Dianne is saving money for her daughter’s wedding and offers some of her helpful ideas on cutting back in order to save for the wedding.

There are several articles in this post:

The Mother of the Bride: Role and Responsibilities of the Mother of the Bride

By Nina Callaway, About.com

From: http://weddings.about.com/od/theweddingparty/a/motherofbride.htm

Congratulations! Your little girl is getting married. But being the mother of the bride (or MOB) is not an easy role – not only is it a big job, but a job that has changed significantly over the years. Once upon a time mothers of the bride did most of the wedding planning, and thus got to have their own dreams realized. These days, your daughter will probably have her own vision – which may differ drastically with yours. Here’s how to play your role with aplomb.

Responsibilities of the mother of the bride:

* First and foremost, be a warm listener, chief cheerleader, constant complimenter, and otherwise a source of support for your daughter.

* Help the bride find the wedding dress of her dreams, as well as other wedding attire.

* Help look for wedding and reception locations, particularly if the wedding is taking place in your home town and not theirs.

* If you haven’t already met, contact the groom’s parents and arrange to meet.

* Choose your mother-of-the-bride dress as soon as possible, then let the groom’s mother know what you have picked. If possible, send her a swatch of the fabric and/or pictures so that she can look for a gown that will compliment yours.

* Discuss the wedding budget with your daughter and her fiancé, including what you are willing to pay for, and the ideal total number of guests.

* Quickly draw up the guest list for your side of the family, and later, close to the date of the wedding, call any of your guests who are late in RSVPing.

* Reserve blocks of hotel rooms for your out-of-town guests, and possibly other guests as well.

* Help spread the word about where the couple are registered.

* Act as hostess at the wedding and reception, making sure guests are comfortable. This also includes standing in the receiving line, sitting at the parents table, and making sure the bride has greeted all her guests.

* Attend the wedding shower and rehearsal dinner.

* Possibly escort the bride down the aisle, and/or participate in other parts of the ceremony such as unity ceremonies.

* Help your daughter will any other details she asks you to!

More Tips for the Mother of the Bride

From Hudson Valley Weddings

http://www.hudsonvalleyweddings.com/guide/mom-tips.htm

1. Difficult as it may be, never offer advice, unless you are asked. Comparing your daughter’s wedding to that of relative or friend, will sound more like criticism that assistance. If you are asked, it is certainly appropriate to point out positive things which occurred at other peoples’ weddings. You can be sure that when she’s ready, your daughter will come to you with questions. Wording is very important . . . stay clear of expressions which begin with “When your cousin got married.” and “You have to.”
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Goodall, Sherri; Mother of the Bride (M.O.B) Planning Tip Book, Rosemarycompany.com, 2008

Naylor, Sharon; Mother of the Groom: Everything you need, Kensington Publishing, 2005

Bluper Liz and Plastique, Renee; Mothers-In-Law Do Everything Wrong, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004

Roney, Carley and Luu, Cindy; The Knot Guide for The Mother of the Bride, Chronicle Books, 2005

Hagen, Shelly; The Everything Mother of the Bride Book: A Survival Guide for Mom, Adams Media; 3rd edition, 2004

Milk, Leslie; “It’s Her Wedding But I’ll Cry If I Want To: A Survival Guide for the Mother of the Bride”

Zavatto, Amy; “The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Being the Mother of the Bride”

iVillage Weddings
weddings.ivillage.com

Weddings at iVillage: Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to iVillage Weddings, where you’ll find all of the top wedding planning essentials you need. Looking for your dream wedding dress? Want some inspiration when it comes to wedding bouquets, wedding centerpieces and wedding cakes? Ideas for honeymoon destinations and destination weddings? Look no further than iVillage Weddings!

Martha Stewart Weddings
www.marthastewart.com/weddings

Martha Stewart Weddings is the leading resource for the bride who wants a wedding that is beyond the ordinary. An elegant and award-winning bridal magazine from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Martha Stewart Weddings guides couples through the entire wedding process, with a focus on helping them make their special day truly their own. Filled with fresh ideas, inspiring photographs, and how-to information, Martha Stewart Weddings takes readers from the engagement to the honeymoon and beyond, into their new married lives. Published quarterly, the magazine outsells all other national bridal magazines on the newsstand by a wide margin.

The Knot
www.theknot.com

The Knot (www.theknot.com) is the Internet’s most-trafficked one-stop wedding planning solution. Founded in 1996 to offer a much-needed alternative to the white-gloved, outdated advice of the available etiquette experts, The Knot has quickly become America’s leading wedding brand reaching out to millions of engaged couples each year through our award-winning website, books, magazines, and broadcast offerings.

Wedding Channel
www.weddingchannel.com

Weddings are often one of the most stressful, complex, and expensive endeavors people undertake. WeddingChannel.com exists to help marriage-bound women and men through the sometimes challenging but always exciting process of planning a wedding and starting a new home.

Our staff is dedicated to creating the most comprehensive, useful and fun wedding-related site on the Internet. Our team members bring to the site not only their professional expertise, but their personal experiences as wedding guests, wedding party members, and as brides and grooms. In creating our site, we strive to embrace and celebrate the very best of the marriage tradition, while at the same time addressing the tastes, interests and issues of concern to today’s couples.

WeddingChannel.com launched on July 15, 1997.

About.com
weddings.about.com

About.com is an online neighborhood of hundreds of helpful experts, eager to share their wealth of knowledge with visitors.

Every month, over 60 million people* visit us for help with everything from health care and parenting issues to advice on travel, cooking, technology, hobbies and more. And we offer solutions in the form of over two million hand-crafted, original articles, recipes, product reviews, videos, tutorials and more.

All created by our network of expert ‘Guides’ – real people who, like all good neighbors, help others so that everyone’s life gets just a little better.