Invitations set stage for wedding theme

Here is a couple who wanted something traditional and would fit into their day.

This couple used an online site to roder their invitations - what a great way to say on your wedding.

Take A Cruise on Your Wedding

Weddings can be both the most exciting and stressful times of a person's life. Sure it is certainly fun to design wedding invitations, plan your reception and pick colors for your ceremony and bridesmaid's dresses. On the flip side, the woes of budgeting for a wedding, hiring a minister, hiring a caterer ...

Weddings can be both the most exciting and stressful times of a person's life. Sure it is certainly fun to design wedding invitations, plan your reception and pick colors for your ceremony and bridesmaid's dresses. On the flip side, the woes of budgeting for a wedding, hiring a minister, hiring a caterer, and securing entertainment can be just as stressful as the fun parts can be enjoyable.

For those who are trying to produce a wedding, a wedding reception, and a honeymoon on a limited budget, there may be one option that you have not yet explored. Getting married on board a cruise ship is a classy yet relatively inexpensive option for your wedding. Most cruise lines carry their very own wedding planner who can put together an entire wedding, minister (or the cruise ship version of one) reception, catering, and all. wedding planners, even for small weddings, can cost upwards of a few thousand dollars but you can secure a low cost, thoughtful and memorable wedding on board a luxury cruise liner for less than a thousand dollars if you are lucky. This is on top of the costs of traveling on the ship for the duration of the cruise as well. Of course this is not the most extravagant wedding, and obviously you get what you pay for so the more money you put into your luxury cruise liner wedding, the fancier it will turn out to be.

Realistically, you would not expect all 50 to 100 of your wedding guests to shell out thousands of dollars just to sail around the world with you and your loved one to celebrate your wedding with you, and of course the cruise lines do not expect that either. Many lines will allow your guests to come on board for your wedding and reception for a couple of hours. The liner company may choose for themselves or give you the option of having your wedding on a docked ship and never have the cruise liner leave the area, or to sail around the port for the duration of the wedding. Most times the ship will never even leave the port during the wedding, as this can cause problems with marriage licenses when it comes to what may or may not be United States or international waters.

There are plenty of cruise lines that will give you a quality, fun wedding that will be truly memorable for you and your loved one. Carnival Cruises, Princess Cruises, and the Disney cruise line offer fun, romantic wedding packages at prices that really are hard to beat, especially when compared to the combined price of a wedding, reception, and honeymoon done the more traditional way. Princess Cruises even offer wedding packages that pamper the bride and groom prior to the wedding, and add little touches like stringed instruments, flowers, and candles to create a ceremony that you, your loved one, and your guests will always look back on fondly.

About The Author:
Kirsten Hawkins is a cruise and travel expert specializing in discount cruises and travel. Visit http://www.luxury-cruise-deals.com/ for more information on how to cruise the world for little or no money.
Related Tags: ebay, ebay shopping, wedding, wedding theme

Converting Your Wedding Videos to DVD

Technology marches ever onward and, as it does, it carries us right along with it. In the early 1980's, as VCR's dropped in price and appeared in more and more homes, there was a sudden mass appeal for people to have their old Super 8 home movies converted to video cassette. Video tapes last far longer than film and it just made sense to convert those old reels into a more watchable and compact format. People brought their movies of their baby's first steps, birthday parties, and weddings and turned them into video tapes. Not long after that, video cameras became cost effective for people to buy and those old super 8 cameras and projectors went the way of the dodo. People began using video tape for everything and the wedding video was born.

Technology has shifted yet again, folks. You may have noticed less and less video tapes at your local Blockbuster store. The medium is becoming extinct, replaced by DVD. Guess what? It's time to convert yet again. dvd discs last far longer than video tape, offer higher quality picture and sound, and can run longer than video cassettes. By converting your wedding videos to dvd you can ensure that the memories you saved will last even longer.

The process of converting your wedding video to dvd is not complicated, but to do it yourself you will need some special equipment. Obviously you'll need a dvd recording device and a way for your VCR to connect to it. If you have a dvd burner on your computer, you're halfway there. You will also need a way for your VCR to interface with your computer. Most computers do not come shipped with a way to do this. You'll need to install a TV card on your computer that has inputs that match your VCR's outputs. Most TV cards do have both RF and A/V inputs.

Next you'll need to record the wedding video onto the computer's hard drive. You may need special software to do this if your TV card didn't come with any bundled. Sony's Vegas Video is a good one, but there are a number of different titles available. Keep in mind that the video will take up a lot of drive space. In order for the video to be placed on dvd it will have to be in an MPEG format. Your video recording software should be able to save it this way. Once that is done, it's simply a matter of using your dvd burning software to transfer the video onto a dvd disc that you can then watch on any dvd player. The software will have instructions for doing this. Once the process (which can take some time, be warned) is complete, viola! Your wedding video is now on dvd and can be enjoyed forever.

If you don't have or can't afford the equipment and software to follow the preceding steps, fear not. There are companies that can take away all of the hassle and transfer your wedding videos to dvd for you, for a price. Whichever method you choose will have the same end result and you'll be enjoying your old wedding videos and other home movies on a new format that's built to last.

About The Author:
kirsten hawkins is an event planner from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.wedding411.net/ for more event planning tips, strategies, and resources.

Related Tags: ebay, ebay shopping, wedding, wedding theme

So What is Ebay

Have you noticed that whenever you open a newspaper, watch the TV or have a conversation, people seem to be talking about eBay? If you've never used it and you've no idea what it's all about, then the chances are that you're starting to feel a little left out. But don't worry! This email contains everything you need to know about the basics of bidding and buying on eBay.

So What is eBay?

ebay is an online auction website – and not just any auction site, but the biggest one in the world. If you know how an auction works, then you already know how roughly ebay works. Someone adds something they want to sell to the site, and then buyers come along and place bids on it. The highest bid wins the item! It's that simple.

ebay being an online auction makes a big difference, though. buying and selling are not reserved for any elite. ebay accept almost any item, no matter how small, and will then advertise it on their sites all over the world. It's a powerful combination of an auction and a slightly chaotic marketplace.

What is Bidding?

bidding is when you say how much you will pay for an item in an auction. bidding on eBay, however, doesn't work in exactly the same way as a normal auction, at least in theory. On eBay, you tell the site what the maximum you are willing to pay for each item is, and then ebay places the bids on your behalf. That means you could say you were willing to pay up to $100 for something and only have to pay $50, if that was the highest maximum bid anyone else placed.

It's not as complicated as it sounds – the best way to get used to it is to give it a try. First, the best thing to do is to go to the ebay website designed for your country. If you don't know the address for it, just go to http://www.ebay.com and it will tell you there. Now, on the front page you should see a big box marked ‘search': just type in anything that you'd like to buy there.

Wasn't that easy? Now you should have a list of items for sale in front of you, along with how much people are currently bidding for them and the time when bidding ends for each item. If you click one of these, you c an read the description, and then – if you're happy with the item and happy to pay more th an the current highest bidder is – you c an bid!

How Do I Bid?

Go ahead and scroll down to the bottom of an item's description page, and type the maximum you are willing to pay (your maximum bid) into the box. Then simply press the ‘place bid' button – you will need to sign in once you press the button, or go through a quick registration process if you don't have an ebay username).

If someone else's maximum bid on that item is higher th an yours, then ebay will tell you and give you the opportunity to bid again. Otherwise, you're now the new highest bidder! All you need to do now is wait until the end of the auction – if someone else outbids you, then ebay will email you and you c an bid again.

All sounds great, doesn't it? But by now you might be wondering whether a site as chaotic as ebay c an really be all that safe to buy from. That's why the next email in this series will be about your rights when you buy from eBay.

About The Author:
kirsten hawkins is an ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from ebay and other online auctions.

Getting the most out of Ebay

Over the years, ebay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their things on eBay.

For every seller who doesn't like the ide a that their item might sell for a far lower price than they intend, there's another who wants to shift hundreds of the same item quickly. ebay tries to cater to all tastes. This email gives you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.

Normal Auctions.

These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple.

Reserve Auctions.

Reserve auctions are for sellers who don't want their items to sell for less than a certain price – a concept you'll know about if you're familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the reserve price you set, and they'll need to bid again if they want the item. If no-one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is cancelled, and you keep the item.

Fixed Price (‘Buy it Now') Auctions.

Buy it Now auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a Buy it Now button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and avoid the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want them to sell for.

Recently, ebay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the ‘best offer'. This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get sell some extr a stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extr a fee to use these formats. In general, it is more worth using reserve auctions for higher-priced items and fixed price auctions for lower-priced ones – but remember that you can combine the two formats.

Multiple Item (‘Dutch') Auctions.

These are auctions where you can sell more than one of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that, then don't worry – everyone else does too! These auctions are very rare.

What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types: a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you they have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click Buy it Now to get them.

Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you should make sure that the items you plan to sell don't violate eBay's listing policies. The next email will let you know what's allowed and what is a big no-no.

About The Author:
kirsten hawkins is an ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit < a href="http://www.auctionseller411.com/" target="_blank">http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from ebay and other online auctions.
Related Tags: ebay, ebay shopping, wedding, wedding theme

Ebay Tips

It is important to remember that ebay is a lot like a marketplace. There will always be a dodgy guy in the corner, selling things that most people wouldn't touch. The trouble is that, on the Internet, these people can be a little harder to spot. Here are ten tips to help you keep an eye out for the rip- off merchants.

1. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: This holds for everything in life, but especially for eBay. Things that seem too cheap are usually too cheap for a reason – it might be a complete scam, or the items might just be of extremely poor quality. Investigate before you go further.

2. Know the value of what you want to buy: There are people on ebay who regularly bid such high prices for used cameras that they might as well have gone out and bought them brand new. Check around for prices first.

3. Only bid on real things: ebay has plenty of people who are trying to sell all sorts of schemes and scams. It is never worth bidding for these, no matter how cheap they might be.

4. Don't do anything outside eBay: Occasionally people will ask you to send them money outside eBay, to avoid the fees ebay charges sellers. Any money you send this way is entirely insecure – don't do it.

5. Be careful where you send payment: People may hack into others' accounts, and ask you to send payment to addresses that ebay has not confirmed as belonging to that account – you might send your money and receive nothing in return.

6. Look out for sellers who suddenly change what they sell: Sellers can look like they've made lots of transactions, when really they've never sold anything of worth. If they suddenly start selling $1,000 televisions, steer clear – the chances are they're planning to run off with the money.

7. Beware the shill bidder: If someone who doesn't seem to have bought anything before is constantly outbidding you on a certain item, be suspicious. It might be a seller ‘shill bidding' to force up his item's price.

8. Don't use the seller's escrow service: If an escrow service is recommended to you by a seller, it could well be owned and run by them – and they're quite likely to keep your money and send you nothing.

9. Pay electronically: You are more likely to be able to recover any losses if you pay using a credit card instead of sending out cheques and money orders – these low-tech payment methods can't be tracked as easily.

10. Buy from reputable sellers: Each seller has a number next to their name, which is their feedback rating. The higher this rating, the more you can trust them.

On that last point, feedback ratings are the most important way that buyers and sellers can protect themselves on ebay – and you, as a buyer, have a rating too! Now that you won't get ripped off, the next email will be all about your rating, and what you can do to make sure people know that you're not going to rip them off either.

About The Author:
kirsten hawkins is an ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from ebay and other online auctions.

Related Tags: ebay, ebay shopping, wedding, wedding theme

Welcome to Ebay Wedding Secrets.

I will regularly post information to help you with your wedding.

Donna