Bridesmaid-Zillas

So who is a bridesmaid? According to Answers.com, a bridesmaid is a woman who attends the bride at a wedding. That’s it!  Really? They get away with that definition? You’ve gotta be kidding me! In my definition, a bridesmaid is someone who attends to every need of the bride, note, “every need”. Well ofcourse not every every need, and you obviously know that, but every need relating to the brides big day! Ah if they were only this helpful, for my fortune, (or misfortune), my bridesmaids were biologically defined/assigned. My sisters! Woo hoo!!!!!! (YEAH RIGHT). Okay okay so they’re not all that bad but a bit slow on the helping out every need area! Now ofcourse I could have had another friend or 2 or 3, BUT I prefer 2 cuz as you know, (bit of a drum roll there), lesser the better, (cheaper rather... ha-ha)

Seriously though ANOTHER reason is simply cuz my sisters are closer to me than any other friend could be, (something else biologically defined) therefore I would not want any other shorties next to me. Yeah trust me they are short in comparison to me. SIGH. So what’s my point really? Oh yeah I just remembered, their dresses!!!!!! Oh my gosh, deciding dresses, 3 of us are of 3 different types, and our tastes clash almost all the time! My idea of a bridesmaid dress is something that looks nice and simple; they obviously need to stand out a bit more than the invitees and ofcourse lesser than the bride! (Awww I’m kidding!!!!..... NOT)

So few tips when selecting your dresses, lessons you can learn from my blunders rather, ARE!

• Please don’t try to give your bridesmaids full control in the dress they are going to wear cuz if you do you are going to take a lot of time deciding a dress, especially if the bridesmaids are totally different to each other.

• Lesser fabric the better. And go to pettah for heaven’s sake, oh but if you can afford as I say, go for it! But it is pointless if you can get stuff for lesser and pretty much the same thing too! Pettah Main Street has got a few nice places “fabric-full”, like Sarita Tex, Ram Bros, Ranjanas etc. So go and try, you can really get your fabrics for great bargains than buying from places around Colombo.  

•   Try and mix and match your tastes, have something different, again I say, simple is more than beautiful and so so good on the eyes.

•  As for bridesmaids tasks, give them a list of things they would be doing before, during and after the wedding so that there are no miscommunications later on.

• Try not to have about 10 bridesmaids, I mean, it’s your choice ofcourse and I am no one to tell you what to do, but when you have that many bridesmaids, for one thing the bride is of lesser attention cuz people are too busy counting and analyzing the maids! I think the best number is 3. Nothing more. But then again this is just a suggestion and it’s solely up to you. I am having 2 and trust me that is more than enough babies to carry, if you know what I mean… younger sisters. Sigh!

So happy choosing bridesmaids and their agonizing dresses, make it simple and its bound to be amazing!

Circle of Life - Your Rings

Did you know that the gold prices are increasing by the day!!!! The last we checked a sovereign/22kt was priced at roughly 37000 bucks!  And its not going to get any lesser either. When my parents got married, their wedding rings were just 4000 bucks each some twenty odd years ago!

Oh! Inflation-est, thou art so-est cruel-est! This is my cry.

My advice is, make sure you go give your band designs or purchase your rings as soon as possible, without rushing and giving the design 1 month prior! Then what happens is, the couples (budget ones) don’t give any thought towards their bands and just go for something you know costing really cheap because everything else has been overspent on!  (having a budget for both rings is a prerequisite btw!)

Your rings are one of the few things that last throughout your lifetime, I am not trying to assign some superficial value to some materialistic thing (cuz ring or no ring, it aint gonna decide your marriage!) but the fact of the matter is you wear it for the rest of your lives and it’s good to make it a sort of a priority, atleast more than flowers that die the very next day after the wedding!

We planned on ordering our rings by end of this December so that we can choose what we like and not wait for my arch enemy inflation to come ruin that for me! Oh, Oh and do you know, I am not working now, I just worked 1 year as a telemarketing representative before I was selected to local university and I saved up like a good little girl to somehow buy Dimi’s ring! Aren’t I lovely? Sweet? I know!!!!!

There are countless jewelers as you know, sometimes we tend to go with what people say, that is word of mouth and have convinced ourselves that one particular place is good and the other bad. Rather than doing so, be wise, go all over, big places and small places, nobody really cares where you shop for your wedding bands from unless you are going to the pettah pavement to get em! If you know some places that are obvious danger zones then don’t even try!  

So don’t worry too much what this person and that person says, unless you have seen their proof and real life experiences of purchasing stuff and being played out! Don’t be fooled to go and spend a fortune on the biggest possible place just because others are doing it and you feel that that must be the only actual good place!
JUST know what you want, take advice(not empty words!) from all over and not just 1 source and then nothing should shake you!

So in a seashell, no wait nutshell, have a budget for your rings, research on ring designs (the net has got loads!), go to all the vendors you know of (check around 4-6 places if possible), compare and contrast, DO THIS ALL EARLY AS POSSIBLE (3 months prior at least, if you are planning your wedding atleast 6 months before that is)! and voila! You are wise! Many blessings!

JOKE.. Lame huh?

The Cake Box Monument

Don’t worry this isn’t going to be long! Just wanted to share a novel idea of a wedding cake structure I saw at a friend’s wedding recently, me being the money saver buff, I was immediately captivated by the thought of “dollars” it’s going to save!

We have seen the cup cake structure – another budget cake structure/money saver, but this one was just different. It was arranged with cake boxes itself and ofcourse there was one piece of real cake made for the bride and groom to cut and exchange pieces. In my friends case it was a 3 tier one, with 2 lovebirds in a small cage, now I don’t like birds idea cuz there is no way we are going to cage two birds at our expense!  BUT you can have something else instead. For our wedding too we plan on having that arrangement, with our table décor on top of the cake, nothing special, but good enough for us!

Our arrangement is also a 3 tier one which requires 250 cake boxes (with cake!) and towards the end of the wedding we hope to take the boxes off the structure and serve em! So nothing is wasted!

I need to be honest though for some of you this might come across as a cheapskate idea, but what I like the most, jokes apart, is that its different and unique in comparison to the same ol’ inedible wedding cake structures we see every day! 

So if you don’t like cake boxes or cup cakes, be original somehow! like 1 big chocolate cake structure or some multi flavored cake thingy for people to just come and dig in! (got carried away again)

You sure you want an inedible fake cake instead of the real deal? Think about it ;)

Here Comes The Budget!

Arrrrgh, I just do not get along with money! Because I really like “neglecting” it! (spongebob stingypants I am!) When you are merely dreaming of your wedding it is just so easy to imagine this and that and this and that and when you actually get down to business, weddings are not all that roses and doves and angels! Pretty tough work, thankfully, enjoyable, atleast most of it! 

In my case, I like to work ON BUDGET. Thankfully even though Dimi is not as stingy as i am, he does not go with the concept of just spending whatever you have on just about anything nice you see, all he stresses on is that if you are doing something, do it properly to your abilities/resources but don't do it half way, for example, we need a videographer, and most of em are over 30k (approx 300 USD)! so we went for this wedding exhibition recently and found a guy doing it for 10k! at first we were like wow, lets get him, lets get him, but then Dimi said we should walk around see a bit more and then decide, we realized that for 10k the guy was not offering, how do you say, ummm, much quality? so we scrapped that, and found someone else(whom we are yet to book!) for over 10k ofcourse but less than 30k and does a nice enough(quality) job.

I believe that spending unnecessarily on a wedding is absurd! LOL. Meaning, whatever wedding planned should be one that can be afforded by you and your loved one, it is not wise to go over budget and just spend on this decor and that just because you can’t get any control on you! Because weddings are expensive! Even the cheapest things are pretty darn high! If you can afford to have one big grand wedding and that’s what you 2 want and dream of, no problemo, go ahead and don’t worry what anyone thinks, cuz if someone says something it’s pretty much because they are jealous they are not going to be getting one of those! (No offense, but that is pretty much the Lankan way at times)

All I am saying is that don’t worry about what others are having or have had, how something you like would look to someone else, if it doesn’t put you in debt and you love something, go ahead and have it, just make sure you are not compromising your future in anyway(financially)!

Just remember that wherever you get married, church, outdoor, beach, some grand 5 star hotel, normal hotel or even in a farm, you are getting married to the one you love, wedding details should be secondary, they would not matter, if you can’t afford something then do what you can, because at the end of the day, you have the main thing that matters, everything else like I said before, are just details. i mean who are we kidding really? we should know why we are having what we are having instead of having anything and everything JUST CUZ!

I also know that its not that easy for some couples to do whatever it is they want, because of parents requirements and influences etc, parents advice is crucial for your wedding, because after all they have been married way before we were born! hehe... BUT if they are imposing unfair burdens of having this and that, I think as a couple maybe try talking to them and if worse comes to worst, get a hold of your bizness I suppose :)

BUT PLEASE, no fights! I am sure after much talking and Discussions, if you are wisely planning out your wedding, even if your parents might not agree on not having this or that, they would eventually come to terms with the fact that it is your wedding after all. Thankfully in my case, am blessed with wonderful parents from both sides, they advice but don't push, so we have the liberty to be wise and decide! 

For those of you who believe that weddings should be special and beautiful and done meticulously, over and over again I say, if you have the money- do it! But if not do what you can! For me wedding details are just details, I don’t mind that much whether the guests will love the flower arrangement or not, all I want is to have a celebration for people in our lives, to share the beginning of a lifetime! And I want to go back and have a nice good loooong sleep! Simple as that.

So Top Tips;
1). Decide your budget ASAP – determine a rough amount based on what you two want
2). Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate with your vendors
3). Stick to the darn budget! if you have to,  keep a margin to the initial budget and plan, but make sure not to go overboard along the way!

Few Links that might help when planning out your budget!

• 1.       http://www.bridesofsrilanka.com/budgetplannersheet.htm

• 2.       http://www.bridesofsrilanka.com/weddingbudget.htm

• 3.       http://www.lit.lk/wedding/

• 4.       http://www.manaali.com/index.php?p=budget&id=4

Marriage Planning??!! Say wat?

Haloha Everyone, a very warm welcome to all you married couples to-be! And ofcourse anyone and everyone dreaming of their big day and ofcourse finding love. (blah)

Let me give you a brief introduction to myself, BRIEF. i'm a girl, too tall, buck teeth and lo and behold! already found the love of my life and waiting to get married on the 7^th of May 2011 to my very own personalized Remington Steele-ish(google him) adorable partner in crime, my best-est-est-est friend everrrr and the man that simply rocks my world! (ok so those were just some of the positives!)

So yeah not all that informative but I thought I would only share the “relevant” details, along the way you’re bound to find out a thing or thousand about me anyway. Now let me tell you as to why I felt inspired enough to start this blog, well for starters, I’m getting married!!!! Hip hip hooray! And then there are the more sane and logical reasons such as I wanted to make a difference! Now don’t keep your hopes up so soon, I’m trying this out and really hope it makes it through! I’m a bit slow on the blog arena, you know, so umm, let’s see eh? 

So getting back to the “making a difference” part, well I noticed that there were not much Sri Lankan-ish blogs relating to weddings and ofcourse marriage, I so don’t want to discuss weddings without marriage because I believe the latter to be far more important than the former could ever be! Too serious? Okay okay, I get carried away sometimes!

I think every couple should plan a tasteful wedding, and a marvelous marriage, a grand wedding is ofcourse easy to plan in a sense, in comparison to a good marriage, reason being we think that it’s not THAT important, atleast most of us, including me(until sometime back).  Hardly anyone likes to associate contingency planning with a marriage! But the reality is that it is! In a world where beautiful roses and peonies are marketed as the must have to brighten your beautiful day, seldom do people talk about the hurt and pain and divorce statistics! We ignore it to an extent where failed marriages are a normalcy in life, like death. By no means am I implying that unless a marriage is planned, it’s bound to fail, all I am saying is that, if you have found someone you love, and have decided to spend the rest of your lives with them, a little investment in your marriage won’t hurt! 

I mean think about it, we invest so much money, hard work and time just to plan a day that’s filled with our loves ones, flowers, photographs and some occasions, BOOZE! 

So a bit of marriage planning here and there will only brighten the experience of a beautiful fun filled wedding!

Tata! Bbye! Happy Planning!