Fun Facts about Weddings
Fun Facts About Weddings
Fun Facts About Weddings
From the Wedding Mailbag:
Q. My fiancée and I have a really small wedding budget and we just cannot afford to invite everyone from both families. What can we do?
A. There are no hard and fast rules on who you should and should not invite to your wedding. If your budget is on the small side, you have to make some really hard decisions and perhaps consider only inviting your immediate family and closest friends. A few suggestions: hold a mixed stag party to which you sell tickets for a few dollars each, have an open cash bar, and hold a silent auction or raffle. All of the proceeds from the stag can be put towards your wedding costs that this may allow you to expand your wedding guest list, depending on how much money you raise. How about having a DJ instead of a live band, a stand up buffet meal instead of an elaborate sit down dinner, and homemade wedding guest favours wrapped in tulle? All of these will have significant cost savings and allow you to perhaps increase the number of people you can invite to your wedding and reception. Lastly, you may want to have one list of guests for the wedding ceremony only (where you can invite everyone), and another list of guests who are invited to the wedding and reception (family, close friends, etc). This way you are allowing everyone to share the most important part of the day with you, which is the wedding ceremony, without anyone feeling left out.
Q. Is it practical for a bride to carry a handbag on her wedding day? I keep looking at lovely purses that match my wedding gown but I wonder if it would be a waste of money.
A. Granted, a handbag or clutch purse may be the last thing a bride considers when they are picking out their wedding gown and bridal accessories, but it really is important, practical and functional! You will not need it at the wedding ceremony (although if you choose an old-fashioned drawstring bag, you could dangle it delicately from your wrist) but you will need it after the ceremony while the wedding photographs are being taken and then of course, at the reception. If you are asthmatic, diabetic or on certain medications, a bridal handbag is a great place to conceal medical supplies and prescriptions, without spoiling the look of your wedding ensemble. Furthermore, a bridal purse is perfect for stashing a compact and mirror, lipstick, a purse size perfume atomizer, pen and paper and perhaps evens your cell phone for taking calls from out of town well-wishers who could not attend your joyous affair. Depending upon your culture, many brides carry drawstring bags so that wedding guests can stuff it full of money for the bride and groom to start their new life together with financial health.
Q. Help! How do I get my fiancée involved in the wedding planning process? He sees tulle and taffeta, and he runs and hides. Planning this wedding alone is making me cranky and exhausted and I feel like it is affecting our relationship.
A. It is true that when it comes to fussy stuff and fluffy fabrics, men feel completely out of place and uncomfortable. This is about the same way that many women would feel sitting around a sports bar, spitting shelled peanuts onto the floor and watching a live wrestling match. Instead of trying to make your fiancé do things that he is clearly not equipped to deal with, give him a “To Do” list of things that he can do with confidence and dignity. Men like to eat so take him with you to choose the reception menu and wedding cake. Put your man in charge of all the out of town guests – this would include booking their hotel rooms, picking them up at the airport, shuttling them around while they are in town. Lastly, and you may not like this one, but put him in charge of the wedding budget. If he knows how much money things cost, he might be more inclined to help out with certain tasks if he knows it will save a few dollars! The planning phase of a wedding can certainly be challenging for any couple and if both parties are not pulling their weight, it can have a negative effect on the relationship. Most brides try and do it all, without asking for help. In many cases, the groom is just waiting to be told what he should be doing and will be happy to help out in any way that he can to make you happy.
