Your wedding day goes by so quickly, it’s just obvious that you’ll do everything in your power to preserve your memories! I can’t think of a better way of doing this that with a Wedding Scrapbook.

Its important to decide what your goal is before you enthusiastically approach your first page. Would this book only tell your wedding day tale or do you want it to include everything from the engagement to the honeymoon? Decide on a look and feel (romantic, vintage, clean) as well as on the colour scheme before you start this exciting project.

The most popular way is to go with your wedding colours, but it might be interesting to add a bit of extra colour, for example if your wedding colours were white and lilac, you can add silver and a deep purple to this, even a slight touch of pink. As long as the colours don’t overpower your photos – the extras should be subtle in order to make your photos the primary focus (the majority of the memorabilia can be stored in a nice memento box). You wouln’t want to look at this in 15 years and shreak, therefore its better to keep it simplistic, which will definitely guarantee a timeless and elegant look.

It would be wise to do your planning before you hit the shops. This would include how many pages your album would be, what photos and memorabilia you’d like to use etc. To create a personal, intimate feel, use the more spontaneous photos for scrap booking, the more posed photos can be framed or sent to family members, the remainder of the photos can be stored in a separate album. It’s a good idea to print a duplicate set to work with – this would give you peace as you’re working, knowing that your originals are safe.

Memorabilia you might want to include:

- Wedding and bridal shower invites

- Fabric from your dress (as well as any other fabric samples)

- Receipts

- Bridal registry

- Napkins

- Any form of printed material (menu, song-list etc, congrats and thank-you cards)

- Honeymoon tickets and extras

- Congrats and thank you cards

The foundation of a scrapbook is the journaling, sit down somewhere where you won’t be disturbed and go back to that special day – What did you feel when preparing for this big day, when the minister declared you husband and wife, sitting at the reception looking at your guests? When writing, be real and be yourself. We so often forget these very special moments, this way your memories will be preserved as long as you both shall live.

Bring in some of your friends or family’s thoughts – ask a few people you are close to, to write down a sentence or two on what it was that stood out for them on this day (supply them with nice paper or a colourful pen). Start the book with a dedication page – why you are creating this book, why your wedding day was such a special day etc. Some other pages you can add is “what I remember” or “what I was grateful for” or even “what didn’t matter at this stage” – as women we often plan this day and want it to be absolutely perfect, but when we are in the moment, we realize that that’s so not the point of this day.

As you create your book, be real and true – don’t only choose the perfect pictures – being real when choosing your photos and writing your love story will show throughout your book. And most of all, enjoy making this book and enjoy this season!

For info on wedding photographers in South Africa go to SA Wedding Photographers



By: SA Wedding Photographers

SA Wedding Photographers Online Directory of Wedding Photographers in South Africa which includes wedding photography articles for both the bride and the photographer, weekly newsfeeds, advice from our photographers and much more.

SChi25 asked:


Within the next few years, after my own wedding is over and we’ve moved into our new place, I’m determined to start my own event planning business after being an office event coordinator for a couple years now. I was wondering how you event/wedding planners starting your own business. I plan on stocking up on plenty of event planning business books (event planning for dummies, anyone?), but does anyone else have any advice for me? Where to begin? What’s most important? I’d love to hear it! Thanks in advance.

you’ve have had a chance to ponder the considerations for your wedding invitation, we’re breaking down our earlier article into more detail. Ready to move forward? Ponder this…

Choosing the Writing Style for your Invitation

The first important consideration in creating your invitation is to select the best writing style. There are three major options:

Third-Person Formal – Use this for formal dinners, fundraisers, balls, galas, black tie affairs, and formal weddings.

Semiformal – Use this for cocktail parties, dinner parties, big birthdays bashes, graduation invitations, bridal or baby showers, cool theme parties, and less formal weddings.

Handwritten Notes – A great choice for very intimate or casual affairs including small birthday dinners, back yard barbeques, mothers day get togethers and housewarming parties.

Composing the Right Wording for your Invitation

The right wording can make or break your invitation. It will also set the event’s tone and formality for your guests even before the event begins. Remember that your invitation is the first glimpse your guests will receive into the type affair you wish for it to be. Consider this:

Formal – On the invitation, the hostess usually “requests the honor of your presence”, followed by the day of the week, date and the month spelled out, and the time and the place (i.e. “Sunday, the first of January/ two thousand and ten/ at half after six o’clock/ Sundy House, Delray Beach, Florida”). Engraved or raised print is the best choice with the formal invitation, typically written in an antique typeface. Consider, though, that laser printing and the myriad of computer fonts now available makes the formal invitation even more affordable for those on a budget. If you wish to go with the engraving but find it a little too pricey, consider the more affordable raised-print option of Thermography.

Semiformal – Semiformal invitations do not have to adhere to the etiquette of a strict writing style. You may choose a variety of ways to create your invitation, from bordered, textured or patterned paper, and size of the paper can vary as well. Many brides and party planners are moving away from the traditional 5 x 7 style and going with fun square or tall shapes so their invitations stand out. When creating a semiformal invitation, incorporate the event’s theme to get guests on board and excited. Use ink and fonts that match the party’s theme and stationery such as pumpkins for a Halloween party, fireworks for July Fourth, engagement rings for a bridal shower, a baby stroller for the baby shower, grill utensils for a BBQ…you get the idea.

Handwritten – The most important elements with handwritten invitations are the stationery and the legibility of the lettering. Make sure to choose beautiful stationary that really stands out, and either write very neatly or hire someone with excellent penmanship to write the text you’ve chosen. A calligrapher is a great idea for a truly beautiful and unique handwritten invitation.

Getting Your Wording Started

One of our favorite sites for invitation wording ideas is http://www.verseit.com/. You can browse by event type and get the idea juices flowing. And while you work on getting just the perfect wording, tune back into Part Two of our Elements Post coming soon, which will walk you through the tricky subject of working with a guest list and addressing your invitations.

Don’t forget to check out the galleries at http://www.atlasdesigns.org/ for additional wording ideas.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Share your ideas for wording with our other brides.



By: Atlas Designs – Invitations & Announcements

Designing the Unique Moments of Your Life!

In this day and age, weddings are becoming more and more expensive and wedding cakes are no exception. However, it is possible to serve a beautiful cake while maintaining a budget.

One of the best ways to save money on wedding cakes is to consider a kitchen cake. This is a flat slab cake iced on top to match the wedding cake, but generally without piping, flowers etc. When the cake is cut and served, guests are unable to tell the difference between slices of the actual wedding cake and the kitchen cake.

You may also consider having a “dummy” cake as a centrepiece on the cake table. Rent or buy a Styrofoam show-cake from your local baker, and have the caterer serve your guests from sheet cakes or kitchen cakes that are plated in the back kitchen. Or have a single, small cake for show and several sheet cakes to cut for the guests.

When choosing your wedding cake design, opt for simple cakes with minimal decoration as the more labour that is required to decorate the cake, the more expensive. Try to also skip having multiple tiers with fancy pillars. Instead, have the cake layers stacked or borrow pillars if your baker provides this service, or have the baker use disposable pillars instead of the costly crystal ones. Also, check with your local rental company to see if it has any available.

Another option to minimise costs is to try having the cake decorator make and ice the cake, whilst you put your own fresh flowers as decoration for the cake. You can ask your florist to supply extra flowers for the cake to match your bouquets or just pick the flowers on the day of your wedding. If that’s not possible, store the flowers on a plate with some water in your fridge. Sprinkling petals, cascading down tiers or placing flowers around the base of the cake are simple yet elegant designs.

Alternatively, bake your own cake or enlist the help of a friend or family member to do this for you as their wedding gift to you. Fruit, candy, ribbon and marzipan sculpted into flowers and figurines make for beautiful wedding cake designs.

Check also if your reception venue offers a wedding cake as part of the catering deal. Some venues will provide the entire wedding cake whilst others will just provide the first tier.

Another option for couples on a budget is to have cupcakes rather than traditional wedding cakes. This is not only a great way to save money, but it is also a very popular option and can be done beautifully. It is both unique and different and can enhance the beauty of the wedding. The cupcakes are generally arranged in tiers similar to wedding cakes. Each guest will receive an individual cupcake. This saves on having to pay the fee for cake cutting as well as paying for a large, expensive cake. The fee when a reception venue or caterer charges for cutting and serving a cake is called “cakeage”. Fees can be up to $4 or $5 a head.

Finally, decide when and how the cake will be served.

As dessert: you will need a large slice of cake and need to cater for every person attending the function as the cake is a part of the formal meal and a generous slice has to be put in front of the guest whether they are going to eat it or not . When the cake is served as dessert you normally need 3 times as much cake as when the serving is as a coffee slice.

As coffee: as “finger” slice which is normally served on a platter towards the end of the evening. A general rule is that you need only cater for 70% of the guests

There are many considerations when it comes to wedding cakes: size, flavor, design, and of course choosing the right bakery. The bride and groom on a budget should remember to look at lots of different ideas before deciding what they want. Visiting several bakeries and getting quotes are a great way to taste yummy wedding cakes as well as perusing bridal magazines to find inspiration.

However, if a wedding cake is really out of the budget, than consider skipping the cake altogether and serve a non-traditional dessert, such as tartlets, cheesecake, or a dessert buffet. Mmm… yum



By: Grace Lee

Grace Lee is an internet marketer with her own home online business. She assists other individuals interested in making additional income working online and helping them find the best home based business ideas and opportunities. She is also dedicated to researching how to save money as well as how to make informed decisions when it comes to managing and spending money. For more info visit:
http://www.cashproduction.org

There is a wide misconception on exactly what a wedding sponsorship is. The type of people who seek out sponsors for their wedding are, for the most part people who understand budgeting. The concept of wedding sponsorship has been around for quite a while but still in some circles controversial. People have read articles and heard stories about couples who have gone this route and saved thousands of dollars in the process but the interesting thing about some of these couples, is that they could easily afford the wedding in the first place. So why go through the process of locating sponsors? Could it be that it just made “good sense”. Now I would have said “business sense” but that’s where it gets controversial. I have listened to heated arguments about this exact topic, almost as if the discussion was about politics. Some argue that this is a special day and it should not be tainted by the domination of corporate involvement. Just to be fair, most of these arguments take place due to lack of information on this subject. I think that most people when they here the words “Corporate Sponsor” they think of banners, flyers, display booths, print media and even publicity gimmicks. At the very least have a preconceived image of the words “Sponsored By…” etched in their minds.

Sponsored weddings are not corporate events and should not be treated as such. The form of sponsorship, which appeals to most wedding couples and corporate sponsors alike, are cross promotion and barter opportunities. As an example, if you were already prepared to pay $7000.00 for the wedding venue and the vendor said to you “ look, if you give me the names of three more potential wedding couples that I might call to promote to my venue, I will give you a 70% discount ($4900.00). Now if you knew three couples that were getting married in the next year, you might be inclined to pass the name on to the venue owner, and take advantage of this discount. There is no different between this scenario and what a wedding sponsor can be. Two things to remember; everything is negotiable on some level and everything has some value to someone. If you would like more information on wedding sponsorship go to http://www.sponsoryourwedding.com



By: The Wedding Sponsor

Brian Leslie is CEO of “The Wedding Sponsors”, a company which provides sponsorship services to wedding couples looking to save money on their “big day” The author of this article, Leslie, has spent many years in Film Industry as an Executive Producer specializing in cross promotion and financing.