Merry Christmas to YOU

Merry Christmas ... may Christ the reason for the season fill our lives with peace, love and joy now and always ... AMEN

Thank you for all the support and encouragement.

Have a wonderful celebration

Lots of Love, Hugs and Kisses

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For more check http://weddingsbymai.com

Budgeting your wedding

There is life after the wedding, so to avoid the two of you ‘soaking garri’ it is necessary to budget for the wedding and work according to your budget. Your budget is the most important element in your planning, setting the stage for every other decision you make. So it pays to set a firm number right away – and to stick to it, even when that entails making difficult decisions.

The most important thing that must be done when you are ready to begin planning your wedding is to first create your wedding budget. Your budget is important because it is almost impossible to know what you can afford for each aspect of the wedding if you don’t give yourself a limit to the overall spending costs. For most people, creating the wedding budget is the hardest job to do because you want to have the nicest and most memorable wedding that you can afford.

The days when the wedding is paid for by the parents of the bride are practically gone now. Parents will often contribute to the wedding cost as a gift to the couple, but it is rather rare for parents to cover the whole cost of the wedding these days. Usually it is because the parents simply can’t afford it, but couples today often prefer to pay for their own weddings because it ensures that they can do it the way that they want to without interference.

However, a day can be set aside for discussion so that both the bride's as well as the groom's families can sit together and discuss the budget of the wedding along with other financial aspects. It can also be discussed at this point that which bills have to be paid by which family, in order to avoid any problems in the future. The traditional rules laid down by your ancestors are no more accepted these days and can be molded according to the choice and the comfort of either of the two families. You should always keep in mind that the formal weddings are quite grand and the informal ones can be smaller and simpler.

A lot of the time, parents will forego paying for the wedding and pay for the honeymoon instead. Basically this makes creating your own wedding budget very important; especially if you are paying for both the wedding and the honeymoon yourself thus it helps to know the wedding budget breakdown. The chart below should give you an idea of the wedding budget percentages involved:

 

This chart is a general breakdown of the costs and how much of your budget should be applied to what. As with the above chart, when creating your actual wedding budget, you should use the chart information as a guided starting point. From this chart, you will then have to create your actual budgeted amount. Please note that different couples will have different priorities and this chart is according to my opinion

·        Wedding Apparels – wedding gown, shoes, hair piece/veil, grooms’ suit, bouquets, bridesmaid accessories, make-up, hair dresser/nails etc.

·        Stationary – wedding invitations, direction cards, thank you notes, wedding programs etc.

·        Church ceremony – priest, marriage bans, license from court, wedding bands, ring bearer pillows

·        Reception – hall, decoration, food, drinks, servers, cake, photography, video coverage, music, wedding car, security etc.

·        Accommodation – hotel rooms for the bride and bridal train

·        Post wedding – honeymoon

When creating your budget, you will first begin with the overall amount that you can afford to spend. If you find yourself going above your budget you can:

·         Lower the guest list

·         Forego some of the services

·         Lessen the wedding party

·         Forget the extras like limos

Make it a point to stick to your budget and adjust wherever you can to ensure the best wedding. Once you have decided what you want to include and what you can afford, it is on to the wedding planning stage.

5 Hints on How to POP the Question

Thinking of proposing to the woman of your dreams and you just can’t seem to get the ideal proposal idea. Well here are 5 tips on how to create that enchanting and romantic proposal:

   1. While driving to work together, tune to a particular radio station. You would have arranged with the presenter beforehand. At a particular time, the presenter will call your woman’s full name and ask her to turn to the gentleman sitting next to her. While she turns, you are holding a ring and asking her to marry you. Also plan with the presenter to call 5 minutes after to speak to her on air. (Kindly remember to pack the car at a convenient spot before the plan sets into motion)

       2. Take her to watch the movies, before the movies start while the adverts are rolling. Plan with the cinema guys to have her name on the screen with the proposal. While she is trying to figure out what is happening, go on your knees and bring out the ring

   3.     If she works, arrange with the Head of Administration in her office and the cleaners beforehand. Have a florist do a loved shaped design on her desk with rose petal and the ring in the middle. Drop her off at work and let her see you drive off. However, you will quickly turn back; once she gets to her table and sees the ring you should ‘magically’ appear by her side and kneel down while popping the question

     4. Get up early and prepare breakfast for her (she will really appreciate this especially if you can’t cook). If the aroma of the meal doesn’t wake her up and drive her to the kitchen, prepare a small tray and bring for her in bed.  Place different plates on the tray with different meals ALL COVERED. The ring should be in one of the plates. Be conscious of when she opens the plate with the ring, once she does get down on your knee and pop the question. If the aroma brings her to the kitchen, make sure you have placed the ring on top of the salt or any spice container. Ask her to help you pass the salt or spice then she will see the box with the ring. If she curiously opens it, the get on your knee and pop the question

      5.  Plan with friends and family to have a dinner or party, while the dinner is going on ask for everyone’s attention. Start talking about how long you have known her and wonderful things about her. Then you go on your knee and pop the question. (Please plan on a neutral day, no birthdays or anniversaries)

Welcome

Hello,

Welcome to this wonderful and exciting blog...here we will be looking at weddings and style. We will also engage in helping people plan their dream weddings and source for vendors...so let us start this exciting journey together...Am so thrilled!!!