Wedding Registry Direct Blog

Getting married, going on a honeymoon and establishing a new household for life with your Mr. Right is huge. The amount of work and planning that goes into these three things alone can stagger. Keeping up with everything you need, want and already have, however, can turn out to be a logistical nightmare. This is where it can pay to use a wedding registry to your advantage.

• Being able to sort through it all – Using a wedding registry will help you be able to keep track of the items you need and want and what people have already purchased. There’s no reason, for example, to run out and pay for a wedding cake if your great uncle has already done so in your honor. As guests make purchases, you will be able to cross items off your list and keep a running tally of what is left.
• Enjoying the ability to see the big picture – As a nontraditional registry, Wedding Registry Direct will enable you to list not only products, but also services. This can help you track everything you need to make your day and your time away perfect.
• Having the chance to let guests choose gifts you really want – If you already have a house established, guests can find themselves really stumped on what to get you. With an alternative registry, they can chip in to help cover the biggest day of your life.

Your wedding day is still months away, but it feels like eons. You’ve only just started the preliminary planning and you’re not sure how much really needs to be done at this point in the game.

• It takes time to select “the one” – Rome wasn’t built in a day, you and your sweetie didn’t build a relationship over night and your perfect gown will not likely appear to you on your first run to a bridal shop. The fact is it takes time to shop around, stay in budget and still locate the ideal dress for your big day.
• It takes time to order a gown – Companies that make wedding gowns do not necessarily have exactly what you are looking for sitting in an inventory. Unless you plan on buying straight off the rack, it can take a few weeks or even months to have a complicated gown made for you.
• Alterations require a cushion – When your dress arrives from the maker, it won’t be perfect immediately. To get just the right fit and look, alterations will have to be made. These, too, take time.

It is amazing how something as simple as saying “I do” can become so complicated and confusing. Planning and paying for a wedding – even a small one – can be a much bigger undertaking than many couples realize. And, with budgets tight these days, the headaches that can go along with prospect can turn out to be killers.

• The ability to stretch a budget – Using an alternative registry like Wedding Registry Direction will better position you to have the wedding of your dreams without having to pay for every expense out of pocket. When guests select their gifts from your registry, you can upgrade your event without breaking your bottom line.
• The selection – Wedding Registry Direct enables you to select from a variety of vendors. This, too, is a feature that guests love. From bakeries and stationary providers to travel agencies and beyond, you can select the right kind of gifts and services to make your big day perfect.
• Giving guests the chance to help out – Using an alternative wedding registry is an excellent way to let friends and relatives help out with expenses for the big occasion. Even small contributions can go a long way.
• Providing guests with a way to purchase gifts that will never be forgotten – When guests choose to buy items off your registry, they will know for certain they are investing in something you truly want. This beats being the person who brings the third toaster!
• The practicality and novelty – Wedding Registry Direct is a practical, yet novel way, to ensure the wedding of your dreams becomes reality.

Everyday it is becoming more and more common for couples to finance their own wedding, and with the rising costs in the wedding industry, budgets quickly run out. With Wedding Registry Direct, you will now be able to register with your photographer, florist or dance studio for products that will help you have the wedding of your dreams. In addition to the traditional registries at department stores, you can now register with your wedding vendors for items such as flowers, additional photographs or even dance lessons. As a newlywed myself, I found that the wedding industry has grown a lot and before I knew it, my budget quickly became more and more limited. I would have loved the option of registering with my florist for extra reception flowers or with my photographer for additional prints or camera time. With Wedding Registry Direct and the help of your friends and family, you can now plan and have the wedding of your dreams without going into debt. It’s also a great way to have your friends and family be an active part of your wedding.

Most couples are just starting to establishing themselves financially. With the high cost of a wedding, their budget is not as generous as they would like it to be. They’re starting out with the engagement ring expenses, maybe a new mortgage and now a wedding. Thanks to Wedding Registry Direct, couples can now register directly with their vendors and expand their budget. In addition to the products that they are able to afford themselves, couples can now have the option to register for additional items that would enhance their dream wedding. Friends and family can choose to help the couple pay for items they could not afford on their own. This option benefits everyone! Not only does the couple receive help for their dream wedding, but friends and family can actively be part of the wedding and the vendor has effectively increased their source of revenue per couple. Now vendors are able to work with the couple's budget in addition to the financial support of those attending the wedding.

I am really excited to share Wedding Registry Direct with you and hope that you find value, whether you are a vendor or a bride-to-be. Please let me know how we can improve this service, we are constantly working on making it better.

This blog is going to provide tips and tricks to be a better wedding vendor. These will include many aspects of the wedding business--today we will talk about invoicing. Specifically about a wonderful invoicing site called FreshBooks.

Concerns About Online Invoicing

I can hear you now:

Online invoicing? That sounds complicated and expensive, and plus I've already got invoicing taken care of the old way, and that has worked well for me so far.

Today's online invoicing applications are no longer complicated, nor expensive, and there are some good reasons that you might want to consider moving that direction.

Good Reasons for using Online Invoicing

Not that long ago, people didn't know their www from their http. However times are changing. The average age of people getting married in the United States is around 26 years old. This is a very important number because every year, you can look back and see that 26 years ago computers were more and more embedded in culture.

2008 - 26 = 1982

When people born in 1982 were in middle school, the web was already an integral part of their young education. They were buying books on Amazon and writing reports on their Macintoshes.

Every single year, more and more couples getting married are increasingly computer literate. They not only are as familiar with the internet as their parents were with radios, but they come to expect to use the internet more and more. They use the internet to buy shoes (http://www.zappos.com/), groceries (http://www.safeway.com/), and crafts (http://www.etsy.com/).

Couples these days also in larger and larger numbers are funding their weddings themselves, so the invoices go directly to that young, internet savvy couple. What better way to present yourself as the modern wedding vendor than to present them with a modern internet based invoice.

Online Invoicing is no Longer Expensive or Complicated

Many of you probably tried to use online invoicing at some point but found it hard and expensive. With the advent of Web 2.0, this has all changed. Web 2.0 has been an internet revolution that has created an immense wealth of better websites that are focused on being more usable and more affordable.

Two of the best of breed invoicing sites that have emerged are Blinksale and FreshBooks. Blinksale is a little bit easier and cleaner to use, but FreshBooks is more powerful and more flexible. Both of these sites have free trial accounts that let you have a limited number of free clients or invoices to test the system out.

FreshBooks even has the option to "snail mail" an invoice through their system automatically. This would work great for your clients who's parents are paying for the wedding and who you expect would prefer a snail mail version.

Features of Using Online Invoicing

Some of the benefits of using online invoicing include being able to have the system automatically send reminder notices for delinquent payments, being able to track and send invoices from the road or in internet cafes where you might not have access to your regular expense tracking applications. Plus, all of the data from the online invoicing sites can be imported into your regular expense tracking applications very easily. You can even accept payment through your merchant account or paypal through FreshBooks.

Conclusion

It is important to distinguish yourself and stand out to your clients. Making good impressions goes a long way to improving reputation and client referrals. I hope this information helps as you think about how to become more competitive in today's market. Good luck.