The idea is to create a short video that highlights some of the preparation that went into the ceremony, the reception and some of the other wedding planning.  For this part you want to capture the excitement and mishaps that are going on behind the scenes. 

Wedding videos are typically edited after the wedding and depending on the company you choose to hire can take a few weeks before the final production is finished.  The fantastic thing about SDE (same day edit) videos is they are edited on your wedding day and can be screened at the reception.   The majority of your guests will never be able to see the entire wedding video once it is finished.  Plus some of the people at the reception might not have attended the wedding.  So this short video is perfect for them to view everything that they missed out on during the day. 

There are a couple different ways to show this video.  You could show the video on a computer that is setup in the reception area.  Then you just keep replaying the movie in its entirety.

Another way is to actually organize a screening that occurs when everyone has just begun their dinners.  You show the entire video once on a screen that can be seen by everyone at the reception simultaneously.   You can also show some footage from the bride and grooms dating years or even their childhood.

I have seen this done at weddings in person.  It is always a big hit.  The best part about it is that it doesn’t matter how close you are to the newlyweds.  You could be a sibling to one of them or just a friend.  The videos are always enjoyable.

If  you are hiring a standard wedding photographer to cover your wedding day, then chances are that they are not going to offer such a thing.  Even the professional videographers don’t always offer this kind of service.  You might have to shop around a bit to find one who does it.  I bet if you find one though, you will be very happy with the outcome.

If you are going to be wearing a veil, pick that out first.  You will want to know what the veil looks like as it might affect the hairstyle options available to you.  You might decide on a certain veil if you are dead set on a specific hairstyle.

Use the power of Google image search to look at hundreds of photos at once for ideas.   Of course you will also be looking in all the latest bridal magazines.  Check out some hair salon websites to see if they have any suggestions posted.  Ask your friends too.

If you have one particular hair stylist in mind (like your regular one) try to arrange an appointment with her so that you can talk it over.  Make sure you do a trial run of your hair for that day.  Let her make some suggestions and try some things.  Ask her if you can pay her for an hour or so to try some different styles on you.  Take photos after each one so you can look at them later and show them to your girlfriends.

Certain facial shapes lend themselves well to certain hairstyles.  When you are looking at photos pay more attention to the ones where the woman has the same shape face that you do.  It will make a big difference.

You should not feel bad about hiring a hair stylist other than your regular hairdresser.  You might really like your regular hairdresser because she offers a better value than the high end shops.  This is your wedding day though.  It’s perfectly alright to spend extra to have perfect hair from a really talented hair stylist that day.

Sometimes people spend a great deal of  money on their floral arrangements.  It is not uncommon for couples to pay $500 or more for all of their flower arrangements.   That is even on the cheap side.  Depending on the flowers you choose, you could easily spend more than that.  Consider some of these ideas to save money on your wedding flowers.

If you want really inexpensive flowers for your wedding then try to pick out a location that has lots of flowers already there. Yes, I’m talking about a garden. This could be a family member’s garden or a public one that is located in your particular area.   If you are just looking for places to take photographs then you can look around your neighborhood for a suitable place.  Don’t be afraid to ask someone who has a really well landscaped yard if you could take photos there.  People will be flattered that you think so highly of their property.

For many years, people would grow their own flowers for arrangements.  This is an idea that is often forgotten about.  If you are planning a wedding that is a year away then this is totally doable.   If you can’t do this yourself, then ask some other family member or members if they can do it for you.  If you are going to do this yourself then you will need someone to make the arrangements for you.  You could do it yourself or ask family members to help with that too.

A hot trend right now in wedding flowers is to mix your real flowers with some silk ones. The fake flowers can be used to fill out those more expensive arrangements. The fake flowers can also be used as a way to buy expensive flowers that would be out of season.  Here is an idea.  Stick one real Stargazer Lilly in with a bunch of silk flowers.  The Stargazer Lilly is one of the more fragrant varieties.  Unless people look at the arrangements very closely, they are going to think that the whole arrangement is real.  There is no way to hide the natural sweet fragrance of a Stargazer Lilly in full bloom.  This really works and will save you a ton of money.

Not everything has to be flowers. Some brides are starting to use potted plants to replace flowers.  You could even ask some of your friends and family member to bring potted plants.  Using potted plants as table centerpieces will save you money.

Remember that after the wedding most of the flowers are going to go to waste.  You don’t need a dozen arrangements kicking around your home.  You can give them away to your bridesmaids or to certain guests if you want to.  But, you probably don’t want to overspend on something that is only going to be used for a few hours during your wedding reception.  People generally don’t remember a wedding because of the flowers that were at the reception.

Choosing the right wedding gift is not just about the money.  Selecting the right gift is really the thing that matters.  It usually pays to be more practical when selecting a gift for a wedding.  Instead of giving gifts that will ultimately end up being clutter in someone’s home, you are better off finding something that will be truly useful.  So, use some common sense when shopping for newlyweds.  Here are some things that would be practical and useful.

1. Monetary gift
Giving a cash gift is one of the most practical things you can give as well as one of the most useful.  This is especially true if the couple paid for the wedding on their own.  I am sure you understand that weddings are very expensive these days.

 2. Contribute to the wedding itself
If you know that the bride and groom are paying for the wedding on their own, then you could think about offering to pick up the tab for one part of the process.  Maybe you want to chip in to cover the cost of the invitations, cake, souvenirs, emcee, church or even the venue. They will surely appreciate your generous contribution to their wedding if you ask them tactfully.

3. Gift Certificates are popular
Giving gift certificates is just as popular as ever.  Sometimes when you just give money the couple might be hesitant to spend it on things even when they need them.  One way that you can kind of encourage them to spend the money on something that they can really use is to give a gift certificate.  Gift certificates to high end restaurants are nice.  So are gift certificates to places like a bed and breakfast.

4. Give them a vacation
Along the same lines of giving them a gift certificate for a bed and breakfast, you could pay for an entire mini-vacation for them.  A couple that I know well had received a vacation in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania as a gift from one of the groom’s close friends.   I thought that the gift was a little over the top.  But, boy did the bride and groom brag about that gift.  They enjoyed that vacation to its fullest extent.  They still talk about it fifteen years later.  This is perfect if you can afford it and if you also know that the couple wasn’t planning an immediate honeymoon.

If you know the couple well enough you should be able to pick out something that is both practical and very useful for them.  Maybe you can get something that relates to their favorite hobbies or pastimes.   Just try to avoid getting them things that are used as decoration in their home.  You might think that you have good tasted in décor, but it is unlikely that they will like something equally as much as you do.  Everyone’s tastes are different.  By getting them something that will sit around the house, they will feel obligated to display it even if they don’t like it.  Do them a favor and don’t put that pressure on them.

Initially all wedding favors were made at home.  In those times, there weren’t factories around to mass produce anything.  One common type of wedding favor was a little bag of nuts or almonds to be more precise.  Some societies such as the Middle Eastern ones would give away five almonds to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness.   You may have been to a modern wedding where Jordan almonds have been given away as a reception favor.  They are a little fancier now than they used to be.

The gifts a bride would have created hundreds of years ago would have depended on the culture and what materials were commonly available.  European women would crochet small bags that would typically hold fruit, nuts or candy.  Items handmade with yarn are still a nice touch for Victorian or country style weddings. Thanks to modern technology, brides and grooms can pick from a vast assortment of gifts.

Even though there are so many options for modern era couples, many still choose to make their day a little extra special by providing homemade reception favors.  This do it yourself wedding favor tradition is regaining popularity.  Guests realize that it takes more effort to actually put a little personal touch on little details like this.

With the prevalence of modern era craft superstores, there are plenty of materials readily available.  In fact, some of these stores cater specifically to people who want to make their own party favors.  There are so many different possibilities to consider.

Couples preparing for a wedding can take some time and create a whole bunch of little keepsakes that will go well with their wedding theme.  Because of computers, it is very easy to make things like placeholders, cards and even music CD’s.

For those who aren’t so hand with the computer, there is always the many different baked goods that you might take the time to make.  If you purchase a few wedding themed cookie cutters, you would be surprised at the neat little treats you could make right at home.  Even doing something as simple as wrapping up bags of personalized M&M candies will give the wedding attendants something to chuckle about as they sit and talk with one another.

Homemade wedding favors will probably continue to be a popular idea among the bride and her guests. The opportunity to produce an item that genuinely expresses the heartfelt sentiments of the couple will never go out of style.  It is one of those ideas that remains timeless.

Reference: Handmade wedding favors

Photo Credit

The word “honeymoon” is derived from the Vikings and their practice of the newlyweds retreating to a cave or hut and remaining, undisturbed, for the one lunar cycle, or about one calendar month. It was believed that after the extended retreat, the newlyweds would be expecting a child, and given the energy levels required, honey formed a staple of their diet – hence, “honeymoon”.

Now honeymoons are not without incident, some humorous and some not so funny, but nevertheless it is the matrimonial start of your life together and you’ll have to deal with it, as with everything else in your lives from now on – together!

One couple honeymooned in Las Vegas after a huge wedding which kept them on their feet for the whole day. The wedding went without a hitch, but because they were both so very busy they didn’t get a chance to eat anything at the reception and so it came to pass, that the very first meal they had as a married couple was in a KFC just off the strip.

Another couple finally made it from the wedding reception and were on the way to the airport. Nothing to worry about, they were there in good time and all ready for a spot of relaxation after the intense activity of the day until it came time to go through security. It was only then that the groom realized that he didn’t have his passport – from now on his wife knows better than to trust him with this kind of stuff!

One 82 year old lady recalled her wedding night 61 years previously. It was a different age and there was to be no “hanky panky” before marriage, so it was with some trepidation that she finally went to bed alone with her husband. When he emerged from the bathroom wearing his pajamas, she burst into uncontrollable laughter – his mother had packed his clothes for the honeymoon and the pajamas were complete with Pooh Bear and friends. Something he had to grow out of very rapidly thereafter!

Finally, on a more sober note, a bride recalls how during the wedding reception a messenger arrived. Her husband was in the military and the country was at war; the messenger was not bearing good news – the groom was given 24 hours to report to base on the other side of the country.

In World War 2, this was common enough for thousands of newlyweds but in 2003 these newlyweds found that it still happens. She reminisces about how they spent the evening on the road back to Fort Benning, Georgia, and how the first year of their marriage was spent so far apart. Today, they have three children and she recalls it was the most intimate night she had ever had with her husband because all they did was hold hands and talk through the miles.

Are you both music lovers? Consider a rock ‘n’ roll themed wedding and use guitar wedding favors. Acoustic or electric guitar place card holders can add quite a bit of character to guest tables. Musical wedding favors also come in chocolate molds of guitars, microphones, and even mp3 players. Or customize your own play list and make CD’s to hand out to guests complete with personalized labels.

Fans of the big screen? Make your wedding a theatrical production using faux tickets to announce your love. From a distance, these favors look like true tickets to a theater play or movie and will be sure to delight guests. Remember to save one or two to place in your wedding photo album or scrapbook as a memento.

You don’t have to be a cattle driver to take advantage of western wedding favors. A western themed wedding can be a lot of fun for everyone who attends. Some ideas for western wedding favors are light-up cowboy boot mugs, horseshoe key chains, cowboy hat lollipops, western photo frames, and riding horse mint tins. No one will ever forget how much fun they had at your wedding when they take home any of those favors!

Viva Las Vegas! Getting married in Vegas or want to bring Vegas to your reception? Show off your love of the city with Las Vegas wedding favors. Bring on the glam with personalized shot glasses, casino party favor bags, Vegas bottle stoppers, fuzzy dice, chocolate slot machines, martini candles, poker chips, or playing cards. These are sure to be show-stoppers!

Wish your wedding could be a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Couples who love Star Wars can use the movie’s theme for their wedding favors. Invite your guests to an intergalactic event by distributing light saber party favors. Other Star Wars favors include Luke Skywalker,  Jar-Jar Binks, and Yoda figurines. Don’t forget to top your wedding cake with Hans Solo and Princess Leia!

References: Abnormal Wedding Favors

Wedding favors photo credit

For starters, you shouldn’t have to do this all your own.  Whether you are his brother, a close friend, the best man or whatever, you should enlist the help of other buddies close to him.  You don’t have to carry all this weight yourself.  Find out who all is going to be involved in the wedding and ask for their input.  Ask the guys, that is.  Obviously you shouldn’t even be talking about a stag party with the women.  Contact the other guys in the wedding party or the groom’s brothers.  Ask them for help in deciding what to do.

Grab a blank notepad and start brainstorming ideas.  Write down every one you come up with.   Keep adding to that list from time to time.  Writing things down will help you clarify exactly what you should and should not be doing.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when planning a bachelor party:

Who will be invited?

This is a very important early step in the party planning process.  The number of people who will be attending the party will ultimately narrow down your options for things to do.  If you are going to have more than a handful of guys, then you are going to have to think about possibly renting a hall or having it catered by a club or tavern.  If it is only going to be two or three guys, then you can think about going on some awesome excursion that men would go on together, like maybe a trip to Vegas or something.

Something to keep in mind is the fact that a lot of people you think might come to a party like this ultimately wouldn’t really show up.  It is easy to get carried away in the planning process.  A common mistake is assuming that 98% of people will actually show for a party like this.  Realistically it is more like 75%.  One out of four people you thought would want to come won’t show up.  Even though it seems like a big deal to you, it probably isn’t that big of a deal to them.

If you aren’t sure, then you are better off keeping the party smaller.  That way you can count on every single person to show up.  You can count on full involvement from the people who do show up.  Plus you can ultimately have more fun.  You don’t have anything to prove by trying to get 100 guys to come to some crazy bachelor party.  That is not what it is about.  It is about making the groom laugh so friggin hard that he pisses his pants.

Where will the main event take place?

Again, this is going to depend mostly on the number of people invited to the party.  If you are inviting more than a handful of people, you are going to have to think about possible places to host it.  An obvious place would be a strip club.  If you have a few decent gentleman’s clubs in your area, chances are they cater to bachelor parties.  They normally have packages depending on the number of guys.  Be forewarned though that the prices for drinks and food are going to be way higher than they would be at a normal bar or restaurant.  You might think about having a semi-casual party early on a Saturday afternoon.  Then later on that night, grab the core group of close buddies and drag the bachelor out to the best club in town for some late night hooter shooters.

Stripper or no stripper for the stag party?

This all depends on the couple who is getting married.  In the vast majority of cases, it is somewhat expected to involve a stripper of some kind.  Parties that don’t involve them are usually lamer than they could be.  You can have a stripper at the party without going overboard.  Just because there is this misconception about all dancers also being hookers, it does not mean that the rumor is true.  In fact, where I am from it isn’t true.  The vast majority of dancers are legit professionals. They don’t like being propositioned for extras.  They get insulted and start to fear for their safety when guys start asking about stuff like that.  That is why they usually bring a bouncer with them.  Sometimes guys can be real knuckleheads.

When to have the party in relation to the wedding?

Whatever you do, don’t have the party the night before the wedding.  There are more important things to be done that night.  A well planned party would happen a month or so before the wedding.  Get it out of the way so that it doesn’t interfere with final wedding preparations.  There is no need to burden the groom with unnecessary crap as the wedding day approaches.  Have your fun early.  Then give him time to sober up.  Give the bride a chance to deal with the unwanted thoughts about the bachelor party long before the wedding day comes.

Hopefully you haven’t put this off till the last minute like a lot of guys do.  A lot of unorganized guys don’t plan the party well enough in advance.  Then they end up throwing a really lame party together at the last minute.  If you were truly a good friend, you would set aside the time way in advance to take care of all the planning and organizing so that you aren’t adding unwanted stress to a very stressful time just before the couple gets married.

If you look around online, you will find all kinds of other ideas and advice about planning a bachelor party. Check out this long list of bachelor party ideas.  Take that pad of paper and a pen.  Make a long list of ideas that could work.  Then narrow them down to the best ones.   Do that and you are sure to plan an excellent bachelor party for your pal.

If you look around, you should be able to hire a male stripper (aka exotic dancer) that takes his profession very seriously.  Most of these guys know that they won’t get any repeat business if they aren’t fun and professional at the same time.

Tips on hiring a male dancer

Look for someone who has been in the business for at least a few years.  When they are brand new, they don’t have the experience to know when they are pushing things too far or not far enough.  That is a really important skill that comes with experience.  You want a guy who can judge the bride right away.  He will work his way up in the routine all the while constantly gauging the response from the bachelorette.  As soon as he thinks he is pushing her to the limits, he will begin to back off a little bit.   That way the bride has as much fun as she is willing to without getting upset over it.

It is advisable that you hire someone who had experience dancing at a professional club for a while.  Those guys tend to have enough experience with exotic dancing that they will understand what kinds of moves work best.  They get to see other guys entertaining crowds all the time.  They can pick up on what other guys are doing and incorporate it into their routine.

If at all possible get a referral from a friend or somebody in a related industry.  Look for people that will recommend a good male stripper for you.    Then you don’t have to guess at how dependable the dancer is going to be.  People in industries like this one are notoriously undependable.

If you get a chance to talk to the actual dancer on the phone, you are far better off.  Usually you can gauge a person’s character somewhat just by talking to them on the phone.  At least you will be able to tell whether or not the guy is a total idiot.  Even though you might think it is okay to hire a big buffoon so long as he looks nice, I recommend against it.  It is far more important to hire a reasonably intelligent dancer who can communicate well.  The ones who can communicate the best are the ones you can count on to be true professionals.

Another word to the wise is that these guys really don’t like to be referred to as strippers.  They would prefer if you call them exotic dancers.  I guess the same goes for females who do this as well.  They would rather be called dancers than anything else.  People think that this industry is a front for prostitution.  In some cases it might be, but in most it is not.  If you try to talk a real professional into crossing the line, he will feel insulted and he probably won’t want to work with you.

One last thing to remember is that most of these guys do this on a part time basis.  There aren’t that many bachelorette parties during the week.  Most of their work falls on Fridays and Saturdays during the busy wedding season.   They hold regular jobs too.  When you remember that, it reminds you that they are usually just normal guys who have a talent for entertaining women this way.  Find a decent one and treat him respectfully.  That is the best way to convince him that he should treat your friend with respect also.  That will ensure that you girlfriend’s bachelorette party is a smashing success.

Canon in D is among the most favorite pieces to play while the guest are in church just before the bride comes down the aisle.  Of course The Wedding March is the traditional piece that gets played during the bride’s actual march down the aisle.  It is your wedding though, so choose whatever you want.

In my opinion there is nothing more beautiful than a collection of Baroque area classical pieces.  This is even more true if you have hired violinists or any other performer using a string instrument.  The majority of your guests are probably not people who ever attend the symphony.  Because they do not get exposed to this sort of thing very often, it makes the sounds of those classical instruments all that much more magical to those guests.

Even if you are just using the local church organist, you will probably find that he or she knows some of the more popular classical pieces.  You will be surprised to find out how much these people know.   Don’t be afraid to ask them.

Then comes the wedding reception music.  Get together with your disk jockey or whatever other entertainment you have chosen to provide music for the reception.  Tell them what kind of easy listening music you want to have going during dinner time.  There are a few really good choices here.  You can ask them to play classical music, easy listening big band era music, Italian crooner Frank Sinatra style music or more contemporary easy listening music.

You will need to choose which songs you want played for the bride and groom’s first dance as well as any other wedding party and parent dances.   You will want to really choose carefully for your first dance together as man and wife.  You will not forget that moment.  Every time you hear that song from that day forward you will remember dancing with your spouse on that day in front of everyone you love.  It really does create a moment in time that you remember forever.