Fairy Tale Wedding News, Issue #001

In this issue...

• How to Buy that Great Diamond Ring without Breaking the Bank...
  Family heirlooms, discounts stores and online-where to look to find the best deals.
• The proper way to assemble your wedding invitations...
  We show you how to put it all together the right way.

• A Family Heirloom
  One of the places to look is right within your own family. If it's possible, ask your mother, grandmother or aunt if there happens to be a family heirloom that they might consider letting you have or buy. What better way to make your fiancé feel like a part of the family than to give her a ring that's been handed down through the generations of her future in-laws' family.


• Thrift Stores and Secondhand Shops
  Check out shops that sell used or almost new jewelry. Pawn shop and secondhand stores often have great selections of jewelry, especially right after the holidays when other people have come in and pawned their jewelry or have on consignment sales. If you think your fiancé may be offended by getting a used ring, take it a jeweler and have it professionally cleaned polished and put in a beautiful jewelry box. You may even want to get it engraved.


• Discount and Department Stores
  A lot of young couples pick out their first rings at the jewelry departments in stores like JCPenney's and Walmart where you can get deep, deep discounts on beautiful jewelry selections.


• Mail Order and TV Shopping Channels
  Check your local newstands for magazines and look for mail order stores that sell discounted jewelry. You can also watch a couple of different home shopping channels on TV like QVC and HSN.


• The Internet and eBay
  Yes, a lot of people sell their own jewelry on eBay for a lot of reasons, and not always necessarily after a divorce or other negative reason. Some couples buy new jewelry to celebrate a landmark anniversary and decide to sell their original pieces to allow another young couple at a chance at very discounted sets. So don't think all jewelry on eBay is used and tainted.

And again, just because it may be used, make it your own by adding engraving, making a slight change in the design or size of the stone and giving it a good polishing. Then find a special box for it.


• High Quality Simulated Diamonds
  If you're shopping as a couple for your rings and neither of you object to the idea of simulated stones, Cubic Zirconia and moissanite are excellent alternatives to getting a perfect and expensive looking stone for less than half the cost of a new genuine diamond. So if you want to put "a rock" on your fiancé's finger but you just can't swing that out of this world priced diamond, check into the simulated. I’m sure you'll be surprised at what you might find for the money.

CubicJewelry.com
Fine Cubic Zirconia jewelry in Gold & Platinum - at a fraction of the cost of a genuine diamond.

How to assemble your wedding invitations in the proper fashion, whether you're using more traditional or formal style of wedding invitations or just a simple flat or folded style with one two enclosures.

On the inner envelope, write the invited guest's name only and nothing else. The inner envelope is optional; it's just a more formal way to mail out your invitations but it's certainly not necessary. If you buy a kit to do your invitations yourself, chances are the kit will only come with one envelope to mail the invitations out with, but not a second/inner envelope.

The Response or RSVP Card's envelope should be preaddressed and stamped for your guest so all they have to do is mail it back to you without having to pay for postage.

Before assembling, make sure you have everything together first, so lay out all the pieces of your wedding invitation ensemble:

• Outer envelope (if you're using one)


• Inner envelope (this is the envelope that everything else goes into)


• Response Card and matching envelope (Make sure the envelope is preaddressed and stamped)


• Reception Card (if you're using one)


• Tissue paper (if you're adding just a touch of tradition to your ensemble)


• The Invitation

1. Place the invitation face up with the tissue paper over the printed area.


2. Place the Reception on top with other enclosure cards (Response card, direction card, etc.) on top of the Reception card.


3. Gather the stack together and place all into the inner envelope with the printed sides facing you and the folded edges of the cards go into the envelope first.


4. If you're only using one envelope, place the above into that envelope in the same order as in steps 2-3.


5. If you're using the outer envelope, the inner envelope is then put into the outer envelope, with the handwritten guest's name facing you so that when they open the outer envelope, this is the first thing they'll see.

1. Use Wedding Stamps to mail out your invitations and to pre-stamp the RSVP envelope for your guests. If you don't feel like running from one local Post Office location to another, simply go to the USPS.com website and order the stamps online.


2. Handwrite your return address or apply your return address label on the back of the envelope at the top of the flap, not on the front of the envelope. Make sure you do this with the RSVP envelope as well.


3. Hand deliver your invitations to the Post Office counter. Do not drop them in a box, even at the Post Office. You want to ask the postal clerk if they will please hand cancel the envelopes without running them through a machine. This will keep your envelopes looking great and avoid any damage the contents that could otherwise be caused by the automatic rollers. This is especially important if your invitations have any jeweled embellishments on them or ribbons that could end up tearing through the envelopes if canceled by a machine.

And watch for our next issue to come out around the 15th of the month with more tips and resources only for our subscribers!

Have a Great Day!!

Karen S Musselman Low Budget Fairy Tale Weddings.