worth the additional expense. Not only that, it offers you peace of mind and helps make your special wedding day worry free. Oh, speaking of decorations, we never went over the wedding favors, be sure to include those too!