He’s finally popped the question. You’re now engaged and
have set a wedding date….”Now What?”, you ask yourself.

You have purchased the latest bridal magazines from your
local grocery store and there are pages and pages of photos
of beautiful wedding gowns, rings and articles on weddings.
Some give you a brief idea of what you need to do to plan
your wedding, but you’re still not sure how to begin the
process.

The key is to start organizing and planning earlier than
later.

You first need to create a system to keep all the details
in one place. You may choose to use a binder with a tab for
each category you will be using. Examples of categories
are: Essential Wedding Favors, Bakery, Ceremony, Catering,
Florist, Music, Reception, Photography, Transportation. An
accordion file is another choice, using the same category
tabs. You will be able to see each category at a glance.

Whichever system you choose, use it to keep track of all
receipts, pictures, brochures, business cards etc. that is
related to each category.

Find a “wedding timetable” layout. This timetable will
include a list of to-do’s for the entire months/year before
the big day. Some of the first things on this timeline may
be: Consulting with fiancé and parents to decide budget and
financial support. Another may be deciding the number of
guests to invite to your big day (always dependant on
budget $$ available), deciding what type of wedding -
formal or informal or even interviewing wedding
coordinators. This timetable is a basic guideline. You can
recreate on your computer to fit your wedding and time line.

Once you have an idea of all the details involved in
planning a wedding and all the dedicated time you will have
to spend, you can start recruiting help from family and
friends. Delegate tasks to help you check off all the
to-do’s on your list and by the time you know it, it‘s
wedding day. When it comes to decorating your wedding
ceremony or reception . . . Color Is Back White weddings no
more? This year will be the “Year Of Color” according to
many wedding resources. The trend appears to be that more
couples planning weddings are adding pizazz to the look of
their wedding, and reception with bold, daring colors,
patterns, floral arrangements, exotic cakes, wedding favor
ideas and more.

It appears that the desire to “wow” guests is a major goal
of many bride’s and grooms. With wedding budgets being
tossed out the window, these new high end weddings are
quickly becoming a wedding fashion statement.

Weddings don’t have to cost a fortune to be beautiful and
fashionable. With careful budgeting, prioritizing, and
perhaps the help of a consultant, you can have one of these
new high fashion weddings. The celebrity wedding is really
what these every day couples are striving to compete with.
The media bombards us with so and sos wedding, and all the
details of how expensive, and elaborate the wedding was.
It’s no wonder couples feel the need to “keep up with the
Jones” so to speak. Don’t feel bad if this is you, be proud
that you have the opportunity to display your own sense of
unique style.

Ways To Create Color For Your Wedding! 1. Use a colorful
table runner to jazz up your guest tables (tables perhaps
already covered with rented white table cloths) If you
cannot afford a table runner for every guest table, try
doing this for every other guest table in a pattern
fashion. This will make sense if done in pattern.

2. Make the most of money saving greenery for part of your
centerpieces. Add a dash of bold color with a few brightly
colored daisies here and there. A few will go along way. If
you cannot afford flowers for every guest table, then
consider the every other guest table approach, while still
using some greenery alone on the guest tables without
flowers.

3. If flowers are not a huge part of your budget, consider
the every other table approach mentioned above, or consider
purchasing plain clay flower pots at a local store. Next,
purchase some brightly colored spray paints (perhaps 2 or 3
different colors) and spray paint the flower pots
individually with one of the colors. Perhaps some of them
for example with yellow paint, some of them with the bright
green paint, and some with orange. When the paint is dry,
play with the pots by filling them with different colorful
materials to see what you can come up with that will add
some pizazz to your guest tables with the pots as your
centerpiece. Things to consider filling these pots with
are: unpeeled oranges, lemons, grapefruits, even bananas.
This will also turn out to be centerpieces that smell
great, and your guests can reach out, grab a piece, peel
and eat it!

4. Use wallpaper to add color and pattern. Perhaps you can
look at your local wallpaper store, or home decor store,
and ask if they have wallpaper borders on clearance. If
not, look anyway. Ways to use wallpaper to add pizazz!
Instead of using a table runner, use a long strip of
colorful, patterned wall paper, or a wall paper border to
drape across the table cloth covering your guest tables.
What about the isle runner for the wedding ceremony? Who
needs white? Use a 3 to 4 ft. wide strip of your favorite
wall paper measured to reach the full length of the
ceremony isle. This is a great alternative to flower petals
that don’t stay in place. Your guests will not forget this
one!

5. Chair covers always add a touch of class, and often come
in many colors with bowes to accent them. Check with your
local wedding consultant about what is available.

6. Wrap things in colorful cloth ribbon or tule. Ribbon and
tule can add a lot of color, they can also hide ugly. If
there’s something you don’t want guests to see, or you just
want to jazz it up, then wrap it up!

These are just a few of the many ways to add wonderful,
happy color to your special wedding day. The trend this
year, is color. So, don’t be afraid of bold colors, and
patterns. Choose a list of complimentary colors, and stick
with them for your theme.

About the Author:

Essential Wedding Favors is a company founded by Paul Darch
and Tracey Spencer in 2006. Wanting to provide a bride and
groom a source to find as much information about planning
their wedding, inspired them to create a website dedicated
to just that.
http://www.essentialweddingfavors.com