Category Archives: Wedding Planning

Budgeting for a Wedding Ceremony

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Budgeting for a wedding ceremony can be complicated. On one hand, you want to celebrate and pull out all the stops, but you also don’t want to waste money. Weddings and receptions can be very expensive events, or they can just look like very expensive events. With the help of the following tips, people will think you spent a lot for your wedding and reception, but you will actually end up spending less for the events than you originally thought.

First and foremost: the wedding dress. Wedding dress purchases can run in the thousands of dollars. Since not everyone has thousands to spend for a dress, the bride should look for clearance gowns at bridal gown shops. Many bridal gown shops offer clearance sales on their gowns at least once or twice per year. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a gown, the bride may only have to spend a few hundred dollars or less for her dream dress.

Try to get a local officiant for your wedding. You might find licensed wedding ceremony officiants by checking the local newspaper as many officiants advertise their wedding services there. Shop around to compare prices for conducting the wedding ceremony. Not all non-denominational ministers charge the same amount of money to officiate at a wedding; some may offer better prices than others.

Remember that if you’re trying to save money on your wedding reception costs, you don’t have to have alcohol at your reception. Alcohol raises the price of a reception by an enormous amount. You can always request that your guests buy their own drinks; there is nothing wrong with the guests purchasing their own drinks. If you would like have alcohol at your reception, consider limiting it to the less-expensive types of alcohol, such as wine and beer.

To save money on a wedding cake, you can get a small tiered cake for presentation purposes, and then have a larger sheet cake made from scratch to serve the wedding guests. Also ask your relatives, neighbors or friends if they know anyone that is a hobbyist cake maker. A hobbyist cake maker typically charges a much lower price for a wedding cake than a professional bakery will.

When it comes to the marriage license, it may be cheaper to buy multiple copies of the license at one time than to buy additional copies on future dates. The first copy of a marriage license is typically the most expensive, while any additional copies are usually available at discounted rates. However, this usually only applies if you purchase all the copies you want at the same time. You typically can’t go back a second time and be able to get the multiple copy discounted price rates. With this in mind, you’ll want to buy all the copies you need in one transaction.

Finally, time is a big factor in budgeting for a wedding ceremony. If you give yourself plenty of time to plan and hammer out the details, you will avoid getting stressed or feeling rushed as your special day nears.  We tend to make worse decisions when stressed, and if things are getting tight we are willing to pay more just to make everything go smoothly. Avoid this by allowing yourself more time than you think you need; that way any hiccups in the plan won’t derail your efforts to have the ideal wedding.

Budgeting for a Wedding Ceremony

Posted on by

Budgeting for a wedding ceremony can be complicated. On one hand, you want to celebrate and pull out all the stops, but you also don’t want to waste money. Weddings and receptions can be very expensive events, or they can just look like very expensive events. With the help of the following tips, people will think you spent a lot for your wedding and reception, but you will actually end up spending less for the events than you originally thought.

First and foremost: the wedding dress. Wedding dress purchases can run in the thousands of dollars. Since not everyone has thousands to spend for a dress, the bride should look for clearance gowns at bridal gown shops. Many bridal gown shops offer clearance sales on their gowns at least once or twice per year. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a gown, the bride may only have to spend a few hundred dollars or less for her dream dress.

Try to get a local officiant for your wedding. You might find licensed wedding ceremony officiants by checking the local newspaper as many officiants advertise their wedding services there. Shop around to compare prices for conducting the wedding ceremony. Not all non-denominational ministers charge the same amount of money to officiate at a wedding; some may offer better prices than others.

Remember that if you’re trying to save money on your wedding reception costs, you don’t have to have alcohol at your reception. Alcohol raises the price of a reception by an enormous amount. You can always request that your guests buy their own drinks; there is nothing wrong with the guests purchasing their own drinks. If you would like have alcohol at your reception, consider limiting it to the less-expensive types of alcohol, such as wine and beer.

To save money on a wedding cake, you can get a small tiered cake for presentation purposes, and then have a larger sheet cake made from scratch to serve the wedding guests. Also ask your relatives, neighbors or friends if they know anyone that is a hobbyist cake maker. A hobbyist cake maker typically charges a much lower price for a wedding cake than a professional bakery will.

When it comes to the marriage license, it may be cheaper to buy multiple copies of the license at one time than to buy additional copies on future dates. The first copy of a marriage license is typically the most expensive, while any additional copies are usually available at discounted rates. However, this usually only applies if you purchase all the copies you want at the same time. You typically can’t go back a second time and be able to get the multiple copy discounted price rates. With this in mind, you’ll want to buy all the copies you need in one transaction.

Finally, time is a big factor in budgeting for a wedding ceremony. If you give yourself plenty of time to plan and hammer out the details, you will avoid getting stressed or feeling rushed as your special day nears.  We tend to make worse decisions when stressed, and if things are getting tight we are willing to pay more just to make everything go smoothly. Avoid this by allowing yourself more time than you think you need; that way any hiccups in the plan won’t derail your efforts to have the ideal wedding.

Buddhist Wedding Officiants

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A Buddhist wedding officiant for a wedding ceremony should be a unique reflection of the partners and their values but finding wedding inspiration for a Buddhist wedding is difficult. Not many people know if a Buddhist couple can get married through a Buddhist monk or if a Buddhist officiant has to do anything different than any other marriage. The ULC Monastery believes that Buddhist Wedding traditions can be elegant and beautiful and we wanted to share easy information for planning a Buddhist Wedding Officiant. Marriage is considered a secular affair in Buddhism so there is no specific wedding ceremony. This means the bride and groom really have the freedom to plan their wedding their way. If you’re a practicing Buddhist or are intrigued by Buddhism’s philosophies, you might find inspiration in its wedding traditions and symbolism.

Common Buddhist Wedding Traditions
The Buddha said relatively little about marriage in his teachings. He did teach, however, that marriage should be based on deep mutual respect for each other, and that it should be a partnership of equals. (There’s no “giving away the bride” in a Buddhist wedding.) This can serve as a platform on which to construct a Buddhist wedding ceremony. Couples might also draw from the five Buddhist precepts or other sacred texts. There are many ways to incorporate Buddhist elements into a wedding. Before the ceremony, couples may choose to have their officiant lead them in a hand washing, or water blessing ritual, as a symbol of “coming clean” into marriage. Setting up a shrine in the ceremony space is common. The ceremony could begin with the couple making traditional offerings of water, incense, flowers, fruit, food (often rice) and candles at the shrine. Another common practice is to carry o juju during the ceremony. These strands of 21 beads represent the Buddha, the couple and their families. Some couples add a hand fasting ritual using prayer beads. The wedding with the imagery of the Buddhist eternal knot, representing the interconnected-ness of all creation and the newly found connection between the married couple is also a nice touch.
Become Ordained To Perform A Buddhist Wedding
Because there is no marriage sacrament in the faith, Buddhist monks typically do not perform wedding ceremonies. Couples will often go to a temple to have their marriage blessed after the wedding, but this is a separate ritual from the wedding itself. If you want to have a Buddhist wedding, chances are you will have to find an officiant. A more meaningful choice would be to have a friend or family member step in but first they will have to become an ordained wedding minister.The Universal Life Church provides a free and easy method to become an ordained wedding minister. Ordination in the ULC is completely valid and ULC wedding officiants are legally authorized to perform wedding ceremonies in all 50 states. Ask your friend to visit the Universal Life Church website and click the “Become Ordained” tab. After their ordination request is reviewed and approved, they’ll join a worldwide community of ULC wedding officiants, and can perform your Buddhist ceremony. Happy wedding planning!

Buddhist Wedding Officiants

Posted on by

A Buddhist wedding officiant for a wedding ceremony should be a unique reflection of the partners and their values but finding wedding inspiration for a Buddhist wedding is difficult. Not many people know if a Buddhist couple can get married through a Buddhist monk or if a Buddhist officiant has to do anything different than any other marriage. The ULC Monastery believes that Buddhist Wedding traditions can be elegant and beautiful and we wanted to share easy information for planning a Buddhist Wedding Officiant. Marriage is considered a secular affair in Buddhism so there is no specific wedding ceremony. This means the bride and groom really have the freedom to plan their wedding their way. If you’re a practicing Buddhist or are intrigued by Buddhism’s philosophies, you might find inspiration in its wedding traditions and symbolism.

Common Buddhist Wedding Traditions
The Buddha said relatively little about marriage in his teachings. He did teach, however, that marriage should be based on deep mutual respect for each other, and that it should be a partnership of equals. (There’s no “giving away the bride” in a Buddhist wedding.) This can serve as a platform on which to construct a Buddhist wedding ceremony. Couples might also draw from the five Buddhist precepts or other sacred texts. There are many ways to incorporate Buddhist elements into a wedding. Before the ceremony, couples may choose to have their officiant lead them in a hand washing, or water blessing ritual, as a symbol of “coming clean” into marriage. Setting up a shrine in the ceremony space is common. The ceremony could begin with the couple making traditional offerings of water, incense, flowers, fruit, food (often rice) and candles at the shrine. Another common practice is to carry o juju during the ceremony. These strands of 21 beads represent the Buddha, the couple and their families. Some couples add a hand fasting ritual using prayer beads. The wedding with the imagery of the Buddhist eternal knot, representing the interconnected-ness of all creation and the newly found connection between the married couple is also a nice touch.
Become Ordained To Perform A Buddhist Wedding
Because there is no marriage sacrament in the faith, Buddhist monks typically do not perform wedding ceremonies. Couples will often go to a temple to have their marriage blessed after the wedding, but this is a separate ritual from the wedding itself. If you want to have a Buddhist wedding, chances are you will have to find an officiant. A more meaningful choice would be to have a friend or family member step in but first they will have to become an ordained wedding minister.The Universal Life Church provides a free and easy method to become an ordained wedding minister. Ordination in the ULC is completely valid and ULC wedding officiants are legally authorized to perform wedding ceremonies in all 50 states. Ask your friend to visit the Universal Life Church website and click the “Become Ordained” tab. After their ordination request is reviewed and approved, they’ll join a worldwide community of ULC wedding officiants, and can perform your Buddhist ceremony. Happy wedding planning!

Wedding Inspiration: Get Organized

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Wedding inspirationCongratulations on your recent engagement! It is an exciting and busy time in your life when you are starting to gather your wedding ideas and make plans for the big day. To keep from getting overwhelmed you want to get organized, but where do you start? Here is some wedding inspiration for a binder that you can make to keep yourself on time and on task.  (This is also a great gift from a maid of honor to the bride!)

1. Get a binder and put in tab dividers with folder pockets.

2. First, put a calendar in with every month from now until the wedding leaving space to write deadlines and reminders.

3. Behind that we suggest printing out a wedding budget sheet that you can fill out during the process

4. We suggest the following tab separations or sections:

Location, Photographer, Caterer, Dress, Cake, Music, Wedding Party, Flowers, Decorations, and Favors.

Put the tabs in the order that makes the most sense to you, the list above is our best estimation of the order in which you will want to work on these. For example, many popular venues book up well over a year in advance so you will want to get a date booked and deposit down on your location as soon as possible (which is why it is listed first). There is a very similar situation with popular photographers, caterers, and bakeries.

Make sure that you note your appointments as you make them with all of the vendors. Use the budget sheet to work out the financial plan as you purchase items and services.  When it gets close to the big day, you will also want to note on your calendar when deposits and the final payments are due. The pockets will hold bits of fabric that you like, or photos and cut outs that you have collected.  Use this wedding inspiration binder to collect your favorite wedding ideas from magazines, to write down your questions, use as a checklist, and to keep organized.

Wedding Inspiration: Get Organized

Posted on by

Wedding inspirationCongratulations on your recent engagement! It is an exciting and busy time in your life when you are starting to gather your wedding ideas and make plans for the big day. To keep from getting overwhelmed you want to get organized, but where do you start? Here is some wedding inspiration for a binder that you can make to keep yourself on time and on task.  (This is also a great gift from a maid of honor to the bride!)

1. Get a binder and put in tab dividers with folder pockets.

2. First, put a calendar in with every month from now until the wedding leaving space to write deadlines and reminders.

3. Behind that we suggest printing out a wedding budget sheet that you can fill out during the process

4. We suggest the following tab separations or sections:

Location, Photographer, Caterer, Dress, Cake, Music, Wedding Party, Flowers, Decorations, and Favors.

Put the tabs in the order that makes the most sense to you, the list above is our best estimation of the order in which you will want to work on these. For example, many popular venues book up well over a year in advance so you will want to get a date booked and deposit down on your location as soon as possible (which is why it is listed first). There is a very similar situation with popular photographers, caterers, and bakeries.

Make sure that you note your appointments as you make them with all of the vendors. Use the budget sheet to work out the financial plan as you purchase items and services.  When it gets close to the big day, you will also want to note on your calendar when deposits and the final payments are due. The pockets will hold bits of fabric that you like, or photos and cut outs that you have collected.  Use this wedding inspiration binder to collect your favorite wedding ideas from magazines, to write down your questions, use as a checklist, and to keep organized.