Often one of the biggest questions couples have when planning weddings away is: ‘How many people should we invite?”

That’s entirely up to you. Some couples don’t invite anyone, and have a celebration that includes everyone when they get back. Others invite close family members. And there are those who invite dozens of family members and friends.

If you decide that you want to invite friends and family, you’ll need to give them plenty of notice for your wedding away. It’s recommended that you send out save the date cards several months before the wedding. (Some experts recommend that you give a year’s notice!) That way they can book time off work and save for the trip. It’s also a good idea for couples to provide guests with price information on airfares and accommodations, as well as brochures on sightseeing activities.

Guests are usually expected to pay for their own trips, but oftentimes couples will tell them not to bring wedding gifts. Another way to help guests cut down on expenses is to find out if there are group rates on resorts/hotels, and to let your guests know about these deals.

Frequently, couples who invite family and friends to their weddings will host a variety of group activities so that everyone can spend time together.

If group activities are planned, it’s important to give guests a choice of whether or not they want to participate. Not everyone, for instance, will get a kick out of spending an afternoon taking kayaking lessons! Also, some guests might be on a limited budget and might not be able to afford some of the planned activities. It’s a good idea to poll everyone beforehand to get an idea of the type of activities your guests would enjoy.

You don’t have to feel obligated to include everyone in all of your tourist activities. There will be times when the two of you will want to go it alone – or perhaps just invite a handful of guests, such as your parents, or best friends.

How much time you spend with your guests is completely up to you. Some couples that want lots of privacy stay at a separate resort from their guests, or head to another destination for their honeymoon.

For some, determining how many people to invite to a destination wedding is easy. None. If you want a really intimate wedding, with loads of privacy you might choose to have a wedding that doesn’t have any guests. Plenty of brides and grooms opt for a simple ceremony that involves just the two of them at their chosen destination. Many couples that take this route have a party when they return so that friends and family can celebrate with them.

Your loved ones – namely your immediate family, might not be too pleased with your decision to exclude them from your wedding plans. It might help to tell them that a wedding away that doesn’t require months of planning and a big financial investment is more suitable to the two of you. If they still don’t come around, remember that what really matters is that you and your sweetie have the wedding you want. Settling for anything less than that would not be a good thing!

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If you are having an outdoor wedding in the hot summer months, don’t choose flowers that can’t stand the heat, says Sandy Bartley, a floral designer at Forget Me Not Florist in Erie, Pennsylvania. This includes bulb flowers such as tulips, daffodils and hyacinthe. These garden wedding flowers don’t like hot summer days.

“Bulb flowers like the crisp morning air. Their stems will droop in the heat and they will open. A tulip will end up looking like a poppy,” she says, adding that their hollow stems don’t allow them to hold water.

Also, proceed with caution if choosing lilacs, hydrangea, and liseanthus. These garden wedding flowers also don’t like high temps.

According to Bartley, roses are one of the most substantial flowers for outdoor weddings. Orchids also stand up well in the heat – so do sunflowers, birds-of-paradise, tiger lilies, dahlias and zinnias.

Another way to ensure your garden wedding flowers can take the heat is to choose flowers that will be in season locally at the time of your wedding. This will also save you money.

Bartley points out that no matter what type of flowers you choose, bouquets should be kept in a vase of water in a shady spot when not in use – especially if the bouquets are hand-tied. Keeping a spray bottle handy and misting your flowers lightly every hour or so can also help to keep them vibrant.

“Many brides are going with the hand-tied bouquets, which are a florist’s nightmare: Some brides just don’t know to keep them in water when they aren’t in use,” she says.

So, be kind: Give your garden wedding flowers a drink and they will thank you by staying beautiful.

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You don’t usually hear the words wedding and warehouse in the same breath, but if you’re a savvy bride-to-be with a Costco membership you’ll know that they can be a match made in heaven.

One stroll through the aisles at Costco and you’ll see that you can create a low cost wedding reception with all the money you will save by buying at Costco.

The reception will carry the biggest price tag of your wedding. The cost of food, décor, entertainment and the venue can add up fast, but Costco can help to keep your expenses from getting out of hand. Inexpensive receptions can help couples save a bundle.

Whether you are having a simple cocktail reception, or a formal dinner, you’ll find an assortment of appetizers that can help you create a low cost wedding reception.

Everything from gourmet cheeses, fruit trays, quiches and veggie platters to cold meats and frozen canapés can be found at prices well below most caterers.

Creating your own dessert table is another way brides can create inexpensive receptions. Costco has a wonderful variety of freshly baked cakes and cheesecakes, both fresh and frozen.

Once you’ve got the food figured out, you’ll want to think about the flowers to decorate your reception. According to the Bridal Association of America, the average cost for wedding day flowers is just under $2,000.

You can save hundreds of dollars on flowers by purchasing them at Costco. There you will find a lovely selection of garden bouquets as well as roses. Buying flowers at Costco is one of the best ways brides can create inexpensive receptions.

You can decorate your tables with votive candles found at Costco. If you are having an outdoor reception, you can add some romance to your décor with Roman candle holders or outdoor candle lanterns.

Balloons are an inexpensive way to create a festive atmosphere. You can purchase a Balloon Time helium tank at Costco, which fills 50 balloons for under $30.

Finally, you can thank your guests by giving them something delicious to take home. Costco has a variety of chocolates, including Duc D’o chocolate truffles and Kirkland Signature Chocolates of the World, which can be wrapped and given as favours. You can also wrap spring bulbs from Costco to give your guests a nice reminder of your wedding.

To give yourself a wonderful reminder of your big day, the Costco Photo Centre has a variety of album styles and templates that make it easy to create a keepsake wedding photo book that includes both wedding day photos and text.

If you’re simply looking for a place to get your photos developed, you can’t beat Costco prices; 4″ x 6″ prints are only 13 cents each and 11″ x 16″ enlargements are just $2.49.

And last but not least, don’t forget the champagne flutes for you and your husband. When your special day is over, you will want to raise a glass to each other for creating a magical low cost wedding reception without going into debt.

Photo: Freesia $124.99 for 100 stems at Costco.com

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With all the money you’ll be saving by having a small wedding, you might want to splurge on a painted masterpiece starring you and your wedding guests.

A live event artist will capture your wedding day on canvas, as it unfolds. When the night is done you will go home with an incredible keepsake of your wedding.

Artists all over the continent are hiring themselves out as live event artists. One of the higher profile event artists is L.A’s Greg Kalamar.

Kalamar, whose preferred medium is acrylic on canvas,  is hired to paint at 25 weddings each year. He’s also covered a slew of other events such as Hollywood after-parties (including the official Grammy after-party) and rock concerts. His client list includes Geroge Clinton, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

I interviewed Greg Kalamar to find out a little about the painting process. Here is our interview:

Is it always during the reception that you paint?

A: Although receptions are most common, I’ve also studied (painted) ceremonies and rehearsal dinners. Most paintings are created in three to four hours.

Is there a standard size for the paintings?

A: There are standard sizes such as 36×24 inches and 48×30 inches but I also create custom sizes as requested.

Do you usually create just one painting during the event?

A: Yes. There is usually not enough time to paint more than one.

How much does it cost?

A: $3,000 for a 36×24 inch canvas and $3,500 for a 48×30 inch canvas.

Do the couples have input on what you paint? If so, do couples usually tell you what they want painted or do they let you choose?

A: Yes couples have input both beforehand and during the painting process. It is common for me to take requests to add certain people into the painting as they pose, dance, etc.

How would you describe your style?

A: I study real life in real time. The style can be called “impressionistic” or “figurative”.

Do the guests interact with you while you are painting?

A: Yes. I get questions like; “You put my daughter in the painting… Will you put my son in as well?” And I might answer; ” Go over to your son and carry on a conversation with him for five minutes and I will study you both into the painting candidly.

How did you get into live event painting for weddings?

A: My friend’s wife asked me to paint at her brother’s wedding reception as she liked my works done of real life in real time.

How long have you been doing live event paintings for weddings?

A: Sixteen years. That first wedding painting was done in 1993 and still hangs on the couple’s wall today.

Do you think this is a trend that is going to grow?

A: I think it is a growing trend. There seem to be more and more painters working as the years go by.

What if the wedding couple doesn’t like the painting?

A: I would add to the painting in the studio to please them. It has never happened.

What do you enjoy about doing this? (I am also an artist and I would find this nervewracking because I don’t like people watching me paint.)

A: I like the challenge of working live. I also enjoy interacting with people while I’m painting. The interaction helps to accurately tell the story with paint.

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Check out Greg’s website for more examples of his work.

For those of you who can’t afford to shell out three grand for a live event artist , there are lots of other options. Why not approach some of your favorite local artists? Although they might not market themselves as live event artists, they might be open to the idea and they might fit nicely into your budget. Another option is to approach your local art school and find out if a student would be interested in capturing your wedding day with paint.

Other live event artists to check out:

Laura Swytak

Gail Fitzpatrick

Miles Pelky

Paintings in this post by Greg Kalamar

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Looking for some unique wedding ceremony traditions? Why not write your own wedding vows.

By writing your own vows you can truly customize your ceremony to reflect the individuality of you and your partner.

Several of the couples I interviewed for Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding that Fits Your Budget and Style wrote their own vows, and were very pleased with the outcome.

For Xan and Keely, the exchange of their self-written vows was the most powerful part of their intimate wedding.

“They were the most meaningful words I have ever uttered. I could hear myself say them, and wow, it was amazing,” says Keely. “In those few minutes that we swore to share our lives, my life took on new meaning.”

Charles and Lynette also wrote their own vows. This not only added intimacy to the ceremony, it made it more meaningful and emotional.

“We did not share them with one another beforehand. He read his first and he was on the verge of tears … Then, when it was time for me to read mine, I had to take what seemed like an eternity to compose myself because I was about to start bawling,” says Lynette. “I am one that rarely shows emotion like that, but I was so moved I almost could not contain myself.”

If you feel this is one of the unique ceremony traditions you’d like to incorporate into your wedding, there are some things to keep in mind.

It can be time consuming – If you’re a perfectionist, and you feel as though you REALLY need to nail down precisely how you feel about your partner, the writing process could take a while. The solution: Keep it simple.

It can be difficult, especially if you don’t enjoy writing. Love is a hard thing to put down on paper – even for those who make careers out of putting words together. If you’re the type that has difficulty expressing yourself in words, writing your own vows could be a horribly laborious process. The solution: Instead of starting off by writing the vows, simply write down how you feel about your partner, and your upcoming marriage. What does it mean to you? You could also start out by writing a love letter to your beloved, then take the essence of it, and apply it to your vows. An even simpler route is to find some samples of vows that you like, either through books or on the Internet, and improvise.

It can rattle your nerves – Do you have stage fright? Does the thought of speaking in front of a group of people give you the jitters? If you’ve written your own vows, you might feel extra nervous about delivering them, especially since they will be so emotionally charged. The solution: Keep it short. Also, if you don’t want the added pressure of memorizing your vows, use note cards.

If you are looking for ideas to get you started there are various websites that offer sample vows.

Also, check with your clergy first. Some of the more traditional clergy might discourage you from writing your own vows, as ours did. Make sure you mention it early on in the planning .

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