Wedding Planning
One of the first most important things to do when starting to plan your wedding is to establish the budget. Brides come to me with tear sheets from wedding magazines that show, often, very extravagant high end weddings. While they are truly beautiful, they are often out of reach for many brides. You need to education yourself to the market in which you are planning your wedding much as you would if you are new to an area and were planning to buy a house ~ you need to know what the average cost of a house will be
~ not the national average but the average where you live.
I always like to start with the budget. After we have a realistic working budget, I ask the bride to prioritize each category: are flowers the most important or is it the food? Once we have that accomplished, we can move on with the knowledge in the back of our heads of where we want to spend our money.
Two areas where are think brides get added value is: lighting and linens. Lighting can transform a room from just average to warm, romantic and stunning. Linens offer a great bang for your buck. They enhance the look of the flowers and the room tieing everything together.
Stay tuned for more practical tips for planning your wedding!
Filed under Summer Weddings | Comments (3)Sandals/Jamaica
My sweet husband treated me to a surprise week in Jamaica for my birthday! As a wedding planner, I am always interested in seeing venues that host weddings & honeymoons. Sandals is not only a wonderful honeymoon location but it is also a great destination wedding location. As a representative for Sandals Honeymoons, it was great to get some first hand experience in one of their first rate resorts.
The Jamaican people (at least the ones working at Sandals in Ochos Rios) couldn’t have been any nicer, friendlier and helpful. We made many friends in the short week we were there. The food was fabulous, all you can eat and drink is available. Many opportunities to experience different cuisine. We also had a great time at the piano bar, one night, where we sang along and closed the place down!
If you are thinking about a Sandals honeymoon, please contact us and we can point you in the right direction. Once you have paid for the Sandals honeymoon, you can leave your wallet in the safe in your room and enjoy all you can eat and drink without worrying about tipping or paying the bill. My husband especially liked that part of it.
We also took advantage of the Red Line Spa and had massages. I also had a manicure and pedicure. Again, totally enjoyable with a friendly staff that couldn’t do enough to make us feel comfortable and pampered. It has been hard getting back to reality but it was a wonderful opportunity to experience, first hand, this adult vacation and we look forward to trying another Sandals resort in the future.
As they say in Jamaica ~ “no problem, man”!
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