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Rennie`

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:34 pm


Hiya all

I haven't had much experience in weddings, my parents were married before I was born and I've only witnessed 3 weddings, 2 I barely remember and one recently which I got slightly involved in.

Anyway I need to start mentally planning this wedding so I can work out the budget and what not but I'm not sure what to plan.

So far I have planned:

Hen night with bridemaids and my mum the night before wedding (fiancé will have a stag do)
Wedding ceremony in church with:
- 1 best man - Fiancés best friend
- 4 bridesmaids - 3 of my friends and my fiancés cousin
- 1 or 2 flower girl - my cousin and maybe her sister
- Ring barer - my brother
Dinner (still got a query with this because I want our immediate family yet at the wedding ceremony we'll have more distant family members)
Reception with family, friends and colleagues.
Honeymoon to Paris or somewhere in Italy or Spain

I am not paying anything more then £700 ($1500) on a wedding dress and I am going to try and get the bridesmaids to pay their own dress apart from my cousin-in-law to be. I will have real flowers and so will the bridemaids (and others) but to decorate the church and reception I will only have fake flowers or in-season flowers. I will get my aunty to help me make the cake and invites.

But, only being 18, I just don't understand how to plan a wedding and everything. My fiancé is pretty much the same though he keeps telling me to stop thinking about it until next year. My Dad will not help, when I was going to show him my ring he said "I don't want to see it until you turn 20." he even refused to host an engagement party because I wasn't 20. I will be 20 by the time I get married so at this rate he'll have nothing to do with it. At the meantime my fiancé and I have to plan and pay for most of the wedding though my friends do seem willing to help which I am very greatful about.

So what do I need to do?
PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:46 pm


theknot.com

They have great articles, a community with lots of nice girls and great ideas, a great to do list to help you see what you should be doing and you can make a little website for your guests to go to.

Good luck!

Miss-Shade


that1gal

PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:09 am


If you aren't going to be wed until 2010... take a breath you have sooooooo much time. I got engaged October 2004 and married May 2005. You have so much time I am jealous. Start going to bridal fairs and buying bridal magazines. Don't start seriously shopping until a year or so before the wedding. Start a binder of things you like. Styles of dresses and tuxes and flowers and cakes. Honeymoon tips and ideas. Start searching for ways to save money. If your centerpieces are going to be fake start looking for sales on silk flowers now. That way when you are actually reserving a church and reception sight you will know what you are doing. Start looking at places you want to go on the honeymoon in whatever city you choose. Restaurants and hotels and tours and all that take knowledge. Have your aunty make a few cakes and then decide which you want or go to cake shops with her and look at what you want and she is able to produce. You fiancee is right about waiting til next year for serious planning. That is when you will begin reserving stuff. Good luck on all the plans. Keep us updates and if you want to rant PM me I can handle any Bridezilla.
PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:52 am


Miss-Shade
theknot.com

They have great articles, a community with lots of nice girls and great ideas, a great to do list to help you see what you should be doing and you can make a little website for your guests to go to.

Good luck!


You beat me to the punch Miss Shade! I was going to recommend the knot too. They are awesome. Not ony do they have articles to get ideas and help from, they also have forums where you can talk to other brides AND they help you make lists for your budget and things like that. That's what I used it the most for. And if that wasn't enough, you can create your own wedding webpage to help keep guests up to date with what's happening, where it's going to be, etc.

I also got the book Weddings for Dummies. That book has it all and it also helps you create budgets and lists to help manage your time and money.

After all the wedding goodness is over, The Knot then has another division called The Nest that is for married people. That can help with some transitioning stuff for a new marriage, such as how to set up your guys' budget for your house together, checklists for home and things pertaining to married life (one is all the things you need to do to change your name, another has things you probably need to have in your kitchen, etc.). And with this one also comes a forum where you can talk to other wives who were just married and other people starting their lives together. And then last but not least is The Nest Baby for when/if you have kids. It's my current addiction and really the most helpful thing I have found online during my pregnancy.

Yeah, I love The Knot. They got a lifetime addict outta me. razz

And if you are strapped for cash a bit because your parents aren't helping a lot, you could look into making a lot of the things for the wedding. We made all of the invites, favors, centerpieces, etc. So not only did we get exactly what we wanted as opposed to the cookie cutter wedding, we kept ourselves about 1000.00 under budget which then went towards our honeymoon.

Hope all goes well for you. Keep us posted on the wedding plans (loves wedding plans and will live vicariously through other brides for the rest of her life) razz

Diavolina_Ivy


[ petrosity ]

PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:02 pm


I started looking for a wedding dress three months before my wedding, and a lot of the agents told me that I was dumb, that sometimes it takes months to have the dress you want ordered to come in. Most suggested shopping for your wedding dress at least six months in advance. I just tried on dresses until I found one I liked. It ended up costing around 1,000 dollars with all the accessories, cens shoes (xD I paid five dollars for a pair of white flipflops.)

And you do have a ton of time. So, start saving. I purchased all my flowers through a local store--Albertson's. It's just a normal grocery store, but they were able to get daisies and Calla lilies for a steal! I ended up paying 1.50 for my daisies and 5 dollars for my callas. In the end, I had bridal bouquet, three bridesmaids bouquets, 14 fishy center pieces, and enough flowers for every mother, step mother, grandmothers, grandfathers, fathers, and step fathers to have something to pin onto their chest for a grand total of 160 dollars. We had a friend arrange all the flowers. THANK GOD. It saved a ton!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:28 am


Thanks all for your input! The Knot looks brilliant! I've saved it as a favourite so I'll be checking that out when I get back from college.

I'm going to keep it short because I did type a long message though I did something on my laptop and it deleted it all (aaaaarrrggggg!!!!!!) so I'll say thanks again before I head off for college. THANK YOU ALL!

Rennie`

Wealthy Informer

2,100 Points
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  • Person of Interest 200
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Rennie`

Wealthy Informer

2,100 Points
  • Member 100
  • Person of Interest 200
  • Autobiographer 200
PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:29 am


Slight problem with The Knot.

I am from England and it is an American site so I can't sign up and it doesn't have any venues in England.

I will still use it for wedding ideas though, at the mean time I'll stick to hitched.co.uk which is an English site.
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:02 am


If you're from England, you might like to try WeddingIdeasMagazine.co.uk

It's a British forum, based around a British wedding magazine.

It includes references on where to get wedding dress bargains, reviews on many venues etc.

It has lots of offers, competitions and giveaways, and it also has a really good forum that I found very helpful when I was planning my wedding.

Quite a few people use it as a means to advertise their business, too (florists, stationary, cake makers etc.) so if you ask for something specific on the forum, you often get responses from specialists in your area.


Tute Sweet

Captain

Dainty Doll


Miss-Shade

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:50 am


Rennie`
Slight problem with The Knot.

I am from England and it is an American site so I can't sign up and it doesn't have any venues in England.

I will still use it for wedding ideas though, at the mean time I'll stick to hitched.co.uk which is an English site.



Aw, that sucks. I could've sworn I've seen some British brides on there:/
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