All Things Wedding

If you are having a formal wedding, nothing is more elegant than Black Pocket Folder invitations with a ribbon matching your bridal colors. Our sister site, http://www.weddingbellinvitations.com/ offers black as well as a variety of beautiful colors to match your style. Plus, these beautiful invitations are Design Your Own Kits which means that you will pay 50% less than invitations you buy. You choose the elements and ribbon colors you want and then print them yourselves on your own printer. Wedding Bell Invitations provides everything you need plus free downloadable wording templates and a step by step guide to printing. In these difficult financial times, we are committed to helping you have the wedding of your dreams at the prices you can afford. 

To see these folders click: Black Pocket Folders

When you look through Bridal Magazines you will see stunning pictures of perfect outdoor weddings where everyone is radiant in a gorgeous, sunny venue. These pictures are designed to be romantic and have inspired many couples to have their ceremony in the great outdoors.  Having officated many more outdoor wedding than indoor, I can tell you from experience that I have never particiapted in any outdoor wedding that even remotely resembled those lovely Bridal Magazine weddings. Not that they weren't all special and beautiful, they were. But outdoor weddings have their own unique challenges that you must consider before you commit to stepping outside.

The first challenge is the obvious one, the weather. Mother Nature is notoriously uncooperative and mischievious in many parts of the country. If you want to be safer, choose a well established destintation venue in the Carribean or Hawaii were the weather patterns are more stable. But if you are choosing to have your wedding state-side, be prepared for adventure. You may need to account for rain, wind, fog, heat, and humidity. All of these problems can be solved but you want to think them through before they occur, not on the spot. Do your research and have a back-up plan.  For Colorado, I usually recommend that people use either a tent or have an alterternate indoor venue available. During the last wedding I officiated at, the rain held off until the final moments of the ceremony but poured on the outdoor backyard reception. However, they had a backup plan in place and the reception was quickly moved indoors without a hitch.

The second challenge to consider is the accessiblity of your wedding site. If you are choosing an official wedding venue the owners will have attented to that issue. If you are choosing a state park or a favorite hill top or beach you will want to consider you guest list. Weddings are usually a gathering of many ages of people some of whom are able bodied and some of whom are not. You want to assess whether this beautiful site will exclude the elderly or health compromised members of your families and how much upset and hurt that may cause. One couple in California solved that problem by having the wedding on the bluff overlooking their favorite beach rather than on the beach itself. The climb down to that particular beach would have been too difficult for the grandmothers of both the bride and groom and their presence was far more important than the setting.

The third challenge to consider is sound. Believe me nothing is more frustrating for  wedding guests than to attend a ceremony that they can not hear. If you are not in an official wedding venue, you will need to provide the sound system yourselves. Above all , do not try and do an outdoor wedding unmiked--the stress of tying to speak loudly enough to be heard is more than you will want to deal with on your wedding day. Trust me on this one. I highly recommend using batteried amplifiers and microphones for locations where there is no electricity. You may have to search a bit, but some music stores do rent them. Make sure you have good mikes and test, test, test during the rehearsal to account for traffic noises, airplanes, wind, waves and any other sounds that are typical to your site. Even with mikes, you may all have to speak louder than you are used to so make sure to practice and have frequent sound checks before your wedding day.

After considering these challenges your heart feels unchanged than congratulations, an outdoor wedding is perfect for you. Enjoy your special day and let the challenges add to the adventure you are beginning.

In today's tightening economy, one of the ways to save money is to buy most of your accessories as part of a coordinated collection. Wedding collections feature a range of products and prices. Most of them include a ring pillow, guest book and pen, flower girl basket and photo album. Some also include toasting flutes and cake knife and server sets. Buy purchasing a collection, you save time, shipping costs and you can choose a theme that really personalizes your wedding. My favorite collection in The Bella Donna Collection by Beverly Clark.

 Product: The Bella Donna Wedding Collection

Description: This beautiful collection features a base of champagne satin complimented by lavish, hand-beaded lace. The result is an elegant and breathtaking design that makes this collection an instant classic and will be a fabulous bridal keepsake for years to come.

The full collection has 5 different pieces that may be selected individually or as a whole collection:

The Ring Pillow
The Flower Girl Basket
The Guest Book
The Pen Holder and Pen
The Memory Book with embossed pages

Cost: For entire collection the cost is $251.10  Individual items can be purchased separately.

Order From: http://www.weddingchimeaccessories.com/beverly_clark_belladonna_collection

John and Suzannah came in to my office and sat down on either end of the coach. The tension was obvivous. I looked at them both, "Who would like to start? I asked. 

Suzannah turned to John, hands clenched and began, "I can't do this all myself. This is OUR wedding day - why won't you help me with this?"
John shifted uneasily and said "I mean come on, most of this stuff is, you know, girl stuff. I don't care what type of flowers or centerpieces we have, I mean just pick what you like. " 
"But then it's just my wedding and I want it to be our wedding." Suzannah was discouraged and close to tears."
"It is our wedding, I just can't get interested in every little decision, cut me a break, will you!" John was beginning to get angry and frustrated.

 John's reaction is not unusual but unfortunate. Why? Because planning your wedding together builds the skills and attitudes you will need in your marriage. If we examine what's involved in the planning process, the following skills and attitudes are vital.

Skill: Decision-making. People in successful marriages have learned how to negotiate and make decisions together so that they feel like a team. Marriage is about the dailyness of life which is filled with mundane decisions from: "What kind of sheets do we both like?" to: "Can't we cook anything besides chicken?" And, if you choose to have children, the decisions multiply exponentially. Developing skill in how to do this together is one of the main foundations of a healthy marriage and planning a wedding together is perfect practice. Nothing earth shattering is at stake and yet every small decision contributes to the overall "feel" the two of you want to create. So consequently, all the small decisions matter. You will learn a great deal about your partner as you go through this and you can build a foundation that includes trust, respect and support.

Attitude: Supportive Interest. Loving someone over time means learning to be interested in things you normally wouldn't be. Why? Because you have chosen to live your life with someone else and being curious and interested in how they experience life is one of the many joys of marriage. John may not care about all the many details in planning a wedding, but he loves Suzannah. If he changes his focus to being curious about how Suzannah is thinking, he can learn a great deal about his future partner. By asking why she likes or doesn't like a particular item, he would learn that his bride wants the traditional but with a unique twist. And Suzannah would learn that although John may not be interested in the actual item to be decided on, he is interested in her. That matters.

Skill: Money Management. Learning how to spend and save money together is an extremely important skill for the survival of your marriage. One of the main reasons marriages fail is due to ongoing financial stress. Most weddings have a budget that is either set by the parents or the couple themselves. How to manage this money so that the event approximates what you both want requires exercising skill in choosing, negotiating, compromising and restraint. Planning a wedding will give you practice in money management and in learning how to partner together in this very tricky area.

 Attitude: Kindness. Because money can be so charged for people, the attitude I have found most helpful is kindness. We inherit a great many beliefs and fears about money from our family, our culture, and our peers. Some of them we know about, some of them are unconscious. Leaning how to make decisions around spending kindly, without blaming or shaming, is one of the most important attitudes you can cultivate.

"Okay, I think I get what you're saying here. Rather than just resenting all of these decisions as a waste of my time, you' re telling me I can change focus and be curious about why Suzannah wants or likes something. " John was thoughtful. "Exactly, and you might be surprised to find you actually have an opinion, if you let yourself." I said.

"Well, I sort of do - I don't know what I want to give our guests as favors but I do know one thing, I want it to be gold." John said smiling. "Okay, that will narrow things down some. Let me just say thanks, I really like it when you tell me what you want. But why the gold?" Suzannah asked. "Because I think what we have is gold and I want to share it." John said simply.

"Okay, let's go for the gold!

Here are the Gold Gift Favor Boxes that John and Suzannah chose:

Join me each week as we discuss all things wedding. I will be posting about products new and unique  in Wedding Chime Accessories as well as in our sister stores, http://www.weddingbellaccessories.com and http://www.weddingbellinvitations.com .  I will also be posting about new and interesting products from other sites. In addition, I will be discussing topics specific to couples getting married like, "Our wedding is in six weeks and we want to write our own wedding vows--Help!"  Today, we are introducing a new product that is sure to excite those of you who are marrying and have children from a previous union.

Product: The Blended Family Unity Candle

Description: This tall pillar candle is engraved with the words: Joining Hearts in a Circle of Love   Creating a Family of One, followed by the first names of the bride and groom and wedding date, and then the first names of the children. Lighting the taper candles and then all lighting the unity candle together makes a wonderful and joyous ritual in your wedding ceremony. Plus, the engraved candle can be used and enjoyed for many years to come.

Cost:  Single pillar candle in White or Ivory: $29.95 (engraving is free) 

           Candle Set of Pillar Cande, Two Tapers and holder: $52.95 (engraving is free)

Order From:  http://www.weddingbellaccessories.com