Gurus

LifeTips Home
Become a Client
Become a Writer
Entertain/Events
Exercise/Fitness
Family/Safety
Food/Drink
Gear/Gadgets
Health/Disease
Hobbies/Pets
Home/Garden
Kids/Games
Relationship/Love
Sports/Sporting
Style/Fashion
Travel/Cities
Holiday/Observances
B2B/Business
Careers/Jobs
Education/Training
Small Biz/Home Biz
Green/Living
Legal/Taxes
Marketing/Promotion
Manage/Employees
Money/Investing
Internet/Web
Hardware/Software
Supplies/Gear
Wheels/Auto
Religion/Spirituality

Listen to our Radio Show
Hot topics for both consumers
and webmarketers
on WebmasterRadio.FM

Every Wednesday, 5PM Eastern.
 

Heather Long

Expert Guru
Heather Long is 34 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago. They have a beautiful daughter who started kindergarten this fall.



Heather has studied wedding and event planning since working with a wedding planner for her own wedding 7 years ago. An author of more than 300 articles and 500+ web copy pieces, Heather has also written three books as a ghostwriter.



Heather likes to work with others, helping them to realize their dreams through their wedding and other event planning. She’s written educational courses to help train wedding planners as well as having planned several fun events of her own. Her most recent large scale planning project was a fantasy birthday party.




5 Tips from Heather Long

Plan for the Reception When Considering Your Wedding Budget

A typical wedding with fifty guests can cost about $15,000 and that when it has been budgeted. Fifty percent of your wedding costs will be invested in the reception. Receptions are where the couple cut their cake, take their first dance and generally celebrate their nuptials. The venue, food, drinks, music, flowers and photography are all just facets of the reception. So sit down with your lists and get ready to mark all the things you absolutely want to have at your wedding and then pay attention to these rules to trim back the cost.

Assume Good Intentions

The first rule; assume good intentions is the most important. Don’t assume that someone did something just to piss you off or upset you. If you assume from the get go that they didn’t do it on purpose, you will find that there’s a lot more room for compromise, conversation and communication.

Don’t react when things go wrong. Act. Reacting means you do nothing except respond to the negative stimulus whether it’s a misunderstanding or a genuine fight. Getting angry or responding to accusations with retaliatory remarks will only further inflame situations. By making a pact to act on the information, to keep it cool and to avoid inciting a bad situation to worse is a great way to minimize and even avoid fights.

Looking Beautiful On Your Wedding Day

The best beauty tips for your upcoming wedding are to start long before the wedding. You should be investing in good skin healthcare months and months before the wedding. From facials occasionally to day-to-day maintenance of your skin, the best way to do this is to establish a proper skin care plan based on your skin type.

While it may sound like you hear this all the time, good eating habits and regular exercise are as important to your skin health as they are to your overall body health. So once you make the investment in proper skin care, how do you achieve the look you want for your wedding?

Hire a professional.

Stress Free Honeymoon Planning

You want to stay at a really nice hotel. It’s your honeymoon. You will be spending a lot of time in the room so make sure it’s what you want it to be. Room service is always a nice perk and if it’s an inclusive resort you’ll have access to spa facilities, golf courses and more. While these larger, upscale resorts are expensive; they are more than worth it.

Do not schedule every hour of every day of your honeymoon. Unless you are the type of person that thrives on that, you want to have plenty of ‘lazy’ or ‘down’ time. For example, if you are heading straight to the plane after your ceremony and jetting off to an exotic location, you probably want to spend the first 24 hours after you arrive just relaxing.

Dos and Do Nots

Do - Spend some time with your spouse checking out the places you want to register and making lists of the items you really do need.

Do not - Just add a toaster oven you know you won’t use so guests will have enough of a selection.

Do - Register at more than one store. There is no hard and fast rule that says you have to register at one location only.

Do not - Choosing items that are really expensive because you know you won’t be able to afford them in the first year of marriage isn’t fair to your guests. Instead, choose a wider price range selection.

Do - Discuss your options with different stores, online sites and even handmade facilities. You’ll be surprised by how many places feature registries this day.

Do Not - Feel limited to asking for only household goods. If you are already set up in your house and don’t need a lot, ask for some things you ‘might’ like to have or even items like movies, CDs and more.



Feedback for Heather Long

daisy7 said: (1/20/2007 10:14:55 AM)

i have a question about what to wear to a wedding in west palm beach, florida this february. i'm from california and this is a wealthy crowd, so i want to make sure i fit in as much as possible on a small budget. do you have any advice? the wedding is at 4:30pm at the jupiter beach resort. thanks for your help! andrea7@tcsn.net