10 Cost Savings Tips For Wedding Planning

If you look around there are many ways to save costs on weddings, first we will start out on saving money with wedding planning, here are 10 tips that you may help you save on your wedding costs..

Tip 1 - Have a "DIY" Wedding
DIY stands for a "Do It Yourself" Wedding. This kicks back to old school of planning your wedding, on how weddings were planned a generation ago, you start out by buying a very inexpensive three ring binder and load it with lots of loose leaf paper and a good amount of dividers and some pocket folders and staple or paper clip some baggies that holds pictures and fabrics. In front of the binder create yourself a wedding checklist of wedding steps and create a section for wedding guests and the next sections are created for wedding vendors and maybe in the back a section for seating.

Next up, you start gathering information on who your wedding guests will be, there first is the bride's family, then the bride's friends, then the bride's work and clubs, then there is the groom's family, the groom's friends, and the grooms' work and finally eventually a list of wedding vendors that will be part of your special day.

Now you need to start researching wedding vendors and create a tab and sheets for each of them. Your goal is to interview at least 3 wedding vendors before deciding on one. Look for wedding vendors from wedding directories, family and friends, from other wedding vendors, Google them if you have a computer using the town name and wedding category and from the yellow pages. The vendors you find, first make a preliminary call to check on availability, expense, and professional they are and if they pass the phone test make an appointment with them, prepare interview questions to ask them before the appointment and each time you meet bring along a friend.

Tip 2 - Buy Yourself a Mobile Device and Download a Wedding App
Just hitting the market and keep your eyes open for the newest sensation, wedding planning apps. Brides love these new little devices and they make wedding planning fun, easy, and always at your fingertips. Wedding planning apps are available on IPhones, IPads, Blackberries, IPods, and Android Phones and with new technology in no time there will be new devices coming out. Find and check out devices that most fits your wedding planning needs. Many of these apps organize your guest list, organize your wedding vendors, may allocate your budget expenditures, create seating plans, keep a diary, provide seating plans, have inspiration boards and do many things more.

Reputable Companies Offering Wedding Planning Apps
http://www.bridalbinder.com/
http://www.ipadweddingplanner.com/
http://www.iweddingdeluxe.com/
http://www.miweddingapp.com/
http://www.weddingselections.net/

Tip 3 - Wedding Planning Online
Over the last decade, many companies have put products online. You have to be a little comfortable with computers, but you don't have to be wiz, many products are relatively easy. Many of these products are free but some sophisticated ones do cost some money. Many products create spreadsheets or databases to help you plan your wedding and makes wedding planning easy and allows you to quickly printout reports. A wedding couple can even create a website, or put their wedding plans on Facebook, they can have fun with putting out a daily diary using Twitter which allows small bursts of information out called Tweets, so family and friends can follow their wedding planning activities. Pinterest is another online social system which is great at creating inspiration boards. Some reputable companies are listed below.

Wedding Planning Websites
http://www.ezweddingplanner.com/
www.google.com/weddings
http://www.myweddingworkbook.com/
www.weddingwire.com/MyPlanner

Google Docs also has a number of planning tools, in your browser put "Google Docs Wedding" and click one of the links of the type of tool you are looking for.

Create a Website for a Wedding Couple
http://www.ewedding.com/
http://www.nearlyweds.com/
http://www.weddingorg.com/
http://www.weddingwindow.com/
http://www.zankyou.com/

Tip 4 - Find a Really Good Wedding Planner
Focus on the wedding planner interview process. A handful of wedding planners are really good at their job. The really good wedding planner knows the wedding business really well, they tend to have a lot of experience, are very personable, are thorough, understands your budget, has connections, and gets discounts from many of the wedding vendors and passes savings onto the wedding couple. These wedding planners are often a little hard to find, but when you find one, they leave an impression on you in your interview with them. Interview a number of wedding planners and sometimes you might find a good wedding planner.

Tip 5 - Use a Wedding Coordinator
Often brides, want to plan their own wedding, but don't have very many contacts and don't have a lot of time for research. For this type of bride a wedding coordinate is great and costs a lot less money than a wedding planner. A wedding coordinator sets one or two meetings with the bride. Often the wedding coordinator leaves a wedding organizer with the bride which includes a wedding plan checklist, how to create a wedding guest list, seating plans, and how to allocate budgets to vendors, and how to do many other things. The coordinator also leaves all sorts of contacts in the organizer such as many wedding vendors with their name, address and phone number. The wedding coordinator sometimes will even set up a meeting between the bride and some of the wedding vendors and these vendors are provided a little information on the wedding couple such as the date of the wedding, and guest count, so upon the interview meeting a package of information will be waiting for the couple.

Tip 6 - Use a Day of Wedding Coordinator
A day of wedding coordinator is basically an assistant for your wedding day. This individual is basically responsible for pulling together all the elements and details of your wedding day. They make sure the ceremony site is properly decorated and oversee the wedding reception. They organize all the deliveries such as the wedding cake, flowers, and wedding decorations are set up properly. They make sure the reception tables with centerpieces, place settings and wedding favors are set up right. They tell the wedding guests when it's time for sit down dinner, organizes the food flow from the caterer, what waitresses covers which tables, when to cut the cake, and provides the cue for toasts and when the musicians can start playing. The wedding coordinator is the eyes and ears of the wedding couple for their wedding day. Typically around the month before the wedding the wedding couple meets with the wedding coordinator and gets all the contacts and receive marching orders from the wedding couple of how the wedding day should be run, so the couple can focus on their duties for their wedding day without any distractions.

Tip 7 - Use a Wedding Coordinator from a Hotel, Resort, Club, or Restaurant
Many wedding reception venues have their own wedding coordinator and offers many of the services that are part of weddings. The wedding couple or bride might have some less vendors that they have to find for their wedding. Many of these places provide bundling of services with discounts as part of pricing plans. Besides offering catered food for the wedding, these facilities have all the seating taken care of, they have all the linens and dishes needed, they have all the decorations and flowers provided, they provide the wedding cake and desserts, they have in-house photographers, they may have in-house disc jockeys, they may have in-house musicians, they usually have outstanding chefs, have bartenders and waitstaff. Usually the bride has a lot less to do when planning her wedding with this type of venue, she just has to focus on her wedding dress and bridal party outfits. Maybe she has a little wedding invitation work and work involved with wedding favors.
Also over the last decade, many of these venues have a ceremony site on premise, saving the wedding ceremony costs, they even have wedding officiants.

Tip 8 - Find a Student from a Local Community College or University
The secret in finding a student from a local community college or university is first find a teacher that teaches wedding planning. Ask for their best student but it's got to be either later in the semester or around when they have finished the course. Make sure you interview the student before contracting with them, you may want to interview a few students before deciding. Find a student that's charming and has good organization skills. Usually you can't go wrong with the best students, usually you can get a big discount from them, you are offering them a tremendous opportunity by getting their foot in the door for wedding planning that will look good on their resume. Just be sure you meet with them regularly so they know what you need done and the communication between you is good.

Tip 9 - Pick a Wedding Planner Who Charges By The Hour
Choose a wedding planner who charges by the hour over the one who charges a flat fee or one who charges percent of total. Interview a dozen wedding planners and you might find they all do and charge for the wedding planning services different. Studies have shown, the wedding planners who charge by the hour often gives better service. Once a wedding planner is paid or has a set fee they tend to not work as hard on providing service sometimes putting a little more focus on reeling in more clients. If all is equal in the hiring process, pick the wedding planner who charges by the hour over the others.

Tip 10 - Enlist an Organized Family Member or Friend
You might find a sister or good friend to help you with your wedding chores and especially help out as your assistant for your wedding day. Your sister or friend must not be part of your bridal party though, they cannot break away from their duties. Make sure the person you choose as your assistant for your wedding day is organized and is a person good at dealing with other people, does not get frazzled should there be a conflict.

That's 10 Cost Saving Tips for your wedding planning. See you on the other side!

Interview Questions for your Wedding Makeup Artist

You might have heard of the horror bridal story. Once there was a bride who hired a makeup artist for her wedding day. The makeup artist says "trust me", I'm going to make you look "fabulous" and applies layers and layers of makeup and she announces "voila". A few minutes later she looks in the mirror and stares in horror as she sees her reflection, she sees a monster disguise of herself with no natural beauty of her face. She has run out of time for a beauty do-over, her wedding time is near.

The moral of the story, you have to spend time with a good wedding makeup artist who knows how to bring out your inner skin beauty. You need first to find a good wedding makeup artist and then spend time experimenting. You need to find an artist that has a lot of makeup knowledge and find a makeup formula that works well and that you like and then see if you can replicate the makeup artist's work yourself. After you find a formula that you like, you should have the makeup artist jot down a checklist of steps. You should also take photos or videos of each step of the process. Take the shoots about 4 feet to 6 feet away and note also how the stroking of the makeup is applied.

Before your session with your makeup artist, you should gather pictures of makeup applications that you like. Look in magazines, books, and makeup and bridal sites off the web. Cut out the pictures and place the pictures in a baggie and bring along to your appointment. Also include information on your color scheme for the wedding, a snapshot of your wedding dress, the style you like, the neckline, the jewelry you plan to wear and your hairstyle might influence the application as well.

When it comes to hiring a makeup artist for your wedding, you need to find a makeup artist that has the training and experience of applying makeup for weddings. This is not an ordinary day, this is your wedding day and this day you need to look glamorous. You also are likely to spend several hours with your makeup artist, you need to find an artist that you feel very comfortable with. Often brides are filled with emotions on their wedding day, the makeup artist not only applies makeup in the style you want, but also needs to be a good communicator, one that can also provide moral support, someone to boost your self confidence and one who can soothe your raw nerves in the last hours before you walk down the aisle.

Some months before the wedding, an engaged bride should hunt down a good makeup artist, have some trial and practice sessions, experimenting to find what makeup looks good and a style that you like. The makeup artist should be asking you about your current makeup routine. He or she should be asking details about your wedding, whether much of your wedding day will you be spending indoors or outdoors and time of day is important too, will the day be mostly in the sun or most of the activities be in a dimly lit ceremony site or a flood lighted wedding reception facility. The makeup artist needs to know the mood and color scheme of your wedding, will it be romantic? will it be natural? will it be vintage? or will it be modern?

As you get to know your makeup artist better and as your wedding day approaches, you also may consider makeup for your bridesmaids. Do you have the makeup artist only do your makeup or do you also include having your makeup artists apply some makeup for all the bridesmaids. You also need to consider costs and who is paying for this work. Can you the bride cover all makeup costs, go 50/50, or have all the bridesmaid cover their own costs? You need to assess the situation, can the bridesmaids afford a makeup job? If the bridesmaids get makeup, will your makeup artist be able to handle them all or does she need to bring along an apprentice. Does the apprentice have the training needed?

The time it takes for makeup, the bride should note how much time it takes, and needs to account how much time. The makeup job should be finished about one and a half hours before walking down the aisle or photo shoot appointment. For each bridesmaid receiving makeup generally it takes one half hour. Many brides get lessons from a pro on how to apply wedding makeup and take note of the products and application materials and then have a family household member or friend apply wedding day makeup. If this is the case, make sure there are about a half dozen practice sessions and some on different days. The sessions need to be dress rehearsals to make sure the process is mastered and the timing is nailed.

A bride might consider asking her makeup artist to a bridal shower or party. The bride may consider having  part of the event with the makeup artist giving tips on applying makeup. If the artist sells some cosmetic products, allow her to sell cosmetics at the party if the bridesmaids are interested, but not to be too pushy. At the wedding though, pushing cosmetics is out of the question, selling cosmetics at weddings are rude and unprofessional. The day of the wedding, you have to come to agreement, will the makeup be applied at the studio or will the makeup artist follow the bride to each location.

Since the bride is learning applying makeup with a professional, the bride might consider learning makeup from two perspectives. What makeup procedure works best for her wedding and what makeup is good for everyday makeup. A bride should note which cosmetics are her official makeup cosmetics, this way for many years in the future, the bride won't end up buying cosmetics and then throwing out cosmetics she ends up not using. Take the time meeting with a makeup artist to learn makeup and what you learn will become valuable in your marriage years.

Interview Questions for your Wedding Makeup Artist?
1-What is the name, address, phone number, and website information of the business the wedding makeup artist works for?
2-Ask for a business card, what is the name, phone number, and contact number such as email of the wedding makeup artist?
3-Is the makeup artist available for my wedding day? if not, can he/she teach me how to apply wedding day makeup, to show another family member or friend? if not, can she find another makeup artist that he/she would recommend?
4-How long has the business the makeup artist has worked for has been in operation?
5-How long have you been a wedding makeup artist?
6-How did you get started working as a makeup artist?
7-What education and training have you received as a makeup artist?
8-How many brides have you applied makeup for in your career? in the past year? in the past month?
9-Will I be the only bride you work on on my wedding day or might there be others or other activities?
10-On my wedding day will I need to come to your studio or will you follow me around to venues?
11-Do you have a portfolio of prior brides you have prepared for weddings? can I see your portfolio?
12-What is your typical week like?
13-What is your best experience with a bride and what is your worst experience?
14-What size of bridal party can you accommodate? if you work on a bridal party will you work on the brides makeup yourself or will you ask an apprentice to help?
15-Can you duplicate a makeup look from pictures or a magazine?
16-Can you teach me also how to apply everyday makeup?
17-Do you offer a experiment session and trial run or preview session? How do you run these type of sessions? If you offer these, how long are these type of appointments?
18-Once we have my makeup session, can you jot notes down into a checklist of my makeup session?
19-Can I have photos and videos of each step of the makeup session? (make sure the photos or videos are from 4 feet to 6 feet away for best viewing)
20-If you bring along an apprentice, does that person have similar qualifications?
21-Will you be willing to give a talk to my bridesmaids about applying makeup? (if the makeup artist sells cosmetics, he/she can offer to sell cosmetics if he/she is not too pushy? be insistent, no sales pitch allowed on your wedding day, which is considered unprofessional and rude?
22-What procedures and products are recommended to remove previous makeup?
23-What procedures and products are recommended to cleanse the face?
24-What procedures and products are recommended for concealers?
25-What procedures and products are recommended for foundation?
26-What procedures and products are recommended for contouring and shading?
27-What procedures and products are recommended for cheek color and applying to cheekbones?
28-What procedures and products are recommended for powdering?
29-What procedures and products are recommended for highlighting?
30-What procedures and products are recommended for eyebrows?
31-What procedures and products are recommended for eyeliner?
32-What procedures and products are recommended for mascara?
33-What procedures and products are recommended for lip color?
34-What procedures and products are recommended for barrier spray and lip cleaner?
35-What procedures and products are recommended for a primer?
36-Are there any other procedures or products for makeup you want to talk about?
37-Once we are done with my makeup procedure can you write down a list of cosmetics and application products I should get? do you sell any of these products? where might I find any of these products?
38-What would be the costs associated with experimentation?
39-What would be the costs associated for a training or practice session?
40-Do you charge for travel costs?
41-What would be the costs to do makeup for my bridesmaids?
42-Do you do makeup the day of wedding for the mothers of the bride and what be the cost?
43-What would be the total costs for your wedding makeup artist services? are there any hidden fees?
44-Can you share with me of any promotions offered or discounts?
45-How much of a deposit is needed and what and when is final booking due?
45-What methods of payment arrangements do you accept? credit card? debit card? personal check? certified check? Paypal? cash? other?
46-Can I review a list of charges to take with me to review before signing?
47-What happens if you or I cancel the makeup session?
48-What happens if you become sick or have a family emergency on my wedding day?
49-At what date must I book your services before signing to meet my wedding date?
50-Can you provide 3 prior brides that you have prepared makeup for their wedding? (Contact at least 2)

Make sure that you review the contract thoroughly before signing and what all agreed to in discussions is also down in the contract. Understand with makeup artists often get bigger weddings to work for and they often try to get out of contracts, to get the bigger weddings as they are trying to make the most money they can. If you find this may be an issue, try to book all the bridesmaids along with yourself for a makeup job for your wedding. You might consider makeup jobs for the mothers of the bride in addition. Lastly, try to find a makeup artist that you feel comfortable being friends with. It would be great to invite your makeup artist along to your wedding reception and be there for touch ups.

If you need help applying cosmetics, "Youtube" shows many makeup artists and how cosmetics can be applied, you can learn from these procedures too! Become a beautiful and glamorous bride, find a professional wedding makeup artist to use for your wedding!

See you on the other side!

Interview Questions for your Wedding Hairstylist

Many brides have their regular beauty salon that tends to their hair, but when it comes to your wedding day, many wedding hair stylists just don't have the training to make your hair look magical for your wedding day. Right after you have decided on your wedding dress, is the time to start looking for your wedding day hairstylist.

You want to start by gathering ideas of hairdos you like, start by looking at bridal hairdos in magazines, and looking at websites of different types of dos on the internet. Get yourself a baggy and collect dos that you like, also take a picture of your wedding dress and bring those along when you meet up with your wedding hairstylist.

There are basically four choices of how to set up your hair for your special day. Do you want your wedding day hair to be an updo, half-updo, down, or do you go with a wedding veil look. You also want to gather information for accessories for your hair, do you style your hair with beautiful hair pins and wear dazzling earrings or with something other.

A good wedding hairstylist, has taken classes on preparing wedding day hair and has mastered the basics and has created many dos for brides. A good wedding hairstylist has a portfolio of pictures to share of previous brides with their wedding day hair. The good hairstylist uses a number of different factors in determining what would look best on a bride. These factors include the neckline of the wedding dress, the face structure of the bride whether it be an oval, round, square, or heart-shaped face, the length of one's hair, the texture of the hair whether it be kinky, frizzy, curly, wavy, straight, or afro-structured, the thickness of one's hair, and the color of their hair and skin.

Early on you will want to determine who will do and where will you do your wedding day hair. Will your wedding hairstylist available to do your wedding day hair and if she is able does she do your wedding hair at her salon or does she come to your home and do it there. Another possibility is that the wedding hair stylist finds the hair style that you want for your wedding and lay out a checklist of notes to prepare your wedding day hair. She also should include pictures and/or a video of how your hair should be prepared for your wedding day. After the information is gathered, you should find a relative, friend, or it could even be yourself, but another person is better, it's best to not put pressure on yourself for your wedding day hair. You want to have many practice sessions with whoever is going to do your wedding day hair to be sure the process is mastered or find someone other, also take note of the time it takes for your hair to be prepared so you can work the time into your wedding day schedule.

When you meet up with your hairstylist, you want to tell her thoughts of how you would like your hair, a good stylist is a good listener, a person who will make a special appointment to try out numerous hair styles to see which one you like best for your wedding day. After each style is done take pictures from the front, back and left and right side. You might also bring a close friend along, either your maid of honor, a sister, your mother, another bridesmaid, or close friend and get their opinion of what they think looks good. In the end though, the decision is yours, it's your wedding, pick the style you like most. Also, wear a white shirt that has a similar neckline to your wedding day dress for your appointments.

After you have decided on your wedding day hair, you should have the hair stylist jot down notes and make them into a checklist of things to do for your wedding day hair which also include photographs or take a camera video of preparing your hair. You either have a backup plan for your wedding hair or you will have instructions on how a relative or friend can prepare your hair for your wedding day. You should also work out in a contract on what needs to be done when for your wedding day, you need to lock your hair stylist into a commitment for your wedding day, what will be done and the times things will be done and where. In general, a bride's wedding haircut should be two week's before the wedding, the wedding day hair may need a light little trim, but the focus is for styling, trussing, curling the hair and making the hair look glamorous.

Next attention shifts to your bridesmaid's hair. First who is going to cover the expenses to get the bridesmaid's hair for the wedding. All depends on what the bride's budget is. Some bride's can cover the expense of treating the bridesmaid's to a beauty salon. Bride's that can afford to offer a bridesmaid day of pampering, a fun day out with the girls about two weeks before the wedding, all the bridesmaids go to a salon or beauty spa and make a fun day of it getting their hair done, facial, manicure, pedicure, massage, and sauna a day of preparation of their bodies for the bride's wedding day. If it isn't in the budget, the other options are to go 50/50 or have the bridesmaid's go dutch (paying for their own wedding day hair). Don't feel guilty if the bride can't afford to cover her bridesmaid's hair, it's very common for all to pitch in.

The bride should call a meeting of the bridesmaids, the bride should share what her wedding hair day will look like, the obect of the meeting is to get symetry of each bride's hair for the wedding day. Has the bride decided on an updo, half-updo, down, or will she wear a veil. For a beautiful wedding scenario, the images, photography, and cinematography would look best if the bride and bridesmaid's all have their hair in a consistent style. At the meeting, the discussion should be about whether the bridesmaids would be willing to wear their hair in a similar fashion as the bride. The important thing to note though, the bride should not force the decision upon the bridesmaids, they will either volunteer to a similar style or not, a hairstyle should not be forced upon them and please do not be offended if one of the bridesmaid's doesn't go along with the bride's wishes.

If the hairdos aren't consistent, another way around wedding day hair is by using hair jewelry and earrings. Have hair jewelry and earrings match the color of the bridesmaid's gowns. Also the jewelry could be all silver or gold or could be colored pearls, as long as the jewelry on all the bridesmaid's are consistent with each other.

At the wedding there is a presumed pecking order. The bride's hair should be elaborately done, the maid of honor has her hair semi-elaborate, the remainder bridesmaids have their hair done in a nice manner but a little bit more subdued. The important thing about wedding is imagery. Some brides may have a bridal party and invite her hairstylist along to give a little talk on wedding day hair, so the bridesmaids get an idea of how to do their wedding day hair.

On the wedding day, a timetable should be layed out so that the appointment for hairstyling and makeup ends about an hour and a half or two hours before the wedding or picture taking. You don't want the hair appointment to be too far in advance of the wedding or the wedding hair won't look fresh or may get weathered. Have the appointment to soon, right before the wedding, it might cause the hair appointment to be rushed and may add stress to the bride worrying about things, she needs to be relaxed and not stressed.


Interview Questions for your Wedding Hairstylist
1-What is the name of the bridal salon, the address, the phone number, and website information?
2-Ask for a business card, what is the name of the wedding hairstylist, their phone number, and contact information such as an email address?
3-Will the hairstylist be available for your wedding day?
4-How long has the beauty salon been in business?
5-How long has the wedding hairstylist been doing business?
6-How many bride's has the wedding hairstylist prepared in their career? in the past year? in the past month?
7-What is the wedding hairstylist's background?
8-What type of training and schooling has the wedding hairstylist received? can you tell me a little bit about courses related to wedding day hair?
9-Do you have a portfolio of pictures of bride's with the hairstyling you have done yourself?
10-Do you have other pictures of bridal hairdos in which I can get ideas?
11-Can I share you with pictures of hairdos that have caught my eye and that of my wedding dress?
12-What kind of hairstyles do you specialize in?
13-What hairstyles would look good with my wedding dress?
14-What hairstyles would look good with my face structure?
15-What hairstyles would look good with my hair length?
16-What hairstyles would look good with my hair texture? (curly, wavy, straight, etc.)
17-What hairstyles would look good with my hair and skin color?
18-Can you do appointments trying out different hairstyles?
19-Once we have my wedding day hair settled, can you jot down a checklist of notes of my hairstyling process?
20-Can you or one of my friends take pictures or video camera each step of the process?
21-When should be my major wedding day haircut? (usually about 2 weeks before the wedding)
22-Can you come and give a talk to my bridesmaids on how their wedding day hair should be done?
23-Can your salon handle my wedding day bridesmaid's hair? if it can, who would do their hair, will it be you only or a team of hairstylists?
24-Must the appointment be at the salon or can it be at one of our homes?
25-Is there a discount offered if I bring my bridesmaid's in for my wedding day hair?
26-Is there special discounts, coupons, or promotions upcoming that I should be aware of?
27-Do you offer a special session for a bridesmaid's day of pampering? if so, how will the session be setup? do you offer any private rooms to have a party and share some goodies?
28-What products do you sell that I should treat my hair with? how should I use the products?
29-What hair accessories do you recommend for my wedding day and for the bridesmaids? do you sell hair accessories in-house or might know where to find beautiful hair accessories?
30-What is the final cost for wedding day hair? for various appointments? are there hidden costs?
31-Can we create a contract for my wedding day appointment laying out times and all that has been agreed to? can I take an unsigned contract home with me to review?
32-Are there 3 referrals of prior brides you can put me in touch with? (contact at least 2)

What helps making healthy hair is getting your body in shape and eating the right foods. The time before your wedding is a good time to join a health spa, join a bridal boot camp or get into a home exercise routine. Don't get into a too much of a strenuous program though, you don't want to look too frail or break a limb for your wedding. Also get into healthy eating habits, drink 8 glasses of water or mineral water daily (carry around that water bottle). Get a healthy dose of vitamins. eat plenty of beans(zinc), eat your dark green vegetables(vitamin A), eat eggs(vitamin B), eat a little bit of lean meat, eat fruits and drink plenty of fruit juices.

See you on the other side!