One of the thing that worried me more than anything else was making the speech at my wedding reception. Not being a natural public speaker I needed a little help. In my case I bought some helpful books from the local bookshop. However time moves on and you can now buy your advice online.

After some research I came across WeddingSpeeches4u who offer speeches for bride, groom, father of the bride, maid of honour and mother of the bride. Each speech pack is tailored to the person giving the speech.

I decided to test drive the speeches for brides and so handed over my credit card details and instantly went to a download page to get my goodies. The downloads consisted of three downloadable books and an mp3 file to listen to.

Firstly, I opened the 85 page brides speeches book and did some speed reading. The book starts with some general wedding planning advice, then picks up on the part that speeches play and general ideas on creating your speech. It moves swiftly on to useful jokes, one-liners, loads of toasts and poems that you can use to adapt the pre-written speeches. Finally you reach the twenty pre-written speeches which form the meat of the book.

The pre-written speeches are very well put together and cover lots of styles from formal to more casual. Apart from changing the names they are ready to go as they are. However using the advice and guidance and the additional material you can personalised a speech to be your own. Another useful trick is to borrow from several speeches taking the best bits.

The additional books include a bachelorette party guide book and bridal shower guide. The Bachelorette party guide contains ideas on themes, games (drinking and sober) as well as present ideas. Certainly a good starter for your party. The bridal shower guide is very similar with loads of ideas and organisational tips. Both make good bonus items and are worth reading.

The MP3 file for you to download is a confidence course to help with those pre-wedding speech nerves. I found this very helpful with general confidence and self-image and very valuable in its own right. After getting you to relax the speaker gradually builds up your confidence with helpful suggestions.

Overall I give this product 4 wedding bells out of 5 – It is worth having a look for yourself at the information at WeddingSpeeches4u – My only small problem was with about five pages of general wedding information that felt out of place but that still leaves 80 pages of very useful information. Save yourself some money though by buying the downloadable version rather than the printed version… look carefully at the order form for that option.

Technorati Tags: Wedding, Wedding Speeches, Wedding Reception

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What are wedding websites?

Quite simply they are your own personal website for your wedding. Typically they will include pages on how the happy couple met, the location of the wedding and reception, information on local hotels and more.

What can they do for you?

Apart from looking pretty one of the most useful features of good wedding websites is providing a central point of reference for all information on your wedding, reception, stag and hen dos. Some of wedding website systems can even manage the replies and keeps track of who is coming. More advanced website also include planning tools such as guest lists, table planning and budgeting.

Where do you get a wedding website?

There are plenty of companies offering systems to help you create a masterpiece and provide the clever planning tools, etc. Alternatively if you have some IT experience you can do it yourself just like any other website. May be one of your guests has some web designing experience and can help out. Even if you are able to create a website yourself the wedding website companies provide lots of great additional features and can make the task simpler to do.

How much IT knowledge do I need?

Most of the systems do not require must in the way of IT or design skills. If you can use a word processor you should be able alright. Often these systems have a step by step way of working where you simply fill in the blanks. Once you have finished you can jump around from page to page making additions and changes.

Are they ease to use?

I have tried out several systems and they varying in complexity. Most don’t require a spotty teanager to help. The results that can be acheived with the easier systems do vary and can look a bit basic. The good news is that most of the good systems will let you try them out and create a fully working website without even putting in your credit card details. So you should be able to get a good idea of what you can acheive.

How long do they last?

Typically you should have a website at least six months before wedding and about six months afterwards. Most wedding systems come as a twelve month package. However you can renew your contract and keep the site going for as long as you like. Alternatively you can have the website saved to a CD to keep it forever.

What features can I expect?

Some of the features you will find in most of the online systems.

• Pages for the wedding, reception, stag and hen dos, local hotel information, your story, etc
• Ability to add pages of your own.
• Gift registry lists with all the important details and links to online registries
• Ability to email all your guests
• Event management for hen and stag dos
• To Do lists
• Reminders
• A journal for bride and groom
• Budget Trackers
• Photo galleries

Some wedding website provide links to other services such as photo printing so your guests can order prints, mugs and other personalised gifts from your pictures.

How secure are they?

As there will be lots of personal information on your wedding website, it is important that you control who sees what. Most systems will allow you to have a password for some or all of the pages. It is worth checking that you have the level of control you feel you need.

How much to they cost?

There are lots of companies both in the UK and the US offering these services. With the dollar being so weak at the moment the US providers can provide a bargain but make sure that you can change the dates to UK date formats. Prices start as low as £50 for the year and climb up from there. However a budget of £100 for the year should be able to provide a very attractive and professional looking website with lots of features.

Which companies should you look at?

If you feel you would like a wedding website, it is worth trying a few of the free trials available. My current favourites are

www.weddingwindow.com – Has nearly a hundred beautiful designs, is a little more difficult to than some of the other systems but the results are well worth the effort. 12 month cost $79.
www.weddingtracker.co.uk – Very nice designs, with a nice step by step creation process, 2 Week Free Trial. 12 months costs £99 (includes FREE Planning Tools)
www.ewedding.com – Great looking designs costing $89 for 12 months.

If you like the idea of guest being able to order their own prints but your wedding website does not provide it take a look at www.photobox.co.uk who allow you post your photos and send your gallery to your guests. They can then order online and even create photo albums that are properly bound like a book. The service can be tried out for free by registering.

Technorati Tags: Wedding Websites, photo albums

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