There are so many wedding venue options to choose from today – you have hotels, gardens, events halls, restaurants, and yachts, to name a few. How does one go about the venue search without getting burned out after a few weeks of wedding planning?

The trick to finding the right wedding venue is to determine what you want in a venue before you start looking for one. Would you like to exchange your wedding vows as the sun sets over the ocean? Then don’t include venues that don’t offer a waterfront view. Have you always wanted to hold your wedding reception at a chic hotel? Then list down the swankiest hotels in your area and limit yourself to checking these out.

If you are undecided about what you want in a wedding venue, sample a couple of locations and styles. You don’t have to actually visit these places yourself; do a Google search for wedding venues in your area, or ask friends to recommend you an ideal place for a wedding reception.

Whatever wedding venue you decide to rent out for your big day, don’t convince yourself to like the place. Make sure that it feels right from the first time you set foot in it. Be honest with the venue contact about what you think of the place; if it’s not what you’re looking for, let them know. That way, you don’t waste their time and they won’t waste yours by following up with phone calls.

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Being “bohemian” means not only being carefree and enjoying life to the fullest; it also means being a peaceful, loving person with an adventurous spirit. This is why the bohemians of the 1960’s began this counter-culture based on non-conformity, the rejection of consumerism, and embracing the beauty of life and all its potentials.

Having a bohemian wedding means more than just decorating the place with antiques and vintage elements. You need to truly believe in the core of the bohemian ideology – create in order to please yourself instead of creating in order to impress. Take note that the biggest style quotient of the era is that nobody attempted to be stylish or tried hard to stand out. All that matters to bohemians is that they dress according to what they like. In the 1960’s, people stayed away from everything artificial and embraced nature; you can wear your long hair down and wear flowers instead of a tiara, and go for a lacy or floral-printed wedding dress. Your bohemian wedding dress can be a mixture of these hippie themes, art deco elements, and vintage styles.

You can incorporate the same ideas into setting the atmosphere for your bohemian wedding. Consider a garden or an old-fashioned restaurant for your wedding reception, and use exotic scarves and beads to decorate the place. The bohemian era liked to experiment with a lot of strong colors, so you might want to pick floral arrangements in bold hues. You can even take the bohemian wedding theme up a notch by asking your guests to come in bohemian skirts. Have your bridesmaids wear long, flowing floral dresses. The males can come in tie-dyed or batik shirts and drawstring pants.

No matter how you choose to go about it, a bohemian wedding would spice up your wedding celebration and make great memories you’ll cherish forever.

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Although we live in an island, beach weddings are not common because Catholic law requires weddings to take place in a Catholic Church. But if you’re really dead set on getting married by the ocean, beach weddings in Boracay are fairly easy to arrange these days. They require a far more planning and budgeting than a Church wedding in the city, but I think exchanging vows as the sun sets over the sea makes it all worth it.

The first thing you should do is keep the guest list short. Even if money is not an issue, fewer guests makes the logistics of flying everyone to Boracay and finding accommodations for them a lot easier. Book your tickets through a travel agent since they offer discounts for large parties. They probably also have hotel packages as well. If not, most beachfront hotels in Boracay like Microtel offer wedding packages, and are flexible about bookings and reservations. Overall, a wedding in Boracay with forty guests should cost you at least Php 400,000.

Wedding suppliers usually charge more for destination weddings, and you might have to also pay for their plane fare and hotel accommodations. Try to find a supplier that won’t charge an arm and a leg for out of town trips. Better yet, ask around for a reliable wedding supplier in Boracay and consider hiring their services.

Finally, remember that it’s never too early to start planning your wedding, especially if it will be held out of town. Start making plans six months before the date and make sure your reservations have been made weeks before the event.

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In the Philippines, our strong kinship ties with extended family makes large, elaborate weddings fairly common. Not only do engaged couples have to worry about not offending a distant great-aunt by forgetting to send a wedding invite – coworkers, neighbors, and former classmates are also considered in the guest list. The problem with large weddings is that the couple might find themselves still paying for it months after the event. It is also difficult to mingle and spend time with your guests with so many of them in attendance.

Small weddings are becoming more acceptable these days and if you’re the type who enjoys more intimate and personal events, then this might be the best type of wedding for you. Small weddings don’t necessarily mean informal; it does not even have to be cheap. It simply means inviting less guests, which will definitely cost you a lot less than if you were to hold a wedding party for a larger number.

With fewer guests to attend to, the bride and groom can dedicate more of their energy and creativity into specific aspects of the wedding – especially if money is not an issue. Small weddings will give the couple an opportunity to spend a lot on a few guests than spend conservatively on many. For instance, if you’ve always wanted to get married by the seaside, holding a small wedding at Boracay will be more feasible if you invite only close family members and friends. A shorter guest list will also give you the chance to spend time talking to the people who you genuinely care about and want to be with on this special day.

Remember, before anything else, weddings are a celebration of love. Inviting only a few friends and family members who have meaningful relationships with you will make the event more memorable and intimate than a large wedding.

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Chocolate fountains are a favorite dessert at every buffet I go to. Who doesn’t enjoy dunking fruits, cakes, and marshmallows into a rich fountain of creamy milk chocolate? Make your guests happy during your wedding reception and include a chocolate fountain in the dessert table.

Generally speaking, chocolate fountains use milk chocolate but you can also get a second fountain for a different type of chocolate. You can even add a flavor like caramel, hazelnut, or strawberry so your guests can have more choices. As for the dippers, there’s a huge variety of treats you can dip into the fountain. Besides cookie bits, marshmallows, you can also include healthier alternatives like strawberries, apples, and banana slices.

The chocolate fountain can also work as your buffet or dessert table’s centerpiece. Have your caterer arrange the dippers artistically around the fountain.

You can rent chocolate fountains from sulit.ph, or ask your wedding caterer if they provide fountains.

These days, weddings don’t have to be held in churches anymore – well, I suppose that depends on your religious beliefs and customs. In any case, brides can opt to hold their wedding ceremony at the strangest places like outer space and most recently, the supermarket. Kenny Sutherland and Jane Clark met each other at a supermarket and decided to hold their wedding there just a few days ago, making that supermarket one of the first in the UK to be licensed for a wedding ceremony. Ten bridesmaids walked down the aisle before the bride, and a Highland piper piped the couple out of the store. Besides dozens of shoppers – wedding or no, it was business as usual – there were about 110 guests who witnessed this unusual wedding. Yep, Kenny and Jane definitely get points for creativity and for going against the grain! I hope they spend a very happy life together.

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Forget Maui or Palawan – the next hottest destination wedding is a place you won’t be able to find anywhere here on earth. A Japanese firm called First Advantage and a US-based private space flight firm called Rocketplane Global Inc. teamed up to host weddings in space for about $2.3 million a pop. The First Advantage website (which is in Japanese) says that there will be a four-day training program, the last of which will be spent holding a wedding ceremony that will start from the ground and end during the one-hour trip to suborbital space 100 km above the earth. The ceremony also includes a marriage certificate, a space wedding photo album, and the capacity to broadcast the wedding live via satellite. For that much money you think you’d be able to take an entire entourage with you at least, but unfortunately the space shuttle can only take three guests (probably a priest and two witnesses). First Advantage and Rocketplane says their first space wedding will be taking off in 2011.

I wonder where people who get married in space go for their honeymoon though. Seriously, any beach or fancy resort is going to pale in comparison to exchanging wedding vows with a view of the earth right outside the shuttle window!

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Fun couples who love music, dancing, and the glitter of the night life might find the Diamond Hotel’s All That Jazz theme perfect for their wedding reception. Featuring royal blue and purple hues with silver accents, this theme is inspired by the roaring 20’s and the brassy jazz, blues, and swing era. The decor features miniature saxophones on the table centerpieces and silver beads to give the effect of a glittering evening sky.

To further set the mood, mix a CD or have your musicians play jazz and ragtime music from Cole Porter, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Gene Austin, and Irving Berlin. Change out of your bridal gown into a dropped waistline dress with a sash around your hips, low-strapped pumps, and a simple band around your forehead. Have your bridesmaids wear flapper dresses, long chunky bead necklaces, and feather boas. Dress your husband in a pinstriped suit, and a roll-brimmed fedora or a black-top hat, and ask the groomsmen to do the same.

For inquiries on pricing and availability, please call Diamond Hotel’s Indulgence Office at 305-3000 local 8413/8414/8460 or email indulgence@diamondhotel.com

Brides who find themselves breathless at the beauty of sakura blossoms in season can recreate the romance of blooming cherry blossoms on their wedding day at the Diamond Hotel. Among their unique wedding packages, I love the Cherry Blossom theme the best. Held at the hotel’s Japanese restaurant Yurakuen, the sweet pastel colors of the decor and the twinkling glass leaves of their overhanging cherry blossom centerpiece is nothing short of magical. Coupled with an array of exquisite Japanese dishes, you and your guests will definitely enjoy an authentic Japanese experience. My only problem is that the beauty of the decor would not make the same impact if the wedding dinner were held in the evening; after all, the blooming sakura only stands out when the sun shines through the restaurant’s glass walls. But if you don’t mind having a lunchtime reception, and if you have a soft spot for Japanese culture and the nature motif, then the Cherry Blossom Theme might be perfect for you.

For inquiries, Please call Diamond Hotel’s Indulgence Office at 305-3000 local 8413/8414/8460 or email indulgence@diamondhotel.com

Destination weddings used to be an expensive affair only celebrities could afford, but affordable flights and accommodations allow ordinary folk to have their weddings in beautiful out-of-town locations. Although Catholic canon laws require that a couple get married in a Catholic church, you can always get married in a church and then reenact the ceremony itself wherever you want.

Boracay is perhaps the most popular location for destination weddings. Not only is this gorgeous, tropical island a breathtaking and romantic sight to behold – especially during sunset. There are countless hotels and boutique hotels where you can put up your guests. The ideal location for a Boracay wedding, however, would be at Diniwid beach at the end of station one – a quiet cove far away from the island’s partygoers. Beachfront hotels in this area like Microtel usually have wedding packages to make planning for accommodations and the reception hassle-free for you.