Published on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 by Fran Hansen Gone are the days of the bride's family paying for the wedding, or the groom's parents getting off of the hook completely! Today's couples are actually picking up a greater portion of the wedding costs themselves rather than going to their parents. The first step in coming up with your wedding budget is to sit down together with a pencil, paper and a calculator. Fi...

Published on Monday, May 11, 2009 by Fran Hansen While the wedding cake will normally be on the to-do list of a bride, the stand for the cake is sometimes forgotten. It is also something you don’t want to spend a fortune on or by the time you get to the stand your budget can be stretched to the limit. Fortunately there are many ways around this problem. To begin with, if you have a chosen to have a tradit...

Published on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 by Fran Hansen My favorite reception is without a doubt the least costly that you can plan. It’s the traditional cake, mints, nuts, punch, coffee and tea reception! For a fraction of the cost of preparing a meal for your guests, you can provide a beautiful reception for up to 200 people for under a thousand dollars! Mints, nuts, punch, coffee and tea are NOT expensive and...

Published on Friday, January 9, 2009 by Ask Fran Hiring a wedding planner can cost a lot and there is something special about creating your own unique wedding just as you envisioned it all the time. While the centerpieces are important to the overall ambiance and visual enhancement of your wedding it doesn’t have to take a big cut out of your budget. There are lots of unique and easy ideas you can try with ...