The Guest List

Deciding who you want to attend your wedding is a not so easy task, it might not seem that way at first, but if you have a tight budget, you better make sure every person on that list matters. I have heard it all before, Joe worked with my dad for 20 years, 15 years ago, he saw you grow up and then fell off the face of the earth, and now your dad wants him at the wedding? I don't think so. The following are some steps to ensure that your guest list is refined and is in the budget.

1. Both the bride and the groom should go into a separate room and write down the first 50 people that they would want at there wedding. Then compare lists and see if any names match, or don't match. This is an easy way to ensure that the people close to the two get priority.
2. Do not invite anyone who you haven't had a conversation with in the last 5 years ( and 5 years is pushing it, I'm being nice)
3. Do not invite anyone that after 30 seconds of thinking about it you can't remember their last name or first name, "You know, Jim's daughter, the red head?" NO!
4. Do not invite people who you aren't directly friends with or related to in order to make other friends or parents/family happy, It's your day, not theirs!
5. If you only want Bill and Lucy to come, and they happen to live with their in-laws, specify on the invitation who is coming ie, Mr. and Mrs, Bob and Lucy Smith..... putting and family on any one's invitation is setting yourself up for unwanted guests.
6. Do not feel obligated to invite co-workers unless you have built a tight knit friendship with them (that includes your boss)
7. Please do not invite an insane amount of people (300-500+) because you think the more people the more money stuffed envelopes there will be, it really doesn't work that way ( Someone I know got married and had fun opening cards without a penny in them)
8. Just because your sister wants a table of all her friends to attend, it doesn't have to happen
9. Do not plan your list without considering whether or not you want children to attend your wedding, some of your guests may see it as a negative thing. Children and young and fun, I personally believe they should be invited also!
10. DO NOT invite past crushes, ex-girlfriends/boyfriends/husbands/wives, and that goes for the ex's of guests unless you ask them! People who make the bride or groom uneasy or uncomfortable.

Picking a location

Now that a rough date has been set, one can start looking for a potential location to hold the ceremony/ reception, or both.

What you should know before looking at locations:
1) What season the wedding is going to take place ( booking a wedding in the summer months is much more costly when dealing with venues than if you were to book in any other season)

2) Know what you want in terms of the location being indoors or outdoors , or even a mixture of both

3) Know approximately how many people you will be inviting to the wedding (looking at a venue that only holds 100 when you know your guest list is going to be 250 is a waste of time)

4) Keep in mind your guests if they will be travelling from your first location to your reception location, some have come from far away already and gas is expensive.

5) Have an idea what your expecting from the locations. Do you prefer that they carry linens? Have an in-house lighting department, etc....

6) Tell yourself not to be fooled by moulding and marble floors, the venue is trying to pay a mortgage too, so if it sounds like it might be out of your budget, find somewhere else.

Engaged, now what?

Getting engaged is a very exciting occurrence in anybodies life, especially if you sit on the female side of things. (Just to clarify,I am not engaged) After you have called every relative alive, including aunt Maria in Europe, and have busted out the ring to show your friends on numerous occasions, the bottom line is you have a wedding to plan now.

A wedding these days can get into ridiculous numbers. The average cost of a wedding in Canada is about $25,000, which is no cup of tea unless you got that kind of money laying around.

Lets face it, most of the people getting married, have hardly had enough time to accumulate that kind of dough and pay off all their debt from their education, car, mortgage and credit cards, let alone have enough to put on a wedding.

The key to being your own responsible wedding planner, is to be realistic. Many people (brides to be) don't think realistically when it comes to their wedding, it is no doubt a very special day, but when that day is over, there are going to be bills to pay from food to the florist.

Unless your loaded with cash, don't think that your going to put on some Hollywood production, with horses, 3 DJ's , cigar rollers and a magic show, it's not a circus, in the end its the official bond between two people who love each other.

From Politics to Weddings?

I am totally aware that I am not staying on track. From writing about the Canadian election to witting about weddings, well who says you can only have one passion?