Everyone’s been to a wedding (or at least seen one on YouTube) that falls into this category. After you spend all of the time and money planning the big day, you absolutely do not want a wedding that falls into the “hot mess” category. Here are some tips to avoid this wedding nightmare:

Lie To Your Wedding Party -- I’m not normally a fan of lying to people, but sometimes it’s necessary with your wedding party. This group usually contributes to unnecessary stress for the bride. So, lie to them. If you want them at the ceremony site at 1pm, tell them 12:30. If you know that your group has notoriously tardy individuals, you may want to tell them 12pm, just to be safe.

Start Your Wedding Pics EARLY — Wedding pictures can often hold up the big day. To avoid hours of picture-taking after the ceremony, start pictures early. As a planner, I like to start photos TWO HOURS before the ceremony. I start with the guys and do all of their pictures first. This consists of the groom by himself, with his groomsmen and with his family. Then, I send them to their holding area. At that point, we’ll do the bride’s photos with all of her attendants, family, etc. This way, you only have to do group photos after the ceremony.

Call The People Who Haven’t Sent Their RSVP -- A big mistake is to not contact the people who haven’t responded to your wedding invitation. If you don’t follow-up with these people, you could be presented with the uncomfortable situation of having guests show up and not having a seat for them. At that point, you’ll need to figure out if you want to turn them away (yikes!) or if you want to squeeze them into your seating plan. Avoid all of this by calling the guest at least twice to inquire about their attendance. If they don’t respond, make a final call and indicate (in a nice way) that you won’t be saving a seat for them at the reception.

Click For More Hot Mess Wedding Tips

4 Things That Will Make Your Wedding Look Like You’re Stuck In The 1980s

How To Avoid An Ugly Wedding…Even If You Don’t Have A Big Budget

Friday February 17th at Club Dubai

21+ only! The Entire Club is VIP!
An up close and personal night with Jeezy!
Music by: SUPA DJ Big L
Hosted by: B’More Princess & 92Q’s Lil Black
Tickets on Sale Now at DTLR Stores

“LIKE” DUBAI NIGHTCLUB’S OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS AT DUBAI-NIGHTCLUB.COM

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NEW PERFORMANCE DATE ADDED!!
Additional show on February 16th, 2012 at The Meyerhoff!!

Tickets on sale the Meyerhoff Box Office & through all ticket master locations.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE

Tickets on sale the Meyerhoff Box Office & through all ticket master locations.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE

So, you’ve identified your budget and you’ve created your guest list. Perfect! Your next step should be to invest in a wedding planner. Now, before you start thinking, “I can’t afford that,” let me explain why you can’t NOT afford it.

Planning a wedding is a big deal….a really big deal. It’s probably the biggest party you’ll ever throw. And you’re managing a big chunk of money. You want to make sure that you don’t make HUGE mistakes like hiring the wrong vendors or selecting the wrong venue or not having a concise wedding day schedule. In my workshops, I always tell brides to let the professionals do their job. If you have a leaky roof, you don’t crawl up there to patch it yourself. You find someone who performs roof patches for a living and knows exactly what they’re doing.

Ok…so let’s say you can’t afford to hire to hold your hand through the entire wedding planning process. Here are some ways to hire a planner on a budget:

Click For Ways To Hire A Planner On A Budget

You Got The Ring! Now What Do You Do? Day 1

You Got The Ring! Now What Do You Do? Day 2

Wedding Mistake #1

– You’ve FINALLY gotten the ring and you’re over the moon with excitement! Don’t make the mistake of sharing all of the details of your wedding day with your co-workers. Many brides plan their weddings while at work, so it’s natural to chat with your co-workers about your ideas. Maybe you ask their opinions on your wedding colors. Or maybe you ask for input on your wedding gown choices. The mistake is that you are slowly pulling them into your wedding planning world, which is fine IF you plan to invite them all to the wedding.

These days, brides are looking to save money wherever they can and that usually starts with the guest list. Once you’ve gotten your co-workers emotionally involved in your wedding planning process, you can expect to hear this: Your wedding is going to be beautiful! I can’t wait to get my invitation!

This is when reality sets in. You weren’t planning on inviting your co-workers to your wedding. Perhaps you are only considering inviting your boss….maybe. But definitely not allllllll of the co-workers you’ve been involving in your various decisions.

While it may be difficult, refrain from dragging your co-workers into your wedding planning world. They’re going to expect an invite and you won’t want to have that uncomfortable convo with them about how you’re not inviting co-workers.

More Mistakes

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No bride wants to have THAT wedding. You know…the one where people talk about you like a dog and how you didn’t have enough seating and you ran out of food, etc.

There’s an easy way to avoid the drama. It starts with the printing of your invitations. I suggest that all of my brides include a line where guests indicate the total number of people who will be attending. Granted, the invitation may only be addressed to Mr. and Mrs. John Smith. You would assume that only Mr. and Mrs. John Smith will be attending, right? WRONG. I’ve done sooooo many events where Mr. and Mrs. Smith show up with a couple of extra guests…maybe their house guests who happen to be in town the weekend of your wedding.

I like for guests to tell me in advance that they are going to do something inappropriate. That way, I have time to correct the issue. If Mr. and Mrs. Smith indicate on their response card that a total of four guests will be attending (instead of the two guests you were anticipating,) you or your planner can contact the Smiths. What you say to them might sound something like this:

Click For Tips To Avoid Unexpected Guests

What Start Time Do I Put On My Wedding Invitation?

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Factor Into Your Wedding Budget

Suggestion 1:

Get married in the morning. This is where the open-minded part comes in. Most people want afternoon weddings. However, there was a method to my madness. I knew that a morning ceremony meant an early-afternoon reception, which would be much cheaper than a dinner event. We held an 11AM ceremony at the beautiful Duke Chapel in North Carolina. This is one of the most popular ceremony venues in the state and it was drop dead gorgeous. We didn’t even have to spend money on flowers for the Chapel, because it needs zero decoration.

Suggestion 2:

Hold the reception at a restaurant. We selected a restaurant that was closed during the day to diners on Saturdays, but they did allow private events. I selected this particular restaurant because the venue was beautiful and I knew that it was going to be MUCH more affordable than other area venues. Also, the food was INCREDIBLE. The chef was creative and allowed lots of menu flexibility. In addition, we had access to the restaurant’s entire, very open floor plan. The site also boasted an enclosed courtyard with lots of foliage and a waterfall. Breathtaking.

We opted for lots of passed appetizer items in lieu of a plated meal. We wanted the event to feel like a social affair with lots of mixing and mingling. The menu included barbecue sliders, shrimp and grits in martini glasses, mini cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, soup shots and various other items butlered by waiters. We also, offered limited alcohol…only white wine and sparkling wine.

READ MORE

You’re Engaged! 3 Things You Should Do First

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Factor Into Your Wedding Budget

It’s what the holidays are really all about…the smiles on children’s faces!  Unfortunately for some families in B’more, there’s not much to smile about this year.  That’s why we’re asking you to help us spread “Q-Holiday Smiles” on Christmas Morning!  We’ll be collecting your donations of new, unwrapped toys on Friday, December 16th from 10am to 6pm at the following locations:

Wal-mart, 9750 Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills

Wal-mart, 6205 Baltimore National Pike in Catonsville

Wal-mart, 7081 Arundel Mills Circle (next to Arundel Mills mall)

Mondawmin Mall (in the Center Court)

All of the donated toys will go to the U.S. Marines “Toys for Tots” as well as Diamond Plan Coventry Health and other local charity groups to be distributed to a child in need in time for Christmas morning!  Our mission is to prove that hip-hop has heart with “Q-Holiday Smiles!”

Most brides do a couple of things first. I’ve seen brides who run to the store and buy every wedding magazine on the shelf. Some brides immediately start trying on dresses. Others start zipping from one side of town to another to scope out their potential venue.

Hold up. Stop. Breathe.

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I always equate wedding planning to shopping for a car. You don’t just go to any and every car dealership and say, “Show me all of your cars.” You usually have a plan, or at least an idea of what you can spend. You probably don’t just stroll into the Mercedes dealership unless you know you have Mercedes money.

With that in mind, we’ve given you a plan…or at least the first 3 steps:

1. Figure out what your wedding budget is. It’s hard to book a venue if you don’t know how much money you have to spend. Can you afford the amazing, castle-like venue that has a $5000 room rental fee? Is that luxurious hotel with the $25,000 food and beverage minimum realistic for your budget? Sit down, do the math, determine what you can spend on the entire event before you paint a bulls-eye on your ideal venue.

2. Get an idea of your guest count. I meet brides who say their guest list will be somewhere between 150-250. Again, it’s difficult to book a venue without a pretty good idea of your guest count. Some venues might be able to easily accommodate 150 guests, but may be unable to fit 250. Sit down with your significant other and maybe your parents to figure out how many guests will be on the list. Don’t forget to include spouses in the guest count and children, if you plan to include them. Also, be REALISTIC with your guest count. Don’t make the mistake of estimating that only 150 will come, even though your list consists of close to 300. That’s a wedding day nightmare waiting to happen.

MORE TIPS

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Factor Into Your Wedding Budget

How To Invite Everyone To Your Ceremony & Only Some To Your Reception

Gabriel Iglesias Presents

Tyler Perry’s, The Haves and the Have Nots playing at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric Tuesday January 24th through January 29th! Tickets on Sale Friday at 10am through Ticketmaster!

The answer is simple: no.

If your wedding invitation says 4pm, that’s the time the actual ceremony begins. That doesn’t mean you start the ceremony 10 or 15 minutes early so that you can actually walk down the aisle at 4. As with any other event with an indicated start time, your ceremony should start at the time  on the invitation. Also, you don’t want guests arriving a few minutes before 4pm only to be told that they can’t enter because the ceremony has already begun.

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Another question I get quite often is this one: I’m afraid that my guests will be late to my ceremony. Although I want my ceremony to start at noon, is it okay to put 11:30am as the start time to compensate for late guests?

Again, the response to this is no.

READ MORE

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Is A Wedding Photographer Worth The Cost?

Here at HelloBeautiful we just love celebrating Black love.  Each week we profile newly engaged couples as they describe the moment he decided to “Put A Ring On It”.

Her Story:

I met Jamel in 2008 on campus. Our first date was on Valentine’s Day at Morton’s Steakhouse and we’ve been together ever since.  Fast forward to March 13, 2010, we were planning to celebrate our two year anniversary. All day, Jamel was sending me on errands! He made a hair appointment for me, told me to get a manicure and pedicure, and even went shopping with me to find the perfect dress and shoes for dinner. Unfortunately, it was raining so I was more concerned about figuring out how to not mess up my hair!

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When I was finally ready to leave, we hopped in a cab and headed downtown for our anniversary dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse of course! As we arrived, I was nervous they may have given our reservation away because we were so late. Jamel told the hostess that we had arrived and she immediately came to seat us. I was SO excited to eat that I didn’t even notice she was taking us to the back of the restaurant.

The hostess opened a door and when I walked in, both of our families were  awaiting us in private room. I was so confused?? What were they doing there?? I looked back at Jamel and I found him on bended knee telling me that I am the best thing that ever happened to him and he would be honored if I would be his wife! Not only did I start crying as I said ‘yes,’ I was jumping up and down!!!! I was to be engaged to the man of my dreams!!

His Story:

I have known Julienne since college and our first date happened at Morton’s Steakhouse (on Valentine’s Day) and when I thought of where to propose this was the perfect choice.  Two months prior I had asked Julienne’s parents for her hand in marriage and that was even more nerve-wrecking than the proposal! It went well and they were excited about helping me surprise Julienne.

The day of the proposal, I planned for our family and friends to come join in the celebration; it was simple, generally people appreciate being a part of memorable occasions and I hired a photographer to capture the celebration. Unfortunately, there was a thunderstorm that night, so I was constantly checking in with everyone to make sure they could be there without getting caught in traffic or in the rain throughout the day.  My sisters were running late so I even had to encourage Julienne to take her time getting ready so that my sisters would have time to get to the restaurant before us (they did).

Ten seconds before asking the big question, I was nervous, not because I was about to ask the question, but because I was expressing my love for her in front of both our families.

I know Julienne is the right woman based on a series of moments that allowed me to see her qualities. It was her commitment to our relationship, her faith in God, her love for children, and her understanding of what it means to be financially responsible. I love you Julienne!

The couple is set to marry on June 16, 2012 and Julienne is “more in love now than yesterday!” Congrats from your family at HelloBeautiful!

Share your “Put A Ring On It” story with us!  Leave us a message on Facebook or Twitter and you can be featured!

Keep up with me on twitter @NessaLovesMusic!

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Minister–While many ministers may officiate your event for free (especially if you are a member of the church,) some ministers DO expect to get paid. When adding up the figures, don’t forget to apply a line item of 1% of your wedding budget to your minister. This is especially important if you’re hiring someone to officiate your ceremony or if you expect your minister to travel.

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Tax/Gratuity–You’ve found the perfect venue and the food is delicious! The meal is $40 per person. You calculate $4000 for your 100 guest event. But the math doesn’t stop there! Don’t forget the ++. In the event industry this is plus tax and plus gratuity. If you add 29% for tax and gratuity(service fees or gratuity averages at 20% and food tax varies by state,) your $4000 budget for food suddenly becomes $5160! That’s definitely a surprise you don’t want right before the big day!

MORE THINGS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR WEDDING BUDGET

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WATCH WEDDING VIDEO