OK, all, thank you for some great tips from the PROS that you are :) I have since found out she chose the bolder color scheme of hot raspberry pink and lime green with accents of tangerine. Very tropical and vibrant ! I agree with your suggestions about using the tropical "colors" in decorating with locally available plant material, not necessarily the with "tropical" plants. That is a good money saver. I can envision the impatiens in hot pink and orange with cascading sweet potato vine, and the beautiful caladiums in hot pink and cool green and white, and the rich tapestry of coleus in the green/hot pink range. I am getting tired of my 2 patio pots right now, so I may try to recreate some "wedding ideas" now to see how they'd look. That would be fun ! I want to rent fuchsia table linens (would an orange cloth with a fuchsia overlay be too strong ?) I see your point in renting enough chairs and will do that. I guess I need a full # of tables then too. We plan on renting the glassware, dishes, etc. as well. I was in a restaurant and saw a very simple but chic "centerpiece" int he lobby. It was a tall square glass vase with black river stones in the bottom, with a stem of 8-9 orchids in it, submerged 3/4 of the way in the water, so that most of the flowers were underwater. It looked just beautiful, almost sculptural, in it's simplicity. I would like to recreate that on each table with some votives surrounding each vase. That would save some $$ on flower centerpieces, although I love that lush flower look too. Remember, strict budget :) I have to keep telling myself that. They said they DO want a dance floor, so that will have to be incorporated in somewhere too. I don't think the tent will fit the tables and a dance floor, so is it OK to have the dance floor next to the tent, yet uncovered ? We could put potted flowers at each corner to dress it up. I think the signature cocktail will be rum punch, yum :) Should that only be served the first hour, or - since this is a cocktail reception - should we plan to serve it the whole time ? Since the party will be from late afternoon thru early evening, I was going to add white Xmas lites to the trees and the gazebo, and accent the gardens and outer edges of the tent with tiki torches. I am looking into a steel drum duo for the reception, I think that would add a ton of ambiance and get people dancing ! Still up in the air is the catering. The bride's neighbor owns a restaurant, so we may be able to strike a deal there... Since this is both their second wedding, it is going to be more of a celebration of family than a formal shindig. However, the groom's first wedding was at the courthouse and he didn't really have a "wedding" so to speak, so we are doing this mostly for him :) Heck, I'm just happy to be involved !!! Thanks again for being my sounding board to bounce ideas off of, keep your thoughts/advice/ideas coming !!!! Sincerely, Amy

I actually think it is very regional. I live in NY and attended many very elaborate weddings where I had to shell out a $300 gift ($600 for close family) for a gift. I think the idea is that you have to cover your plate and then some. My DH's friend is a wedding photographer and he charges a minimum of $12K for a wedding and he is booked solid. Around here, giving money is a norm. The registry is for the bridal shower and I have seen many registeries that include plasma's and $400 place settings. I have several girls at my job getting married and they are spending between $25-$40K. It's outrageous if you ask me and quite stressful because you want to attend these events but they become very unaffordable! In addition, for the amount of money you spend on a wedding, you can put a down payment on a house! When I got married 7 years ago, my parents offered m $20K to pay for the wedding. We looked at several places that cost $150/person and it just didn't feel right sending all that money on one day. We opted to have our wedding a restaurant instead of a reception hall and invited 75 people (much to the chagrin of my parents who wanted me to invite 200 people). My bouquet and cake were from Costco. I had one maid of honor and advertised at a local college to get cheap photographer/videographer. My dress was off the rack of a bridal store and I drove myself to the church. I ended up spending about $7K and the other 13K was part of the down payment for our home. I will admit that my friends and family were generous despite the simple nature of our wedding which I was extremely grateful for.

The Harmony series is designed to be programmed by an end user but also has very limited functionality. Both Universal Remote and RTI are essentially "blank slate" type remotes that need to be programmed by someone who has the software and knows what they are doing. Harmony's also notoriously have a short lifespan. I have literally 2 dozen dead/Semi functioning/ and functioning Harmony remotes in a box that I've taken out of clients houses prior to setting them up with something that really works. I personally use the URC brand for clients who aren't going with something like a Crestron system. I have literally hundreds of them out there and they work perfectly and my clients love them. They allow me to set them up they way they should be with truly one touch functionality. No "answering questions" like "is the TV on?. Anything besides one or two sources connected directly to a TV and the Harmony becomes a clunky mess. The fact is, if you want something bulletproof, a remote programmed by a professional is the way to go. yes it'll cost little bit more. Any reputable firm will stand behind their programming. My company gives one free follow up after initial programming. The only time I charge for a follow up is if new equipment is being added/changed, then of course, I'm there any way.

Marie reminds me you can do it yourself. You need a capture card in the computer. They're available in all price ranges and come with either analog or DV inputs or both. Most have software with them to do editing. With the software, you can add special effects, transitions between scenes, and ability to manipulate the footage. Even if it doesn't come with software, you do at least have Windows Movie Maker on the computer that will do fine for you. If by chance you're running Windows 98, you cannot do it. 98 can't handle the frame rates or the large files that video creates, and they are EXTREEEEMELY large. 98 also cannot manage more than 512mg of memory, so that makes it more than difficult to render to DVD. If you're running Window XP, you won't have a problem, but you have to make sure you have enough system resources. You need a hard drive with enough storage space and enough free space to accommodate these large files. You need at least 1gig memory and at least P3 (or equivalent) processor if not faster. Rendering takes forever, so try not to do any more than two hours at a time. One hour - 90 minutes might be best. If it doesn't render well or hangs up, you'll know you have to cut it down to less than one hour and just put the rest on a separate DVD. It's really very easy to do, or one of your children might like to get into it since it's hard to trust someone with your memories. Buying a capture card and even if upgrading the computer is necessary, it still won't cost nearly as much as paying a business to do it for you. It's a very time consuming process, so understandably they will charge for that. For example, rendering just one can take 8-12 hours depending on how long it is. I usually just let them render over night. You'd absorb the cost in the first one or two that you do though.