Delegate to relieve yourself

If you don't plan to hire a wedding consultant because you have family, relatives, and friends willing to help you out, then don't waste the resources, delegate tasks of wedding preparation to them. Not be shy to ask for help to your circle, especially to whom have specific talent on some aspects of wedding and handled similar tasks in wedding before, as most probably they would love to do this for you and appreciate you inviting them to show their talents. For people loving you, they would like to do these errands for you, such as flower decoration, tent setting, carpet and chair covering, music playing, etc. So by delegating these detailed tasks, you relieve yourself and survive the wedding and the following reception. Your responsibility is to plan the wedding and reception as fully as possible, and divide the tasks as detailed as possible to delegate so you make the delegatee clear what exactly to do and on what schedule. Remember delegating gracefully, your family and friends are not your staff; they are your support team.

When delegating you should make it clear to the related persons or contractors to contact the delegatee other than you whenever they need confirmation or instruction, so things will not be messy, neither out of control.

Your wedding day may be the most important time to delegate tasks. Don't forget your bridesmaids and the honor attendants, let them handle the sudden and urgent issues and errands, that's what they are for. They don't come just to look great in tuxedos or long dresses; they are also there to be your arms. You have no time and attention to handle that but need to focus on your ceremony and enjoy the reception afterward. It is your wedding after all, in which you deserve to enjoy and to show nice.   

Destination wedding

Destination wedding is to have your wedding ceremony and reception in a place other than your residence, which could be a resort site especially an island with beach, sea, and blue sky, a famous hot travel spot, a romantic city with attraction for both of you, or even aboard on a cruise ship. Destination wedding is more like a combination of wedding, honeymoon, and vacation in which you enjoy all of them, while your attendants can at least enjoy a vacation too. In planning a destination wedding, figuring out a guest list and consulting with them becomes more important, because customarily they will have to afford the transportation and accommodation expenses in the destination with you. By letting your guests learn your plan well in advance, you help them decide whether or not to go with you.

Holding a wedding ceremony and reception in a strange place, even a foreign country, requires you to do some homework learning whether or not can you get the wedding service, and how to access. In this situation, hiring a local wedding consultant or keeping ties with a local travel agent becomes more practical and necessary, just imaging you have to arrange the activities with local contractors by speaking a foreign language.

Cruise ships are entering the wedding industry to cater customer's requirement and enlarge new market. In the past, maritime marriage had to be held at port other than aboard to be recognized as legal of the wedding, but nowadays international cruise lines are finding ways to perform at-sea weddings that are legally recognized and give captains the legal authority to perform the ceremony. It is a good supplement to long aboard life to have an impressive wedding at white board surrounded by blue sea, exciting tourists attendants, and witnessed in front of a handsome, wearing-marine-uniform captain. As the requiring in a resort site wedding, before you book cruise trip, make sure that the cruise line you choose has the legal authority to perform shipboard marriage ceremonies.

Wedding preparation - assign wedding style

The wedding style, which can be formal, semiformal, or informal, is almost assigned after you collect the guests quantity, set aside the sum amount of money in the budget, and determine the moment of your wedding and reception, because generally speaking the more of the guest and the disposable cash, and the more premium of wedding-held moment like weekends evening, the more formal it is. Another consideration is where will  the wedding be held. If it is held in church and hot place in your town, chances are it is formal. Sometimes you don't aware or wouldn't tell clearly what the coming wedding style is, but the savvy attendants learn it from the conditions listed above, and know what to wear and behave by themselves. Don't by shy or feel guilty to hold an informal or a casual wedding, but remember contents is king. A meaningful, innovative, and unique informal or casual wedding is not anything less than a routinely manipulated, boring formal one.

One interesting fact is, the younger the bride, the more formal the wedding, probably because the elder women prefer a different style wedding which is more casual and personalized after their early formal wedding.

In her book Weddings, Peggy Post introduced the typical routine of the three wedding styles:

"
The Formal Wedding
The formal weddings ceremony usually takes place in a house of worship or in a large home or garden. The bride and her attendants (usually from four to 10 bridesmaides) wear long gowns in formal fabrics, and the groom and his attendants (usually from four to 10 ushers) wear cutaways or tailcoats. Female guests wear street-length dressy clothing for a daytime wedding and usually floor-length gowns or cocktail dresses for an evening wedding. Male guests wear dark suits and ties for a daytime wedding and tuxedos for an evening wedding. An evening formal wedding that requires white tie is the most formal of all.
The formal reception is usually a sit-down or semi-buffet meal. Invitations are engraved, decorations can be elaborate, transportation for the wedding party is usually provided by limousines, and music (if the reception includes dancing) is often provided by an orchestra or full band.

The Semiformal Wedding
For a semiformal wedding, the bride and her attendants (usually from two to 6 bridesmaids) may wear long, ballerina, or tea-length gowns, usually made of simpler fabrics than those of a formal wedding. The groom and his attendants (usually from two to 6 ushers) wear gray or black strollers with striped trousers or a formal suit for a daytime semiformal wedding and a dinner jacket with black trousers or a formal suit for an evening wedding. Female guests wear street-length tailored or semi-dressy dresses for a daytime wedding and cocktail dresses for an evening wedding. Male guests wear dark suits for both.
The ceremony can take place in a house of worship, chapel, hotel, club, home, or garden, and the reception is generally a buffet or a cocktail buffet later in the afternoon with a small band or orchestra or a DJ.

The Informal Wedding
At an informal wedding, the bride and her attendants (usually from one to three bridesmaids) wear simple white or pastel floor-length gowns or ballerina, tea-length, or street-length dresses. The groom and his attendants (usually from one to three ushers) wear suits or sport jackets and slacks. Female guests wear what is appropriate to the location - usually street-length dresses. Male guests wear sport jackets and slacks.
The ceremony can take place in a house of worship, chapel, or rectory. It can also be held in a home or garden with a justice of the peace presiding. The reception can take place in a restaurant or at a home with a caterer and/or friends providing refreshments - usually a breakfast, brunch, or lunch in the morning or early afternoon and an informal buffet or simple hors d'oeuvres and wedding cake for an afternoon reception. Music may come from a single musician or background tapes.
"

Wedding preparation - determine the moment

After you have the guest list at hand, the disposable sum of money in head, next coming to do is to determine the moment, your exciting and pride time, when the wedding ceremony and reception will be held. Be serious about choosing the time, once settled down, never ever consider changing the schedule because after issuing the news it is not just of your own business but also the business of many connected people including your family, relatives, friends, contractor, reception, officer, priest, etc. Can you imagine to cancel it at the last minute?

From longer to shorter, you basically have choice in what season of year, what day of week, and what time of day, to hold the wedding ceremony and reception. If you just have a few months to proceed, then you have no choice of the season. It is said the favorite months for wedding are June, September, August, May, October, and July, when the popular wedding receptions and churches are very busy and at premium rate, very similar to the easily-doubled-flight-ticket price in summer hot season. The invisible market's hands are every where. So either book a date in the hot seasons long time ago, or avoid the rush, choose a less popular season like January, February, and March with benefit of easy feeling and spending. In fact every season is lovable and endowed with good wish to be the marrying-time by rhymes.

Most weddings are held on weekends, especially on Sundays, when we don't have the 5-workingdays-a- week system. But it is not to say that week days are not suitable for wedding, in fact, at some degree to console the guys marry on week days, an old English rhyme suggest good and not-so-good days to marry if the customary Sunday wasn't chosen:

Monday for wealth

Tuesday for health

Wednesday the best day of all

Thursday for crosses

Friday for losses

Saturday no luck at all

Being flexible at the time of day to have wedding will also make a big difference in you budget. A late afternoon or early evening wedding is generally more expensive than a morning or early- to mid-afternoon wedding. But if you have to conform to some custom or habit, then just keep it. For example, in China the first-marry bride must be showing up in ceremony before noon, while the re-married bride shows up in a dinner reception.  

Wedding preparation - set up a budget

From economy view, wedding is a losing business of much more spending than incoming, even in some eastern culture countries like China it is popular and custom for the new-couple to receive wedding attendants' 'red envelope' enclosed with cash, from long run they will lose money because they have to send at-least-the-same, or bigger, red envelope to whom attended and sent red envelope at their wedding when they get married or have some special socials. As wedding is a money-burning activity, and money is always scarce to us, so it is necessary to set up a budget to manage your spending. If your parents will pay for the wedding or contribute to it, be appreciative of whatever they provide, and be careful to include the money into your budget and work with that amount.

It is a good practice to set up the budget in spreadsheet software, say, Microsoft Office Excel, doing which  gives you much facility to adjust spending components and costings, and get updated results immediately. So it is easy to help you compare various spending options, keep balance, and make final decisions. Keep in mind that there is not only one type or one model of wedding, you are a project organizer with lots of options and alternatives to compare and choose from, which give you plenty edge of saving. For example, a weekday's wedding ceremony is cheaper than a weekend's. The process of organizing, planing and deciding itself is full of exciting and rewarding.

If your budget is limited, you will have to decide what takes priority and sacrifice other aspects. Don't be sorry to what you have to forgo, seems missing an interesting or romantic experience, in fact it is nothing compared to your long life together in the future.

Wedding preparation - creating the guest list

When you decide to have a wedding ceremony to declare you couple are getting married to your family, relatives, friends, and the circles of you both, instead just silently register legal marriage files, and move together to start a new life style which is totally allowed, the first and the most important thing you couple to do to plan a wedding is to conceive and establish a guest list. After all, wedding is a social activity, in which attendants are the roles and players. First thing is the first, after the first step settled down, you will find the other various seemingly-mess stuffs followed and solved accordingly and automatically.

The quantity and scope of the guest list determines lots of aspects of a wedding ceremony, such as the budget, the wedding locations for both the ceremony and the reception. More attendants in the guest list means big fat budget; more attendants coming from long distance not only means more spend on commuting and accommodation, but more detailed consideration and planing for them. Therefore if your guest list is long and your budget mean, you may have to give up a big, formal, sit-down dinner reception. Otherwise, reduce your guest list down to fit. Narrowing the guest list is the easiest and most effective way to cut spending.

It is a good practice to divide your guest list into priority and less priority groups in every circle, so you will have priority family and relative members, priority friends members, priority colleagues members, as well as the less priority one. First contact the priority list, if they can't attend the wedding, and you still want to or have to keep the wedding scale, then you have alternatives.

Sending wedding card to your guests is the traditional and formal way to notice them, although you have more options in current the high-tech communication society.

Band of ring - You decide and customarize

When we usually pay most of our attention to the shiny, beautiful, and gorgeous gemstones on a ring, don't ignore the band: the eyes-catching gemstones are for others to look, while the band is for you the real wearer to feel. So make sure it is comfortable, meaningful, and durable.

Just like only the person putting on and walking a pair of shoes knows how fit or unfit of the shoes, only the ring's wearer, you, knows how comfortable or uncomfortable of the ring. If your hands are small, a narrow band looks better and wears easily. Larger hands with longer fingers can wear wider band, on which allows more elaborating. To get a perfectly-fit band, it is a good idea to tell the supplier your finger's perimeter, on which one you will wear a ring. You can get the number in a jewelry store with their help.

You can ask to engrave into a band some meaningful characters, initials, words, or sentence, which usually is a message that is a sentiment known only to you and your loved. Engraving is more often seen on the inner side of band, leaving outside of it plain. Before finalizing your purchase, ask the supplier how many letters may be engraved so that you can tell them the content in the limitation.

You should pay attention to choose the material from which the band is made. Now there are many material choices in the market including some high-technology material, make sure your choose the right one. If you are going to wear the engagement ring and the wedding ring together, the two should be better of the same material and color, as well as matching nice. 

November-born's gemstone - Topaz

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.
If you are born in November, then your born-month-gemstone is topaz. What the picture shown is a oval-shaped topaz ring.
Pure topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities. Typical topaz color includes wine, yellow, pale gray, reddish-orange, blue, and brown. Naturally occurring blue topaz is quite rare. Typically, colorless, gray or pale yellow and blue material is heat treated and irradiated to produce a more desired darker blue. This treatment results in various blue, commonly known in the industry as Sky Blue, Swiss Blue and London Blue.
Specifically yellow topaz is symbolized as the November-born's gemstone. Topaz represents strength, friendship, love and affection. The mystical contents are said can enhance force and intelligence, as well as balance emotions and provide spiritual refresh.

October-born's gemstone - Opal or Moonstone

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.

If you are born in October, then your have two options for your born month gemstone ring: opal, or moonstone. In the top picture it is a opal ring.

Opal is an amorphous form of silica, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock.  Opal's internal structure makes it diffract light; depending on the conditions in which it formed it can take on may colors.

Opal is symbolized as protection, faithfulness and loyalty. It is believed that it can bring the wearer super sensible vision and vigor.

In the bottom picture it is a moonstone ring. Moonstone the name is derived from a visual effect, or sheen, caused by light reflecting internally in the moonstone from layer inclusion of different feldspars. Moonstone has been used as jewelry for centuries. The Romans admired moonstone, as they believed it was born from solidified rays of the moon.
Moonstone means passionate love that will fly you to the moon. It is believed that if you give your loved a moonstone necklace when the moon is full, you will always have passion with each other.

September-born's gemstone - Sapphire

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.
If you are born in September, then your born-month-gemstone is sapphire. What the picture shown is a teardrop-shaped sapphire pendant.
The sapphire is a gemstone variety of the mineral corundum. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper or magnesium can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or green color.
The name of sapphire originated from the Greek word "sappheiros", meaning 'blue stone'. The sapphire represents sincerity and faithfulness. Usually the sapphire is set into necklace or as a pendant wore around neck to show dignity, or as a protection symbol against poison and harm.

July-born's gemstone - Ruby

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.
If you are born in July, then your born-month-gemstone is ruby.
Ruby is pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. The ruby is considered one of the four precious stones, together with the sapphire, the emerald, and the diamond.
Historically the ruby was symbolized as power, vitality, and clarity of the heart, named "the king of gemstones". It was believed that soldiers wearing rubies will get courage and protection in battle. The ruby was also believed having the healing function, keeping off danger, evil, and even bad dreams.

June-born's gemstone - Pearl

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.
If you are born in June, then your born-month-gemstone is pearl. Pearl is the secretion of a shell. When a foreign body is set into a shell, to protect its tender organism, the shell will secret much secretion enveloping the foreign body, eventually together it forms a pearl.
The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, with shiny reflection like a mirror reflection. Very rare pearl has the shiny reflection of different colors like rainbow, then it will be more expensive.
Originally pearls are all wild, collected by diver diving deep into sea. Now pearls are almost all cultured commercially, with two kinds of production: cultured saltwater pearl and cultured freshwater pearl.
Historically the glowing white shines of pearl have been associated with the moon. Eastern cultures believe that pearls symbolize purity and innocence. Wearing a pearl reminds the wearer to be honest, pure, wise, and with the utmost dignity. Different colors of pearls bear different meanings. White pearls symbolize purity, innocence, faith, and honesty. Gold or black pearls symbolize prosperity, dignity and mystery. Rose or pink pearls mean young, activity, and adorable.

May-born's gemstone - Emerald

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.
If you are born in May, then your born-month-gemstone is emerald. Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl, colored green, with a hardness of 7.5-8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Most emeralds are highly included with poor toughness (resistance to breakage), so be careful not let it hitting other hard objects in your emerald wearing.
Emeralds' color ranges from yellow-green to blue-green, with the primary hue necessarily being green. Only gems that are medium to dark in tone are considered emerald; In addition, the hue of an emerald must be bright (vivid).
Emerald is known as "the stone of successful love", encouraging people to pursuit love and success in the end. Wearing emerald is believed to be sensitive and loyal, and has the ability of high intelligence, to make right decisions in the life process. Another meaning of emerald is that it will bring harmony, action and progress, so just do it.

April-born's gemstone - Diamond

You learned the interesting born-month-gemstone in my another blog, now, there is a chance to show you what in the world the real month gemstone ring looks like.
If you are born in April, then your born-month-gemstone is diamond. Diamond is the king of gemstones, which is symbolized with faithfulness, love, purity, and innocence. It inspires creativity and helps accumulating wealth, as well as helps solving troubles and difficulties in all areas of life. Diamond is also a symbol of richness and abundance. As the hardest stone of all, it is especially adored by its beautifully shiny, purity, and ability to reflect light in a special manner.

Implied meanings and symbols of some gemstones

Wearing a ring, especially the engagement ring or the wedding ring, always has a custom old meaning and represent of the gemstone on it, to which people express a wish or love of one special characteristic's ethic of human being. You may learn it for fun, interesting, or some knowledge, furthermore, you may serious about it, and select a gemstone ring really based on its meaning. Who knows? Here we go:

• Amethyst: power
• Aquamarine: happy marriage
• Bloodstone: bravery and wisdom
• Diamond: purity and innocence
• Emerald: honesty and intelligence
• Garnet: constancy and fidelity
• Jade: good fortune
• Lapis Lazuli: good health
• Opal: consistency and fearlessness
• Pearl: good health and beauty
• Ruby: clarity of the heart
• Sapphire: faithfulness
• Sardonrx: marital happiness
• Topaz: cheerfulness and strength
• Turquoise: prosperity and success 

Wedding dress style

Style is King. Girls are easily fascinated just from the first view of a favorite bridal gown, whatever it is, just fit into the specific dream. And different style suits different shape and size of brides. So it is never too emphasized to pay much your attention on the style. Wedding stress style usually mean the shape and bodice of it, referring to the trains, we have other description and requirement just for the trains length and whether detachable. Following are some of the traditional and popular wedding dress styles:

• Ball Shape. A "Cinderella" style dress with a big, full and round skirt.
• A-line. Just as the name implies, the shape of an "A", narrow at the bodice and widen from the bodice down.
• Empire. Gown with a high waist that is extended just below the bust, from where the skirt spreads.
• Basque. The waist in this style is several inches below the natural waistline and forms a "U" or a "V" shape.

Choose fabric and lace of a bridal gown

When selecting a wedding dress, you may concentrate almost all your attention to the styles, get lost among various styles, but not sure nor very confident to choosing the gown fabric. In fact, you should choose the fabric both considering what season wedding is to be held, as well as what kind of fabric suit you better, make you more stand out.

The common and regular bridal dress fabric is satin, which feels warm of brides marrying in fall or winter. Satin is a fabric in a warp-effect or filling-effect, often having a glossy face and a soft, slippery texture. Satin is thicker and heavier than other gown fabrics, so wearing it you can feel a kind of natural drip of the dress, very reliable. Satin wedding dress is more suitable for tall and well-shaped bride.  
Velvet gown is also suitable to wear in autumn and midwinter because of its warm characteristic. Velvet could be wore easily to show off lovely figure of bride, giving a noble, mystery, and grace impression. 

In summer, however, satin is too hot and heavy a material to wear. Other materials become popular for the warm seasons, which include pearl yarn and lace. These two fabrics look shiny and colorful, light and flowing, so it is very suitable to active, small-shaped bride.

How long should be the engagement?

An engagement is a promise to marry engaged by two persons, usually a man and a woman, and also the period of time between proposal and marriage. How long should be the engagement? it depends. 

The engagement represents a time of happy, cheer, fun, memory, and also overwhelmingly paying attention to various details. Someone enjoy the process, while others may feel sort of headache. Historically the engagement may last six weeks to three years, you don't want years long in current modern, quick-step society, right? But chances are you have to leave time long enough to keep the pace. A lot of activities need long time to prepare, for example, ordering your own gown, registering ceremony and reception sites, most of all, you have to make time for the others, for your families, relatives, and friends whom you plan to invite to your wedding to schedule their time. 

Typically, the average length for an engagement in the United States is 14 months.