First, you need to decide on a location. If you’re staying local, you will want to check on fees and/or guidelines for having a wedding ceremony.

Next, you want to check with the providers in your area, i.e., photographer, caterer, DJ, rental companies for chairs, tents, etc. It’s important to make sure that the photographer you choose won’t mind spending the day at the beach or that the caterer has no problems bringing the food to the beach. Your minister or person performing the ceremony will also have to be chosen. Depending on the location, clergy sometimes have restrictions on distance, or they may charge extra to perform a ceremony on the beach.

Now, let’s take a look at your guest list. Will your beach wedding be accessible to all of your family and friends? Will everyone be able to reach the destination, will anyone need special accommodations, and will they be comfortable?

What about your dress? When planning a beach wedding, you may not want to wear a long white gown with an expansive train unless you plan to change immediately after the ceremony. Think about it. You’re going to be out in the hot sun all day, so you may want to choose light material or even perhaps something a little less formal. Think about your bridesmaids and the groom’s attire as well.

Now, the next thing you need to do is pray for wonderful weather on your special day and have a back up plan in case the odds are not in your favor.

If you’d like more tips and suggestions when planning your “I do’s,” have a look at the Beach Wedding Guide to help made your day a memorable one.

Whether you’re the main attraction (groom) or a trusty sidekick (groomsmen), wedding days call for men to look their best. And even if your wedding is a thing of the past, you’ve always got anniversaries to deal with. Here are some men’s grooming tips to handle both the wedding and everything that comes after (or any formal event you are invited to).

Grooming Tips for Men

• Looking good takes some work and time, so begin a basic skin care routine of cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing early to get the greatest results. Once a day (or twice if you have oily skin), wash with a liquid cleanser to remove debris and clear pores. Follow with a high-performance moisturizing product to keep skin smooth, hydrated and looking great. Two to three times a week, exfoliate with a face scrub to remove dead skin cells and improve skin’s surface.

• If you’ve never spent time on a skin care routine before, consider purchasing a kit that contains all of the products you will need to get started. It takes the guesswork out of figuring out what products to use for what (and can make excellent groomsmen gifts, too!).

• Treat individual problems, such as under-eye circles, fine lines and acne, with products specifically formulated for them.

• For superior shaving without irritations like ingrown hairs, use products that are gentle and don’t contain irritants such as fragrance, menthol or alcohol. Avoid foamy products, as these do not lubricate skin adequately. Change your blade after 4-5 uses to keep from going over the same place more than once due to a dull blade. If possible, shave in the shower as the steamy air will open pores and allow hairs to be shaved closely.

• For super-smooth shaving the day of the big event, skip shaving the day before and then shave in two steps: First, shave with the grain with very light pressure. Second, reapply a thin coat of shaving cream and shave against the grain for smooth results.

• Regularly wash your hair with a gentle shampoo that will remove dirt without stripping away natural moisturizers. Make sure to get a haircut or trim a few days before the wedding or anniversary, but don’t opt for a new style the day before since this could turn out to be a disaster.

• Nails & Hands: With all the hand-shaking and hand-holding going on, it’s a good idea to make sure nails are clean and trim, and hands are moisturized and free of grime. Why not splurge for a manicure? More and more men, from businessmen to movies stars, are getting them these days, and trust us: Sparkly polish will not be involved.

• Wedding and event planning begins months, and sometimes years, ahead of time, so take advantage of the wait by getting fit with a nutritious diet and a regular exercise routine.

• Don’t stink up the place: Make sure to wear deodorant. Keep breath mints handy for those slow dances.

• Some wedding experts recommend men skip cologne at weddings, citing the fact that there will already be a lot of perfume in the air, as well as scent from the flowers. If you choose to wear cologne, keep the scent light and the application to a minimum.

• For anniversaries, gifts don’t have to be elaborate or expensive. Plan a getaway weekend somewhere, even if it’s only two towns away. Book a spa appointment for the two of you and spend a day relaxing. Or instead of an expensive dinner, try revisiting a place you ate at when you first started going out, or a place you two have always wanted to try. The point is to celebrate your marriage any way you see fit.

As brides get more and more creative in planning their weddings, locations weddings are becoming more and more popular. Although this might result in a smaller guest list, it can also result in some fun opportunities for activities.

Many brides like to have their weddings seaside, so they move the festivities to a beach locale, either on their local coast or somewhere more exotic like Jamaica or the Bahamas. In any event, there are several activities that can be planned around this theme. If the wedding is also a weekend event where guests will be around for more than just the wedding, the bride can plan a sailing excursion. Charter a boat for a day and bring your guests out on the water to relax, rejuvenate, and perhaps enjoy a meal.

If the wedding is in the Caribbean, how about a cooking demonstration? The bride and groom can arrange for the wedding guests to enjoy a complimentary cooking demonstration put on by the hotel or a local cook. Since much of the food the guests eat while visiting for the wedding will be different than what they eat at home, they might enjoy learning how to prepare it for home enjoyment.

Say the wedding is in Hawaii, another popular destination wedding location. Here, you can plan several activities around the location. For example, what about a luau? This could even take the place of a more formal or conventional sit-down rehearsal dinner.

In Hawaii, guests will enjoy a hula lesson. Depending on the age of your guests, be sure there is enough time between the wedding and the lesson for the resting of aching bones, in case there are any.

At the wedding itself, there are many ways to incorporate the location into the ceremony itself. At a beachside reception, you can play “pass the shell”, where a large shell is passed around and guests “listen” for some advice from the other world. Once they get a piece of advice (really something they think of themselves) they share it with the bride and groom, either verbally, or it can be written into a book for the couple.

Other pre-wedding activities can include guided tours, shopping excursions and wine tasting activities (if applicable). If you choose to include any of these activities keep in mind that the bride and groom (or their families) are expected to pay for the bulk of them. If you arrange a sailing excursion, for example, you are expected to pick up the tab for the trip. Do not tell people ahead of time that the activity will be x dollars. It’s likely that won’t sit well with them.

Since one of the great benefits of the destination wedding is that only your closest friends and family will likely surround you, you can plan some meaningful activities that you wouldn’t plan if the wedding were a larger event. For example, you might plan a slumber party night with close friends that includes movies, popcorn and drinks in your hotel room, villa or cottage, depending on where the wedding is held.

Of course, if you plan a destination wedding, for some people this might double as their vacation. In that event, you might not want to schedule too many activities but instead let people find their own activities and entertainment both before and after the wedding.

A wedding is the perfect time to celebrate and to give a unique and memorable gift. A wedding is without exception the best and perhaps the biggest event in a couples life. There are a few other great gift occasions like a new baby but today we will talk about the wedding gift.  Here are a few tips and ideas for gift giving pre wedding and on the wedding day.

Engagement party gifts

For some an engagement party is a great way to tell the family and friends of the great event about to come to the engaged couple. This can just be a party without gifts but for the most part friends know or the engagement and bring gifts to the party. The gifts are sometimes gag gifts but sometimes a friend will bring a very meaningful gift as well. If you keep the party very informal then will not be obligated to bring gifts. The more formal the party then most likely gifts will arrive. Remember that any gift you receive  at the engagement party should be reciprocated with a nice Thank you note.

Wedding Gifts

Wedding Gifts can be brought to the wedding or sent out after receiving the invitation to the wedding. You may want to check and see if the couple has registered on a gift registry first. Many couples don’t so you can talk to the family and see what the couple could use as they just start out. Many new young couples need almost everything a new home could use. I personally would stay away from the flat grill as many couples get two or three of them. The point is talk to someone in the wedding party that knows what the couple could use and buy the wedding gift based on personality and love.

Wedding Shower

Over the years the wedding showers have start to become a bride and groom affair. This is where the bridal shower gift can be very small and casual or big and elaborate. As before it depends on the invitation sent out as to how formal it is. A great Shower party is one full of friends and family and a time to reflect over the couple’s lives before the big wedding day. Many wedding showers have a theme to them. Usually the friends put together a Hawaiian night or a night related to the couple’s personality. You can even at this point extent the theme to the food and entertainment.

Rehearsal Dinner

Just before the wedding Day the couple gets together with the bridesmaids and groomsmen for a rehearsal dinner. This is a perfect time to exchange gifts from the bride and groom to the bridesmaids and groomsmen. This is a Thank You gift and great care should be taken in the choosing of this gift.  The gift should be from the heart and if possible personalised in some way this makes the gift more memorable to the bridal party for years to come. Sometimes the wedding party will give a gift to the bride and groom as a just starting out gift.

Wedding Day Favours and gifts

The day of the wedding is here and as at many weddings now days the bride and groom have prepare a small gift or wedding favour for all their guests. This small gift is optional and is only for showing your appreciation of your guest and your way of saying Thank You for coming to our wedding. You can give this small gift to each couple or to each guest this is totally up to you. Some wedding couples spend allot on this favour but many keep it affordable and within the budget. You can find many traditional wedding favours but this is a great time to try a new trend and go with a gift that is relative to your personalities and your guest will find memorable.

The point in gifts for the wedding is that every gift you choose for all the different parts of the wedding should be heartfelt and chosen with love. Only in selecting your gifts this way will your wedding event be truly memorable for you and your guest.

Of the number of women who are getting engaged and married today, 45% are using the environmentally friendly method of tying the knot. This has been reported as the results of a survey conducted online by a 2009 Internet survey conducted by David’s Bridal. Not exactly a statistic yet, the latest in trends is expected to continue and caterers, florists, Djs, honeymoon vacation spots and drivers as well as the wedding planner are becoming more green aware.

When one considers there are approximately 2.5 million nuptials exchanged each year, the current trend is that a small amount are going green by the evidence of the trash from one single wedding. The green wedding have at least one thing in common when it comes to conserving the earth’s resources and that is the reduction of trash.

Green – Why for Weddings?

The dream wedding can produce about 200 tons of CO2 per wedding and even the simplest wedding will produce about 110 tons.

Green wedding are considered to be an omen of the way the bride and groom will live later. This also has an effect on the guests at the wedding as well as the family members. Everyone there will have more of an understanding of how to accomplish going green. This can be a great wedding subject of the guest and set the example for how to go green at home thus preserving and respecting the wonder of nature all around us.

The best way of saving money at a wedding is to plan a green wedding. The engagement ring and the wedding ring do not have to be brand new. Heirloom diamonds passed down through the family will work. Checking at your local thrift store or an estate sale can allow the couple to exchange old fashioned rings during their wedding. There are many rings that are gorgeous that can be purchased this way and save you a good deal of money.

At what point do you begin to plan a green wedding?

Those who are fashion conscious and money savvy as well as those conscious of going green will allow the leftovers from their wedding to be donated to shelters for battered and abused women and children. They will plant trees as a tribute to the wedding, their new found relatives and the guests who have come to enjoy their special day. Instead of gifts they ask that the wedding guests make a contribution to their favorite charity in honor of their wedding.

Use garden flowers and wildflowers as the wedding décor and for the bouquets.

Just as you were taught when you were a child, if you go camping or anywhere else you go, leave the area as if you have never been there, the green wedding is the same as a clean wedding. The celebration should not leave tell-tale signs of your celebration for others to clean up. From the engagement to the honeymoon clean should be the motto.

The wedding invitations do not have to be made of paper. There are websites, for instance evite.com, theknot.com and weddingwindow.com that are online invitations created and sent as well.

Green wedding gifts:

* Have no “blood diamonds”.
* Decrease their carbon footprint when the wedding is over.
* Can be helpful donations to various causes as a remembrance of their wedding.
* Are not as luxurious as others.
* Are more energy efficient.

In general those who choose green nuptials and honeymoons will be showing that they respect the environment and they will have less expense than others across the nation.