The Best Wedding Planning Guides
I have a friend whose motto is NOT less is more, but rather the more you know the better. When it comes to important decisions in our lives, I entirely agree!
So, now that you are engaged, GET INFORMED! The more information, knowledge, and know-how you are armed with, the better equipped you will be to make decisions on how to spend, or not spend, your wedding dollars!
To help you gain knowledge about all the different facets of putting a wedding together, we found the two wedding planning guides reviewed below to be of great value for your money –giving you a wealth of information, ideas, a wedding planning guide checklist, and cost savings tips.
1. The Wedding Planner’s Bible
The author of this guide, Maggie Terrance, really understands what information is truly valuable. With over thirty years of experience as a wedding planner, and now planning 40-65 weddings a year in America and Europe, Maggie Terrance knows her stuff when it comes to wedding planning.
This wedding guide covers every aspect of your wedding from engagement to the big day itself and is packed with many great tips and ideas to help save time, money, and reduce stress, including a great wedding planning guide checklist. It also comes with wedding planning software for free; however, we actually don’t consider the software portion of this wedding guide as one of our top wedding planning programs (see our review on wedding planning software), but whether or not you choose to use the software doesn’t have any bearing on the value of the book.
If you use the information in this wedding planning book to its fullest, you can expect to save up to 65% on the cost of your wedding. You can find out more about The Wedding Planners Bible, as well as order it if you wish, by clicking here.
2. Master Wedding Planning Guide
The Master Wedding Planning Guide is filled with useful tips and techniques that demonstrate how to save thousands without sacrificing quality, and also includes a terrific wedding planning guide checklist! Some of the information covered by this book includes:
An extensive wedding timeline- Budgeting tables
- Photo and video checklists
- Roles of the bridal party
- Etiquette guides
The Master Wedding Planning Guide is an excellent value and comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee; if you are in any way unhappy with it you have two months to get a full refund. You can find out more about this terrific wedding guide, as well as order it if you wish, by clicking here. (P.S. Don’t let the “cartoon” character scare you — the author, Amy Waterman, writes a serious informational book.)
As a final note… the friend I mentioned above — he’s also a previous boss of mine and has done VERY well for himself in his various financial endeavors which helps to solidify for me that he knows what he is talking about when he continually says to me… Cheryl, you can’t have too much information when making important decisions!
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These 2 guides are eBooks. There are many great reasons to purchase eBooks as opposed to a printed book. One is that you can get it right now — but the best thing about an ebook is its cut and paste ability. If you want to take a thought, question, checklist, etc. with you, you can just print that page out as opposed to having to carry around a book that you’ve put post-it notes all over to remind you of pages of interest and since it is on you computer, you can search for things of interest quickly as opposed to trying to figure out in the contents where specific information is located. You can of course also print out the whole book and put it in a binder, or stay “green” and keep it on the computer saving the paper.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
5 Wedding Catering Budget-Busting Ideas
Negotiating on everything from the wedding cake to the bride’s attire doesn’t come naturally for most Americans. As Dorothy Maras-Ildiz wrote in a recent article for The Carmel Pine Cone, learning the fine art of negotiation can easily reduce wedding costs by 10-20%, and it helps to know a few insider tips on where, when and how you can negotiate.
Be Sure you are truly comparing apples to apples when you have multiple quotes for the catering of your wedding reception food!
The cost of the reception will usually eat up (pardon the pun) 50-60% of your overall costs. Dean and Debbie Young, owners of Classic Catering (www.montereycatering.com) share their best budget busting ideas:
- Be flexible with reception dates and times. Saturday night is going to cost more than a Sunday Brunch or Friday evening cocktail party.
- The notion that hors d’oeurves are less expensive than plated meals or buffets is just not true. Those tiny bite-sized goodies require two to three times the labor to create. Price wise, you’ll get the best bang for your buck with a buffet. The ‘small plates’ trend is also a great way to add flexibility to your menu. Serving numerous small plates throughout the reception frees up your guests to move about and mingle instead of being glued down to a table for hours on end.
- When you are getting multiple quotes from caterers, be sure you are comparing apples to apples. This is crucial! One quote for $2000 and another for $2350 does not make the $2000 a better deal! They may be using pre-prepared food, chicken instead of beef, taking a chance on the quality of service by cutting their staff, etc. And sadly, some caterers don’t lay everything out in their first proposal in order to entice you. Ask questions and read the small print!
- Price isn’t everything. If you have a good working relationship and feel comfortable with your caterer, you can negotiate the price. Don’t sacrifice your comfort level for a couple of dollars less per plate. More often than not they will find a way to meet your price.
- At your initial meeting with your caterer at least have a ‘ballpark’ estimate of what the range of your budget is. This will give everyone a good idea of where to start.
Weddings can be very costly, but knowing the right questions to ask and finding a caterer that is understanding of your budget will be a big help to your honeymoon budget!
Dorothy Maras-Ildiz — AIWF Board of Directors, Monterey Bay Chapter;Les Dames de Escoffier, member; Pebble Beach Food & Wine, Chef Liaision/Coordinator; Culinary Journalist/ Columnist
5 Tips for Getting the Wedding Cake you Really Want!
M
aster Pastry Chef, Gerard Bechler,owner of Patisserie Bechler in Pacific Grove, CA, has created more than 5,000 delicious and memorable wedding cakes over the past 25 years, and happily gave his top five tips for getting the cake your really want to Dorothy Maras-Ildiz (credentials listed below), who was seeking advice for wedding couples on a budget for her article in The Carmel Pine Cone (Monterey County, California). Here is what he said:
- Intricate design work requires more time and of course money to assemble. Bear in mind that a simple, elegant design will also help sweeten the bottom line of your budget.
- Many brides and grooms are opting to have a smaller ‘presentation cake’ that is used in photos and the ceremonial cake cutting. They also have simple backup cakes that are then cut up and served for guests out of sight along with the presentation cake. The ornate ‘presentation cake’ is usually about one-half the size of a full sized cake, thus reducing costs.
- Skip the groom’s cake. It is a tradition that is quickly falling by the wayside and is just one more added expenditure.
- Know your budget constraints when you speak with your baker. Pastry Chef Bechler stated with his trademark smile and a twinkle in his eye, “you cannot drive a Ferrari for the price of a Yugo.”
- The single most important factor is to pick a baker that you feel comfortable with and can communicate with. You should decide on who your baker will be at least six months in advance and put a deposit down to ‘save the date’ for your cake. Many bakers have limitations as to just how many wedding cakes they can execute on any given weekend, so while you’re reserving the reception site and finding the dress, make sure to take the same measures regarding your wedding cake.
If your wedding reception is going to be anywhere near the Monterey County area, be sure to look Gerard up at Patisserie Bechler.
Dorothy Maras-Ildiz — AIWF Board of Directors, Monterey Bay Chapter;Les Dames de Escoffier, member; Pebble Beach Food & Wine, Chef Liaision/Coordinator; Culinary Journalist/ Columnist
7 Highly Effective Habits for the Wedding Planning Process
Yes, these habits are also about how to help you keep close tabs on your wedding dollars! Without proper planning and communication, you could easily find yourself stuck spending more than you wanted to. Make these 7 Effective Habits part of your Wedding Planning Process and the outcome is sure to be exactly what you wanted your wedding day to be!
1. Don’t Procrastinate
We certainly can’t stress this morsel of wisdom enough. You’ll enjoy your wedding far more if you’re not cramming everything into the last two months. It’s a tad bit difficult to write romantic wedding vows when you’ve waited until the night before the wedding to put pen to paper.
2. Find the right Wedding Planning Guide Book
Being organized is key, not only to getting things done but to saving money, and there is just too many parts to the planning of a wedding that it wouldn’t be smart or cost effective to try to think of all the the various details you need to handle by yourself. I highly recommend finding a Wedding Planning Guide Book to walk you through this! There are many good guides out there, but two specifically have passed our test of being a true value. Please see the review of our Top 2 Wedding Planning Guides that we highly recommend to help you with this endeavor. Both these guides cover everything that needs to be planned and organized including timelines and budgets and they help you with ways to find the best deals.
3. Schedule Planning Time
Be sure to schedule meeting times with each other to discuss the details of the wedding: the schedule, the budget, the vendors, etc. Be diligent about keeping these appointments with each other. This is the beginning of another important marriage building skill-shared decision-making.
4. Communicate & Compromise
You’ll definitely have the opportunity to familiarize yourselves with the delicate arts of communication and compromise. You’re designing a wedding that suits the two of you, while taking into account the needs of your families and guests. Through this process of planning and compromise you will learn new ways of communicating with each other, as well as discover areas where it is difficult for you to express yourselves.
Establish a daily ritual to discuss your feelings and share your thoughts. Even if you only have time for a five-minute chat. It is the consistency, not the quantity of conversation that counts.
5. Share the Tasks & Delegate
Long gone are the days when the groom took a back seat and let his rosy-cheeked bride make all the decisions. Welcome to the 21st century. Couples are now splitting the list in half. Brides rejoice! Two people dividing the lengthy task list will not only reduce stress for you, it allows the groom, traditionally the most ignored person in the entire affair, to participate in his own wedding. A novel concept, we know.
Above and beyond the professional help you hire, create a wedding support network for yourself. Make a list with your fiancé of the various friends and family who might want to be involved with your wedding. Give each of them a task, stated as clearly and specifically as possible. Call them regularly to give them your appreciation and to check on how their project is coming along.
6. Be Assertive
Communicate your wishes clearly and tactfully to wedding professionals, friends and family members. Practice saying “no” and using phrases like, “we have discussed this and we feel that” It’s your wedding and don’t you forget it.
7. Take Care of Yourself
Pay attention to the essentials of good health. Avoid caffeine, sugar, alcohol and nicotine, which put unnecessary strain on both body and mind. Eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains and fish. Get a full night’s sleep to revitalize. Dreaming releases the accumulated stress of the day and stabilizes the brain waves. Exercise is the best source of stress reduction known to man. The endorphins released in even a moderate amount of aerobic exercise can fight depression and elevate the mood. For more specifics on ways to take care of yourself go our Health & Beauty section.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
Determine Your Priorities!
OMG! You have a wedding to plan! There’s a lot to think about and I’m sure your head is spinning right now – I know mine is just trying to figure out what help I should focus on first for you! But after taking a deep breath, it came to me, we have to talk Priorities! You just got engaged, you’re excited, in love, anxious, and probably concerned about how you are going to get everything you want for your wedding with the wedding dollars you have. I know we haven’t talked budget yet or where the money is coming from, but knowing your budget doesn’t matter for this particular exercise. What does matter is knowing what you, as a couple, want this day to include, what matters most to you, so you first need to create your priorities and then you will be able to put together the “affordable” wedding of your dreams!
So, let’s get started… At the end of this is a list of the major decision items to consider. Some will have similarities to others but the question is asked a bit differently making your really think things out.
Here’s what you need to do with this list.
- Sit down with your fiancée and talk about each item. At this point, do not consider whether or not you think choosing one way or the other will be more costly, just choose what you want.
- Then go back and put an A, B and C next to each item. “A” representing a must have and C meaning it’s not as important as the rest is to you.
Spending time going over this will help you and your fiancée determine what matters most to you – is it the food, the location, the guests, the table setting & decorations, the attire or the honeymoon? These questions will also certainly promote some of your own discussion items that you will want to include in your prioritization.
Determining what matters to you most and the “style” of wedding you want will help you search information specific to your wishes to create a beautiful and affordable wedding made just for you!
Now, once you determine your budget, which basically is all the money that you, your fiancée, and both your parents are going to be able to contribute to this event (search our site for more information related to budgets), you should start working on your “A” items first. This is by no means a full checklist of the things that can be part of putting on a wedding event (search checklists for that); these items are only meant to help you think about the “largest” aspects of this event and help give you perspective on determining what “style” of wedding you want.
Decision Items to Consider:
- Do you want the guests to include ALL your friends and family or just your immediate family and closest friends.
- Do you want the ceremony and reception in the same location or prefer to have a different venue/ambiance for the ceremony from the reception.
- Is a party type reception with dancing what you were thinking or would you prefer a more sophisticated, elegant or intimate reception.
- Is being able to spend time with each of your guests individually important or just knowing that they are all having a good time whether or not you are able to speak with them personally is okay with you.
- Do you want your Wedding on a Saturday evening or can you be flexible and have it on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon?
- Is your wedding dress a major priority to you? Of course finding the right one is important, but be honest about how much importance it holds?
- The same for the wedding rings, how much importance do you put on the look and style of your rings?
- How important is photography or videography – will you want a professional or do you have someone in your family or a friend that is a good amateur photographer?
- How important is the honeymoon portion to you – I mean would you rather spend the majority of your wedding dollars on a fantastic memorable honeymoon. If you can’t do both, it’s something to think about!
- Do you want a sit down formal type meal or would you prefer ample food and choices with a buffet style service?
- Do you want your guests to have assigned seating or be able to pick their own seats?
- How important is food to you – this is a great question because there is “fill-‘em up” food and there is “wow” food.
- Do you want your wedding to have an elegant feeling or a more casual feeling?
- Do you want to have any pre-wedding events, such as an engagement party?
- Do you want to have a theme wedding – beach, western, ethnic, etc. – this will obviously make a difference in decoration and food choices.
- What about your “skill” level – are you comfortable planning the whole thing yourself in a beautiful backyard or a hall or would you be more comfortable with an all inclusive type venue where you don’t have to decide on a caterer or the style of chairs because it’s all a part of the package?
- What about your time availability. Do you actually have the time to devote to putting it all together or should you look into a wedding coordinator to help you?
- Will you want to have formal invitations and announcements made up or are you fine doing them on your own?
With knowledge of what matters to you most and the “style” of wedding you want to put together you can now search YourWeddingDollars.com for specifics on these different subjects and together I’m certain we will be able to create a beautiful and affordable wedding made just for you!
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
Beach Weddings: Beautiful & Cost Effective!
Imagine… a Million Dollar View for a few hundred bucks!
The great thing about beach theme weddings is that they can fit into any budget; and, for next to nothing, you have a million dollar view! Choosing the best location for your wedding is very important and when selecting a beach wedding site, you will want to consider whether or not you actually want to be on the sand or would prefer to be on a grassy knoll with that “million dollar view” in front of you.
While there are certain things to consider when thinking about a beach wedding, some of which I’ve listed below, there is no doubt that a ceremony on, or overlooking, the beach is as romantic as you can get – especially if you love the beauty and power the ocean gives. There are numerous picturesque beaches from the coastline of California to the shores of New Jersey, and let us not forget Hawaii or the Caribbean as options. Depending on your home town, you would want to way whether you want something close by or one that you would consider the perfect destination location for you and your guests. Whichever it is (not counting the cost to get there, if need be), beach ceremonies are very economical.
All in all, a ceremony on or overlooking a beach doesn’t even begin to cost what you might think when you consider the beautiful memories and photographs that you will have from such a magnificent setting.
The location is virtually free with a few cities charging a very minimal permit fee. And if you want, you can stop spending money right there… walk down to the sandy aisle with a fabulous bridal bouquet design of flowers you created from your own garden, and of course your fiancée, stand in front of an officiant, and Voila! – you’re wed in a majestic setting for hardly anything, and you can spend all your saved dollars on a beautiful honeymoon or towards the down payment of your first home!
You can of course spend a bit more by renting chairs (which if you plan on more than a handful of guests is probably a good idea), maybe you want an arch, some flowers, some flower petals strewn on a runner, and as is the case with anything, you can continue to think of things to add that will increase the amount a bit. But all in all, a ceremony on or overlooking a beach doesn’t even begin to cost what you might think when you consider the beautiful memories and photographs that you will have from such a magnificent setting.
And this can be a do-it-yourself experience, or for not much extra you can employ the help of a service that has everything you need from chairs to arches to PA systems, podiums and CD players, and the best part about using a service is that they take care of everything! You do not need to think about a thing, set-up a thing, dismantle a thing, or worry about any of the other little details. These services are easy to find, just Google Beach Weddings with the name of the city you’re interested in after it, or if you don’t know which beach you want, just type in Beach Weddings and there will be many options for you to look through to start getting some great ideas. You might also want to check out the website for the beach wedding service I own with my daughter in Monterey, California for some ideas: Monterey Beach Weddings.
The bottom line here is that Beach Ceremonies do not hurt the “bottom line” and definitely can help you keep some of your wedding dollars in tact for other parts of your wedding event or just to be able to keep it – period!
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
Save Money with a Boutique Wedding Reception Venue!
Imagine a venue where it’s all there – the location (of course), the caterer, the ambiance (no need for extra decorations), the tables, chairs, linens, china, etc. and you get it all for a “package” price. That is what a “Boutique,” or sometimes referred to as “all-inclusive,” Venue is all about. Because the facility has everything right there, you do not have to pay separately for rentals, caterers and flowers, and you will find the pricing a better deal than contracting these services individually.
And the ambiance portion of these Boutique Venues — they are usually swimming in it – and all at a price you could never afford to replicate! One place I personally love is Gatherings, ok, it’s my place… but to help you understand what I’m talking about when it comes to ambiance, check out some of the pictures at our Boutique Venue, and to see a few more photos, click on “More Photos.” See what I mean about the ambiance – a piano, chandeliers, two fireplaces, an outdoor deck area, antique furniture, beautiful draperies and more. You would never be able to afford decorating the local hall, hotel or restaurant banquet room to this degree – well, at least I personally couldn’t afford to. And the feeling these facilities give your guests is extra special – it’s warm, cozy, inviting and family-oriented (home-like).
Now, a Victorian home, such is Gatherings, might not be your cup of tea, but all-inclusive wedding reception venues are made up of many different styles from contemporary and urban to sexy and flamboyant. Just do your research in the city you plan to get married. In your browser, just type in all-inclusive wedding venues in Cincinnati or boutique wedding venues in New York (for instance). Some of these venues take care of every little detail including photographer and florists, and others include mainly what I listed in paragraph one, but I know that if you were to go and hire each of these vendors individually and add them all up, it would equal quite a bit more than the package price you will get at an All-Inclusive Wedding Reception Venue, or Boutique Wedding Reception Venue.
Depending on the time of year, many all-inclusive wedding reception venues run promotions. You may find that they include a free wedding cake, an extra appetizer, a free bartender. Remember to ask them if the date of your wedding falls within one of these off season times that they may have some specials for.
And if these venues don’t fit for your wedding reception, don’t forget them as possibilities for your Rehearsal Dinner or Engagement Parties. Their prices are even better for these events that are usually held on days other than the premium Saturday that wedding receptions are normally held on.
So, do check these venues out, and if you find a spectacular one, don’t keep it to yourself – come back and share it for all our couples to see, which you can do by locating this article again (just use our search button) and submitting your comments.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.