Next year, the budget concious in Hong Kong can choose to have their wedding reception held at McDonalds.

More info and pictures over at CNN.

Wedding Guide SA will be there so sing out if your going past we’d love to say hi.

WHEN: 30 & 31 October 2010
WHERE: Ridley Centre, Adelaide Showgrounds
TIME: 10am – 5pm

It’s the most special event you will ever plan, so be inspired by the best! With so many options available to the modern bride, organising a wedding can be time consuming and confusing.

The Bridal Ideas Expo takes the headache out of planning and offers a fun and informative environment to explore the latest in bridal services, locate the ideal local suppliers that suit your needs and get some fabulous ideas for your big day.

An exciting and time saving way to plan your wedding, while being inspired by bridal ideas and trends you never knew existed!

Competitions

The main competition of the show is the Ultimate Wedding Package – make sure you enter to win your dream day paid for!

Fasion Parades

One of the highlights at the expo will be the Spring Bridal Ideas Fashion Parades.
Be syre to catch one – 11:30, 1:30 & 3:30 on both days.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED

At Spring Bridal Ideas there’s everything from invitation suppliers, dance instructors and florists to venues, shoes and gift registry!

For more information visit www.eee.net.au

Oh, and you get get a couple of dollars off the entry fee with this Special Entry Discount Offer.

This gives you many options when choosing your reception venue and provides you with lots of inspiration for the theme of your wedding depending on the location you choose.

For wine lovers nothing could be more perfect than holding your wedding day at a winery in McLaren Vale, the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley or the Adelaide Hills. A winery is a romantic setting for an elegant wedding with fantastic function facilities and plenty of great wines.

Wineries are usually located in areas where there is plenty of space and natural ambience. Wineries, such as Glen Ewin Estate in the Adelaide Hills, also provide a spectacular setting for your wedding photos. You could even arrange a bottle of wine for guests as your bomboniere!

Golf courses are another great option for beautiful scenery and the option to have your ceremony and reception all in once place. Grange Golf Club offers fantastic packages which include everything from food and beverages to decorations and the views over the golf course are amazing.

If you’re more of a beach person you are spoilt for choice with beautiful beaches across South Australia. There are also various reception venues located near the beach such as The Shores Function Complex at West Beach and the Oak Plaza Pier Hotel at Glenelg. You can incorporate the beach setting into your wedding theme from the colours of your bridesmaids dresses through to your table centrepieces.

Check out the reception venues listed in the Wedding Directory for some more great ideas.

If you’ve got any great stories or suggestions for Weddings in South Australia add your comments below.

Akimbo is great at producing unique designs that carry a theme through from invitations to table cards and thankyou notes. Some great little bomboniere too!

Our favourite was the Old School range that the designer, Alicia Parsons originally designed for her engagement party.

You can check out more of Alicia’s designs over at Akimbo.

Micaela’s Polka Dot Wedding Dress

Pat and George Georgiou, designer and owners of Alexis George are proud parents to induct the first photos of their daughter Micaela for our Real Brides Album on our website. Can one imagine the difficulty of a designer having to design the perfect wedding dress for their daughter? Micaela is such a beautiful individual and she came back home with so many tattoos after falling in love with Dan, a tattooist from the famous LONDON INK. So it didn’t feel right for her to have a traditional wedding dress.

Micaela soon fell in love with a polka dot fabric she found online. Pat eventually warmed to the idea, and collectively we searched high and low for the ideal polka dot, until there was only one option… to handpaint the perfect-sized polka dots on dupion pale pink silk in their workshop (at the back of their store).

Pat and George were relieved when Micaela succumbed to adding Pat’s beloved frothy tulle (a tiny truly ‘bridal’ touch) in the train. It was a mad rush until the last to get everything ready for the first wedding in the family. Micaela later changed her wedding dress to a fun, light yellow polka dot cocktail dress during the festivities.

If you love Micaela’s wedding dress style, Alexis George have the ivory version available in store or you take a look at some of their other great gowns here or their new website.

There are so many different songs that may or may not work. You’ve been through your collection of music and still can’t decide what song suits both you and your partner? We’ve put together a little list that may help you out…

• Just Like Heaven – The Cure
• Everybody Here Wants You – Jeff Buckley
• Florence & The Machine – Lungs
• Here, There and Everywhere – The Beatles
• This Is Love - PJ Harvey
• Use Somebody – Kings of Leon
• Today - Smashing Pumpkins
• Meeting In The Aisle - Radiohead
• You’re My Best Friend – Queen
• Love lost – The Temper Trap
• Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
• These Are My People – Rodney Atkins
• All I Want Is You – U2
• Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
• Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
• You’ve got the love – Florence & the Machine
• Hoppipolla – Sigur Ros
• Diamonds On The Inside – Ben Harper
• Dreams – Van Halen
• Fly Me to the Moon - Groove Armada
• Everlong – Foo Fighters
• Friday I’m In Love – The Cure
• Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
• Have I Told You Lately – Van Morrison
• Into My Arms – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
• I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra
• Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
• Guess I’m Falling in Love – The Velvet Underground
• The Prettiest Star – David Bowie
• Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney
• November Rain – Guns & Roses
• One – U2
• Please – Pete Murray
• Praise You – Fatboy Slim
• “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” – Stevie Wonder
• Someone Like You – Van Morrison
• The More I See You – Michael Buble
• The Way You Look Tonight – Frank Sinatra
• This Old Love – Lior
• Together Forever – The Beatles
• When A Man Love A Woman – Marvin Gaye

Let us know of any others that you think should be on this list and we’ll add them to our next list.

Since we put this out we’ve had a few other suggestions that were pretty funny such as this “Wonka’s Grand Entrance” that the groom would probably be better of tackling, but it would be sure to get a laugh that’s for sure.

It takes a while for the finish but it’s worth it.

Has anyone got any interesting or funny Wedding Entrances that they’ve heard of or seen?

Here is what they have to say about the day…

Take the opportunity to view the magnificent Glen Ewin Estate and meet top wedding professionals in one location. Come and chat with the people who know the business inside out, showcasing their services and products.

We have two fabulous venues The Pulpshed and The Gatehouse which cater for all styles of wedding receptions from smaller intimate gatherings to the very large. Our Pulpshed was voted Best Function Centre by the SA Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence.

The Gatehouse is our stunning new venue with a large deck overlooking the water with wonderful views across the property. This venue also incorporates the very enjoyable cellar door facility where we represent 14 Adelaide Hills wineries where our guests enjoy gourmet pizzas, soups, and cheese platters with a glass or two of these wonderful wines.

The Pulpshed is a venue that needs to be seen to be believed. A rustic venue of Baltic pine and jarrah sitting adjacent the beautiful lawns, lake with its weeping Willow’s and 150 year old stone Homestead  as well as the surrounding stone wine cellars with wonderful photo opportunities for all bridal parties.

Both venues will have tables set to showcase what can be done in either venue by way of table decorations, chair covers as well as live music, Adelaide’s leading photographers, wedding cake makers, lighting and decor specialist’s, celebrants, wine makers and much more all in one location to ensure all your wedding needs at Glen Ewin Estate are catered for in true style.

Please call or email to express your interest. T: 8380 5657 F: 8380 5591 E: emma@glenewinestate.com.au

Please visit www.glenewinestate.com.au for more information and photos.

*Canapes supplied by D & G Catering our exclusive catering partner who will be your wedding chefs.  This is a wonderful opportunity to meet the chefs and try some of the food that would form part of your wedding menu. Please note canapes available 11.30am to 1.00pm and then 2.00pm to 3.00pm.

Glen Ewin Estate have just listed their reception venues on Wedding Guide SA.

You can take a look at their profiles here – The Pulpshed and The Gatehouse to get details and directions.

Image by Alexis George Bridal

Before you try dresses on, browse through bridal magazines and websites and keep pictures of all the dresses you like. Take these along with you when trying on dresses to give shop assistants an idea of what you are looking for.

When you start dress shopping try on lots and lots as you will not know how a dress will look until you see it on you. The dress you love in photos may not flatter you and a dress that looks like nothing you’d ever wear could turn out to be amazing.

Bridal Shop Etiquette – the do’s and don’ts!

• Call the shop first to see if you need to make an appointment – the last thing you want to do is get there and have no one available to help you.
• Don’t take too many people along with you – too many opinions will leave you confused and exhausted. It is good to have at least one person there though – perhaps your Mum and/or Maid of Honour.
• Wear underwear you won’t be embarrassed to be seen in as it is pretty hard to try on wedding dresses by yourself.
• You’re generally not allowed to take photos of all the dresses you try on (although your mum or friends might be able to get in a few sneaky shots on their phone). But once you commit to buying a dress you should be allowed to take a photo so you can remember what it looks like!

Trying on the dress

Pay attention to how the dress feels on you – you’re going to be in it all day so you need to have some level of comfort. Take note of the weight of the gown and think about whether it’s going to feel too heavy after a few hours.

Try sitting down to make sure the corset doesn’t dig into your ribs, and to make sure you CAN actually sit down! You will be so excited about trying on dresses that you won’t even think of how the dress is going to work in reality – are you going to be able to go to the toilet on the day, or will you need help?

One last tip – remember to order the dress based on your largest measurement – it’s much easier to take in a dress than to let one out!

Looking for some inspiration for your wedding dress check out our list of Adelaide Wedding Suppliers or visit the Wedding Dress Gallery of Emanuele Bride.

1. Set the date

   This makes it so much easier when trying to book everything from your reception venue to your makeup artist. However, if the most important thing to you is making sure that your photographer is available, then find out what is going to suit them first. If you’re not fussy about a date, then pick a season – spring, summer, autumn or winter. But remember spring and autumn are very popular so you have to get in quick!

2. Set your budget

   This is important for establishing your priorities and how much money you have to play with. It is also a good idea to find out from the beginning how much your parents and your fiancé’s parents are going to chip in. If you know from the start then you can work out how much you need out of your own pocket to create your dream wedding.  A typical wedding budget is approximately 42% for the Reception with the other 58% spread amongst the dress, suits, flowers, rings, photography, videography, hair and makeup, music, transport, cake and bomboniere. You need to work out which things are most important to you and allocate your budget accordingly. Set up a spreadsheet to keep track of all of your expenses – how much you’ve paid and how much you owe.

3. Draft the guest list

   This can often be the hardest part, especially when your parents want to invite all of their friends (some of whom you don’t even know).  Start by sitting down with your fiancé and writing a list of all the people that definitely have to be there – your close friends and family. This is called the ‘A List’. Then, on the ‘B List’, write a list of people that you’d like to have at your wedding if you could afford to, but you know won’t be too offended if you don’t (such as work mates). Finally, on the ‘C List’ write a list of people who other people want to invite but you couldn’t care less if they came or not. Once you know the total number of people on each list you will be able to tell what is do-able with your budget (as an estimate, base your reception on about $100 a head for food and beverages).  Then you can start getting quotes from venues to find out how much you are going to be up for. By the way, as a rule of thumb, if your parents are paying for the reception then you pretty much have to invite who they want!

4. Write your to-do list

   But don’t be too overwhelmed, it can be massive! This will be a list of everything you need to do to prepare for your Wedding. It can also be helpful to set up a folder including dividers for each different part of the wedding – eg. bomboniere, cake, dress,  flowers, music, photography, reception venue and transport – that way you can file all of your quotes and information under the appropriate area to refer to when you need it.

If you are having trouble getting started, or are worried that you’ve missed something, refer to the Online Planning Tool available on Wedding Guide SA. It will help you with prioritising your tasks, tracking spending and creating and following a timeline.

After getting these four tasks out of the way you are all set to start doing the fun stuff and booking in all the services you will need on the day!