As a bride, you’ll wan to share your big day with everyone important in your life. That might mean inviting just a few people, or it might mean inviting everyone you know! For most couples, figuring out a guest list comes down to numbers. You can’t always share your wedding with hundreds of people for time, money, and resource reasons. So how do you decide how many guests to invite?

First, instead of one long list, create a list in tiers. Tier 1 should be everyone that has to be at your wedding, like your siblings or parents. After that, create a Tier 2 and Tier 3. The second tier should be people that you really want at your wedding, and tier three should be people who you’d like at your wedding, but who aren’t top priority.  It can feel strange to qualify your friends and family members that way, but you have to organize your list! Try to just be honest with yourself, as well as consider the feelings of everyone you know.

Once you have all of your potential guests organized, look at your budget and your reception hall size. Budget will have a lot to do with your caterers and your cake. From there you can determine the maximum number of guests you can invite. After inviting your Tier 1 guests, can you move on to inviting guests from your other tiers.

If you can’t afford to invite everyone you want, consider having a small wedding and then a large, less expensive party to celebrate with everyone else a few weeks later or even for your first anniversary. That way, you can have the beautiful, classic wedding you want, even if you can’t afford to pay for hundreds of guests, but you can still celebrate with everyone you know.

The holidays are always a very difficult time for those of us watching our figure. But for the bride, it can be especially distressing. Well, now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get serious about fitting into that dress just in time for your wedding.  Healthy eating and excercise are the best and healthiest way to lose weight in the long term, but brides are looking for tips that can help them lose the weight a lot faster for this one time most special event where all eyes will be on her. One diet that is out there is called the Wedding Day Diet. It claims to have tips and tricks to help someone drop weight quickly in time for a deadline. It also includes tricks on making yourself appear thinner and last minute water weight loss. Check it out at the Wedding Day Diet.com.

Photo by House Of Sims

One of the hot new trends in weddings during 2008 and for 2009 has been sampling. Instead of one huge cake, brides are choosing cupcakes or dessert bars. Buffets are in style over plated meals. Even your cocktail hour can be about sampling. Consider a wine tasting!

Wineries are found in just about all regions of the United States, and even if you don’t live near a winery, you can talk to a local restaurant about hiring a wine professional, called a sommelier. You can visit and do some tasting yourself to determine what will be served at your wedding, or you can simply ask them to bring a variety of their most popular wines. You’ll likely pay by the bottle, along with a flat fee depending on the time, but before dinner, your guests will get to sample and learn a little about wine.

You can even decide to limit the wines to just champaign. A bubbly bar with a number of varieties can be really fun, and give your guests options for toasts. For a special touch, have your caterer pair tiny desserts with the champaign being served, and make sure your guests leave with a wine glass or champaign flute commemorating your big day.

For more cocktail hour tips, check out The Knot.

Don’t have a lot of money? If you and your groom are on a budget, you might have to forgo the tropical honeymoon for now. If possible, I suggest at least taking a long weekend to a week off of work so you can honeymoon at home. You can still have a great time, even if you don’t leave your hometown! Here are some tips to make your honeymoon at home really special:

Tip #1: Cut off communications. Turn of your laptop, unplug your phone, and only resort to your cell phone if you have to order Chinese food! It might be impossible to keep your location at home a secret from friends and family, but make it well-known that you want to spend some time alone in the days following your wedding. There will be plenty of time for phone calls and hanging out later in life.

Tip #2: Budget to order in or cook tons of food in advance. You should have to cook and clean on your vacation. If you can’t afford to fly somewhere, at least try to budget to order in or eat out while on your “honeymoon.” If you simply don’t have the money, cook some food that can be frozen during the weekend before your wedding, and use paper plates. If you really want to splurge, hire someone to clean your house at the end of the week!

Tip #3: Special touches make the honeymoon at home really romantic. Pick up some sexy new lingerie, light some candles when you typically wouldn’t bother, pour some wine, and get some really nice silk sheets for the bed. This is your honeymoon - make it as romantic as possible!

Want some great honeymoon activity ideas? Check out this website for more information!

It is a bride’s worst nightmare - tripping down the aisle. When all eyes are on you, it can be really nerve-wracking to walk to your groom’s side. Here are some tips for walking down the aisle without making a fool of yourself:

Tip #1: Practice! Every aisle is different, and practicing at home just doesn’t compare. Go to the church or hall where your reception will be held and practice a few times.

Tip #2: Don’t choose heels if you’re not used to them. Unless you wear heels regularly, that extra height isn’t worth potential falls, and that’s not to mention the pain you’ll be feeling by the end of the day. If you want to wear heels, but some heels you can wear every day to get ready for your wedding.

Tip #3: Keep in mind that there will be flowers if you opt for a flower girl. It seems silly, but don’t slip on a petal! You may want to instruct your flower girls to sprinkle them along the sides instead of down the middle, where you’ll be walking, or maybe you should just have them carry flowers instead of throw them.

After all of these tips, if you do trip, just smile gracefully, and keep walking. If you don’t look rattled, people will forget it happened by the time you get to the front of the room.  For more tips on walking down the aisle on your big day,check out this article.

We know you must be excited about your upcoming wedding. You might also be wondering what sort of wedding you can afford – especially if you are familiar with the typical price of a wedding today. According to CostOfWedding.com, “The majority of [U.S.] couples spend between $14,366 and $35,915 while their wedding budget is typically 50% less than the amount spent. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.”

So, a big question for many couples is how to save money…

The book, Wedding Planning on a Budget, is the perfect resource to help find tips and tricks to do just that.  This book was written by a couple who themselves were stuggling with fitting their dream wedding into their not-so-dreamlike budget.  Along the way they found lots of tips and tricks and ended up getting a $24,000 wedding for only $2,000.

Tips include:

• Secrets to low cost catering
• How to get your wedding dress super cheap
• How to save a fortune on flowers
• Where to find wedding bargains
• 93 helpful web links
• 7 keys to budget wedding planning
• Where to find free wedding tools
• Where to find discounted services and products

One of the great things about this book, is that it comes with free wedding planning software, wedding ministers kit, personal wedding website, and wedding planning guide.  We think the price is pretty good for the budget conscious at just $19.95.

This book is instantly downloadable, so you don’t even have to wait to get all that great advice!

Click here now to download Wedding Planning on a Budget by Tim and Lisa Spooner.

One of the most traditional of drinks to serve at any wedding is the classic champagne cocktail. These are drinks where champagne or sparkling wine offset other alcohol choices. The site “The Fifty Best Champagne Cocktails” has a great comprehensive list of contemporary champagne cocktails. However at the top of theist is the classic Bellini, which is champagne, mixed with peach puree and orange juice. If your wedding is in the morning you might want to try a Morning Glory, which is Cointreau, cherry brandy, pineapple slices and champagne. The guys in your wedding party might go for a Black Velvet which is champagne mixed with chilled stout. A Mimosa is more delicate and features champagne mixed with orange juice. If you want a pink colored wedding Champagne Cocktail then try a Poinsetta which is champagne mixed with Cranberry juice. A very classic purple colored drink is a Kir which is crème de cassis liqueur with wine or champagne.

Photo by  Gaetan Lee

The U.K. website, You and Your Wedding, has some interesting suggestion about how to make your wedding reception really unique. In terms of canapés the hottest offerings are foods that look like sushi but are not really sushi. An example is the mini roast beef and Yorkshire pudding or the strawberry rolled in fondant and coconut. There is also a trend towards ice sculptures but unlike your standard swan sculpture it is quite cool to embed fairy lights in the sculpture. When it comes to fountains some individuals are still discovering the chocolate fountain into which people immerse chunks of fruit. However to be on the cutting edge you might want to consider a coulis fountain. In this case it is pureed fruit like mango or raspberries that courses through the fountain. Want to hold your wedding the same way that the celebrities do? In this case, You and Your Wedding recommends having a make up artist on staff all day to do people’sd make up!

Ice photo by auroraanc

When you choose your bridesmaids, you might be worried about choosing friends who have conflicting personalities. This is your big day, though - you should be able to choose the girls you love most! Here are five tips for dealing with bridesmaids who don’t get along:

1. Plan one-on-one time. Instead of planning tons of group events, try instead spending time separately with all of your bridesmaids. Go tanning with Bridesmaids A and get your nails done with Bridesmaids B. Give everyone else gift certificates or pay in advance so they can do these tasks on their own time. That way, you can just come together once - on your wedding day.

2. Be honest about your concerns. Talk to each bridesmaid about your worries about conflicts, and ask them to keep the arguing to a minimum until after your wedding. Sometimes, they simply need to be reminded to remember that it is your wedding and it should be a happy day.

3. Find common ground. If you’re worried about bridesmaids not getting along, try to find at least one or two things on which they agree. Maybe they won’t become best friends, but that will at least give them something to talk about without getting heated.

4. Treat everyone equally. Bridesmaids often fight because they feel jealous about the time they spend with you. Make sure there is enough bride to go around!

5. Keep your bridal party small. The more people in your bridal party, the harder it will be to control conflicting personalities. Instead of having ten bridesmaids, stick to just three or four. It is your big day, and you shouldn’t have to spend it baby-sitting!

Planning. Packing. Traveling. Your honeymoon needs to be a vacation centered on love and relaxation, but there’s also a lot of stress involved with the trip. To keep things focused on you and your new spouse, here are five things NOT to do on your honeymoon:

1. Don’t plan your time too much. Sure, you may want to enjoy some sight-seeing tours and events together, but don’t plan every minute with things to do. In fact, the looser your itinerary the better! This is your honeymoon, and you should keep it fun and relaxing. Don’t feel like you have to run from place to place, packing every moment with something to d.

2. Don’t get stressed about your wedding night and subsequent nights. Your honeymoon is, of course, a time to be together with your groom, but don’t put too much emphasis on bedroom activities. When you stress about it, things tend to go wrong and feel awkward. Let everything occur naturally, and don’t worry if you aren’t spending every free moment in bed together. Its natural to enjoy other parts of your honeymoon too!

3. Don’t watch TV. It is easy to spend your evenings in the hotel room, flipping through the HBO channels. Avoid that! Turn off the TV and talk, go for a walk, or at least order a movie you both want to see and get some great room service. Make your honeymoon memorable, not just another trip.

4. Don’t overindulge when it comes to alcohol. You actually want to remember your honeymoon! Sure, having a few drinks or ordering a great bottle of wine to share together can be fun, but don’t treat your honeymoon like spring break.

5. Don’t call home ten times a day. When you get to your destination, you should check in with someone back home, and if you have children or pets, you should call the sitter every night or at least every few days. In general, though, save the calls home for emergencies only. Give your family the number to your hotel room in case something happens, but turn off your cell phone and stop thinking about the work waiting for you at home.

Check out this website for more honeymoon tips!