My Lil White Dress is dedicated to helping you enjoy your most beautiful wedding on a budget.

MyLilWhiteDress.com shares products and services from companies that we are affiliates of. We are compensated for the sale of these products and services. We carefully select the products and services we feel will give the best value and enjoyment.

Contact us at info@MyLilWhiteDress.com.

Privacy Policy for www.MyLilWhiteDress.com

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at info@MyLilWhiteDress.com.

At www.MyLilWhiteDress.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by www.MyLilWhiteDress.com and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, www.MyLilWhiteDress.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
www.MyLilWhiteDress.com does not use cookies.

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include Google Adsense, Commission Junction, Widget Bucks, Adbrite, Clickbank, Azoogle, Chitika, Linkshare, Amazon, Kontera.

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on www.MyLilWhiteDress.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

www.MyLilWhiteDress.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.MyLilWhiteDress.com’s privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers’ respective websites.

My Lil White Dress is about weddings on a budget. You will find tips and techniques to cut costs while celebrating your special day to the fullest.

Planning for your special day involves making many choices.  One of the first of many will be your wedding jewelry.  From the ring on your finger to the jewels on your dress, you will want your wedding day jewelry to be perfect.

Your wedding dress can be flouncy and fluffy to simple and refined. But whatever your selection, it does not have to cost a small fortune.

From  wedding cakes to wedding flowers there are lots of things you can do to cut costs without cutting back on enjoyment and pleasure in your special day.

One important factor is wedding day beauty. You can get in shape for your wedding fast with fast weight loss tips.

Where to begin? First look for private beach clubs in the area where you would like to get married. These clubs usually do rent the clubhouse out for weddings – you can use the actual beach for the ceremony and then come inside for your reception. Of course, this is one of the more expensive ways to get married on the beach.

If you want to find a cheaper option for getting married on the beach, look at public beaches that aren’t as crowded as others. For example, beaches that aren’t that great for swimming are generally less crowded so even if it’s a public beach and other people are allowed to be there, there most likely won’t be as many.

Now you just have to find out how to get permission to have your wedding on the public beach of your choice – you wouldn’t want to show up that day only to be told it’s illegal to have a wedding there! Start by calling the town or city hall in the city where the beach is located. They will either have the answer for you or be able to send your question to someone who will know the answer. If the city has a tourism department (and most cities and towns with a beach do!) you will be able to get a lot of information from them on photographers who often do weddings at that beach and other useful information about your particular location.

Many times it will be completely free to get married on a beach that is owned by a city or town. The downside is of course other people being around but it’s your big day, so who cares if people stare? You look fabulous and you are having the unique beach wedding of your dreams!

Getting married on the beach is an awesome choice!

It can be stressful, though. Finding maternity bridesmaid dresses that will match what the non-pregnant girls are wearing is difficult. I went through this myself once and ended up having a very hard time. We went to David’s bridal but the color the bride had chosen for the wedding party was not available in any of their maternity dresses. And the styles of the maternity bridesmaid dresses really didn’t match what the other girls were wearing at all. I quickly discovered that finding a dress would not be that easy.

Here’s what I learned. Get a color swatch from the bridal store of the material that the other girls will be wearing and take it with you to the mall. You and your maid of honor can shop maternity stores and regular stores for dresses in that color. Don’t ignore the regular dresses – stretchy fabrics will easily fit over the belly of a woman is seven months or less pregnant in most cases. If your maid of honor has been pregnant before, she will have an idea of how big she will be by your wedding date. If it’s her first pregnancy, that might not be as easy to guess. For me, I found an extremely stretchy dress that fit right over my enormous 7.5 month belly without a problem. I found it at JCPenney and it matched the color swatch of the other dresses so well that no one could believe that we got them from different stores. The moral of the story is don’t give up!

Of course the other issue with a pregnant maid of honor is how she will hold up in the ceremony. If she is very far along on your wedding day, you may need to consider having a chair ready in case she feels the need to sit down during the ceremony. And then there’s the issue of her being due the week of your wedding. It happens. You really need to have a back up plan and think some issues through. Is someone else willing to step up as maid of honor if yours goes into labor before the wedding? What will you do if she is in labor during your wedding (are you willing to miss that big event in her life)? What if she goes into labor during your ceremony right there in front of the church? Do you love her enough to not be bitter if she “steals” your spotlight?

There are options of course. Your wedding is still quite a ways off – you can always move your wedding up enough that your maid of honor will not be close to delivering. Or you can push it back far enough that you no for sure she will have given birth by that point. And then of course, you can ask her to step down as maid of honor. That’s all up to you and what kind of relationship the two of you have!

First of all, did you know that places like the Dollar Tree and other dollar stores have wedding supplies? I’ve found invitations, centerpieces, table clothes and all kinds of other items at the dollar store. For my sister’s wedding, we found the little bells that people ring when they want the couple to kiss. We also got the vases to make her centerpieces from the dollar store – a plain glass vase is a plain glass vase and if you can get them for a dollar instead of five dollars or even more, why not? No one will ever have to know that you bought them at the dollar store!

Walmart also carries a large collection of wedding supplies at low prices. The last time I checked their wedding aisle (which, by the way, is the same aisle as the cake decorating supplies), they had invitations, boxes for the favors, guest books, unity candles, tiaras and a whole lot more. Granted, these are not going to be the highest quality that you will find anywhere but put it in perspective. You are using these items for just one day out of your entire life. Does it really matter if you are using the best quality candles known to man? Of course not! You can keep your wedding on a budget and it can still look amazing.

Target is another place to get supplies when you are planning a wedding on a budget. They have a lot of the same items as Wal-Mart but a little higher quality and a little more expensive. They are also the only place I have ever found those flip-flops that leave “Just Married” foot prints in the sand on the beach. I love those things and I can only find them online and at Target!

If you really want to keep costs down you have to be willing to be flexible. You can make stunning centerpieces and no one ever has to know you got some of the pieces to put them together from Dollar Tree. No one is ever going to know where you bought your guest book or how much it cost. If you are willing to buy items from cheaper, discount stores, you will save a lot of money overall on your wedding. And you just might find some great products as well. You really can have an amazing wedding on a budget so don’t be discouraged if lack of funds starts to get you down.

My Top Ten First Dance Songs!

#10 1234 by Plain White T’s
I actually don’t listen to much music that is not country so I just came across this song. I absolutely love it and it’s an adorable first dance song. It’s probably better for a younger couple getting married for the first time. I don’t know how “cute” this song is for a pair of thirty-eight year olds getting married for the second or third time!

#9 All I Need to Know by Kenny Chesney
This song is great for the realists out there. It talks about the real problems in daily life – cars breaking down, jobs being lost – and says that they know these things happen but more than that, they know they have each other to get through it. Yes, it’s a country song but I don’t think it’s overwhelming country and it’s one of Kenny Chesney’s few songs that does not mention the beach!

# 8 I Will Be Here by Steven Curtis Chapman
My sister actually hired someone to sing this at her wedding. It’s kind of a staple in the conservative Christian wedding world. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t just as fitting for anyone who knows what real love is all about. The lyrics start “Tomorrow morning if you wake up and the sun does not appear, I will be here.” If you’ve never heard it, Google it and listen because it’s one of the greatest tear-jerker wedding songs you will ever find.

#7 A Moment Like This by Kelly Clarkson
Yes, this is the song she sang when she won American Idol. But I also think it’s quite perfect as a first dance song for a young couple’s first dance song because it talks about how some people wait their whole lives for this moment, but we found it so young. Truth be told, if I hadn’t gotten married on the beach, I was going to walk down the aisle to this one!

#6 I Love You Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel
Is any list of top ten songs on ANY topic truly complete is there’s not at least one Billy Joel song? I don’t think so. The song ends “I said I love you and that’s forever. And this I promise from the heart – I could not love you any better. I love you just the way you are. ” And since that’s the whole point of the vows you have just taken, it sums things up nicely.

#5 Then by Brad Paisley
This song is brand-spanking new but it still deserves a place on this list because I think it has staying power in the world of first dance songs! The song talks about all the big moments in a couple’s relationship and how they keep loving each other more and when they look back on these moments they say “And I thought I loved you then!” It gives me goosebumps.

#4 Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley
If you are a hopeless romantic, this is the song for you. You just can’t beat the classics and I think this is the ultimate classic love song.

#3 Everything I Do by Bryan Adams
Another classic love song that deserves a place on the list. The song is all about the promises made and how much he really means it. It’s another great one, there’s not really much to say!

#2 Faithfully by Journey
I like this one for people who are either old enough to actually remember it or those who want something a little more rock. It’s still a sappy love song but it’s got a different sound to it than most of the songs on my list and besides, who doesn’t love this song. Really?

#1 From This Moment by Shania Twain & Bryan White
Yes, I put a country song number one on my list. If you don’t like country I am sorry but I think they take the prize for mushy love songs. From This Moment is about a moment in time when you commit to a relationship. Wait, that sounds an awful lot like what a wedding is all about, right?

Here are my other faves that didn’t quite make my top ten list!
It’s Your Love by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw
Have I Told You Lately by Rod Stewart
Here and Now by Luther Vandross
All My Life by KC & JoJo (OK, you probably had to be in high school in the late 90’s to appreciate this one).
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You by Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons
Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Elton John (Lion King)

When I got married six whole years ago the internet was not what it is today. I had to listen to the radio and hope for inspiration for a first dance song. You are lucky – you can go to youtube and find every single song on my list with the click of your mouse!

My favorite recommendation for couples is to read the book “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Smalley before getting married. The book gives great insight as to why your future spouse does odd things like buying you gifts all of the time or why he gets so upset when you tease him.

The Five Love Languages is based on the theory that people give and receive love in one of five ways (or languages). The five love languages are acts of service, gifts, words of affirmation, quality time and physical touch. As you read through the book you will learn the best ways to speak your love and how to know when your spouse is speaking his love to you.

The ideas in The Five Love Languages are practical and easy to implement into your own life. Whenever I feel like my husband and I are not clicking like we normally do, I re-read this book and it always makes things clear again.

In fact, I recommend everyone re-read The Five Love Languages every year around your anniversary. It will help you and your husband stay connected – forever.

Often times if you are renting a venue for your reception and hiring a caterer who is not from that venue and will be coming in to do your meals, you will have to go to a wedding rental supplies store and rent plates and silverware. Didn’t know that? Neither did I until the first time I had experience with it. My roommate was getting married and she rented out a gorgeous room at a country club. The only problem was it literally came with nothing but some tables and chairs. She had to rent glasses, plates, silverware, tablecloths, absolutely everything. She was OK with the wedding rental supplies once she got over the added expense – it was a great place to have her reception and she was too excited about the location to care about the extra expense.

But then the day of her wedding rolled around. I had volunteered to help with set up at the reception site and when all of the dishes and silverware were delivered, I was informed that the dishes and silverware all had to be washed before being returned – first thing the next morning. I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. The bride had not been told this when she went to the wedding rental supplies store and picked out her dishes and silverware.

So what happened? Her entire wedding party crammed into the kitchen and scrubbed plates and silverware for several hours after the reception. It was a true testament of friendship that they were all so willing to do it – no one ever complained. But it was dishonest on the part of the wedding rental supplies store to not tell the bride up front that her bridesmaids would be doing double duty as kitchen staff.

The same thing happened at my sister’s wedding. Luckily she only had to rent silverware for a wedding rental supplies store – everything else was included at the reception site for her. But we still had to wash everything before it was returned and that is a time consuming task.

My point is this – if you will be renting dishes from a wedding rental supplies store, you need to find out if you are responsible for washing all of the dishes before they are returned. You must make sure that there is a place on site at your reception to wash them and you must also find people who are willing to do it for you – ahead of time. Nobody wants to be having a great time at a wedding only to be asked “Can you help wash dishes?” Trust me – I’ve been there twice. If you know ahead of time, you can even hire someone to do it – maybe some cousins in their early teens who could use a little extra cash.

One of the perks to slimming down that guest list is that you have many more options for a location for your big day. Many nice restaurants have rooms available for rent to are limited to a lower number of people. Another perk is that if you are cutting down your list and it’s not for budget purposes, you can afford to do something a lot nicer. If you had a 200 person guest list, maybe you were only wanting to spend ten dollars per guest on the reception site, but now that you cut it down to fifty people, you can spend forty dollars per person, which means your small wedding reception just got four times nicer! The same goes for catering options as well. When you have a small wedding reception, you can afford to do a little bit more.

Of course, if you cut the size down because of financial difficulties, you can still have a great small wedding reception. I personally had my small wedding reception outside on the beach. We rented out a covered pavilion (which was actually free, but we reserved it for that day) and my friend (who was trying to start up a wedding catering business) and her husband grilled made to order meals for everyone right out on the beach! It was small and intimate and a lot of fun. When you decide to go small, it is possible to spend a lot less money. You can get creative and find all kinds of ways to make your day special without blowing your budget.

Personally, I’ve always had a lot more fun at small wedding receptions than at large ones. Usually your guests will all know each other which means they are more comfortable and enjoy themselves more. You may be afraid that your guests will think you are being cheap if you have a small wedding reception but the truth is that they will probably really enjoy themselves!

What can these free wedding websites do for you? They all vary but the basic idea is that you can make a wedding website to give your guests updates and information about the wedding day plans. You can create a section for links to hotels in the area for out of town guests. You can put your registry information right on the site. There is usually a section about the happy couple – you can share the story of how you met, how you got engaged and what your future plans are as a married couple.

Some of the sites (including ewedding.com) allow you to do all of your RSVP work online. You can make a wedding website and then inform your guests that RSVP will be online only and send them to your website. If your RSVP includes meal choices, this can be taken care of on the site as well. This means when it comes time for a final head count, your free wedding website will have done the work for you, giving you a who’s coming, who’s not, total counts, and how many want the chicken! That’s one less thing for you to spend time on and stress over! This means that after you make a wedding website, you will be able to save a lot of time and headaches for yourself for the rest of your wedding planning journey.

Can’t decide between two bridesmaids dresses? Create a poll on your free wedding website and let the guests vote to help you decide! How cool is that? You can create a mailing list so that your guests are e-mailed each time you update your site. You can let them know you are putting it to a vote and then let them know the results. Some of the sites where you can make a wedding website allow you to create a quiz about you and your hubby to be, and the guests can see how well they know you. This is just fun but it does help your guests get to know you better – and the better they know you as a couple, the more likely they are to share your big day – and give you a wedding gift that suits your couple personality.

You can also keep a calendar of events available when you make a wedding website. This may seem pointless at first – guests only need to know when the wedding is, right? Wrong! You can use this feature of the wedding website to post dress fittings for the bridesmaids, pre-wedding get togethers, rehearsal dinner information, deadlines for booking hotels to get a group discount (if you have many out of town guests), the dates of your honeymoon and when you will be home. Your free wedding website keeps all of this information in one place for you and your guests, making life just a little bit easier during the crazy wedding planning.

When you make a wedding website, some allow you to pay just a little bit extra for a custom domain name and that is a pretty cool idea. Instead of just being www.ewedding.com/jonandchellebowman you could have your own domain www.jonandchellebowman.com. Your guests will be super impressed if your wedding website has it’s own domain name! It will appear that you have built your own site from scratch – only you don’t actually have to. They do all the work for you and you just add your information to customize your site.

I’ve looked over some of the different free wedding websites and have to say that ewedding.com seems to be the best of the best. It has a lot of features, unlimited photo uploads, video uploads, and much more. They do charge $4.95 per month if you want your own domain name but everything else is included for free. TheKnot.com also offers free wedding websites although theirs do not have as many cool features as the eWedding site does.

No matter the size of your wedding or when it is coming up, a wedding website will really make guests look forward to your wedding and help you stay organized. They are free so there’s absolutely no reason not to make a wedding website today!