Finding the perfect wedding flowers is a huge part of planning a wedding. Flowers are needed for the bride, groom, mothers and certain members of the wedding party as well as for centerpieces that will grace the tables during the wedding reception.

A wedding without flowers is like a root beer float without the vanilla ice cream or cake without the icing, it just isn’t the same.

You want your floral arrangements and adornments to be beautiful and breathtaking to all who view them but there are a few things that you should know before you begin to make your selections.

Consider those who will be attending your wedding and reception. Unfortunately some are allergic to flowers or are fragrant sensitive and could be affected by a strong scented flower. If any of your guests have sensitive noses they will truly thank you for considering this very important detail because it can mean the difference between them enjoying themselves or not during your reception.

Having sneezing fit after sneezing fit or watery itchy eyes isn’t the way you want a guest to remember their time spent, with tissues in hand, at your reception. Ask one who specializes in selling flowers to help you pick out a less fragrant variety.

Next you will want to consider the colors of the flowers that you will choose. You probably will want to get flowers that compliment the bridesmaid’s and groomsmen’s outfits.

When it comes to non wedding party guests that you will need flowers for like mothers and grandmothers you will need to ask them what color dress they will be wearing and purchase flowers that will  compliment their dresses to avoid a clashing of colors.

You will also need to pick out the bridal bouquet which could be comprised of your favorite colors and matched to the flowers that you will wear in your hair. If you have a flower girl you will need flower petals for her to toss from her basket as she walks down the aisle as well as flowers for her headpiece.

Once you know how to select your wedding flowers it makes it a lot simpler to purchase entryway arrangements, centerpiece decorations and all of the other pretty flowers needed to make your wedding and reception florally beautiful.

Many people enjoy attending weddings, seeing the beautiful blushing bride and the handsome groom say their vows of ever lasting love to one another. Most brides want the wedding of their dreams. Realistically as a bride or groom  you should plan your wedding budget in advance to avoid heartache later on.

Weddings get people excited. It’s such a wonderful experience to plan a wedding and many get carried away when figuring out just how much extravagance they can truly afford. They may mistakenly reason that they are only getting married once and aim for the biggest and best wedding they can throw.

If one can afford an extravagant wedding, it usually isn’t an issue when the bill hits big numbers, but when one gets head over heels into debt over a wedding it can be a huge problem. These tips will help you to figure out and stay within your wedding budget.

1. Figure out who is paying for the wedding: Traditionally it is the brides family that pays for the wedding but in this modern day and time anyone can pay for the wedding and it would be considered acceptable.

2. Think responsibly: Don’t contribute more to your wedding than you can really afford. Life lasts a lot longer than the wedding day and honey moon. Consider that there will be bills that need to be paid like rent or mortgage, gas, water, phone and electric.

Nothing is more stressful to newlyweds than starting a life together in debt. Money is one of the main things that many couples fight over.

3. Think realistically: Many simply don’t have the type of incomes to afford over the top extravagant celebrity style weddings like you see in magazines.

Do you really need the same wedding planner your favorite celebrity used? Will your wedding be any less beautiful if you don’t have a $15,000 designer dress on with top designer shoes and expensive jewelry?

4. Total the figures: After you figure how who is paying what, you’ll need to add it all together to find out exactly how much you have to spend on your wedding. This is your wedding budget.

5. Don’t allow yourself to go over your wedding budget. Spending a little here and a little there can really add up and before you know it you could be way over your budget.

6. Shop around: You are not limited to just what is available in your town or city. Let your fingers do the walking over the internet and find many great deals and steals from your caterer and honey moon to wedding accessories and favors.

When you plan your wedding budget in advance it helps you to know up front what type of wedding you can afford. This will help you to say no and keep you on the right track if it is something you absolutely don’t need or can’t afford, while in the midst of a very emotional time. Having a budget doesn’t mean that you can’t have a wonderful enjoyable wedding experience.

Martinis are very versatile gin based drinks that come in many combinations sure to please. With just the swap of one ingredient you can make a totally new exciting taste. When serving martinis you can make an impression with engraved martini glasses.

If you have never had a martini before, gin, vermouth and an olive are the basic martini ingredients that you can drink as is or add other ingredients to it so you can create other tasty martini concoctions.

Etched martini glasses come in handy for all sort of parties, weddings and celebrations, adding a touch of elegance, uniqueness and class to the occasion. Engravings can be added to either the base or the bowl of the martini glass.

Occasions you can use your etched  martini glasses for:

Bachelor parties
Bachelorette parties
Weddings
Anniversaries
Dinner parties
Martini parties
Family get togethers
Banquets
Gifts

Instead of plain boring glasses why not give personalized etched martini glasses to commemorate moments like graduations, job advancements, baby showers, marriage proposals and vacations.

Martini glasses can be etched with large or small initials, words, phrases or even small pictures.

Say happy anniversary to a lovely couple with a pair of matching martini glasses, you could include their wedding date somewhere on the glass, it’s guaranteed to become a treasured gift of theirs.

Memorialize a great vacation on the bottom of a martini glass. You could include the date and vacation spot and give one glass to everyone who attended the trip.

Etch the birth date of a new born on a martini glass and present it to the new happy parents.

Present matching engraved martini glasses to your whole wedding party with an extra special set for the best man and maid of honor.

Those who receive your well thought out etched martini glass gifts they will treasure them for a lifetime.

My friend and her beau are finally getting ready to tie the knot. They’ve registered and scanned every item they could get their hands on – but I’m skipping all of those items. I’ll let everyone else purchase those boring items such as his & hers monogramed towels, comforters and sheet sets – they can have at it!

I want to give my friend a gift that she can enjoy on her wedding day (and night) and then display for years to come as a reminder of her beautiful day.

Towels and sheets will get tossed eventually, but this beautiful Asta Hawaiian Bridge and Groom Wedding Champagne Set will be around for years to come.

She and her husband will share their first toast together as husband and wife with these hand painted and etched champagne glasses. I can just picture her standing there in her beautiful dress (that I helped pick out by the way) holding up my gift for a toast that she will remember for the rest of her life.

Yes, I’ve found the perfect gift for the perfect couple. The search is over. Cheers!

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You might also like these other Wedding Champagne Glasses by Lolita (click to enlarge)

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So your best friend is getting married, and it’s on you to throw the bachelorette party, you want it to be unforgettable, so what will you do?

You want to surprise her with a memorable party, but you really don’t know what she wants to do. If she likes purple (which is the best color there is) here’s what you can do:

Throw a purple themed bachelorette party that will make your friend feel like queen. Don’t you know purple is the color of royalty? The options for decor and dress are endless.

You can stay in and have a home bachelorette party or you can go out for a night on the town – I’ll tell you what you’ll need to do both.

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For a girl’s night out on the town celebration you’ll need:

A limo – ask around to see if you can get a purple one, if not a white one will do.

Have everyone wear purple from head to toe, then top it off with these fun purple boas.

Give the bride a purple tiara.

Then toast with pretty purple champagne glasses

Tip: Call ahead to reserve the VIP section and make arrangements with the DJ to give a shot out to the bride-to-be.

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For a fantastic purple themed home bachelorette party you’ll need:

All of the above, minus the limo.

Decorate with cool purple lanterns.

Serve drinks in these cool glasses

Tip: Play this fun “Hot potato-like game”:
Get everyone in a circle.  Get an old granny-looking handbag and fill with an embarrassing item, such as a shower cap, some rollers, or some other tacky item.  Have your guests pass it around to music (encourage them to dance a bit and then pass it). Have them continue passing it around the circle until the music stops. The guest that gets stuck with the bag when the music stops must take the embarrassing item out and wear it for the rest of the bachelorette party.
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Want more bachelorette party game ideas?
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