Rituale für die Rauhnächte – sei Wunderbar und lege den Schalter um auf das Neue

Hallo und wundervoll bist du da! Das freut mich ungemein, denn ich habe dir wirklich etwas ganz gutes und wichtiges zu erzählen! Es geht gegen Ende des Jahres zu und ich denkedu kennst das bestimmt, dass man sagt: Ja dieses Jahr war streng, es hatte gewisse Herausforderungen. Das und das war schön. Das hat mich wiederum sehr viel Kraft gekostet. Wer kennt das nicht, dass wir in dieser Zeit ein bisschen das Jahr Revue passieren lassen? Manchmal ist es ja auch so, dass wir diese Dinge die ganz, wie soll ich sagen herausfordernd waren oder die dich ganz viel Kraft gekostet haben, dass wenn es vorbei ist, sagen wir: Achja, es ist vorbei und es geht schon wieder und ich habs ja überlebt und so weiter und so fort. Der Fokus auf das Neue Ausrichtung für das neue in den Rauhnächten Und ich denke, das kennen wir alle solche Situationen dass wir das ein bisschen unter den Teppich kehren. Und wir legen den Fokus dann wieder auf das Neue. Grundsätzlich ist das natürlich absolut ideal. Denn
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Post Wedding Activities

For many couples, the wedding is not over once the reception is. Depending on the location of the wedding and the couple's relationship with their families, often there are other activities that follow the main event.

One of the most obvious is a breakfast the day following the wedding. This is a time for everyone to touch base with each other, check in on how everyone did and perhaps share memories of the night before. This breakfast activity can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Some people like to have this breakfast at a relative's house because that is friendly and familiar and more conducive to everyone hanging out and enjoying themselves. It can be potluck style or catered. You can also meet up at a restaurant.

Many families like to have the bride and groom open presents the day after the wedding. There are many who believe the bride and groom are required to open presents in the presence of family for good luck. In that case, building in the opening of presents is essential. This can be a simple gathering of friends and family or you can turn the present opening into an all-out activity, where each item is opened, demonstrated or displayed and discussed in great detail.

Opening gifts doesn't have to a dry activity. You can add some silly fun. How about starting with the smallest and moving to the largest gifts? Or working in the reverse order? You might even create a game. Everyone has to guess what's in each gift prior to its being opened. (Of course, people can't guess on their on gifts.) Someone can be in charge of keeping a tally and whoever gets the most right, wins a small prize.

The women in the bride's family might want to help her pack up her gown (or send it to the dry cleaners) and preserve her wedding bouquet. This can easily be done at home and the women (particularly those who are crafty) might want to get started on preserving the flowers as well.

In the crafty light, some brides might want to plan a scrapbook party for after the wedding. You won't have photos back from the photographer, but you can scrapbook many other wedding events, such as pre-events like manicures, various parties and the candid photos take by wedding guests the night before. More than being focused on the photos, this activity gives the women a chance to reflect on the events of the wedding, laugh at all the fun ties and journal and preserve memories before some are lost. It will also help the bride feel as if she's partly in control of all those photos before she leaves on her honeymoon and takes yet more photos.

If gifts were opened on this "day after the wedding", crafty groups might want to make thank you cards. Choose a design long before the wedding, perhaps even making a prototype as well. Then have all the supplies on hand and give everyone good ideas about how the cards should be made. Even the men can get on this act, helping to fold the cards, perhaps handling any computer work and even getting their fingers on glue and scissors. Send the bride and groom off with these homemade cards so when they get back from their honeymoon, all they have to do is jot off a quick note.

Some brides and grooms plan activities the day fter the wedding that are designed to help everyone calm down, relax and unwind after what has likely been a busy weekend. In this light, you can plan a picnic at the park and bring along games to play. You might pack a football, a volleyball net or items to play baseball. You might bring along water guns or a dartboard. Whatever it is, the idea here is to have some fun and blow off steam. Make your own rules when playing the games. It really doesn't matter. Today is about relaxing, unwinding and spending some quality time with friends and family before the special weekend is over.

MONA REFAAT - the Cairo wedding planning specialist
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Wedding Guest Book Activities

Traditional brides don't have to have traditional guest books. Certainly you can purchase a standard guest book and ask your guests to sign it, but there are so many more guest book-like activities that are more unique.

Let's move from the popular to the less well known. One very popular option allows guests to sign a picture of the bride and groom. Simply take a picture of the bride and groom and have it matted in a mat several inches larger than the photo itself. Place a frame around this, but don't include the glass or Plexiglas frame. You'll add this later. Some people prefer to use "bulldog" clips to keep the mat together instead of putting the picture in the frame. The picture can be framed after the wedding.

Most couples choose a nice photo of themselves for this picture/guestbook option, although if there's a formal engagement photo, this is an excellent way to preserve that photo and show it off to friends and family. If photos are taken before the wedding with the bride and groom in their wedding attire, you can certainly use this photo. Many couples opt to either leave the mat empty or they place a temporary picture in the mat and add a wedding picture later.

Be sure to have a nice Sharpie marker handy and place the picture on either a sturdy easel or on a table where guests are sure to see it.

Another option is instead of providing a picture of the bride and groom to sign, the guests are provided with a picture of themselves! Simply provide a Polaroid camera and assign someone the job of taking pictures of the guests as they arrive at the reception. Once the picture is dry, provide a Sharpie and they can sign the picture, make a note to the bride and groom or hand draw a silly picture. It can be whatever the guest wants it to be. This is a unique, and personal, way for guests to "sign in" at the wedding.

Whoever handles the taking of the pictures should also handle putting them in an album of some sort. A scrap booker might provide a special memory book with the Polaroid pictures in it, or the pictures can simply be placed in a nice album and presented later to the bride and groom.

Many guests don't give a great deal of thought to the guest book. They whiz by the guest book table more concerned with getting their cocktail and hitting the dance floor. If this is a concern, provide a "traveling" guest book. Send each guest something either to sign or decorate before the wedding.

In this "traveling" guest book scenario, there are several options. One of the easiest is to send each guest a small piece of paper and ask them to write something meaningful or thoughtful for the bride and groom on it. The pieces of paper are returned prior to the wedding (to ensure a better response, provide a self-addressed stamped envelope with the paper) and can be compiled in some meaningful way for the bride and groom and presented to them on their wedding day.

If the guest list is a creative or particularly close group, there is one other option that is even more meaningful. Again, in a scrapbook fashion, send each guest a piece of paper to sign or decorate. The paper should be the size of a photo album, so it might be a 6 x 6 piece of paper, an 8 x 8 piece of paper, or even 12 x 12, if the guests are up to that larger size.

In a letter that arrives with the paper, the guests are instructed to create a memory page for the bride and groom. They might include photos, quotes, little anecdotal stories, or combine all of these with stickers or embellishments. It's thoughtful, meaningful and personal and it's an excellent way to include guests who might not be able to attend the wedding, but would still like to be a part of it.

MONA REFAAT - the Cairo wedding planning specialist
You can trust Mona Refaat to simplify your planning and make your wedding day in Cairo everything you have ever imagined
        

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Wedding Cake Activities

Upon arrival at the wedding reception, many guests head for the cake table so they can admire the cake. Some time later, the bride and groom come along for a picture opportunity and the grand cutting of the cake. Then everyone enjoys cake and it's gone. Believe it or not, there are many more activities that can make the wedding cake more about fun and less about tradition.

Of course, watching the bride and groom push cake into each other's mouths is a long-enjoyed tradition, but there are many more fun - and less messy - activities to consider as well.

One new option that's gaining popularity is to have cupcakes instead of a cake. This is a method that is usually more affordable than having a cake and it can be a lot of fun. Cupcakes are decorated in alignment with the wedding theme, just as a cake is, but the cupcakes are instead arranged on tiered cake plates and displayed on a cake table until it's time to eat them. The cupcakes can be simply handed out on plates to each wedding guest.

Now, what's fun about using cupcakes instead of a whole wedding cake is you can save money, certainly, as many reception halls and caterers charge a per slice fee to cut and serve the wedding cake, but you can also build activities into the cupcake presentation. For example, the cupcakes that are for the bride and groom can have a different decoration than the ones for the guests.

As an extra touch, you can have the baker include a special prize in one or several cupcakes. A small charm or tiny toy can be baked into the cupcake. Whoever gets the charm wins a special prize. These prizes can range from a gift basket or gift certificate to a restaurant to a dance with the bride or groom.

Some brides like to use a Southern tradition and have charms baked into the wedding cake. Similar to the idea above for cupcakes, this involves baking small charms or tiny toys (but usually charms) into the cake. Those who get one of the charms are said to have good luck. You might even consider having charm bracelet charms baked into the cake, which are then made into a charm bracelet for the bride.

Not everyone enjoys cake. How about an activity for those who won't be eating cake? They can be required to do the "Macarena" or the chicken dance during the time when everyone else is eating cake. If they manage to do the dance continuously while the other guests enjoy cake, they win a prize. Or they simply get to sit down, as now they are tired!

In keeping with the dance during cake theme, how about a requirement that in order to get cake, a guest must perform an impromptu dance first? Or there could be trivia questions about the bride and groom or about popular culture. Guests must correctly answer the questions before getting their cake. There could be competitions among tables or individuals for most questions answered correctly.

Many people believe that once the cake is cut, they are free to leave if they wish. Since cake cutting usually comes after the meal and after dancing and other traditional celebration activities, many people take the opportunity to leave the party after the cake is cut and enjoyed.

If the bride and groom want their guests to stay after the cake is eaten, it is worth some extra effort to build some activities into the cake-cutting event so people will stick around longer. This can be as simple as telling people not to leave, or can be more subtle and fun.

For example, each person could receive a slip of paper with his or her cake. These slips of paper could be prepared ahead and provided to the catering company with instructions that one folded strip of paper be placed on each plate with the cake. The paper might give an agenda for the rest of the evening or might ask its recipient to perform a little dance, to head over to give the groom or bride a kiss, or might ask them to take the flower girl out on the dance floor for a spin. The unknown will keep all the guests guessing and provide some entertainment as the instructions are carried out.

MONA REFAAT - the Cairo wedding planning specialist
You can trust Mona Refaat to simplify your planning and make your wedding day in Cairo everything you have ever imagined
        

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Wedding Favors for Less Than One Dollar

When most people think of wedding favors they do not think it will be a substantial part of the wedding budget. This is largely because the unit price of each wedding favor is often quite low. However, it is important to remember that this price must be multiplied by the number of guests in attendance and this can really add up if there are a large number of guests at the wedding. It can also add up quickly if the unit price is quite high. As example consider wedding favors with unit prices of $2 and $10. If you plan to have 500 guests at your wedding and give each one a $2 favor your budget for wedding favors will be the same as it would be if you plan to have a small wedding of only 100 people and give each of them a favor which costs $10. In both cases you would need to have a budget of $1000 for wedding favors. From this example you can see why it is very important to consider both the unit price as well as the number of guests. Fortunately, whether you are having a large or a small wedding there are many wedding favors available for less than $1 which can help to keep the wedding favor budget low. This article will provide some ideas for wedding favors which typically cost less than $1.

Place card holders are one type of wedding favor which is typically available for less than $1 per place card holder. There are certainly some place card holders which will cost much more than $1 per unit but you are likely to also find many which are priced under $1. Place card holders make great wedding favors because they not only serve a purpose at the wedding but they can also be used as small picture frames by the guests after the wedding.

Tins containing mints are another option for wedding favors which are often priced at under $1 per unit. These tins come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes but the tins which are priced at less than $1 are likely to be quite small. However, there are also a wide variety of designs available. You can purchase ones which feature a tuxedo design or a wedding dress. You can also find tins with wedding bells or flowers on the top.

Another way to find wedding favors for less than $1 per favor is to inquire with the wedding favor distributor about clearance or closeout items. These are often items which have been discontinued or which the distributor is not planning to stock anymore. Many distributors are willing to offer these favors at discounted prices because they do not have many left and are trying to free up space in their warehouse. If these items have been discontinued or the distributor is not willing to order more you may be limited to the number of favors the distributor has in stock. If this quantity is enough to meet your needs, you are certainly in luck but if you need more than is available, it might be a good idea to search for other inexpensive wedding favors unless you know for sure there is another distributor who can sell you additional quantities of the same favor.

MONA REFAAT - the Cairo wedding planning specialist
You can trust Mona Refaat to simplify your planning and make your wedding day in Cairo everything you have ever imagined
        

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Easy Wedding Favors

While wedding favors may be one of the simplest part of planning a wedding, they can also be the part of the wedding which is often left until the last minute. This can make shopping for wedding favors quite stressful. However, fortunately, there are a number of different options for wedding favors which are very easy to do at the last minute. This is important because it can take a great deal of stress out of realizing the wedding is rapidly approaching and wedding favors have not yet been purchased. This article will provide a few simple ideas for really easy wedding favors.

Using flowers as wedding favors is undoubtedly one of the easiest wedding favors you can give to your guests. There is virtually no preparation involved in this wedding favor and depending on how many guests you have at the wedding you may not have to order the favors well in advance. You might consider giving your guests a single red rose as a favor. This is extremely appropriate because a rose is a symbol of love. It is also very easy because it does not have to be wrapped. You can simply purchase one rose for each guest and have a member of the catering hall staff or a friend or family member place one rose across each place setting after the tables have been set for the wedding. You can also select a flower which is used in your centerpiece and instruct your florist to place one flower at each place setting when they arrange the centerpieces.

Candy can also be an extremely easy wedding favor. There are a number of ways to give candy as wedding favors such as giving each guest a small tin or basket filled with candy. However, there is an even easier way to give candy as a wedding favor and also help you to save money on centerpieces. This can be accomplished by using large bowls filled with different types of candy as the centerpieces on each table. You can then provide each guest with a small bag and a note encouraging them to enjoy the candy in the centerpiece. Your guests will fill up the bags with the candy in the centerpieces making this an extremely easy gift which does not involve wrapping a favor for each guest.

Pictures frames are a very easy wedding favor especially if they are used as place card holders. Pictures frames are often used as wedding favors but must people spend a great deal of time wrapping each favor individually to create a beautiful presentation for the guests. However, this is not the only way to give a gift of picture frames. Wrapping each frame individually can be very time consuming and can create a great deal of additional stress for the bride and the groom if they are struggling to get a lot of last minute things done in the days before the wedding. However, if you use the picture frames to hold the place cards, you do not have to worry about wrapping the favors for your guests. This makes it significantly easier to give a favor of picture frames.

One final idea for a very easy wedding favor is to give each guest a digital photo of themselves at the wedding. You can accomplish by hiring a photographer to take a picture of each couple as they arrive at the wedding reception. You can request that the photographer bring a high speed printer along to print the photos out quickly. This way you can distribute the photos before your guests begin to leave the reception. This is a great idea for a wedding favor because your guests will likely be dressed up and will appreciate the opportunity to pose for a professional photo. You can even ask the photographer if it is possible to put together a quick slideshow presentation which the guests can view after all of the photos have been taken. This way the guests not only get a personal memento of the wedding but they also get the opportunity to see how the photos turned out for all of the other guests as well.

MONA REFAAT - the Cairo wedding planning specialist
You can trust Mona Refaat to simplify your planning and make your wedding day in Cairo everything you have ever imagined
        

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Seated Wedding Reception Games

Nothing is worse than having a wedding reception filled with seated guests who look tired and maybe a little bit bored. Maybe this wedding doesn't feature a DJ and rockin' music. Or maybe the crowd isn't into that whole dancing thing.

What to do? It's not that hard. There are a myriad of activities you can plan that will not only engage and entertain the guests, but also help them get to know each other and - most importantly - the bride and groom just a little bit better.

Here's one that's fun and might remind you just a little bit of a football game. Make a placard for each guest. On one side, letter "Bride" and on the other, "Groom". Someone, and if you have a DJ it can be him or her, or the best man or maid of honor, asks a series of questions. They might be simple, like "who was born in New York City"? Or they might be more complicated, such as "who, at 6, broke their leg when they were playing with their German shepherd puppy"?

Guests don't yell their answer, but rather show their placard, turning it to the "bride" side of they think the question pertains to the bride or to the "groom" side if it's the opposite. The guests' guesses can be revealing, but even more revealing, are the true answers. It's a great, fun way for everyone to get to know a little more about the bride and groom.

One word of caution about the above activity: Keep ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends out of the questions and don't ask anything that might be a little too revealing or too risqué. Remember, grandmothers and grandfathers and young children will likely be present!

If it's too much work to create signs for each person, you can create just two and create two teams - a team of men and a team of women. Grouped together, the teams can work together to decide on the answer and answer as a group. This "men versus women" concept is always popular and sure to be fun for everyone.

One silly game that's always a hit really puts the groom in the spotlight. How well does he know the feel and touch of his new wife? In this game, everyone finds out. You can do this several ways. You can enlist just the wedding party in this game, or as many of the wedding guests that want to participate.

Line each participant up and blindfold the groom. Put the bride somewhere in the mix, and send the groom on a hunt for his bride. The participants can either shake the groom's hand or give him a kiss on the cheek. In some versions, he might feel their hair or their leg. The details are up to you.

Depending on how far you want to take this game, you can add a fun element to it that is sometimes popular. You have the groom feel the leg of each participant. The best man, or other male member of the wedding party, rolls up his pant leg, puts on a garter and has the groom feel that. The groom has to kiss whoever he thinks is his bride, while still blindfolded. Often, he ends up kissing a man.

For an activity that allows the guests to be audience members instead of participants, consider the game of "feed me". In this game, the bride is seated and the groom is (again) blindfolded. He's given a piece of food and then spun around a few times so he's a little bit dizzy. Guided only by the helpful words of his new bride, he has to find her and get the piece of food into her mouth. Be sure to have the wedding party shadowing him so there are no accidents.

Once the groom has fed his new wife, the tables are turned and she is blindfolded and must find him.

A few notes about this activity: when feeding the bride, don't use wedding cake or a piece of bread with dip. In other words, don't use anything too messy. If the groom has a hard time finding her mouth, he might likely smear the food on the bride's face and that is something that won't make a bride - prettily made up just hours before - too happy.

MONA REFAAT - the Cairo wedding planning specialist
You can trust Mona Refaat to simplify your planning and make your wedding day in Cairo everything you have ever imagined
        

Your professional 
Wedding-Planner in Cairo 

Contact:
Mona Refaat Call me under: 0020/ 122/ 3305695