If you’re ready to take a similar plunge, then pick an affordable engagement ring set crafted with real diamonds, and craft a creative fall proposal using some of these ideas as a starting point:

5 Creative Fall Proposal Ideas

1. Get your fall on at the pumpkin patch. Jump on the hayride, sip some cider, and pick the perfect pumpkins with your future bride. Make plans to carve the pumpkins on a later date, and hide the affordable engagement ring set inside of a scooped-out pumpkin.

2. Take a hike together to enjoy the fall colors. When the moment is right, simply get down on one knee in the middle of the path with the ring box in your hand, and think of a creative way to tell your bride-to-be that you have fallen for her and are ready to propose.

3. Give thanks for your love at Thanksgiving. Nestle an engagement ring in the middle of the apple pie (plan well, so no one swallows it!), or slip a ring onto her finger during the Thanksgiving grace when everyone is holding hands around the table.

4. Dress up as a vampire for Halloween. Instead of using your best fake Transylvanian accent to say, “I vant to suck your blood,” find the perfect moment to cry out, “I vant to marry you!”

5. Invite your future wife over for an old-fashioned leaf-raking party. Challenge her to see who can rake the biggest pile of fallen leaves, and then reclaim your youth by jumping into the piles. When you are both lying in leaves and laughing, pull the affordable engagement ring set out of your pocket.

Kelly Smith is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, recent brain surgery survivor, and wannabe chicken farmer in Jackson, Mississippi. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English. She planned her own budget outdoor wedding five years ago at a state park in Florida, on the waterfront of a natural spring. She wishes that she had known more about budget weddings back when she was planning hers, because she comes up with new ideas all the time that she wishes she had incorporated into her own wedding plans! In addition to saving money, Kelly’s passions are reading, writing, parenting, planning, traveling, and living an environmentally friendly life.

Photo Credit: Flickr (Mark Guim) markarus

1. Keep it local.

Annie, the maid of honor in this movie, organizes a planning lunch for the bridesmaids and selects an authentic Brazilian restaurant in downtown Milwaukee. Sidestepping a country club or upscale brunch location for a local eatery is a great way to save money and also support local businesses during your budget wedding. Yes, the entire bridal party experienced a bout of food poisoning, but checking out a place before a special event can help prevent any last-minute surprises.

2. Go handmade.

For the wedding shower in “Bridesmaids,” the unlucky maid of honor has the wonderful idea of creating a French-themed event in honor of the bride’s love of France. Envisioning handwritten place cards, small Eiffel Tower party favors, and a few special French foods, Annie has just the right idea for creating a simple but meaningful event. But when her idea is hijacked and taken to the next level, with chocolate fountains, live horses, and a plane ticket to France, it completely overwhelms the poor bride. Remember that for a budget wedding, those handmade touches can really make an event magical.

3. Scale back.

When Annie and the other bridesmaids visit a couture bridal shop, Annie checks out all the price tags before gravitating to the simplest, cheapest dress. While her nemesis selects an $800 frilled extravagance, Annie’s selection is not only more budget-friendly, but is also much more beautiful. Scaling back can often produce surprisingly elegant simplicity.

Next time you watch a marriage-oriented movie, pay attention to see what budget wedding tips you can gather!

Photo Credit: Corey Ann

Kelly Smith is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, recent brain surgery survivor, and wannabe chicken farmer in Jackson, Mississippi. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English. She planned her own budget outdoor wedding five years ago at a state park in Florida, on the waterfront of a natural spring. She wishes that she had known more about budget weddings back when she was planning hers, because she comes up with new ideas all the time that she wishes she had incorporated into her own wedding plans! In addition to saving money, Kelly’s passions are reading, writing, parenting, planning, traveling, and living an environmentally friendly life.

Article from My Trio Rings.

It is almost as much of a tradition as the exchanging of rings!

Planning the reception can be almost as much of a headache as the ceremony itself. Most venues will have a limit on the number of people you can invite, which is rarely the exact same total as those who have attended the ceremony. Which, therefore, means some people will be able to come to one part but not the other. Then you have to decide who will sit with whom, and this in itself leads to the age-old question of “who hates who the least?”. Perhaps this is a cynical description, but it is also, in many cases, astoundingly accurate.

Considering the likelihood of alcoholic beverages being served and consumed, it is important to keep in mind the necessity of possibly having to “divide bad blood”.

In fact, it may be wise to keep people with grudges as far apart as possible, and also to put a word in their ear about standards of appropriate “wedding” behavior.

After all, it is your day, not theirs! And the sooner you help them to be aware of it, so much the better.

So make some popcorn and cuddle with your fiancé on the couch to watch a movie about weddings to start the ideas flowing. Here are a few movies to get you started.

Love Actually

Love Actually is a romantic comedy that features the intertwining stories of several different couples. Early in the movie, Peter and Juliet’s wedding includes a delightful scene. After Peter and Juliet are married and turn to walk down the aisle together as man and wife, the curtains of the choir loft open, and a choir begins to sing the popular Beatles song “All You Need is Love.” Several of the wedding guests are in on the surprise and stand up to join in the song, playing instruments such as flutes, saxophones, and even an electric guitar. Such a musical event may be quite difficult to orchestrate in real life, especially for a budget wedding. However, you could use this scene as inspiration to come up with a way that your musically talented friends could participate in your wedding. A group of your friends might agree to play a favorite song during your ceremony or reception, perhaps in lieu of a wedding gift.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Toula struggles to balance her cultural traditions with a more mainstream wedding. By including her sometimes crazy family in the wedding plans, Toula is able to save money by taking advantage of family heirlooms such as traditional Greek Orthodox wedding crowns from her grandmother. She is able to take advantage of family connections with different retailers around town, and she even has lots of help from her large family as they all do each other’s hair and makeup before the wedding, saving a great deal of money. If you are planning a wedding on a budget, use this movie as inspiration to get you thinking about how you can honor your family’s cultural traditions and also get help from family members who have specific skills that might be useful and save you money.

Photo credit: Corey Ann
Article source: My Trio Rings

In fact, June is one of the most popular times of the year for couples to get married. The nice weather is one of the main reasons you might decide to have a wedding this time of year. Because there is less of a chance the weather will affect any plans you have for your wedding, and many couples are pretty confident to plan an outdoor wedding in the summer.

However, you might decide to have a summer wedding because you just really like the summer season. (Of course, military commitments and other such things might make a summer wedding more appropriate for you.)

Whatever your reason for choosing a summer wedding, you are likely to want to somehow include the idea of summer into the wedding favors you give out.

Beach-themed weddings are quite popular in the summertime. For instance, you may decide to have your ceremony and reception on the beach or you might simply be incorporating a beach theme into an indoor wedding. In either case, however, you will likely opt to give your guests some type of favor related to the beach.

Magnets shaped like sandals are a very popular option for weddings this time of year, or for a wedding featuring a beach theme.

Another great idea for a favor for a summertime wedding is a candle designed to reflect the season. Candles in the shape of seashells or even votive candles in holders that look like sand pails are both great ideas. If you look around a bit, you’ll also see there are even candles in the shape of dolphins and whales. Although these may be more expensive. However, depending upon what you’ve budgeted for wedding favors, this choice might be a viable option.

Items such as artificial leis or other flowers can also be appropriate as wedding favors for a summer wedding. If you are planning to have flowers as your centerpieces on the tables, you may decide to give each of your guests a favor of a single flower like the ones used in your centerpieces.

This is a great idea because when you do this your favors will also serve to enhance the décor at your reception by closely matching your centerpieces. Now, giving a fresh flower as a favor is quite appropriate but you might also opt to give an artificial flower.

This is because artificial flowers are mote apt to be kept by your guests as a memento of your wedding, while fresh flowers will likely wilt shortly after the wedding. Of course, some of your guests may dry or press the fresh flowers to create a memento but the majority of them will simply discard the flower once it wilts.

Picture frames are also quite popular as wedding favors for summertime weddings. Especially since picture frames come in so many different styles, and you are likely to find a picture frame that has a definite summer feel to it. For instance, there are picture frames that feature beach scenes, picture frames adorned with seashells, and a wide variety of other whimsical picture frames that convey the meaning of summertime.

In fact, picture frames can not only be found in a wide variety of styles, they also make very practical gifts. Many wedding guests like to get picture frames as wedding favors because now they have a place to store a photo of you/the new couple.

Still other wedding guests enjoy receiving picture frames as wedding favors simply because they always have use for another picture frame and can use your frame to store pictures of friends or family members.

Or what about the disposable camera that lets your guests capture their own “keepsake” photos of you and the day’s activities.

One fun idea that many brides employ is to take photos of everyone as they arrive at the wedding, almost like you do at a high school prom or company Christmas party. You can provide a backdrop and couples can pose either for a paid photographer or for whoever happens to pick up the camera. These pictures can be taken with a Polaroid camera for instant fun or with a disposable camera. If you want slightly higher quality photos, go for a digital camera.

This can be an excellent way to keep guests busy and happy until the “official” reception begins with the arrival of the bride and groom.

As an extension of that idea, you can take instant photos and create scrapbook pages or memory book pages with the photos. There can be supplies on hand so guests can create pages on site, or pages can be pre-made and photos simply placed into the prepared spaces. If guests don’t want to create pages on site, or the bride doesn’t want this particular activity going on, the photos can be saved for later. As a gift for the bride and groom, someone can create memory books with these photos.

If Polaroid cameras are used, another option is to have the people in the photo sign the Polaroid photo and place that in a basket somewhere. The bride and groom will enjoy looking at the photos later.

While it’s not a particularly unique idea, many brides like to provide disposable cameras on each table at the reception so guests can capture candid shots of the reception and the table guests. These photos can be added to the newlyweds’ wedding album or they can be placed into a separate album showing the wedding from the guests’ perspective.

Another fun activity sure to be entertaining is to create a “silent photo guess” area. Here’s how this works: before the wedding, someone close to the bride and groom collects pictures of the bride and groom at various stages in life. The photos should depict the bride and groom doing things, not at Christmas or with their first birthday cake. In other words, the photos should include some action, but it shouldn’t be obvious in the picture what has taken place or where the person is.

Much like a silent auction, people will come along and look at the photos, then take a silent guess as to what the photos show. They can write their guess on a piece of paper and put it in a numbered basket that corresponds with the number on the photo. Reading these guesses during the reception is entertaining and sure to be amusing. The bride or groom can provide the real answers. This is a particularly fun activity at a relatively small, family wedding where the participants know the bride and groom very well.

If you want to provide an area for guests to have their photos taken but aren’t thrilled with the “prom night” idea, how about having a photo corner set up somewhere in the reception hall or facility. Here, the wedding photographer will take candid shots of wedding guests. They might be couples, but could also be entire families, friends having a good time, or the groom being carried on the shoulders of the best man. Whatever the pictures end up being, they provide a fun, “let it all hang out” area for the wedding guests and a surprise for the bride and groom. Since they will likely be busy with all the reception details and having the time of THEIR lives, they might appreciate knowing their guests had a pretty good time too, as evidenced in the photos.

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We’re proud to introduce our new collaboration with “My Trio Rings,” New York.

They’ll be sharing with you some ideas on how to plan your wedding that you can easily add to your wedding planning checklist.

Stop back regularly to see what’s been added. Or,  drop by their site for a look at their rings and other things.

If you have questions about their merchandise or their ideas, you can reach them at My Trio Rings.

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.