How to Select A Diamond Ring

Photo credit: Henshall Photography

We see a lot of diamond rings. Big rocks. Small shiny ones. Special settings. Simple ones.
Glittering diamonds are on the hands of most of the brides we meet. Women do love their wedding jewlery and they wear it forever!

There are so many different kinds of diamond options these days. So when you make a major purchase like this for your Valentine's Day proposal, or any time, you want to make sure you have a little diamond know-how.

Here is some advice from the Independent Jewelers Organization (IJO) for buying a sparkler for your sweetie.

Decide what you can spend. A diamond engagement ring is a major investment and buying the best diamond you can afford is always good advice. With the expanding market for designer engagement ring settings, however, you should make an early decision about where your budgeted money will be spent: Would you rather spend more for a better diamond in a simpler setting or opt for a designer setting with a smaller stone?

Familiarize yourself with the basics. The four-Cs--cut, color, clarity and carat weight--describe the proportion of a diamond as well as other important physical characteristics which will effect its price. Understanding the basics will help you to understand the diamond's price.

Learn how to read a diamond grading report. All reputable jewelers sell diamonds with grading reports or certificates, which provide a third-party evaluation of a diamond and heavily impact its price. The grades should include measurements of the stone, carat weight, color, clarity, finish, polish, symmetry and fluorescence.

Article courtesy of Wedlok.com

So You're Engaged, Now What?

By Lee Dobbins

Congratulations – you’ve gotten engaged! This is a great time in your life and should be enjoyed, but after the fun and excitement of showing off the ring, you’ve got some real work to do.

Getting engaged means planning a wedding and weddings are work. You can make this a bit easier by either hiring a wedding planner or eloping but either way you have some work on your own cut out for you.

First, of course you must set a date. What season do you prefer to get married in? Are you picturing a off the shoulder gown or long sleeved? If your gown is very important to you, this might dictate the season. If you are planning a large wedding be prepared to wait a year or more before being able to get the accommodations you want.

Once you have a date or time of year in mind, you need to coordinate the reception hall with the church to make sure they will both be available to you at the right times. Is the church more important or the hall? Whichever comes top on your list will be the place to call first. Find out what dates they have available in the month of your choice and work the other from there. Sometimes you may have to go back and forth to get a perfect day / time combination.

Once you have the date and reception hall worked out, make sure you find out what type of marriage “training” your clergyman will require. Some churches require special classes and you need to make sure you will be available to attend some time prior to the wedding day.

Ok, well that doesn’t sound so hard, does it? That’s just the tip of the iceburg! Now you must set about finding a dress, bridesmaid gowns, invitations, cake, photographer, planning the meals and choosing the guest list and seating. Of course, you will be working very closely with your parents and future in-laws and this is where the real headaches can begin.

If your parents are paying for the wedding, they may feel like they want some control over the event. What you want and what they want may be 2 different things. This is your big day and you should have everything you want, however if your gigantic wedding is only possible due to funding by your parents than you may need to compromise on some accounts. Take your parents aside at the beginning and discuss in detail what you want – let them know what is important to you and see if you can work out a way to make everyone happy.

Almost every future bride gets frustrated at times with the wedding planning, you want your day to be perfect and every little thing can seem a lot more important than it actually is. When you feel things start to get out of control, just remember what is really important – the you and your fiancée and families enjoy good health and happiness. With that in mind your day is bound to be perfect no matter what little things go wrong!

Lee Dobbins writes for many online ezines. Visit Engagement Guide for more tips on engagements and weddings
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Tips For Choosing Your Wedding Reception Venue

By Jerry Leung

You will need to choose your wedding reception with the greatest care. In fact the reception venue is one of the most important items in your wedding planning. You will be staying there with your guest for no less than a few hours. The followings are some tips when you are selecting your venue.

Book as early as possible
You will need to book the reception venue as early as possible. For some popular sites, you will need to book a year in advance. It will be even more difficult to secure your plan if you are going to have your wedding on a Saturday. This is because Saturday is a more popular day for wedding. On the contrary, Fridays and Sundays are less popular and you can secure your plan relatively easier if your big day is on a Friday or Sunday. Some venues may even offer you discount if you book for a Friday or Sunday. Of course you cannot just think of money saving, you will also need to consider your guests. Your guest may need to leave early if your wedding is on Sunday because they will need to go back to their offices early in the morning on Monday.

Scale of your wedding
You will need to determine the size of the venue you will need for your reception. You may only need to book a small pub or restaurant if you are going to hold a small wedding. However, if you are going a have a wedding which is large in scale, you will probably need to consider venues such as the grand ballroom in a hotel. In fact I myself am an advocate of small weddings since you can enjoy the time with your guests. The intimacy is what I love. Of course the choice of having a large or small wedding is totally up to your preferences.

Parking spaces near the venue
One of the most important facilities you will need to ask beforehand is the parking space. Unless you are going to arrange transportation for all the guests, it will be inevitably that some of the guests will drive to your wedding reception venue. It will make the situation very complicated if no parking space can be provided.

Space for dancing
You should also make sure that there is enough space for you to arrange a dancing floor in your wedding if you want your guest to dance in your party. You may also need to make sure that there is also enough space to accommodate a live band, which you may probably hire in order to heat up the atmosphere of the wedding and make the guests to stand up and dance.

Visiting the venue beforehand
You should visit the venue before you make the final decision. If it is not possible for you to go personally, you may try to ask if friends or relative who can be trusted to visit for you. You cannot make your decision based on the images in bridal magazines or websites of the reception venues. These images and photos are usually retouched by software and it may look better than the actual venue. As a result you should try your best to pay a visit to the venue so that you can make sure the venue is something you want.

Jerry Leung is a wedding invitation designer with great interest in Chinese Style Wedding cards. He designs unique Personalized Wedding Invitations. Besides, he runs a blog on weddings to share his ideas on items such as Vintage Wedding Gown. You can also find Indian Wedding Vendors from his website.

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