We’ll be there with our family business, LRS Wedding Solutions to showcase some of the wedding favours available at the online store at http://www.skweddingwebsite.com/weddingfavours.html

If you’re interested in attending the show, you can pre-register at the Bridal Aisle website.  When you pre-register, you’ll be eligible for an early bird prize draw, as well as all the other prize draws being held on Sunday, March 1st at the show.

The Bridal Aisle Open House is just a small show with about 30 wedding vendors.  The intimate setting ensures that you won’t be overwhelmed traveling from booth to booth, you can take your time and find out everything you need to know about the vendors that might be contributing to your big day.

The Bridal Aisle Team also has a good list of tips for getting the most out of your wedding show experience.

We’ll have plenty of sample wedding favours for you to check out at the LRS Wedding Solutions booth, so come see Sean, Katlyn, Randy, and Lana Stefan and then head over to SkWeddingWebsite.com to start shopping!

 In this episode we talk about some tips that might help you out if you’re planning a destination wedding at a sunny resort.  Most of the tips pertain to our experiences in the Mayan Riviera area of Mexico.

 Here’s our show notes:

• We went in April 2008 to a destination wedding in the Mayan Riviera.
• Choose your resort based on the destination you want, but keep in mind the price point that the guests you want to attend will be able to afford
• Be sure to get your invitations out well in advance so people have time to save
• Work with your travel agent to get all the resort details to include in the invites
• Have people make their arrangements through the travel agent – they can alert you as to who is coming.  Keep tabs yourself as well to make sure both lists seem to jive.
• Spread your extra wedding luggage throughout your family/friends/wedding party so you can get it all on the flight without paying extra
• You have to be in Mexico for a certain number of days before you can be married, so take that into account and let your guests know in advance if you have to move the date.
• You’ll probably have to get blood work done to prove you aren’t related, so be prepared for that.
• If people are staying at other resorts make sure you can reserve guest passes for them at your resort.
• Make sure to use your sunscreen and recommend that to your wedding party as well so no one is a lobster for pictures (or peeling)
• Wear sensible shoes – heels and sand don’t mix
• Find out if you can get staff to maintain a perimeter around your wedding so you don’t have random guests of the resort in your pictures or interfering with your ceremony
• Check with the spa and get prices to see if you can get your hair and makeup done there or if you have to do it yourself.
• It tends to be windy on the beach, so if the guys are wearing ties make sure they have tie tacks, pins, or something to keep them from blowing around.
• If you’re wearing a strapless dress and don’t want tan lines, wear a strapless bathing suit in the days before the wedding.
• Consider taking something along to give to your guests as a memento or wedding favour such as a photo album or beach themed item.
• Make sure all your guests know where on the resort your wedding is taking place and have someone available to let them know about the location of the reception.
• Find out what your options are if the weather doesn’t cooperate.  Can you move it to another day or do you have to move it inside?

Links mentioned in this video:

“Beach Memories” Guest Photo Album Favors

Extreme Weddings – Mount Haleakala

Skydiving Wedding, In Vegas

Underwater Weddings – Island Preacha in Nassau, Bahamas

Destination Theme Weddings - Hotel de Glace

Update: Hotel de Glace Wedding Video & Pictures

Here’s the Cole’s notes from the video:

Our experience with our friend’s wedding:

• Destination wedding was great because it got a bunch of friends together for a week long holiday and celebration
• Turns the wedding into a week long event where no one has to worry about working
• Ceremony on the beach was beautiful
• Pictures could be held close on the beach
• Resort made a lounge available exclusively for wedding guests between ceremony and reception
• Gets everyone an extra a la carte meal during the week, which was a nice change from the buffet (although we missed the beach bbq, but that wasn’t an issue for anyone).
• The couple stayed for an extra week, which we would recommend for sure because they spent the first week visiting with everyone and trying to get everything in place for the wedding.

One idea that we stole from some friends of ours was to include a story of how we know each member of our wedding party and why we chose them to be part of our day.  It gave people something to read before the ceremony and it let people know a little bit more about who everyone was and why they were there.

We’ve uploaded a condensed sample version of our wedding program at http://www.skweddingwebsite.com/f/programideas.doc.  Feel free to download it and use it as a cheat sheet or guide.

Here’s some pictures of the finished product as well:

Some other things that you might want to include in your wedding programs include:

• Who is participating in the wedding ceremony – ushers, organist, music, readings, pastor/priest, family of the bride/groom, etc.
• Order of events
• Thank you messages
• Readings
• Poems
• Note when/if flash photography or any photography is allowed

What are we missing?  What did you do or are thinking about doing for your wedding programs?

Please leave your comments and questions for us in the comments section or send an email to questions @ skweddingwebsite.com

Links in this video:

Truly Unique Country Weddings

The transcript of the video is below:

Truly Unique Country Weddings is owned and operated by Kerry Keller and is located about 15 to 20 minutes north of Regina off the #6 highway.  As far as outdoor weddings go, it’s one of the most beautiful settings that you can imagine on the Saskatchewan prairies.

Your ceremony is set in a well manicured yard, set in a garden atmosphere of trees, flowers, grass, pathways and even a waterfall and pond.  The standard seating arrangement can accommodate up to 200 people, but special arrangements can be made to increase capacity to 250 people.

The lower level of the home on site has been converted into a bed and breakfast with a lounge that the couple can use to get ready, and retreat to after the ceremony.  During the time between the ceremony and reception, the grounds become your guest’s to enjoy.  There is a bar set up in the gazebo outdoors, so your guests can mingle throughout the yard, and there is also a bar set up in the tent, which will be set up for your dinner and reception.  The tent is set up complete with flush toilets and full power.

For your guests, there is also ample room for camping – so there’s never an excuse for drunk driving.  Your guests can bring RV’s, trailers, or tents and stay the night.  There is also horshoe pits, beach volleyball, and a U-catch trout farm for your guests to enjoy, truly making your wedding a destination event.

If you’re interested in enquiring about having your wedding at Truly Unique Country Weddings, you can visit www.TUCweddings.com or call Kerry at 569-3121.  There’s so much more to discover at Truly Unique Country Weddings that we haven’t showcased in this short video, and the only way to truly get a sense of what your day could be like is to set up a viewing of the grounds with Kerry.  Again, for more information, you can visit www.TUCweddings.com.