National Park Weddings

By | April 13, 2011

For the bride and groom who want to be married near the grandeur of magnificent trees, waterfalls, rivers, lakes and mountains, a National Park could be the perfect venue. After completing an online application, you will be issued a permit at a cost of $150.00. Weddings may be scheduled up to one year in advance and not less than 3 weeks prior to your wedding.

There may be many restrictions associated with having your wedding at a National Park. The wedding permit does not allow your ceremony to restrict other park visitors from your chosen location. Entrance fees into the park are not waived for guests or wedding participants. In most parks, time allowed for outdoor events is three hours. Wedding permits are not issued for heavy use periods-Memorial Day weekend, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekend. An additional charge of $50.00 per hour may be incurred for an Event Monitor for those outdoor activities of 50 people or more. No amplified music or public address systems are allowed in some parks.

Here are some restrictions specifically for Yosemite National Park, but may apply to other parks as well:

? Weddings are not allowed around the bases of Sequoia trees.

? The release of butterflies is prohibited.

? Birdseed or rice may not be thrown within the park as this provides an unnatural food source for park wildlife.

? The use of balloons or other types of decorations will not be authorized.

? No event or directional signs are allowed.

? Picnic areas may not be reserved and are only available on a first-come basis. The permittee is responsible for the cleanup of the site and all trash. Yosemite National Park Rangers strictly enforce all laws relating to excessive drinking.

? Chairs, tables or other furniture are not allowed at the site of your wedding unless a picnic area is used.

With careful planning and communication with the National Park of your choice, you can celebrate your wedding day surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty. These are some of the best the United States has to offer, but there are many more:

Bryce Canyon (Utah) -Area of brilliantly colored eroded rocks
Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) -The world’s largest known caves
Grand Teton (Wyoming) -Picturesque range of high mountain peaks
Mesa Verde (Colorado) -Best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in the United States
Shenandoah (Virginia) -Scenic Skyline Drive; tree-covered mountains
Yellowstone (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho) -World’s greatest geyser area; abundant canyons, falls, and wildlife
Yosemite (California) -Mountains, gorges and waterfalls, giant sequoias
Zion (Utah) -Multicolored gorge in the heart of Utah desert

Kathleen Terrana is the previous owner of Elegant Rentals and the current owner of Beautiful Bridal.

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San Diego Weddings – Outdoor Weddings

By | April 9, 2011

There are so many options for outdoor weddings! San Diego Wedding Dreams offers you their tips and things to plan for!

* When a bride is selecting an outdoor location for her wedding, what do you suggest to her regarding a bad weather back up plan?
There are many lovely outdoor wedding locations – beach weddings, lake front weddings, forest weddings, mountain weddings, garden weddings…the options are endless! With any outdoor wedding, it is vital that the bride and groom work with their coordinator or wedding company to establish a backup plan in the event of bad weather. If the wedding location is on the grounds of a hotel or inn, coordinate ahead of time to have a banquet room ready for you in the event of inclement weather. This option may cost a little more, but it will save you worry and potential heartache later!

Another option is to plan to have only the ceremony outdoors and the reception inside (or inside with an outside portion). In the event of inclement weather, you can simply hold the entire event in the room you planned to have the reception in – without incurring extra costs! This is by far the most “secure” and least expensive way of having an outdoor wedding, and one of the easier backup plans. If your outdoor wedding will be held in an area with no building nearby (or a building too small to hold your guests), such as in a forest clearing or in the garden of a private estate, consider using a tent for the reception.

In the event of bad weather, you can move the ceremony and reception into the tent. Be sure the tent is water tight and sturdy! Whatever backup plan you select, be sure you tell ALL of your wedding vendors (especially those that require lighting and electricity) of your plan ahead of time. They may bring up alternate concerns you have not thought of and can help you solidify a great backup plan. After all, your wedding vendors are professionals, and have likely had experience with this sort of thing before.

* Can you give us an example of a wedding you’ve planned which had to be relocated due to weather and how you worked with the indoor option to create a memorable event?
Last January we had an intimate outdoor wedding planned for approximately 55 guests. The bride had her heart set on an outdoor wedding in the mountains in the winter! She loved the lakeview and wanted to bring heaters outside so all could enjoy the atmosphere. That morning it began snowing – and did not stop until late that night! This was a destination wedding so most of the guests were already in accommodations nearby.

The bride and groom did not let this spoil their day! They had many gorgeous photos taken outside in the snow, the guests loved it, and everyone enjoyed a lovely ceremony and reception inside with a snowy lake as a backdrop. Both fireplaces were roaring and the beverages flowed. The Lake Arrowhead Weddings staff had a job to do! We had to figure out what to do with all the guests while we moved all the ceremony seats (that were supposed to be outside) after the ceremony to make room for the reception dinner seating and tables!

We asked everyone to adjourn to the great room for appetizers (not part of the original plan) while we speedily setup for the reception – the guests didn’t even know this wasn’t the original plan! Given that the bride had purchased one of our outdoor wedding packages, she didn’t even have to worry about plan B. We simply asked her if she liked our plan (which we discussed with her well before the wedding day) and that, in the event of inclement weather, we would just implement it without further distracting her on her wedding day. She was able to sit back and enjoy her day without worrying about what to do about the weather and where to put her guests.

* What special advice do you have for outdoor brides in regard to dress, veils, makeup?
If you are planning an outdoor wedding in the summer, and you think it will be hot – wear a light gown so that you do not overheat and sweat unnecessarily (not becoming in photographs). If your dress does have a train, be sure to consider what the ground you will be walking over is like. Is it dirt that will turn your train brown? Is it grass? Is the train heavy enough to where the grass might stain it?

Using an aisle runner can help with this, but, in a windy outdoor setting, if not secured, the runner will come loose. Be sure to solidly secure your aisle runner before the ceremony if your location is windy. Also, consider consulting a professional makeup artist and your photographer about your makeup plans. The shimmer powder that is so popular today can, if applied too liberally, and photographed in sunlight, produce a slight glare in your photographs. You will also want to use makeup that holds up nicely, even if you do sweat (or “glow”) a little. You want you makeup to hold up well during the outdoor sunlit ceremony, and through the reception, without looking caked on or streaking.

If your outdoor location may be slightly windy, opt for a veil that can be secured behind your head before you walk down the aisle (or don’t wear one at all). You do not want your veil floating in front of your face and moving about during the ceremony. A bride (or officiate or bridesmaid or groom) swatting at and moving your veil around during the ceremony does not make for elegant photographs.

* Do you have any special advice for brides which take a boat wedding package in regard to dress, shoes, decorations?
For those brides having a boat wedding, be sure to plan accordingly. It is a good idea to bring along some motion-sickness medication (available over-the-counter), or take some ahead of time if you have a tendency to be affected by repeated motion. If the wedding will be proceeding into the night, be sure to bring a shawl or other decorative piece to help keep you warm. The air is typically colder over water, and as night falls, you may get chilly. You can have an informal or formal wedding on a boat, depending on the time of day and the decor and style of the boat.

For more informal weddings during the daytime you may opt for a gown with a shorter train and veil. For more formal evening weddings, you may choose to wear a more embellished gown with a longer train (be sure the train bustles well for ease of dancing later on) and a longer veil. Whatever style your dress, wear shoes that have the look you want, but that are also comfortable! You will be walking and dancing most of the reception. Another option is to have only the ceremony or only the reception on the boat, while having the remainder of the wedding at your favorite hotel, inn or country club.

Article By Michelle O’Connor
www.SanDiegoWeddingDreams.com
San Diego Weddings and Wedding Packages

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Las Vegas Weddings – Las Vegas Wedding Invitations are Scarce

By | April 5, 2011

Couples getting married at a destination location often want a wedding invitation to match. Couples getting married in Las Vegas are no different. However, vendors for Las Vegas themed invitations are scarce despite Las Vegas being the wedding capital of the world.

Google reports that the search terms like “Las Vegas Wedding Invitations” and “Las Vegas Wedding Announcements” receives over 2,000 clicks a month. Vendors are still scarce despite this. Wholesale invitation companies have included a couple of Las Vegas themed wedding invitations in their collections, but the Las Vegas wedding invitation choices available are slim compared to the other destination themed invitations online. Beach invitations are one example of a destination themed wedding invitation with a lot of options and invitations. Wedding invitation wholesalers often have an entire collection devoted to the beach. A tropical themed invitation is also easy to find among the destination wedding invitations.

Many brides report searching over three months for their perfect Las Vegas wedding invitation, and many of those brides are forced to give up and go to their local retailer for a common invitation with no theme. Unfortunately, Las Vegas wedding invitation vendors do exist, but many couples getting married in Las Vegas don’t know where to find them. These Las Vegas wedding invitation vendors haven’t been around for very long. In fact, most of the Las Vegas wedding invitation companies have been around for less than a year. This is why they are so hard to find.

Oftentimes, Google uses time as a trustworthy aspect. A site that has been number one for the search term “Las Vegas wedding invitations” for ten years, isn’t going to be replaced by a new Las Vegas wedding invitation vendor within a few months. Thus, the search engine optimization and search engine marketing continue for these Las Vegas wedding invitation companies.

Currently on the top of the search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, the top listings for searches like “Las Vegas wedding invitations” and “Las Vegas wedding announcements” go to directory listings for actual brick and mortar shops located in Las Vegas, but have nothing to do with and do not sell Las Vegas themed wedding invitations like many of the couples getting married in Las Vegas are looking for.

Even so, couples getting married in Las Vegas who are looking for Las Vegas themed wedding invitations should not lose hope. Las Vegas wedding invitation Web sites are still chugging along to get number one for the several search terms on the major search engines. They plan on achieving their goal within the next 12 months.