For a wedding consultant it’s always a treat to work with a bride and groom who break from tradition and plan something totally unique for their big day. It’s especially nice when their individuality also helps the environment and raises awareness for eco-friendly weddings.

Earlier this year, I was asked to design an eco-friendly wedding for NBC’s popular daytime drama, Days of Our Lives (Sami and Lucas’ “green” wedding.) I used locally grown and environmentally friendly flowers including California roses and potted flowering plants. By using locally grown flowers, the pollution created in transport along with the pesticides used to treat the flowers, were significantly cut down. In keeping with the eco-friendly theme, the potted plants used in the ceremony were transferred to the reception hall and immediately planted afterwards. This is not only eco-friendly but cost-effective and you can do it too.

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Let’s face it. It’s in our nature, as women, to try and make everyone happy. And even at our own wedding, we want the day to be as perfect as possible for everyone involved. On the very first day you begin your wedding planning, you need to remind yourself that trying to please your fiancé, your mother, his mother, your bridesmaids and everyone else 100% of the time is impossible. Make a promise to yourself that you accept this ahead of time and will not drive yourself crazy trying to please everyone.

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One of the most important questions which usually comes up when the engagement is announced between a couple, is ‘Who is going to be in charge of paying for the wedding?’ When it comes to traditional weddings, the majority of the expenses for the wedding were paid for either by the bride, or by the bride’s family. However, in more modern times such as today, there is another popular approach that involves dividing all of the wedding’s costs up between both the bride and the groom, and between each set of parents as well. The following is meant to be a list of the traditional guidelines that governed how the wedding would have been paid for in the past. The best part about this list is the fact that it can easily be adapted to suit the personal needs and preferences of the bride and groom and their families as needed.

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Are you planning your wedding, or have you recently been married? One of the biggest and most important parts of getting married is often overlooked. It is important for you to notify businesses and companies that you are associated with of the name change that you will be taken. Many people do not realize how much is affected by a name change, which is what this to do list is about. This list is by no means all inclusive, but should serve as a great jumping off point for notifying banks, employers, insurance companies and so on about your married name change. This is an easy to print list of the more important contacts, although many may not apply directly to you.

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Are you looking for popular, interesting or unique ideas for the wedding favors for your reception? The following is a list of our favorite wedding favor ideas. Many of these wedding favor ideas are fairly basic, but there is plenty of room for customization. To customize many of these wedding favors, all it takes is a little bit of creativity, and some inexpensive additions such as tulle or glassine bags.

- Candles in painted terra cotta pottery. This one is especially fun if you have the entire wedding party take part in the painting process. Paint the terra cotta pottery to match your wedding theme and colors.

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This is meant to be a brief guide on the required duties for each of the attendants in your wedding. This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list, and the bride and groom are allowed to alter the duties for each attendant however needed to suit the particular wedding.

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When planning your wedding, one of the most important considerations to make involves choosing a wedding photographer. Choosing the right wedding photographer means that you will have stunning wedding photographs to share with friends and family, and to cherish forever.

1 – When considering a photographer, make sure that you examine samples of the photographer’s work.

2 – When considering a photography company, make sure that you look at sample photographs for each photographer that works for the company. Otherwise, you may sample photographs by a completely different photographer than who will be taking your wedding photos!

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Just because you are planning your wedding on a tight, shoe-string budget, that does not mean that you cannot go all out when it comes to granting gifts to your Bridesmaids and your Maid of Honor. Your girls will be completely stunned when they see the unique gifts that you provide, and you will not have to break the bank. The bride is traditionally responsible for offering to each of the females in her wedding party a small token of her appreciation. Unfortunately, these small tokens can quickly become a large fortune, but there are still gift ideas that you can give without completely draining your bank account. These ideas may be the perfect solution for keeping your wedding budget on track.

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Your wedding day may very well be the greatest day of your life, but unfortunately it takes a lot of planning and many tough decisions in order to get to that point. Many couples do not have the budget that they need to make all of their dreams come true, and it is difficult to make things work, especially within an industry which is constantly urging you to spend and spend. Below we have some hints which are hopefully going to help you make your wedding day the best ever without having to break the bank in the process.

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Everyone goes through the reception line and you have your first opportunity to greet your guests as a newly married couple. This is your first opportunity to talk to everyone before going into the reception hall to begin an evening of dining and dancing.

Place cards (also known as table markers) may seem old-fashioned, but serve the same purpose today as they did years ago. In fact, many believe that they are a must for any reception with seventy-five guests or more. A guest milling about trying to decide where they want to sit makes the wedding look haphazard and unstructured.

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