25th Wedding Anniversary Party Ideas

25th Wedding Anniversary Party Ideas
By Jen Carter

We know that coming up with 25th anniversary party ideas can be baffling. What type of party do you want to hold? A large party, a small gathering of close friends and associates? We know exactly what you're thinking: Where do I begin? Once you've chosen a location to hold the party, you'll need to call up friends and loved ones. This is important! Let everyone know that you're sending them an invitation. Confirm everyones address. That last thing you want is for your invitations to get returned. Once you've got all the information you need, you're ready to begin shopping for invitations.

Purchasing invitations isn't a difficult task at all. The only decision that you'll really need to make is whether you want your invitations store-bought or customized. What's the difference, you ask? Well, price for starters. Customized invitations can cost a pretty penny. However, they're excellent, as they come with RSVP cards that can be mailed back to you. Despite this, you can always add an RSVP on a store-bought invitation. Sure, they don't look as fancy--but it's just an invitation! As long as the invitation provides ample space for information you should be fine.

Let all your friends and loved-one's know they're going to party hard at your anniversary party. Tell them, wear comfortable shoes, ladies! You're going to dance the night away! Now you have to fulfill your promise to everyone. Hire a fantastic DJ or live band to provide entertainment for your special evening. Watch the dance floor come alive when fun songs and modern music are played.

Don't worry, you're friends will have an excellent time. But this night is all about you and your spouse. Check any worries you may have at the door. Kick your shoes off and mingle with your guests. Make sure that you have plenty of fun games and conversational topics. We're certain that you'll have plenty of harmlessly funny stories to tell after twenty five years of marriage. With that in mind, make a toast to the one you love.

A twenty-fifth anniversary party is also an excellent opportunity to renew your vows. Perhaps you'd like new friends and loved ones to witness the beautiful ceremony. If they couldn't be there the first time around, this party will make for a great opportunity. Saying I do all over again will rekindle all the love you have for one another. You may even feel twenty-five years younger before the night is over! If you're ready to fall in love all over again, you might want to take the plunge. Whatever it is you decide to do at your wedding anniversary party, make it a memorable experience that you'll treasure forever.

Jen Carter is owner of My Wedding Blog, a free wedding planner. You may find the above article in our wedding anniversary section. You may publish our articles on your website only if you do not edit the article in any way, and include the above html as a direct link to our site.

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Wedding Day Emergency Solutions

Wedding Day Emergency Solutions
By Erin Love

No matter how prepared you think you are for your wedding, a potential disaster could be lurking right around the corner. Therefore, preparing an emergency kit for that special day could ease your mind. Its better to be safe than sorry. Below is a list of the most common mishaps that could occur:

Clothing Stains

There are various products that could diminish or totally erase the stain for you. For instance, hairspray on a Q-tip or Shout wipes are great to have on hand to wipe stains gently on delicate fabrics. Water marks require dabbing the fabric with a white towel and then steaming the spot to eliminate the problem. But bewarea hairdryer isnt the best choice for drying a watermark. It may actually spread the mark.

Puffy or red eyes

A few drops of Visine followed by cold compresses can correct the problem. A cold compress can be created from anything that will fit over the eye socket a washcloth, tea bag, quarters, etc.

Facial Spots, blotches, or acne

If such a disaster happens a day or two before the wedding, a dermatologist can administer a cortisone injection that should correct the problem. If spots appear on the morning of the wedding, however, applying concealer to the pimple with a brush for accurate application and then setting the concealer with powder, should blend the imperfection into your skin flawlessly.

Shaving nicks, cuts, and abrasions

Cuts and abrasions can happen to both bride and groom at the most inconvenient time, but there is a way to stop the bleeding without using toilet paper! Products containing both alum a hemostatic that stops bleeding and potassium an antiseptic that cleanses skin and closes up the pores can be found at any local drugstore.

Having a wedding day emergency kit can foil a host of disasters other than the ones listed above. Below are a few more items you should add to the kit:

Hairspray

Makeup

Bobby pins

Safety pins

Deodorant

Super glue

Erin Sharplin Love is a Certified Wedding Coordinator. If you'd like to learn more about Erin and the other services she offers please check out http://www.panachebyerin.com

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Prepare for Your Marriage Not Just the Wedding

Prepare for Your Marriage, Not Just the Wedding
By Susanne Alexander

With literally hundreds of details to remember in preparing for a wedding, you might forget a very important step: marriage preparation, a research-proven step that contributes to lasting marriages. When we are madly in love and dreaming of special dresses and wedding music, it can be easy to think that marriage will be a perpetual honeymoon, filled with constant happy moments, romantic days and nights, and light-hearted fun. Actually, your marriage can be great and filled with joyful timeswith some preparation, key skills, and realistic expectations. Marriage education and preparation workshops, counseling/coaching, and books can be a great pre-marriage present from your family too!

Here are some options to consider:

- Engage in great in-depth discussions, using books that provide questions for couples to ask one another; such as, 365 Questions for Couples, The Hard Questions, or Marriage Can Be ForeverPreparation Counts! These kinds of discussions strengthen your friendship and ensure youre compatible. Important keys areas to discuss thoroughly before marriage include money, children, religion, family relationships, and more. If youre having difficulty with the discussions, you might consider asking a married couple to mentor you and assist you with the process.

- Know the character strengths that are important to you in a partner, and ensure your partner has them, so you are confident your marriage will be on a firm foundation. Character qualities that are vital in marriage include truthfulness, trustworthiness, faithfulness, courtesy, respect, helpfulness, and more. For more information on this topic, see Pure Gold: Encouraging Character Qualities in Marriage (Second Edition), (ISBN: 0-9726893-5-4)

- Assess your relationship/couple strengths and growth areas with the assistance of a trained counselor or relationship coach so that you know what skills you may need to continue developing as a couple.

- Learn vital communication skills that will have you avoid conflict and fighting with one another and reach effective agreements instead. A great resource for books, videos, and workshops is The Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) (www.prepinc.com).

- Assess the activities you do together leading up to the wedding and choose to participate in ones that will strengthen your friendship and assist you to know one another well. Great choices include performing community service, spending time with friends and family members, practicing spiritual activities, or working on a project together.

- Develop a list together of your shared commitments for your marriage. You can include whatever practices are most important to you in sustaining your marriage, such as weekly dates, praying with one another, enjoying time with children, continuing your education, treating one another with courtesy and love, deciding how you will settle disagreements, and so on.

- Prepare a list of your assets and debts, and create a post-wedding budget for your lives together. Agree on how you will handle your money during your marriage. Money can be a key area for marital conflict, and you may prevent some of it with advance planning.

So, heres what there is to rememberyou are preparing for a wonderful wedding day, an event that marks your transition into marriage, something you want to last a lifetime. Preparing for the marriage is a great investment of time in your future.

Websites, such as http://www.lifeinnovations.com or http://www.foccusinc.com, can direct you to research-based, professional services.

Copyright 2006 Susanne M. Alexander

Susanne M. Alexander is a relationship coach and marriage educator, as well as author of Can We Dance? Learning the Steps for a Fulfilling Relationship and Pure Gold: Encouraging Character Qualities in Marriage. She is president of Marriage Transformation LLC (http://www.marriagetransformation.com).

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25th Wedding Anniversary Gifts

25th Wedding Anniversary Gifts
By Ross Bainbridge

25th wedding anniversary gifts are traditionally silver, but you can think creatively when buying a gift and shop for a couple with silver in mind, but not the expense. For example, you can send a dozen roses to a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with a card that states that silver symbolizes perfection and roses symbolize love.

25th anniversary gifts can be creative and fun. Tickets to a special event enclosed in a sliver envelop are a creative way to give a couple something unique and something they will enjoy. You can also give an engraved sliver platter loaded with fruit or cheeses or a gift certificate for a family portrait with a silver frame included.

If you are a photography buff, you can put together an album with favorite photos taken throughout the years including the wedding, their children, grandchildren, friends, trips, homes, etc. You can also include little quotes from special friends and family members wishing them a happy 25th. Another great idea is to put together a CD with popular songs from the 25 years of the couples marriage. A quilt with family photos silk-screened in each square will be a treasured gift for any couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, as would a poem written in silver ink and framed in silver.

Another popular gift idea is a wish tree. Either purchase a fake tree from a craft store, or glue branches together from your yard. Spray them silver and decorate each limb with ribbons and bows and special little gifts like certificates to restaurants, weekend get-away, family photos, etc.

Anniversaries are special occasions, and a 25th is truly a milestone. Its a great time to show the couple that you know, whether it is family or friends, just how much you care.

Anniversary Gifts provides detailed information on Anniversary Gifts, Wedding Anniversary Gifts, First Wedding Anniversary Gifts, 25Th Wedding Anniversary Gifts and more. Anniversary Gifts is affiliated with Unusual Romantic Gifts.

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WorryFree Flowers For Destination Weddings

Worry-Free Flowers For Destination Weddings
By Andree Lapare

Imagine your wedding taking place on a beautiful beach in Hawaii, or at a ski lodge in Whistler Imagine yourself feeling happy, and glad youve made the decision to fly away to this perfect spot. If you are reading this article, chances are that you ARE planning a destination dream wedding, and that you soon realized that having such a wedding requires even more planning than if you stayed home. It's a worthwhile decision to make, but it requires extra planning and smart thinking to make it less stressful, with few last minute surprises.

Planning is stressful. Making sure that you will have the right bouquet waiting for you can be one source of stress. You dont know if the florist will have all the right flowers on hand to create the arrangement that you had ordered. What if the flowers start wilting half-way through your wedding ceremony because they werent fresh or refrigerated properly? If your wedding is taking place at an out-of-the-way location, getting specific flowers may be very hard to guarantee; unless you were referred to that florist by a happy bride, you really are placing your trust on someone you havent met. Seeing your bouquet on the morning of your wedding could be a disappointment.

Many destination brides are choosing to bring along their bouquets in their luggage.

Thats right! Because of an enormous improvement in high-end, premium silk flowers, they knew that their bouquets would look wonderful, and be perfectly botanically-correct. These bouquets are easy to pack, and still look great when unpacked. By choosing a great designer who works only with top-quality flowers, these women get the bouquet of their dreams, months in advance. One thing less to worry about now, and on their wedding day. Another advantage is that they can use them again for the reception when they get back home.

Its important to choose a designer that will work with you, customizing your arrangements as per your request, to help ensure your wedding will be picture-perfect, and a little bit less stressful. A good designer will work hard to ensure you get what you want, and will guarantee their work.

Andre Lapar is the owner and designer at Mulberry Design, http://www.mulberrydesign.ca, a small rural floral design company in Nova Scotia specializing in sophisticated, premium silk wedding bouquets and arrangements that make brides shine.

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Choosing a Caterer for Your Wedding Reception

Choosing a Caterer for Your Wedding Reception
By Jasmine Macdonald

Your wedding reception is the biggest party you will ever throw so you want to make sure you do it right. Choosing the right caterer is essential. Take it from me not all caterers are created equal.

Here is a list of tips to help your choose a great caterer

1. Get Referrals

A good place to start looking for a caterer is right in your own backyard. Ask your married friends, family and coworkers for referrals. You can also look in your local phone book. When you're interviewing your caterer, ask him/her to supply you with references. If the caterer refuses your request, it may be a good idea to leave and go onto the next interview.

2. Licenses & liability Insurance

Make sure the caterer is licensed in your state and has liability insurance. Insurance is very important in case one of your guests gets food poisoning (God Forbid!), chips a tooth, or is involved in an accident after leaving your reception. If the caterer does not have insurance, ask him/her if you can buy some.

3. Budget

The main thing you must consider is your budget. Before meeting with your caterer know exactly how much money you can afford to spend. A good caterer is creative and will gladly work with you to make sure you can stick to that budget. Do not let the caterer talk you into something you cannot afford as you do not need the extra stress worrying about how to pay for it.

4. Flexibility

Is your caterer flexible? Does he/she listen to your ideas and concerns. Will the caterer serve special food for guests with dietary restrictions such as vegetarians, and people with food allergies. Would the caterer be willing to cook a special family dish?

5. Personality & Style

Do you feel comfortable with the caterer. Do you have similar tastes? Beware of the know-it-all caterer who tries to talk you into something you do not want.

6. Food

Be careful! The caterer will try to sell you the most expensive meal plans. Ask how much each plate will cost. How much food each person will receive. Will you serve hors d'oeuvres and what is the cost?

(Money Saving Tip: Tray pass hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hour and serve a lighter meal.)

Don't forget to ask about your wedding cake. Will they make one for you or do you need to bring your own. If the caterer is making the cake, do not assume they know how. Ask if they have any sample cakes you can see. Also you should show the caterer pictures of any cakes you like.

7. Taste Testing the Food

Most caterers will allow you to sample the planned dishes. This is very important as you do not want any surprises at your reception. Also, with any luck you may be able to taste a sample of your wedding cake.

8. Servers

Does the caterer provide waiter and waitresses. You will need approximately one server for every ten guests. Also you should ask what kind of clothes the waitstaff wears. Are you allowed to make wardrobe requests?

9. Decorations

When seeking a caterer you also want to know what types of decorations are offered - tableskirts, linens, centerpieces etc.

10. Place Settings

What does the place setting consist of. A good caterer will gladly show you what the plates, glasses and silverware will look like.

11. Bar

What about beverages. How will you be charged? By consumption or by how many bottles are opened. Exactly what are the charges per bottle. And what are the brands to be served. How many bottles will be served? Will you be refunded money for any unopened bottles?

Money Saving Tips: To reduce your bar tab only serve, beer, wine and soft drinks. You may also consider offering your guests an open bar for the first hour or two and then making them pay for their own drinks.

12. Little extra fees

Be careful of all the little extra fees the caterer will throw at you.

• Servers, waiters & hostess fees (plus gratuities)
• Tableware/Linen Fees
• Bartender & Bar Fees & (plus gratuities)
• Overtime fees
• Cancellation fees ~ Make sure you have the cancellation policy in writing!
• Extra food fees
• Policy on champagne. Are there any pouring fees?
• Cutting Cake fees

To make sure you are not charged for any hidden fees Read your caterer's contract very carefully before signing it. Make sure that all the items mentioned above are clearly stated. If they are not listed, have them written in before signing. Also discuss a payment schedule with your caterer. Never pay for everything in advance. With a little preparation, you can stick to your budget and have the party of your dreams!

Jasmine Macdonald is a wedding website designer. You can visit her at http://merrybrides.wordpress.com or read her wedding blog at http://funweddings.blogspot.com.

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How To Manage Your Wedding Budget

How To Manage Your Wedding Budget
By Lesley-Ann Graham

You are almost there. Your special day is coming up and of course you need to do a little accounting. Otherwise you end up asking, where did all the money go?

Generally, no matter what country you live in, the biggest expense is the reception. It normally accounts for about 48% of your total expenses. Let's face it you are feeding a lot of people. The event is being catered by a chef and you are also paying for the cost of the people serving behind the bar and waiting on the tables. Not to mention that you're having a multi-course meal. This can really raise the costs.

The next in rank is the cost of your photos and video. A really good, professional photographer is expensive. They are well paid because of their skill. After all they are trying to capture a once in a lifetime event in a way that looks alive long after your nuptials are over.

Then comes the cost of your gown. It is usually a dress that you will only wear once but it is made from costly materials and is usually, at some point handcrafted. It usually comes up to about 10% of the total expense for your wedding.

The flowers and decor takes about 8% of the bill as does the music and entertainment. The skills of the artisans behind these wedding necessities are invaluable.

The remainder of your bill is split between the cost of your wedding rings, transportation, the invitations and the actual ceremony in varying amounts. Let's not forget the taxes you may have had to pay as well as your bride and groom gifts. This accounts for about 19% of the bill.

The funny thing is, no matter what the size of your budget, you will normally find that these figures are close.

Lesley-Ann Graham runs WeddingTrix.com - a valuable wedding planning resource with articles, tips and advice to help you plan your perfect wedding. Visit Lesley-Ann's wedding blog for more free wedding planning help and advice.

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