Selecting Wedding Insurance for Wedding Planning

Did you know that wedding insurance is the number one overlooked part of wedding planning? Wedding insurance is extremely important for a couple to purchase prior to their wedding and should be included in the wedding planning. Here are some tips for both understanding and selecting the best wedding insurance available for your big day of celebrating the union of your partnership.

Primary Basics of Wedding Insurance

Wedding insurance is a policy that you take out to prevent huge financial losses that are related to specifically to your wedding. Wedding insurance can cover a wide range of things that can happen at a wedding such as sickness, injury, military call to duty, location and even weather.

Average Cost of Wedding Insurance

You can typically expect to pay between $100 to $200 for wedding insurance and this should be included in your wedding budget. This type of coverage will generally cover up to $1,000,000 for such things as accidents and basic liability. Many insurance companies require that you take out a policy one year before the wedding date so plan on buying your insurance early.

Reasons to Get Wedding Insurance

You might think that you don’t need wedding insurance. After all that is a few hundred bucks that you could spend on something else. But stop and think for a minute at the expenses that are involved in a traditional wedding. There is the cost of the groom’s and bride’s wedding clothing; the cost of the wedding ring set; reservation of the place to get married; catering; flowers and more. Wedding insurance is very inexpensive compared the cost of replacing all of these items.

None of us like to think about it but what if your wedding items were stolen? Without wedding insurance, you would be up a creek and completely out of your money.

Mother of the Bride Duties

Mother of the bride is often floored with many things that are expected of her when it comes to planning and organizing a wedding. The idea of a wedding is that it should be affordable and fun for everyone that is involved. For this reason, it is often easiest to give the mother of the bride duties that she will enjoy without feeling a lot of stress and pressure.

Select mother of the bride duties that the mom can do with ease. Everyone has certain limitations and even likes or dislikes. Keep these in mind when you are considering which duties to assign to the mother of the bride. This will make the wedding smoother and much more fun for everyone involved.

Brides Maid Dress Selection

There are several considerations that should be made when it comes to brides maid dress selection. Following these tips will keep your brides maids happier and make your wedding go much more smoothly.

If possible, pay for the brides maid dresses yourself. Having the ladies in the group pay for these dresses could mean that someone is not able to participate due to financial restrictions. Or perhaps you can offer to pay for the dresses of anyone that can’t afford them. Keep in mind the amount that people can or cannot afford when you are selecting dresses to choose from.

Choose a color that looks good on everyone. Just because a deep burgundy is your favorite color does not mean that it will look great on all the ladies participating in your wedding. Consider skin tones, hair color and natural body shapes when selecting the color of the dresses.

Choose a style that compliments the natural body shape of the ladies in your wedding. Too often the brides maid dresses are not designed or chosen with the entire wedding party in mind. This ends up leaving someone feeling like they look horrible and they are uncomfortable during the entire wedding.

A Delicate Issue

I have been in the wedding photography business for over thirty years, and have seen thousands and thousands of weddings and all the photos they have produced.

One of the things that has bothered me over the years is the way photographers handle couples who are of very contrasted skin tones. I believe the reason they are mishandled is the photographer does not wish to insult the couple or to appear to be racist. However if you want some nice photos the poses must be handled differently and here’s why.

Most photos of the bride and groom feature the groom behind the bride slightly, this is because the groom is usually taller than the bride and it’s become a tradition. The truth is though, the flash will hit the subject first that is more forward and therefore will add more light to that subject. For example, if a very dark groom is photographed with a very pale bride and she is in front of the groom, the light from the flash will hit the bride first and make her even lighter than she really is and leave the groom dark to fade into the background.

If you are such a couple it will be worth your while to discuss this with your photographer before the wedding. Ask him/her to come prepared with alternate poses where the darker skinned person can be a little more forward than the pale partner. You may also want to ask to have more available light photos taken. That means no flash and those photos use just the light that is there, such as outdoor photos, or pictures with strong lights on the subjects that are not from the flash.

Don’t forget your bridal party group shots too. If you have very dark skinned people in the party, alternate poses where you have the darker skinned in front of the lighter skinned people so they can absorb more of the light.

You may also have the same kind of problem if you are a dark person wearing white. The photos have to be lightened in order to see your face but in that lightening your white dress or tux will also be lightened so that all detail will be lost. I would suggest having some of the photos taken in the available or natural light from a window to better show the face and detail of the gown or tux.

Many couples who hire their photographers from a studio do not talk to the person who will be taking the pictures. They talk to sales people. Both the salesperson and the photographer know their jobs well, but they are not lab personal who actually develop and create the photos. They will probably tell you that this can all be corrected in processing later. As far as they know this is the truth but it can only be adjusted a little bit by changing the contrast and the gamma. Insist on the different poses with the traditional, and available light with the flash. You will be much happier with the final results.

Bridesmaids!

There’s a great Offbeat Bride article about the bride-bridesmaid dynamic. Brides and their chosen maids can either have a great time together… or wonder why they were ever friends in the first place!

<blockquote>In the process of researching my book, I spoke to one former bridesmaid who’d been chastised by the bride for getting her shoulder-length hair cut into a bob before the wedding. The bride fuh-REAKED out, because now this one bridesmaid wouldn’t be able to have the pre-set bridemaid updo. </blockquote>

I had a horrible time bridesmaiding for a college girlfriend. For month before the wedding, it seemed like every time the phone rang, it was my friend, with another pre-wedding duty, or unforeseen bridesmaid expense, or a question of vital important to a bride-to-be. That, and her total lack of interest in non-wedding events really put a strain on our friendship.  In her defense, though, she did have a gorgeous wedding and came back from her honeymoon Bridezilla-free.

But when my brother got married, I had a great time as a bridesmaid! The bride knew that I wouldn’t be available for most of the pre-wedding planning and events, and instead of stressing about it, made a big deal that I’d come back to the US in time for the wedding itself.

Couple Wedding Showers

Many times when people think of weddings, they think of bridal showers. However, a new trend is emerging of couple wedding showers. These are an alternative to bachelor parties and bridal showers. The couple is the focus of the shower with gifts for both the groom and the bride or together as a couple.

Why would you want to do couple wedding showers? The primary reason is that the couple should be the focus of the wedding. After all, both people are getting married. The groom should not be left out of the parties, fun and festivities that are surrounded with marriage. In the past, the bridal showers were just for the brides and the groom was left out.

Another great reason for couple wedding showers is the alternative to the traditional bachelor parties. Many grooms don’t want this type of party. They don’t drink and they don’t have the desire to be with a bunch of guys before the wedding. Now not all bachelor parties are wild and full of drinking buddies but the couple wedding showers include the groom and make it possible for the groom to enjoy celebrating without a bachelor party.

When setting up showers for an upcoming wedding, consider couple wedding showers. They are a lot of fun and great for everyone.

Gifts for Groom Showers

Groom showers are on the rise for wedding couples. These showers are given to the groom just as bridal showers are given to the bride. Typically the best man will set up the groom showers. They are not corny and many grooms really enjoy this type of shower.

Some popular gifts for groom showers include yard tools. You can give him a gift card to a local home improvement and yard supply store. The other option is to provide him with a lawn mower, weed eater, shovels, rakes, wheel barrow and more to use in his new home after his marriage.

Another popular gift for groom showers are electronic items. This is the perfect opportunity to shower him with electronic gifts from all budget ranges. Some popular electronic gifts include a GPS for the car, new car stereo, video games, and even new computer equipment. There is an electronic gift that is suitable for gifts for groom showers for virtually any budget.

Self Made Invitations

Should you use self made invitations for your wedding? Many couples go this route in hopes of saving money. Others enjoy self made invitations for their wedding to make them more personable and memorable. There are several considerations to keep in mind if you decide to so self made invitations for your wedding.

One consideration is how formal is your wedding? Many couples like to have their invitations, engagement announcements, wedding announcements, thank you cards, wedding napkins and place cards all match one another. Designing your own wedding invitations means careful planning in how the design will look on all the different types of items that the design will need to be placed on. Keep in mind if you are going to use the design on other items besides the invitations.

Consider your budget. There are many places that you can get matching sets for everything for your wedding at significantly reduced prices. It can actually be more expensive to design self made invitations than to select from pre-made designs.

Consider the amount of time that you have in wedding planning. It often takes longer to plan your self-made invitations than it does for traditional invitations. You will want to allow extra time for printing and to proof the invitations before the final batch is ordered.

Let’s Talk Appetizers!

If you have been thinking about appetizers, please check out Appetizers To Go. You can order on-line and they are offering free overnight shipping, and a free gift with the purchase of three boxes of appetizers.

The suggested appetizers for your wedding are also on sale, and can save you a good deal of money. Here is a list of some of the most popular wedding appetizers..

Asparagus Rollup
Butter Marinated Maine Lobster Brochettes
Chicken Dumplings
King Mushroom Cap Combo
Panko Breaded Artichoke
Poached Pear with Brie in Filo Purse
Salmon Dill Gougeres
Shrimp and Pork Dumpling

…and many more.

Tip from a Bride - Keep your receipts!

I’m getting married in about 2 weeks, and one of the biggest tips I can offer at this point is keep your receipts. Every single one.

Of course, this is sage advice in nearly any heavy-consumption situation (i.e., when you shop for birthdays, holidays, big get-togethers), but with weddings, it’s imperative.

Why?

1. Buy and returning is just part of wedding planning. Not everyone can go wedding shopping at the same time. It’s just not possible. (Even if it were, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.) But ideas need to be shared, and it’s often easier to show than to tell. Therefore, a lot of items are being purchased solely for the purpose of display. Needless to say, many of these “example” items end up being vetoed. (”Here, honey, what do you think about this Star Trek-themed cake topper?”) And these rejected ideas must then go back to where they came from (…promptly, if you want to avoid amassing a collection of useless items).
2. Things you buy for a wedding can usually not be re-purposed. They have specialized uses that do not have equivalent uses in daily life, or they come in specific colors that just don’t work with your everyday decor or wardrobe. If you need napkin rings for a big dinner party, for instance, you can use those again. But if you need 20 decorative vases as centerpieces, it’ll be hard to make use of (all) of those again. Most will end up sitting in your basement for the next 20-odd years.
3. You’ll need to track little expenses somehow, and what better way than the receipts themselves? Just train yourself to throw the receipts into a shoebox as soon as you walk in the door, and you’ll have the exact amounts at your fingertips whenever you need them. This will also help you tell if you’re over budget. For instance, if you budgeted $1 per favor, and you decide you need Jordan almonds, tulle and ribbon to hold them, then little woven baskets to hold each bundle… well, that could put you at $3 per favor (or more, depending on the specifics). Receipts will help you track these expenses as you go.

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