Make a bachelorette wish list

Thinking of unique bachelorette party ideas is often a challenge since you also have to think whether your plan will be interesting to the guests or not. To make things easier for you, you can make a bachelorette wish list and ask your friends to fill it out to ensure that the bride, as well as the other visitors will have a good time. You can ask her friends to write down what the bride will miss in singlehood once she settles down. But of course, these things should not be too risqué for the bride.

Create a task list

One of the best ways of spicing up a bachelorette party is by making a task list for the bride-to-be to accomplish. Once the final plans for the location have been made, you can then plan the game carefully. It is up to you and your other friends to come up with unique tasks for the bachelorette. This is actually a fun game and you can make it more memorable by snapping a photo for every task, and compiling the pictures in a photo album.

Lingerie contest

Another unique idea you can use for the party is to hold a lingerie contest. As the guests move from one area to another, they are required to pick up items that they can use for making their own ‘custom lingerie’. The bride will be the one to decide who the winner is.

Relax at the spa

There are also some people who prefer to relax rather than indulge in a traditional party. For this type of bride and her guests, you can schedule time at the spa. You, the bride, and the rest of her guests can swap stories while spending an afternoon or day getting pampered.

There are still many unique bachelorette party ideas that you can choose from. If you are the party planner, it is up to you to plan an event that the bride and the guests will enjoy. By using your imagination and creativity, you can come up with a memorable occasion for all.

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Making a Our Wedding Scrapbook is fun, and it allows you to organize your photos in an attractive and original way.  Here are some tips that you could apply to your wedding scrapbook.

* Use only the best photos in your scrapbook, especially if you have a lot of them.  There’s no need to include every single shot.  It’s likely that you have many similar pictures, and including them all will only detract from your scrapbook.  Going through the photos as a couple will ensure that both husband and wife’s favorites are included.

* Include lots of candid photos.  Portraits are more polished looking, but candid shots do more to tell the story of your wedding day.  Using some of each will give your album a good balance.

* Add in plenty of journaling.  The couple can write their thoughts about the wedding day, certain photos, or their love for one another.  You could also ask family members or guests to do some of the journaling if you would like to include some outside perspectives.

* Consider including notes from cards you’ve received in connection with your wedding.  These often contain sentiments that are too precious to end up packed in a box somewhere.  Cutting them out and incorporating them into your pages makes a wonderful addition to your wedding scrapbook.

* Press some flowers from your bouquet, the groom’s boutonniere, and other floral arrangements from the ceremony and reception.  They make lovely adornments for your scrapbook pages.  Putting them between pieces of transparency plastic or laminating them will ensure that they retain their beauty through the years.  You could also affix some to the scrapbook’s cover with Modge Podge if you like.

* Incorporate your wedding vows into your scrapbook.  This is especially nice if you wrote your own vows.  You could use them as you would journaling, or you could include a line or two on each page throughout the book.  This could also be done with the lyrics from one of your special wedding songs.

* Add some special keepsakes from your wedding day.  These could include things such as personalized napkins, place cards, notes, and more.  And don’t forget to include one of your wedding invitations!

* Choose embellishments carefully.  There are lots of pretty things you can use to accent the pictures in your scrapbook, but be careful not to get too carried away.  The photos themselves are the stars of the show, not the embellishments.

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Brocade Monogram Guest Book

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Planning activities for these weekend-long celebrations doesn’t have to be difficult; in fact, it can be quite a bit of fun if you keep everyone’s needs in mind. First, consider the wedding. Will this be a formal wedding with a sit-down dinner at its center? If so, you might want to ban a formal rehearsal dinner and replace it instead with an informal barbecue dinner or picnic.

But how will you keep people occupied during the long weekend? There are many activities to consider. Will the wedding be near a lake? How about planning a day at the lake on Saturday, filled with pre-wedding activities like swimming races and beach volleyball.

One popular pre-wedding activity is a scavenger hunt. Prior to the wedding weekend, a list of meaningful items should be drawn up, and guests placed in two teams. The list should include things like “get a brochure from the jewelry store where (groom) bought (bride)’s ring” or “take a picture of the group at the location where the couple got engaged”. You will have to tailor the scavenger hunt list to the location of the wedding and the energy of the guests who will be participating.

You can even offer lavish prizes for the team that wins the scavenger hunt, such as gift certificates or gourmet food and wine baskets. It might seem an obvious choice to divide the teams into groups who know or are related to the bride and teams who know or are related to the groom, but it might be a little more fun to mix it up a bit. You can create teams of friends versus family, or men versus women (always a popular choice).

Another activity that’s popular during wedding weekends is a competitive sport activity, such as baseball or flag football. Again, add a special twist. Offer prizes for performance (first home run gets a kiss from the bride) or make silly rules, like members of the bridal party have to wear tiaras while running bases or members of the groom’s family should always have their shirts on backwards.

It’s important that during the wedding weekend, planners keep in mind that the weekend itself might be expensive for some guests, particularly those who had to fly in for the occasion and many of the activities should be free, or inexpensive. If they are more expensive, and planned for the entire group, they should be paid for by either the bride and groom or their families.

But there are plenty of activities that don’t have to be expensive, but can provide big bang for the little buck, such as the scavenger hunt suggested above. If the wedding weekend guests will mostly be family, you can schedule a home movie-viewing event, including home movies from both the bride and groom’s families. For even more fun, consider an activity where the movies are mixed up and the guests have to guess which family’s videos they are watching. This might sound easy, but depending on the contents, it could be hard, particularly if the bride and groom are babies in the photos.

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Wedding jitters can start at any time, maybe yours started from the moment you get engaged or they’re about to surface in the middle of your walk down the aisle. After all, marriage changes your entire life. The jitters don’t mean you shouldn’t get married; they just mean that you’re worried about this big change. After all, you’ll be adopting a different family situation, possibly a different living situation, and a whole host of other things. We’re all afraid of the unknown, which is why so many people get worried about their weddings.

There’s no standard pattern to the pre-wedding jitters, and some people have it worse than others. There are ways to deal with them, however. Make sure you’re not going to lose sight of who you are, and look at the challenges you’re facing, both as a couple and as individuals. Think about what you’re really afraid of.

Is it giving up your friends, changing your living situation, having to give up your hobbies? Talk to your spouse to be about it, and make sure you communicate clearly and truthfully. Usually no matter what you’re worried about, you can overcome the problem. Chances are, your fiance may be feeling a little jittery too and would welcome the chance to clear the air. You will both feel better after a heart-to-heart talk and some reassurances about how your future together will be.

Don’t let yourself feel like your wedding has to be perfect. There’s no such thing, and if you’re insistent that everything has to be perfect, you’re going to have a lot on your plate to worry about, and much of it out of your control. Something will go wrong – it’s just the way weddings work.

Take it easy on yourself and give up a little of your need to control everything and you’ll feel a lot better. You have to face your fears in order to get rid of them. If you just keep going, you’re going to have a more difficult time getting to your big day.

Everybody gets that cold feet feeling at some point. Don’t let it take over and ruin one of the most important days of your life. Take the time to look at what’s worrying you and solve the problem, or realize that your fears are just a matter of not knowing what’s going to happen. The calmer you are, the better your chances are of having a great wedding.

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 This bracelet is finished with two birthstone crystals to represent the bride and the flower girl. A secure lobster clasp ensures this heirloom fits snugly on tiny wrists. Available in five sizes. Your bracelet arrives tucked inside a pink organza bag. The gift bag and poem are then placed inside a clear top gift box and tied with a bow for presentation.

From Heart’s Treasure 

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Taking pictures between the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception has a few negatives – like losing all the excitement you were feeling during the wedding and right after. Taking pictures at this point can bring you down fast and make you feel like you’re missing your own party. It can feel like it’s taking forever. This doesn’t make for the greatest of picture taking sessions and it will show in your pictures.

You might also feel bad because you’re keeping your guests waiting. You’re anxiously imagining them sitting around twiddling their thumbs while they wait for you to show up. Or worse, they eat all the reception food and leave before you get there.

On the other hand, having your pictures snapped before the wedding might not feel right. You might have wanted to keep with the traditions in your family and really would like the moment to be just right when your beloved sees you in your wedding gown. Some photographers have addressed this sensitively by shooing everyone out to give the bride and groom a few moments of privacy when he first enters the room where she is.

But another reason why some brides and grooms don’t want the pictures ahead of time is because they are feeling way too stressed and nervous. It can be a bit hard to smile when you stomach is tied up in a nervous knot, or you’re worried your hair-do won’t last long enough to accommodate both the pictures and the wedding before it starts going limp. Time is also an issue. There is no time for anyone to be running late who will be in the wedding pictures. The pictures need to happen on a set schedule so the wedding can go on at the appointed time.

How about a compromise? If you don’t want to invite bad juju and you don’t want your husband-to-be to see you in your fabulous wedding gown prior to the wedding, you can have the photographer take the bridal party pictures, bride and parents, and bride and family pictures prior to the wedding. You can even have them taken earlier in the day and then go into hiding before the groom party shows up to have their pictures taken. That leaves fewer pictures, the ones of you together and those with everyone in them, to be taken after the wedding ceremony. It shortens the time between the wedding and the reception.

The choice of when to have your wedding pictures taken is up to you and your fiance and centers around what you would like. Additionally, you can talk to your photographer and see what he or she suggests.

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Making a list

You can find a list of wedding photographers in your local phone book, but it’s much easier to get onto a wedding website and see who local people recommend. This list is much shorter and can lead you to higher quality people without having to call everyone from A to Z.

Once you have a list of photographers, start to call them to set up appointments. Try not to schedule them too close to each other so that you can spend as much time as you need with each one. If you’re rushed, you may forget to ask particular questions and you may also forget which photographer said what.

Make a list of questions that you want to ask. You can ask about pricing, hourly fees, added costs, location costs, various developing techniques, and more. Try to think of every question that you and your soon-to-be spouse can, even if you think they sound silly. No question is too silly, and if the photographer has been around long enough, then they will have heard them all.

Your interview style

One of the things that works best in talking with photographers is to try to make sure that you are leading the conversation. You want to make sure that you are getting your opinion into the talks, rather than being told what other couples are doing and saying about them and how much their fees are.

If you feel like you’re being sold a product, rather than an opportunity to have some great pictures, then you can cut the appointment off and leave. You have no obligation to choose anyone until you’re completely satisfied with your choice.

Look at the samples carefully and make sure that you’re looking at ones that are recent. Sometimes photographers will try to show you older photos, but if that’s not your style, then it’s really not applicable. Study the quality of the pictures and look for poses that you like.

Your pictures will serve as a reminder of the happiness and joy of your wedding day. You need to find someone who will create masterpieces of your photos. Take your time in finding someone, but do it early—if you live in a smaller town, these professionals can book up early.

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The first and perhaps the most important in the list of wedding photography tips is to bring a spare camera. It doesn’t matter if it is a digital or a disposable one; what is crucial is that you have a substitute to your trusty device in the event that it unexpectedly stops working. Second, consult with the couple. Ask them which parts of the ceremony and the reception you should capture, and who among the guests should be given priority – and write down the information. This may seem unnecessary – of course you know which parts of the affair should be captured – but bear in mind that you might be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of shots to be taken that there is a huge possibility of you forgetting something or someone. Third, visit the location of the ceremony and the reception before the big day. By doing so, you can choose beforehand the spots for your formal shots (a picture of the couple with the bride’s family, with the groom’s family, with friends, etc.). Fourth, prepare your equipment before the event. This entails charging the batteries for your camera (or buy new ones) and checking that the device is working properly. It also means bringing not only a spare camera to the event, as mentioned, but also extra batteries and memory cards.

With regard to wedding photography tips that concern the act of taking pictures itself, there are no ironclad rules that you have to abide by. In the end the type of shots you have to take will be dictated by the couple’s tastes, so as stated earlier, talking to them is a priority. Most couples today, though, lean towards pictures that are not too formal – that is, photographs that capture candid moments and raw emotions. You can search for tips on how to take candid shots online, and then once you’re done, practice what you’ve learned first before applying them to the actual event.

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Most brides are so absorbed with wedding-planning tasks that it’s asking too much of them to think beyond the honeymoon, let alone a year later. How they might celebrate their first wedding anniversary may not be on her mind, but one romantic tradition has endured over the years – saving the top tier of the wedding cake.

The long-standing tradition of the happy enjoying their wedding cake on their first anniversary is an easy process, but it will need to be included on the bride’s to-do list or delegated to someone trustworthy.

When followed through, step-by-step, the top tier will remain fresh and tasty for you to celebrate one year of wedded bliss.

1.As the reception draws to a close, it’s time to remove any ornaments, such as a cake topper or flowers, from the top layer.

2.Check the bottom of the layer. To keep any odd flavors from seeping into the cake while it is in the freezer, make sure the layer is set on a plastic plate or a cake board wrapped in foil.

3.Now it’s time to firm up the icing by placing the layer in the freezer for anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Do not wrap the cake with plastic wrap at this stage of freezing, or you will end up with plastic wrap frozen to the cake.

4.Remove the cake from the freezer. Using plastic wrap, cover the cake completely. In order to avoid freezer burn, make sure it is airtight and that there are no bubbles of air between the cake and the plastic wrap. Any air left between the cake and plastic wrap could zap moisture from the cake itself. Be sure to cover the cake three or four times, checking for air bubbles as you go.

5.Cover the cake in foil.

6.As an extra precaution, at this point you might want to slide the cake into a large zip-lock freezer bag, remove all air, seal it, and then slide this into a second zip-lock freezer bag and seal.

7.Place the wrapped cake in a small bakery box in order to protect it from other items in the freezer. Cake boxes are easily found at bakeries or arts and crafts stores that sell cake decorating equipment.

8.At this point, you are ready to place the box in the freezer. However, let me suggest taking your duties a few steps further in an effort to have an even fresher cake in one year. Now that the cake is in its box, get out the plastic wrap and, this time, wrap the box itself with several layers of plastic wrap. Cover with foil or place in another zip-lock freezer bag.

9.Place the box deep within a non-defrosting freezer where it will remain for the year. If the freezer self-defrosts, your cake will be ruined.

Don’t move the cake from one freezer to another during this year. It’s best to leave the cake deep within the freezer to avoid the possibility of allowing it to partially thaw while in transit. If the bride and groom have not yet settled into their first home or plan to move around during this year, it may be best to leave the cake in the freezer of a close friend or loved one with no plans to move, and then retrieve the cake from that person the day before the one-year anniversary.

Remember to begin the freezing process as soon as possible following the reception. You’ll have much better results – and a fresher cake on your anniversary – if the wedding cake is frozen while it is still as fresh as possible.

Unfortunately, if your cake has a crème filling, freezing it is not recommended.

One day before your one-year anniversary, you’ll need to begin defrosting the cake by moving it from the freezer to the refrigerator. After two or three hours in the refrigerator, unwrap the cake and allow it to continue defrosting in the refrigerator.

Two hours before you plan to serve the cake, take it out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.

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