My wedding gown was white satin with long lacy sleeves and a lovely white wrap around my shoulders. I wore a diamond necklace and earrings and a sparkleing diamond bridal tiara. My bridesmaids all wore blue dresses with silver colored wraps and wedding tiaras and carried bouquets of blue belladonna lilies and muscari with white iceberg garden roses and beautiful blue ribbons. When I went shopping for the bridesmaids head pieces, I was really surprised at the selection they had. They have some really gorgeous head pieces for all occasions, including birthdays and bachelorette parties. So many styles and choices. There was also the perfect style and size for my little flower girl. All of the bridal tiaras looked so exquisite, and with the added necklaces and earrings it gave the illusion of icicles.

   My bouquet was very special. I bought a blue ice bouquet with white flowers scattered through and little silver berries. Everything at my ceremony was the very epitome of a winter wonderland. As we were leaving the church as man and wife, everyone followed us outside, to our horse drawn carriage, throwing snowflakes instead of confetti or rose petals.

   At our reception we had a huge christmas trees with lots of gorgeous lights and everywhere you looked was holly and poinsettas. Our centerpieces were red and white poinsettas in globe vases with silver berries. Our bridal table sparkled with crystal, glass and silver. Everyone commented on the fantastic winter wedding cake and topper we chose. It was quite magnificent with the little white snowflake topper, and the cake had an ivory colored frosting with red sugar berries and green sugar leaves. It really gave the feel of the season.

   While shopping online for all of our winter wedding decorations and accessories I found adorable little winter wedding favors for all of our friends and family, and had them packaged in snowflake favor boxes. As place card holders I chose beautiful glass snowball ornaments that our guests could also take home as a momento of the special day they spent with us.

   If I had this wedding to do over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. This was the most perfectly gorgeous winter wedding, and I felt just like a snow queen with her handsome snow king. I received a lot of compliments on the décor of our winter theme and one of the girls in my wedding party has decided to have a winter wedding of her own. Winter is such a beautiful season and it makes a great theme for a wedding and reception.

   We left our reception the same way we arrived, by carriage, and we spent the next week at a beautiful ski resort, snuggling by the fireplace, skiing the slopes and having the most wonderful winter honeymoon anyone could ever ask for.

   I wanted a large, but simple wedding ceremony. No theme, just the traditional ceremony and reception, from the bride and groom cake topper to the personalized favors. No fairy tale, no beach or winter wonderland theme, just a regular wedding. Although if I were to go with any of the themed weddings that are available today, it probably would have been the storybook one. I think that would be awesome to feel like Cinderella or Snow White. Maybe even rent a castle to have the ceremony and reception in. Yes, that would be wonderful, but I had my heart set on tradition. I had a gorgeous white gown and lovely flower bouquet with satin ribbons hanging from it. All of my wedding party had beautiful lilac dresses with bouquets of lilac and babybreaths with hanging ribbons. The men all looked so handsome in the tuxedos and my fiance was the perfect prince charming for me.

   The wedding ceremony was exceptionally beautiful and as we left the church to go to the reception, everyone started ringing these little wedding bells they were given when they entered the church. Now a days many churches frown on tossing rice or rose petals, even the silk ones, so we decided on the bell ringing instead. I hear it has become quite popular in ceremonies today. It did sound lovely.

   At the reception everyone was talking about how impressive everything looked. I have to thank my mom for that. She worked so hard at helping me to organize it all. She did a fantastic job decorating the tables and arranging the seating for all of our guests. She even helped with picking out the wedding favors for them all.

   We looked at several suggestions for favor gifts, but, no matter what I was going to choose, I knew I wanted to have them personalized. I just think it shows that I really care and how appreciative we are that they decided to share this special day with us. By giving out personalized party favors it shows that they are worth that extra mile or two and lets them know just how special they are to us.

   There were adorable choices of favors to choose from. I chose some very exquisite glass coasters and I had them put in special packaging as personality favors. They matched up with the décor of my reception tables. It’s really nice to be able to choose favor boxes that coordinates with your wedding reception decorations. I also had each and every favor personalized with little tags.

   We also gave out special gifts for the people in our wedding party, and extra special little gifts for our flower girl and ring boy. They were definitely the cutest couple in the room. Our traditional ceremony and reception was phenomenol and we all had a great time, and everyone seemed pretty happy with their wedding favors gifts.

   There was also a reception idea I found that sounded like a lot of fun, where everyone would be comfortable in casual clothes and be able to kick up their heels and have a great time. It was a country western theme. I mean there was everything you could think of to pull of the best down home reception party you could imagine. Cowboy hats and boots, cowboy boot glassware and the perfect western décor and wedding favors to go along with it. That sounded like a lot of fun to me too. We could use buggies pulled by horses as transportation from the little country church to the reception and maybe have hayrides too. Oh, that sounded like just the theme for us. Then I saw it. The most perfect wedding theme ever. It was a dream wedding to end all dream weddings. A beautiful storybook themed wedding and reception.

   There was everything available from wedding décor to exquisite glass wedding favors for the guests. You should see the lovely wedding cake topper I found, and all the wonderful fairy tale accessories. We’re talking cinderella type coaches, beautiful castles and so much more. That was it, that was the theme I chose. I wanted to feel like a princess for my wedding and now I can make it happen. I found everything I needed to make my dream wedding come true. Even my invitations had a storybook theme, as did the place card holders, and gorgeous glass favors I chose. I picked out the most lovely and delicate thank you gifts for the ladies that attended our wedding, and my fiance picked out the gifts for the men. He chose these very unique shot glass wedding favors for them, with our names and the date of our wedding printed on them.

   Everything in our wedding was so fantastic and I really did feel like Cinderella with the beautiful dress and veil and the very special tiara I wore with it. You know what one of my favorite parts of this wedding was, besides the ceremony I mean, it was the carriage ride from the church to the reception. It was so spectacular, and it was my handsome princes’ idea. We even had a long red carpet leading from the church doors to the carriage, and as we exited the church everyone was throwing rose petals and confetti. It was so wonderful, it was everything I dreamed of, and I made sure the photographer captured every single moment of it.

   The reception was just as spectacular, and our first dance as husband and wife was a moment I’ll always remember. As my prince Charming waltzed me around the floor, I kept thinking how great it is that I could have the wedding of my dreams. I only plan to do this once so I wanted it to be everything it could be. And it was!

   But, with all the invitations to get out, the dresses for me, the bridesmaids, maid of honor and the flower girl, I decided I needed a little helping hand, so I called in the troops. I actually hired a wedding planner to help out with a few details, like the entire reception. I didn’t really want someone else to handle my wedding, but I found out that she only makes suggestions and I have the final say, and I really needed those suggestions. There was a list of wedding accessories as long as my arm to decide on. I did have some of it covered already, like the invitations, wedding guest book, bouquets and a few other items. But there was still so much more to decide on. I still needed my bridal jewelry, hair accessories and other wedding dresses accessories for my bridesmaids, maid of honor and flower girl. Things that I had forgotten all about.

   The nice thing about having a wedding planner is that they don’t forget anything. They know exactly what you need and have so many suggestions and selections for you to choose from. Even though she had some pretty terrific ideas, I did find some things myself by going online and searching through wedding supplies and accessories, and was able to find quite a few wedding items at a discount. That really helped us out a lot financially.  Weddings can be quite expensive as I’m sure you know. We spent enough on the music, caterers, photographer and hall rental alone to pay for our honeymoon. So, I didn’t want to spend anymore than necessary, but still wanted a fantastic ceremony and reception that all my guests would be talking about for a long time. With the money I saved with the discount wedding supplies, it definitely helped to cut the total expense of the bill.

   They had every wedding accessory I could want. I even found the most gorgeous wedding garters and they didn’t cost me near as much as the bridal shoppes wanted for them. Naturally, I bought two of them, one for me to keep as a momento and the one for the garter toss. They were all lacey and sexy looking. I went with a pink one and a black one. I’m keeping the black one and my husbands tossing the pink one. I am really surprised at how excited guys get over the garter toss. Almost as excited as the girls do when the bride throws her bouquet.

   Well, I finally have my wedding and reception supplies together and everything is working out great. Even though I ended up finding quite a few of my wedding supplies on the internet, my wedding planner was a very big help. There were things about a reception I probably wouldn’t have even thought of. Take it from me ladies, if you’re planning your own wedding, get help. It’s a lot tougher than you think.

   I’ve already bought my personal bridal supplies and accessories, my wedding guest book and pen set, our unity candle and most of the things I need for the ceremony. The cake is taken care of, and so is the catering, photographer and the floral arrangements, but I still have to pick up quite a few reception supplies. I was really getting worried about the total cost of everything. I wanted a super wedding and reception, but I didn’t want to have to give up our honeymoon to do it.

    I told a friend of mine, my maid of honor, about my problem and explained my financial difficulties over this whole thing. She told me about a place online where I not only could find just about anything I wanted and needed, but there’s a lot of items that I can get wholesale or at a discount. I told her that was a great idea, but I didn’t want to get my friends, who were nice enough to stand up in our wedding, a bunch of cheap bridesmaids gifts. But she explained to me that the only thing cheap about them was the price and that they have a variety of lovely wedding favors for my guests as well.  So I decided to check it out, and she was absolutely right. I found the nicest little wedding favors and adorable favor boxes for my friends and family. I also found a beautiful little gift for my precious little flower girl that I know she will really enjoy. I wish I would have known about this online wedding shopping thing, it would have saved me time and money right from the beginning.

   I was able to get a few more things there, like my cake topper, champagne flutes and some very lovely centerpieces for all my reception tables. They also had the perfect gifts for my girls, at very affordable prices.  Lovely gifts that I even wanted for myself. As a special thank you gift for all of her help, I bought my maid of honor a beautiful necklace and bracelet set. Without her help and suggestions I wouldn’t have found these exquisite gifts for bridesmaids, and all of the other fabulous accessories and supplies I needed. Imagine how much I would have saved if I would have known about this online wedding supply shopping when I first starting planning my ceremony and reception. Thanks to her and shopping online, I’ve actually been able to save a little money and I didn’t have to go over our wedding budget. Our wedding and reception is saved, and so is our honeymoon.

   As you can tell, I wasn’t too thrilled with this hoedown happening, but the more we got into decorating and planning the more excited I got. There are quite a few ideas for a country western reception. Apparently they make cake toppers, place card holders, wedding guest books and a whole lot more in a western motif. Speaking of country western motif, part of the décor for this shindig was about 15 bales of hay to be placed around the reception area. Our daughter also informed me that it was casual attire and that she wanted us to go all country for this event. I told her that was fine with me, but I’m not wearing something that looks like an Ellie Mae Clampett party dress. I was relieved when she told me that blue jeans were fine. She did order cowboy hats for the parents of the bride and groom.

   As we were setting up the “barn” I was really impressed with the way things were starting to come together. The tables were really nice and she had the most adorable frontier cake topper on their gorgeous wedding cake. There were canning jars for glasses, and checkered table cloths with centerpieces that were little metal milk pails filled with wild flowers. She was really going all out on this. She also found some adorable place card favors for all of her guests. Little western place card holders that also serve as the perfect wedding favors.

   The day of the wedding turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, and the ceremony was so beautiful. I got to see my baby walk down the aisle on her fathers arm, just like I’ve always dreamed of. They said their vows to each other, lit the unity candle and before I knew it my daughter was a married woman. Where did the time go? Now they were off to get ready for the reception and so were we. We had to go home and change into our “DUDS” and get out to the farmhouse.

   I have to admit, at first I wasn’t too crazy about this country western reception, but we had a fantastic time. Everyone loved what we did with the decorations and refreshments, and a big barbecue was right on the mark. The food was wonderful, the music so full of life and we all had a marvelous time. The guests really liked their little wedding place card favors they got as thank you gifts, and she got a lot of compliments. As far as me and my husband, we’re thinking about taking up line dancing now.  I guess there is a little Clampett in all of us.

   I thought for a long time on a theme for my wedding, but I really couldn’t decide if I wanted a storybook wedding, a seasonal theme or just the traditional style.  There is a lot to be said for traditional. I pictured us in all three scenarios and we looked good in all of them.  But even so, I knew I had to pick just one of them. I asked my fiance what he thought, but you know men, he left all the details up to me. So, he had me take care of planning everything from the decorations  to wedding cake toppers.

   Since it was to be in July, I thought a beautiful beach wedding would be the thing. So now that I had my theme, I was on a roll.  I looked at everything that had to do with a beach wedding and even got a few tips from the internet. Great ideas for a ceremony by the ocean, and the thought of a beach party reception sounded just perfect. So I went with it.

   I couldn’t believe how many choices there were for beach wedding decorations. This ceremony is going to be even better than I imagined. I chose the flower arrangements and odered some lovely floating candles, and do you know they even had unity candles with a beach theme to them.  Everything was just falling in place almost as if it were meant to be. I even found a beautiful wedding guest book for beach ceremonies.

   I finally had everything ready for the ceremony and now I could start on the reception. I knew the reception would probably last into the night, since it wasn’t scheduled to start until 4.  So I ordered some tiki torches to light up the beach area and adorable candles for each reception table. We had crystal champagne flutes for everyone, for the toast to the bride and groom, sea shells and starfish to help with the décor and I chose seafoods, salads of all kinds, chicken and steaks for those that don’t care for seafood, and I even ordered a few trays of sushi. There was lots of food choices, I wanted to have something everyone would like. As far as drinks, there was champagne, wine and other ligours, but I also made sure I had plenty of soft drinks for those who preferred non alcoholic beverages.

   Our cake was so gorgeous with its towering three layers of white cake with a whipped cream cheese frosting. On top was one of the cutest beach wedding cake toppers I could find. So many of the guests committed on how adorable it was. They asked me where I found these wedding beach supplies with matching bride cake toppers. You could tell by looking at the bride and groom, on top of the cake, that they were by the ocean. It really was the perfect topper.

   It really was a fantastic wedding and reception, and we have lots of pictures to prove it. Everyone had a great time on the beach that evening, and they also commented on the beach wedding favors we had for them as little thank you gifts, and our wedding did turn into a dream come true, just like I had hoped.