When you look at the following facts:

♥ the average cost of a wedding in the UK tops £20,000

♥ increasing numbers of couples are marrying after they have already set up home together

♥ most couples plan and fund their own weddings nowadays

it’s no wonder that:

♥ couples are now looking for alternative ways to pay for their weddings (rather than having to depend on family contributions, loans or credit cards)

♥ couples planning their weddings don’t require traditional wedding gifts to furnish their home with such as housewares and fine china

The conclusion which can be drawn for couples planning their weddings nowadays is that what they need more than anything is financial help with their spiraling wedding costs.

As I mentioned in my previous blog in the last couple of years online honeymoon gift registries such as Traveler's Joy, Honeymoon Wishes and Honeymoon.com have become hugely popular. Couples planning their nuptials turn to these websites to save themselves money as their wedding guests contribute funds towards their dream honeymoon.

One step on from the honeymoon gift registry is Youbuymywedding.com, an innovative website which allows couples to pay for their wedding by inviting guests to make financial pledges online towards their wedding costs rather than buying them a traditional wedding gift. I think that this is an ingenious concept.

As featured on Five News, Youbuymywedding.com encourages brides and grooms-to-be to opt for money rather than traditional wedding presents and thus take the financial strain off of their wedding plans. For couples who want a dream wedding but find that it is beyond their restricted wedding budget this website is perfect as rather than having to scrimp and cut corners you can share the wedding costs with your guests.

According to Youbuymywedding.com its aim is to

“help couples finance their weddings by inviting their guests to share the cost of paying for the big day, instead of buying wedding gifts in the conventional way”.

So how does Youbuymywedding.com work? It appears to be quite simple. You set up your own personalized wedding page using the website and choose the pledge items you want to be covered, using up to 20 categories covering every aspect of your wedding, including invitations, flowers, reception, cake, car hire, honeymoon, rings and even the dress. Next, decide how much you want to raise for each category. Your guests can then visit your personal wedding page and browse through your selected pledge items. A great feature is that the website also indicates to your guests which items have received the most support, and which still need contributions. Guests can make a donation towards their choice of wedding expense using the secure online payment service Paypal, and they will receive an email confirmation of their pledge, which can be made anonymously if they prefer. Once they have made their pledge Youbuymywedding.com will also notify you by means of an SMS text alert.

So that you can keep up-to-date with your wedding budget you can check your wedding fund balance on the website any time and make withdrawals at any time (in the form of a bank transfer or cheque) to pay for or book items in advance of your wedding.

I think that this website has advantages too from your wedding guests’ point of view. Rather than them having to find and buy a possibly unwanted or duplicate wedding gift, they can save time and effort by simply logging on to your website and give you the gift you really need – money!

Whilst honeymoon gift registries have proven to be a popular choice with modern couples who want to register for alternative wedding gifts, I think that unique websites such as Youbuymywedding.com will also be popular amongst couples who already have everything they need for their marital home but who could use some financial assistance to bolster their wedding fund.

So, if you don’t want to rein in your wedding plans, restrict your wedding budget or have to finance your wedding using a loan or credit card and start married life in debt then why not take a look at Youbuymywedding.com.

If Money Is An Issue :
Money Saving Secrets All Brides Should Know “Learn how to avoid wedding industry scams, get hugely reduced prices and what's more ... how I saved over $10,000 on my own wedding with key insider information ....

Best of all I reveals the Secrets wedding planners and industry insiders deliberately don't tell you!”

Let us show you...

♥ How to discover an amazing way to save 50%-80% of your entire wedding expense to have the exact same wedding. And it doesn't matter whether your wedding budget is $5,000 or $50,000

♥ That one thing's for sure ... Brides have a sign across their forehead saying "Rip me off!" - Agreed? That's why you need to know how you also can slash off 70% on alcohol cost, 50% on Flowers and 80% on your Limousine!

♥ The 5 rules that will prevent 99% of wedding scams. These are very easy to follow and it will work on ANY wedding vendor. Even if you get ripped off, you WILL get your money back, Guaranteed!!

♥ The easy way to get a 70% off your wedding cake cost!

Learn much more by clicking here.

THE BEST WEDDING TIPS ON THE INTERNET

Each week you can receive a great wedding tip by simply filling in this form:

After you have clicked on the "Send My 1st Tip" button follow these 6 easy steps to ensuring you receive a free unique wedding tip every week.

The most important step is that you you click on the confirmation link in the email sent immediately to your inbox - if you don't you won't get your wedding tips!

A TESTIMONIAL :

"Hi Elle, I just wanted to give my thanks for the generous, often funny and thoughtful planning tips I have received. Our wedding is in just over two weeks time. It's the first time we're getting married (as for many people), and inevitably, there are things we had not considered. I really appreciated many of the planning tips for this reason, also because they were very practical and down-to-earth. Great job, and many thanks again. It must be great to know you are making a positive difference to the marrying couples that receive these. Best Wishes" - Marcela Read more testimonials here

P. S.

You will also send you a Free "Wedding Dress Ideas" Report with your first tip!

I continue to recommend all brides sign up to my weekly wedding tips here. They can really make a difference to your day, just take a read of this email I received yesterday.

-----Original Message-----
From: Stevie J******* [mailto:stevie.j*******@hotmail.com]
Sent: 8 March 2007 18:26
To: Elle Brown
Subject: RE: Stevie's 78th Weekly Wedaholic.com Tip

Hi Elle,

All your tips made my wedding such a success!!

I absoutely loved all the ones that would make my family feel special, like the widowed people tip and the groomsman asking them to dance. I'll tell you, I have NEVER seen my great aunt so happy. Thanks for making my wedding that much more memorable...and I will recommend your tips to anyone I know who is getting married.

Thanks for making my special day a sucess!!!

As ever I encourage to sign up for my free wedding tips! And if you know anyone else who would be interested in reading them please send them to this page or directly to Google Video

Now stop laughing - I have to get your attention some how!!

Thank you for taking the time to subscribe to my weekly wedding tips. Please follow these "must read" instructions

IT IS NOW VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU CONFIRM YOUR FREE WEDDING TIPS SUBSCRIPTION. LUCKILY IT ONLY TAKES A COUPLE OF SECONDS IF YOU FOLLOW THESE 5 QUICK STEPS:

STEP 1.

Now check your email inbox for an email with a title like the one below:

Instead of "Elle" it will say your first name. If you don't see it within a few minutes (most of the time it takes less than a minute to arrive) please check your spam filters to see if it has been blocked out. If this is the case please ensure that the email address "elllebrown @ gmail.com" is entered as a safe address.

STEP 2.

Next open up this email and look for the verifcation link under where it says "CONFIRM BY VISITING THE LINK BELOW:", I have pointed it out in the image below:

It is very important that you click on this link, if you don't you won't receive your free wedding tips and ebook.

The Wedaholic tips list is called double opt-in, which basically means you have to confirm twice that you would like to receive the tips. This prevents Spam and ensures only the brides that want the tips get them. This is in accordance with the 2004 Federal CAN-SPAM law.

Once you have clicked on the verifcation link you will receive confirmation in the form of a pop up window that displays the message you can see below:

STEP 3.

Now check your email inbox again for an email with a title like the one shown below:

Click open this email to view your first wedding tip.

STEP 4.

Now the easy bit - reading the first tip at your leisure! Here is a sneak preview of the first one you will receive:

At the top of each tip I have posted a link to some of my best wedding planning articles. I encourage you to click on these links each week and read them.

STEP 5.

Finally check the first email tip for an attachment, this is your free wedding dress ideas ebook in pdf format. I have also included a link to it within the email.

Alternatively watch this short 1 minute video clip to guide you through each step:

Tips Testimonials:

Each week you will receive a wedding tip. Many brides have written to tell me how just one gem made all the difference on their big day - I hope this will also be case for you!

"Thank you so much for all your information! You've made planning my wedding so much easier, and everything I need is right here at my fingertips! You provide an amazing array of money and time saving tips that I've never seen anywhere else. You're a real lifeline! Thanks again for your time and dedication to something as wonderful as a wedding." - Kellie, Oregon

"Your tips have been very useful .... our wedding is in a couple of weeks and everything is organised." - Louise, UK

"I greatly appreciate all the time and devotion that you have put into these wedding planning tips. They have been a tremendous amount of help towards the planning and work of my upcoming wedding. ...Once again, thank you so so much for all of your help. And I know that if I need some more help or tips, I will surely be re-visiting your web site. Thanks again so much. Great appreciation" - Stephanie, Toronto

If you have any questions please email me at ellebrown @ gmail.com

Good Luck

Elle

In a perfect world every bride would add Wedaholic.com to her favourites and religiously check the site each and every morning! Only kidding, but it is very true to say that people only return to sites that they really value. In fact I can hardly wait until Windows Vista, the new Microsoft Platform goes mainstream. Why may you ask - how will this help Wedaholic.com?

Quite simply Windows Vista will incorporate a technology call RSS (Really Simple Syndication) - which as dull as it might sound is quite exciting! Currently I use a service call Bloglines.com that uses RSS to tell me whenever one of my favourite sites has new content, this way I can keep up to date with all the global wedding news on a daily basis. Anyone can subscribe to it and take advantage of this easy way to track any website they like, though in practice the majority of people don't know about it.

To directly quote from Microsoft :

"After finding interesting information, users are using RSS technologies to "subscribe" to the content, ensuring that the latest changes or updates to the content are delivered to them, instead of having to return to the site to check it again."

Take a look at the bubble in the image of my desktop to the left, this is telling me that there are 595 new stories for me to read. I don't have to visit each website, I simply click on the Bloglines icon to read the latest news. It's brilliant and saves me so much time.

If you never want to miss an article, blog, video, document, photo or news story from your favourite site I highly recommend you sign up to Bloglines.com - it's free and takes seconds to install.

Once signed up you can subscribe to Wedaholic.com using this feed http://www.wedaholic.com/index.xml and never miss a blog again!

If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them.

Thank you for reading.

Elle

Today I received this lovely email from Kellie in Oregon:

Hi Elle, I have to be honest, I've gotten more cool ideas from you than any other website I've visited! I love getting your tips emails, you have great ideas and have been hugely helpful. I've forwarded your emails to two friends who are soon to be married as well! Thank you for your dedication to such a fun time in life.

It made me blush, but also reminded me that the best way for me to help more brides - is for the brides I'm currently helping to tell their engaged friends. In the past I have explained how to sign up to our wedding tips by following these steps that include video clips. I do though want to explain that the simplest way to receive our tips is by sending a blank email to this address: wedaholic.com@aweber.com. It really is that easy, you will immediately start to receive the tips as long as you click the all important link in the confirmation email I send you - this is to prevent spam.

Thank you for reading.

Elle

Wedaholic.com is one year old today!

Within this past year I have met many other bloggers, brides, grooms and wedding suppliers - it has truly been a fantastic time.

One of the highlights was attending the National Wedding Show last Friday and finally meeting people I had only ever conversed with online. In addition I was able to introduce myself to other wedding exhibitors and tell them about Wedaholic.com

All in all it has been a very successful first year and I'm really looking forward to the second year. As ever I will be putting a lot of time into Wedaholic.com, though a fair amount of time is being spent on a new wedding planning book I am currently writing! More of that later - when I finish it!

I have posted 175 blogs to Wedaholic.com and to give you a small recap, here is a list of some of my favourite articles in no particular order:

I Reveal The Secrets To Successfully Controlling Pre Wedding Stress!

Unique Ideas For Asking Friends To Be A Bridesmaid Or Matron of Honor

The 11 Golden Reasons All Couples Should Have Wedding Insurance!

Tips And Advice On How To Get Guests Mingling At Your Wedding

Alanis Morissette Favours An iPod Over A Wedding DJ - How About Yourself?

To Tip Or Not To Tip - Gratuities For Your Wedding Suppliers

Organising Double Weddings

15 Tips For Delivering A Bride's Speech!

How To Easily Brainstorm Wedding Venue Ideas

Timings: Wedding Breakfasts v. Buffets

Discover Great Alternatives To The Traditional Wedding Cake

Sheaf, Shower, Hand tied, or Posy? Your Bridal Bouquet Options Reviewed!

Wedding Fridge Magnets – What A Great Way To Save The Date!

Discover The Five Secrets To Wearing Stylish & Comfortable Wedding Shoes

Dealing With The Touchy Subject of "Money"!

Wedding Gifts: How Much Money Should A Mother Give To Her Children

Comparing The Foods You Can Have At A Wedding Breakfast Or A Buffet

Budgeting Wedding Breakfasts v. Buffets

Croquembouche - Discover The New Trend In Wedding Cakes

How To Decide Who Cuts A Hand-made Wedding Cake

7 Unusual Wedding Venue Ideas From Budget To Luxurious!

When And How To Invite Guests To An Out Of State Wedding

Four Beach Wedding Mistakes To Avoid

Discover The 7 Secrets to Avoiding A Wedding Dress Disaster

Is Your Dad's Girlfriend A Problem?

26 Wedding Favours Your Guests Are Guaranteed To Love!

Less Is More – Stylish Alternatives To The Traditional Wedding Bouquet

A Mischievous Tip For Entertaining Wedding Guests

7 Tips to Giving a Great Wedding Speech!

7 Secrets To Finding The Right Wedding Consultant!

Betting Slips And Lotto Tickets - The New Trend In Wedding Favors!

How To Successfully Choose Your Wedding Songs And Music

Four Wedding Blogs Reviewed

Six Questions You Must Ask Your Wedding Videographer!

Top Wedding Tips For Officiant's Gifts

How To Organise Your Wedding Guest List With Complete Ease

Top Tips For Using Parks Or Areas Of Outstanding Beauty As Backdrops For Your Wedding Photos

“I Do” Take Two - How To Plan A Second Wedding

Tips For Handling Divorced Parents Sensitively At Your Wedding

Announcing Eight Free Online Wedding Budget Planner Reviews

How To Invite Children To The Wedding Ceremony Only

How To Design Your Own Engagement Ring Online

Tips For Dealing With Drunk Driving Guests At Your Wedding

Pets At Weddings - Tips For Getting Your Dog, Cat or Even Horse Involved!

UK Wedding Insurance Companies -Time Saving Links To Policy Documents

Announcing 21 Unique Alternatives To Traditional Wedding Flowers

Enjoy reading and speak to you soon.

Elle x

THE BEST WEDDING TIPS ON THE INTERNET

Each week you can receive a great wedding tip by simply filling in this form:

After you have clicked on the "Send My 1st Tip" button follow these 6 easy steps to ensuring you receive a free unique wedding tip every week.

The most important step is that you you click on the confirmation link in the email sent immediately to your inbox - if you don't you won't get your wedding tips!

A TESTIMONIAL :

"Hi Elle, I just wanted to give my thanks for the generous, often funny and thoughtful planning tips I have received. Our wedding is in just over two weeks time. It's the first time we're getting married (as for many people), and inevitably, there are things we had not considered. I really appreciated many of the planning tips for this reason, also because they were very practical and down-to-earth. Great job, and many thanks again. It must be great to know you are making a positive difference to the marrying couples that receive these. Best Wishes" - Marcela Read more testimonials here

P. S.

You will also send you a Free "Wedding Dress Ideas" Report with your first tip!

Wedaholic.com Press Release

(PRWEB) August 13, 2006 Imagine being able to have your very own wedding expert on hand to answer your own questions without having to trawl through various websites looking for the answer. Well, with the use of website Wedaholic.com you can send your problems directly to UK based wedding expert Elle Brown. Wedaholic.com is the new online resource for unique wedding information that you simply can’t find anywhere else.

The site welcomes questions from brides where ever they are in the world. Each bride receives a personalised reply with specific solutions to her problems. There are no canned responses each bride is treated as an individual.

Recently Elle has advised a bride on how to sensitively handle her divorced parents on the big day and another one who only wanted to invite children to the wedding ceremony without hurting anyone’s feelings. In addition help was on hand for a bride in Cyprus who had decided to have her wedding reception in a beautiful village square but needed ideas on how to decorate it as she felt she could very easily spoil the whole look. Elle was also able to give a bride tips on dealing with drunk driving guests at her wedding, as well as advise a bride who wanted to have a double wedding with her friend.

Elle Brown launched.Wedaholic.com in Oct 2005. She started the website after realising how much fun it was to help a bride plan her wedding. Elle stated ‘There is so much information on the internet that often brides become swamped by it all and ultimately don’t find the answers to their own unique requirements. By allowing a bride to directly write to me I can easily and quickly advise on issues that might be causing them some pre wedding stress’

Notes for Editors:
1. About Wedaholic.com – It is an easy to use website that publishes detailed answers to questions sent in by brides. Typically answers span from 2500 to 3500 words and are listed at Ask The Planner. The site was launched in October 2005 and all brides can sign up to weekly wedding tips.

Each week you can receive a wedding planning tip simply by using the sign up form just below my photo. In addition you will also be sent a free report I wrote for anyone stuck for wedding dress ideas.

To date these tips have proved very popular, here are some of the testimonials I have received:

"Thank you so much for all your information! You've made planning my wedding so much easier, and everything I need is right here at my fingertips! You provide an amazing array of money and time saving tips that I've never seen anywhere else. You're a real lifeline! Thanks again for your time and dedication to something as wonderful as a wedding." - Kellie, Oregon

"Your tips have been very useful .... our wedding is in a couple of weeks and everything is organised." - Louise, UK

"I greatly appreciate all the time and devotion that you have put into these wedding planning tips. They have been a tremendous amount of help towards the planning and work of my upcoming wedding. ...Once again, thank you so so much for all of your help. And I know that if I need some more help or tips, I will surely be re-visiting your web site. Thanks again so much. Great appreciation" - Stephanie, Toronto

To start receiving your very own wedding tips just watch the short 1 minute video clip below:

Or alternatively follow these 6 Simple Steps:

STEP 1.

Fill in your first name and email address and hit the button that says "Send My 1st Tip". Once you have done this you will be taken to the "Video Tips To Help You Sign Up To Wedaholic's Weekly Wedding Tips" page if you are not already on it.

STEP 2.

Now check your email inbox for an email with a title like the one below:

Instead of "Elle" it will say your first name. If you don't see it within a few minutes (most of the time it takes less than a minute to arrive) please check your spam filters to see if it has been blocked out. If this is the case please ensure that the email address "elllebrown @ gmail.com" is entered as a safe address.

STEP 3.

Next open up this email and look for the verifcation link under where it says "CONFIRM BY VISITING THE LINK BELOW:", I have pointed it out in the image below:

It is very important that you click on this link, if you don't you won't receive your free wedding tips and ebook.

The Wedaholic tips list is called double opt-in, which basically means you have to confirm twice that you would like to receive the tips. This prevents Spam and ensures only the brides that want the tips get them. This is in accordance with the 2004 Federal CAN-SPAM law.

Once you have clicked on the verifcation link you will receive confirmation in the form of a pop up window that displays the message you can see below:

STEP 4.

Now check your email inbox again for an email with a title like the one shown below:

Click open this email to view your first wedding tip.

STEP 5.

Now the easy bit - reading the first tip at your leisure! Here is a sneak preview of the first one you will receive:

At the top of each tip I have posted a link to some of my best wedding planning articles. I encourage you to click on these links each week and read them.

STEP 6.

Finally check the first email tip for an attachment, this is your free wedding dress ideas ebook in pdf format. I have also included a link to it within the email.

Each week you will receive a wedding tip. Not all of them will be helpful but many brides have written to tell me how just one gem made all the difference on their big day - I hope this will also be case for you!

If you have any questions please email me at ellebrown @ gmail.com

Good Luck

Elle

Hit the Play button in the bottom left corner twice or click here

I hope you enjoy watching the short video above, it's just my way of trying to add some more life into Wedaholic.com. Hopefully in time I will add some more clips, so you can see I am genuinely interested in ensuring your wedding day is a total success.

It probably hasn't escaped your attention that I love to write about weddings! In fact the best blogs for me are those ones where I answer a bride's specific question, this way I know I am really helping. Some of my most recent ones are to be found here.

I never give out the bride's name or any other personal information like their address or email. I basically take the question and try to answer it as fully as I possibly can. Some of my most recent replies are listed below.

♥ Wedding Gifts: How Much Money Should A Mother Give To Her Children

♥ Looking For A Detailed Wedding CheckList Online?

♥ When And How To Invite Guests To An Out Of State Wedding

So get emailing ( ellebrown at gmail .com) as I would love to hear from you!

The purpose of Wedaholic.com is to share ideas, advice, tips, thoughts and inspiration regarding wedding planning. Since October 2005 the site has offered practical advice to brides around the world, whether by addressing their specific questions sent into me or by reviewing service and products they are likely to be interesed in. In just a short space of time Wedaholic.com has been acknowledged as one of the top wedding blogs.

Here is a little bit about myself. My name is Elle. I was born in Scotland and educated in Surrey, England and Chicago, USA. I have been happily married for over 6 years and live and work in Fife. As well as creating and maintaining Wedaholic.com I also contribute wedding advice to Perfect Wedding Magazine in the UK. My passion is wedding planning. This blog gives me the opportunity to talk about weddings and a wide range of topics associated with weddings. Without a doubt it is very exciting to have this opportunity to share and discuss wedding ideas with you.

Wedaholic.com is a collection of wedding ideas posted, journal-style for you all to see, use and comment on. I hope you find my blog interesting and helpful. My intention is that Wedaholic.com becomes your personal wedding planning assistant over the course of your engagement. You will find it contains entries based upon my personal wedding planning experiences and in depth research.

Weddings are definitely a rapidly evolving business and at Wedaholic.com you can keep up-to-date with wedding fads and trends. I understand the impact celebrity weddings have and keep you updated on the latest wedding celebrity gossip for inspiring and unique ideas.

If you have any wedding related questions or ideas for topics you would like to see at Wedaholic.com please let me know via email. I invite you all to comment on my blog. Please do feel free to join in the wedding discussions and feel free to link to my blog.

Remember wedding planning should be fun. Relax and enjoy your wedding planning!

Best Elle

ellebrown at gmail.com

Disclaimer:

Wedaholic.com assume no responsibility or liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred as a result of any use or reliance upon the information and material contained within or downloaded from its website. Wedaholic.com, its employees and agents will not be responsible for any loss, however arising, from the use of, or reliance on this information. Wedaholic.com has taken considerable care in preparing the information and materials which are displayed in this website. However, Wedaholic.com are unable to provide any warranty concerning the accuracy or completeness of any information contained herein.

Hypertext links to third party websites outside Wedaholic.com are provided for the convenience of users only. Wedaholic.com is unable to provide any warranty concerning the accuracy or completeness of any information held within these third party websites - this is the responsibility of the publisher of the third party website.
Furthermore, by linking to other websites, Wedaholic.com in no way endorses the views or information held within such websites and is unable to grant permission to use material found on such sites.

I would like to introduce you all to a new editor on the Wedaholic blog, her name is Lesley Anne.

Lesley Anne will be primilarily writing about wedding flowers, her first blog is a fantastic article on bridal bouquets - not to be missed!

In her own words:

Flowers are my passion, and I love creating arrangements and floral accessories for weddings. I'm quite lucky because my parents have a gift shop and I sell my designs through that. We also sell other items for weddings including stationary, cake decorations etc, and we spend a great deal of time advising customers on things they may be unsure of.

Though Lesley Anne isn't just an expert on flowers as she also sells a million and one other wedding related products, these include:

Wedding stationary
Bride and Groom Glasses
Wedding Gifts (albums/frames etc)
Artificial floral wedding accessories (bouquets, buttonholes etc)
Charms for brides (wooden spoon, horseshoe etc)
Cake decorations and accessories

If you live in the London area I highly recommend you take a journey over to

The Gift Shop
10, Craven Park Road,
Harlesden
London
NW10 4AB

tel no: 020 8965 7317
fax no: 020 8965 7317
shop email: thomasval2004 at yahoo.co.uk
my email: lesleyanne_thomas at yahoo.co.uk

Cheers

Elle

This blog is just for the technies out there and I apologise for it having noting to go with weddings.

Just updated Wedaholic.com to Movable Type version 3.2. The previous version was good but without the correct plugins it was difficult to stop trackback spam. I kept meaning to install the plugin SpamLookup but never got round to it, especially as I knew the latest version of MT had it integrated into the actual installation.

Anyway I'm now dreaming of a blog with no spam, giving me more time to write about weddings!