Wedding Invitations|Cheap Wedding Invitations|Wedding Invitation

While planning your wedding, you may find yourself wondering, "what if the what if happens at my wedding?" We know how stressful planning and producing a gathering of this magnitude can be when you're not used to planning large parties, when you have a job, and you have a life that you're busy with. It is completely normal to worry about everything that could happen at your wedding. Today, we've decided to write about the top 5 "What If Worries" and answer them for you.

So let's get going on our top 5 What Ifs...

1. What If A Vendor Doesn't Show?

First and foremost, stay calm! A frazzled brain will do you no good. Take a breath, find your phone and call the vendor. We always prepare a a list of all your vendors w/their telephone numbers and cell phone numbers so it is handy the day of your wedding. For your own peace of mind, you may also want to have a list of back-ups (wedding planners do) just in case. If after the telephone calls, you are still unable to locate said vendor, a DJ for example, think outside the box, and get your venue, wedding party, family and friends to help you - iPod hooked into the venue's speaker system will work in a pinch. It is unlikely that a major vendor such as your DJ would not show at all, but 'what if' they get caught in some crazy 5 hour stand-still traffic and are unable to send someone else in their place to get to your wedding faster? See how unlikely it is? Nothing to lose sleep over, but always good to be overly prepared. While you would no doubt be angry, try to focus on what the day is all about - you are getting married and your friends and family are there to support you, so keep your eye on the prize and don't worry about the rest. You'll have a good story to tell later and when you get that weird interview question, "Can you give an example of how you reacted well under pressure?" You'll have a great answer:) Okay, not so funny.

2. What if I don't want to wear white?

Did you know that wearing white to your wedding day isn't as old a tradition as some might think? Well, okay 1840 and Queen Victoria are pretty old. However, when WWI hit, dresses started to change. Coco Chanel introduced short hemmed wedding dresses in 1920 and by the time the Great Depression hit, brides made do with their best dress (sometimes white, but sometimes not). As we all know, LifEvents loves to shun the 'rules' if it fits with who you are. We love the concept of tradition, but not if it isn't you. So, the answer to this 'what if' is really quite simple, wear what makes you feel the most comfortable, what speaks to you and is a reflection of who you are and what makes you feel beautiful. Every bride should feel beautiful on her wedding day and if you hate how you look in white then you shouldn't force yourself to try to like it.

3. What if my guests don't RSVP?

If you're wondering whether you should call those guests who haven't responded, or just assume they are not going to come, I will direct you to the old adage about assuming...Oh, c'mon you know it, "when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me". You never know the situation. Perhaps the guest had been waiting to hear back from their babysitter and then mis-placed the response card. If you feel uncomfortable calling, ask your wedding planner or a friend who can say that they're in charge of the headcount and they are just calling to confirm that the guest will be attending.

4. What if we already live together and we don't need items that are on a traditional registry?

When we get this question, we offer a few suggestions. First, just because you've been living together for awhile and have everything you think you need, it doesn't mean that you can't have a shower or a registry. In life, there are always things we want and nowadays registries aren't limited to the traditional registries of days past. Honeymoon registries are getting ever more popular. We used TheBigDay for our wedding and it was fun for everyone. We found some great pictures, fun descriptions and came back from our honeymoon with pictures to give to the giver of some of the great places we were able to go because of the gift. For one person, it was very personal. She had an amazing experience when she went to Pompeii and was so excited that she was able to share that with us by buying our 'entrance fee'. Additionally, the person who throws your shower for you could do a themed shower. If you're having a Tuscan wedding, or you love wine, or enjoy a certain sport together, the shower could revolve around your interests as a couple rather than having to outfit your home.

5. What if our ceremony site is too small for the number of guests we want to invite?

So, there's this very popular location to get married in San Diego on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The only problem? The City only allows up to 50 people and the site can really only squeeze in 75. If you have a guest list of 120 and your site can only accommodate 75, you have three options. One, change the ceremony location. You say, "But, that is THE spot, we must get married at that site". Okay, second option, you can pare down your guest. But, what if you absolutely cannot pare it down and can't bear to have your ceremony anywhere else? Option three, it is perfectly acceptable to invite only immediate family and friends to the ceremony and the remaining guests to the reception. The only caveat is that you will have to prepare separate invitations. The invitation to the guests invited to the reception can be worded something like this:

[Wife's first name] and [Husband's first name] [Married last name]
request the honor of your presence
at the celebration of their marriage
Saturday, the 15th of August
at seven o'clock in the evening
ABC Hotel, Diamond Ballroom
San Diego, California

We hope that we've been able to answer some of your 'what ifs', but if you find that you're struggling with a lot of these types of questions, remember that a wedding planner can be a big help to you.

Choosing a colour scheme for your wedding invitations is very important. Your wedding invitations are the first glimpse your guests receive of your wedding day theme. Your colour scheme should also reflect you and your partner's personality.

Cream and Gold

Gold foil compliments cream hammered card perfectly. The cream and gold together creates a warmth to your wedding invitations. Maybe use gold ribbon to add something extra to the design. Combine with a deep rich red for autumn weddings.

White and Silver

White and silver creates a chic feel to your wedding invitations. For a simple design choose a postcard style invitation and have your wedding details printed in raised silver ink. White and silver also make a good combination for winter weddings. Choose a design such as snowflake design printed in silver. White and silver can also be combined with black to great effect.

Purple and Lime Green

Purple and lime green create a powerful colour contrast. The purple adds an element of luxury, think royal purple, whilst the lime green adds a touch of zest. This colour combination is for couples who like a bit of drama and who aren't afraid to be different.

Red and Mint Green

Red and mint green are strong contrasting colours. But because of the softness of the mint and the associations of the colour red (love, romanticism) these colours create a romantic feel to your wedding stationery. This is a also a good colour combination for 1950's or vintage inspired weddings.

Pink and White

Pink and white creates a soft romantic feel. Perhaps have a photo of pink roses printed on a bright white wedding invitation with your names on the front of the design in silver foil.

Black and White

Monochrome wedding invitations have a timeless feel. Maybe have a photo of yourselves printed on the front of your invites in black and white. For a chic feeling design, choose a simple white invitation with an embossed border. Combine this with your wedding details printed in raised black ink.

Chocolate and Cream

A neutral combination which can compliment many other colours especially pastel shades. A good combination for wedding stationery at your wedding reception, where you may not be able to control the colour of the decor such as curtains and wallpaper.

If you've been thinking of opening a wedding invitation business, let me just say, "Do It!" It's very easy to do and, depending on which way you decide to go with your business, the start up cost can be as little as a few hundred dollars.

There are three types of wedding invitation businesses. The first type, where you work as a manufacturer's representative, is probably the least expensive in terms of start up costs, and also probably the easiest way to get into the business, especially if you've never had your own business before.

In this business model, you simply sell the manufacturer's ready made cards, you act as their representative in your area. They provide you with samples and order forms, and there's usually some type of training or support system in place to help you when you have questions. Although there may be some small investment required to get sample books from the manufacturers, you don't have to invest in any stock or supplies with this method.

If you've never sold wedding invitations before, this is a good way to start. All the work is done for you. The invitations are already printed and packaged, the order forms are already created and the pricing is already set by the manufacturer. All you have to do is sell the invitations and you earn a commission for each sale from the manufacturer. This way, you can concentrate on learning how to run a business, and the ins and outs of selling wedding invitations, without investing any of your own money.

Another option you have is to sell Bespoke. These are invitations that you create yourself from card stock, pretty papers and embellishments like ribbons and pearls and flowers. This type of invitation business requires the largest investment of time and money, usually $1000 to $3000, but also has the largest profits because you can set your own prices. And if you're the artistic type, you're creations can command a very pretty penny. This business model, though, requires that you have more than a basic understanding of business because, since you'll be making the invitations yourself, you'll have to know how to control your costs and how much mark up to include in order to make your business run profitably.

The third type of wedding invitation business, which is the best method in my opinion, is the combined business. In this case, you sell sell pre-made blank wedding invitations and stationery, that you get from a supplier, and you finish it off on your home computer. With this method, you're not working for a manufacturer, you're purchasing the blank invitations from a supplier. The cards are already decorated on the outside, all you have to do is print inserts for the invitations and other assorted cards, and then put the inserts inside the invitations.

Opening a wedding invitation business that concentrates on selling the combined invitations is really the best way to go because you have very little initial investment, only the few blank cards that you want to start off carrying, and you get to set your own prices. While not quite as profitable as selling Bespoke, this method is more profitable than if you were a manufacturer's agent.

Getting children involved in your wedding can be a great idea. Having them actively taking part in the ceremony will keep them occupied and they also have the habit of looking adorably cute. Here are four roles that they can assume to be included in your wedding.

Junior bridesmaids and junior groomsmen are perhaps the most obvious roles for youngsters in your wedding. The role of a junior groomsman is very similar to those of the other groomsmen, the usher guests to their seats and stand by the groom at the altar. Junior bridesmaids walk up the aisle with the other gals and generally tend to be dressed in more modest dresses than the older maids. It is generally best if the junior bridesmaids and groomsmen are aged between ten and sixteen. Do not worry; there are still roles available for the younger attendants at your wedding.

The flower girl is a great role for a young girl. Her job is to walk up the aisle before the bride carrying a basket of petals, which she then scatters along the walkway. If you are worried that she may get scared walking through the aisle on her own, a somewhat daunting experience for anyone, then it is perfectly fine for her mother or father to walk along side her. Another great idea is to pair two flower girls together.

The role of ring bearer traditionally falls to a young boy. He will walk along the aisle before the flower girl holding two rings tied together on a pillow. For safety reasons, the ring bearer will often carry replica rings with the real wedding rings kept safely tucked away with the best man and maid of honor.

Another role for a child is a page. A pair of pages can be employed to hold the bridal dress train up, ensuring it does not drag along the ground, get caught or get dirty. Obviously, if your wedding dress does not have a long train then the requirement for pages goes out of the window. Traditionally this is a role taken by young boys however if you are short on boys yet have some spare girls who want to take part but you do not yet have a role for them they can always be pages as well.

If you're one of the thousands of women engaged to a military man, you may be faced with an unusual dilemma - the inability to preplan your wedding date too far in advance.
What's worse is that many of our soldiers serving in Iraq and other places around the globe only come home for the holidays - a time when wedding guests might want to be celebrating with their own clan on your exact wedding date.

As the bride and hostess, you want to take your guests into consideration. But ultimately, if you don't want to wait until your soon-to-be groom is retired from the armed forces, you may have some tough decisions to make regarding your wedding date.

If your fiancé is home over the Christmas holidays, you might be trying to decide how a wedding date close to Christmas or close to New Years will affect your guest list. Look at it from the other person's point of view.

The days leading up to Christmas are usually quite hectic for many people. There are last-minute gifts to buy, meals to plan and purchase, and trees to pick out and trim. So a wedding date right before Christmas may be more of a burden than a blessing for many guests to consider, especially if they're coming in from out of town.

A wedding date close to New Years, however is more flexible. The most people usually do to get ready for New Years is buy a new outfit and determine which party they plan to attend. Even if they attended your wedding on the 28th or 29th, there's still plenty of time to fly home and get ready for New Years without interruption.

Another thing to consider in regards to your wedding date is that on New Years, many wedding guests will be spending time with friends and acquaintances. But the Christmas holiday is geared more towards close family, so your guests won't mind missing a New Year's celebration as much as a Christmas get-together, if they plan to fly in and stay over the New Year's holiday.

Your job as the bride and groom is to first take your own marriage plans into consideration. If you can only get married December 22nd, and your fiancé is set to re-deploy right after Christmas, then you may have to choose a wedding date where you celebrate with fewer guests. Although heart-wrenching, your guests will understand and support your decision.

Or, if you've always dreamed of having the perfect wedding with everyone involved, you may have to postpone your wedding date - but do so with the knowledge that you can't predict your fiancé's military future with the ability to pinpoint a wedding date in advance.

Another vital consideration for women engaged to a military man - look into wedding insurance. You never know what world events may turn your fiancé's leave upside down and cause your wedding date to be postponed without your knowledge far enough in advance to work out a deal with vendors - and you don't want to lose your deposits.

Look to your future wedding date with excitement and joy knowing you'll soon have the honor of marrying an honorable military man! Try not to get stressed about who will or won't be able to attend. The life the two of you have chosen is certain to be filled with unexpected twists and turns in scheduling and this is the first of many planning decisions you'll face.

It can be boring to ride in the same car day after day, especially if it looks the same way it did when you brought it home from the dealership. Luckily there are many decorative options that you can use to spice up your car interior. Below are some ideas you can use to turn your boring car into a snazzy ride.

Mirror Hangings
In the 70's, many people liked to hang fuzzy dice from their rearview mirror. This fad has not quite died down yet. If you don't like fuzzy dice, do not let that deter you. There are many things you can hang from your rearview mirror that suit your personality. Many souvenir shops have mirror hangings you can choose from such as animals, symbols, and air fresheners. Hanging something from your mirror is one of the cheapest ways to dress up your car.

Steering Wheel Covers
Steering wheel covers come with all kinds of designs and colors. Some have streaks of fire wrapped around; others have dragons and even frogs. These decorative steering wheel covers can easily be purchased at your local Wal-Mart or car part store.

Seat Covers
Now a days many seat covers have the same design as the steering wheel cover. Choose your theme and then pick a seat cover and steering wheel cover that match. Seat covers come in a variety of fabrics such as leather, a soft cloth, and suede.

Bumper Stickers
Another popular and cheap way to decorate your car is to get some bumper stickers. Bumper stickers have become an art form. Many of them have humorous messages, but some have serious messages such as not texting while driving or quit smoking, and an assortment of other health related issues like breast cancer awareness. Some people get little stick figure people to represent their families on the back of their window. These can get really funny and they come in some many different shapes and sizes that it can be a lot of fun to find a figure that represents you and your family.

License Plate Covers
License plate covers are another way you can decorate your car. Many schools have specialized license plate covers that you can put over your plate and show your affiliation with that school. However, book stores and other places also sell specialized license plate covers that you can to decorate your car and express yourself.
These are just a few examples of ways you can decorate your car. Many of these suggestions are fairly cheap car decorations.

If you want to work from home, you will soon find out that paid home employment is very hard to find. How about starting your own business from home? If you are good at sewing, you could use your skills to start your own home based sewing business. There are all kinds of sewing from tailoring to delicate embroidery and most of them can be used as the basis for an enjoyable and profitable home based business.

In the past, home sewing work consisted mainly of women at home working on industrial sewing machines assembling ready cut garments as outworkers for local factories. This was "piece work" ie the woman was paid per finished piece of work. The big sewing machines were noisy monsters, so it was impossible for a woman to sew and listen to music or carry on a conversation at the same time. It was hard work but quite well paid if you could work fast. This type of working at home job is less common nowadays because it is cheaper for factory owners to send the work abroad where wages are lower.

Doing sewing as a home business, does not involve a return to monotonous, noisy piece work; there are far more pleasant and creative ways to earn a living with needle and thread where you can be your own boss and not a wage slave for a factory owner.

The first thing that springs to my mind when anyone mentions sewing as a home based business, is dressmaking and wedding dresses obviously take top place. The vast majority of brides planning a white wedding want a dress (and bridesmaid dresses) specially made for their big day. If you have a talent for dressmaking, bridal outfits will certainly offer a good way of earning a substantial income.

A less glamorous but equally necessary service is in garment alterations. Shops used to offer this service, but nowadays it is usually only possible to find someone to alter or repair a garment by making enquiries of local dry-cleaners. It is a sad truth that we live in a wasteful society where perfectly serviceable garments will be thrown away because of a broken zip. However, there are still people around who will want to have a zip replaced in a favourite garment, so a business in repairs and alterations can be profitable, if your local dry cleaners do not offer this service they might be prepared to send customers to you.

Making soft furnishings to order is a good money earner. The people who can't even sew on a button far outnumber the people who are good at sewing and enjoy it. The people in the former group will be eager customers for someone who can make cushions and covers and curtains in exactly the right colours and styles. The ability to design, make and hang fashionable window dressing is practically a licence to print money - at least it will seem that way if you ever receive a bill for this service!

One of the nicest ways to earn money from sewing is by making soft toys. Somehow cuddly creatures have always managed to stay in fashion and there is a market for everything from stuffed rats to dinosaurs to floppy rag dolls. It must be very satisfying to earn money at home from making items that will be cherished by a child, from infancy into the teenage years.

Starting a home based sewing business requires little in the way of financial investment. If you intend to do dressmaking, you will need a robust sewing machine and an overlocking machine. Don't let anyone try to convince you a pressing machine is essential, it won't do anything you can't do with an iron and a damp cloth. These tools of your trade should last for many years and will earn what they cost you many times over. If you have a room that can be dedicated to sewing, that is great but in reality, you can run a sewing business from your kitchen table. If you want to build up a stock, for example of toys for a Christmas fete, you will need some storage space but the stock is not perishable so any dry clean garage or shed space would be fine.

Apart from the obvious tools and accessories, your expenses will be for materials and advertising. Always take a deposit to cover the cost of materials before beginning work on anything made to order so you won't risk being left out of pocket. Advertising is essential to any business that is just starting up. You can circulate fliers, buy advertising space in local newspapers, put up a website and all sorts of other things which are fairly low cost. A good way of becoming known is by advertising in targeted magazines, eg if you are making toys, place your ads in mother and baby magazines and advertise a local play groups. If you are making wedding dresses, advertise in bride oriented publications and try to do some sort of joint venture or reciprocal recommending with the local florist or wedding planner. Once you have a few satisfied customers you will benefit from repeat orders and your reputation will become known via the all important word of mouth. When this starts to happen you are well on the way to having your home business all sewn up.

So your wedding is coming up soon, and no doubt you are getting excited about the happy times ahead. I need to give you a little information about wedding insurance first however, but I'll try to make this as light-hearted and positive as possible.

Each year about 1 in 500 people in the UK has a heart attack, and around 1 in 500 people in the UK each year is involved in a car accident. A staggering 1 in 3 people in the UK suffer from food poisoning each year, and there are many similar statistics for a variety of other illnesses, accidents and events which are likely to have a serious impact on the probability of weddings being able to go ahead.

How am I doing as far as being light-hearted is concerned? Still feeling positive? You should do, because statistically 2 in 3 weddings goes without a hitch, or at least without anything serious going wrong. There is almost never a wedding where absolutely everything goes right; the least you can hope for is that the things that do go wrong are only fairly minor ones that won't make very much difference.

The reason I'm giving you these statistics is because a great many people each year believe that their wedding will be virtually untouchable, and that therefore it is not important to really worry about wedding insurance very seriously, and that even if they do take out a policy, their wedding insurance valuation needn't be for the full value of the actual wedding.

Each year in the UK there are around a quarter of a million weddings. That's a staggering number, and as I said, out of every three weddings two will run reasonably smoothly. But that still means that one in three weddings will either have to be postponed, or face some calamity that is likely to cost a significant sum of money. In real terms that's about 83,000 weddings which go wrong.

Now there's no need to worry about it, because in most cases there is nothing you can do to prevent the unforeseen from happening. That's really what unforeseen things are all about, they're pretty difficult to foresee.

But statistics are rather hard things to avoid, even if filling out a wedding insurance policy application is. None of us like to think that anyone close to us, either family or friends, will suffer from a heart attack, be involved in a car accident, or go down with food poisoning. These are just three eventualities which happened very frequently, and I'm quite sure that once you've finished reading this article you'll be to come up with heaps more.

But they are just statistics, and not something that you should worry about on a daily basis. But as long as the statistics I've mentioned have made you think a little bit more seriously, then you might be able to appreciate a little better why it is so important to take out wedding insurance. Remember, every year in the UK around 83,000 couples rely on wedding insurance saving the day. If you don't take out insurance, the shock of the bill might be more than sufficient to result in yet another statistic dropping to the floor.

By now most of us have seen at least one "reality" TV show where a normally sane couple bankrupts themselves trying to plan some over the top wedding-to-end-all-weddings. We shake our heads as the frazzled groom argues about the wood grain in the resort's gazebo; we feel our jaws drop when the bride breaks down in tears over the shape of the 24 karat gold shavings on the Strawberries Arnaud. We ask ourselves, is this what the modern wedding has become?

Thankfully, the real reality of most 21st century weddings couldn't be more different than their depictions on television and elsewhere. Sure, weddings are a big business, raking in tens of billions of dollars annually, but many couples are embracing a more profound view of the big day that captures the spirit of what getting married is all about. Britain's The Daily Telegraph even reported that in 2009 a full one in ten couples included requests for charity wedding gifts in their registries.

The trend is clear, today's weddings are about recognizing that your love is much more encompassing than the feelings you have for your spouse-to-be -- connecting your wedding to an important cause is now more popular, easier, and affordable than ever. Do you want your big day to make a big difference? Use this list of 10 tips and ideas for inspiration and join the millions of couples this year who are celebrating their love by sharing it with the world!

1. Involve Your Guests Early with Charity Wedding Invitations

Mentioning gifts in your wedding invitations is normally considered a breach of etiquette and is in poor taste, but it's a bit different if your wedding will be supporting a worthwhile cause. If you have something special in mind for your wedding, whether it's a request for charity donations in place of gifts or a special event you have planned, consider making a note on your invitations or including a card (printed on recycled paper) that explains what you'll be doing and why.

You can use wording like, "To share our love and gratitude, our wedding will support name of cause." You can follow this statement with a description of what you plan to do and why you have selected a particular charity. You can also include website addresses, resources, and additional information for your guests.

Being upfront with your arrangements can help build enthusiasm for your cause and will encourage your guests to get involved too!

2. Hold a Group Charity Event before the Big Day

Get your friends together for an afternoon of fun and a lifetime of memories by volunteering as a group to give back to your local community. You can join a charity relay, adopt a highway, help clean a local park, or spend a day helping Habitat for Humanity build affordable housing (speaking from experience, no carpentry skills are necessary). Volunteering a little of your time feels great and is an excellent way to get in some lighthearted bonding before the big day.

If you want to go a step further and maximize your efforts, remember that many companies and organizations are willing to donate resources or funding to group charity events. Consider talking to your employer or a few of your favorite businesses to see about getting some corporate sponsorship!

3. Give Your Guests Charity Wedding Favors

It's nice to give your guests a little treat on the big day, but instead of a bag of mints, give them a wedding favor that will help make the world a better place! If you already have a budget set aside for your wedding favors, consider donating that amount to a charity of your choice. Then, at each place setting, you can leave a card explaining the donation you made in your guests' honor -- many charities will even provide you with the cards, so be sure to ask.

But if you still want your guests to have a tangible memento of your day, there are ways to give your guests a take-home gift and help make a difference: Some charities sell small favors like candy, ornaments, or those ever-popular wristbands, and then use the profit to support their programs. No matter what you do, charity donation wedding favors are a guest favorite and will have everyone at your celebration feeling better than they already do!

4. Purchase Carbon Offset Credits

Chances are you have guests who will be travelling to make it to your wedding, and the carbon dioxide emissions from all those miles will really start to add up. Even worse, many of the areas most affected by the warming connected to carbon pollution are also among the poorest, increasing the hardships of many people who are already suffering.

What can you do? You can still invite those long-distance friends and relatives to your celebration while helping the environment and the people of developing nations by purchasing carbon credits.

Carbon credits are a calculation that determines how much carbon dioxide a person, business, or event creates over a set period of time (usually measured in tons of CO2). When you purchase carbon credits, you are essentially donating the amount of money it would take to offset that pollution through projects like reforestation or renewable energy development. Once your donation has been used you can become "carbon neutral" -- you've helped take as much carbon out of the atmosphere as you've put into it.

Sound complicated? It's actually much easier (and cheaper) than you think. CarbonFund.org has a free calculator on its website that will help you figure out the carbon footprint of your wedding; the website also has tools that will help you make your big day carbon neutral.

5. Plant Trees or Grow Flowers as Wedding Favors

If you don't want to simply buy credits you can also help the environment by planting trees in honor of your guests. Planting a tree is the single most effective way to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and a single mature tree on average removes up to 48 pounds of carbon per year. That may not sound like much, but keep in mind that each year a single tree also produces enough oxygen for two people.

That's good news for all of us who breathe, and planting trees is an incredible way to establish a legacy for your wedding that will last for generations.

Also, if you would still rather give your guests something they can take home and enjoy, try some good old-fashioned gardening and give them living flowers they can replant later. Flowers have the added benefit of doing double-duty as table decorations, and growing them yourself is great for the environment.

6. Donate Your Leftover Food

If there's one thing weddings usually have a lot of, it's extra food from the reception; don't forget that most of those leftovers can be used to help feed the hungry. Donating your extra food is one of the easiest charitable activities you can do at your wedding. It literally costs you nothing and can even cut down on the clean-up time at your reception.

Contact a local soup kitchen or food bank before your wedding day to make arrangements to donate your extra food. Many organizations will even send someone to pick up the leftovers for you. This will reduce waste, make clean-up easier for the staff working at your reception, and will immediately help people in desperate need.

7. Donate Your Wedding Dress

It's impossible to overstate the importance of finding the wedding dress you love, but your dress is probably the only piece of clothing you will ever own that you will wear just once (hopefully). Instead of sentencing your dress to a lifetime in a garment bag, you can give your gown a loving legacy that will last far after your wedding day by donating it to charity.

Charity wedding dresses are much, much more than thrift store castoffs and can even help women who aren't getting married. Brides Against Breast Cancer, for example, resells donated wedding dresses then uses the proceeds to support terminally ill breast cancer patients and to fund new research into beating the disease.

Just by donating your dress you can help a future bride with a small budget have the wedding of her dreams and put an end to an epidemic that kills tens of thousands of women each year!

8. Start a Scholarship in Honor of Your Wedding

Work with your former high school, a school in your community, your college, or a local youth organization to form a scholarship program in your names that will benefit a struggling or underprivileged student. Then, when you create your registry, you can request that your guests donate cash to the program in place of a gift.

When you start a scholarship program you're often permitted to set the terms and the requirements for each winner, so you can even custom-tailor your award to a particular area of study, a hobby or sport, or to benefit a student who may be facing some of the same challenges you have overcome in your own life. Whatever you do, endowing a scholarship has a direct impact on a young person's life and your guests will love helping you fund it!

9. Hold Your Ceremony and/or Reception at Non-profit Venue

Yes, you could hold your reception at that fancy banquet hall at the other end of town or at that country club down by the park, but you could also celebrate the big day somewhere just as elegant and help out your community. How? Choose a non-profit location for your celebration!

Museums are perfect for this. Most museums have banquet and conference areas that can be rented at rates comparable to or less than for-profit banquet halls. Museums also have the advantage of surrounding your celebrations with fabulous art or timeless treasures from history. The decor at the country club may be nice, but it's doubtful they have an original JW Waterhouse or Andrew Wyeth painting hanging up anywhere. Most museums survive on donations and special events like weddings, so selecting one for your big day is an excellent way to contribute to the arts and culture where you live.

If you're not feeling up for a museum, keep in mind that many community parks, churches, community centers, and civic organizations also offer spaces for weddings. Holding your ceremony, reception, or both at any of these locations helps these groups help your community.

10. Select Charities and Causes that Are Meaningful to You

Choosing a charity or cause to support through your wedding is a personal decision that should reflect your values and something you care deeply about. Follow your heart, but remember to carefully vet any charitable organization you're thinking of contacting. While the vast majority of charities are honestly committed to their respective causes, some are run better than others, and some are much more effective at wisely spending donations and contributions.

Any reputable charity will provide a financial accountability statement that breaks down how they spend donations -- you can usually find this information on the organization's website. Try to focus on groups that apply a high percentage of the donations they receive (85% or higher) to their stated mission.

Make Helping the World a Part of Your Wedding and a Part of Your Life

To say that the world around us could use some help is an understatement. The number of problems facing the planet today and the untold millions of people in dire need of assistance can overwhelm just about anyone who thinks about it for more than a few minutes. It's tempting to ignore these issues just to stave off depression, but millions of wedding couples are showing us each year that there is a better way.

When you make something like charitable giving a part of your wedding, you make helping to fix the Earth a joyful experience rather than a depressing one. Indeed, by tying your wedding to a worthwhile cause you celebrate, not just your own life, but the lives of everyone living today. By giving back a little each day, by making it a part of our routines and special events, and by making it fun, we can leave the world in much better shape than we found it.

So forget those reality TV shows; today's real top weddings are about all of us, not just the egos of the wedding couple. Charitable weddings have layers of beauty and meaning that will never, ever be matched by fancy dessert pastries, exotic locations, or titanic decorating budgets. Happy planning and good luck.

Home insurance can protect your personal belongings from theft or loss at home and even whilst you are staying in a hotel. Some home insurance companies may even protect your personal possessions anywhere in the world. However, if your belongings are taken from an unlocked hotel room, you may find that your insurance policy will not offer you any compensation.

Personal possessions are classed as valuables, money and personal effects which belong to, or for which you or your family are legally responsible and are used mainly for private purposes. This may include personal effects which you wear or carry around with you (including clothes, MP3 players, mobile phones, sports equipment or pedal cycles) or valuables (including costume jewellery, gold, silver or other precious metals, cameras, camcorders and digital cameras, watches, paintings and other works of art). Money may also be protected, but a limit usually applies for cash, credit cards and unspecified articles.

You can take certain precautions whilst staying in a hotel room to prevent theft in the first place. You should always lock your hotel room door, even whilst you are in the room and especially whilst you're sleeping. You can also use the individual safe in a hotel room, or give your valuables to reception staff at the hotel if your room does not have a safe. You should also not leave any valuables out in plain sight in the hotel room; this is especially true for cash which could be mistaken as a tip for the hotel staff.

If you're going away for an extended period of time, you may want to consider holiday insurance to protect your belongings more comprehensively. Home insurance can protect your personal belongings up to a point, but it is always better to be fully insured against theft or loss. Your home insurance should be able to protect your precious belongings both at home and whilst you are away - but you should always take as many precautions as possible to prevent theft from happening in the first place. Locking your hotel door is just the first step.