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!

If you are looking for some money saving tips when it comes to planning your wedding then you should definitely check out Martha Stewart’s website. Her feature “50 ways to trim your budget” contains fantastic budgeting tips for general wedding planning, flowers, decorations and catering.

Here are a few of my personal favourites:

Pay wedding costs with a credit card to earn frequent-flyer miles toward your honeymoon. Just make sure to avoid incurring interest charges by paying the balance in full each month.

After the event, donate your flowers to a hospital or nursing home; it's a thoughtful thing to do and also a tax deduction.

Eliminate reply cards and have guests handwrite a note instead. You'll save on stationery and postage, and the responses will be great keepsakes.

Take a look for yourself as the tips are sure to give you some inspiring ideas and help to shave money off your all important wedding budget!

Sadly it is often only yourself and your closest family members that get the opportunity to watch a video or DVD of your wedding. Traditionally the videographer will send you just a couple of copies of your wedding video and as a result this makes it difficult for all your wedding guests to re-live your wedding day at their leisure. Ultimately this is a real shame considering you have spent thousands of dollars on having a professional videographer record your wedding.

Thankfully this has all now changed as a new company called Viddia ensures all your friends and family will get to see your wedding whenever and however they want. By streaming video via the internet Viddia allows you to easily share your wedding video with everyone. You no longer have the hassle of copying wedding DVDs for all your loved ones.

Using Viddia each couple can share their wedding video from a password protected customized web page (this can be deactivated so as viewers don’t need a password). This page can be designed to reflect your own tastes and display a personalized message to your family and friends! In addition friends can leave comments and order additional DVD copies from the site.

To give you an idea of how your online wedding video might look have a look at this demo of Erica and Robert's Wedding. It is easy to skip to different "chapters" of the wedding day including parts such as the bridal preparations that most guests will not have previously seen. This video has been encoded and delivered to a very high quality. In fact Viddia will detect the speed of your internet connection and play the highest quality video possible.

It really is simple to take advantage of this service, you simply have to ask your videographer to place an order with Viddia. They can drop your video in the mail using the pre-paid envelopes Viddia provide. It usually takes between 2 – 5 business days to make your video live.

Once live you have tools to send out a customized email viewing invitation to all your friends and family stating that your wedding video is ready to watch. This is similar to when someone shares pictures using a service like OPhoto or Kodak Easy Share. It is especially great that you can share your day with friends who couldn't be there to experience the big day themselves.

Please leave a comment if you have used this service for your own wedding, I look forward to hearing from you.

Viddia Contact Details:

Phone: (310) 260-9263

Email: contact@viddia.com

Mailing Address:
Viddia.com
234 San Vicente Blvd
Suite 5
Santa Monica, CA 90402

Back in October I wrote about a site called Bloglines.com that I use to keep me up to date with all the wedding industry news on a daily basis. I highlighted the ease with which it is possible for me to read various stories without having to visit the actual web sites if I don’t want to. This all happens due to the magic of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, certainly every blog has such a feed – though not all web sites do. This might not be news to everyone, but for those brides discovering it for the first time you will certainly enjoy the luxury of having all your news in one place.

One site I am always excited to hear the latest news from is the Wedding Podcast Network (WPN), at WeddingPodcastNetwork.com, run by husband and wife team Robert Allen and Holli Ehrlich. They provide an alternative to mainstream wedding planning advice in a portable, on-demand format you can listen to where ever you are. WPN allows brides and grooms to easily listen to advice on wedding planning and obtain valuable information in an entertaining and educational format that can be downloaded to an iPod, MP3 player, mobile phone or on the computer free of charge. I love the idea of downloadable audio giving me the opportunity to control which specific wedding programs I hear, when, and even where.

Listen To Free Wedding Advice Today:

I recommend you open a Bloglines account and subscribe to the main Wedding Podcast Network feed today.

Robert Allen, WPN co-founder and executive producer says:

“We wanted to establish an authoritative resource for brides and grooms that are planning their wedding, but realize they have busy lives, whether they are commuting to work, working out at the gym or running errands. Wedding Podcast Network is like listening to wedding talk radio on-demand on your iPod or computer.”

Robert and Holli offer not only authoritative but also entertaining and fun shows to listen to. You can keep copies of your favourite shows and play them over and over again.

The Wedding Podcast Network features seven original internet radio programs including:

♥ Meet the Masters - Listen To Show Here - Exclusive interviews with the wedding industry’s foremost style shapers and consultants. Guests have included Preston Bailey, Ron Ben-Israel, Sylvia Weinstock, Laura Geller, John Mahdessian of Madame Paulette, and celebrity wedding planners Ann David and Nicky Reinhard.

♥ Bridal Scene - Listen To Show Here - Trends and happenings including exclusive, behind-the-scenes interviews from the industry’s premier shows and events. Some of the subjects of on-site guest interviews have included bridal registry trends, destination weddings, bridal beauty, scrapbooking, invitations and honeymoons. Recents podcasts include a couple of entertaining shows from the Bridal Market in New York City (part 1 and 2).

♥ Lovecast - Listen To Show Here - Relationship advice from The Love Doctor, Dr. Terri. Dr. Terri teaches listeners how to accept differences, communicate, and resolve conflicts. Fun quizzes, valuable advice and important life lessons about one’s significant other and each other's families are part of the programming. Men and women differ greatly how they talk about the relationship with their partner - listen to these podcasts to find out why!

♥ Newlywedcast - Listen To Show Here - Real couples recount their wedding stories and share firsthand advice from a purely personal perspective. Listeners hear unique proposal stories, surprising confessions, original ideas
and secrets to planning a successful wedding. Listen to newlyweds, Kim and Quint, share the details of their April destination wedding in Lake Tahoe, California and wedding at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. Or how Jamie and Daniel planned their wedding in just 4 days!

♥ Wedding Workout - Listen To Show Here - This fitness-focused podcast offers advice and tips on how to lose a size and get gown ready before the walk down the aisle. So get pumped! get motivated! and become a buff bride today! Listen to Real Pilates owner Alycea Ungaro discuss how exercise is an enormous stress reliever which is critical during wedding planning.

♥ Grooms with a View - Listen To Show Here - Grooms offer their perspective on the big day. In the first show Craig Michaels, author of Thirty to Wife (see my review here), talks about what every prospective groom should expect at a wedding. Craig shares some great cost saving ideas without cheapening the affair.

♥ Planet Bride - Listen To Show Here – Michelle and Henry Roth, sister and brother design duo, share their three generations of family bridal tradition and take you on a unique wedding planning journey. Hear how to get real and how to deal from a pair that know the wedding business like no other. In their first show Henry & Michelle discuss the ever important pivotal component that sets the tone for the whole wedding - the wedding dress!

If you have any questions about RSS and podcasts just pop me an email and I will do my best to help.

The UK’s Number one wedding website Confetti.co.uk has launched a brand new micro site called Confetti East, dedicated to South Asian Weddings and festive occasions. This exciting new micro site offers ideas, inspiration, products and services relating to the exotic east and is a complete one-stop source for anyone planning an Asian or Asian style celebration.

Sections include exciting features such as Indian traditions to include in a wedding, an etiquette guide to South Asian celebrations and interesting facts about henna or mehndi. Practical guides include dos and don’ts of shopping in the Indian subcontinent and how to avoid the most common planning errors.

With guides to style, fashion and beauty and customs, the site educates, informs and entertains anyone planning a Hindu, Sikh or Islamic wedding as well as appealing to those brides who wish to add a little something different to a traditional ceremony.

To Celebrate the launch of Confetti East, you can visit the Confetti stand at Mela from 17 – 19 November at the Birmingham NEC, where there will be a beautiful array of table settings using Confetti products and experienced staff on hand to advise on any aspect of wedding or celebration planning.

Further Confetti.co.uk Reading:

Announcing The New Confetti Wish List Service - The Gifts You Really Want!
Confetti.co.uk Coupon - Free Delivery On Orders Of £75 Or More
Confetti.co.uk Launch Their New Site - New Improved Layout!
Review Of Confetti's Glasgow Store by Elle Brown.
Compare Confetti's Wedding Insurance to other UK products.
Confetti's New Must-Read Magazine - Confetti Receptions
How To Use Confetti.co.uk For A Stylish Christmas - a one stop shop for wedding and party advice.

How would you like to win a free e-engagement announcement simply by sending an email to Jamie at info@ourweddingcast.com? Quite simply the first newly engaged bride to quote "Wedaholic" in their email receives a free e-engagement announcement. No catch - just totally free! So please send an email now to stand a chance of winning.

This is a great opportunity to share your engagement story with friends and family instantly. No longer is there a need to repeat the story a million times! Using this service you can create your own moving photo slide show with pictures and music you have chosen.

Additionally Ourweddingcast.com are kindly offering all wedaholic readers a discount of 10% off ANY of their services. You just have to enter the code "Wedaholic" to take advantage of this great offer.

Other OurWeddingCast products include Photo Montages and Webcast & Podcast Services:

The OurWeddingCast Photo Montage allows you to create a slide show of your lives both separately and together on the big night (or during the rehearsal dinner). There is now no longer the need to set up a projector and click your way through each picture - all you have to do is press play, sit back and let your wedding guests enjoy your very own "love story". This is definitely the stress free approach to making a vibrant photomontage that you can share with friends and family for up to 1 year!

The OurWeddingCast Webcast & Podcast Services mean you no longer have to pack your living room with friends and relatives in order to share your wedding video. Have aunt in New York or a cousin Florida? Now, by simply clicking a link they can see you and relive your wedding from their very own lounge!

Take a look at a recent wedding cast from OurWeddingCast.com . Good luck and please leave comments after you have used the service.

Are you looking for a true alternative to the traditional wedding list? I know you already have your fair share of towels and kitchen appliances between you and your partner and you want something different.

If this is the case, I recommend you take a look at the honeymoon wedding registry service MyHoneyMoon.co.uk and see how your wedding list could pay for a wonderful holiday to Hawaii, Mauritius, Barbados, or even Paris!

This is definitely a fun way for your guests to make a donation towards your honeymoon costs. They can use a secure online payment facility to make a payment using their credit card or debit card – or even pay by cheque.

MyHoneyMoon director, Daniel Ox says:

“It's the perfect alternative to a cutlery set or kettle as the guests are really buying wonderful memories for the newlyweds."

A HoneyMoon account costs just £49.99. For this your account is setup and you will receive expert travel advice including suggested itineraries, stylish notification cards for you to distribute to your guests, and your own personal wedding homepage to display photos and memorable stories.

Small Print:

As always you should definitely read the FAQ and in particular the “How much does the service cost?” section:

“ If you decide not to book your honeymoon with us then that is fine but to help cover the ongoing expense of administering your registry and providing full services to you and your guests, a 7% service fee is payable against the final balance of the account.”

Thus with this service you can save yourself the 7% service fee if you actually book your honeymoon through MyHoneyMoon.co.uk.

Compare this to another UK honeymoon registry service called HoneyMoon.co.uk. based in Edinburgh. Here you are charged 9% service fee on gifts purchased from your list. The fee is deducted from your total gift fund when the donated funds are transferred to you.

The services covered by this fee include but are not limited to credit card transaction fees, gift registry updates, gift acknowledgments and thank you card manager updates. You can liken the costs incurred in the service fee to the cost of your guests buying wrapping paper, card, postage and packing, etc.

So it is up to you which registry service you prefer. I must say though I do like the wedding list samples found on HoneyMoney.co.uk.

Special Promotion:

There is currently no set-up fee for a HoneyMoney list. All you need to do is enter the code PRMT21 in the appropriate box on the registration form and the usual £50 fee is waived.

Good luck and please leave comments if you have used either of these services.

Here is a new wedding list site with a difference - OurGreenWeddingList.com - one that doesn't cost the earth!

This site encourages couples to have a greener wedding list and an environmentally friendly wedding day. So certainly not the list for those adamant they want a mahogany coffee table or patio heater!

To quote the site:

"Our Green Wedding List offers you environmentally considerate goods at comparable prices as an alternative to mass produced and environmentally damaging products. Some items (subscriptions to organic veggie box schemes) even enable you to start the first months of your married lives with an environmental outlook."

The products are sourced from UK based suppliers so as airmiles are reduced. Although Fair Trade goods are imported from beyond the UK. Products fall into a number of categories, namely Recycled, Craft/Artisan, Organic
Environmental benefit, Energy efficient, Made in the UK in an environmentally responsible way and Fair trade. In essence you will find the same type of products you would find on a traditional wedding list, but greener!

The site was set up this year after the founder Holly Long at Wedding List Giving Ltd had conversations with friends about green products 'not being as nice as conventional factory goods' and wanted to ask only for a few ethical gifts for her own wedding. Holly's dream of making 'green/ethical' goods more accessible is certainly NOW a reality. OurGreenWeddingList.com really does encourage people to think about having a green wedding list.

Holly Long can be contacted on 01273 476015 or here

Confetti.co.uk now offer a superb wedding list service where by you can receive the gifts you really want, from honeymoons to house deposits. As a couple you simply ask for money to be placed on a Confetti Wishlist prepaid Maestro® card in place of gifts. Guests do this simply by visiting your very own customised web page and making a contribution online. The web page link can even be changed to include your own names and wedding date. You can then share this link with your guests by sending an email from the wish list service, or by using the template online to create a gift list card that can be slipped into your invitations.

These cards are perfect for all couples whatever their financial situation. For couples getting married later in life who have all the basics, this is a unique opportunity to ask for gifts and experiences which aren’t normally available on the high street. Imagine you can add gifts such as donations to your favourite charity, a piece of art, a trip round around the world or plants for the garden. Equally if a couple are on a tight budget the Wishlist Card would be ideal for helping with wedding expenses, honeymoon costs or car and house deposits. Basically you can use the Confetti Wishlist Card wherever you see the Maestro® acceptance mark, including shops, restaurants, online or on the telephone.

Research has shown that over 50% of couples would prefer to receive money but are too embarrassed to ask for it directly. In fact guests are happier to give money if they know what it will be spent on. They have the ease of buying online 24 hours a day with no need to put cash or cheques in the post or ask for the couple’s bank details. The Wishlist Card ensures your guests no longer have the age old problem of finding a wedding gift in a specific price range, as they can now easily group together with other guests to contribute towards any gift they like.

As always don't forget to read the small print, Confetti provide a comprehensive FAQ and the terms and conditions, including what happens if your card is lost or stolen and how long it remains valid. I urge you to read all these pages in their entirety, like you would with any other financial product.

Sign up for your Confetti Wish List card at ConfettiCard.co.uk today

Further Confetti.co.uk Reading:

Confetti.co.uk Coupon - Free Delivery On Orders Of £75 Or More
Confetti.co.uk Launch Their New Site - New Improved Layout!
Review Of Confetti's Glasgow Store by Elle Brown.
Compare Confetti's Wedding Insurance to other UK products.
Confetti's New Must-Read Magazine - Confetti Receptions
How To Use Confetti.co.uk For A Stylish Christmas - a one stop shop for wedding and party advice.

DISCLAIMER

1. The information provided on this Wedaholic.com web site has been compiled for your convenience. Wedaholic.com makes no warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information contained on this web site.
2. Wedaholic.com, including its directors, will not accept any liability for any loss, damage or other injury resulting from its use.
3. Links to other web sites are provided for your convenience and Wedaholic.com is not responsible for the information contained on those web sites. The provision of a link to another web site does not constitute an endorsement or approval of that web site, or any products or services offered on that web site, by Wedaholic.com. Wedaholic.com will not accept any liability for the use of those links to connect to web sites that are not under our control.

Financial Disclaimer

Wedaholic.com does not accept any liability for any financial decisions made on the basis of this information. This web site does not constitute financial advice and should not be taken as such. Wedaholic.com urges you to obtain professional advice before proceeding with any financial product.

Trademarks

Maestro® is a registered trademark of MasterCard

A seating plan is an essential piece of stationery for your wedding reception. By having a seating plan on display for wedding guests to refer to you avoid any unnecessary confusion about where they are expected to sit. Seating plans also prevent the usual chaos which can prevail if you have an open seating arrangement at your wedding reception, which traditionally begins with a mass free for all as guests seat themselves and ends with a few lonely people ambling around the reception room looking for a spare seat or a friendly face!

You can tell I am a real advocate of seating plans at weddings, so I was fascinated to come across the TheTablePlanner.com stand at the National Wedding Show last weekend. They are a table planner design company who produce stylish and distinctive table plans. I was impressed with the quality of their beautifully framed and mounted table plans and by the diverse and quirky design assortment they offer. I hardly had a chance to speak to Creative Director Mike Daniels at the show as he was surrounded by a throng of prospective bride and grooms asking questions about his funky table planners, which has to be a sign of their popularity!

“Ideal for events, functions and weddings. Thetableplanner.com offers you a fresh and exciting new idea to compliment your special occasion. We have a team of designers who will work with you to create a unique table plan for you and your guests. The table plan will then become a picture that records your cherished day as a memento of you with your family and friends.”

Take a look for yourself at the website to see the unique and distinctive array of table plans you could choose from, the themes range from “Reservoir Dogs” to “Greek Gods". The table plan designs are all created by the design team who are more than happy to custom design your table plan depending on your wedding theme, hobbies or interests. How about personalising your table plan by basing it on your favourite sport (Formula 1), your chosen honeymoon destination (Hawaii) or one of your interests (Cocktails)! I particularly liked the James Bond themed table plan which is not shown on the website but was on display at the Wedding Show - this is surely a design which prove to be popular with every groom for their own 007 wedding reception! I think that these table plans would be particularly great if you are hosting a themed wedding - you could use the design of the table plan to convey your wedding theme. I wish I had known about them when I planned my wedding as it was loosely based on a golf theme but unfortunately we did not think of carrying this through to the seating plan and table names.

Once you have chosen a table plan design all you have to do is provide the design team with the table layouts and wedding guests’ names typed in word or excel format and they create the table planner for you.

Prices for the table plans start at £395. Whilst this might seem like quite a princely sum for a table plan, do bear in mind that these table plans look like pieces of artwork and would definitely look fantastic adorning a wall in your house after your wedding as a lasting keepsake of your special day. Thetableplanner.com are also able to provide table number or name cards for each table utilising the same design theme, as well as holders for these and place cards. If your reception venue is unable to provide you with an easel or suitable wall fixture to display the table planner on then Thetableplanner.com are able to provide this too.

These table plans could bring the fun and colourful element to your wedding reception which will have your guests talking about it for years to come! This is a very original concept and I imagine it will be popular with couples who want their weddings to be unique. You will not find these anywhere else and I imagine even the most adept wedding DIY expert would not want to attempt one of these masterpieces themselves.

Take a look and see for yourself. Happy planning!

I would like to recommend "The Alternative Wedding List", an online wedding list service with a difference!

Using this list, couples sign up to gifts of donations to various charities - instead of the usual toasters and kettles! There are no charges to couples for registering a list. Take a look at this page for an example of how your wedding gift list could look.

Charities you can donate to include Breast Cancer Care, British Heart Foundation, FARM-Africa, PDSA, Samaritians, Sense, St. John Ambulance, Terrence Higgins Trust and War on Want (more charities are listed here). This service really appeals to me and it is no wonder that since its launch in March 2004 it has gone from strength to strength.

There are a variety of great reasons why couples are choosing to use this an alternative to the usual wedding gift lists:

♥ Many couples already have everything in their homes that they could possibly need.

♥ Increasingly, couples are looking for something different and want to stand out from the crowd.

♥ Lots of couples want to feel good about their choice of gift list.

♥ The range of charities that participate provides a variety of list options for couples and means guests have a grest choice of charities to donate to rather than just one.

More about the Gifts:

Gifts range in price from £10 upwards. Each gift purchased represents a donation to the charity whose gift a guest has selected. Example gifts include:

♥ £27 pays for a gift to Sight Savers International to allow them to pay for a contaract operation for a child in Bangladesh,

♥ £50 buys a gift to Save the Children to allow them to buy a set of winter clothes for a child in Serbia.

♥ £20 covers the costs of a Marie Curie Cancer Care nurse for an hour in the home.

♥ £100 enables Help the Aged to make an older person's home safe and secure.

♥ £100 also enables Barnardo's to pay for an activity day for children living with HIV.

It is so easy to create an Alternative type of Wedding List:

Couples simply have:

♥ To register online and select one of the groups of charities that we've put together.

♥ Send their guests details of where their list is held.

♥ To logon to their list to view purchases and messages from guests, download details onto a PDF at any time and then receive final confirmation of total donations to each charity.

It really couldn't be easier!

The Alternative Wedding List is part of Give It Limited, a non-profit making set-up founded by Andy Hickey. Their main goal is to generate incremental charitable donations for a broad group of UK registered charities. It is important to remember that:

♥ They pass on 100% of the value of donations made through the service to the charities.

♥ They use the Gift Aid (an extra 28% of the value of eligible donations) to fund the operation (website, card processing, management, advertising) and the target is to use less than half of this money. Whatever's left also gets passed onto the charities.

♥ There are no upfront fees or other charges for the charities.

Finally his type of charity gift lift isn't just for weddings, other sites operated by Give It Limited are:

GiveIt.co.uk - The online 'individual gift' service, where you can make a one-off selection of a gift to celebrate someone's birthday, a wedding, Christmas or any event you care to think of.

TheAlternativeGiftList.co.uk - Here you can turn your big day into a special occasion for even more people than you and your family and friends

The AternativeChristmasList.co.uk - Would you like your family, friends or work colleagues to spend their cash on something other than a pair of socks for you this christmas? If so this is the site for you!

As regular readers to Wedaholic.com will be well aware, I’m a real fan of Confetti.co.uk. This is largely because as an online and offline resource it plays a significant part in the planning of most weddings in the UK. It didn't surprise me recently to find out that over 90% of UK brides use Confetti at some point in their wedding planning – whether to browse for information, research suppliers, to buy products or to gain support and advice in the café channels (which have a strong community feel!). Some of my most recent Confetti related blogs are listed below in the “Further Reading” section below.

Well the HOT news off the press is that Confetti have just launched their new web site with clearer sections, new products and an improved layout!

It is the first time in Confetti’s seven year history that they have made major changes to the site. Confetti acknowledge the growing trend the internet plays in every aspect of people’s lives and wanted to reflect this in their new site.

I certainly found it much easier to browse than the old site, finding information in half the time. The new landscape format and top horizontal navigation bar make for a more enjoyable online experience .

Confetti certainly hope you like their new site and in fact ask you to send an email with your feedback or problems.

Further Confetti.co.uk Reading:

Review Of Confetti's Glasgow Store by Elle Brown.
Compare Confetti's Wedding Insurance to other UK products.
Confetti's New Must-Read Magazine - Confetti Receptions
How To Use Confetti.co.uk For A Stylish Christmas - a one stop shop for wedding and party advice.

Every Tuesday Weddingbee.com features listings of many of the upcoming wedding trunk shows and sales in Manhattan. In fact if you know of a trunk show, sample sale, or sale that isn't on their web page please send it to them at tips@weddingbee.com

I continue to thoroughly enjoy reading WeddingBee.com following my review back in May, though at times it is hard to keep up with the number of posts!

There are currently 15 “Miss Bloggers” who submit posts to the site, in conjunction with entries from 5 “Mrs Bloggers”.

I've only been to New York a couple of times and of course loved every second of it. I can only imagine how amazing it must be to actually get married there!

Weddingbee.com is a great insight on life in Manhattan, plus it provides all brides an extensive array of amazing wedding ideas where ever they live in the world.

Every bride worries about what the weather will be like on her wedding day. There are many women around the UK, as I currently write, praying and keeping everything crossed that come this weekend will have at good weather. The last thing they want is rain, especially if the wedding involves tents and marquees. Sadly you can plan every aspect of your wedding except the weather!

It is quite natural to study online forecasts up to weeks in advance, though unfortunately they won’t be too accurate. I well remember the Great Storms of 1987 with the infamous Michael Fish forecast to know I have to take them all with a pinch of salt. In his defence though he did say:

"batten down the hatches there's some really stormy weather on the way"

- this always gets edited out of the clips we see of the forecast!

There are many good sites for checking weather forecasts, though I personally always like to check the official MetOffice.com one before all others. After all this is the one other weather sites use to acquire data.

If for instance you are planning a wedding next year and want to be certain of having certain minimum temperatures you can check out the 1961-1990 and 1971-2000 mapped averages at this site. I found that if I selected “Leuchars” famous for its RAF airbase just a few miles from me the average minimum temperature was only over 10 deg C for July and August! I guess if I were a bride though I could take heart from the fact the average highest temperature was 19 deg C in July over this 30 year span. Nevertheless it goes to show that having a summer wedding is no guarantee of a warm wedding - especially in Scotland! In fact it can work both ways as my own little story goes to show.

I was married back in April 2000 in Largs in Ayrshire at the Clark Memorial Church and everyone commented on how hot the day was for an Easter Saturday in Scotland. I was indeed very lucky because research from the weather stations at Auchincruive, Ayrshire (31miles away) and Paisley, Renfrewshire (23 miles away) shows it could be as low as 3 deg C and not higher than 11 deg C on the day. I don't know the exact temperature on my wedding day but I do know it was definitely t-shirt weather!

If I had been married in Surrey in the south of England (which could easily could have been the case), my wedding would have probably been a very wet one. All the UK weather reports and news stories at the time centred on the troubled British Grand Prix. Many fans couldn't get to the race on time due to the very heavy downpours and resulting traffic congestion.

So all in all it really is difficult to definitely ensure you will have good weather on your wedding day. How many of us wake up to sunshine at the weekend and think how lucky some brides are going to be that day.

For those brides who really would like to know the latest forecast all the way up to the actual day I would recommend you visit this page. Here you can see rainfall radar images at half-hourly intervals, from the oldest (T-6 hours) to the latest (T-0 hours) in the form of an easy to follow animation. This enables you to quickly see whether rain clouds are heading towards your wedding venue. I sincerely hope not - but at least this way you will be prepared.

Recommended Websites For Checking Short Term Weather Forecasts:
Metoffice.com - Visit for the most accurate regional forecasts in the UK.
BBC Weather - UK and World 5 day forecast. Enter a town, city, country name, or a UK postcode.
Weather.com - Get the local weather forecast for any location in the world.
Accuweather.com- Review up to 15 day forecasts for any town in the UK.
Metcheck.com - Search on any UK Town for a 14 day forecast. Also feel free to add your own weather reports!

Whether you are planning a winter wedding or simply celebrating the festive season in style, Confetti has all the pieces to create a truly stylish affair. Order from the most popular wedding website in the UK (Confetti.co.uk states that over 90% of brides use their website at some stage in their planning process) or visit one of their five stores nationwide, in London, Reading, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow.

Confetti is a one stop shop for wedding and party advice and planning, with a huge array of wedding suppliers and expert advice as well as exciting and innovative products.

I recommend you decorate a festive table in stunning white and silver or classic gold and red for an occasion guests will never forget. Begin with stylish personalized stationery to set the tone, and then dress tables with an assortment of stationery and accessories, stylishly co-ordinated and beautifully presented.

Let me take you through some of their offerings for this coming Christmas:

♥ Snowflake confetti sprinkled on tables adds a touch of sparkle and glitter to any winter celebration.Snow confetti £1.99 and Mini Frosted Filled Votives £0.99 each

♥ These cute wired doves will sit merrily on top of the cake, twist in to a floral decoration or bouquet or can be wired on top of a favour box for a truly special decoration. £12.99 for 6.

♥ Add a touch of festive fun to favours with personalized ribbon in burgundy and gold – select from a variety of colours to suit any winter theme.
10 mm Personalized Ribbon £14.99 for 10 m
Chocolate Coins £4.99 for 200g
Ribbed Favour boxes £5.99 for ten

♥ These wonderful place name holders are perfect for the Christmas table – choose from "Perfect Angel" or "Cuddly Santa".
Angel/Santa place name holders £0.99 each.
Blank name cards £1.99 for ten.
and Choc Balls £9.99 for 775g.

♥ Create your own table planner with Confetti – guests will know exactly where to sit and the planner remains a beautiful keepsake of a special day.
Table Planner kit £12.99.
Organza Bows £1.99 for twelve.
Petal Confetti £19.99 for 150g.
Ribbon Favour Boxes £8.99 for ten.

♥ Christmas is a time for fun – break the ice with these fabulous trivia sets from Confetti.
Paper trivia £9.99 for six.
Paper Chance £3.99 for four.

♥ Let the season commence with a personalized fabric advent calendar – place chocolates in each pocket for extra fun! Who can resist the excitement of Christmas Eve? Increase the pleasure by hanging up a personalized stocking – a gift to remember year after year.
Advent Calendar £14.99.
Stocking £12.99.

♥ Personalized presents make lasting gifts – Confetti has a wide range all year round.
Personalized Champagne Glass £9.99
Personalized tankard £9.99

♥ Commemorate a special Christmas with these fun personalized baubles – why not give one to every member of the family to enjoy and build up a wonderful collection to last forever?
Baubles £9.99 each.

Whether celebrating a wedding or simply planning a magical family Christmas, Confetti has everything to make the season glow.

Good luck with your festive wedding!

Further Confetti.co.uk Reading:
Review Of Confetti's Glasgow Store by Elle Brown.
Compare Confetti's Wedding Insurance to other UK products.
Confetti's New Must-Read Magazine - Confetti Receptions

We all know that weddings can be as expensive as they are elaborate. The first step on the wedding trail that all newly engaged couples need to take is deciding on how much they can comfortably afford to spend on their big day. The Knot carried out a survey which showed that 44% of couples admitted that they did not set up a wedding budget before starting planning for their big day. Setting up a wedding budget is the best way to ensure that you do not overspend. You can see what amounts of money need to be allocated to each area of your wedding planning and it will give you an overall estimated cost for your wedding. It is helpful before you actually start spending money on wedding services to have in your possession a sensible estimate of what it is going to cost you to have your dream wedding. Your wedding budget must be realistic to your financial circumstances.

According to a survey carried out by the Condé Nast Bridal Group, which publishes Brides, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride magazines, the average cost of a wedding has nearly doubled in the past 15 years to $27,852. With one third of all weddings now being paid for entirely by the bride and groom, $27,852 is a vast amount of money for the average couple to stump up. This is why I totally recommend you use a wedding budget planner. These calculating tools are not only free (one of the few wedding services you will encounter which can claim this!) but they also take the stress out of managing your wedding finances.

How Interactive Wedding Budget Planners work:

♥ Usually the budget planners provide you with a comprehensive list of all the costs you will encounter when planning your wedding including: Reception, Ceremony, Photography/Videography, Catering, Rings, Attire, Music, Flowers, Honeymoon, and Decoration.

♥ Some of the websites allow you to add your own items which are unique to your wedding planning (e.g. cost of caricature artist, release of doves, firework display or ice sculpture at reception).

♥ With every planner you begin with the overall amount which you can afford to spend on your wedding. You input that figure and the wedding budget planner breaks the amount down and calculates for you what you can afford to spend on each aspect of your wedding.

♥ Most of the interactive budgeting planners offer you estimates and average prices which couples spend on each area of their wedding which help you to work out how much your wedding is likely to cost.

♥ You can enter into some interactive budgeting planners how many guests you are planning to invite (you only have to give a rough approximation at this stage, you don’t have to finalise that decision until you are ready to book your venue, catering and order your stationery) and some of the planners ask how many male and female attendants you plan to have. By inputting this information you enable the interactive planner to divide up the budget accordingly (e.g. catering might be $80 for each guest, so by inputting that you are planning on inviting 100 guests the planner calculates that the estimated catering costs for your wedding will be $8,000). Overall this helps you to work out how much each aspect of your wedding is going to cost.

♥ The interactive budgeting planners range in timescale from the moment you get engaged to after your honeymoon when you are at the “Sending thank you letters” stage.

Advantages of creating your own Wedding Budget Planner

♥ It is better to have a clearly categorized wedding budget set out before you rather than a vague list of wedding services and approximate costs. The more itemized your wedding budget is the better so that you can see clearly where your money is being spent and, if need be, where you are able to cut back.

♥ The budget planner will help you to understand from the outset how much you can realistically spend on each aspect of your wedding (e.g. $700 is too much to spend on a wedding cake if your total wedding budget is $5,000!). You have to know how much money you can afford to spend on your wedding.

♥ By seeing the figures set out in black and white on the budget planner it should help you to keep track of your wedding expenditure and stick to your original budget. You have to have to keep an eye on your wedding spending otherwise you will be paying for your wedding for the next 10 years!

♥ These planners are great because they show the areas you will need to think about when planning your wedding (e.g. you are unlikely to overlook flowers if it is on the list with $150 next to it). They pinpoint areas of your budget you have to consider when planning your wedding and help you create a “to do” list as you realize you have not even considered some of the wedding planning categories yet!

♥ A definite advantage of some of these planners is that if you are on a tight budget the planning tool might well be able to help you decide on what size of wedding you can comfortably afford. For example, if your budget is only $4,000 then you might prefer to have a lavish wedding for 12 guests than a budget wedding for 60 guests. Sometimes a wedding budget can help you to determine the number of wedding guests you invite or sometimes the number of guests you intend to invite help you to determine your budget.

♥ By using a budget planner you can easily choose which aspects of your wedding planning to forego if necessary. You will clearly be able to see where your largest area of spending has been to date and you can also see which “extras” such as favors, lavish centerpieces and extravagant catering can be sacrificed to keep your budget looking healthy. Of course every bride and groom want the wedding of their dreams for an affordable budget but you must use the budget planner to help you prioritize your spending.

There is no need for you to spend lots of money on paper and software wedding planners. I have researched eight of the online wedding budget planners for you and checked what facilities each one has. The interactive wedding planners I have reviewed below are all free to use.

BridesMagazine.co.uk

♥ This interactive wedding budget planner is simply but attractively laid out and very easy to navigate.

♥ There are two blank columns for you to enter the estimated and final figures spent on each area of your wedding.

♥ The third column contains “average” figures for each different wedding planning category. The planner has calculated these already for you based on a total wedding budget of £17,740 or $27,852 (as mentioned above, Condé Nast Bridal Group who own this magazine carried out a survey and found that this amount is the average wedding cost in the UK and USA). This is really useful as you can use them as a guide price and check whether your own estimate is accurate or over-the-top!

♥ As you click out of each cell it automatically updates the whole budget planning table including the total amount at the bottom.

♥ The wedding categories it gives are quite basic but all areas of wedding planning seem to be covered (except wedding insurance).

♥ An advantage of this wedding budget planner is that you can save it (by becoming a Bride’s member, which is very straightforward and free) which means that you can come back to it and update it on a regular basis as you plan your wedding.

BlissWeddings.com

♥ When you click on this interactive wedding budget planner it asks for your names (which I thought is a nice personal touch) and the total amount of your estimated budget.

♥ The planner then breaks down the total budget you have given into different amounts for each of the categories, giving you their estimates for each area of your wedding planning and what you should expect to spend. This makes up the “estimate” column and alongside it you have the “actual” column for you to enter what you end up paying for each element of your wedding.

♥ The major fault with this planner is that although they call it “interactive” you actually cannot fill in any of the cells, you have to print this budget out and fill it in by hand!

♥ A further disadvantage is that the planner tends to lump things in together in each of the categories – for example “wedding attire” is for the whole wedding party rather than it being separated out into wedding dress, groom’s outfit, attendant’s clothing, veil etc. I think that the categories seem a bit vague as to what is being covered under each of them. It is far better to have as much of your wedding budget itemized as possible so that you can see clearly where your money is being spent and, if need be, where you are able to cut back.

♥ This planner gives you the option to email it to a friend or print it but does not have the function to let you save it and revise it at a later date (not that you would want to really as you cannot alter it online anyway).

ChicagolandWedding.com

♥ This is a great interactive wedding budget worksheet which is not specifically for Illinois residents, it is for anyone (including UK residents - although the figures are in US dollars).

♥ With this planner you enter in your available funds for your budget, add in your actual wedding costs and click on the “Calculate” button which updates your wedding budget and shows you what your overall budget is minus expenses so far.

♥ The only drawback with this interactive planner is that it does not suggest estimates for each wedding planning category and does not even include a column for estimates.

♥ The advice they give is to start by calculating your “ideal” wedding budget. You do this entering in your estimated wedding expenses into each of the categories and the resulting negative number in the "Wedding Budget Totals" is how much your ideal wedding will cost you. If you prefer to calculate how much you spend on your wedding this way then go for it but personally I would rather work out what I could afford to spend on the wedding and have that figure dictate what I spend on each wedding category.

♥ The categories are divided up into wedding planning sub-sections such as “Bridal Trousseau” which encompasses the wedding dress, veil, shoes, wedding dress cleaning fees, wedding night lingerie and more, and “Personal Appointments” which includes the categories hair, make-up, manicures pedicures and even dental appointments. These sub-categories have unambiguous headings and from what I can see they cover all aspects of wedding planning you are likely to encounter. They even include an “Essentials and Extras” category which includes all of the additional costs you might choose to add on to your budget from pre-wedding dance lessons to wedding planning books and software. Even if there are items within the categories which you think are unnecessary for your own wedding budget, they do serve as a reminder