Wedding Breeze

I’m going to take my wedding photos again next week, this time in Singapore. You may have seen a number of my Perth Wedding Photos in the lavender farm, by the beach and in a winery. The shots in Singapore would consist mainly of studio shots and some outdoor shots. Which one is better?

Studio Benefits
1. You get to take in air-conditioned environment.
2. You have proper rooms to change out of your various wedding gowns and evening gowns.
3. Your makeup will not melt.
4. You do not need to worry about the weather, whether it’s super hot outside, raining or even snowing!
5. You get to see your faces clearly instead of tiny faces as the focus is not on the landscape but on you.
6. You do not have to worry about insects landing on your face or grass tickling your legs.
7. You can stay in the same spot and just change a few poses.
8. The beautiful details of your gowns can be seen.
9. You can select a wide variety of costumes to wear, such as modern, vintage, cultural, ethnic, historical, Victorian and many more.
10. You don’t need to worry about dirtying your wedding gown.

Outdoor Benefits
1. You get to take pictures in great locations.
2. Different types of weathers give different ambience.
3. Even if the poses are similar, the locations and colours of the background are different.
4. You get to breathe in fresh air if you are taking photos in parks and gardens.
5. If you take overseas wedding photos, people are more likely to spend more time looking at the photos as they will be admiring you and the scenery.
6. You will look different from other brides who will probably take similar shots in the studios.
7. You can select nature, buildings, city scenes, skyline view, religious places, and even restaurants for your backdrop.
8. You can choose places, such as workplace, schools, churches or other religious places, parks or your homes, which have special meaning to both you and your spouse to take photos.
9. You get to take photos of daytime and night time which increases variety.
10. You can take photos with your car, your pet, or even passers-by.

I really cannot decide which type of wedding photography is better, but because both have their great benefits, I am going to take both studio and outdoor wedding photography so that I will have complete wedding albums to keep.

It’s quite common to find dancing at wedding receptions. It is the custom for the father of the bride to dance with the bride, followed by the wedded couple’s first dance. Anyone at the wedding can enjoy themselves fully.

Chicken Dance
Would you like to add some excitement to the dance floor? Some activities are going to extremely popular. If you like to have fun, why not try a game of the “chicken dance”. If you love to have some fun and laughter at your party, and want the dance floor to be filled, you may want to try this.

Put numbers under the chairs. Get the guests to look under their chairs when the number is announced. Depending on your seating arrangement, you can choose to repeat the numbers at the same table, or at different tables. Write down numbers starting from one to ten.

Before the number is announced, the guests would check under their seats to find out the numbers they had been assigned to. You can use masking tape or post-it notes for this. Everyone with the number called out would be invited to hit the dance floor and do the chicken dance. This is great if you wish to let your guests mingle with other guests, especially if you have many singles at your wedding. It is also good if you have a lot of guests who do not know each other.

Multiplication
A great way to start dancing is to get your wedding group to invite other guests onto the dance floor. After one round of dancing, each guest at the dance floor will invite another guest in to dance, untill everyone is dancing together.

Hire A Dance Teacher
Many wedding couples take up dancing lessons so that they can vow the crowd with their slick dance moves. Why not invite the dance teacher to teach simple steps to the crowd? Or if you have a close friend who is a professional dancer and willing to help you at your wedding, then ask him or her to do this.

One dance floor activity that’s gaining popularity is to bring in a dance teacher for the wedding reception. As a kind of pre-dance activity, the teacher will quickly walk people through their paces on the dance floor, perhaps teaching a bit of the waltz or, for something completely different, a little bit of the tango, before the music officially begins and dancing commences.

With a dance teacher around, you get to liven up the ambience and other shy people would actually be tempted to join in and have great fun. And practically speaking, it will likely make the wedding guests feel more confident in their skills before the “official” dancing begins.

These ideas are quite, so if you are on a tight wedding budget, then you can simply use these ideas to get your guests onto the dance floor instead of hiring expensive bands or performers to liven up the mood.

The vows that a couple exchanges with each other are what bring meaning, romance and individuality to the wedding day itself. The style and feel of the wedding you are planning can help determine the way you would like to exchange your vows to one another, but ultimately you want your words to each other to convey your love and uniqueness as a couple. This is your chance to declare your feelings in front of your friends and family, and so writing or choosing vows is one of the most important and meaningful elements of your wedding.

If you are planning a traditional religious ceremony, it may be preferable to you to go with the conventional vows that your religion outlines. Some religions will allow their couples to make changes to the vows while others do not. Because of this, there are couples who will seek out a religion or pastor whose vows emulate their identity as a couple. Whether or not you decide to use religious vows will depend on your beliefs and spirituality as a couple and as a new family.

Another popular option is to actually write or choose a poem, song lyric, or passage that allows you to describe your love and promise to your blushing bride or glowing groom. When you choose this option the most important thing is to make sure that your vows are absolutely genuine, no matter what you are saying. Ask yourself if what you have chosen to say is from the heart. Does it feel natural to say the words? Can you say the words in front of 150 friends and family members?

Another point of reference is to think about your life together as a couple and whether or not what you are planning to say fits your personalities. For instance, some couples are very romantic, in which case a love song or poem might be the perfect choice for vows. Others are more laid back and writing a few sentences about the first time they met or about their future life might be more appropriate choice.

If you are not sure where to start, do a search on the internet to find quotes, poems, and pre-written vows that you can use to work from. You can also try asking a friend or family member to help you, but remember you want your vows to be yours and to be from your loved-filled heart.

About the Author

Christine Beals is a professional writer who provides tips and information on <a href=”http://weddingblog.savvy-cafe.com/category/wedding-vows/”>wedding vows</a> for <a href=”http://weddingblog.savvy-cafe.com/”>The Savvy Bride</a>.

You have already stretched your budget for your wedding, and asked for a credit increase on your credit cards. You may hire a wedding planner to reduce your stress, but if you are holding a more intimate and small wedding, you can plan the wedding yourself for free. There are many ways to cut costs and save the money for your honeymoon. Just be more creative. Free wedding planner books can help you to plan better.

Free Wedding Planning Over The Internet

Free wedding planning over the internet is greatly accessible these days. There are some sites that would cater for all your wedding needs. Wedding-Breeze is a collection of many wedding tips. The best thing is it’s free! Simply type the keyword phrase and search for the best sites that can help you in planning your wedding. Some of these sites even offer to send you books and charge you with only a small amount of fee for the wedding plan. You can purchase wedding ebooks as well. They are written by people who have gone through the hassle and they are able to help you out.

There are wedding forums for such occasions too. Find one that suits your culture and preference most. There are many threads that tell you what traditions, and when you have a close knitted community of would-be brides to give your suggestions and to cheer you on, you know you are not alone.

Free Wedding Planning From Your Closest Friends

Free wedding planning can also come from your closest friends. Some of your friends may have experience in their clubs, societies or their work in planning events. Tap on their expertise and knowledge. Ask them to help you. Your good friend will be able to come up with a good plan. Of course, do give them a token of appreciation, especially if they take leave to help you out.
Free Wedding Planning From TV Shows

Free wedding planning can come from reality TV shows. If you have noticed, there are some shows which sponsor a free wedding planning and some even offer free weddings! There are some small production houses that produce programs. If you have contacts, approach them to work out a sponsorship or some angle for a story. If you are lucky, you could win this kind of benefit and have your wedding coordinated by the experts for free.

Free Wedding Planning From Your Great Mind

Lastly, free wedding planning works when you set your mind to it. With smaller guest size, you can definitely plan your own wedding. I have a friend who planned her wedding by herself, and the guest size was 500! Everything went smoothly, and she added a lot of personal touches. You can choose what you want, and can be tailored to your own wedding needs.

Jennifer Lopez in the Wedding Planner has everything on hand, from needles and thread to keep a stray button at bay, and some stain removers in her bag. Some brides and grooms are simply too busy to plan their weddings. A wedding may appear simple, but it sure has gone through a lot of major planning just to make the guests as comfortable as possible. This may cause a lot of unnecessary stress. 

Planning a wedding can be done by the bride and her family and friends. Sometimes, why not make use of a wedding planner for a more coordinated wedding? This is especially so if you are holding a big wedding with major logistics to handle. A wedding planner will be able to free you from the hassle of planning, preparing for things at the last minute, and definitely a lot more before your wedding. So, is there a need at all? It really depends on what you want.
Wedding Planner – Saving You Form Hassle

To avoid unnecessary stress in a wedding preparation, you can hire a wedding planner. If you have more than one hundred guests, then you may need a good planner to help make your day as structured and organized as possible.

A wedding planner usually takes care of the most important things in a wedding. With experience, they know what to expect. If you have a church wedding and a banquet, you need to think about the food, and many other events. Although hiring one may mean additional costs, it is definitely worth the price to ensure a smooth and great wedding. After all, many couples already spend a huge sum of money. That extra sum will ensure that your money goes to good use.

Wedding Planner – Additional Costs

If you are looking for a budget wedding, then you have to take on the role as a wedding planner. See it from the point of view as someone who is a wedding planner. Look at all the areas you need to take care of, and then go about it on your own. You definitely need help from family and friends, to avoid burnouts. Start early, and do not leave things to the last minute. Get a trusted friend to see to little problems that may crop up, such as an additional guest at a full table, technical difficulties with your wedding video montage. If possible, get your trusted friend to be the wedding planner. Sometimes, it may be just more fun to coordinate things yourself.

 
We booked our honeymoon to Mauritius during the recent Natas Travel Fair. Two years back, we booked our ROM honeymoon to Japan, and it was only after that then we came to a counter where they promoted honeymoon packages to Mauritius. Honeymooners get extra perks, as long as we show our invitation cards or marriage certificate. So I thought to myself that we could try going there for our real honeymoon.

This place is surrounded by Indian Ocean, +4 GMT. It’s quite near Madagascar. I don’t have much idea about Mauritius, except that I know the people there took the GCE ‘O’Levels as well because one of my ten-years-series for English was published in Mauritius. That was many years back. My husband knows quite a lot about Mauritius because he uses the maps for Geography. He told me that there are a lot of sugarcane plantations. What I know from my friend is there are Indians and Chinese in Mauritius. They speak English, and some speak French and creole, and other Eastern languages. 

Basically, it’s surrounded by lovely beaches. I like water sports, so I’m going to try snorkeling plus some undersea walking, where we will be given an oxygen mask each. Fish will try to feed from our hands. We can play beach volleyball there too. We have a free catamaran cruise. So I guess we are going there to relax, get a tan (I’m going to use lots of sunblock lotion though), have spas and massages, and exercise. I’m a little keen on para-sailing, but not sure whether I have the guts to try out. I’ve overcome my fear of walking over grates where I can see one or two stories below me. To test this out, maybe I’ll go on tree top walks.

According to the travel agent for Air Mauritius, it will be rather warm in December, and from late December onwards, it is the cyclone period. It is summer period as it is in the Southern Hemisphere. It has low humidity. It may not be the best period for us to travel, but this is the only time we can make it.

The travel agent handling the booking got her colleague to show us her photos, and she looked like she had plenty of fun. It was a little embarrassing for her to show us her personal photos of her in bikinis, but we had an idea of how the place is like. She just went there in July, so it was rather cooling.

So we have booked a five-star resort with butler service. I found a video of a couple’s honeymoon at The Residence, Mauritius. They seem to have a great time there. Lots of sand and the sea. Enjoy the video.

Image from brandi666
Traditional wedding guestbooks are boring. Usually, I will only write ‘congratulations’ and nothing more because I have nothing to write. I wonder whether the happy couple know who has written the well-wishes, especially when many simply just sign off their indecipherable names. I’ve thought of other ways for the guests to write their well-wishes for the happy couple.

1. Polaroid Wedding Scrapbook
Buy Scrapbook Paper. They are usually squarish and the designs are lovely. Get your guests to take Polaroid and you can get your wedding helper to paste the pictures on the scrapbook paper. They can write their comments by the side. This will definitely be more personalised than the normal guestbooks.

Besides, years later when you look at the guestbook again, you can remember who attended your wedding and what they have worn. In addition, you only use the amount you need. Some guestbooks are very thick, but the messages are short. So, you end up with a guestbook that only has a few pages filled. With scrapbooks, you get to decide how many pages to be put together. You can simply bind the papers together. You can add things to the paper to decorate it. It’s up to your imagination.

2. A Very Long Piece of Paper
Instead of using a conventional wedding guestbook, just use some paper and get people to sign there. You can then laminate the paper and keep it. Or you can frame up the paper.

3. Small Coloured Art Paper
You can get art paper from many bookstores. Each person will get one piece of paper. You can help them by giving them some questions to think about. One of my friends asked us to pen thoughts on how to make a marriage last and they read them out during the ceremony. So, you can compile this together and make a little notebook. Alternatively, you can get photo books and then slot the papers into the sleeves.

4. Get Free Postcards And Mail Them
In Singapore, we get free postcards in restaurants and shopping centres. Collect in advance those with lovely designs. It will be great if there is enough white space. Then, you can get your guests to write there. In fact, you can even get someone to help you paste stamps on them, and write your own address on them. The Singapore Post Office offers a personalised stamp service. Use your wedding photo to make stamps if you like. Ask your guests to mail their suggestions on how to have a happy marriage to you whenever they feel like. Imagine the lovely surprise you get occasionally. I wonder whether some will send the postcards out a few years later when they chance upon the cards again. 

5. Make Use Of All Your Wedding Photos
When I went to Perth with my husband to take our overseas wedding photos, we came back with more than 300 photos for us to choose from. Since we are expecting about the same number of guests, perhaps we can get the guests to choose a photo they like and write their well wishes behind. This is worth thinking about. Conversely, you can print the photos out on postcard paper, and do the same as point number 4.

6. Use Other Materials
Why limit yourself to pen and paper? Use recycled materials such as plastic, cloth, and other things for your guests to write on. They can use glitter or fabric paints to sign their names. If you love to sew, get your guests to use fabric markers and paint to write their names or draw pictures on small pieces of multi-coloured square cloth, then you can make a patchwork quilt. You can buy cheap cloth or just recycle your old clothes especially now you may be moving into a new house and you have to share wardrobe space now.

7. Do Multimedia Video Guestbook
Ask your guests to introduce themselves and give their well wishes on video. Allow them time to prepare their 30 second speech. You can do this in groups, so the video will not end up excruciating long. Perhaps you can also ask them other questions on how they find your wedding, your wedding photos, the venue, the crowd, the invitations or other things. Perhaps you can print the questions on cards and they will randomly get one, so that you can remember the wedding through many perspectives. Then after that, make it into a video and post it online. If they are shy, then post the video on your personal website with a password to watch.

As you can see, these unique wedding guestbook ideas are just some that I could think of. I’m sure you will have lots more ideas for your guestbook. Perhaps you can mix and match some of the suggestions. Have you encountered any interesting ideas? Share with me and other readers!

Getting your hair combed by your parents is quite an important Chinese tradition before the wedding. On the eve of the wedding, after 11pm, the parents will comb the hair. The father will recite the blessing while the mother combs the hair three times. If they are not around, then an older relative will do the ritual.

Each stroke holds an auspicious meaning for the various stages of life after marriage. At the same time, it is to teach the bride that she has to grow up and not be so wilful like a little girl once she has become a wife, and later on, a mother.

Other items include combs, sewing kit, mirrors, red string and ruler. The red string will be used to tie the bride’s hair. As for the ruler, it is to stress the importance of relationship and the family. The ties should be cherished and not cast aside, especially in today’s busy world.

I have not checked out the shops yet, but these are some shops mentioned in the newspaper article.

1. Wedding Cottage at IMM in Jurong
2. Fuyuan – The Wedding Shop in New Market Road Food Centre in Chinatown
3. Minah Departmental in Beauty World Centre in Upper Bukit Timah
4. Cheok Keuw Bridal in Jurong West

At 8.30pm one day before the wedding, items will be placed on the marital bed and the couple will not be allowed to enter the room until they have held the wedding ceremony. If you have a new marital house, then it is quite simple. It means you will go to your new house and get this completed. If you are going to live in your house or your groom’s current place, then I wonder where they are going to sleep.

That little point aside, this tradition is to symbolise good health, abundance of fortune and offspring for the couple. They will put a lot of things on the bed.

Eight types of auspicious seeds, grains oranges, red packets, and metallic discs will be placed on the bed. Seeds are known as ‘zi’ in Chinese, and they sound the same as ‘children’. Hence, with so many types of seeds, it is to bless the couple to have children early. The discs are to signify a blissful marriage, but I have never seen this before.

I’m just wondering how to carry this out. My house is currently being built and I am not sure whether they will be able to finish construction in November, in time for us to do up the interior design and get ready for our marriage. If not, my husband may have to live with my parents, or I will live with his family. Does that mean we must buy the marital bed first? There is no space to put a queen-sized bed in my room, and to bring the bed from any of our houses to our new house will require quite a lot of logistics and money.

Oh well, I’m sure everything will turn out well.

Source: The Sunday Times 27 July 2008

I seriously cannot remember where this location in Perth is. It is at a beach. There are small little grey houses on a platform at the jetty. It was quite cooling at this beach, so if you have seen glimpses of my photo shoot, I was wearing my husband’s jacket to keep warm.

This evening gown is turquoise in ball gown shape. This is great for pear shape body. I had a can can beneath me, so for certain shots, I was supposed to run, it was a little tough. The tie that my husband is wearing is not a real tie. It’s just a silky piece of cloth tied around his neck. Click here to read more »