Besides knowing the difference between Asian wedding favors and garden wedding favors, a good wedding planner should be a wealth of knowledge and should know how to plan every detail of your wedding. Unfortunately, there are only a few ways to tell if your wedding planner really knows his or her stuff until he actually starts planning your wedding. Here are four quick things to look for when interviewing your wedding planners that will tell you more about them without asking the related questions.

If your wedding planner shows up for the interview half an hour late, odds are, they are not as organized as they claim to be. While this particular clue is not a dead giveaway to their capabilities, it is certainly a good step in the wrong direction. If they have a legitimate sounding excuse, it is only fair to continue the interview in earnest but keep that red flag in the back of your mind as you go. Take a moment and think about the excuse that they give you for being late. If they say that they were stuck in traffic at ten in the morning, it is more likely they slept in as the morning rush is usually over by nine, since that is the start time for the majority of the working world. That is unless, of course, everyone in your city was late for work on that day, like your candidate.

After a year of planning details, hiring caterers and interviewing bands, disc jockeys, and surveying wedding halls and churches, you are going to be either completely exhausted or totally focused. In either case, the last day of your wait, which is the day before your wedding, you have 24 hours to wrap up the details and take care of a few commitments. However, the biggest challenge you now face is getting some rest, you are going to need it.

The last day before your wedding is usually reserved for beauty treatments such as hair and make-up prep, nails and for final rehearsals. With any luck, you have worn and broken in those shoes you are going to be standing in for eight to ten hours tomorrow. If not, today is your last chance to get them worn so you know what to expect from them. You have a long day tomorrow, which means you have a lot to do today.

Don’t Forget to Breathe The big day is coming faster than you can prepare for it and you are so stressed out you could light a match…just by looking at it. Pre-wedding stress can be a royal pain in the wallet as well as the heart and there is no worry worse than one that involves money. You have planned a wonderful wedding and reception but more things have seemingly gone wrong than right. You have heard that wedding planning is supposed to be fun but by now, that is just a vague rumor and you know the truth. If this sounds familiar and you are still planning your wedding…, STOP! Do not forget to breathe.

Choosing Your State of Mind Wedding stress is natural and is sometimes hard to deal with. It is also fun and a wonderful experience. Which one of these you get the most out of is completely up to you. If you are in a frenzied, ready to pull your hair out and then start on someone else, very stressed out mode and you are just weeks from the big day it is time for a breather because this kind of state is the last frame of mind that you want to be in going into your wedding day. It is okay to let someone else take the reins for a little bit while you gain your composure. Pass smaller but important tasks, like choosing wedding favors, especially unique wedding favors, on to someone you trust. You do not have to do everything yourself.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked and difficult decisions couples face when deciding to get married is the name change. While it is customary for the bride to take the husbands last name, it is not something that has to be done. Once the decision is made of what the name will be changed to, if at all, here are five things you will need to know.

The first thing you will want to do is to call your local government office and have the forms mailed to you. Many towns used to hand out the forms when you applied for the marriage license but this practice is no longer followed in most cities. Once you have the forms, make sure you have all of your ducks in a row before you submit them. It is important that you fill out this form very carefully and check your spelling or you may wind up with a variation of the name and have to submit the forms twice.

The Theobroma Cacao or ‘the food of the Gods’ is what we all know as the cocoa tree. It’s origin can be traced back to South America’s rain forests, specifically to Central America, although historians are still debating over certain facts surrounding this tree.

It is suggested that the Mayans first grew the cacao tree in 300 AD, although others point to inadequate evidence that it was grown or at least harvested in around 3,000 BC. The Aztecs also used the cacao, but from about 1100 AD.

The chocolate (drink) that we all know today was called ‘xocoatl’. It was a very special beverage that was made out of cacao, chilies, anise seed, vanilla, corn meal and some other spices. It is said that only royalty were permitted to drink it and then only from golden chalices, which were to be used for the purpose only once.

The cacao tree is very sensitive to its environment and it most often grows in the shade of the rain forest canopy. If only for this reason alone, chocolate lovers should join forces with the environmentalists to save the rain forests so that the cacaos will continue to exist.

Have you ever looked for unusual wedding gifts for somebody? I think that it is a great idea and better than getting them something that they already might have. Everyone buys the same things these days. No one ever buys unusual wedding gifts.

I have been looking for unusual wedding gifts for my sister as her wedding is coming up soon. I have yet to find anything yet.

I have been thinking about getting a cuckoo clock. I think that counts as unusual wedding gifts. Who has ever had a cuckoo clock for their wedding before? I don’t know anybody.

I don’t know if I am going down the right road in searching for unusual wedding gifts. Perhaps there is something that would make more sense in the long run. It is difficult though because they haven’t produced one of those gift lists where you have the opportunity to select gifts of a list. I think I will need to be a bit creative.

I have discussed it will my girlfriend and she wants to buy something that is more traditional. I understand up to a point but the thing is they already live together. This causes a problem because you don’t want to buy something that they already have.

Feeling a bit dangerous and want to show the world just how dangerous and wonderfully unpredictable you can be when you set your mind to it. Plan the wedding that no one would ever expect, and then take that up a notch. If you have an adventurous bride to be, there is no limit to the kind of wedding planning the two of you can devilishly sink your teeth into, especially if she is as dangerous as you are. Have you ever thought of getting married while plummeting to the ground from twelve thousand feet? It is possible, although you will run into three problems. The first and probably the most difficult will be finding a preacher or justice of the peace who is not only willing to do it but will do it at an affordable rate. If I were a justice of the peace, you would have to pay me a pretty penny to marry you while free falling from a perfectly functional airplane.

A song can tell you a lot about life, the person who wrote it, the person who sings it and the person who likes to listen to it.. Songs belong to different genres. Have you ever come across a genre which is immortal? If you did would it be about love or hatred? Of course, everybody would declare that ‘love’ is the most discussed, written and sung about by people of all races and nationalities. So, it is no surprise then to find out what makes a date worth cherishing?

Music invariably has something to do with it and music could actually fashion the mood of your date. Dating is such a great way of selecting your future lifetime partner. When you are out on a date, see to it that the music is well-chosen and that it generates a mood of romance.

People have composed all styles of songs, but the ones they write the best are love songs. Since the day the first love song was sung, people’s hearts have been melting. Songs of finding a new love, losing love, songs of inspiration, songs of moving on, songs about romance, first loves and the gush of emotions.

Selecting the best wedding gift for your loved ones can be a difficult task. Guests want to pick the best wedding gift, one that will be useful to the couple and appreciated by the couple. Here are a few creative ideas to think about.

Adding Spice to Their Life

A spice rack full of high quality spices can be a great gift. Try finding a spice rack that has 12 spices, one for each month of their first year. Then compile different recipes using each spice. This will give them something to do together and something yummy to eat.

Remember the Honeymoon

A couples’ honeymoon will be remembered always, but having a coffee table book to flip through will help keep their memories vivid in the couples mind. Buy them a book for their coffee table with colorful pictures, important destination facts, and trivia. The couple will cherish it and always remember who gave them the book.

Converted Watercolor Painting

Newlyweds love acquiring new things for their brand new home. There are many companies, online and brick and mortar companies that will convert a regular portrait into a watercolor painting for very affordable prices. This portrait will be cherished and protected above most other gifts.

You are planning a wedding and you need some ideas that will make it special and unique but you do not know where to look. Well, if you are looking for ways to make your wedding unique, it will not be unique. In order for you to do something special you only have to look at your heart and what it tells you. Find your inspiration from within and if that does not work, try these ideas on for size and maybe you will be inspired. It is the little things that will make your wedding experience different because it is the little things that people notice the most. A good for instance would be to add little tags everywhere your guest will look that have poems or declarations of love. Even love song titles will stick in your guest’s minds and remind them of how special this occasion really is.