9 month wedding planner for brides

By Betty Among

• Announce your engagement to family and friends
• Choose a wedding Date and a date for traditional obligations.
• Get cost estimates and work on the budget
• Choose a location and reserve your ceremony and reception site
• Compile a list of requirements for the ceremony. These may include blood test results and letter of consent from girl’s parents.
• Select venue and dates for wedding meetings.
• Select a steering committee.
• Begin a rough guest list
• Decide on who you would like to have as your attendants, especially your maid of honour and best man.
• Purchase a wedding planning book or magazine

Six to four months to the wedding

• Begin shopping for brides maid’s dresses
• Order your wedding goen and buy accessories like gloves, shoes and veil as well as undergarment that you will wear with it  (bring these to all fittings).
• Commence pre-marital counseling
• Choose and book service providers like Jewellerly, printer, caterer, cake baker, decorator, transporter and photographer/ video crew.
• Book your honey moon and verify that you have necessary travel documents including passports, Visas and possibly necessary inoculation.
• Book a room for your wedding night, if you will be leaving for your honeymoon the next morning

Four to two months to the wedding
• Make arrangements to move
• Arrange accommodation of out-of-town guests.
• Finalise your guest list an send out invites, this should be between three to four weeks to the wedding day.
• Purchase luggage and other travel necessities and attire for your honeymoon.
• Schedule an appointment with your beautician and hairdresser for facials and trials.

One Month to Go
• Purchase a guest book
• Plan an outing or dinner with your mum, dad, siblings or close friends.
• Plan to your wedding night room.

One week to go
• Contact your caterer with a final guest count.
• Print out a timeline of events for your wedding party and vendors. Incude contact information and mobile phone numbers
• Finalize details with all service providers
• Finalize your reception music and song list/needs.
• Schedule a final dress fitting
• Pack for your new home
• Pick up your wedding gown
• Pack for your honeymoon.

One day to the wedding day.
• Check your honey moon bag and add your toilet bag
• Treat your self to a day of pampering and sheer indulgence. While you’re at it, do your nails and if necessary part of the hairdo.
• Get your matron to pack an emergency kit which consists of
 Make-up
 Extra under wear
 Sanitary towels or pads
 Toilet paper
 Safety pins
 Comb and brush
 Lotion
 Disposable shaver
 Visine (or any eye Whitener)
 Hanky or tissues
 Needle and thread
 Scissors and razor baldes
 Painkillers, magnesium , anti running tummy, pills and band aid
 Snacks like Pringles
 Breath minths
 Bottled water
 Plus Whatever else you feel would come in handy for you

Steps Taken in Drafting a Wedding Budget

By Alexa Ondra

After the fairly dust has settled and the fact that you’re engaged to the most wonderful person in the world, there is now need to sit down to set some financial parameters and form a wedding budget.

There are ten most common steps when forming a budget and these include:

Step 1: Have a real long chat with your partner. Discuss what kind of wedding you both want, your dreams, visions, indoor or outdoor, laid back, buffet among others.

Step 2: Make a list of what you’ll need. Each wedding is different but if you want a standard wedding, get the budget from friends who have been there, or wedding meeting minutes to see the list. You don’t have to follow it though, feel free to create your own traditions.

Step 3: Priotise this list. What means the most to you? Is the cake more important to you than music? Select what you want to be handled first.

Step 4: If you’re not fully funding your own wedding and introduction ceremony, meet with friends and or Key friends to get a picture of what they are willing to contribute. Be nice even if they are not contributing financially.

Step 5: Analyse your own finances. How much do you have available or how much can you make available in the near future without going broke? Bear in mind that average Ugandan wedding costs sh15m and above.

Step 6: Come up with a cash plan to raise what you need whether on a personal note or from friends.

Step 7: Start vendor window shopping. Compare prices and do a full background check using other couple’s experiences.

Step 8: Go back to the drawing board; compare estimated costs versus real costs found and adjust accordingly or re-plan.

Step 9: Appoint a finance manager specifically for the wedding incase you are poor at financial management. It has to be a trustworthy person with a knack for accounts.

Step 10: Review your budget after purchases every two days to make sure you’re on track.

How To Look Beautiful on Your Wedding Day

By Julie Ndagire

It is every bride’s dream to look her Most beautiful on the special day but as we all know, weddings come with a lot of preparations like choosing a decorator, caterer, venue etc and so if one doesn’t have a wedding planner, it is easy to forget yourself until it is too late.
Do you want to get in shape? Do you know what hairstyle you want? What abot the make-up? Take time to plan for your beauty regimen ahead of time so that you look your greatest on your wedding day. Make a time table.

6 months to go
Start exercising, jog three times a day, eat right, go to the gym twice for aerobics classes.
It is around this time that you should visit a skin care specialist especially if you have problems with your skin.

3 months to the Wedding
If you want glowing skin on your special day, start a good cleansing, toning and moisturizing routine. You should start at this time to have monthly facials. It is advisable for the bride to get at least four facials before the big day.

If you haven’t got a hairdresser by this time, you should start looking at potential salons. You also need to book in advance because with the number of people getting married these days, you may have to book months before to avoid disappointments. Most salons require 50% deposit on booking.

You should also chose a make-up artist at this time and try on the make-up you want to use on your wedding day.

1 month to the wedding
This is the time to make the final decisions on hairstyles and make-up.

2 weeks to the wedding
Get your final hair cut. No more experimenting at this stage. Continue to eat right, load up vegetables, fruits and reduce on sweets and fatty foods.
Drink lots of water to re-hydrate your skin even as you make last preparations for the rest of the wedding ceremony. Continue to exfoliate and moisturize.
Confirm appointments with your salon and make-up person.

1 week to the wedding
Get a bikini line and underarm wax. Do not drink too much at the Kasiki or any other parties before the wedding because alcohol can have lasting effects on your skin.

Day before the wedding
Drink lots of water
Get a final facial, a professional pedicure and manicure, Take a long, relaxing bath. Get your hair washed and treated.

On Your wedding day
Arrive early at the salon to give the glamour squad enough time to work on your and your bridal entourage.

Wedding Cakes

There are various types of wedding cakes one can opt for. Chocolate, rosy flowered, castles, fruit shaped among others.
Below are some shapes of wedding cakes

Rossy-wedding-Cake

Castle-Shaped-wedding -Cake

Flowerly-Wedding-Cake

Lady shaped wedding  Cake

simple white wedding cake

How to Trim Your Wedding Invitation List

Balancing your budget against your buddies is painful, but it is essential to trim the fat so that you do not go mad on account of happiest day of your life.

The main rule about cutting the list is not necessarily cut by name, but by having objective standard for inclusion or exclusion. For example you could decide: “No children or dates invited.”

Here are suggestions on how to cut the list;
• First make you’re A- list which consists of all essentials, i.e. the people who must be there
• Next, make the B-list which contains of not very essential, but sort of essential people like coworkers.
• Decide whether or not you will invite children.
• Ask single people not to bring dates.
• Do not invite people simply to reciprocate for invitations or gifts that they’ve given to you.
• Cut out anyone you haven’t spoken to in a number of years
• Cut all co-workers you do not socialize with outside of work
• Cut the heavy drinkers or those prone to mannerlessness and any anti-social behaviour

Thing to note down
In the face of excitement, many a bride /groom casually invites the world to their wedding; be careful you might be careful you might be brewing an emotional storm, an economic meltdown or both.

Be flexible in the early wedding planning stages. You might find that your essential guest list is smaller or bigger than you’d expected. This will affect other wedding planning decisions.

Don’t think that small weddings are boring. One of the most memorable weddings I’ve ever been to had only 60 guests but the joy that filled that tiny house was all we needed to forever cherish their day.

How to do your make up on Your Wedding Day

On your wedding day, it is of utmost importance that you look prim and proper. Now you and i both know that applying make up isn't just a piece of cake. A couple of basics must be known, lest you look like an Indian doll( no offense) on your wedding day. We thought of a few tips that we hope will come in handy...
Finding Foundation
In general, foundation that has yellow undertones is the most flattering, but if you have very dark skin, a foundation with a slight blue cast works best. If you have medium-toned skin, choose a foundation with a red-yellow hue. And if you have light skin, look for a soft golden shade.

Pick Three
There may be variances in undertone on different parts of your face so it's a good idea to have three foundation shades -- light, medium, and dark -- on hand to allow for the different gradations of color. Many African-American women are darker across the brow and chin, and slightly lighter on the cheeks. Use the light foundation as your under-eye concealer and to lighten a dark forehead or chin area. Use the medium foundation as your all-over color to correct spots of varied pigmentation. Use the dark foundation to even out the lightest areas of your face. You can also experiment with a bronzing stick to bring down the lighter tones of your face.

Getting Cheeky
The key with blush is to avoid anything that looks ashy or pale on your skin. Lighter skin tones look pretty and most natural in dark bronzers, though apricot, rose, and soft pink also work well. Medium to dark skin tones look best with deep blush hues like dark rose, currant, and plum.

The lips
In general, the darker your skin tone, the darker you can go with your lip color. Burgundy and blackberry are beautiful on dark skin. Women with medium skin tones look pretty in currant or red, and those with light skin look best in low-voltage neutrals and glosses. If your bottom lip is paler than your top lip, you can even them out by applying a sheer, dark lipstick to your lower lip as a base, then sweeping the same lipstick over both lips.
If you want to have very full lips lips that don't require too much enhancement, avoid bright, attention-getting colors and stick to quiet, flattering shades instead, like caramel and soft brown. Perfect for kissing the groom!

By Wedding Bells

Bridal Shopping - How to go about it.

 There is no doubt that shopping for your wedding is one of the best parts of being a bride.                                                                     You get a chance to get to see and try on beautiful things that you always thought were just for lucky few.  In addition, you get to turn into reality that dream you have always harboured about your Wedding look.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Whereas you may be torn between incorporating some of the ideas that you picked from observing others brides and getting ready made attire, you need to sit down and, taking your budget into account, decide what will make your day as beautiful and memorable as you want it to be .                                                                      

Once that is taken care of, the next thing to find out where to get each item that will make you the centerpiece of the wedding.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 If you are going for a gown and changing dress that is tailored to your size and taste, you will need                                                                                                  to search for fabric .These are has many as the new arcades in the city. All the more reason for you to be clear about the colour and material you want before setting out.                                                                                                             

With the exception of bold brides, who may want different colours for their gowns, most brides go for bridal scheme by adding detailing in that colour. This could be in form of flowers, ribbon and decorative stones.                                                                                                                                                                   

For harmony ‘s sake, be sure to go shopping with  your maids so they can chose their fabric with what you want in mind. In addition when you go with your maids, there is a high likelihood you will get a discount from buying in bulk.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

There is a variety of materials at shops Queen Mary, Fair Lady Textile, Anky Designers, Shina Collections, Smart Textiles, The palm house, Betuco Uganda Limited, Tailor’s Friend Emporium and JML Bridal Center.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Depending on the material, a meter of bridal white costs about sh13,000 while off-white will cost  you sh 15,000. For your maids’ outfits, you may have to spend between sh 5,000 and sh15,000 per metre, depending on the material. Having the dresses tailored will cost between sh40,000 and sh 120,000 depending on design and tailor.

Body fitting gowns cost more as they require a lot of time and care to cut and stitch while ballroom designs cost less to stitch while ballroom designs cost less to put together, although they take up a lot of material.

However, if time is not on your side, you could buy a ready made gown and changing dress. A gown costs between sh600,000 and 1.8m. A visit to bridal paradise, Today’s bridal, Hossana Bridal Center, Lady charlotte, D2i Designs, Best bridal, Kim’ bridal and Roheel Jeweller will give you a variety of gowns to choose from. For a changing dress that will get everyone talking visit stop n’ shop, Sisters’ boutique, Bill and Bobby, Islander boutique, D2i designs. The prices range between sh100,000 and sh800,000.

Ever heard of the saying; “proper prior planning prevents pathetically poor performance?” Most Ugandans are guilty of last-minute booking with no planning at all. This creates a headache for both the couple and the travel agents. Start planning your honeymoon along with your wedding.

Set a budget. Decide whether you would like to spend more on the wedding or  the honeymoon. How much money can you spend on the honeymoon? Remember it is possible to be in a particular location but choose the 5-star, 4-star or 3-star option.

Decide what type of honeymoon to take. This is purely based on your personalities. Are you adventurous? Are you the type that prefers to be left alone? Are you water-loving? The choice is yours.  

Seek advice from a travel agency. The world of tour and travel even within your own country is complex beyond your imagination. Things like connecting flights are best done by the pros else you end up spending four hours in transit while an agency would have sorted you better. With your budget and ideal vacation in mind, take your ideas and talk them over with a travel agent. A good agent should be able to produce a number of options that will be tailored to your preferences and your budget.

Research your destination before sealing the deal: The internet, the tourist board or travel agency can provide you with information. Check out activity ideas and whether.

Know the logistics before you go. Know the distance between your hotel and all the other attractions you plan on visiting during your honeymoon. Check out hotel amenities.

Find out about necessary vaccinations or disease endemic to your preferred area for honeymooning. Visas, taxes, know it all.

Let everyone know you are on honeymoon. Hotel staff, restaurateurs and drivers should all be informed of the special occasion for your trip. Do not be shy, because divulging this information often results in special discounts, treatment or gifts.