Honeymoon Gift Registries - A Neat Alternative to a Traditional Wedding Registry

I have little experience with these websites but was intrigued when I saw a couple I know registered at thebigday.com for their wedding. The idea behind these sites is for the couple to register their honeymoon as a gift instead of the traditional gifts.

On thebigday.com the trip is broken down into parts, such as the flight, romantic dinners, breakfast in bed or even sun screen. There is also no need to worry about some of the items being out of price range of all your friends and family because things like the flight which on their registry would have cost someone $1,530 but thebigday.com allows you it to be broken into 18 different parts and only having a cost of $85 which allows everyone to pitch in.

Many of the sites allow you to set up a website or blog for you to communicate with friends and family about the wedding too, which is a handy extra feature. Many of the sites allow you to view samples of possible registries which can give you a good idea of what can be done with each registry. Some of the most popular include:

Thebigday.com

Honeymoonwishes.com

Thehoneymoon.com

There are also registries where instead of guests picking what part of your honeymoon they would like to contribute to, their contribution goes strictly towards the entire cost of the honeymoon. These sites are a little less fun and less interactive but do accomplish the same thing.

I like the idea of these sites and they are perfect for those couples who have been together for a long time and already have everything they need in their house or those who just love to travel!

A little dress shop in Regina, Saskatchewan

I spent a lot of time searching for the perfect dress for our wedding last August, going to every store in Regina, Saskatoon and even searching over Christmas at home in Red Deer and Edmonton to find it. I checked places out more than once but couldn’t find more than one maybe two dresses that I liked when I passed by a smaller dress shop in downtown Regina. It is a fairly new shop and is not well known for how great this little place is!

It is called NWL and is downtown on Hamilton Street, the atmosphere when you walk in is a more modern feel and they have great party dresses and formal evening wear. My favorite thing about this store was the absence of dresses stuffed on the rack in plastic bags and the staff that doesn’t believe you can dress yourself.

The store mainly carries Mikaella gowns which are Canadian designed gowns not carried by many stores in Canada can be viewed at http://www.mikaellabridal.com/. So not only does NWL offer you a quality dress at a good price but also a dress that you may not see every bride wear making your dress remarkable! I also had trouble finding a modern veil and after going into one store and seeing what they had to offer when I asked for an elbow to finger tip length white simple veil I went back to NWL to see what they had. The owner was working that day and she took me over to the veils picked out her favorite and told me the designer and all about the veil something the other stores couldn’t do, and it was exactly what I wanted; one layer and simple with gorgeous but simple details on the bottom.

To sum it up, the store reminds me of a big city specialty store in a small city with small city prices. They know a lot about their product and it shows that they have a passion for what they sell and want you to have the best! So if you are shopping for your wedding gown, accessories or a dress for a special occasion NWL is the place to go!

NWL’s website is http://www.nwlfashion.com/

List of Saskatchewan Bridal/Wedding Shows

Here's at least a partial list of Bridal Shows in Saskatchewan:

(some have passed, but at least it will give you an idea of the shows that are out there)

Welcome Wagon
Saskatoon
Date: February 17, 2008
Location: Saskatoon Inn Hotel and Conference Centre Time: 12:30 PM
Free for bride and guest (register at http://www.welcomewagon.ca/ and locate your bridal show)

North Battleford
Date: February 24, 2008
Location: Western Development Museum Time: 1:00 PM
Free for bride and guest (register at http://www.welcomewagon.ca/ and locate your bridal show)

Swift Current
Date: March 2, 2008
Location: Day’s InnTime: 1:00 PM
Free for bride and guest (register at http://www.welcomewagon.ca/ and locate your bridal show)

A Wedding Expo
Regina
Date: January 20, 2008
Location: Queensbury Convention Centre
Doors open at 11:00 AM
Admission is free for brides, guest tickets are $10.00 in advance or $12.00 at the door. Tickets are available at http://www.aweddingexpo.ca/tickets.htm or The Party People - Golden Mile Shopping Centre.

The most Incredible Bridal Show
Regina
Date: October 19th or 26th, 2008 (To be confirmed)
Location: Conexus Arts Centre
Doors open at 12:00 PM
Brides are free and guests are $10. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.mostincrediblebridalshow.com/ or at Mallabar Tuxedo Rentals in Regina.

The Bridal Party
Martensville
Date: February 10, 2008
Location: Northridge Center
Doors open at 1:00 PM
Brides and grooms are free. Admission for guests is $5.


Bridal Spectacular
Saskatoon
Date: January 13, 2008
Location: TCU Place
Doors open at 12:00 PM

Wedding Favours – Think Clever, Cheap, and Easy

Wedding favour ideas have caused anxiety for many brides while planning their weddings. When we were planning our wedding, we wanted to make our own wedding favours in an attempt to save some money. After considering a number of options, we settled on a small bag of Skittles for each guest, with a tag attached with ribbon displaying our names and wedding date.

We settled on Skittles because the small ‘S’ on the candies also represented the first letter of both our last names. That made the idea a little bit clever and tied a personal connection to the favours. People tend to remember the story more than they remember the item.

A few people in our wedding party helped us in the making of our favours. We purchased little plastic pouches to hold the Skittles, ribbon to fasten them shut, and printed the tags on card stock from the local craft store. We made funnels with newspaper to help easily pour the Skittles into the bags, and curled the ribbon using scissors.

Making your own wedding favours can be more cost effective than buying them pre-made, and are often easier to make than you’d think. The most important thing to remember is to make your idea clever and people will love it.

If you’re looking to purchase wedding favours, or are just looking for some ideas, we would recommend you visit Weddingfavours.ca.

Stress Free Weddings – The Keys to Survival

The thought of all those months of planning coming down to one day can be quite daunting. I know the days leading up to our wedding were crazy, but everything turned out just fine and we had a great day. But there are a few things that we would like to pass along to you brides and grooms to be to help ease the stress level for your big wedding day.

1. Start Your Wedding Planning Early

We started planning and doing the work for our wedding fairly early but we still ran into a time crunch. As the old saying goes, “don’t leave till tomorrow what you can do today”. If you find yourself saying you’ve got lots of time to get this thing or that thing done, you’ll end up leaving it until it’s too late.

2. Don’t Expect Perfection

Chances are if something doesn’t go quite right, the only people that notice will be you, your fiancé, and your wedding planner. Everyone else is usually just so happy for you that they’re willing to overlook what you might think is something major.

3. Remember to Enjoy Your Wedding Day

It might sound like a given, but often weddings go by so fast that you forget to take a deep breath and enjoy it. When we got married we both made a conscious decision that if something wasn’t done the night before, it wasn’t going to get done. That day we just rolled with the punches and had a great time.

The bottom line is that nothing will ever work out exactly the way you want it to. The important thing is to not think about what might have been, but instead enjoy what is.