It is true that weddings are wonderful affairs; proper preparation requires a great deal of down-to-earth paperwork. The written contracts with all the vendors you take into service to carry out the biggest day of your life. Contracts are legal documents that define specific terms and conditions of the service to be done, keeping misunderstandings to an absolute minimum. A properly prepared contract should protect you and the vendor you hire.

Most commonly wedding vendors provide you with formal contracts that may have been drawn up by an attorney. Contracts are not fun to read, and may be difficult to understand. You can pay an attorney to help you understand it, or you can spend the time to decipher it yourself. It is your responsibility to understand everything included in the contract. If you are unsure of something is included in the contract have it appended. If there are several things you are concerned about, you may need to append a detailed list of important points.

Most importantly include the exact date of the wedding day. The exact time of you event must also be included. Many reception sites have multiple events, even multiple weddings on the same day. The total cost and itemized rundown of what is included in the prices is important to avoid last minute surprises and expenses. You may assume certain accessories are part of the price until you are told on the big day that it costs extra.

Make sure that accessories such as tables, chairs linens, etc. are included in the price.

What specific decoration is included? What areas are decorated? If you agreed on specific colours, be sure to include it in as much detail as you can.

Insist on including the date and dollar amount of your deposit and the date of when the total amount is due. Include the exact address of the venue. You don’t want to send out invitations without having the exact address in writing. If the company has multiple rooms for events, make sure the name of the room is included in the contract.

Make sure you understand the cancellation and refund policy of the venue. You must understand your options in case you change the date or change the venue altogether.

You should be provided with name and phone number of the emergency contact person.

Room capacity, to make sure the site is big enough to accommodate your wedding party.

Contracts are a serious matter, and they require careful attention. They are legal and binding, so you might want an attorney or a wedding professional review it for you before you sign it. You may save a lot of money by investing a little in some professional help. Before signing the contract read it over carefully. Don’t allow it to be rushed into signing the contract until you have understood it entirely.

Never pay the entire amount in advance, but many companies will ask you to pay half of the total amount upon closure of the contract. Others may ask only for a down payment. Be prepared to pay with cash or a personal check, and always get a receipt. To protect yourself, try to pay with a credit card. When reading the contract and before signing, find out what your obligations are. If you guests drink a bit too much, find out who would be responsible should anything happen. Make sure the place is insured; get detailed information about their coverage.

Once you made your decision, you should receive a written contract signed and dated by the person in charge. The contract must include all your responsibilities and all the responsibilities, warranties and guarantees offered by the venue.

Planning a wedding can be a stressful event. The last thing you need is to be ripped-off by an unscrupulous wedding vendor or planner. Here are a few tips to help avoid this problem.

Make Your Wedding Arrangements and Bookings as Far in Advance as Possible

Most facilities, vendors, and planners can be booked more than a year in advance. If possible, take advantage of this window of opportunity. Should something go wrong, it will provide you with more time to make alternate arrangements. Also, be aware that some vendors will charge you more if you order or book things at the last minute.

Shop Around and Deal with Trustworthy People

Before booking anything, you should shop around and get an idea of current prices for each category of your wedding. Don’t just hire the first caterer you meet with. Ask around with family, friends, co-workers, etc. and get their recommendations about services they may have used. If you want to be extra safe in this regard, you could also call your local Business Bureau. They can provide you with any problem information they may have received regarding a company.

Get Everything in Writing

It would seem obvious to do this, but a lot of couples tend to go on “faith” of what a vendor says, then are shocked with the vendor doesn’t follow through. Get everything, down to the smallest detail, in writing and be sure both you and the vendor agree on all points before signing any contract. Include exact descriptions, such as if you are ordering flowers: how many bouquets, the exact type and colour of the flowers, etc.

Be Aware of The Fine Print

Read any contracts over very carefully. Pay attention to their cancellation policy. You want to make sure it includes a provision for a refund of the deposit if you cancel or change your wedding date by a certain time before your wedding. Of course, reasonably, you would not get a deposit back if you cancelled two days before the wedding. Be sure to also include a written statement on the contract that you will not pay for services and will expect a complete refund on any deposits if the company does not deliver exactly as specified in the contract. A reputable company will respect this clause.

Regarding Photographers and DJ’s

When booking these services with a company, often you may wish to have a photographer/videographer and DJ for your wedding because you have seen their work or heard their play style and really like it. Make sure this is detailed on the contract with the person’s name. Again, also include the clause that if that person is substituted, you will not pay for the service and will receive a refund on all deposits.

Don’t pay for a last-minute substitute (unless you were thoroughly happy with their service).

one of the most challenging things about getting married is finding and hiring the wedding vendors. However large or small their roles may be, they will have a significant impact in the overall outcome of your wedding day. Because of this, it is imperative to take your time and follow some very simple steps to ensure you are hiring quality and reputable wedding professionals that you can trust.

As you will soon discover, there is really no shortage of wedding vendors in any given category. The goal is finding the professional that is right for you, not only with product, service and price, but with personality as well. The search for wedding day vendors can begin in a number of places. Knowing where to look and what to look for will assist you in your search. The following are suggestions as to where you may begin the search for your vendors.

Bridal Shows

The greatest value in bridal shows is the opportunity to meet with a large number of wedding vendors and view many products at one time, in one location. There are many categories of vendors represented at the shows, making it an invaluable tool for doing research and for gathering wedding-related information. When you find vendors you particularly interested in, make a note of it and call soon after the show to book a personal one on one appointment.

Ceremony and Reception Location

The locations you select for your wedding day are quite familiar with particular vendors, and usually have a preferred vendor list. The vendors on this list have worked at that site many times before and are familiar with the logistics and rules of the location.

Friends and Family

You will usually get honest no nonsense answers and opinions regarding products and services when you ask married friends and family members (even co-workers) about their own weddings. Ask them about their vendors, the services they used, what they liked and didn’t like, would they hire them again, etc.?

The Internet

The Internet is an easy access, easy to use, anytime resource. You can find a wealth of vendors on the web. Checking out a vendor’s web site can give you a good idea of pricing, packages, and type of work they do before making a personal appointment.

Local Bridal Magazines

Using local wedding magazines and directories can at first seem overwhelming, as there are a large number of advertisements in these publications. You can, however, find excellent vendors in the magazines, but it will take some calling around to acquaint yourself with these vendors.

Wedding Planners/Consultants

Wedding consultants have several pre-established relationships with local vendors. If you are working with a consultant, she should be able to provide you with preferred vendor list. However, if you are not working with a consultant, you can still benefit from this knowledge, as most consultants will share their preferred vendor list with you for a fee.

Conclusion

Once you have made your final decisions, you must get a written contract. Call the vendor to confirm the details and ask for a contract to be sent to you. A contract is the best way of ensuring you and the vendor understand what is expected, as it should outline specifics such as dates, times, names, and types of services/products provided. It will also spell out payment plans, refund and cancellation policies. It behoves you to read and understand the contract. Do not assume you have secured a vendor for your wedding day until you have a contract that is signed by you and the vendor. And finally remember, part of getting the most from a vendor’s service is also being a good client and providing the vendors with the payments and other requested information in a timely manner.

The hen night is traditionally the party that women should celebrate the last night of their freedom before getting married. Hen night parties are often quite naughty or raunchy parties because it really is the bride to be’s last moment of freedom!
And it’s usually the duty of the Chief Bridesmaid to organise the party. There’s always the worry that something may go wrong, the bride to be might not be happy, the girls will not enjoy themselves and you start to feel the pressure of being in charge. DO NOT PANIC! Prior to making the final plans enquire what the bride would like or what her fantasy hen party would be like, incorporate that with yours and make it happen. But ensure you give it 2 months to plan, to ensure there are no details unchecked.

Here are some tips to help you, the bride and the other hen night girls get through it and have a lot of fun in the meantime

• Everybody should know exactly the hen night theme, the whole schedule, no matter you have the party in or out of town
• The bride must be in the centre of attention and she should be enjoying the care given to her.
• Firstly, gather yourselves together at someone’s house, have a drink, laugh a bit and the atmosphere will start to build up; all of you will loosen up and be better prepared for the rest of the night
• Don’t try to surprise the bride if you are not sure that she will enjoy it; think of all the stress she must put up with and avoid anything that can upset or disturb her.
• Be prepared to take a lot of pictures; they will bring nice memories later
• During the night, there will be lots of alcoholic drinks and cocktails, but you could play the trick and alternate them with soft drinks; there will be no fun if by the middle of the night the other girls should pick you up from under the table or take care of you at the bathroom; drinks are ok, especially if you are the shy type, but don’t spoil the others mood by getting too drunk (at least not early).
• As bridesmaid’s chief, one of your duties is to make sure that the bride arrives home or at the hotel in one piece.

A hen night may have its moments no matter you’ve settled for a homemade one or you’ve gone to some wild things. But remember: everything that happens during the hen night should remain a secret of yours, the girls; there’s no use start talking about the embarrassing moments to the others; the stag party attendees definitely will keep their secrets.

A Kitchen Party is a common pre-martial ceremony performed in Zambia mainly. This is not a Zambian marriage tradition but is borrowed from the Western culture in what is commonly referred to as a bridal shower. The introduction of kitchen parties to the Zambian scene was started in the late sixties, after Zambia gained its independence from the United Kingdom (Great Britain) prior to that date, Kitchen parties/ bridal showers were never performed in Zambia.
Initially. It was known as “A Kitchen Tea Party” and no alcohol was served at the party. The reason for this celebration was to assist the bride in starting her new kitchen. It was only attended by her close female friends and her close female relatives. The females would gather together and as they enjoyed the tea, they would shower the future bride with all sorts of kitchen presents. Being close to the bride, the women knew exactly what to get her.

The Zambian concept is slightly different from a western bridal shower in that the bride to be is kept in a secluded place at the party venue. she will usually be in a room with mostly elderly women brought in to teach her the sexual aspects in marriage including other things to do with her home. No unmarried women or young girls are allowed in this room while the bride is being taught. When most of her guest arrive and her lessons are done, she will be lead out to the waiting guests covered in a local cloth know as a “chitenge”. She is led to a special place prepared for her. Guests are then asked to come forward one by one to present their presents. They are usually asked to explain the purpose of the gift to the bride. During this time the bride has her head faced down and she usually has an elderly female relative besides her who helps in assisting her. When all that is done she can finally mingle with her invited guests.
However, the whole concept of the kitchen party/ bridal shower has now been exploited in recent times. It has become commercialised with the help of wedding event planners who now offer it as a service and the introduction of certain procedures like the arrival of the “Groom” with flowers at the scene and unnecessary alcohol consumption has changed the meaning of the ceremony. The groom ‘s appearance at the kitchen party /bridal shower is to identify him and to prevent him from eloping or getting engaged to several other women too. The groom must give out cash to female family members of the bride before he can reach the bride to present her with flowers. This is a new concept and is often exploited to get as much money off the groom.

  

Even though some people stick to the original meaning of making up the bride’s kitchen party, others have been known to make their presents too extravagant and it has become a stage to show off between the two families involved. It has now become so extreme that the bride finds herself with unnecessary items for the kitchen or double of some of the items prompting her to give some away. Due to the drift from the whole tea party theme, its now being called a bridal shower, a more suitable name for what it has become. In the earlier days of the kitchen tea parties, everything was done simple. A residential venue would be organised. A few people close to the bride would attend and little or no alcohol would be served. No male member would be allowed to attend or even allowed to be near the premises. Nowadays, an exquisite venue would be sort usually popular and expensive lodges would be sought. People now prepare themselves in the most expensive attire arriving in flashy vehicles. Other have been known to go a mile further by borrowing attire or vehicles just to keep up appearances. The alcohol consumption which was non -existent in early kitchen tea parties has now become more of a binge drinking orgy and a lot of undesirable behaviour goes on.
Never the less, some still manage to uphold their strong traditional values, and this is achievable if one selects a credible wedding committee. Despites its drawbacks, most are well done and if one gets an invitation to attend one, accept it as its always a chance to get to see Zambian kitchen parties and most always end up having a wonderful time.

In todays world not every Zambian woman dreams of a fairy tale white wedding, some opt for a simple registry wedding while others may go for a traditional modern wedding, all depending upon their budget but they all agree on one thing which is that they all hope to have a perfect wedding which will go according to plan with no stress or drama. unfortunately real life doesn’t always go that way and there is always bound to be something that may go wrong. Here are 5 things most brides cannot stand to see or experience on their special day.

The EX or exes.

A lot of women are quite aware of the fact that their husband to be has a history with women(except you are his first and only love) but they sure don’t want their ex or  exes hovering around on their wedding day. It is seen as totally disrespectful so regardless of how platonic you are with your ex, it is best to keep them away on your wedding day. This also applies to the Bride’s exes because they don’t want some other guy  disrupting their glow on their wedding day.

Uninvited Guest.

Zambian weddings tend to be more or less a family affair but according to a lot of brides who have  wed in the past, they revealed that they didn’t like seeing a guest or two that were not invited to their wedding. its an emotional day for them and they don’t want to get lost looking at strange faces dancing around them

so you have to keep it simple and make sure that there is a guest list that involves only the people she and her Groom wants to see at their wedding.

Terrible Weather.

Unlike the United Kingdom which has an unpredictable  weather which may go from hot to cold or rain and snow at the same time, Zambian brides have the same weather pattern through out the year making it easier to plan their weddings around the time when the weather is nice and warm thus avoiding very hot weather or rainy weather.

Lateness.

The word “late” is one word no Zambian bride wants to hear and these involve almost related to their wedding like the photographer, cake delivery, the Groom and make up artist. because it drives them crazy on a whole new level and you don’t want a crazy Zambian bride and the groom must never be late even if he is fighting all the Avengers.( trust me, I know).

Unnecessary Drama.

A classic Zambian wedding is already a drama on its own so no bride wants any other unnecessary drama that will make their wedding a circus especially when it takes attention away from them. so its imperative that the  wedding planner, Matron or members of the wedding committee and every other person involved in their wedding keeps it simple and beams all the spotlight on the bride

conclusion: 

Getting married is a big deal and if you can keep these things away, then you will have a beautiful looking Zambian bride with a smile on her face before or after she says I do.

If you are Zambian, then you should already know that a Zambian  wedding be it a Traditional, Christian or Western style wedding  is a huge family affair because  for Zambians, Family is everything. So it can get overwhelming for brides to keep up with everything even when they have a wedding planner. Thus, in order to make sure you have an amazing wedding that is totally about YOU, we have compiled the 10 things that most Zambian brides forget to do so you don’t have to.

Ask Guests for Any Food Allergies

If you don’t want some of your guest cursing out your caterer then you totally must ask them if they have any food allergies that might have so the caterer can make sure that have taken care of this problem before dishing out food on your wedding day. Provide the caterer with a list of where your guests are seated so they can easily share the food accordingly.

Provide Extra Seats

Guest lists  might work great in Western countries but in Africa, and Zambia in particular  it is a different ball game entirely because there will definitely be one long lost aunt or cousin that you forget to invite. So you have to provide extra seats just in case someone suddenly turns up at your wedding or your mom decides to invite some of her many “society” women without giving you heads up.

Check the Weather

It is easy to get carried away with all the feeling of love and excitement that most brides forget that the weather can be a party pooper. So you have to ensure that you check the weather if you want to have a lovely ceremony without getting people drenched. This should also influence your choice of your wedding venue.

Directions and Signage

It is easy to get missing and showing up late for your wedding because a lot of them might just be coming over to that location for the first time so you have to ensure that there are enough directions and signage close to the wedding venue. This way they can easily locate your wedding easily without burning up gas.

A Game Plan for the Kids

Kid, Kids, Kids! They can be adorable and troublesome at the same so they often end up distracting other wedding guests when there is no special plan for them. Other brides take this aspect for granted but you shouldn’t because kids matter too.

Payments

It is easy to forget to cater for all outstanding bills because of the many things that get involved in planning a wedding. However, it can be incredibly distracting when you are trying to enjoy your honeymoon with your husband and the caterer or makeup artist keeps blowing up your phone. So you need to ensure that you take care of this before your big day.

Tech chargers

What’s a wedding without a couple of selfies? We are living in a tech and social media world so it would do you and your guest a lot of good if you fix up special tech chargers on each table. So they can easily power their devices without worrying about safety and missing out on a perfect selfie.

Delegate Someone

A lot of Zambian brides on the ride home start getting worried about the wedding gifts, guest book, left over foods and every other the little things that should have been catered for if they had delegated someone to take care of it. So it is important that you delegate someone that will work with your wedding planner to cater for the things that are left over after your wedding.

Create A Playlist

Want to have your favourite Yvonne Chaka Chaka or Tiwa Savage song played at your wedding reception? Then it is important that you provide the DJ with your own special playlist. So he or she doesn’t just play songs that you cannot even step to or reminds you of that crazy EX (SMILES)

An Online Wedding Picture Folder

This is one thing that a lot of Zambian brides forget to do because they think it is not important but it is, if you want to create lasting memories of your wedding. It is pretty easy to create a simple wedding folder online so your guests can check for their photos and even drop comments on their favourite moment at your wedding.

Conclusion.

Your wedding is your special day so it is always better to take care of the little things so you can have an amazing day to remember for a lifetime.