Tying the Knot: Wedding Planning on a College Student's Budget

A budget alternative to going on a honeymoon is to go on a cruise. The best thing is that you can choose from different cruises that have one or more stops and visit different places. This type of vacationing also makes it easy for you to customize your experience. You can choose to do activities on board (i.e. contests, trivia, shows in the theater, relax by the pool, relax throughout the ship, eat, shop, etc.), at the ports (i.e. shopping, be at the beach, eat, different classes, and sightseeing, etc.). Cruises have a little for everyone!

After you two are pronounced husband and wife, have celebrated at your reception with your loved ones..it's time for some quality time with your beau! Whether you are looking for tips for your honeymoon, or simple tips for your next vacation without breaking the bank, keep on reading!

The Sweet Side of Love: Wedding Dessert Options The sweetest part of your wedding is the cake when it comes to food, that is. Surprisingly, not many couples get to taste the wedding cake, besides at the test tasting. Except maybe when they cake in their faces by their new spouse. The cake is the final thing you and your guests will most probably eat, so it should be a memorable one.

Wedding Ready Beauty: Makeup Your makeup on your wedding day should be a reflection of who you are. Makeup is an enhancer and helps you veil any imperfections for that HD photography. But not all makeup is the same, for the same purposes, or for the same skin types Below are some makeup tips and makeup videos to help you achieve that glowing bridal look for your big day.

Wedding Ready Beauty: Skin Your skin is the largest organ on your body. Beautiful makeup starts with what's underneath: your skin! You will want to start treating your skin months in advance to ensure that you have plump, glowing, clear skin for your wedding day. If you want to have that bridal glow on your wedding day, here are a few tips to help you achieve just that.

Wedding Ready Beauty: Nails Your nails are another important part of your wedding look. They will be photographed, so you should invest some time and care in them. Below are some tips to make sure your nails look picture perfect on your wedding day!

Wedding Ready Beauty: Hair Your look is something you will keep forever in your photographs. Your hair is one of the important aspects of your wedding look. Your hair, how it looks, feels, the length, the color, style all has an important role to play in your wedding look. Below are some tips to help you achieve beautiful hair, and some examples too, for your wedding day.

Wedding DIY: Part 2 Florals is a difficult DIY project to take on. This is because you will have to have someone the day of your wedding having to set it all up. This will most likely have to be yourself and your bridesmaids, your groom, and his groomsmen, other any other loved one. If you have it in your budget, this could also be your wedding coordinator (day or week of coordinator). Flowers are a time sensitive matter. Which is why some couples prefer silk/foam flowers over fresh florals for their wedding. This way they can get their florals done weeks ahead of time and just worry about having them clean and ready for their big day. Whether you choose to have fresh flowers, fake, or a mix of both, below are some DIY projects to help you gain some inspiration. I would recommend to also check out Part 1 of the "Weddin DIY" blog post, to go over some general tips over DIYing some of your wedding.

Wedding DIY's- Part 1 If you are planning an inexpensive wedding, doing certain things yourself is the way to save a lot of money.  DIY=Do It Yourself has gained popularity in the past years. It's gained popularity for being able to recreate dupes of things with a high price tag, for a fraction of the cost. Here are some tips to consider when DIYing your wedding:

Flowers: Seasonal & Beautiful Flowers are the setting and by that set a tone to the event. However, flowers can also quickly add up. This is especially true if the flowers that you choose are not in season. There are a few questions when considering what floral arrangements to have at your wedding. Below are a few simple tips to help you through these questions and help you in deciding what floral arrangements to buy without going out of your budget.

Wedding Literature: Invitations, Seating Charts, Reception Signs, etc. Your wedding literature is important for your guests to know the who, where, why, what of your wedding! From your Save-the-dates, invitations, seating charts, reception signs, etc. These are essential for any celebration. There are a lot of paper and letter signs that are required for the big day.

Tips for Putting Together Your Guestlist (Photo from bijou ) After you have your budget and when choosing your venue, it's time to start putting together your guest list. It's okay if you don't have a finalized guest list when touring your venues, but a good estimate is necessary. Having your guest list will facilitate the rest of the planning process because you will need this number to give it to your venue, caterer, and other vendors. Here are some practical tips that can help you formulate your guest list and finalizing it. Wedding Budget & Venue Your budget, your venue size, and your guest list are things that go hand in hand. Depending on your budget, and while researching venues, it's a good idea to keep your number of guests in mind. For example, if your budget is only $10,000, it's unrealistic to want to invite 250 people. Moreover, this situation would be also unrealistic if you are having your wedding at a venue that can only hold 100 g

Wedding Party: Bridesmaids & Groomsmen Who will you have standing beside you throughout your wedding (besides your spouse, of course)? Choosing your wedding party can go one of three ways: You have a set number of people you want to have You have no people You have too many people you want to include Choosing Your Wedding Party There are some things to consider when picking out people to be part of your wedding party Family: maybe your sisters/brother, cousins, aunts, etc. Think if you are close to them. Future in-laws: they will also be part of your family once you get married, so it is a wedding etiquette to invite your future in-laws (sister/brother) to be part of your wedding party. Also, really consider if you are close to them or not. If you are not, you are not obligated to ask them to be part of your wedding party because they are your future in-laws. Have you talked to them in the past 6 months/year? Even if you may have a childhood, high scho

Wedding Ceremony: Vows, Traditions & Tips (Image from One Heart Ceremonies ) The Wedding Ceremony is the most important part of your wedding day. It is the event that will declare you and your fiance husband and wife, a married couple. There are a few things to consider before your big "I do". Location Where is the ceremony going to take place? In a church/religious site or at the same location that your reception? If your ceremony is taking place in a church, it's important that you meet with your religious leader to make sure that the day and time that you want to get married is available. In some cases, this meeting needs to happen months before the wedding.  For example, if you are going to have a Catholic Ceremony, it's important that you meet with your priest at least six months before the wedding date.  My fiance and I have already had this initial meeting to have the priest, and he gave us some resources to help us choose our readings, songs

Choosing a Wedding Venue: Setting the Tone for the Party The next thing to do is choosing a venue because this will set the tone for the party. It’s essential to know before sending out the wedding invitations (While for the “Save the Dates”, it is only important to know the city where the ceremony and reception will take place). Once you have the venue, you can plan everything else: decor, table arrangements, any food bars that you may have the space for (i.e. alcohol, coffee, candy, donut, dessert), etc... The average wedding venue cost is about $13,385.00 . And that may or may not include music, photographers or cake. And for a college student on a tight budget, it is a significant cost! When it comes to booking a wedding venue there tends to be three major options. There are some options for reducing the cost on this item, and thereby, the whole wedding. These are the three options ranging from least expensive to most expensive. Backyard ($) (Image credit: Ruf

Ballin' on a Budget: Setting Your Wedding Budget Establishing the budget for the wedding is probably the second most important things (if not the most important) a couple needs to do before the wedding. It is also one of the tedious things about wedding planning, but after it is established you will know where you can splurge and where you will need to cut corners. Here are some of the most important steps you and your significant other can go over to calculate your wedding budget: (Photo by Elizabeth Murphy ) Figure Out All Sources of Income This is an opportunity fir you and your future spouse to communicate and compromise while also making important progress on your wedding. It is essential that you ad your significant other sticks to the budget that you both set. This is also an excellent practice for when you and your spouse will be managing the household's finance as a married couple. It's important to talk about all of the possible combined sou

The Beginning of Planning a Wedding: The Date CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE ENGAGED! getting engaged is very exciting, but as soon as you start telling others about it, the first question they ask you is: When is the wedding? Something that I have learned in this process, is that the wedding date is the first things that an engaged couple should discuss as soon as possible... although it is okay to knot know it right away. Choosing a Date When it comes to choosing a date to get married, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration: Whether a particular venue is available The availability of the chosen church (if you are having a church ceremony as well) Healthy conditions (of either partner or a loved one) Preferred climate season (and weather conditions in the area you are getting married) Budget Academic schedule Etc. Ask Your Priest (or Minister/Rabbi/Ordained person/Religious leader) If you are planning to have a religious ceremony, i