30
January
2008

weddingcakecopy.jpgA wedding cake can be as simple or as extravagant as you like and accordingly can be relatively inexpensive or enough to break the bank.
After booking the banquet venue, one thing to consider is the wedding cake. Usually, people don?t eat the wedding cake as it is fake, and it?s more for a ceremonial purpose where the bride and groom cut the cake. The wedding cake can be simple or complex, and hence, it can be cheap or expensive.

I?ve once watched a drama serial where the bride wanted a five-layer wedding cake that was edible. It?s tough having that because the different layers would be too heavy and they would collapse. The chef solved the problem by making chocolate layers, similar to building houses using a deck of cards, and stack the cakes up. I wondered whether this was a figment of imagination by the TV producers, or it was possible.

The reason wedding cakes are often so expensive is due to the intricate work that is involved and the many hours of labour that are required to create the decorations.

For some people this is an expense that they feel is unnecessary and a simple cake or alternative form of ‘symbolic food’ such as a favourite dessert or something similar can be used. I?ve seen small little plates of desserts stack in different layers, similar to a wedding cake, but it?s much easier being eaten by the guests.

More often than not however people prefer a traditional wedding cake and in keeping with the rest of the theme of the wedding it is generally decorated in colours similar to those of the flowers and any other decorations at the reception.

Certainly by reducing the size of the wedding cake it can help to keep the costs down and also by keeping the cake less intricate in its decorations you can save yourself a lot of money.

You can also use your flower arrangements or other forms of decoration that are more cost-effective to enhance the look of the wedding cake and keep the cake itself relatively plain and simple.

It really is a case of weighing up the expense with the importance that you put on the style of cake that you prefer and whether you can save money elsewhere to get the cake you desire.

Once again do your research and get some prices from various different suppliers of wedding cakes and also consider asking your friends and family if they know anybody who does cake decorating as many people do it for a hobby and will be only too willing to help out on the special occasion.

Often you can get somebody to create your cake for the cost of the materials alone and this can be their gift to you for your wedding rather than paying for something else.

One important thing that you must remember however is to check their work to see if it is up to a standard that you would be happy to have at your wedding and don’t feel obliged to use their services if you aren?t satisfied.

Whatever type of wedding cake you choose, it should be something that looks nice.


21
January
2008

For a very long time the notion of printing up professional looking wedding invitations was the exclusive domain of the professional printer.? Then computers came out and some people decided to invest money in quality printing equipment specifically designed to print up nice looking invitations.? Since they did not have the overhead of the printing companies, they could print your?wedding cards?at significantly lower prices.?

Now that technology has marched on to the point where colour laser printers cost less than the newest video game system, many people are trying do it yourself wedding invitations.? The best part about do it yourself?invitation cards?is that you can buy a kit for do it yourself wedding invitations at your local discount party supply center and, with a little patience and experimentation, you can easily get involved with do it yourself wedding invitations and make them look just as professional as any printer.

What You Need

The first two things you absolutely need for do it yourself wedding invitations are a computer and a laser printer.? You don?t need a color laser printer but if you intend to print in color then you should have a color laser printer.? Ink jet printers are no where near the quality of a laser and you can get a decent black and white laser printer for the same cost as a decent ink jet printer nowadays.? Compare the cost yourself.?

Go to the local discount party store and see how much the do it yourself wedding invitation kit is, add in the cost of an inexpensive black and white laser printer, and then go see how much invitations would cost you to get printed.? Even if you break even you still wind up with a new laser printer and complete control over what is said on your wedding invitations. There are other stores such as scrapbooking stores and other paper stores that sell pretty and stylish paper which could double up as invitation cards.

I?ve received invitations which were printed on nice paper, and rolled and tied up with a string. This extremely low cost idea works well. After all, the most important information would be the details of where and when the wedding will be held.
Always Test First

The do it yourself wedding invitation kits are not cheap, but they are also a lot less expensive than buying printed invitations.? So be prepared to waste one pack of a do it yourself wedding invitations kit on testing it out and setting it up.? Find the fonts you want to consider and then print those fonts out on regular paper and see which ones look best to you printed out.? Then when you have it narrowed down to a couple print out test invitations to see how they will look.? Once you have the font you want the rest is easy. Sometimes, you may need to adjust where your words will be just so that they will look balanced on your wedding cards.

If you screw up do it yourself wedding invitations then all you do is reprint them.? No waiting weeks for a printer to respond and make the corrections, no frustrating phone calls, and no wondering if the invitations will be done on time.? You are in complete control and you save money at the same time — perfect!


20
January
2008

While some think about cutting costs, others may want to splurge on unique wedding invitations. There are two ways to be unique– you can be funny or you can be incredibly creative.? They may have some fancy paper thrown in there and they may even have some other kind of announcement thrown in there to.? When you really think about your lack of competition the chance to develop some truly unique wedding invitations is not that difficult.? You can either go with a theme wedding invitation or very personal ones.

If you are good with drawing or graphic design, you may draw a picture of the bride and groom, sprinkled with some other artistic design and add the details. I?ve loved receiving invitations from my friend to her parties. They are always beautifully designed and printed on postcards. For weddings, you can use the same idea. There are so many beautiful designs on the internet, where you can spend less than 5 dollars buying stock pictures. With any photo editing software and a little bit of artistic talent, you can easily come up with a great design without spending money on hiring a graphic designer.

You can also get ideas from the media. Whenever there is a movie to be released, the PR firms will spend a great deal of money on the party kit for the media. Sometimes, if you come across such ideas in magazines, you can simply modify the ideas for your wedding party.

A couple had gone to New England in the fall and among the leaves and the beautiful background he finally popped the question.? Neither said anything about what they were going to do for their wedding invitations, but a few months later I received one of the most unique wedding invitations I had ever seen in my life.?

The invitation had a huge colorful leaf in the middle of it and the words were printed over it.? They had collected fallen leaves from their trip where he popped the question and made them part of their unique wedding invitations.? This is a great way to make everyone part of the entire process but it must have been difficult to find a place to store all of those leaves!?

It Is All About You Two

Let?s say that a couple is getting ready to get married and they love going to the movies.? An idea for their unique wedding invitations could be that the invitation is in the form of a movie ad and the reply card looks like a big theater ticket. These are the kinds of ideas you can use when you are trying to plan your unique wedding invitations and you might as well put a little thought into them because some people keep these invitations for the rest of their lives and you might as well give them something unique to hold on to.

Whatever your choice is, having a creative wedding card or a standard wedding invitation from the printers, it all boils down to the time you have. Focus on what is important to you, and you will be a happy bride or groom.


20
January
2008

You can get discount wedding invitations at a variety of places and in a variety of ways but there are some tried and true ways to get discount wedding invitations that reduce the risk of getting the wrong invitations or getting them too late.?

Remember that the printing company understands that discount wedding invitations are a one shot deal to make a quick buck for them, so they are not going to put a lot of effort into printing them for you.? Make sure you stay in touch with the printer frequently and also make sure you find a reputable printer before you place your order.? Even though these are discount wedding invitations you should still expect to get what you paid for.

Probably the easiest way to get discount wedding invitations is to use the connections of your family and friends.? This may seem obvious, but it is an effective way to get discount wedding invitations.?

Many businesses thrive on referrals and usually if a business knows you are a referral they will work with you on a deal because the thinking is that if you are a referral then you will send them even more business and if they can keep the referral train going then they have more business.?

Remember to check the pricing of your discount wedding invitations against other printers? prices to make sure you are getting a good deal.? A discount is only a discount if it saves you money and you should always make sure you are getting a real discount.

There is almost no place better to get discount wedding invitations than on eBay.? There are so many discount printing companies on eBay that it will make your head spin.? There are just a few things you have to remember:
- Stay in frequent contact with the printer to make sure your order is being done in a timely manner.? You don’t want to be rushing the printer at the last moment and your friends do not receive the cards in time to arrange their schedules to attend your wedding.
- Never order from someone who has a bad eBay rating.? Usually a rating of 90% or less for positive feedback is someone to avoid.?
- Always give the discount printer a lot of time in case they take forever to get you the invitations or they make a mistake.? If they make a mistake you want to give them time to fix that mistake so make sure you order your invitations at least two months before you are going to send them out.

Why pay full price when there are discounts all over the place?? Just look in your neighborhood, or on the internet, and you will save money on your wedding invitations.


20
January
2008

Your wedding budget may tight, but don?t let that deter you from having a great wedding invitation card. It can be innovative. Some people print their posed wedding shots and write the details on the back of the card. Some wedding venues may have free wedding invitations, but you may need to pay for extras if you exceed the number of wedding invitations given. As you begin to create your guest list and consider your choices in wedding invitations, it is a good idea to consider how much money you actually want to spend on your wedding invitations.?

There are many different routes to choose from but the most cost effective is to purchase the blank wedding invitation, the tissue inserts, and the inner and outer envelope in a bulk set.? Usually, the hotels or restaurants that are hosting your weddings will provide blank invitations to you. You will thus need to print the inserts. For those who are doing it differently, then you will need to print the wedding cards yourself. Often you can find extremely ornate invitations that will only need to be printed upon by the local print shop or you can transform a blank wedding invitation on your home computer and print your own invitations.

If you are concerned that you will not be able to complete this task and want something a bit more controlled, then it might be of interest to buy a software program kit that focuses on the creation and printing of personalized wedding invitations.? Some kits even come with fifty note cards, twenty-five invitations/dual envelopes and a number of other checklists and planning details to assist in the wedding planning.

Discount bridal invitations are a beautiful choice that not only saves you in your overall finances.? Many bridal couples are grateful for the money they save when purchasing the blank wedding invitations but are concerned when they begin to contemplate actually printing their entire guest list invitations off of the home computer.? If this is the case, consider taking your blank wedding invitations to a reputable professional printer and have the blank wedding invitations printed on a professional press.? Keep In mind that this will increase the overall expense of your wedding invitations but if it is that important to you, then it is money well spent.

If you have located the blank wedding invitations that you feel best represent your personal style and grace, it is time to purchase them.? Once you have the blank wedding invitation, it is time to start writing works to invite each guest to attend your celebration.? There are many different wedding resource books and internet locations that can assist you as you write the words for personalized wedding invitations.

Some people use a specialized golden string to tie their inserts to their wedding cards. Some shops may sell one string at 20 cents or more. What you can do is to buy strings from sewing shops or other handicraft stores. By spending 2 hours to tie everything together, you can save a great sum if you are inviting many people. Anyway, not many people keep the wedding invitations, so there?s no need to spend too much time on this detail.


12
January
2008

almanac.jpgDeciding on the date to get married is definitely not a simple matter. Both families have to consent to it and it is best not to get any of your other relatives involved. A relative helped us to choose a wedding date, but after checking with my calendar, it was not a great day because of clashes with one of our parents? horoscope. Other dates were subsequently found, but the timing for marriage did not appear to be the best.

My mother hence wanted to check with a geomancer whether it was a good date, so there was some further waiting. It took some time before he got back to us. The best date was during a busy period and it was on a Monday, so my husband?s side rejected the date, saying their relatives would be unable to take leave. Another date coincided with one of the dates the relative got, so they wanted that, because they did not know how to tell that relative if we did not choose that date. However, this date was still on a Friday, which means that they would be working as well. I don?t see their logic. My mother said that the relatives could just have the tea ceremony at night.

A simple affair of choosing the auspicious date can turn out to be troublesome if both sides do not agree right from the start. Not wanting to hurt anyone?s feelings can turn out to be exasperating as well. To avoid any trouble, it would be best to consult someone who is well-respected in his or her field right from the start. At the same time, both parties should be careful with the choices of words used.?

You can check out the online Almanac?first before consulting a geomancer for the best dates. These are in traditional Chinese characters. You need to know what animals you and your partner belong to under the Chinese horoscope, and also the horoscope for both sets of parents.