It may not be high on the list of wedding planning activities, but there are a few simple steps that can help keep tax issues from interrupting your newly wedded bliss. If you recently married, check out your new tax situation. You might save money or even prevent the problem of a missing refund check.

The first things to handle are changes of name and address. Later, as tax season approaches, consider whether or not you’ll itemize deductions, which tax return form is right for you and what filing status you’ll use.

No one should delay the cake cutting or honeymoon because of taxes. But here are some helpful hints for later:

Use Your Correct Name

You must provide correct names and identification numbers to claim personal exemptions on your tax return. If you changed your name upon marrying, let the Social Security Administration know and update your Social Security card so the number matches your new name. Use Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card.

Change of Address

If you or your spouse has a new address, notify the U.S. Postal Service so that it will be able to forward any tax refunds or IRS correspondence. The Postal Service will also pass your new address on to IRS for updating. You may also notify to notify the IRS directly by filing Form 8822.

Refund Checks

Each year, the Postal Service returns thousands of tax refund checks as undeliverable, usually because the addressee has moved. Notifying both the Postal Service and the IRS of an address change in a timely manner can help ensure the proper delivery of any refund checks. To check the status of a tax refund, go to the IRS web site and use the “Where’s My Refund?” service.

Changing Filing Status

Your marital status on December 31 determines whether you are considered married for that year. Married persons may file their federal income tax return either jointly or separately in any given year. Choosing the right filing status may save you money.

A joint return (Married Filing Jointly) allows spouses to combine their income and to deduct combined deductions and expenses on a single tax return. Both spouses must sign the return and both are held responsible for the contents.

With separate returns (Married Filing Separately), each spouse signs, files and is responsible for his or her own tax return. Each is taxed on his or her own income, and can take only his or her individual deductions and credits. If one spouse itemizes deductions, the other must also.

Which filing status should you select? It depends entirely on your specific situation. You should consider sitting down with a tax professional to make a determination.

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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So you’re planning a bridal shower — and everyone says you need a theme. “Around the Clock.” “Home and Garden.” Yawn!

There aren’t many times we get to be silly and girly in this world, so a bridal shower shouldn’t be wasted. Make sure it’s genuinely fun. It’s simple — just think about what makes your bride special, and let yourself loose with the theme. Here are a few ideas to charge up the noggin and organize something unique.

“Like High School — But Better.”

Revive some great times by tipping your hat to the bride’s high school days. Look up all those slightly embarrassing hits from the year she graduated — let’s say the 80s. (Create a gift CD of same for all your guests — they’ll secretly savor them when no one else is around.) Yes, they still make banana clips! Pass them out, along with big, dangly inexpensive hoop earrings and loads of jelly bracelets (remember? You wear about a hundred on each arm, a la vintage Madonna). Slather on the pink, blue and green eye shadow, metallic nail polish and bright blue mascara. Play the soundtracks from Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles.

Now for the games: segment a flashback classic, such as Madonna’s “Holiday,” into three or four CDs. Divide your guests into the same number of groups, and challenge them to come up with a dance routine to fit their part of the tune. Bring them back together in 10 or 15 minutes to perform their mini-masterpiece before a video camera you’ve set up for the occasion. Tape everyone’s routine in order. Give a prize to the best choreographers (actually, give a prize to everyone for being a good sport). Together, you’ve created a music video that no one could forget. With any luck, it’ll mysteriously show up at the reception.

Wine and Chocolate

Sometimes, when you tour a bunch of vineyards in wine country and you’re really lucky, you hit upon “wine and chocolate” day. But you don’t have to wait to hit the jackpot — you can organize your own. Plan an easy afternoon of popular, easy-drinking wines like Merlot and champagne, and ask each guest to bring a creative form of chocolate. Some of our favorites: chocolate croissants, chocolate papaya crepes, chocolate-covered ginger, and yes, jalapeno brownies.

But don’t stop with the food — make an outright bordello of it. Pile lots of velveteen pillows around the room, drape the walls with heavy fabric, burn a bit of incense. Put on some soothing Moroccan music, and arrange a few flowers in plum colored pails or vases you’ve dressed up with groovy gold fringe. Now pass out those beverages in pretty glass flutes, dropping a rose petal in each one. Then dig in! (Have doggie bags at the ready for blissed-out guests who want to enjoy the spoils later at home).

Occupational Hazard

Few things are more flattering than having your friends develop a party around your job. After all, you spend day in and day out there, and what you do is probably pretty important to you. Is the bride a teacher? Hand out apple-shaped candles as favors … and place them in brown paper lunchbags. Give her a chalkboard eraser “to erase any grudges” after she’s married: spray paint the top gold or silver, and have everyone sign it with a Sharpie. Sew or glue together a quick clip-on or bandana for her dog’s collar that reads, “Teacher’s Pet.”

Is your bride an attorney? Hire a Judge Judy impersonator (yes, they exist!) to make a showing. Ask each guest to “submit a brief” — a gift of lacey underwear for the honeymoon, accompanied by a personal note to wish the bride well.

More Ideas for Exciting Showers

Christmas in July: Place the bride’s gifts under a big, frou frou artificial tree you’ve hung the guest favors on. Serve iced eggnog and mocha-cinnamon smoothies. Everyone loves Christmas … especially when you’ve had a break from it, and don’t have to agonize over what to buy the boss.

Dancing Queens: Dress up in big, pouffy prom dresses from the past (you’ll find them at every thrift store), super-glam makeup, even tiaras. Lay on loads of body glitter. Head out en masse to your neighborhood restaurant or karaoke bar and toast the bride as she opens her gifts.

Cheesecake Party: Ask your guests who their favorite hunk is. Serve mini-cheesecakes in lots of different flavors (Baileys and orange, amaretto, chocolate fudge), and place a framed photo of their favorite “cheesecakes” next to each serving platter, with a special label: “Brad Pitt Blueberry,” “Creme de Menthe Mel.” Get inventive with the descriptions. Borrow or rent the biggest espresso machine you can find, and serve up steaming coffee drinks.

Whatever you end up going with, don’t be afraid to be creative. The less you go by the book and the more you think about what makes the bride special, the more fun your shower will be for everyone.

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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If you’ve gotten through the wedding planning and the wedding day without a hitch (no pun intended), then you’re already on your way to a successful marriage. Marriage takes commitment, compromise, and patience—all of the things that you have needed to plan a beautiful wedding.

Here are a few final words:

Have fun

When it all comes down to it, your wedding is supposed to be a celebration of you as a couple. Forget about what the cake looks like; if it’s off balance, take pictures from a different angle. If the deejay is playing horrible music or the band is off key, who cares?

Dance like a fool with your nieces and nephews. Dance with your mom or your dad. Let loose a little and stop worrying about what your hair looks like. Have some fun.

Just be with and enjoy your new spouse, family, and friends—this is a party for your new life together, not a test of your wedding planning skills.

Something always goes wrong at a wedding, so just ride with it and deal with it the best that you can. If it can’t be fixed—most times no one will notice.
Eat a little

One of the things that couples forget on their wedding day is to have something to eat. Of course, this means that they will have to take some time for them selves to sit down and relax—and why not? Take just fifteen minutes to have a little something to nibble on. You’ll have even more energy to dance until dawn and more cushioning in your stomach for any fun beverages that you may consume.

Talk to your family

This may be one of the few times that your entire family is together for a happy occasion. Take the time to walk around and talk to everyone. Thank them for coming and ask them about themselves. They probably have wedding stories that they can share with you as well.

Treasure this time you have together.

Smile

After all of the stress and the commotion, you are finally at the point where you can relax a little. Smile for the camera, smile for your friends, smile because you’re happy. Just smile. There’s no need to hold back anything for the sake of being proper or solemn. Solemn is for funerals. This is your time to rejoice in being married.

Congratulations!

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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Many marriages and dating relationships fail years before the loving couples meet. The exposure to a value system that promotes the acquisition of material possessions has a direct affect on our development as children. We learn early in life to take control of our material possessions.

This activity awakens our selfish nature and fortifies it as we mature. We learn to believe that we can do what we want with those possessions, my wife, my husband, my money, my toys, my bike, my car, my woman, my man, and mine, mine, mine! Unconsciously we believe these possessions are our slaves and should be at our beckon call or perform a particular function that we desire. At anytime, when our possessions do not conform to our desires or expectation, we become outraged. The reality is these are not our possessions, especially human beings.

We want our mates to take a subservient position to our desires. This is the beginning of the end of a healthy marriage or dating relationship. The core of the problems in marriages and dating relationships today is that we rely on traditions and false promises by others and institutions that manipulate our hopes and dreams for profits. We have been led to believe that institutions are held to a higher standard and do not fall into the same category as others who are motivated by selfish desires; but they are! There are in excess of 400,000 marriage counselors, workshops, and therapy sessions posted on the Internet.

Marriage counselors are professing to have the solution for a fee. Do you think they care about your marriage or dating relationship? The judicial branch of government is pointing the finger at the legislative branch. The legislative branch is pointing the finger at the judicial branch, and church organizations are partnering with social scientist to qualify for federal funding to rebuild marriages.  Where is the solution?

Dating relationships that lead to marriage is the fundamental social institution deeply rooted in all societies. To uphold and defend the institution of marriage, we must place emphasis on the truth. The institution of marriage should not be built on the traditional foundation of the past. The institution of marriage must be built on a strong foundation representing truth, sincerity, sacrifice, and cooperation, mutually putting our desires and opinions to bay.

Individuals who enter a dating relationship or marriage with opposing objectives, which are to fulfill their own desires, will have a failed dating relationship or marriage. Both participants must understand that individual desires and opinions are the furthest from the truth. The truth is what exists at the moment, or an incident that occurred in the past. The truth is not what one may think is going to happen in the future, nor is it what one may believe should have or could have happened. Falsehood, seeking to fulfill individual desires, and imposing one’s opinions on another are destructive ingredients for all relationships and marriages.

It is time for us to face the truth and to adopt a different posture when seeking a dating partner or a marriage companion. We must change our perspective and evaluate why living together in harmony is such a momentous task. We then must apply the true meaning of love and togetherness and then we can begin to live happily ever after!

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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Typically, wedding ceremonies are structured events and are commonly broken down into several components. Remember, that this is your wedding and you have options on what happens during your wedding. Don’t be intimidated by your friends, family, or even your wedding officiant. Unless you are asking for something outrageous, you should be able to have the ceremony conducted to your desires. Music is almost always part of the beginning of all wedding ceremonies, but music can be a part of any element.

Some of the most common elements of the wedding ceremony are:

Introduction – In this segment your wedding ceremony officiant declares the purpose of the gathering. He introduces the bride and groom, and welcomes the wedding guests. If it is a religious ceremony, he solicits everyone to participate in a prayer.

Lead up – This segment is probably the most forgettable part of the event, and it is often omitted. You may ask your officiant to follow the introduction with your vows to save time or if you are not interested in a drawn out sermon. If you elected to have a clergyman as your officiant, this part of your ceremony may be difficult to omit.

Vows – This is the “I do” part. Simply put, this is the one part of a wedding ceremony that you cannot compromise. It is always going to be part of the wedding, and it should be the most intimate part of your entire ceremony. At this time your officiant explains the significance of the couples vows followed by the bride and groom affirming their commitment to each other. Did you know that you could write your own vows? Writing your own vows gives you a chance to really personalize your ceremony. Be sure that both you and your groom are involved in the process. It should be a democratic process, to enhance the experience for both of you. Feel free to use your own words, so you feel comfortable with the language of your vows.

Exchange of the Rings – Once you declared your commitment to each other with your vows you are invited to place a wedding ring on each other’s ring fingers. For many this is one of the most moving event of the ceremony.

Announcement – The closing segment of most wedding ceremonies is the announcement and the “kissing of the bride.”

Keep in mind, this is your special day and you decide on how you want the wedding ceremony to progress. Remember, it is OK to be different. Your guest will appreciate an interesting wedding ceremony that is unpredictably exciting. To a large degree, ceremonies are for the entertainment of you and your guest, so have fun with it.

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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Almost as fun as planning your wedding is planning your honeymoon. You want your first trip together as husband and wife to be memorable and it’s tempting to take an ‘anything goes’ approach. After all, you’re likely to get lots of wedding gifts in the form of cold, hard cash so why not?

Well for one, you want to be able to eat and see the sights when you arrive, so you’ve got to use some discretion when making your arrangements. Many couples find that it is possible to have a great honeymoon, even if they’re sticking to a budget and all it takes is some planning.

When is the best time to plan the honeymoon? Obviously sooner is better, especially if you intend to travel to a popular destination during peak season. But at a minimum, while you are putting together your wedding budget, it’s a good idea to allocate funds for this adventure together and work from there.

To help determine an appropriate budget, you’ve got to think about your possibilities, and of course, you’ve got to be realistic. A good way to start planning your honeymoon is to think about the things you both like to do in your free time, think about places you’ve only dreamed of visiting, and think about what you realistically intend to do while away. You can also use the Internet or a travel agent to help you come up with honeymoon ideas.

Once you’ve selected a destination, it’s time to get busy making your travel arrangements. Special deals are out there, but you’ve got to be aggressive in your search for them. Don’t despair; it’ll likely be worth the effort. And the great deals might not always involve getting the lowest price. It’s the extras that’ll turn this ordinary trip into something extraordinary. Perhaps the deal includes getting a suite with a breathtaking view, or being greeted with a bottle of champagne.

When you’re down to only 3 months left until the wedding date, you should have your travel arrangements firmly in place. Know where you’re going, how you’re getting to the airport (after the reception) and once you arrive at your destination, how you’ll be getting to your accommodations. Once you’re in place, the rest of the vacation can run its course. If you wish, you can plan some day trips in advance. This far out, also make sure vaccinations and passports are current, if applicable.

A few weeks before your departure, start gathering the things you’ll bring with you on your honeymoon: camera and film/memory cards, swimsuits, day and evening wear, traveler’s checks, tickets, documents, confirmation numbers for ALL reservations (including person’s name if possible), and a bit of local currency for tipping. Set aside somewhere safe.

Then as the approaching days become more stressful than you can handle, close your eyes and picture yourselves lazily lying around your honeymoon suite, with not a care in the world except how soon you’ll be able to return!

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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The Lithuanian capital Vilnius has long considered as a hidden gem within Eastern Europe, with a blend of modern amenities amidst a historical setting. Perhaps another contributor to this reputation is the audacity of partying that takes place here. Since independence from Soviet rule, Lithuanians have transformed into hard party animals. Thus, stag nights in Vilnius are bound to be nothing short of extensive.

Must-do Vilnius stag night activities include a visit to the best lap dancing clubs, a crawl from bar to bar for a liver whipping (like all Baltic cities, booze is incredibly cheap in Vilnius) and be an exclusive guest at the best VIP nightclub that Vilnius has to offer. Be sure though that you engage a fully-bonded tour operator such as Chillisauce to make the necessary arrangements for you. These clubs are not exclusive for nothing!

For your pub crawl, complete 5 rounds of beer at different bars with the chaperone of a lady tour guide. The best bars are just within walking distance, which is why it’s so easy to get around in the Old Town are of Vilnius. If you still are not too pissed by then, continue your stag night as a VIP in Vilnius hottest night club. Unlike the rest of the party goers, Chillisauce ensures that you’ll waste no time on the long queues. You may want to check out the hot lasses on the dance floor or get a VIP room for greater privacy!

Your next Vilnius stag night should incorporate elements of sensuality with a limousine striptease all the way to the VIP lap dance club. Travel all over town while you are entertained with a voluptuous stripper in the comfort of your limo leather seats. Finally, your stag night will not be complete with erotic lap dances by writhing beauties.

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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Is your marriage in trouble?
 
Are you on the brink of a divorce?
 
Need some therapy?
 

Try ONLINE MARRIAGE COUNSELING!

Marriage Counseling has long been the most effective way re-building and saving your marriage. It’s a structured process where a professional counselor lets you and your partner explore the problem areas in your marriage and guides you to ways of overcoming them. Only this time its not your friendly marriage counselor in the neighborhood we are talking about, it’s the new age online marriage counseling, courtesy the internet.

Online Marriage Counseling is turning the traditional face to face counseling practice on its head. Gone are the days when couples had to build up their courage and discuss their personal lives and secrets with an unknown counselor face to face at the risk of losing all privacy. Thanks to the internet now couples and individual partners can log on to the numerous marriage counseling sites and discuss their martial issues with a trained counselor via e-mail. These sites are usually run and managed by expert marriage counselors who want to offer their services across the globe.

Dr. Marriage is an excellent online marriage counseling site run by Dr. Andy Smith (Phd-Counseling Psychology) and Dr. Martha Smith (Phd-Marriage Therapy) both expert marriage and relationship counselors. you can get expert marriage counseling from them and leading counselors on their panel all via e-mail from the comfort and privacy of your home.

Another advantage of counseling on the net is the low fee. A personal counseling sessions with a qualified marriage counselors would cost anywhere between $150-$500 per session. You are given structured email responses in response to your queries and are also advised on future course of action. You can choose how many sessions you want and when you want them. Counseling via e-mail gives you and your partner total privacy, flexibility to write down your thoughts and issues in e-mail and is convenient and cost effective too.  

Author: Dr. Andy Smith [Phd]

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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Your wedding party is a major factor in the success of your wedding day. Too many couples assume that once they’ve selected their brides maids and grooms men that they are finished. Unfortunately, many people don’t know what it means to be in a bridal party. Bridesmaids and groomsmen need to do more than just look pretty. Put these people to work! If your wedding party knows the who’s, what’s, when’s, and why’s, they will be able to handle many of the details that may derail the enjoyment of what should be your happiest day.

Many sites will tell you the traditional roles for your wedding party. I’m going to give you some tips on additional (and non-traditional) jobs for your bridesmaids and groomsmen to perform so that you can spend your time on more important details.

Babysitter: Make it the responsibility of someone in your wedding party to know where the rest of the wedding party is at all times. When time comes for someone to make a toast, the wedding party dance, the dollar dance, the garter auction, games, etc. it is frustrating for everyone to be waiting for that one person who is outside, in the bathroom, or talking to your cute cousin.

Activity Leader: Put your bravest party animal in charge of leading activities. This person needs to be someone willing to lead a bunny hop, talk on a mic, lead people to the dance floor etc.

Clean-Up Crew: Assign the task of making sure nothing gets left behind to one of your attendant’s. It will be their job to check the area of the ceremony, reception, and dance to make sure none of the wedding party left things like bags, purses, shoes, coats, wallets, keys, etc.

Nanny: Find your most child loving attendant, and give them the task of sheparding children off the dance floor during special events and dances. Children are great, but they don’t realize that the Bride and Groom’s first dance is not an appropriate time for them to be chasing bubbles on the dance floor.

Designated Driver: Don’t forget this important job! No need to let senseless tragedy ruin your perfect night.

While these are not traditional roles for your average wedding party, assigning someone to these tasks will make your day less stressful so you can spend your time making your wedding beautiful.

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

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Ask someone why they had, or are having an affair and you may hear something like this: “I have a lousy marriage. My marriage is dead. There is no intimacy, no sex, and no excitement. The love is gone. We’ve grown apart. I can’t stand the marriage. There was nothing happening in the marriage and the affair just happened.”

These statements are rationalizations and fail to “get at” the underlying issues.

Key points:

1. It’s as if a marriage is an animal gone bad. A marriage does not have a life of it’s own. In reality, there is no such thing as a “marriage.” One is “married” as a result of making some promises and signing a paper at one point. After the paper is signed, two people continue communicating and acting toward one another in particular ways that they hope will help them get what they individually want. Just as there is no “marriage,” there is no such thing as a “relationship.” There are, however, ways of relating for which each person is responsible. Remember the comedian Flip Wilson (that dates me) and his “The devil made me do it” skit?

2. We idealize “marriage” or “romantic relationships” with the expectation we will get what we want, without much effort to boot. The movies, popular public press and romance novels/stories don’t help much here. A “marriage” is behind the eight ball from the word go. “IT” can’t win.

3. From day one most of us don’t have a clue about how to get, build, nurture and maintain healthy and intimate ways of relating. We need ‘love 101’ and it’s not there. We rely upon experimentation or bad models.

4. If the “marriage” is dead, why in the world would one choose to have an affair? Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It really is stupid. You add a whole layer of deceit and shame that eventually will result in consequences more dire than approaching your spouse and saying, “I’m really unhappy. What I’m doing with you obviously is not working. I want out.” Oh well, maybe some people need more problems and suffering.

5. If the “marriage” is bad, obviously, I don’t have to look at me. I can blame “it” or the other. Some of us find it difficult to look at me. Some of us don’t know how to look at me. Some of us never think of looking at me.

Tip: If your partner/spouse is having and affair and blames it on the “marriage,” don’t buy into it. The “marriage” is not the problem. You are not the problem. Your spouse/partner chose the affair out of ignorance, fear or inadequacy.

The “My Marriage Made Me Do It” is just one of 7 affairs outlined in my E-book, “Break Free From the Affair.” For more information on the issues behind the other kinds of affairs and tips for dealing with them, visit my site.

For more advice please visit us at wedding planning website and wedding planning guides

Finally! You Can Have The Wedding Of Your Dreams Regardless Of Your Budget!

“Discover An Ex-Wedding Planner’s Secret Tactics For Planning A Luxury
Wedding On A Miniscule Budget!”

Click here for more details

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