The Hurbicide Guru

As a licensed mental health professional, I work with many individuals, couples, and families who are affected by divorce. I have developed this list of survival strategies for people who are experiencing divorce. If you or someone you love is in this situation, I hope these ideas will help you.

1. Take your time as you adjust to your changed life circumstances. Recognize that you are going through a major life transition that cannot be rushed.

2. Set up temporary arrangements to help you get through the changes involved in your divorce process.

3. You will often feel frustrated. Avoid the temptation of acting for the sake of acting just because it gives you a temporary feeling of being in control.

4. When you feel uncomfortable, slow down and identify what you are feeling and why.

5. Don’t force any more changes on yourself than are necessary.

6. Explore both the benefits and costs of your new life.

7. Think about the future. In your journal, explore the question, “What is waiting to happen in my life now?”

8. Remember to ask yourself, “What am I supposed to learn from this?”

9. Protect yourself against the inevitable forgetfulness and absent-mindedness which many divorcing people report. Make a list of important account numbers, telephone numbers, and the like, and keep them in a safe place.

10. Watch out for too many changes in your life as you recover from the divorce and the changes in your life circumstances. Change causes stress, and you have enough right now.

11. Let people help you.

• If it’s impossible to reciprocate, say so.

• People know that your life isn’t like it used to be.

• Don’t let your inability to reciprocate prevent you from accepting what people willingly offer.

12. Let go of your need for perfection. You will not survive emotionally unless you lower your expectations.

13. Develop your ability to be flexible and find creative ways to solve problems.

14. Learn to set priorities. Do the most important things first.

15. Trust your gut feelings. Pay attention to your instincts and act on them.

16. Simplify everything in your life. You cannot afford to keep it complicated.

17. Find an outlet for your anger. If a friend is not available, look for a minister, rabbi, or professional counselor. If money is an issue, look for a therapist who will see you for a low fee.

18. Teach yourself to let go of guilt. You don’t have time for it and it’s not necessary.

19. Focus on issues you have control over. If something is beyond your control, don’t waste your emotions on it.

20. Create a ceremony to acknowledge your divorce.

21. Learn to be assertive. You can’t say yes to every request, whether it is from your family members or people in the community who want your time and resources. If you give it all away, you will have nothing left for yourself.

22. Find ways to take care of your body. Get regular checkups and make time to exercise. You need rest now more than ever. Watch your alcohol intake.

23. Find someone who will listen to you. Sometimes you have to ask, for example, “I need a sounding board right now. Can I have 15 minutes of your time?”

24. Rent a sad movie and let yourself cry (when the kids aren’t around). Crying allows you to release the sadness that you are sure to feel.

25. Do at least one fun thing for yourself every week.

26. In your private journal, make a list of all the things you’re afraid of.

27. In your private journal, make a list of all the things you worry about.

If you have children:

28. Manage your own emotions so you will be able to help your child manage his or her struggle.

• Learn as much as you can about how children respond to divorce and life in a single-parent home.

• Do not expect your child to respond the same way you do.

• Take your child’s developmental stage into consideration when responding to his or her behavior.

29. Make it okay for your children to talk to you about their feelings.

30. Keep appropriate boundaries.

• Don’t give in to the temptation to let your child take care of you.

• Let your children be children.

• Avoid burdening them with your feelings and the facts of the divorce.

• Find another adult to be your sounding board.

31. Even though you may be unable to be present as much as in the past, your children still need adult supervision. Look for ways for other adults to look in on your kids when they are home alone, even when they are teenagers.

32. Just because your child appears to be handling his or her emotions well, don’t assume that he or she is okay. Some kids respond to divorce by becoming overly responsible or by closing down their emotions. They may need to hear, “Tell me how you’re feeling.”

33. While it is important to listen and accept your children’s feelings, it is equally important to set limits on behavior.

34. Keep a private journal where you express your feelings. Be sure to keep it in a private place where your children won’t find it. A journal provides a place to express anger, sadness, loneliness, and fearall of those feelings you feel every day as a single parent.

35. Remind yourself that recovering from divorce will take time. Your recovery will happen on its own schedule, and it will happen. You will get through this intact.

36. Get together with other single-parent families. Sharing times with people facing similar issues can make you feel normal.

Garrett Coan is a professional therapist,coach and psychotherapist. His two Northern New Jersey office locations are accessible to individuals who reside in Bergen County, Essex County, Passaic County, Rockland County, and Manhattan. He offers online and telephone coaching and counseling services for those who live at a distance. He can be accessed through http://www.creativecounselors.com or 201-303-4303.

You can lose your soul mate due to many circumstances that are within and out of your control. Many believe that destiny is your master and you are a pawn in the hands of this invincible force. And since even death is a temporary separation in the concept of soul mates, you can find your lost soul mate again in another current life. Your lost soul mate can come to you again in the body of a child or even a dog, which can explain our inexplicable attachments to our pets.

There are, however, certain circumstances where you can lose your soul mate willfully. The biggest culprits here are anger, ego and mistrust. We can destroy a perfect soul mate connection if we let these enemies to creep into our relationships. The purest soul mate relationship is based on selfless loveclosest to a mother’s love for her child. This kind of love cannot be destroyed by mistrust, ego or suspicion and hence is considered immortal love. If you are able to develop this rare intensity of emotion for your soul mate, then you should have no fear of losing him in this lifetime or in other lifetimes to come.

Many people believe you can make direct contact with a lost soul mate by consulting a clairvoyant, psychic, medium, or other metaphysical specialist. The people are said to be able to see across distances and times to retrieve images and message from the great beyond, whatever that may be. Perhaps this is a viable avenue to try.

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we’ve no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Winter is a wonderful time for romance. With the cold weather, the perfect stillness, and the additional time for snuggling, you can’t go wrong in the romance department.

There are countless ways to show love during the winter without running up your credit card bill. Initiate the following ideas with your sweetie, and show him that your warm heart isn’t affected by the cold weather or by your budget.

* Light some candles or start a fire in the fireplace and enjoy the day together.

* Scratch his back or rub his feet.

* Bake cookies together.

* Read a book out loud to each other. As kids we enjoyed being read to, and the appeal is still there. Just try it and you’ll see.

* Turn on the radio and slow dance to the songs you fell in love listening to. Or find new songs to rekindle your love.

* Look at old photo albums of yourselves when you were kids through your dating years. When’s the last time you’ve had a photo taken together?

* Play a board game or do a jigsaw or crossword puzzle together. There are so many new fun games as well as the old favorites. Make it a priority to spend time together.

* Have a picnic on the living room floor. Serve some wine and cheese or order take out food. Even your ordinary sandwiches will taste delicious when served with the right atmosphere.

So, although the weather outside may be frightful, romance during the winter is definitely delightful. As long as you love him so - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

http://www.RomanceYourHusband.com
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We’re teaching our kids to be consumers at an early age. Look at the number of superhero and product endorsement Valentines on the store shelves.

We, as parents, are sucked in by the media to believe that we need the latest, greatest gadget or fad for our kids.

Share your love by giving of your time, not your pocketbook. What can you give your kids instead?

Here are 10 simple suggestions:

1. Slip a handmade valentine or a simple note into your child’s lunch box.

2. Take a walk together in the woods or your favorite park.

3. Jot down a line from your favorite poem. Share it with family members.

4. Kiss your kids goodnight.

5. Read a chapter book together.

6. Have family dinnertime together.

7. Turn off the TV. Have a pizza night and rent and watch a movie together.

8. Have a picnic in the park after the soccer game instead of stopping for a fast meal on the way home.

9. Have each family member write down one reason why they appreciate every other family member. Write your reasons on a tag and use ribbon to attach them to a batch of your favorite cookies. Let every family member find his own special cookies.

10. Help your kids write a letter to a family member who lives far away. Write the first few lines of a story and instruct the recipient to write the next, and then return the letter. Your story can continue indefinitely.

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As an experienced counselor, one of the questions I’m asked frequently is, “Can a marital separation ever save a marriage?” My answer is a qualified “yes.”

Sometimes a couple is miserable living together and can’t seem to co-exist without having constant harping and bickering. If they have children, they may worry about the impact on them of all the fighting. Each spouse wants the marriage to work and is willing to work on the problems and issues in marriage counseling while they’re separated.

Couples in this situation often plan to use the separation period to “let the dust settle,” reflect on the marriage, take responsibility for their share of what has happened, and work on individual and joint issues in counseling. One goal is for the spouses to use their problem-solving skills in counseling to address and resolve the most serious problems before moving back together. Both spouses agree not to date anyone else and to focus exclusively on working to improve the marriage.

For these couples, the separation can be a time to think, to reflect, to analyze, to cool off and calm down, and to take a break from each other. It also provides time and space for each spouse to make unhurried, thoughtful decisions instead of waiting for things to blow up and then impulsively leaving. Used in this way, a planned separation can actually help to save a marriage.

In other cases, one spouse or the other may move out on the spur of the moment after an upsetting argument. The separation is unplanned, and there are no plans for marriage counseling, no guidelines agreed upon about seeing others, and no tentative time-line for the separation.

There is usually much anxiety on the part of the partner who has been left unexpectedly and there are many unanswered questions: What is happening? Will the partner file for divorce? Will the marriage survive? Whether the separation will help or hurt the marriage is unknown in this case. Things could go either way, depending on what happens.

Another situation that can result in separation is when a spouse is living in an intolerable situation in the marriage. Perhaps the partner is verbally abusive, chronically runs around, or shows continual disrespect towards his or her spouse in some other way. The spouse may have tried to get the partner to go to counseling, but the partner always refused.

Sometimes the best thing the spouse can do is to decide to separate and hope that the partner will be shocked enough by the unexpected action to finally agree to work on the marriage. In situations like this, a separation can sometimes save the marriage.

The partner often says, “I knew we had some problems, but I didn’t think they were that serious. I never thought she (or he) would really leave. She kept telling me, but I didn’t believe her.” The spouse then has to stand firm and let the partner know that she is going to live separately because “I refuse to be in a marriage where I’m treated like this. I deserve more.”

By not rushing to file for divorce, the spouse finds out during the planned separation if the partner is finally motivated enough to enter counseling and work on changing. If the couple enters counseling, the therapist will then be able to give them a recommendation about when they are ready to live together again, if ever.

Of course, there are no guarantees in a marital separation. The separation might be instrumental in saving the marriage, or it may widen the gap between the two spouses and eventually lead to divorce. A planned separation is always preferable to an impulsive one.

The following five tips can help you if you need to think about separating from your spouse:

1. Talk with your spouse about what your individual goals are for the separation. Are they the same or different?

2. Try to reach agreement that neither of you will date anyone else during this period of time. If your marriage is going to have the best chance possible, you’ll want to agree not to have sexual entanglements with others so you can continue to work on your relationship.

3. Set a tentative time period for the separation, such as three months. At the end of that time, you can both re-evaluate the decision in terms of what’s best for each of you.

4. Agree to seek individual and joint counseling during the separation to address the key problems and issues that have caused conflict in the marriage. This is an ideal time to do some deep individual work on your own personal issues as well as to address core relationship issues.

5. Set guidelines that you both agree to about how much contact you’ll have during the separation and what kind of contact it will be. It doesn’t do any good to have a separation if one spouse or the other is calling on the phone every five minutes and constantly wanting to talk more about the problems. The separation is supposed to reduce conflict and give each person some space and relief from constant pressure and arguments.

Nancy J. Wasson, Ph.D., is co-author of Keep Your Marriage: What to Do When Your Spouse Says “I don’t love you anymore!” This is available at http://www.KeepYourMarriage.com, where you can also sign up for the free weekly Keep Your Marriage Internet Magazine to get ideas and support for improving your marriage.

The phrase wedding cake conjures up an image of a three-layered white cake with plastic figurines of the bride and groom perched on top. But that is now passé. Wedding cakes are going through a fashion makeover and new styles and designs are in vogue. With the help of a talented cake designer, there is no limit to how unique wedding cakes can be.

These days, flowers intertwined with a delicate icing are very popular. If you have a favorite flower, it can be used as the main focus of the cake’s design. You may want the flowers of your bridesmaids duplicated on the cake or the flowers in your bridal bouquet. Any talented cake designer should be able to create a beautiful cake with this design in mind. Just make sure you bring along samples of your flowers when you meet with the baker.

The color scheme of your wedding can also be incorporated into a wedding cake. You can even request that a designer try to emulate the design and style of your wedding gown into your cake. Depending on the season, your cake designer can whip up fabulous wedding cakes with snowflakes and icicles for winter, chrysanthemums, and autumn colored leaves for fall, daisies and raindrops for spring and tulips and roses for summer. Thinking in terms of fun and creativity will help achieve unique and wonderful results.

Whatever type of cake you desire, discuss your thoughts with several cake designers to ensure that what you want is what you get. If you’re not sure, let the designer give you ideas. Guaranteed they will have many wonderful suggestions.

Cake provides detailed information on Baby Shower Cake, Birthday Cake, Cake, Cake Decorating and more. Cake is affiliated with Birthday Cards.

Divorce is a horrible nasty sounding word which nobody likes to hear as it brings back bad memories and feelings whenever we hear it. Divorce certainly lives up to its name. D for disastrous, disruptive, disturbing, disappointing, disagreeing, dismissing, dissolving, dividing etc.

Divorce however is much more common these days as more and more couples file for divorce. A divorce can be very distressing as everything has to be taken into consideration especially if there are children involved. Divorce can effect children badly. They may become withdrawn or disruptive at school. Although divorce may be the answer for the parents, divorce is a very difficult situation for a child to adjust to.

After living with both parents it can be so dramatic for them to all of a sudden have only one parent around them. Rules and priorities may change so much that the child feels as though their whole world has been turned upside down. This is when a child can become very argumentative and wants everything their own way. You need to see things from a child’s point of view and put yourselves in their place and then review the situation.

For older children you will be able to talk and discuss matters but for the younger ones who don’t understand they will be much harder to reason with and pacify. However, they say that time is a great healer and you will need to be very patient during the process.

Divorce can happen to anyone at any time. Divorce can also happen at any age. Whether you are young or old it is just as difficult to deal with and you will need to be strong to survive a divorce.

A divorce can be very traumatic when deciding which items will go with whom especially if things have been bought between you or things given to you both from relatives or friends and as wedding presents, anniversary presents, birthday and Christmas presents.

It can be very difficult deciding which things would be better with whom as you will probably still stay in contact with most of each others friends who will no doubt visit both of you at some time during the future in your new abodes.

Divorce proceedings do take time to finalise so you will both need to be patient until things get resolved. It is bet to sort things amicably if you can as the divorce courts can be harsh and impersonal and also costly.

Divorced couples may find it difficult to re-enter the so-called singles market again as times may have changed over the years since they went out. Divorced couples may also not want to run the risk of bumping into their former lover or even their ex-husbands associates when they go out.

It will be very difficult to avoid everyone from your past and sooner or later you will probably bump into someone who you wish you hadn’t. You will need to keep your cool in this situation and act confidently and calmly. Once you have done this once you will know how to react in the future. There are many divorce clubs that you could join and also divorce advice is available on-line.

Why do so many marriages fail? What has changed to make couples decide to separate or divorce so quickly and at the first sign of stress within a marriage? Jenny Clair is the editor of Marriage-Divorce-Separation.com an article based web site exploring the human side of marriage breakdowns, divorce and separation situations. Divorce and separation is never easy so before taking that giant leap why not explore some of the issues first.

Click here to visit our Marriage Divorce Separation web site
Click here to visit our Plan 4 Divorce web site
Click here to visit our Divorce Law Group web site

He’s proposed, and most likely you’re flashing your new engagement ring. Now it’s time to plan the celebration, but where do you start?

Your engagement party is the perfect setting for the families and friends of the bride and groom to meet each other if they haven’t already done so. Make yourself available at the start of the event to greet all your guests and introduce everyone. Mingle as much as possible so that your guests feel comfortable and relaxed.

You can celebrate in style with a swanky black-tie cocktail party, or a formal sit-down dinner, or maybe a casual serve-yourself buffet is more your style. Whatever you choose, remember that many of your guests may not know each other so you want them to be able to mingle comfortably.

Once upon a time, engagement parties were usually held at the home of the bride’s parents, but nowadays most couples like to host their own engagement party. If you want to go all out, you can hire a banquet hall with full catering, a local hall or you could set up a marquee in your own back yard. The choices are only limited by your imagination (and wallet!)

Engagement Party Themes

Many couples like to choose a theme for their engagement party. Having a theme party helps break the ice with your guests and generally adds an element of frivolity the occasion. You can choose a 50s, 60s or 70s party, depending on the decade in which you were born, or an Hawaiian or Mexican party for something more exotic. If you prefer, the theme can be as simple as your choice of colors or the style of your decorations.

For a 50s, 60s or 70s retro look, decorate with lime green, purple, hot pink and yellow. If you’d like to go Hawaiian choose lots of bright greens, yellow and blue. For a Mexican theme, choose gold, purple and blue and have a pinata filled with candies for a bit of fun.

For a romantic theme, choose pastel colors and use tulle or organza to drape the tables, chair backs, stair railings and ceiling. Scatter rose petals and sparkles on the tables and light the area with twinkling fairy lights. Candles add a soft glow to your surroundings and can be used in a number of interesting and inventive ways.

Party and theme shops have a fabulous array of party items and props you can buy or hire for the night. You can check out your local shopping mall, or go online for the most wonderful array of balloons, streamers, party poppers, confetti, and candles.

Engagement Party Entertainment

Entertainment always seems to enhance the mood at a party, although it’s not a necessity. A quality sound system and some lively CDs are certainly enough to raise the spirits of party-goers.

If your budget allows, you can hire a pianist or a string quartet to provide pleasant background music. If you’d prefer something a little livelier, how about hiring a juke-box, a DJ or maybe you’d prefer a mariachi band? Or you could hire a karaoke machine and invite your guests to contribute to the entertainment!

Set aside an area for dancing, then start everyone off with a special dance for the newly engaged couple. It will help prepare you for the wedding waltz!

Your choice of entertainment should match the tone and theme of the party, so make sure you choose the kind of entertainment that appeals to your tastes and makes you feel comfortable.

These days anything goes when it comes to engagement party ideas, so let your imagination soar and create a memorable experience, both for you as a couple and for your guests. Just remember to make it a fun-filled and happy experience and above all, enjoy yourselves!

Alexis Miller has been involved in the wedding and jewelry industry for more years than she cares to remember! She has turned her passion for all things bridal into a website, http://www.Engagement-Rings-Guide.com. Visit her website for interesting articles on weddings, jewelry, honeymoons, and much more.

There is a great contrast between love and lust. Lust is more of a sexual or greedy feeling, while love is more of a secure and content filled feeling we get from giving and receiving. Lust does not have to be something sexual, it can be a greedy desire for more money and power, etc. But for this article, I am using it in its sexual context.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 sums up the common traits and variances of love and lust.

LOVE is kind = considerate, caring, giving, thoughtful, understanding

Lust is envy = jealous, greed, spite, resentment,

LOVE is not proud = humble, submissive, meek, modest

Lust is self-seeking = selfish, rebellious, rude, egotistical, hateful,

LOVE rejoices in the truth = God is love, Love is God = Wisdom, Holy Spirit,

Lust delights in evil = Satan, sin, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, dishonest

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1John 4:8
AND

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to also love one another.
1 John 4:11

The world has a superficial and selfish view of love, which has contaminated our understanding of what REAL LOVE is. The culture believes that love is something that makes us FEEL good and that it’s acceptable to sacrifice moral principles to obtain such love. But in doing so this culture IS NOT obtaining the love characteristic but the lustful ones.

Love involves unselfish acts. Faith is the foundation of God’s message. By putting our complete faith in God gives us the freedom to love others completely.

Matthew 5:27-28 says, “You have heard that it was said, “do not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right hand causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for you whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

When Jesus said to throw away you right hand or gouge out your eye, he didn’t mean in the literal sense because even a blind person can lust. Jesus’ thinking was that if that were the only choice, then it would be better to go into heaven with one eye or one hand then to go to hell with two hands or two eyes.

Acting out lustful desires is very harmful in four ways.

1. Lustful desires destroys marriage

2. Lustfulness is rebelliousness to God

3. Lustfulness always hurts someone

4. Lustful acts leads to premarital sex

Jesus said the desire to have sex with someone other than your spouse is mental adultery. Therefore, If lustful desires are in our thoughts, then they most likely will come out in our actions!

“For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:34

In essence, it’s in what we THINK. What we crave and lust for in life shows our values and morals. What we think in our heart and mind comes back out in our actions.

Lustful thinking can turn into

1. Adultery = divorce

2. Premarital sex = genital diseases = lack of sexual interest with spouse

3. Sin = death

Sexual immorality is a temptation we all must face on a daily basis. God doesn’t forbid sexual sins just to be difficult. God knows its power to destroy people lives physically and spiritually. God wants to protect us from damaging ourselves with immoral sexual desires. Sex outside of the marriage relationship always hurts someone. It hurts God because it shows that we care more about our own lustful desires than Him.

Paul said in Corinthians, “Do you no know that your body is the a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price (Jesus Christ death freed us from sin). Therefore, honor God with your body” 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

Many people believe they have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies. And they think this is freedom, but really, they are enslaved to their own lustful and sinful desires - they are in bondage and slave to their desires.

When we become Christian’s (Christ ones) the Holy Spirit lives in us and fills us up, and we no longer own our own bodies, but we belong to God.

Do you love others like God wants you to love?

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 1 John 2:10

Angie Lewis offers spiritual enlightenment tips for couples in marriage, and is the author of new release book JOURNEY ON THE ROADS LESS TRAVELED.

This unique book is about love, life, marriage, addiction, temptation, and understanding the power of spiritual awareness for your marriage.

In her book, Angie reveals her own journey of overcoming addiction and battling with her negative emotions that she allowed to embrace her life and marriage.

To find out more about this new book click here, http://www.spiritual.journeybooks.4t.com/
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Angie Lewis counsels couples and writes a monthly newsletter where she reveals her secrets on how YOU can stay happily married for life!

Subscribe to get your FREE monthly newsletter so you can stay happily and forever married!
http://www.heavenministries.com/

What’s the one thing that usually stands between a bride and groom and the wedding of their dreams?

You didn’t even have to think, did you?

Money!

Well, in my neverending quest to help couples save money and have their dream days, I have been checking out America’s online auction obsession.

I chose Ebay for my research, because Ebay is the most well-known of the auction sites, and I personally have had excellent experience with Ebay sellers.

Here’s what I found out:

Even the bride and/or groom who is not all that daring can find wonderful bargains on many wedding essentials online. It doesn’t hurt, if you have the time, to try your hand at bidding on items. Often, you can get wonderful savings that way. Just make sure you’ve done your research and know what the average price should be, and don’t bid above it. But if you don’t want to bother with that, just check the items that say “Buy it now,” and pay that price. I checked only “buy it now” prices, and found wonderful deals on decorations, silk flowers, and favors. For example, I found 72 white faux pearl flowers perfect for corsages and decorating for $9.99. These flowers started me thinking about how charming a wrist corsage would be with a simple, elegant wedding gown in place of a traditional bouquet. There were also 84 cream or white silk roses at $9.99 for the cream and $13.00 for the white. These would be enough to make bouquest for a bride and all her bridesmaids, and they were beautiful flowers. For the flower girl and table top decoration, one Ebay store offered 1000 red silk rose petals for $13.50.

For the slightly more adventurous bride, there was wonderful bridal jewelry for less than $20, and veils for $9-$20.00.

But the bravest, most daring bride could have the greatest savings of all on one of the biggest expenses for most people. I’m talking about the dress. Yes, you can find wedding dresses on Ebay, and not just the ones that have been worn, either. I saw new dresses ranging from a simple, elegant design for $60 to a beautiful white & ivory Renaissance style gown for $110.00. There were also many gowns for $500 and up, but for those, unless you are going to bid and try to win them, I think you should go to a salon and get all the personal fitting and pampering that price deserves. With the less expensive dresses, you may have to have them professionally altered to fit, but at less than $200 you are still getting a bargain.
Of course, you have to consider the shipping costs for any of these bargains, but a savvy shopper should still check out Ebay or the other online auctions as yet another option to get what you want and not break the bank for your wedding day.

Rhetta Akamats is a wedding planner and ordained officiant in Marietta, GA. She is the owner of Rose and Star Wedding Planning. You can visit Rose and Star’s website at http://www.roseandstar.com for information about the business and more articles and advice for your special day.