Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Love at High Price

Apparently Kim Kardashian's latest engagement ring, given to her by her third potential husband, is a 15 carat emerald cut diamond. Elizabeth Taylor’s engagement ring given to her by Michael Todd, also her third husband, was a 29.4 carat emerald cut diamond. I guess the difference is three, four, five million dollars - give or take one or two or three.

For those of you who are thinking of entering the engagement ring game, here’s a few things you should be thinking about taken from my latest book, ‘Celebrating Love’s Special Moments’.

Although one can’t put a price on love, but must put a price on the ring, the couple should decide what they can afford before they ever enter a jewellery store. Many foolish gestures have been made by lovers who couldn’t resist the pleadings of the beloved when faced with a ring that was ten times more expensive than they could afford. Unscrupulous sales assistants play on the embarrassment of a person who wants to say ‘no’, but at the same time fears to appear cheap or mean in front of the one they love.

Mind you, if at this stage one partner begins to feel that the other partner is uncomfortably and unexpectedly careful about money, or, contrariwise, has no regard for money at all, it could be that first hint that the partners might not be quite as compatible as they thought. If they search their hearts honestly now they avoid throwing that Separation Party in the future.

Apart from looking at the stone, which hopefully won’t need to be done with a magnifying glass, the next consideration will be the setting and the band. This will be either gold, silver or platinum. Silver, being more plentiful than gold, is cheaper but does not wear as well as gold. Platinum, another white metal, is stronger than gold, but a lot more expensive.

If the partners are comfortable with the idea that their engagement is leading them directly to the alter and is not a probationary period, the wedding ring will be chosen at the same time. It will ensure that the designs match, that the bands are narrow enough to sit comfortably on the finger, and that the metals are both equally durable and not likely to wear down by constantly rubbing against each other.

From ‘Celebrating Love’s Special Moments,’ by Vlady M Peters. Includes Wedding Reception, Pre-wedding parties, Honeymoon, House Blessing, Separation, Retirement, Empty Nest etc.

 

Smashwords Edition






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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Baby Certificates with a Theme

When I conduct baby naming ceremonies I make a feature of handing out the certificates to people directory involved in the ceremony.

I call each one in turn to come out to receive the certificate while encouraging all the guests to take photographs of the recipient with the baby.

I usually begin with the person furtherest from the baby in terms of relationship and end with the closest.

This could be the the Great, Great Aunts, followed by Grand Parents, the Godparents, baby's brothers and sisters, and lastly the baby.

I have made one of my most popular certificate into a theme package, appropriately based on baby angels.

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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Royal Wedding Gifts

Gifts seem to mean a great deal more when times are tough.

When in 1947, just two years after World War 11, Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, decided to get married, one of the problems facing the Princess was her wedding outfit.

As the potential monarch of England, Princess Elizabeth was expected to put on a royal show on her wedding day despite the bleak economic outlook of the country which affected her as much as anybody else.

Fortunately, even governments seem to get a little sentimental at the mention of a wedding. To make a bride feel special during this period of recovery, each bride received two extra clothing coupons on top of their yearly 36 coupons. In the case of Princess Elizabeth, it was extra two hundred coupons.

But while in this case it was the Princess who received the gift, in 1914, during the first World War, it was a Princess who did the giving.

Princess Mary, 17 year old daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, organised an appeal to raise funds so that every Sailor and every Soldier received a gift at Christmas.

The gift consisted of a tin filled with various items including tobacco, sweets. spices, pencils, a Christmas card and a picture of the princess.

The tin itself, in which these gifts were packed, was made of brass, 5" long by 3¼" wide by 1¼" deep with a hinged lid. Embossed on the lid was the profile portrait of Princess Mary surrounded with a wreath.

Around the lid is a border with ‘Imperium Britannicum’ scripted on the top and ‘Christmas 1914’ down the bottom. In the corners between decorations of flags, ships and weapons, are names of Britain's allies.
Princess Mary's Christmas Gift 1914


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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Celebrating Love’s Special Moments

There are times when couples are thinking of getting married, but feel that time is not quite yet. There are also times when legal reasons make marriage impossible.

On the other hand there are couples who love each other enough to set up a home together, but find they just can’t get around to make their commitment a legal one. They fall. into a state universally known as “procrastination”. Because it takes some effort to actually get married they choose to do nothing at all.

To simply do it by easy stages these couples go through the Commitment Ceremony to tell each other that marriage is definitely on their agenda - just in case one of them loses heart and becomes restless.

There are also couples who start living together because they may be too young to get married, or they may feel that they need to get to know each other better before making their commitment a legal one. They may continue to go on like this for years, effectively stopping their partner from looking elsewhere.

As time goes by one may become quite eager to get married and start a family. The other one may continuously find reasons why the marriage should be postponed for just a little longer.

This is often a subtle hint that the partner is not ready for a life time commitment; and, quite often, will never be ready in this particular relationship. Suggesting a commitment ceremony to such a reluctant partner may force an honest examination of his or her feelings. The result may be a decision to break up. In the long run  this may be the kindest and wisest thing to do, especially if partners are no longer young and can’t afford five or six years of marking time.

A Commitment is celebrated in the same spirit as the Renewal of Vows. Because it is one of the newest additions to the ceremonies of love, the couple are free to choose a ceremony and setting, its method of celebration, that truly reflects their own feelings and aspirations.
Based on my book
CELEBRATING LOVE'S SPECIAL MOMENTS





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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Choosing a Wedding Day - the Easy Way

Couple who want a Wedding Day that’s kind to their budget will choose

a.    The less popular wedding season

b.    The less popular month

c.    Week-day rather than the week-end


The sentimental bride and groom might choose for their Wedding Day

a.    The Anniversary of their first meeting

b.    The Anniversary of the wedding proposal or engagement

c.    St. Valentine’s Day

The bride and groom who are thinking practicalities will choose

a.    School holidays to accommodate their own or the guests’ children

b.    Long week-end to accommodate guests who will be travelling

c.    Time when self-employed relatives or friends can get away most easily from their work commitments

The couple who want to get as many of their relatives and friends to attend will choose

a.    New Years’ Day

b.    Christmas Day

c.    Other significant public or cultural holidays when relatives and friends tend to gather to celebrate

For these and other hints on how to plan your wedding day, check out my book
'1,000+ Answers to Your Wedding Questions'
on Smashwords or Amazon

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Saturday, October 5, 2013

Can a Honeymoon be Boring?

Although in the midst of wedding planning, couples can hardly believe that a honeymoon could ever become boring, even the rich and famous, with all their choices, have found a honeymoon just that.

Styled as the romance of the century, the wedding day and the honeymoon of Duke of Windsor - King of England from 20th January to 11th December 1936 - did not live to its expectations.

It started off with an unexpectedly quiet wedding as the majority of guests declined the invitation to attend.

The honeymoon was even quieter.

After an obligatory tour of Venice and Milan, the couple settled for three months in the Carinthian Mountains, in Austria.

Their honeymoon home was Castle Wasserloenburg, a fifteenth century castle reportedly inhabited by the restless spirit of the ‘Bluebeard Duchess’. Not to be confused with the French fairytale ‘Blue Beard’ by Charles Perault, and the Hungarian one-act opera ‘Bluebeard's Castle’ by Bartok, apparently in this castle it was the lady who kept track of disobedient husbands.

As the honeymoon consisted of walking or hiking the new wife seems to soon tire of it. She spent hours writing letters. Quite a few to her ex husband. What could she have said? ‘Wish you were here’?
Taken from my book
'Honeymoon! A Sizzle or a Fizzle?'



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Thursday, October 3, 2013

The high and lows of wedding costs

Anyone reading the Sunday Mail recently would have been shocked to learn that the average cost of a wedding in Australia is estimated at $50,000. Especially when we realise that many first marriages don’t even last ten years.

However, like all statistics this one is only somewhat right. There seems to have been a number of studies on wedding costs, and Sunday Mail has only got part of the story.

According to one survey, only the upmarket average weddings cost $50,000 and more. The average wedding in Australia costs only around $21,000.

Around 60% of weddings cost between $10,000 and $20,000.

And the other good news is that the older you marry the less likely you are to divorce. If you’ve married before reaching 29 years of age, take care. Statistics are against you.

If you’ve over 29 and still single, count yourself lucky. Your marriage, when it does happen, might be one of those ‘happily ever after’

To plan that $50,000 or $$20,000 or even that $200 barbeque wedding in the back yard, check out my great wedding planning book at Smashwords or Amazon.




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