Jordan almonds or chocolate candies wrapped in tulle and tied up with a ribbon have been a favorite wedding favor since wedding favors began.  Who doesn’t like a little candy now and then?!  They’re inexpensive, easy to make, and look real pretty sitting in a basket.  These cute little bundles are very practical for smaller, informal weddings, however, if you’re planning a wedding with more than 50 guests, you may want to do something a little different.

Your wedding favors should have as much class and style as your wedding.  You can still use the idea of sweets (small cakes were among the very first wedding favors), but try presenting them in a different way.  Presentation is everything after all.  There’s the traditional idea of favor boxes, and today they come in just about any shape you want.  But if you really want a stylish presentation, try placing your tulle-wrapped gifts inside of a beautiful champagne flute.  Personalize each glass with your names and wedding date and your guests have a wonderful take-home memory of your very special day.  Now that’s a classy favor!

The most precious gift anyone can receive is the gift of pictures.  Memories captured on film have a magical way of enabling you to relive some of the best times of your life.  If you’ve been looking for the perfect anniversary gift for that special couple, consider giving this magical gift.  No matter how long a couple has been married, this is one gift that will always be appreciated.

The first thing you need to do is to find memorable pictures of your special couple.  Weddings, baby’s births, special vacations, or other important celebrations are just a few ideas of the kinds of pictures you’ll want to look for.  Ask close friends or relatives of the couple if you can look through any pictures they may have.  Get permission to make copies.  Be sure that the pictures are flattering to everyone in the picture, but especially to your anniversary couple. 

Depending on how many good pictures you find can help determine what you do with them.  If you have more pictures than you know what to do with, consider scrap-booking them, chronicling the couple’s life together.  A few dozen can fit nicely into a small decorative photo album.  Presentation becomes a little trickier if you can only find eight or so pictures.  Consider purchasing some beautiful photo coasters and placing the pictures inside.  This not only makes a lovely gift, but it also is a gift that will be used on a daily basis, making it even more special.

If you’ve ever attended a wedding, you may have been asked by the groomsman whether you were a friend of the bride or the groom.  This is in order to seat you on the correct side of the church.  Although, not etched in stone, it is traditional at a Christian wedding for the bride’s family and friends to be seated on the left-hand side of the church, while the groom’s family and friends sit on the right.  The opposite is true for Reform and Conservative Jewish weddings.  Traditionally, men and women are separated in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony.

This seating arrangement works well when the wedding takes place in the city where both the bride and groom live and the attendance from both sides is fairly equal.  However, many times this is not the case.  The bride and groom may be from totally different areas of the country, or perhaps you’ve decided on a destination wedding.  Whatever the reason, if the guests from one side will overwhelm the guests from the other, you may want to do away with this seating custom and just have your guests sit where they choose.  This will help to spread your guests out more evenly and create a more balanced look in the church for your wedding pictures.

Bridal showers are an excellent way to help a new bride get ready to set up her new home.  With all the gadgets and gizmos required to set up a new kitchen, it’s no wonder that kitchen-theme bridal showers are quite popular.  In fact, they’re essential.

Here’s an idea that will not only help stock the kitchen with all the necessary utensils, but also stock up the bride’s recipe file as well.  Choose a specific food theme.  A few ideas could be soups, salads, breads, pastries, entrees, cookies, general desserts, etc.  For our example here, we’ll use the theme of cookies.  Have each guest bring a plate of their favorite cookies to share at the shower.  In addition, have each guest write out their recipe for their cookies and present it to the bride-to-be along with their shower gift.  If there is any specialty utensils required, in the making of their cookies, such as whisks, cookie cutters, etc., suggest that they include that utensil as part of their gift.

This type of kitchen shower also has the added benefit of helping to supply the refreshments for your guests.  If your theme is cookies, breads or pastries, provide several types of refreshing flavored teas for your guests to enjoy with their goodies.  For a soup theme, all you would need to add would be some small sandwiches or cheese and crackers. 

You can even opt to choose a style of food such as Italian, Chinese, Mexican, etc.  With a little coordination on your part, you could end up serving a beautiful full meal to your guests with a minimum of work.  Being able to taste each dish will also help the bride know which dishes she will want to make most often. 

Be sure to incorporate your theme into your invitations, decorations, and bridal shower favors.  This will be one bridal shower that everyone will be sure to remember!

Making out a guest list for a first-time bride can be difficult enough, but doing it again for subsequent marriages can be awkward to say the least.  The best rule of thumb to follow here is to try to keep the wedding on a smaller scale than your first.  This will automatically help to keep the guest list down.

It’s fine to invite close friends and relatives to your second marriage, even if they attended your first.  Casual acquaintances that attended your first wedding are best not invited to the second.  Ex-spouses or ex-in-laws should also be kept off of the guest list unless you’ve been exceptionally close with them even after the divorce.  However, remember to be understanding if they decline your invitation, as it may be uncomfortable for them to attend.

If your fiance has children from a previous marriage that are old enough to remember the wedding, it is best to invite them in order to keep them from feeling left out. 

Years ago, it was understood that if this was your second wedding, the proper thing to do was to sneak off and tie the knot without a lot of fanfare.  No invitations were sent out, no special wedding gown was worn and no gifts were expected.  Nowadays, probably because it has become more and more commonplace, planning a second wedding differs only slightly from the first.

Despite popular belief, white wedding gowns are perfectly acceptable even if this is not your first marriage, with the one exception of a wedding dress with a long formal train.  Although white originally was a symbol of innocence and purity, today it has become more a symbol of joy.  The wedding veil is also appropriate if you choose to wear one. 

The areas where planning a second marriage would differ the most deal more with engagement announcements, gift registries, bridal showers and wedding costs.  Formally announcing your engagement is still considered improper if this is your second marriage.  Gift registries should also be avoided if this is your second marriage.  However, if this is your first marriage and your fiance’s second, it is fine to register for gifts. 

Bridal showers usually are not thrown for anyone other than the first time bride.  Since the purpose of a shower is to help the bride furnish her new home, it no longer is necessary in subsequent marriages.  If your friends or your fiance’s relatives would like to throw you a party, you should make it clear that gifts are not expected.

The bride and groom are expected to pick up the entire tab for the second wedding.  If the bride’s parents offer to pay, there is nothing wrong with accepting their generosity, however, you should never ask them to foot the bill for another wedding.

If you were unable to invite everyone to your wedding that you know or had wanted to due to travel difficulties or your budget, you can still make them feel a part of the celebration with a wedding announcement.  The purpose of these cards are pretty self explanatory ~ they simple announce that you’ve been married.  These announcements should not be sent to anyone who is receiving an invitation.

The wedding announcements should be made out well before the wedding day so they are ready to mail immediately afterwards.  If you’re leaving right away on your honeymoon, ask your best man or maid of honor to mail them for you. 

You may also include ‘at-home’ cards along with any invitation or announcement, which provide your new address information along with your new married name.  This is especially helpful if you opt for keeping your maiden name or taking a hyphenated last name after the wedding.

It’s also good to remember that those you send a wedding announcement to are under to obligation to give you a wedding gift.

Whether or not to allow smoking at your reception is a subject you’ll probably have to deal with.  Unless you or your fiance is a smoker, you may desire to ban smoking at your reception for health reasons.  This is your choice and you shouldn’t need to worry about offending anyone with this decision.  Today, most smokers have accepted the fact that there are restrictions on when and where they are allowed to light up.

The best way to let your guests know of this decision is simply to remove all ashtrays from your reception tables.  If you feel this is not enough of a deterrent, you may want to place small ‘No Smoking’ signs on each table.  It is never acceptable to include this information on a wedding invitation.

Out of consideration for your smoking guests, be sure there is a designated smoking area where they may go.  Check with your reception hall to make sure they provide smoking areas with the proper ashtray facilities.  Some sites may have strict policies against smoking anywhere on the reception location.  If this is the case, and you feel many of your guests will want the ability to smoke, may want to look into another facility.

If you’ve never had to set up a home before, you may have difficulty figuring out what you’ll need to begin your married life.  Any place you live, whether it’s a house or an apartment will need the essentials.  Here’s just a few ideas that you may want to add to your gift registries:

Kitchen ~ Cookware
Baking pans (cake pans, muffin tins, cookie sheets, etc.)
Frying pans (at least one large and one small)
Sauce pans with lids (at least one large and one small)
Cooking utensils (heat resistant spoons, spatulas, etc.)
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

Kitchen ~ Dinnerware (best to start with a service for eight)
Dinner plates (large)
Salad or lunch plates (medium)
Bread & butter plates (small)
Cups and saucers
Water glasses
Juice glasses
Wine glasses
Serving platter
Serving bowls (at least 2 large)
Soup bowls
Sugar bowl and creamer set
Salt and pepper shakers
Silverware (including spoons, soup spoons, forks, salad forks, knives)
Additional silverware items (steak knives, gravy ladle, slotted spoon, pie server, etc.)
Good sharp knife set

Bathroom Linens
Large bath towels (best to start out with at least four)
Hand towels
Wash clothes
Shower curtain
Bath mat
Decorative guest towels

Kitchen Linens
Dish towels (4 - 6)
Dish clothes
Large formal tablecloth
Cloth napkins (set of eight)

Bedroom Linens
Sheet sets (flat, fitted, and pillowcases) at least 2 sets for each bedroom
Pillows
Blankets
Comforter
Mattress pad

Misc. Items
Coasters
Wastebaskets
Broom & dustpan set
Cleaning products (pot scrubbers, rubber gloves, buckets, etc.)
Clocks
Rugs
Organization tools (shelves, storage boxes, hangars, etc.)

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but they do cover the absolute essentials.  As time goes on you’ll discover many other items that you can’t live without.  Starting up a home can be an adventure.  Enjoy!

The topic of whether or not a diamond is the best stone for an engagement ring will always raise a multitude of opinions.  It’s true that the diamond engagement ring has its roots in medieval Italy.  However, other stones, such as emeralds, sapphires, and rubies, were also used during that time in the making of engagement rings.  The popularity of the diamond stems from the fact that they are considered to be the strongest and most enduring stone available, thus being a perfect symbol of strong and enduring love.

Despite the overwhelming preference for the diamond in the making of engagement rings, it is not considered wrong or inappropriate if you would like to use any other gemstone for your ring.  Some family heirlooms are set with many different types of stones and can make the most romantic engagement rings, carrying on family traditions from one generation to the next.

You may want to consider using a birthstone for your engagement ring.  Even if you don’t want to totally get rid of the diamond, a birthstone can make a great accent stone in an engagement ring design.  You can choose the stone which will symbolize your birthday or his birthday.  You can even choose a stone which will celebrate the anniversary of the month in which you met, the month in which you were engaged, or even the month in which you are to be married. 

Monthly birthstones are as follows:
January ~ Garnet
February ~ Amethyst
March ~ Aquamarine
April ~ Diamond
May ~ Emerald
June ~ Pearl
July ~ Ruby
August ~ Peridot
September ~ Sapphire
October ~ Opal
November ~ Topaz
December ~ Turquoise