Weddingbee

My mom is buying four “adult” gifts for the games we’re playing at the wedding. For the “kids” I bought: 1) first season of Lost, 2) first season of 24, 3) a bottle of patron, and 4) a $50 gift certificate to Cheesecake Factory.

Now I need to come up with games that don’t require a lot of explanation since up to 40% of the guests may be Korean speakers and we’ll need to translate all the rules. This is what I’ve come up with so far:

1) Fill a jar with jellybeans and ask people to write down their guesses and names at the beginning of the reception. Winner will be announced later. The promise of gifts to come will encourage guests to stay.

2) Person with closest birthday. This will encourage interaction among guests.

3) Most recently married person.

4) Longest married person.

5) Taping winning tickets under seats for 3 random winners.

Any other ideas for simple games?

I was also thinking about playing games to give the centerpieces away. Korean ahjummahs are notorious for eating, stealing centerpieces before the party is over, and then running away. If we make an announcement at the beginning of the wedding that we’ll be playing games for the centerpieces, no one will take them. Hopefully.

Mission Impossible theme song for the bouquet toss. Do you love it? Or is it too cheesy? Haha or how about the Rocky theme song?

I wanna do something kinda fun instead of the classic songs…

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Express Yourself
Like a Virgin
Pretty Woman
I Feel Like a Woman
Lady Marmalade
Just a Girl
Sex and the City theme song
American Woman
Ladies Night
Milkshake

I’m filling out a reception planner for our DJ and it’s pretty amazing how many songs you have to choose for each little event.

• processional
• bride’s entrance
• recessional
• grand entrance
• first dance
• parent dance songs
• bouquet toss song
• garter toss song
• cake cutting song
• last song

Pretty amazing how many little decisions go into planning a wedding huh? Are you using any original songs?

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)- Oct. 25, 2005–Today The Right Ring, Inc. launched The Right Ring.com, the world’s first ever on-line engagement ring registry dedicated to making the process of getting engaged flawless for both men and women.

“The Right Ring.com was created to fulfill a major societal and marketplace need. For decades, and probably centuries, most women have had a specific type of engagement ring they desire. However, the last thing many women want to do is seem forward or pushy, asking directly for a specific type of engagement ring. On the other hand, most men these days absolutely want their soon to be fiance’s input and guidance on this all-important purchase…after all, she will be wearing this ring till’ death do us part! The Right Ring.com holds the answer,” says Annie Thompson Pezza, President/Founder of The Right Ring, Inc.

The Right Ring.com safely stores her ring preferences in its engagement ring registry database. Registering a ring preference is fast, free, easy and secure. Whether she desires a princess cut diamond in white gold, or a pear shaped diamond in yellow gold, she can input her exact ring preferences. She can even leave her soon to be fiance a typed message with more specifics. She can send him an email hint that comes from The Right Ring.com, letting him know in an anonymous format that the website stores engagement ring preferences. She can choose to be bolder as well, sending him an email from The Right Ring.com with her name included in the subject line. She can simply mention the site when she feels it’s appropriate. The man can also initiate the ring registry process by sending his almost fiance an email letting her know about the ring registry.

The website also is focused on building a community providing education, support and advice for everyone that is about to be engaged! From the 4C’s of diamond buying to online visitors sharing real proposal stories, The Right Ring.com is a comprehensive engagement resource and community!

The company has inked several deals with advertisers focused on grabbing the “just engaged” consumer as well as the consumer shopping for the perfect ring. Revenue is also generating on both a national and regional level from retail and on-line jewelers, wedding related services and jewelry designers. Consumers can find the perfect jewelry store to purchase her ring by searching via zip code.

Oh my goodness. I most likely have to give a toast at my brother’s wedding, but I’ve tried not to think about it. But I need to start writing my speech now!

The 10 Commandments Of Toasting

1. Plan to speak from 1 to 4 minutes. No one wants to be bored with an extraordinarily long toast covering the entirety of your friendship. With wedding toasts, even a short toast will do if delivered with feeling and sincerity.

2. Make sure all other glasses are full before beginning. You may want to announce to the guests, or have the MC announce to the guests, to fill their glasses because toasting will commence shortly. Then give guests 3 - 5 minutes to fill their glasses.

3. Stand to give a toast (sit to receive one) and hold your glass with your right hand as you toast. After the toast, it is tradition to then clink the glasses together before sipping.

4. Start with something personal. How the bride and groom met is always a favorite. You can also use humor or quotes to get started.

5. Always use humor in good taste. While poking fun at the bride and groom can add the touch of humor you’re looking for, poking too much fun will only gain you a disapproving audience.

6. Speak in your normal voice, and avoid unnatural hand gestures or fake accents. Wedding audiences want to hear what you have to say, not watch a drama unfold. Just remember you were chosen to be you, not someone else.

7. Practice your toast. Unless you are an accomplished public speaker, just ‘winging it’ for the wedding toast is always a bad idea.

8. Look around the room at the audience and to the bride and groom as you toast. Eye contact is an important characteristic of a good speaker.

9. Speak clearly and don’t rush. Take your time and take a deep breath, because if you speak too fast, no one is going to understand you.

10. And finally, finish your toast with a wish, blessing, congratulations, or cheers.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid

1. Having more than one drink to calm nerves beforehand. It may seem like a good idea, but besides calming your nerves, too much alcohol will also keep you from speaking clearly and hinder your good judgment of appropriate speech material.

2. Swearing and/or lying.

3. Apologizing for being a bad speaker - Never apologize for being a bad speaker, and don’t say you really didn’t want to speak. It’s a rule for all speeches and all occasions, not just weddings.

4. Mentioning previous girlfriends, past marriages, or past relationships. Not only could it be potentially embarrassing, but it’s inappropriate at a wedding. Leave this for the stag party.

5. Stories about the Bride and Groom that aren’t rated PG. Remember, Grandma, Grandpa and possibly even children will be present at the wedding. Make sure your stories are appropriate for the audience.

So here’s to your next toast, my friend, may it be a sweet success!

For outdoor summer weddings, I think providing parasols or fans for the guests is really nice.

Parasols from Chic Wedding Favors for $4.95.

Big paper parasol selection at Pamela’s Parasols.

Sandalwood fan favors from Wedding Favors to Love for 99 cents.

Mini Palm hand fans. 10 for $5.99 from Bliss Weddings Market.

Large Palm Hand Fans for 99 cents from Bliss Weddings Market

Here’s a program idea with the palm fans.

Paper fans from Wedding Day Originals. 25 for $27.90 for blank ones, 25 for $39.00 for personalized ones.

Paper hand fans from Beau Coup for $1.25.

Here are fan shaped programs from Custom Programs. I’m ordering my programs, menu cards, and table cards from this company.

I posted these lottery ticket holders from Bliss Weddings Market a long time ago, but pc1004rn just reminded me about them because she’s giving lotto tickets as favors at her wedding.

The two of you are LUCKY IN LOVE so why not spread the luck with lottery tickets! Surprise your wedding guests with $1 Scratch-off state lottery tickets in our glassine envelopes. You never know!

Materials:

1) Medium-size Glassine Envelopes
2) Bridal Label (shown above in MS12; Metropolitan; Lilac)
3) Your state?s $1 Scratch-Off Lottery Ticket
4) A penny (for scratching) with your wedding year printed on it

Instructions:

Enclose a $1 Scratch-off state lottery ticket in a glassine envelope. For scratching, include a penny minted in the year you are getting married. Seal the flap of the envelope with double-sided tape. On the front of the envelope, affix a label that cleverly reads ?Lucky in Love!?

Koreans looooove gambling, and there are sure to be some winners among the tickets. What do you think? Better than the coasters or wine tool set?

Since we’re doing a chocolate fountain, I don’t want to give chocolate as favors anymore. Most wedding favors are just cheesy cheap tchotchkes that guests never use. (omg I can’t believe I got the spelling of that right - I just checked!) And no one wants to spend a lot on favors either - I’d say most people spend about $1-$2 per favor. I spent yesterday surfing for favors people might actually like and didn’t cost a fortune and came up with coasters or a wine tool set. I looked at tons of sites to find the cheapest prices for these things because a lot of different sites sell them at different prices.

Set of 4 Fall in Love Glass Coasters - $3.00 each

Set of 4 cork Fall in Love Maple Leaf Coasters - $2.00 each

Cheers to a Great Combination Wine Tool Set - $3.49

Mr. Bee thinks the coasters are more for girls and he likes the wine tool set best. I don’t really like the second set of coasters but they are cheap and I’m paying for these remember. The good thing about all these favors is that they come prepackaged so no extra work for me buying containers or ribbons. Although I would remove that cheesy fall in love tag and make my own to match the color scheme.
Which do you like best?

I wanted a chocolate fountain for my wedding. Then again I wanted a lighting designer, ice sculptures, sparklers, and a partridge in a pear tree. But you gotta cut back the expenses somewhere. My brother loves the idea of a chocolate fountain for his wedding though so yesterday I contacted Chocolate Sensations after seeing it on HereComestheBridezilla’s site. I love sharing vendors!

The cream puff and strawberry trees are an extra $25.

Now I have to decide on the dipping items. The package includes 5 different items, but I’m thinking about doing maybe 7 or 8. It isn’t a big sweets crowd so I was thinking more variety for the people who do like sweets.

Please help me choose! We’re prolly gonna do strawberries and cream puffs for sure. Which ones are your favorites?

One of the small diamonds on the band of my engagement ring fell off a couple of months ago. I have yet to get it fixed because I usually just wear my wedding band. This got me to thinking recently about how much importance a lot of girls place on engagement rings. The carat. The cut. The color. The clarity. It has to be from Tiffany’s. It has to be at least 2 carats. It has to be worth at least $10,000.

I’m not going to lie - before getting married, I cared a lot about it too. Would I have been disappointed with a small rock at the time? Yes. I knew that Mr. Bee and I were going to get engaged and before he popped the question, I constantly envisioned myself showing off my ring to all my friends and family. I’d dreamt about the perfect ring forever and I understand completely why it means so much to women. Now that I am married however, I could care less about how big the diamond is, or how much it cost, or what store it was purchased from. Because cliche as it sounds, a ring’s value doesn’t represent how much he loves you. Unless your fiance has the money for a fat rock and is just really cheap. Just kidding.

Why do women place such importance on the engagement ring? Do women really care that much about the size, cost, etc.? Or are they more concerned with how their family and friends will judge the ring/relationship/fiance. Is it both? Is it those damn DeBeers commercials? (Admit it you know they’re good.) Does the ring symbolize how much your fiance loves you not only to you, but to the world?

How much do you care about the size, quality, and cost of your engagement ring?