Last minute differences

Yep, I agree, not all weddings end up all lovey dovey. In fact, NPR has the scope on two couples with both have their differences. One was able to work it out as a just-about-to-be-married-couple should while the other couple just flopped. Listen/read their story and learn from their success and mistakes <3 

NPR Books Wedding Stories Worth Remembering 

Happy Marriage between Chinese Man and American Girl in China

Below is a very inspiring story of how a couple from different cultures come together in marriage. It's quite hard to merge two cultures together, especially between China and the U.S. However, this beautiful couple shows the world that it can be done and done happily. Read their story!

Chinese Man and American Woman have Rural Traditional Wedding

Candy Buffet!

I was browsing through Google on everything wedding related and I came upon this wonderful website called CandyWarehouse. Guess what? They have a section specially designed for you to build a candy buffet for any occasion!

If you're looking to add some flare and color into your wedding reception, setting up a candy buffet would be the perfect way to do so! These little treats are not only tasty, but your guests of all ages can enjoy them! Make the buffet classy and simple to match the rest of your wedding decorations or make it fun with all different shapes and colors! Either way, you can count on them to be the life of the party. Well, next to you of course!

Cutest Wedding Video

This is possibly one of the most romantic wedding videos I've ever seen <3 It's filled with so much love and joy that even I had to shed a few tears watching it ^_^ Follow the link and enjoy!

http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/videos/chinese-wedding-video-impress-netizens-spreads-online.html

The Groom's Cake

Since I just wrote about the wedding cake, I figured why not write one about the groom's cake as well? The wedding cake will most likely be all your taste in design and style so it's only fair to create a cake for your wonderful new husband suited to his taste right?

Your groom's cake can be of any design, style and flavor of his choosing. It is HIS cake after all. I have seen ones that are in the shape of a groom's favorite NASCAR car and another of a gigantic gorilla... Point is, it can be of anything, it just has to be something that your other half likes. Hence, make sure that if you're surprising him with a cake, you try your best to give him a cake that he will LOVE. Resist the temptation to build a cake that you think will go well next to your wedding cake and decor. The cake that he likes might not fit in with the rest of your wedding reception at all. That's ok! This is his big day too, and while he might not have helped with much of the wedding planning, remind yourself that this is probably going to be his ONE MOST important day of his life. So help him make it memorable too!

The Wedding Cake

Some of you bride-to-be's have every single detail of your perfect wedding cake planned out since you were a toddler. Others, like me, have no idea what we want for our wedding cake. There are so many choices, from flavors to design. So, how do we choose?

Let's start with the basics: the flavors. This is the fun part, and probably one of the only parts of planning your wedding that your groom would be interested in. Once you've chosen a baker, go through a taste test to choose out which flavors you and your groom likes the most. You don't necessarily have to choose only one flavor for your entire cake; choose a couple so that your guest will have choices as well.

After flavors comes the style of the cake. This is where things start to get a little bit tricky. Do you want a traditional tiered wedding cake? If so, how many tiers? Or, do you want a themed cake that goes along with the rest of your wedding decorations? Nowadays, cupcakes have been making a breakthrough so maybe you would want a cupcake displayed wedding cake. There are so many choices to choose from, the list is endless!

Finally, we get to the decorations. You want to pick out the design of your wedding cake to go well with the rest of your reception decor. If you're completely clueless, work with your baker on the design and style of your cake. Nevertheless, take a look at the Wedding Cake Gallery for some cake ideas, or just simply Google!

Remember, a wedding cake can cost anywhere between $100 to thousands of dollars. Plan your budget accordingly and don't underestimate the cost of a simple cake. However, let's be honest, a wedding cake doesn't have to be bought or customized from a professional baker. It's very possible to make your own just as beautiful and delicious wedding cake, for the low price of around $20. How's that for a money saver? To give you a little bit of inspiration, here's a link teaching you how to make your own beautiful wedding cake: Homemade Wedding Cake.

Planning on a Budget

To all you bride to be's out there, Congratulations! However, keep in mind that if you want to have a typical wedding with a ceremony and reception, the average wedding in the U.S. cost $30,000. This doesn't even include the cost for the couple's romantic honeymoon! Planning on a budget is incredibly important since it's so easy to go over budget. The "harmless little extra costs" do add up, and they add up very quickly! Hence, here's a couple of do's and don'ts to prevent you from going over budget:

DO: Go to your site cake baker. Most venues have excellent bakers and will work with your vision of the perfect cake. This will save you a ton of extra money than if you go to an outside baker. Why? Because at the reception, the onsite staff are responsible for cutting the cake, serving it, and cleaning the dishes--this means more work for the staff! On the other hand, the cost for a cake from the onsite baker will already cover the cost of cutting, serving the cake along with any other costs related to the cake!

DON'T: Get overly complicated and oversized wedding invitations! While the one with pop out bouquet of flowers might go perfectly with your reception designs, the postage stamp alone per card will cost you around $2. That adds up! Skip the fancy boxed up invitations and go with something that can be more easily shipped.

DO: Plan ahead and set aside extra budget for the film crew. Most video crews are booked for a certain time at a certain price and will charge you overtime by the hour. If you have ever been to any wedding before, you know that almost all weddings never start on time or end on time.

DON'T: Think that the price on the dress is the final price of the dress. Every woman is beautifully shaped in her own way. This translated in terms of wedding dresses is that most of the time, the dress will need to be altered to fit the bride perfect. A simple hemming of the dress may cost up to $100. We'll let you use your imaginations as to what a full bodice alteration may cost.

DO: Forget about tradition and have both the bride side and the groom's side of the family chip in for the wedding! This is not the 1900's anymore where a beautiful 3 tiered wedding cake could only cost $10. A simple wedding cake can take you up into the hundreds nowadays.

DO: Just have fun! Girl, this is your wedding we're talking about! While it's important to stick to your budget, don't over stress over something if it's priced slightly higher than you had planned for. Remember, you only have this one most important day of your life (well, some of us have more than that), so make the best out of your situation and just smile!

Here's a link that's really helpful in calculating and planning out your budget: Budget Calculator

To find elegant and affordable wedding and bridesmaids gowns, follow this link: Lucky Dresses
They have beautiful dresses of all different colors and styles, most for under $400!