WOW - it's been a long time...

Well I am very sorry that it has been so long since I have blogged. My husband and I bought a house and it seems like I blinked my eyes and the summer is over. So now back to the fun stuff of writing in my blog and updating my website...

I feel so out of touch with planning events now, I need to read up and get the information you need out there. I will write again very shortly to share some new and cool ideas for your event.

Disney Dream Honeymoon

Do you love Disney, would your dream honeymoon include staying at Cinderella's Castle Suite? getmarried.com is having the following contest:

Get Married Dream Honeymoon includes*:

• Round trip airfare to the Orlando International Airport
• Round trip limousine service from the Orlando International Airport to the Walt Disney World® Resort
• One night stay at Cinderella Castle Suite
• Five night stay at a Disney Deluxe Resort hotel
• 7-Day Magic Your Way tickets for two to the four Walt Disney World® Resort theme parks
• A $500 Disney Gift Card for Honeymoons from Disney's Honeymoon Registry

* Restrictions apply see contest rules for details

Here's How to Enter:

1. Make a short video (30 seconds to 2 minutes long) telling getmarried.com why you are the deserving prince or princess of the Disney Dream Honeymoon.
2. Go to www.getmarried.com to complete the getmarried.com registration form.
3. Upload a video and follow the easy steps or mail your video to: Disney Contest, 3453 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 100, Norcross, GA 30092 by 5/26/08.

Videos will be viewable online and the top 3 videos selected by the getmarried.com staff will be voted on by getmarried.com users to determine who is the most deserving prince or princess.

Very exciting - start filming now! Here is a direct link to the offer: http://www.getmarried.com/disney_giveaway_get_married.php?utm_source=DISNEY_honeymoon_giveaway_4_18_08&utm_medium=email&utm_content=main_image&utm_campaign=DISNEY_honeymoon_giveaway

Cheap wedding "stuff"

Want cheap "stuff" for your wedding - try Oriental Trading. I will caution you on their products but I will also invite you to take a look at what they have to offer. Most of the products they offer are very cheaply made and probably not what you want to have at your wedding - but I did order stuff from them for my wedding and it was a huge hit...

Are you debating whether or not to have kids at the wedding? For me there was no debate, I wanted kids at the wedding. I created an activity table for the kids to keep them busy and it was quite a hit. I made coloring books for each of them and had crayons available for them to sit and color. Then I ordered some fun things from the Oriental Training wedding catalog. I had a bunch of multi-color glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets available for the kids and I ordered bride and groom rubber duckies. The kids had such a great time and there was nothing left on the activity table at the end of the wedding...

Oriental Trading has great favor boxes, cute favor ideas, signs, stickers, etc. I will again caution you on the quality, but order ahead and if you don't like what you get - return it within 30 days for credit.

Visit their website now and start shopping: http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=home.jsp&event=catalog&categoryId=377344&tabId=PartySupplies

Try these Coupon Codes (I do not guarantee they will work):

• Free shipping with $60+, use this code RETEM08A - expires 12/31/08


• 10% Off orders of $60+, use this code RLS109 - expires 4/30/08


• 20% Off orders of $60+, use this code RETPY08B - expires 12/31/08

You can also visit my website to download the template I used for my coloring book: http://www.myjennryan.com/Event_Planning.html

Tux Special...

Just a quick post regarding an email I received today from Classic Tuxedo. They are having a 25% off sale. They are offering 25% off the wedding party tux rentals and the grooms tux is free with rental of 5 or more tuxes.

Here is the link to the site and sale information: http://www.classictuxedo.com/

I have said it so many times before - sales and discounts are good so take advantage of it always!

Topics - Coming Soon!

I keep reminding myself of all of the topics I want to write about and when I go to write - I forget what it was I wanted to write about.  So this post is all about upcoming topics and what to expect...

• Out of town guest bags
• Bachelorette party ideas
• Bridesmaid gifts
• Groomsmen gifts
• What to expect that day
• Honeymoon planning
• Destination weddings
• Other ways to customize and personalize your wedding

I have so much to talk about, please keep visiting my site for great ideas!  You can also visit my website for great ideas and templates from my own wedding...

www.myjennryan.com

Bridal magazines, do you need them?

Your first instinct when you get engaged is to go out and buy all of the bridal magazines you can find.  Do you really need them?  I don't think you do, maybe one or two to spark some ideas.  But really you have been dreaming of this day your whole life - don't you REALLY know what you want.  You may not be able to have Cinderella's Castle and all 500 of your closest friends and family - but you can certainly get something comparable within your budget.

I found all of the magazines to be very overwhelming and there was just too much information in there.  I would go through them, tear out the pages/ articles that interested me and then get rid of them.  One magazine I bought in error and actually loved was:  www.weddingstar.com.  They have a whole website of information and also an online catalog.  I ended up buying some things from their website and they were high quality.

Also remember that you are planning a wedding and you should be focusing your money on other things than bridal magazines.  Of course if you are really into them, that is fine too...

The Best Wedding Planner

Almost as soon as I got engaged, the advice started piling in.  The best advice I received was to go out and get the Martha Stewart wedding planner.  I was also told that whenever I found something I liked for the wedding to put it in the planner.  What an awesome idea, I ordered it online right away and then added my own extra pages and pockets and this proved to be my wedding planning bible.  By the time the wedding came closer I had to buy a bigger binder to fit all of the information I had gathered.

Amazon.com has the binder for $19.77, the official name is:  Martha Stewart's Keepsake Wedding Planner (Ring-bound).  Here is the description Amazon has on it and what it includes:  "This planner is overflowing with useful features to help you plan and organize the perfect wedding - in addition, you can preserve those memories for a lifetime.  The three ring binder makes it easier to customize it for your needs.  Inside you'll find":  

• Ten in-depth chapters with planning information, inspirational color photographs, timelines, checklists and diagrams
• Sturdy pocket folders to hold contracts, menus and notes.
• A clear plastic business-card holder and resealable plastic pouches for fabric swatches, paper samples and ribbons.
• A full-color glossary with photographs of hundreds of flowers
  

I highly recommend this planner and really found it helpful.

How do you decide on pictures?

I don't know about you but the task of trying to pick out my wedding pictures for my album has turned into a daunting task. Where do you begin, how do you decide on a small number of photos? Here is some advice...

My wedding photo package includes my album and I am able to pick out 60 pictures, anything over 60 is an additional cost. My photographer took close to 1000 pictures and I have to narrow it down to the best 60 - YIKES!!!!

She gave me some invaluable advice and it seems to have helped us start the process. She suggested this:

1. Pick out 10 pictures of us getting ready (bride at home and groom at church)
2. Then 20 pictures of the church ceremony
3. Next is 20 pictures of the family and wedding party shots
4. And last 30 pictures of the reception

My husband and I went through and have narrowed 1000 pictures down to 83. Now we have to decide if we want to pay for the additional pictures or cut back more. That of course will all depend on the price of the additional photos. It is also important to remember that you only need to pick the most special ones, today most photographers will give you the prints on disc or your proofs and you can always order more later. Your formal album should be a good representation of your day and be really your formal shots. Do you really need all those silly pictures of the reception and the congo line :)

Have fun picking out your pictures and remember I am always here to help!

Tiaras and Veils...

My dream was to have a veil like the daughter in The Godfather. The opening scene is at her wedding. Growing up Italian it was always my dream to have a big wedding and a very long veil.

I got my dress at David's Bridal and when you go there, they try to sell you everything you can imagine. They dress you up in the gown (the undergarments), the veil, the tiara, the jewelry, etc. I tried on two veils (one is what you call a fingertip veil and the second was a cathedral length veil.) The fingertip veil had details to match my dress and the cathedral length was ivory and had small pearls all over it. When I had my dress altered, I had David's Bridal combine both of my veils onto one comb and put the cathedral length veil on with Velcro so it could be removed. I did not get my tiara from David's. They were very over priced and I did not see one I liked.

While planning my wedding I spent quite a bit of time online and after going to David's I searched online for tiaras. I knew I would be able to find something. I found this website: http://www.princessbridetiaras.com/ they have veils, tiaras, jewelry and a guide of how to wear a tiara and veil. I found my tiara on their website (see above) and absolutely loved it. It was high quality, durable and so beautiful. I also saved over $100 from the ones they had at David's Bridal.

My only advice on this subject is, if you get a cathedral length veil make sure you get it so that it can be detached. It was absolutely beautiful and was great for pictures but as they day went on I was tired of people stepping on it, tripping on it or it getting caught on the pavement, etc. I was so relieved to be able to take it off. I actually took both veils off for the reception and left the tiara on.

Good luck and shop smart.

Print your own invitations?

We have turned into a digital society and have access to so many things that were previously unavailable. While planning my wedding, I wanted to cut costs by printing my own invitations. I figured I would go to Staples or one of the office supply superstores or craft stores and buy a box of invitations. Print them at home and nobody would know the difference. Right?

Wrong, I looked every where, in every store and all over the Internet. I could not find invitations to print at home that I liked. So I began the search of looking for invitations in those millions of catalogs you get in the mail. When you start to think of how much time, effort, ink, etc. it would take to print your invitations at home - save yourself the aggravation. Buy them. You don't have to buy the very expensive and fancy invitations but do yourself the favor and buy something.

I found my invitations on the Invitations by Dawn website. I loved them and they were very simple. I was able to cut expenses by only having colored ink on the invitations themselves. Everything else was blank ink (envelopes, response cards, receptions cards, etc.) I also chose a standard size invitation - be very careful because all of the beautiful square invitations will cost you more in postage. I also did not order the matching thank you cards. I took a special picture on our honeymoon and used that to order my own photo cards from Snapfish.com. On the back of the card I wrote the date the photo was taken and where it was taken so my guests would know it was from our honeymoon and an actual picture we took (See above, we had the bride and groom flip flops and make our foot prints in the sand and then took a picture of them - side by side.)

Just a quick recap and a few more fun ideas:

1. When planning a wedding, time is money - buy your invitations.


2. Limit the colored ink you use - colored ink costs more.


3. Make sure you order enough invitations the first time, it is cheaper to buy more at one time than it is to reorder.


4. Pick a standard size invitation - odd sizes cost more in postage.


5. Before you buy stamps, assemble an invitation and take it to the Post Office. They will tell you what postage you need. You will probably need the $0.51 stamps for the outside envelopes and regular stamps for the RSVP envelopes.


6. Be creative, don't buy the standard thank you cards that match your invitations. Use a picture from your honeymoon to create a personalized card that your guests will really appreciate.


7. Coupons, coupons, coupons - do not ever buy anything online unless you have a coupon code. I usually go to Google.com and do a search for coupon codes for the site I am buying from.
   

What do you do with your dress after the wedding?

My wedding dress was the prettiest dress I have ever owned. I truly felt like a princess in it and wish I could have worn it for more than one day. Let's face it though - when will you ever wear your wedding dress again? Probably never - but you spend so much money on it and it is very special to you because of what it symbolizes - well how do you preserve that?

Well, I had a great idea. I was going to take it to the local cleaners and get it cleaned, pressed and boxed - $225 later my husband freaked and asked why we couldn't try Zoots. I waited some time and I went to a local bridal consignment store in Glastonbury, CT - Brides To Be - a great place by the way... I asked what they suggested because they have dresses cleaned all of the time. She suggested the cleaners I had went to - Neet Cleaners on Main Street in Glastonbury. She told me to only get the dress cleaned - why spend the money to get it pressed when you are going to fold it up and put it in a box. Makes sense right... Then the best part of this story, she asked if I needed a box. She had extras in the back room and to buy one from the cleaners was around $100. She just saved me quite a bit of money and gave me invaluable advice...

My mom brought my dress in for me to be cleaned and then asked the owner of Neet Cleaners if she could have some acid free tissue and a bodice form so my mom could put it in the box. The owner told my mother to come in to the store with the box and she helped her box it all up and then gave my mother further advice on how to better preserve the dress. So, not only did I save a ton of money, it was still boxed professionally and I was given advice on how to make my wedding dress a family heirloom. Before I get into that I want to recap a few very important points.

1. Go to a reputable cleaners. Regardless if you are going to wear the dress again or not - it still cost a lot of money and you are paying to try and make it last.

2. Only get your dress cleaned and NOT pressed - remember why bother you are putting it in a box.

3. Go to a local bridal shop and see if they have any extra dress boxes, this could save you at least $100.

Now for the best advice... So let's face it, as much as you love your wedding dress - chances are you are not going to wear it again and as much as you would like to think your daughter may want to someday, that is not likely. Well the owner of the cleaners suggested that when I have a baby, I use the material from my wedding dress to make a christening gown. She said there was one that has been brought in to be cleaned and every time a child in the family was baptized in the gown they sowed the babies name into the inside so it truly became a family heirloom. She also suggested making a first communion gown for a daughter that you could pass on as well. What a great idea and what a way to pass your dress on and it could be a son or daughter who wears the christening gown.

For me, I just got married in November and being so sentimental I cannot think about cutting up my dress just yet. I will however keep it in mind when the day for a baby christening gown comes my way. What great ideas!

When Your Cake is Included...

Seems like so long since I have blogged. I have been working on my other project, which is a new full website. Here is more advice on planning... Back to what I love...

Our wedding cake was included in our reception package. We had the choice of two bakers: Creative Cakes by Donna and Cakes Etcetera. My instinct was to go with the baker I had heard of. In CT everyone knows Creative Cakes by Donna, she is the baker to go to. Immediately, I called her to get more information and find out if I could make an appointment to meet with her. I live in MA and was going home for the weekend to take care of some wedding planning. She basically wanted all the information over the phone and when I asked if I could meet with her, she said I could stop by and pick up some samples but that we would talk closer to the wedding to finalize everything. Ummmm - okay, let me pick out my wedding cake over the phone.

I then decided to call Cakes Etcetera and that is when I met Carol. She was amazing and unbelievably helpful. Part of what made me call her was her extensive pictures of cakes on her website and of course I found a wedding cake with Hidden Mickeys on it. It was destiny. I called her and made an appointment to meet her. She was amazing and so helpful. I ended up getting my wedding cake and my flowers through her. She does the whole thing - cakes, invitations, flowers... She was great and kept in constant contact with me. I only had a bite of the cake, but it was great!!!!

So the reason I am writing this is because don't you know that two weeks before my wedding Creative Cakes by Donna called me to confirm my wedding cake. I guess at that point I was supposed to have it all written down and be waiting for their call. Can you imagine being a bride and waiting until 2 weeks before your wedding to decide on your cake.

Needless to say, I do not recommend Creative Cakes by Donna and absolutely love Carol at Cakes Etcetera - http://www.cakesetcetera.com/

Good luck!

Other Ways to Name Your Tables

If you and your fiancee have not traveled much and do not have enough "special places" to name your tables after, there are many other options available to you.  Table numbers are out and boring, tap into your creative side.  Here are some other ideas for naming the tables at your reception:

1. Do you have a special musical group you both enjoy, name the tables after their songs.
2. If you love a sports team, name the tables after your favorite players, owners, managers or parts of their stadium.  We love the Red Sox and I have seen people use baseball cards to label their tables.
3. Places of importance to you both, maybe not necessarily in order as we did.  Where you met, what towns you grew up in.  Maybe you traveled to Italy and got engaged there, name the tables after the towns you visited.
4. Do you have a favorite place, we love Disney World, name your tables after Disney attractions,  famous Disney characters, maybe your favorite Disney movies.
5. Special people in your lives that you may want to pay a homage to.
6. If you are sitting people at certain tables you can name the tables and put a story that involves the people sitting at the table.  This will make them feel special and help you let people know how they have touched your lives together as a couple.
   
7. Does your wedding have a theme?  Doing a Vegas wedding?  Name your tables after Vegas hotels, Vegas attractions, games played in Vegas...

There are so many ideas you can come up with, don't settle for boring numbers.  Need some help, email me.  Get creative...

Ways to Make it Personal

There are many ways to make it personal when planning your wedding. One way that my husband and I made it personal was by naming our tables after places of importance between us. Then when we laid out the tables, we put them in the order of when they occurred in our relationship. On the back of each card we put a short story about why it was important to us. For example, we met at Old Sturbridge Village on a cold January day. Our first table was named Old Sturbridge Village and we put a story on the back (just a few sentences) of our first date there. Our last table was Fenway Park where we got engaged. I then created a map for our guests so they could find their table, this was displayed by the place cards. Our guests really enjoyed this touch, some even told us they went around to each table to read them all. For those people who did not know us very well; they felt after the wedding that they did know us and that we shared our lives and love with them

Here is the website I used to order my table tents and they have a free template for making them: http://www.mcgpaper.com/tabletent.html.

They were cheap and easy to do and really made an impression on our guests.

Weddings On a Budget

In the January, 2008 issue of Hartford Magazine there is an article about weddings and planning. I really found this to be an interesting article and found it even more interesting that I cut out some of the things they suggest in my wedding to help control costs. Here is some of the advice they have to offer:

1. Know what your budget is before you talk to anyone.
2. Set your budget and stick to it.
3. Tell your vendors what your budget is and ask that they not show you anything that does not fit within your set budget. The example they use is: If you were looking for a house in the $200,000 bracket, you wouldn't go look at a $350,000 house.
4. You may have to make concessions (i.e. fewer guests or choose flowers that are in season (i.e. you would not have tulips in January in CT.))
5. Guests remember certain things, napkins, centerpieces, chair covers and favors are not among them.
6. What leaves a lasting impression is the bride and groom, food and drink, the music and how much fun they had. Remember this is the first event you are hosting as husband and wife.
7. Do not skimp on location, they also say not to cut out an open bar. Maybe limit your open bar to beer, wine and less expensive liquor.
8. You can also cut corners on the gifts and eliminate the limousines.
9. Choose an off peak period to get married.
10. Splurge on what is most important to you and your spouse to be.

Finally my most favorite quote of advice: "First and foremost, it's about your marriage. So many couples lose sight of that. You are getting married. You are making a commitment and everything after that is second fiddle." WOW, how true. You get so wrapped up in the planning and details, you need to give yourself a pulse check and remind yourself what you are planning and what it means.

I found it helpful that my reception site had a lot to offer and had a wide selection of options to help control my costs. My reception was the most expensive part of my wedding, but EVERYTHING was included. I had my wedding at the Glastonbury Hills Country Club and the cost per person was $71.00, this is considered their Premium Package. It included 5 hours of open bar, champagne and wine guest greeting, the champagne toast, assorted cheese display during the cocktail hour, self serve coffee bar throughout the reception, 4 hot-hand passed hors d'oeuvres, an appetizer, salad, 3 entree choices (beef, chicken and fish) and the wedding cake. The staff was amazing, the site was beautiful, the food was great and we have received many compliments about our wedding.

Here is what I cut out of my wedding to help with costs: I really wanted chair covers and felt it really made the room. When I started pricing them out I realized I was looking at an additional $600+ and felt this just wasn't necessary. I also wanted a limo and when I started pricing those out, I just couldn't get myself to pay that much money for what they call 3 hours of service. The 3 hours consists of picking up the bride and girls at the house, bringing them to the church, after the church bringing them to take pictures and then to the reception. Everything for me was in the same town so I would not have even needed 3 hours. My husband and I priced out Cadillacs through local car rental companies. We ended up finding one for around $70. He and my good friend picked up the car the morning of the wedding and then my good friend, Ronnie, who was also in our wedding was my driver. It was very special and saved us so much money. Then when the wedding was done, we drove the car to our hotel room and returned it the next morning at the airport. This really made it a lot easier for everyone.

I was also able to save money by buying as much as I could online and not settling for the first thing I found. Shopped around and waited for sales. I also used the reception sites centerpieces but dressed them up a bit to make it more personal. We got married in November on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In meeting with our priest he suggested that we not get flowers for the church as it would still be decorated from Thanksgiving. He also was not keen on us using a runner. We decided that his ideas were great because we left the church exactly as it was and it became more about the ceremony than all of the decorations.

I have many more ideas on how to save money and will share them in my future blogs. Hope this helps someone and look forward to sharing more of my ideas. Happy planning!

Even Bad Advice May be Good Advice...

My husband and I got engaged on April 24, 2007. We made the official announcement and everyone was so excited. My husband is 38 years old and I am 33 years old, so in some ways it was... about time...

Then once the magic of getting engaged ends, the advice starts piling in. My husband and I decided we wanted to get married at Disney, have a quick ceremony and then change and go play in the parks. How do you say - DISASTER!!!!!! It was the first sign to us that maybe this was not going to be about what we wanted and more about what everyone else wants. My in-laws are very traditional and the idea of a "fun" wedding was not going to be acceptable. My husband and I were crushed, this is what we wanted and what we both envisioned and now???

Reality set in and we started to really think about the cost associated with a Disney wedding and how impersonal and "cold" it would be. We decided on a wedding back in my home town of Glastonbury, CT. We had a traditional church wedding in my Catholic church and then followed the ceremony by a very classy reception at the Glastonbury Hills Country Club. I will get more into my wedding in future blogs, but the lesson to be learned here is...

Even though my husband and I were crushed by the idea of not getting married in Disney and not having our "dream" wedding, we realized that the wedding we had was so unbelievable and so special and it would not have been had we gone through with the Disney wedding. What seemed to us to be devastating events in our wedding planning, turned out to be the advice we needed to open our minds...

My First Posting...

While planning my wedding I spent quite a bit of time online looking for information and products to help make my wedding exactly what I wanted it to be. Some of my favorite sites are listed in my favorites, but the key I found was to not settle for the first thing I found. Planning my wedding was so much fun and so exciting. My idea for this blog is to help others in planning their wedding. I will keep my postings to specific topics and offer my suggestions and advice. Thank you for reading and happy planning...