You Can Afford To Hire A Professional Event Planner For Your Party

How To Keep Wedding Planning Costs Down

Most newly engaged couples are shocked to find out that the average wedding planning costs will be over $10,000. In some cities, that amount can top $15,000 or much much more, depending on ameneties. However, with good organizational skills, a bit of ingenuity and the assistance of a professional wedding planner, it can be done more cheaply.

The first thing to do is set a realistic budget that you can stick to. This is a critical element for keeping your costs down. Engaged couples can very easily get carried away during the planning process, and quickly surpass their budget plans. A wedding budget can be broken down into the following categories: reception, music, photography, flowers, bride’s attire and “odds and ends”. As an approximate guideline, you should devote 50 percent of your budget to the reception (this includes the site, food, drink, rentals, service and cake) and 10 percent each to the other categories. While these amounts are flexible, they do provide a workable starting point.

A Wedding Planner Can Help You Keep Track Of Costs

Hiring a wedding planner is the best way to keep track of the numerous details, including the budget. One of the biggest mistakes couples make is not planning ahead. When things come to the wire, all budgets may become useless. A wedding planner can keep track of all your wedding needs and make sure you come out under budget. Also, a wedding planner can keep track of the odds and ends better than you can, so it may be in your best interest to get help when you start this process.

Find Wedding Locations To Fit Your Budget

The right wedding locations can be the your biggest expense, it’s also usually where you will save the most money. Most standard reception locations can be costly, especially if you are required to use the in-house catering service. You should have your wedding planner look for a site such as a home, park, museum, public garden or other venues. It also helps to avoid planning for the peak wedding months, May, June, July and August, because most aspects of the wedding business are more likely to negotiate a lower fee during slow periods.

Hiring A Wedding Planner Doesn’t Have To Cost An Arm And A Leg

These days, hiring a wedding planner to design your wedding event seems almost de rigeur.  However, not many people know how to go about finding the best people to help you plan your special day, especially when cost is an issue.  There are no longer any hard and fast rules when it comes to planning a wedding that is beautiful, fun and luxurious. Today’s brides and grooms are finding new ways to give respect to their families, demonstrate their personality, and make everything work at a price they can afford.

Save Money When Wedding Planning

Wedding planning in “the rounds” is a new term for many brides and grooms who are trying to save money while planning a wedding. It can accomplish many things including saving money on seperate ceremony and reception locations. If you know a bride and groom that is open to new ideas and moving away from a traditional non-secular ceremony in a house of worship, this may be an attractive idea. A wedding in the rounds is a more modern way to have your ceremony and reception in the same location and not have to manage the hassles of setting up and tearing down to accommodate the reception. The ceremony will happen at the center of your desired event, both physically and conceptually .Tables for guests are then placed around the wedding focal point. As your guests arrive, they will be seated at their table. They will view the entire ceremony from their table. This way everbody  gets a good seat to view the bride and groom get married at the center of the room. When the ceremony is completed, guests are served the meal.

Wedding Locations For A Wedding In The Rounds Have Advantages

There are significant advantages to having your ceremony and reception in wedding locations that can be adapted to save time and space on the event design.

• Guests don’t have to travel from one location to the next. This can be important for elderly guests, as they can stay seated throughout the ceremony and reception.
• You can save a great deal of money. There can be hidden charges for resetting chairs, added personel needed at a wedding site, and extra space needed for your ceremony that will cut into your budget and create hassles that could be best used to spend money on things like, for instance, a beautiful cake.
• Everyone will get to see the ceremony. The ceremony and reception becomes an intimate part of the event where all your guests can view and hear every aspect of your wedding. You will be surrounded by your family and friends from every direction.

By thinking outside of the box for your wedding day, you can make your own rules and enjoy a beautiful wedding at significant savings.  Consult your wedding planner to see if this idea will work for you.

• Lollapalooza is a three day music festival in Chicago, Illinois. This year, it runs from August 7 to August 9. The lineup is great and includes: Depeche Mode, Kings of Leon, Beastie Boys, Silversun Pickups, and many more.
• Summer in Iceland. As some would say, the best thing about Icelandic summers is the summer nights. The summer solstice is marked by twenty four hours of sunlight! With an average summer temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ll be sure to have a cool summer.
• Las Vegas is always a fun getaway. It can especially be affordable if you book early and negotiate a good price by using a site such as Priceline. Setting a gambling budget also helps too! If you’re tired of the main strip, there are unique landmarks in the surrounding area. For example, the Golden Nugget features a swimming pool surrounded by an aquarium. It even has an enclosed slide so you can go through a shark tank.

For those of you who are lucky enough to have a break from school or work, it’s definitely time to enjoy your time with loved ones. Vacations do not necessarily have to be exotic or expensive. Make sure to check out events in your area. One of my favorite local resources is Yelp and Gothamist.

As a senior, I know how important it is to find people willing to help with your issues. I’m in a special situation because not only am I a newly-minted senior myself, but I’m also taking care of a much older dependent relative who now requires an assisted living situation in a nursing home. I’m new to this whole ordeal, so I was nearly pulling my hair out after scouring the internet for days looking for a good board and care home.

With the help of this excellent resource, I’ve finally been able to narrow down my search for an Orange County nursing home. I found a couple great little assisted living facilities that my mother is sure to love. Now I just need to go check the places out first-hand with my mother. I’m finally out of the woods on this one, and I wanted to share my experience with others to let them know there’s a better way of searching for senior housing resources.

When I had a little more time, I went back to the site and found that it’s not just for people searching for San Diego assisted living or Los Angeles board and care homes; they have tons of other senior housing resources for people my age (you know, the kind of seniors who don’t yet call themselves seniors). I’m always looking for a good bargain, so I was especially grateful for the listing of Southern California senior discounts.

This is definitely a site I’m going to keep in mind whenever friends come to me with questions about senior housing of any kind.

So there I was, wondering how I was going to get all my relatives under one roof for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. I’ve got a big family, and they all decided to visit sunny Southern California this holiday season. I needed to figure out airport transportation for each family member from the many different Southern California airports. And it all had to coincide with the different holiday dinners and parties going on seemingly 24/7.

Forget trying to go pick each one up, that would have been a nightmare! I had relatives coming into LAX, John Wayne, Burbank, and Ontario airports. Just when I thought of telling relatives to “find their own damn way to my house,” my friend turned me onto a perfect idea: Vanguard Limousine’s Southern California limo service!

I guess she had used Vanguard’s limousine rental to handle her own tough family transportation needs during last year’s holidays. I though, “Limo service! That’s gotta be expensive.” But, to my surprise, it saved me time and money if you figure in all the different back-and-forth trips I would have taken to different airports, time wasted in traffic, and lost chances to be with family at home.

It’s not just limousine service, Vanguard Limousine Service has many modest town cars and sedans for your airport transportation needs. And what’s more, my family loved the pampered feeling they got from professionally chauffeured airport transportation…it was really the VIP treatment all the way. They carried my gramma’s bags and took care of my relatives’ every whim.

After the holidays were over, I breathlessly thanked my friend for telling me about Vanguard Limousine Service’s airport transportation and limo service. It cleared away all the stress about travel plans for my big extended family. And I became famous in my family for “spending an arm and a leg on limousine rental.” If they only knew how cheap it was! Shhh, it’ll be our secret.