Richmond Wedding Guide
Low Stress Wedding Planning


Congratulations and best wishes! Now that youre engaged, enjoy the moment. Before you even have the chance to catch your breath, people will begin to ask you if youve set a date yet and how much of your wedding planning you have done. It doesnt matter how far away the wedding is; as soon as the ring is on the finger, the questions begin.

If youre not the kind of person who has been thinking about weddings since age sixteen, this may quickly become overwhelming, but it neednt be. Wedding planning can be as simple, or as complicated a process, as you would like it to be.

Start Early and Dont Get Overwhelmed

While you should definitely take some time to simply enjoy being engaged, the key to successful wedding planning is to start early and to stay organized. The sooner you have all of the petty details worked out, the more time you will have to enjoy the days preceding your wedding and the less stressed you will find yourself as the day approaches. Thinking ahead also provides you with the most options for dates, venues, and vendors, so as soon as youre ready, jump right in.

Your first task is to choose ceremony and reception locales and to reserve your date. If you are willing to be flexible with dates, you will have a lot more choices for location. In general, with wedding planning as with life, the more flexible you are, the easier things will be for you, so if you have a date in mind, then youll probably need to call several different places. Most restaurants and halls will have a brochure or folder containing all of their information and prices. Make sure you collect these papers and file them appropriately until youve made a decision.

Your next priority should be dresses. This is generally considered to be the most fun step in the entire wedding planning process, but if you are shy it can be terrifying. To simplify this process, first go to the largest dress shop in your area, with no more than two people, and try on a variety of different styles until you get an idea of what you like. Then if you need to go to several boutiques to find the exact dress you want, you can, but you dont need to.

Request a list of recommended vendors from the event coordinator at your reception site, from recently married friends, or from other people you know. Chances are, once theyve been pre-screened, your interview process can be very brief. Once again, the sooner you book your vendors, the less difficult this will be.

Wedding planning can seem extremely daunting, but if you break it down into smaller steps and enlist the help of others, it becomes a much friendlier even pleasant task.

When you ask someone who isnt a professional to handle your wedding photography, have them show you more than one portrait theyve taken.

Island Wedding Guide
First and foremost it is important to decide upon which type or blend of wedding music you wish to incorporate into your wedding ceremony. In fact, with all the do-it-yourself software available for home computers, it is often less costly (and more fun) to create your own wedding program in the comfort of your office. Although brides would love to look like princesses, most do not have a royal budget. For most of us a childs wedding is the celebration of a lifetime. In general, with wedding planning as with life, the more flexible you are, the easier things will be for you, so if you have a date in mind, then youll probably need to call several different places.

One Internet retailer offers suggestions about which type of wedding tiara to purchase based on the shape of your face.
Everyone knows that pictures of your wedding day will hold the memories of that day for years to come. No matter how stressful your wedding planning has been, or how unnerved or rushed you feel, the wedding program is a part of the ceremony that can take the least amount of time to make but, in all actuality, lets the real you show through. Allow the wedding couple to make changes in how the money is spent but not on how much money you will contribute. The clich of the hideous bridesmaid dress, complete with oversized bows and ruffles, unfortunately turns out to be true, as witnessed at many of the weddings Ive attended.