UR 2 WED - Wedding Guide » Saving Money

Google, the wedding

Alan — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:30:30 +0000

Ok, now you will be envisaging images of Vegas and an Elvis wedding when you hear this one. Although Google is famous for poking its nose into every aspect of our private lives, it is a total shock that the search engine giant has opened a wedding portal powered by Google.

In retrospect it makes sense. The Wedding Portal capitalizes on many of Google’s existing services. It is designed to lighten the load when planning for that special day.

As would be expected of any Google product, the Wedding Portal is free. They intend to earn money from the ads on the side. Every visitor to your wedding plans guarantees Google one more person seeing the ads. The analytics also helps Google fine-tune the ads and target them properly based on return visits versus first timers.

Michelle Rago has helped Google design the templates from which the user can easily smack together a website, but also the card designs the couple can choose from. She also gives out free advice on using the Wedding Portal to your best advantage.

It is now live. Although it might not cut into professional planners’ pieces of the pie, it is an intriguing venture by Google.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A wedding costs 20% of a couple’s income

Alan — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 06:17:15 +0000

Perhaps you have found that perfect dress and even the place you want it to happen, but, as with most women, you probably have not given it a minute’s reflection about your budget. In fact, this is the heart of what will make or break your special day.

It is typical for a pair to announce their desire to wed and immediately begin planning the wedding, getting carried away with the thrill of what is approaching. The Executive Director of Consolidated Credit Counselling Services of Canada, Jeffrey Schwartz, reported, “The trend is for the couple to cut the cost of the wedding with their parents or even to foot the bill completely on their own.”

“After considering their part in the financial responsibilities, we suggest saving one-fifth of their total monthly salaries until they have stockpiled enough for that big day.” The last thing a happy couple wants is to ruin the joy with a load of debt at the start of their marriage. Planning and budgeting is certainly a move in the right direction when preparing oneself for this life-altering event. The following are some ideas for your wedding budget.

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” so the saying goes. As for old, the practice of setting a budget has been a part of wedding planning for many years. The budget forces the couple to become realistic and sometimes shocks them out of a fantasy world. They plan the wedding, then take out those elements that are unnecessary. After they have a figure for the remaining cost, they divide it by the amount they are saving monthly to determine how long it will take before they are ready to wed. When the realistic effort of budgeting is a primary factor, it is surprising how many things can actually be cut back.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Couples prefer a mortgage to marriage

Alan — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:50:57 +0000

The growing trend is for couples to invest in property and take out a mortgage prior to either civil partnership or marriage.

The mutual financial investment is seen as a more serious engagement than marriage itself, for some. In fact, Post Office Mortgages reported in a survey that 30% of respondents believed purchasing a house would lift the feelings of the need to get married.

A change in attitudes between the generations also arose in the survey. Those over 55 showed a trend of 66% in favour of the importance of marriage over purchasing property. This contrasted to the 50% figure for those under 34.

Less than 20% take the traditional road of waiting until after marriage to think about buying.

Mike Cook, Head of Mortgages for Post Office Mortgages, said, “Buying property is a huge investment, whether with a friend or a partner. Since it is increasingly difficult to get onto the property ownership ladder, many buy houses before marriage due to pure necessity.

Many applications today are joint apps, together with family members or friends. People are just trying to get some kind of investment in property and get started. Since there can be a max of four people on a mortgage, it is feasible to gather a few friends together to buy the first home.

The most important issue is selecting the correct mortgage at the start, regardless of who you’re teaming up with. This in itself may help things go far easier for the first-time buyer.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Keeping wedding plans under control

Alan — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:52:36 +0000

If you have decided to get married and already started to plan your wedding you may have noticed that the budget is starting to get out of control. Therefore, it may be useful to take a look at the following tips to reign in your costs and save some money so that you can afford a better honeymoon or start saving up a nest egg.

First of all, you need to watch your guest list because the more guests that you add the higher you budget will grow. Remember that every guest is another mouth to feed, seat, and if you are having an open bar, serve. It is best to set a reasonable number and start with your family and relatives and then work out from your closest friends down.

Next, you may want to think about purchasing a second hand wedding dress instead of a brand new dress. While the idea may not appeal at first, remember that you will only likely wear your wedding dress one time so spending a lavish amount of money on it is far from sensible. For sizing issues you can always use a tailor.

You can save a bit of money also by choosing cheaper decorations such as fake flowers which will cost less than using a florist. You may also consider changing your wedding date to a weekday if your schedule and the schedule of your family will permit it since the weekdays tend to cost a great deal less.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Wedding email etiquette

Alan — Sat, 29 May 2010 08:54:07 +0000

In this day and age of electronic communications at the touch of a typing finger, it’s often easier (and certainly cheaper) to send an e-mail rather than pick up the phone and dial a number.

In many cases this is a great boon for both business and personal correspondence, but in a very personal situation such as a wedding, you have to be careful not to misuse the venue. Weddings are notoriously stressful for everyone involved, including all members of the wedding party from bride and groom to flower girl. Here are a couple of helpful tips about when and when not to e-mail in the course of wedding plans.

If you are dealing with a maid of honour or a wedding planner who tends to be a ‘take charge’ kind of personality, she may demand an immediate response to an invitation or request for a gift in her determination to do a super job for the bride. Here a polite e-mail can save a lot of hurt feelings or even hostility. Keep any conflict between you and the zealous one – don’t get the bride involved at all.

When you are dealing directly with the bride, remember that she is likely to be in a state of total irrationality, even if under normal circumstances she’s perfectly sensible. Highly emotional issues are best addressed ‘in person’ by phone as opposed to e-mails. The tone of voice conveys ‘soothing’ and ‘empathy’ a lot better than words on a page.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Lack of money for a wedding can bring its own rewards

Alan — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:21:07 +0000

Many couples have a dream wedding in mind that will show how they celebrate the love they have found with a special person. However, they want to create a wedding that will offer them a chance to celebrate their start of life as a married couple, treating the day as their first opportunity to show that they can protect and care for another person. For those with a large amount of resources, this is not a problem, but it can be a bit harder for those on a budget.

Planning your wedding is one of the best parts of getting married, but even if you cannot afford a grand wedding, an economical wedding can still be just as memorable and fulfilling to plan. In fact, instead of thinking about an economic wedding as constraint, it is better to view it as a way to stop and think about the purpose of a wedding.

Before getting down to the decorations and the other fun parts however you need to look at the large factors such as the wedding date, the venue where you want to hold it, the wedding gown, bridal party, wedding cake, and the general buffet for the event.

After you get these basics down, you can focus on planning the decorations, which will include a mixture of creativity and imagination. Creating a general theme for the wedding is a great place to start, after which you can focus on the smaller details such as chair covers, table clothes, laces, and floral arrangements.

Candles are also a great table piece given that they add sophistication to the event and can be purchased for a low price to add to the lighting. All of these items can be purchased at a reasonable price if you shop around, or even better if you create them yourself, saving money and adding to your involvement in the wedding preparations.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

UK newly weds taking UK ‘mini-moons’ rather than overseas honeymoons

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:58:14 +0000

Superbreak, the speciailist UK mini break company, has reported that more couples appear to be spurning the traditional overseas honeymoon in favour of a a few days in the UK instead. This phenomenon is referred to as the ‘mini-moon’.

Superbreak also found that there was a 15% increase in requests for upgrades to four-poster rooms (a common upgrade for honeymooners) in 2009 against 2008. In addition, it also showed a 5% decline year on year in airport/cruise port hotel stopovers booked by marrying couples, which would suggest that few people are choosing to travel overseas for their honeymoon.

Ian Mounser, Sales Director at Superbreak commented, “It seems that the mini-moon trend is actually taking off in the UK. With marrying couples increasingly conscious of expenditure, and seeking to save for their future, our analysis indicates that many couples appear to be more budget conscious and are choosing honeymoons of two to five nights duration, perhaps planning a full holiday in future years. As we head towards the key 2010 wedding season it will be interesting to see if this trend continues.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.