ROUND 2: Even Better!!

There are two routes you can take when it comes to second marriages: ‘Whatever you want’ or ‘Traditional’. Either it’s both of you getting hitched for the second time or it’s one of you. Part of the fun of second marriages is that you can do what the heck you want! If you’re the bride and it’s your first marriage but your groom’s going through it again then there’s nothing stopping you from wanting to wear that big white dress or that traditional red and gold sari and have that big dream wedding. If you are both getting married for the second time, then all the rules go out the window. Why not have a casual wedding without the politics of inviting hundreds of guests that you don’t really know very well at all. There are no rules with second marriages!

Stresses of first time weddings are inviting the whole world to your reception. With 40+ tables, each seating 12 guests, that’s 480+ people wishing you well for your future. It’s a lot of love, if they actually show up for you and not for your seated four course dinner. Come on now, I don’t even know 480 people’s names! Everything has to be bigger and better than the last wedding you attended. The pressure of pleasing everyone who attends, being courteous to those you should obviously know (even though you met them when you were 3 months old and sleeping in your cot). Come on! Please break the trend!!

Your second marriage can be so much more laid-back and relaxed without all the pressure mounted on being a great production and being able to focus on just the wedded couple. You can invite some of your nearest and dearest and celebrate without the 100+ audience, the stress of the horrendous bill to pay at the end of the night and the exhaustive tension build up. This gives you a chance to be less formal in terms of order of events and attire. You don’t need to have order of services printed, pretty looking menus and matching place names – Well you could if you really wanted to. Instead you can sit back and enjoy the most important things about your wedding day.

It could be safe to say that either of you could have children from your previous relationships. So it is really important to include them in the wedding. Especially the younger ones as they most probably won’t understand what is going on. Keeping them informed, explaining the process and how it will affect them is key. The older they are the more likely they will make their own mind up on the marriage. Don’t be disheartened if they decide not to turn up, the older they are, the more of a choice they have. It won’t necessarily mean that they don’t love you as much, but try and enjoy the wedding and work through it.

Inviting the ex is always a decision you need to make depending on your situation. Think about how it would make your partner feel and how it would impact your day. Bare in mind that some things may need to remain in the past for other things to progress in the future.

By British law you need to provide evidence of a divorce or dissolution if you have previously been married or in a civil partnership. Remember you still need to give notice that you’re getting married again. So you will need to provide your full name, age, address, nationality, current status (i.e. single or divorced), occupation and intended venue for marriage.

When it comes to financing this second marriage it is usually paid for by the couple. You cannot expect your parents to fork out for another wedding – it may be asking for a little too much. And when it comes to presents – you cannot also expect guests to buy you another present, especially those who attended the first one.

Break all the rules – there is no etiquette in terms of second marriages – well I would probably be told off for saying that – but who cares!! Break the mould ;)

Source

The Asian Wedding Exhibition - London

Asian Wedding Exhibition - Alexandra Palace
Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st November 2010
Everything Under One Roof!!

The Asian Wedding Exhibition 2010 is brought to you by PureJewels. They are set to be a great showing of all the hot businesses in the Wedding Industry you cannot afford to miss out on! 100 Wedding suppliers from the UK, India and Pakistan all under one roof! For more information click here.

Advanced tickets are as cheap as £9.00 for adults - get these before the cut off date - Friday 19th November!!

Covent Garden Wedding Show

Covent Garden Wedding Show - Grand Connaught Rooms, London
Sunday 31st October - 11am-3.30pm

This amazing wedding show is a must for all brides and provides the most reliable source of information available about local wedding companies and their products and services, the show features all of the city’s leading wedding professionals.

The show is designed to showcase all of the latest must-have wedding fashions and trends, wedding products and services and much more!

The show is completely free for all brides, grooms and their guests, plus the first 150 all receive a goody bag!

For further information visit the Covent Garden Wedding Show. Remember Admission is FREE!

The Contemporary Wedding Show - November 2010

Modern Bride - Excel, London
Friday 5th-Sunday 7th November 2010
The Contemporary Wedding Show!

The quest to find the perfect everything for your ideal wedding is thrilling. But it can also be long and fraught. modernbride makes your delectable task so very much easier, and hugely enjoyable - it's one glamorous destination where you can see everything and make your decisions in total comfort and style, in one inspiring day.

Bridal fashion, accessories, flowers, cakes, honeymoons, venues, photographers, stationery, favours, entertainment……you'll find it all atmodernbride, from a carefully chosen selection of specialists. We've done a lot of your research for you, filtering out irrelevant companies, or those who don't meet the right quality criteria, so that you'll love what you find here.

Searching for the dream dress? Wondering about a reception theme? Unsure about flowers? Want to try on different veils? Need to decide on a venue? Atmodernbride you'll find every wedding must-have - and plenty of nice-to-haves too - in an ultra-stylish environment that's fun and totally unmissable!

Visit the modern bride's website for further information and call 0871 230 3453 to book tickets in advance.

The Designer Wedding Show - London

The Designer Wedding Show - Battersea Park, London
Friday 8th - Sunday 10th October 2010

Bringing together both high-profile designers and less well-known names (those hard-to-find but brilliant-to-discover specialists), The Designer Wedding Show presents the most covetable collection of 130 companies offering everything for stylish weddings. And it makes the complex task of planning your wedding much simpler.

Instead of spending weeks requesting company brochures, visiting designers' showrooms, trawling the internet and hitting the phone, you can spend one day in a relaxed and focused environment at The Designer Wedding Show finding everything you need.

Alongside an exceptional choice of bridal fashion you will also be able to choose the best of everything else from companies, including all those featured on this site, offering: exquisite stationery, beautiful millinery, stylish menswear and divine bridesmaids fashion; couture shoes, designer jewellery, stunning fashion for the mother of the bride, inspirational photography, scrumptious cakes, fabulous venues, smart gift lists and heavenly flowers.

Visit the Website for more information and purchase tickets online or by calling 0871 230 5579.

Sorry for the late notice - ITS THIS WEEKEND!!!! BOOK NOW!!!!

The National Wedding Show - Birmingham NEC

The National Wedding Show - NEC Birmingham
Friday 8th - Sunday 10th October
The UK's Biggest and Best Wedding Event

Included in your admission ticket:

• Over 300 exhibitors - providing thousands of inspirational ideas for your big day


• Glamorous Catwalk Shows - watch as the magazine pages come to life at the glamorous catwalk shows


• Inspirations Sessions - Gain help and advice for your big day


• How to Look Good Show - Caryn Franklin presents the live make over show packed with fashion and beauty tips


• Free access to the Champagne Bar - Make a toast to your future happiness in style


• How to Look Good Advice Clinic - Gain advice on all your fashion, hair and beauty dilemmas


• Designer Area** - Discover unique collections from the latest names in bridal design - you can even book an appointment to start designing the dress of your dreams


• Boutique Area - Try on dresses to your hearts content as the National Wedding show offers the UK’s largest collection of wedding dresses under one roof


• Designer Flower Zone - Gain floral inspiration from the UK’s top designer florists


• Bridal Confidence Coaching - Life Coach Michele Paradise will be teaching brides how to exude confidence on their big day

VIP Tickets also Available!
Visit the National Weddig Show Website for more information and to book your tickets.

Aii Papi!! Where do I start!!!!

X-quisite Photo & Video Stories

So he bought the ring, (he may have asked your parents permission) he made the perfect evening and blurted out those words "Will you Marry Me?"

It is only right that you float on up to cloud 9 (Assuming you said Yes) and forget that there is a lot of work to do in transforming an engagement into a lifetime dream of a wedding!

So here are a couple of steps to help you stay in between Ground Zero and Cloud 9!

Step 1: As Asians, it is probably 95% true that our parents know little about our love lives, because well, we are Indians! (Enough said) So now would be a perfect time to tell everyone and share the news!! FYI - be very careful who you spill the beans to! You don't want your mum to find out about the engagement through the 'good ol' grapevine' i.e. the gossip aunt. This is also true about friends, you don't want your best friend to hear it through Facebook! Goodness NO!

Be meticulous! Being a bride is hard work and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Tell your parents first - maybe arrange a nice meal so all parents can meet each other and hear the news together! And if they want, chat and get to know one another.

So after your parents comes your siblings, any close aunts and cousins then best friends and then work colleagues and everyone else. Don't worry about not telling everyone because everyone will hear from someone else so news will travel faster than an internal email!

Step 2: (Probably a lot easier than step 1) Put together a budget! How much would you like to spend on the wedding, how much can you afford and which other parties will be contributing to the cost of the wedding! Do take in to consideration the sums of deposits you can put away monthly leading up to the wedding. A separate wedding account is a good idea to manage finances! Opening Loans and starting married life in debt isn't the best way to start Newly Wedded Bliss!

Step 3: Hire a Wedding Planner if your budget is large and you have an excess of 100 guests. You do not want to be folding napkins and arranging centerpieces or worrying about why the DJ is late - and HE WILL BE LATE!! You want you (the bride), the groom, each of your parents and your friends to enjoy the day that is your wedding! Not rushing around missing key parts of the ceremony! (I am totally Biased - but a Wedding Planner is a care free solution to all your wedding stress)

Step 4: Find a Venue! Note that if your ceremony and reception are in separate Locations - they should not be further than 30 minutes drive! If you are planning on getting married at peak wedding season (April-September) be prepared to book well in advance and to pay more than off-peak! As soon as you have chosen the venue and the date - send invitations out! These should be sent out no later than two months prior to the wedding!

Step 5: Work with your Wedding Planner to create a theme, decide on what you envision for your wedding day, pick colours. And let your wedding planner pretty much do the rest!

Step 6: This is probably when you should get together with your bridesmaids, and the women in your family and fly to India to do your Bridal outfit shopping! Erm ... this goes to the men also!

Step 7: It seems that if you're getting married, you will be sure to know that all of your friends appear to be getting married at the same time also! Chat with them about which suppliers they used, who they would recommend and who you should avoid! Just so that you don't go into planning your wedding completely blind folded!

Step 8: Meet all your suppliers first hand, go to food tastings (the best part!!), negotiate contracts, pay deposits, sign on the dotted line and hey presto! You think that was easy - now try catching up with all your guests RSVP's and get to work on your table plans! Be careful who you sit where!!

Step 9: Ensure you have accommodation arranged for after the reception if you aren't flying straight off on your honeymoon!

Step 10: Sit back, let your wedding planner take care of coordinating the event, and scheduling everything! Enjoy with your family and friends and be proud to be the new Mr & Mrs Newly Weds!!

PhotoShop-ing

Ferhan Photography

Q - "My partner and I need help deciding on a photographer for our wedding", Asha, To be Wed: Autumn 2011.

A - Asha, Congratulations on your engagement! Choosing your photographer is an immensely important decision. As the bride and groom, you will be travelling on an emotional rollercoaster with floods of excitement and tears. The wedding day will pass by you so quickly that it’ll just go by as a blur. The photographs your photographer takes will be a great insight on everything from behind the scenes to the main event!

I would not risk cutting your costs by getting a cousin to use his brand new digital camera to take snaps of the day. A photographer depending on which style you end up going for can capture the most intricate details that you will want to remember, capture natural shots of everyone and be able to touch on an emotion. Photographers have a skill of being able to tell a story and it’s that story that will capture your hearts every time you open your wedding album (And believe me – in the first year, that’s all you will be doing when you have guests round).

A couple of tips on choosing the right and most respectable photographer for you...

1. Probably the first thing I would recommend doing is to trawl through portfolios and Photographers websites. You will definitely get a better idea of what you want and the different styles you will like. This can give you some great inspiration and may even get your mind thinking over time so you will have questions to ask your photographer when you meet them.

Here is a low-down of some of the main styles wedding photographers use:
Reportage; this is a much less formal approach, usually including photographers following the guests without them really noticing. This is for more natural, relaxed shots.
Contemporary; this is a more modern approach – but everyone appears to have their own ideas of Contemporary. This style needs to keep up with what ‘contemporary’ actually means in today’s fashion.
Traditional; this is a very formal way of photographing, including posed pictures of groups and settings.
Photo-journalistic; this is a little bit like reportage and contemporary when the photographer follows your guests around capturing the day as it unfolds.

2. It is a MUST to acquire as much information from people around you who have similar tastes or who definitely have had similar experiences. Ask friends and family members who are recently married to see their wedding album. Maybe they have some good advice from their research. Most wedding suppliers usually get their clients through recommendations so ask around and look at reviews.

3. Create a shortlist of at least 2 or 3 photographers. Visit them and interview them. Matching their personalities with yours is an important attribute. This is the same with all your wedding suppliers. You have to work with these people for the next 12 months or however long there is until your wedding. Your suppliers must know your vision for the day and SHARE it with you. They should also be reliable and professional and get along well with you. The last thing you need is to be worried about your suppliers whereabouts the month before the wedding. Hiring a wedding planner can of course relieve your stress (hint hint!!)!

4. Find out what the photographer’s price includes and what happens with prints and copies. You may need more than one photographer on the actual day to take informal shots of your guests while one is concentrated on the bride and groom and the bridal party. Finding out who owns copyrights to your wedding photos is important. Some photographers will hand over the copyrights to your photos which mean they cannot make copies without breaching the copyright. But then others will hold on to them. Be aware of this before booking your photographer.

5. Negotiating with your photographer: if you love their work but it's slightly over budget! Don't negotiate the lowest price possible - because every supplier has a valued skill that you want their duties on the day done professionally. So ask them whether they are willing to cut the price or make a deal. Maybe you only need one photographer; maybe you only need them for a few hours at the reception instead of all night etc.

6. Map out their responsibilities and where you need them to be. So they know what you expect of them and where their money shots are. Also don’t forget your ‘Pre-Wedding Shoot’! They always are amazing!

Wedding Expert - Wed-In-Style

Bijal Patel from Wed in Style talks about wedding design and hire. Informing you of whats on offer to todays brides and providing some great tips and advice.

The right wedding decorations/mandaps can transform any location into a magical place. However the style of your wedding venue will also influence your decorations. If you are hiring an elaborately decorated room, you should keep your decorations simple, but if you are using a plain marquee or function room, you can afford to go overboard on the decorations.

Determining a theme or colour scheme for your wedding will make it easier to coordinate your decorations, favors, flowers, dresses, menu and all the other items required on the day. Whether you have a traditional wedding, a winter wonderland theme, a vintage style reception, or a tropical theme, there are bound to be decorations available to complement your choice. The same applies when choosing a mandap. With the largest mandap portfolio in the industry clients are spoilt for choice.  From crystals, wooden carved, intricate fibre glass to traditional, and even open plan mandaps clients are guaranteed to find a mandap from our range which not only complements the venue and theme but also highlights the bride and grooms personality.

Before you decide on your wedding decorations/mandaps, it is extremely important to check out the locations and find out if they have any specific rules or regulations regarding wedding decorations. Also find out what decorations will already be in place on the day of your wedding. I.e. Table Linen, Chair Covers. After all, you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money getting beautiful wedding decorations and then find out that they look all wrong in the location or that the rules of the venue forbid you from using those or that you didn’t need them in the first place. Also keep in mind the style and colors of the wedding and the theme, if any. When thinking about the wedding decorations, keep in mind not just the decorations themselves but also the kind of lighting you need.

With all this to consider, we recommend couples and their families to visit any one of our showrooms in Harrow, Tooting or Leicester. This gives couples an opportunity to browse through our extensive portfolio and discuss their events and ideas in greater detail. As we have the largest portfolio in the industry, clients are very often spoilt for choice and find that having a professional consultant at hand for advise really helps bring their ideas to life.

Our experience within the industry, has allowed us to build great relationships with other suppliers, who also offer our clients their expertise and great package rates. I.e photographers, hair & beauty, entertainment, wedding invites, favours etc.

www.wed-in-style.co.uk

Bijal Patel - Manager of Tooting Branch