Besides knowing the difference between Asian wedding favors and garden wedding favors, a good wedding planner should be a wealth of knowledge and should know how to plan every detail of your wedding. Unfortunately, there are only a few ways to tell if your wedding planner really knows his or her stuff until he actually starts planning your wedding. Here are four quick things to look for when interviewing your wedding planners that will tell you more about them without asking the related questions.

If your wedding planner shows up for the interview half an hour late, odds are, they are not as organized as they claim to be. While this particular clue is not a dead giveaway to their capabilities, it is certainly a good step in the wrong direction. If they have a legitimate sounding excuse, it is only fair to continue the interview in earnest but keep that red flag in the back of your mind as you go. Take a moment and think about the excuse that they give you for being late. If they say that they were stuck in traffic at ten in the morning, it is more likely they slept in as the morning rush is usually over by nine, since that is the start time for the majority of the working world. That is unless, of course, everyone in your city was late for work on that day, like your candidate.

After a year of planning details, hiring caterers and interviewing bands, disc jockeys, and surveying wedding halls and churches, you are going to be either completely exhausted or totally focused. In either case, the last day of your wait, which is the day before your wedding, you have 24 hours to wrap up the details and take care of a few commitments. However, the biggest challenge you now face is getting some rest, you are going to need it.

The last day before your wedding is usually reserved for beauty treatments such as hair and make-up prep, nails and for final rehearsals. With any luck, you have worn and broken in those shoes you are going to be standing in for eight to ten hours tomorrow. If not, today is your last chance to get them worn so you know what to expect from them. You have a long day tomorrow, which means you have a lot to do today.

Many people are still under the impression that once a woman gets married, she has to change her name. While it is true that this is common, the fact is that there are many options available to couples and all should be explored. Here are some other options that are available to couples in the 21st century.

It’s a Guy Thing Most people do not know that it is just as feasible for the man to change his last name to that of the bride’s family. This is rarely done as men tend to think of carrying on their family name and feel a sense of pride when they provide their fathers with a new generation in their lineage. Why is this so important? It is a guy thing. The fact of the matter is, in families who have only one daughter who is marrying into a family with more than one son, using the bride’s family name just makes more sense. Unfortunately, until recent times it has been a predominantly man’s world.

Weddings are stressful. That is an unpleasant fact that is inescapable. However, they are also joyous and wonderful. Second marriages can be just as joyous but getting married the second time can be even more stressful than the first, especially for your children. The following are some tips and insights into how to make the wedding process a little bit easier on your kids and your new spouse-to-be.

Not a Replacement The quicker your children understand that their new step mom or dad is not a replacement for the original, the quicker they can begin the bonding process that must take place if everyone is to get along in this new and unique relationship. The obvious choice is to sit them down and have a conversation with them together and without him or her present. While this sounds productive, it is, as we all know, not as easy as that. Older children may not understand or might refuse to listen altogether. Their under-developed emotions may become strained past the point of reason. Even so, you must try to reach them at every available opportunity.

Don’t Forget to Breathe The big day is coming faster than you can prepare for it and you are so stressed out you could light a match…just by looking at it. Pre-wedding stress can be a royal pain in the wallet as well as the heart and there is no worry worse than one that involves money. You have planned a wonderful wedding and reception but more things have seemingly gone wrong than right. You have heard that wedding planning is supposed to be fun but by now, that is just a vague rumor and you know the truth. If this sounds familiar and you are still planning your wedding…, STOP! Do not forget to breathe.

Choosing Your State of Mind Wedding stress is natural and is sometimes hard to deal with. It is also fun and a wonderful experience. Which one of these you get the most out of is completely up to you. If you are in a frenzied, ready to pull your hair out and then start on someone else, very stressed out mode and you are just weeks from the big day it is time for a breather because this kind of state is the last frame of mind that you want to be in going into your wedding day. It is okay to let someone else take the reins for a little bit while you gain your composure. Pass smaller but important tasks, like choosing wedding favors, especially unique wedding favors, on to someone you trust. You do not have to do everything yourself.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked and difficult decisions couples face when deciding to get married is the name change. While it is customary for the bride to take the husbands last name, it is not something that has to be done. Once the decision is made of what the name will be changed to, if at all, here are five things you will need to know.

The first thing you will want to do is to call your local government office and have the forms mailed to you. Many towns used to hand out the forms when you applied for the marriage license but this practice is no longer followed in most cities. Once you have the forms, make sure you have all of your ducks in a row before you submit them. It is important that you fill out this form very carefully and check your spelling or you may wind up with a variation of the name and have to submit the forms twice.

Wedding traditions vary widely from country to country. This even holds true in the wedding gifts we are given or the wedding accessories that we use or wear. One of the most baffling and uniquely fascinating of all the wedding traditions is why the bride must have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Many people do not realize that these traditions have an actual meaning attached to them and are not something whimsical that someone came up with because it sounds good. Read on for more information to the origins of these saying and what they symbolize.

Something Old The meaning behind something old is a simple one but does carry with it a piece of profound wisdom and advice. Something old is to remind the marrying couple where they hail from and the family history they represent. This is usually something that belonged to a mother or grandmother and is often something that she carried with her when she was married. It can also be a piece of family history, like a timepiece that was carried during a war, or piece of garment that was treasured by an ancestor. It says never forget your roots and where you come from. Remember the trials and hardships endured by your family to get us to where we are now. This custom should be honored and treasured in all aspects of our lives.

Getting married is a huge step in a life that does not allow for mistakes without consequences. If you have set a date and are ready to get married, chances are, you have thought it through and are ready to take the plunge. You have thought of every detail (you hope) right down to whether to have beach wedding favors or summer wedding favors and that is great– now, focus. The following is a list of the things that many couples forget to discuss with their photographer and then regret later. Hindsight is always in 20/20 vision. Foresight is always fuzzy. For this reason, a little creative vision is needed to get that foresight up and running properly.

One of the biggest regrets a young married couple will have after the fact is their choice of photographers. You want the biggest and just about the most important day of your life to be captured in big as life color so you can cherish it forever. Most people remember to hire a photographer but stop there. If you can afford it, hire two. Sit down with both and discuss exactly what you expect and be blunt. Leave nothing to chance when it comes to your wedding day. Make sure that your photographers understand what you want, what you expect, and most importantly, what you will pay for.

There are two rituals in life that everyone goes through that bear a striking resemblance to each other yet are two completely different rites of passage. The wedding and the funeral have so much in common that is almost uncanny. Why we made these ceremonies so alike is something that escapes me and I cannot think of a way to explain it other than the way the bachelor might feel for a brief moment just before the completion of the ceremony. However, I can list the ways that these two entirely different occasions parallel each other and if you think about it, you could probably come up with more.

Beside the fact that you will never come away from a funeral with wedding gifts or wedding accessories, you will come away from both feeling tired and drawn. Both of these ceremonies are hours long and take something from you emotionally. Anytime you spend several hours deep in an emotion, whether it is joy and happiness or grief and sorrow, it will mentally wear you down. That is just the way emotions act on the mind and the central nervous system. At both functions, someone will be crying. Weeping out of joy and sobbing with despair is still crying no matter how you slice it.

Selecting the best wedding gift for your loved ones can be a difficult task. Guests want to pick the best wedding gift, one that will be useful to the couple and appreciated by the couple. Here are a few creative ideas to think about.

Spice Rack with a Twist

Newly married couples love doing things together. Buy the happy couple a spice rack with 12 spices, a new spice for every month. In a recipe box put together several new recipes using each spice, at least one for each spice. This will get the couple cooking and spending time together. For a twist, have family members and friends of the couple submit a recipe card with different recipes and on the back have them write a few marriage tips for the newlyweds

Honeymoon Coffee Table Book

A coffee table book full of beautiful photos and informative facts from the couples honeymoon location makes a great conversation piece and will keep the new honeymoon memories fresh in their minds. The couple will always have something that reminds them of their time together as a newly married couple and a well appreciated wedding gift that reminds them of you.