Christmas Weddings

Christmas is everyones favorite holiday. Well mostly everyone... Many families get together around this holiday, churches are packed and decorated, why not have yourself a merry little christmas wedding?!

 Wedding Colors

Most churches are decorated in red and green, other reception sites are probably already decorated for the holiday for parties and other holiday events. You have a cheaper decoration idea all set up for you! You can incorporate other colors into the red and green so it's not as traditional:

• silver and white
• silver and light blue
• burgundy, forest green, and gold (as long as the existing decorations aren't too primary)
• gold and cream 

Christmas Wedding Invitations

When choosing an invitation, don't go so over the top with the holiday theme that it looks just like a holiday card. Opt for a thick white or cream, non-folded card with a border and/or engraving. You can incorporate the christmas theme by using it in your border with snowflakes, holly trim or a simple drawing of a pointsetta. An issue you might encounter if you send your invitations 2 months earlier is most people have plans by then, you can send a save the date a few months prior and send an invitation 3-4 months prior to ensure the most important people come!

Wedding Cake

 For me, I feel as though the dress is the main focus of the ceremony, and the cake is the main focal point of the reception. An always popular cake is having each tier look like individually wrapped presents. Another option is an all white cake with edible poinsettia flowers cascading down the side of the tiers, but there are really quite a few other options.

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen Attire

One of my favorite ideas for Bridesmaids dress ideas for the holiday season is a long gown with a faux fur muff instead of a bouquet. You can incorporate your wedding colors, or go with a basic black gown and add sparkling jewelry in your wedding color with a beautiful bouquet. Groomsmen always look fantastic wearing basic black with a red vest and tie. 

 Wedding Gown

Wedding colors are not important for your wedding gown, and I would recommend not going for a red or green gown.... Go for something you are comfortable in and look beautiful in. You can always incorporate a red sash around your waist to bring out some color, or even go for a gown with sparkle to bring out the snowiness of the season!

Flowers and Decor

Flowers can be expensive this time of year since many are out of season. Instead of bouquets you can always do the fabulous faux fur muff, and for centerpieces you can buy ornaments in bulk and fill vases with the ornaments. Muffs may not be on your list of favorite things, so you can always have a bouquet with mostly poinsettias. Fake snow can sometimes look tacky, but they have better looking products nowadays. You can always use fake snow on the table tops and place ornaments and flowers in the center of it. Poinsettias aren't super expensive so you can use those as centerpieces and add a gold trim to the outside of the vase. Pine cones are also a really inexpensive table decor to add.

These are just a few of the many options you can use? What else would you guys add?

Trimming the Fat

The guest list is a huge part of planning your wedding! You want to incorporate everyone! But if you have a budget of $10,000 for your wedding, it's going to be really really difficult to try to keep each head to under $40 a person. (Yikes!) So deciding on the type of wedding you prefer (small intimate gathering or the biggest party imaginable) will determine where or how many people you have. If you want to have your reception at your favorite restaurant, you won't want to have a huge guest list, since you don't want your guests to have to sit on each others laps, or if you have your eye on a grand ballroom, you need enough people to fill all that space so it looks full! So where do you start??

First you are going to need to figure out where your family fits in your guest list process. Typically, each family will be inviting half the guests, but chances are you don't live in the same time you used to so you will have a list of friends of your own to invite. You may want to split up the guest list in thirds, each family gets a third and you and your spouse will take the other third. In some cases, you could have a ginormous family that them alone can fill an entire football stadium. If you do have a large family you will need to take a real hard look and decide if you really need to invite all of your second and third cousins or even family you haven't seen in years?

You can also make a list of must-have guests and see how many slots are left and go from there. You may not want to have kids come, if that's the case you can address the inner and outer envelope and invitation just with the parents names. Never put "No Children" anywhere as that is impolite. Sometimes it is difficult to exclude all children so you can set an age limit, or just invite the children of your immediate family or members of your wedding party. You can talk to your family about your concerns and your reasons i.e. cost and space, and ask them to spread the word.

Another sixty four dollar question may be to invite out-of-towners or coworkers or dates. Do you invite out-of-towners you know won't show? You don't want them just to think you are inviting them for a wedding gift, but if you don't invite them will they be upset and feel snubbed? One solution is to send them a wedding announcement instead of an invitation. In the case of really close friends, even if they live across the country or on another continent is to send them an invitation, but don't be surprised if they decide to make the trek. As for dates and co workers... for your wedding party, dates may be an exception, or if you know the significant other of that person. If you invite your cousin who has a boyfriend or girlfriend whom you've never met, you may need to exclude them from your guest list. You can explain to your family and friends your concerns and the price, but the only way restrictions will work is if you stick to your decision. If you make any exceptions, you could threaten endanger the bad feelings you were hoping to avoid in the first place.

Another way to cover the list is to be honest about your friendships, like if you haven't talked to a pal for more than 2 years. Chances are you are not the only one who is feeling pressure. Your parents or his parents may try to use your wedding to repay for the weddings they have attended. If your parents are paying, then you may need to accomodate their wants and needs. If you and your fiance are paying, you should feel significantly less guilty about not accomodating their specific needs.

Once you've finished deciding who is going on the guest list and who isn't, you should enter your name to a file on your computer in alphabetical order and to a non-electronic wedding planner. (Invest in one, they are fabulous!) Include each person's mailing address, phone number, email address and his or her relationship to the bride or groom. Make columns that state their RSVP, possible dates if you decide to have dates, a brief description of any gifts received and the date the thank you cards were mailed out!

My Love For Weddings

If you know me, you know that for as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a wedding planner. My dream is coming true slowly but surely as I'm taking a certification program to become one. I had never really given it much thought as to how much work went into becoming one, but through this program I have already learned so much. Every day I'm learning more and more about what it is to become a wedding planner and every day I'm loving the fact that one day I will be one! So as my dream is soon becoming reality, I wanted to start a blog about different things I am learning, loving and want to share, as well as my favorite wedding ideas!