How to Choose and Use a Wedding Planner?

Organizing a wedding is exciting and enjoyable but it can also be stressful and time-consuming, particularly if you're already a busy person. If you and your partner don't have the time to plan your own wedding, you may want to consider using a wedding planner. Similarly, if your forthcoming wedding is going to be a grand affair or maybe it involves far-off locations, you may want to consider hiring a wedding planner.

Can You Afford a Wedding Planner?

It may sound glamorous to boast to your friends that you're using a wedding planner, but do bear in mind that their services don't come cheap. A large chunk of your wedding budget could be used up paying for a wedding planner – money that you may consider better spent elsewhere.

If you're sure that you need one, shop around for a good price but also make sure that you're going to be getting a professional service.

Choosing a Wedding Planner

Ask around for personal recommendations when you start looking for a wedding planner or carry out research online to find recommendations. Conduct an initial phone interview with a shortlist of wedding planners and then meet them face-to-face for a more in-depth interview.

It's important that your wedding planner be someone you both trust implicitly and can get along with for several months. Make sure to obtain references from previous clients.

Using a Wedding Planner

Once you've found a suitable wedding planner, draw up a contract of employment with them, detailing what services they are going to provide and their fees. Give your wedding planner as much information as possible about your wishes and tastes so that your special day still has a personal flavor.

Don't let your wedding planner railroad you into making decisions against your will – remember that it's your money they're spending.

Choose Wedding Cakes (Pictures)

After the bride's dress, the wedding cake is probably the next most looked at and admired part of a wedding so you need to ensure that it’s not only delicious but also beautiful.

Traditional or Contemporary Wedding Cake?

The traditional wedding cake is a multi-tiered affair, composed of layers of square or round cakes, covered in white frosting and decorated with figurines of the bride and bridegroom. If your wedding is going to be of the traditional kind, then this type of wedding cake will be ideal for you.

Square multi-layer wedding cake

Cake with groom and bride miniature

Cartoon brides and groom on wedding cake

Very nice small cake in wedding

As a general rule of thumb, a three-tiered wedding cake will serve approximately 75 guests (depending on how generous you are going to be with your portions!). Of course, it’s not necessary to limit yourself to using white frosting – if your wedding is color-themed, then you could have your wedding cake frosted in the same color as your dress or flowers. For a more individual look, your wedding cake could be decorated with flowers, fruit or decorations that reflect your personalities or interests. Sponge cakes and fruitcakes are the traditional wedding cakes of choice but don’t forget to cater for your guests’ tastes too. 

Also, instead of having just one wedding cake, why not have a selection of smaller, different flavor cakes? Cupcakes seem to be all the rage at the moment and are a novel way to have a wedding cake that is a little different than the norm.

DIY or Professional Wedding Cake?

Your Mom may be the best cake-baker you know, but is she really up to baking the centerpiece for your big day? Does she want that responsibility? If you do decide to save money by having your Mom or a friend create your wedding cake, it’s best to have a trial run before the big day to ensure that the cake is going to live up to expectations. A professionally made wedding cake may be more expensive but the quality and appearance will be guaranteed.

Dry wedding? How much alcohol should I prepare for my wedding?

I've done one dry wedding, and it was my hardest. The bride and groom were both recovering alcoholics and I understood why they wanted to do it that way. But it turns out that it really affected the energy of the wedding. People didn't dance.

Wedding Alcohol

It's unfortunate that we have to depend on alcohol to let loose, but we do. It took so much time to get people out and dancing, so much energy to get everyone laughing. People are inhibited; they don't want to be first in the buffet line or on the dance floor.

I would consider just serving wine. Or you could always try a morning wedding and a brunch, when people won't expect a band and dancing. (Serve great coffee.) If you do an evening wedding, the expectations is that alcohol will be served.

Try this online calculator to know how much alcohol you need for your wedding: http://www.thealcoholcalculator.com/

Good Fabrics for Bridesmaids' Dresses and Prices

Does the fabric of the dress matter much in pricing? Somewhat. You'll find plenty of dresses in fabulous cotton that cost a bit less than silks, and organza and chiffon do cost more per-yard than dress cottons. Gown shop experts say that taffeta is trending up right now, since it's an inexpensive fabric that reflects color and looks gorgeous.

Again, it's always going to be the designer and the detail, as well as where you buy the dress, that will determine how much it will cost. A dress with lots of layers, requiring more fabric, will cost more as well. So be prepared to spend a bit more for a floor-length gown in a high-quality fabric with a few flowing layers. It's good to pay more for a dress made with quality materials; the dress hangs well, moves well, and has a pretty sheen that makes your bridesmaid group's dress choice stand out as high fashion, even if you landed a dress for under $100 from a great resource, using all of your extra resources.

So what are the great fabrics to look for? I spoke with several gown designers who say that bridesmaids are happiest in comfortable, soft, smooth, and flowing fabrics such as:

1. Charmeuse
2. Chiffon
3. Cotton
4. Crinkle Chiffon
5. Eastern Shantung
6. Shantung
7. Taffeta

And again, taffeta makes the list as one of the better-priced fabrics and cotton is on the list as well, as both an informal and a formal dress choice that keeps its shape and makes the green-weddings crowd happy.

Wedding Bay

This blog would be an interesting outlet of wedding information and tips for brides and grooms who are planning their wedding.

I love blogs that have pictures galore! ;)