Cubic Zirconia (CZ) is the cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide. CZ is tough, flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors. Due to its low cost, similarity to diamonds and durability, it is one of the best substitues for diamonds.

Cubic Zirconia Rings look pretty identical to Diamond rings and it is believed that only Jewelers can tell them apart.  They’re both crystals, and it’s their crystal structure that bends light (refraction). However, Cubic Zirconia Rings are said to have more “fire” as they show more dazzling colors.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that like genuine diamond, CZ is available in both higher and lower grades, ranging from several tens of dollars per carat to $100 per carat for the higher grades. The highest grades of Cubic Zirconia is AAAAA (Five A’s). Also remember that synthetic stones such as Cubic Zirconia are always heavier in carat weight than genuine diamonds, as the material they are made of is more dense.

Apart from wedding rings, Cubic zirconia is also becoming more popular as a substitute for genuine diamond in stud earrings, the diamond solitaire and the tennis bracelets.

With the variety of Cubic Zirconia Rings available online, it is not going to be easy to recommend the best place to buy them. It will be dependant on the buyer’s budget, style and choice. We recommend you Google it and spend as much time as you can in browsing the prices and designs available.

Good luck

In North America the classic formal dinner following the ceremony and cocktails is generally thought of as the expected course for your average wedding event. In some sense, I suppose this makes sense especially for larger scale weddings as there would be so much preparation work necessary even on the big day, that you’d need all of those preceding hours to accomplish these tasks. However, if you’re the type of bride/groom who likes to throw curve balls, or is just tired of the same old same old, consider having a brunch, afternoon cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, or even a light evening buffet.

The brunch option would be especially useful for the couple who are early risers, have small children they wish to include in their ceremony, are inviting just immediate family members, or want to avoid the consumption of alcohol by guests. The early risers will likely have no trouble getting up extra early to prepare for the big event, though this is a consideration needed for your guests. If you’re including small children in your ceremony, most parents would agree that working with children before late afternoon/evening provides the best results, especially when it comes to the wedding pictures. For weddings where just the immediate family members are the guests a brunch is the perfect intimate gathering following the ceremony. Lastly, for those couples whose family members or guests might chance overdoing things at the bar, a brunch pretty much avoids the situation all together, as most folks aren’t keen to guzzle back a beer at 11 o’clock in the morning.

Afternoon cocktails and hors d’oeuvres provides the opportunity for guests to partake in an early day ceremony, complemented by a casual afternoon gathering, allowing for guests to mix and mingle and still get to bed at a decent time. This option is also quite viable for ceremonies involving small children. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are a fantastic alternative to a formal dinner, and recently on the rise as the chic thing to do. Imagine yourself on a lawn, under a canopy at a majestic outdoor locale, or in the fanciest function room at your dream hotel, sipping champagne and munching on chocolate covered strawberries as you mingle with your guests. This option should be a consideration if budget is a concern, as you might be able to afford your dream venue if you don’t have to include a lavish meal.

An evening buffet is another classic option, but can easily be given a new twist to mix things up. If this is something you and your special someone are thinking of considering, try making food choices that are a little less traditional. Avoid the roasted baby potatoes and instead opt for Tabouli, a wheat, tomato and parsley salad. Instead of a deli tray assortment why not try a introducing your guests to Tapas? Your options may be dependant on your caterer, but it never hurts to ask.

A popular misconception is that your guests are all going to be starving when they arrive at the gathering following the ceremony. It’s important to provide guests with something to eat and drink, as any good host/hostess does when they invite company over. However that does not mean that you must serve a 4 course meal to make guests feel appreciated for sharing in your special day. Being creative, innovative and smart is a fantastic way to treat guests to something out of the ordinary and an opportunity to either save money, or simply redirect savings to other event details. The most important detail in planning your formal dinner alternative is clearly outlining what guests should expect in your communication, ie Black Tie Dinner, Cocktails and Hors D’oeuvres, or a Light Buffet.

The emphasis can be on an overall wedding theme cake topper, the initials of the bride and groom, fresh flower cake toppers, religious symbolic cake toppers, humorous cake toppers, cartoon character cake toppers, and the list just goes on.

It’s important to remember that your cake, albeit in most cases, your dessert for your guests, also serves as a backdrop for some of your pictures. Selecting a cake and a complementary cake topper is an important decision in your wedding planning process. Personally, I love the idea of having a cake topper that can serve as an ornamental piece in your home after the wedding. What a perfect reminder of your special day on display in the home you share together.

As with all of the details in organizing your wedding, maintaining an overall consistency is key to ensuring that all of the pieces fit together in the event as a whole. Throwing things together that aren’t complementary for the sake of having something will definitely not go unnoticed by your guests. So if you’re planning on having a Mad Hatter/Topsy Turvey Cake, don’t succumb to the pressure of using your mom’s wedding cake topper from the 70’s for the sake of tradition.

Wedding cake toppers are a great way to add a piece of yourself to your wedding cake. Be bold, be interesting, top your wedding cake as only you can!

Photo Credit: dammit_jill

1. Make sure that you search for a wedding venue as early as possible!

2. The Deposit: Always make sure that the deposit for the venue is affordable and reasonable. Also make sure that there are no hidden costs as well as no hidden clauses. Make sure that you get a receipt for the deposit.

3. Some of the hidden costs to look out for are insurance, fees for an onsite manager, security, clean up, use of the tables and chairs, kitchen etc.

4. Is there enough space in the venue for your vendors to set up the food, bar, etc?

5. Make sure that there are ample pug points close to the area where you will be serving the food and also make sure these plug points work.

6. How far is the venue from where your guests live? Most couples like to choose a venue that is easy to get to as they do not want their guests to have a long drive back home after the wedding.

7.  How easy is it to load stuff into the venue? Some of your vendors will be require to load and unload their vehicle before and after the wedding.

8. If the venue is located in a residential area, are their any curfew times that you should be aware of? The last thing you need on your wedding day is the police showing up on your doorstep asking you to stop celebrating your wedding.

9. When can your vendors come and set up the decorations, seating, food, etc? Some places will let you come the night before and set up the venue in case they do not have another wedding on that day. Be nice, smile a lot and ask them if you can use the venue the day before. Most places will not have a problem with that.

10.  Make sure there is enough parking space for all your guests. Guests get quite annoyed when they have to park a few blocks down and walk to the venue wearing their fancy clothes.

11. Go to as many wedding venues as you can to find the perfect one for your wedding. It is really worth it and you will not regret it.

Photo by kennymatic

Take a few minutes to think about what you would like your dress to look like. It will make it a lot easier when you enter the labyrinth of wedding dresses out there to know what your budget is, any details that are essential and an idea of how conventional you want your dress to be.

On your wedding day, along with looking great, you’ll also want to be comfortable - it will be hard to enjoy your wedding day if you’re struggling with your dress.

If your hope chest is bursting at the seams with everything you’ve ever collected over the years that you thought would be “perfect” for your wedding day, you might find yourself sifting through a dusty box of useless material. As little girls we often find ourselves day dreaming about the dress that we will wear on our wedding day, to the point of clipping magazine pages to hang on to a picture of what you’re sure will be the perfect dress for your big day. However, the reality of the fact might be that the dress you loved at age 14 is no longer in style, or is just not appropriate for your body type. Holding on to the keepsakes of your childhood daydreams has a special place in your life, but it shouldn’t be something you spend more than one afternoon sifting through to see if there is anything viable for the event at hand. If you want to share the walk down memory lane, be sure to schedule a specific date and time with your mom or your gal pals to accomplish this in one viewing, thereby making the best use of your available time without completely skipping the effort. When it comes to wedding idea resources, your best bet is to stick to the most current offerings, ensuring that the what you see is available to you when it’s needed.

Weddings are such an exciting time, be they a small or large scale event that you are planning. It is quite easy though to get caught up in the idea of the “perfect wedding” verses what you are actually planning, your perfect wedding. What this means in plain English ladies is spending all your free time and even some time when you’re supposed to be working, on looking for all of the biggest and best wedding ideas out there, is not necessarily a great use of your time either. Just because you read somewhere that you ‘need’ to have a minimum of 3 attendants on both sides does not mean that you have to meet and make a new best friend in the next year because you’ve only got two close girlfriends. It’s also important to remember that looking through pages and pages of 5 course menu ideas is sort of useless if you’re planning on having a destination wedding with an all inclusive package. Knowing the key components of your big day should help you to identify the areas where you should spend your time and energy resourcing.

For the majority of couples it is there whether it’s been explicitly expressed or not, a wedding budget. It can be a dreadful thing feeling constrained by what you are fiscally able to do to celebrate your marriage, or it could quite possibly be your saving grace, it’s really dependant on your personality and how you see your big day in the timeline of your life. If you’re working with a substantial budget and have allocated a significant amount to what will be spent on your wedding dress, then absolutely, spend three weeks leafing through fashion designer label dresses. This is also applicable to the bride who wants to wear Vera Wang and is willing to serve crackers and water to her guests to ensure that she stays within her budget. If however you’re working with a budget that does not allow for white calla lilies to be flown in for your big day in December, then spend your time looking for something that is more seasonal and available locally. Meeting with travel agents for details on destination wedding packages, when you know your budget will only cover being married at the court house and having a quiet dinner with immediate family members at a nice restaurant following, is not the best way to utilize your time.

Wedding Magazines and online resources can really open up the possibilities when you sit down and start sifting through for ideas and best practices. Just be wary of time wasters once you hammer down the fundamentals of what you will actually do to celebrate your big day.

Maintaining the details at a high level can be translated many ways, it is usually dependant on the style of wedding and the personality of the bride/groom. If you are having a grand affair where costs and details are limitless then you may consider hiring a Wedding Planner to be responsible for all of the planning, documenting and purchasing involved in your big day. A Wedding Planner is also a good idea for the bride/groom who isn’t especially skilled at keeping track of receipts or confortable making arrangements with vendors. If however your big day does not involve inviting the Govenor, or the Premier then you should investigate purchasing a Wedding Planning Journal, or utilizing a software version for those in this technically inclined generation. Personally documenting and tracking the details of the arrangements for your wedding will provide the bride/groom with a truer understanding of costs, timelines and details. And it may just provide you with a little bit of comfort when you wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat two weeks before the event to check to see if you remembered to update the caterer on your final numbers for dinner. Maintaining the details at a high level should provide the couple with the necessary control to deliver the event without too much panic and disarray caused by disorganization.

Selecting representatives, generally bridal party attendants, whom you trust to brainstorm and act as a representative on your behalf truly complements the afore mentioned maintaining of details section. It is important to choose a bridal party member whom you know will enjoy shouldering the difficult task of helping you choose the perfect wedding dress as well as being responsible for contacting the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and anyone else on your list who requires confirmation calls prior to the big day. Other major responsibilities generally reserved for bridal party members include; preparing invitations, guests lists, seating charts, party favours, and decorating the hall. If you do not feel that one of your best mates is reliable enough to participate in these preparations, perhaps better to ensure there are at the very least other people in your life who will be there at the eleventh hour when you’re elbow deep in a bowl of candy covered almonds, bagging your millionth party favour box. Do not be afraid to ask your parents or your favourite aunt or uncle to lend a hand when you’re in a pinch, most family members will be just as honoured to be included in the planning phase as those who stand beside you, following your walk down the aisle.

The ability to delegate can be worse than a trip to the dentist for a root canal for those people who have trust issues, or who you might have called control freaks at least once in the past. The key to delegation is to select close to 50% of the tasks to be accomplished, and assign some portion of their responsibility to someone you trust. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be asking your Best Man to select the wedding rings for you, but it might mean asking him to take payment to the jeweller and picking up the rings before the wedding. Other ideas for delegation include; making payments to vendors, confirming numbers and details with vendors, picking up family members from airports/train stations, researching options for live music, scoping out potential photographers or liaising with a Wedding Planner on the day of the event to eliviate wedding day stresses for the bride/groom. Delegating responsibility to a friend or family member will allow you to focus your attention on the bigger details of your wedding and at the same time provide your loved one with a sense of trust and respect as a special member of your big day.

While tying the knot is a big deal in the grand scheme of life it does not have to be an overwhelming one. Keeping yourself organized, enlisting people to share in the fun and tears, and delegating some of the less intensive responsibilites to people you trust, will have a huge impact on how enjoyable it will be to plan your wedding.

Photo by: Oh mon héros ! [parachute doré]

Wedding cakes have become a real outlet for creativity and self-expression, much more so than flamboyant flowers and prom-styled bridesmaid dresses. Today’s couples are putting a little fun into the planning by choosing delicious flavours, funky decorative layers, and totally off the cuff servings.

Let your imagination run wild and meet with your local bakery. Be sure to ask to see photos of their most current work, not only for ideas, but to see how talented they are, afterall this is likely to be the most expensive and memorable cake you will ever buy.

The following are just a few ideas to get you started when considering how to wow your guests with your non-traditional wedding cake: (Mad Hatter, Fruit Infused, Cupcakes, Chocolate Cover Strawberry Bride and Groom)

Photo by: freeparking

Traditionally the Bride and Groom present those people that they have asked to stand with them on their wedding day with a token of thanks. This not only helps to acknowledge your bridal party, but can serve as a reminder of their part in your big day for years to come. Some ideas for traditional and non-traditional gifts are as follows:

Bridesmaids/Maid of Honor
Engraved Make Up Compact
Gift Certificate for a Spa Day
Jewelry
Stemware
Personalized Box of Treasures (could include favourite bottle of wine with glasses, favourite chick flick dvd, scented candles, chocolates - endless possibilities)

Groomsmen/Best Man
Engraved Beer Steins
Gift Certificate for Golfing
Tickets to Sporting Event
Personalized Box of Treasures (could include favourite alcohol, dvd offavourite action flick, set of shot glasses, golf tees and balls - endless possibilities)