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Forget rustic mason jars and burlap. Set aside showy bouquets and fondant cakes. Minimalism now prevails in simpler affairs filled with elegant details and fresh, contemporary twists on traditional favorites.

See the latest buzzwords come to life Sunday, when the Omaha World-Herald presents the Wedding Essentials Idea Show at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs. Nearly 100 wedding professionals will showcase in vogue trends in food, flowers, décor, attire and more.

Guests can spend the day meeting industry pros, seeing what’s hot on the runway, snapping pictures of what they love and checking off to-dos on their way to “I do.”

Here, several vendors provide a sneak peek of wedding “musts” they’ll be sharing at the show.

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All that glitters

Gold is hot. Whether shiny or matte, burnished or platinum, champagne or rose, the metallic detail warms up receptions and gives weddings a dramatic, glamorous feel.

“We’re focusing on a return to gold; it’s old-school elegance with a nod to tradition, but one that’s not too tricky,” said Brett Foster, lead designer for Wowfactore, an event design firm. “The rustic wedding trend has given way to something warmer and simpler with a lot of attention to detail.”

Ways to incorporate gold include: golden rims on crystal stemware, spray painted matte golden leaves on ceremonial arbors, gold chargers under fine white china, bright golden beaded backdrops for head tables or muted Chiavari chairs for the wedding couple.

Other metallic options include copper, which is toastier for fall, or gun metal, a warmer choice than silver and less gender specific. Forget lace accents and instead, complement these new looks with cognac-hued leathers or textured linens in cotton ivory (not creamy) to create layers and dimension. “It makes metallics less austere,” Foster said.

The warmer approach, Foster added, also provides an element of masculinity, which makes weddings “about both people. More grooms have an opinion now.”

Go green

Big bouquets laden with showy blooms and single rose boutonnières and nosegays have given way to greenery. “The past 15 years, there was none whatsoever,” said Tracy Diehl, owner of Florals Etcetera, who once incorporated upward of 400-500 stems per wedding and today uses closer to 50. “Now greens are very, very trendy.”

That doesn’t mean there’s a lack of high-impact visuals. A recent wedding for a client featured an 8-foot tall arbor draped with greenery and accented with an elaborate chandelier.

Seeded or silver dollar eucalyptuses dominate. Branches of Italian Ruscus and ivy are also popular. Even fern makes an appearance in wedding arrangements. These can all be combined to create beautiful bouquets or what Diehl describes as “budget garlands,” which don’t require a lot of material or labor.

She also loves the look of greens on textured table linens paired with candleholders of varying heights. “You can tuck flowers in here or there,” she said. “It’s overall, very basic, with detailed simplicity and texture – simple versus spectacular.”

Let there be light

Lighted backdrops are still popular, but twinkle lights are passé. Instead, backdrops and fabric-draped ceiling décor are showcased with mini lights and strategically placed strip lights and uplights, usually LEDs.

The trend started about four or five years ago and has steadily gained in popularity. “LED lights are super cost-effective and easy to install,” said Steven Sinkle, CEO and events director for 402 Event Services. “They can be set on the floor and angled the way you want. They really open up a space and can be customized and matched to wedding colors.”

Sinkle typically uses custom fabrics in white or black and likes the way they play off bright metallic accents like tall gold centerpieces or gold or silver Chiavari chairs. “Over the past six months, we’ve really seen that a lot. It’s very elegant.”

Make it personal

When Dani DeJoy married Riley Anderson this past June, she kicked aside tradition to replace a bridesmaid with a bridesman.

“I knew I wanted to break with tradition … but how?” she said in an email interview from the newlyweds’ new home in Vienna, Virginia.

The bride turned to one of her best friends since childhood and asked him to join her wedding party. “It was one of the most special elements of my wedding, and I will always cherish it and be forever grateful. Several people came up to me saying, ‘This is so you, Dani!’”

Other ways to personalize weddings involve throwing “bro-dal showers,” which give grooms their due. “There’s less of an appetite for stag or bachelor parties,” said Foster. “It’s the idea of the groom getting together with his friends and having a celebration.”

The focus can be tailored to each groom. For a casual approach, try flannels combined with craft beer and custom-made wood coasters; the more sophisticated take might feature a scotch and cigar bar or perhaps martinis, craft cocktails and retro hors d’oeuvres from the “Mad Men” era. Some grooms elect to compete in physical challenges as party games.

“Millennials are experiential,” Foster said. “These events coax guys into something more participatory and make it more personal to the groom.”

Let them eat naked

Naked cake, that is. Unfrosted cakes of exposed layers with icing in between have been the rage for quite some time, but they’re not quite as simple as in years past. Lindsey Rodgers, digital marketing specialist for Hy-Vee, has been designing cakes for a decade. “A lot of bakeries have seen the rise of naked cakes, but the rustic trend has given way to something a little more elegant,” she said. “They’re still big, but they’re more understated.”

The updates include drizzles of caramel or syrup down the sides, berry blends for extra flavor and floral accents that tie the whole look together. The basic palette is neutral — ivory or white — with wedding colors added through the strategic placement of flowers. “It almost looks like they’ve been put there by a fairy. It’s very casual but intentional.”

Rodgers said the focus is more on natural elegance. “Sometimes, you see a combination of a fondant tier and then a naked layer as a contrast,” she said. “It’s mixing tradition with current trends — but it’s still all about the yumminess.”

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Jason Collier is a frustrated groom.

“I paid all this money for a beautiful wedding, and to give my fiance a dream wedding,” said the real estate professional. But, he added: “We don’t have food!”

When Collier made a surprise proposal to his fiance Ashley Landry at the school where she is a teacher, he promised her the perfect wedding.

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The young couple picked the Humble Civic Center as the wedding location with October 8, as the wedding date. They signed a contract with Black-eyed Pea to be the caterer.

Everything was going well, until Tuesday, when the restaurant’s catering manager called. “They never said anything, never said the company filed bankruptcy a year ago,” said Landry. She can’t believe no one on the restaurant staff ever told her the company was having financial problems. “(Nobody said) it could be a possibility, that we may not be able to cater your wedding, and they called me yesterday and said they can’t.”

On Monday, all but one of the Black-eyed Pea Texas restaurants shut down, abruptly. No warning.

Just a note on the door. Landry and collier already paid the full $2,700 catering bill. They were told there would be no refund — and no catering.

“We got to figure something out,” said Landry. “It was supposed to be a dream wedding.”

“And we both sacrificed a lot,” said Collier, adding they worked extra hours and saved to pay for the wedding.

Our calls to the corporate headquarters went to voice mail. Landry and Collier say they don’t know what to do. Their first preference would be for the contract to be honored, since their wedding is 10 days away. In the meantime, they are working to find a caterer who would charge them a reasonable price and still be available on short notice.

But they take comfort in knowing one thing, with or without a caterer. “The ultimate thing is about us, sharing that moment, confessing our love to each other and wanting to spend our lives together,” said Collier.

He and Landry vow not to let the catering snafu stop their big day.

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Kate Middleton was reported to skip her sister, Pippa’s wedding in 2017. Known as being party-goer, Pippa needs to build a good image prior to the wedding if she want Kate and Prince William to be present during her wedding.

Reports suggest that Kate Middleton will not be present during her sister Pippa’s wedding. If this rumor is true, what could have led to the Duchess to do the move?

Aside from the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, her husband Prince William will also skip the wedding.

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A Celebrity Dirty Laundry report also disclosed that Pippa is being forced to look after her image and fix her dented status prior to her wedding with James Matthews.

Kate and Pippa used to go out on parties. Usually being snapped in every nightclub and single-minded to make it known to the public. Nevertheless, after Kate was married to the Crown Prince of Britain, she was pushed to soften her behavior and actions. Meanwhile, her sister, Pippa, sustains her free-spirited demeanor and still goes out partying with Matthews.

Moreover, Pippa likes to be known as the “good girl next door,” opposite to what her family and close friends identify her as such. She is also aware that if she will not succeed in convincing everyone that she is not a “wildly-out-of-control” kind who only desires for publicity, there is a possibility that Kate and William will not be present when she will exchange vows with Matthews.

According to Hello Magazine, Pippa is not pleased calling her as a socialite. It annoys her that the public thinks she is just using her position for her personal gain and that she is really a “party girl without any substance.”

Pippa Middleton has been exposed in the public eye for years already and she has already managed to defend herself from these negative comments and criticisms. She even mentioned how it was difficult for her to deal on these things, handling it all on her own.

She also added that it had become typical for them already and that there are issues and matters they have to take into consideration. She even said that those are just normal to life. She just doesn’t want to be too sensitive on these things being thrown to her even if it hurts her.

Pippa Middleton is currently working on her cookbook titled, Heartfelt, which consist of more than 100 recipes for a healthy heart.

On one hand, Pippa Middleton and James Matthews wedding will be in 2017 and the public still clueless if Kate Middleton will attend to it.

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From the second you get engaged, it seems like everyone has advice to share about planning a wedding. Whether they’re currently engaged, happily married, have walked down the aisle more than once, or are totally single, everyone has something to say! And — fair warning — not all of that advice is very good. The best sources for planning advice are the experts themselves, but even wedding planners get an earful of tips you should really forget. We’ve asked top planners to dish on some of the worst wedding planning advicethey’ve ever heard — and to fill us in on what you should do instead.

“I hear bad advice all the time,” says Amy Nichols, owner of Amy Nichols Special Events and cofounder ofThe Poppy Group. “One piece that brides should totally ignore? Telling guests the ceremony starts earlier than it actually does! Using your timeline to manipulate guests to arrive on time isn’t the way to win friends or make guests happy.” Remember, most guests know that the time on the invitation is the actual start time, and will plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early. “Not only does putting a false start time on the invitation cause confusion for your guests, it can also create a scheduling mess for your vendors.” Instead, Nichols says to work with your planner to create a solid timeline that will allow for seamless flow. “A professional will know exactly how much time to allow to make sure guests are seated, get the wedding party in place, and send you down the aisle,” Nichols reminds us.

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Here’s advice any planner would cringe at: Anyone telling you you don’t need a day-of coordinator.”Even if you aren’t investing in a full-service planner, a day-of coordinator is the best money you’ll spend when it comes to your wedding,” says Teissia Treynet, founder of Firefly Events. “Without a coordinator, you’re stuck dealing with all the tiny details (including the surprise ones that could ruin your day). Having a pro on-hand to make sure everything is in order and catch those problems before you even find out about them will enable you to fully enjoy your wedding day from start to finish.

Having incredibly talented friends and family can be great, but having them work on your wedding? Less so. “It’s never safe to assume that friends and family are going to help you on the day of your wedding,” says Jackie Martucci, owner of Events by Jackie M. “No matter how talented, even professionals love to simply be guests at a wedding!” And if your friend isn’t a pro? Watch out. “Even the most well-meaning of friends seriously underestimate the time it takes to complete tasks like decorating your venue (which won’t leave them any time to get ready before you walk down the aisle!).” Avoid resentment if your friends or family don’t meet your expectations, and instead leave it to the professionals. “Make sure delegated tasks are outlined in your contracts. And speaking of contracts, if you do end up hiring a pro who is also a friend, don’t skip this step! You should still outline expectations just as you would with any other vendor,” says Martucci. Yup, even if they’re offering their services as a gift!

“Family members and friends love to give advice based on what their wedding cost and what you’re paying,” says Nichols. “They’ll critique how much you’re spending on, say, flowers, but they got married in a different part of the country (or a different decade!) and can’t accurately weigh what is a fair price for goods and services in your area.” She advises remembering that prices will vary greatly from one state to another, so instead get a feel for what things cost in your area — and don’t look any further. Continues Nichols, “Use your wedding planner to determine what your budget will allow for each vendor, and go from there.”

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to money, and if the budget is running out, the first thing to go is often the videographer. “You might think a videographer is a splurge or a luxury, but it’s worth including one in your budget from the very beginning,” Treynet advises. “Consider your videographer just as important as your photographer. You will be so full of emotion and adrenaline on the day of your wedding that it will be hard to remember all of the special moments and beautiful speeches, and a videographer can capture them in a way that even a photographer can’t.” You’ll be surprised to see the little moments you’ve already forgotten by the time your film is delivered, and reliving your vows or your first dance will bring it all back. “These are the memories that will last a lifetime, so preserve them!” says Treynet.

The guest list is MAJOR inspiration for free advice. “I hear so many people tell brides to invite whoever they want, because ‘they probably won’t come anyway,’” Nichols reveals. “But playing a guessing game with your guest list and not being strategic can really cause big budgetary issues when the responses begin to arrive.” Instead, be sure that you account for each guest as you’re inviting them. “And make sure your budget would allow for every single person’s attendance!”

While no bride wants to think about the risk of rain, ignoring the rain plan is bad advice all around. “We all want perfect weather, especially for outdoor events, but denying the fact that inclement weather is a real possibility is simply irresponsible,” says Martucci. “Instead, create a Plan B. The more you go over it and iron out the details, the more comfortable and confident you’ll feel should you need to implement it.” A good wedding planner will talk about Plan B constantly, making sure he or she knows exactly how things will play out in the event of bad weather. “And we want you on board!” Martucci continues. “We don’t want to be running into your bridal suite in a panic, not knowing how you’ll react if it’s snowing. We can’t control the weather, and it’s the one thing we cannot change. So have a contingency plan and be prepared to roll with it!”

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The definition of marriage in America has dramatically evolved in recent years, particularly in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage is a nationwide right.

To keep up with the times, the magazine Modern Luxury Brides is changing its name to Modern Luxury Weddings in an effort to be more inclusive of same-sex marriages.

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“We have always been committed to equality, so we chose to rebrand our wedding‐ focused magazine to appeal to the newly engaged couples of today’s society,” said Michael Dickey, chief executive of Modern Luxury Media. “Today, weddings and marriages aren’t just for brides. They’re for anyone who wants to celebrate love.”

The semiannual magazine publishes nine regionally-focused editions, which are heavily made up of advertisements for local wedding industry businesses, like florists, bakers, venues and retailers. The name change will go into effect for all editions with the December issue.

Mr. Dickey said the decision to rebrand came as the company prepared to expand its wedding-themed title into Washington, D.C., and Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier this year.

“Our advertisers and readers were talking about this. They said, ‘Brides is great, but it could be more inclusive and be more reflective of what is happening in today’s society,’ and we agreed 100%,” he said.

In all, privately-held Modern Luxury Media publishes 67 magazines in 20 markets, like Modern Luxury Interiors, Manhattan, the Atlantan and Men’s Book. Mr. Dickey said the weddings titles—which have been produced for about decade in places like Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and Miami—bring in about 10% of the company’s overall revenue.

While the magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription, it is mostly distributed free via direct mail to registered couples and targeted placement in wedding-related locations.

One of the series’ bigger titles, Modern Luxury Brides California, reported circulation of 103,000 copies in December 2015, according to the Alliance for Audited Media. Other regional titles average circulation of about 50,000 copies per issue, the company said.

Wedding magazines is a hotly-contested space. Condé Nast’s bimonthly Brides reported an average circulation of 319,000 in June. Martha Stewart Weddings, a quarterly, reported that month an average circulation of 211,000.

Modern Luxury Media was acquired by the Atlanta-based Dickey Publishing Inc. in 2010. The Dickey family also co-founded Cumulus Media, the second largest radio broadcaster in the U.S., with 451 stations in 90 markets.

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He was a doctor. She was a dentist. And they loved each other, to the point of broaching marriage to their parents. But a romantic union between these two medical professionals fell apart over an economic indicator: the price of gold in Egypt.

Mohamed Abdel-Alim, 31, said his hopes of marrying his dentist bride-to-be earlier this year were dashed when her family wouldn’t budge on a customary gift of shiny gold jewelry known as a shabka.

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The Egyptian equivalent of a diamond engagement ring, the shabka symbolizes the beginning of the lifelong bond of marriage. But it has become prohibitively expensive in a country struggling with unemployment, stagnant salaries and soaring prices.

Mr. Abdel-Alim said his intended’s parents demanded a shabka worth about $7,885, roughly twice the price of a year ago for the same amount of gold, a result of the sharp depreciation of the Egyptian pound and a foreign currency shortage. “I could only afford half that amount,” he said. “They wouldn’t accept it, and it was such a disappointment.”

The families’ failure to come to terms ended the pair’s relationship, Mr. Abdel-Alim said, a fairly commonplace in Egypt’s complex marital marketplace. The bride’s family couldn’t be reached for comment.

Financial hardships are forcing Egyptians to look for ways to save money in realms once thought off-limits to scrimping, from marriage gifts to baby formula and life-preserving medicines. The country’s economic crisis has shaken public confidence in PresidentAbdel Fattah Al Sisi, who has staked his leadership on being in touch with the concerns of ordinary Egyptians.

Last week, dozens of desperate mothers staged a rare public protest, with their wailing infants in their arms, over shortages in baby formula. The protest prompted the government and military to reduce restrictions on importing the staple and ease the eligibility requirements for subsidized baby milk. Meanwhile, some medicines have doubled in price or disappeared from the market as the cost of basic foods has dramatically increased due to high inflation.

Behind the rising prices is a wobbly Egyptian currency whose value has been knocked lower by declines in tourism and foreign investment. Black-market dealers have done a brisk business buying dollars at a nearly 40% premium over the official rate of 8.88 Egyptian pounds per dollar, which the central bank has held steady since devaluing the currency in March. Annual inflation is currently 14%.

Moreover, Egypt isn’t generating the jobs to keep pace with the rising cost of living. Unemployment has hovered around 13% for several years, and that figure is roughly double for young people between 15 and 29 years old, who make up about a quarter of Egypt’s population of 90 million.

The country’s economic pain is set to intensify. In exchange for $12 billion in loans to the Egyptian government, the International Monetary Fund has called for Egypt to overhaul its subsidy and tax policies. Egyptian officials acknowledge that introducing those changes without overwhelming citizens with higher expenses and painful shortages is a tall task likely to face stiff political resistance.

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It all started with an invitation to my sister’s wedding. Weddings can be a source of stress for many people, but I had an extra reason to worry: I hadn’t left my house in a year. I’m not sure exactly what triggered it, but a year prior I’d started having debilitating anxiety attacks, complete with dizziness, hot flashes, and a tightness in my chest that made it feel like I couldn’t breathe. As my panic increased, my mobility decreased. I became terrified that if I left, something horrible would happen to me. So I just stayed inside—it was easier than dealing with my fear. And at just 31 years old, I had become a prisoner in my own home.

But as I thought about my sister and how much I loved her, I knew I couldn’t miss her wedding. Something was going to have to change. I realized that who I was now—a person who was mentally and physically unhealthy and who was too afraid to enjoy life—was not who I wanted to be.

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I made it to the wedding, which was great, but when I saw the pictures from that happy day I realized that my journey back to health was just beginning. That girl in the picture looked just as sick and miserable as I felt. The next day, I made an appointment to see my doctor. There she gave me the hard-to-swallow news: I was obese, pre-diabetic, and well on my way to full diabetes. But what’s more is that she also diagnosed me with an anxiety disorder. (If you’re experiencing everyday anxiety, try these tips for calming down.)

Getting this news didn’t change anything right away. Sure, I had more knowledge, but I was still the anxious, depressed person I was when I walked into his office. How was I going to escape this prison I’d built for myself when I could barely leave my house? All I can say is it started with sheer will. I was determined not to stay the way I was and whatever it took, I was going to do it.

The first step was to change my thinking. I vowed to lose weight. Not for vanity, but for health reasons. I knew that if I felt good inside it would reflect on the outside. As I looked at my diet, I realized that I was using emotional eating to deal with my feelings of low self-confidence, stress, and fear of what others would think of me—that led to me isolating myself even more. So I began to pay more attention to what I was eating and why, asking myself if I was truly hungry and making an effort to enjoy and savor my food. (It’s true—mindful eating can actually make food taste better.)

The next step was to take another step. Literally, as in move out my front door. I started slow, just taking walks around my neighborhood. Once I was able to walk for 30 minutes at a time, five days a week, I amped it up to a power walk/slow jog. As my fitness grew, so did my confidence. Within six months I was running, doing high-intensity interval training, and lifting weights.

All these healthy changes snowballed into a healthy lifestyle where I was tracking what I ate in a food journal, making smarter meal choices, and trying out all kinds of new workouts that I found on YouTube. (My favorites are Fitness Blender, Tone It Up, Popsugar Fitness, and Millionaire Hoy.) I even became a competitive half-marathoner, a feat I never would have imagined I could do just a year earlier. (The benefits of exercise aren’t just physical. Did you know sweating can get you these mental health benefits too?)

As of today, I have lost over 64 pounds and have been out of the diabetic danger zone for three years. I also no longer struggle with anxiety or depression. Where I was once too scared to even leave my house, now I enjoy regularly hanging out with friends and family, dancing, cooking, and writing. But the best part? I can say I honestly I love myself on a mind, body, and soul level.

Now I work as a personal trainer and have developed my own program, YogiPiology, to help other women overcome their fears and create a life they love. Because fitness didn’t just save my life, it gave me a whole new one—and I couldn’t be happier.

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‘”It’s a film about two families that are forced to spend time together,” ‘Country Wedding’ director Valdís Óskarsdóttir explained to the Grapevine in 2008. “They can stand each other for one hour but they get lost and instead of one hour, they are together for five hours. Then things start to pop up.”

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At a wedding, people of all ages, from all walks of life, united by nothing but arbitrary yet profound ties of blood, gather together to work their emotions up to a fever pitch. In one of cinema’s purest examples of the wedding-film genre, ‘Country Wedding’ invites more than a dozen of Iceland’s best-known contemporary actors to one place, and loads them up with repressed sexual yearnings, violent urges, buried secrets, feuds, affairs, and general mayhem.

It’s a bad sign when the groom shows up the morning of his nuptials with his head shaved; matters are not improved by unreliable friends, unwanted relatives, and unexpected detours. The wedding party is heading out of town in two busses—one for his family, one for hers, and both contributing to the generally carnivalesque atmosphere—but the groom’s deep and abiding fear of tunnels forces them to take the long way around Hvalfjörður. The caravan is looking for “a white church with a red roof” but the priest who’s set to preside is too distracted by a can of lager and a football game to give good directions.

‘Country Wedding’ is perhaps the most successful film by the Vesturport theatre company. Founded in 2001 by a collective including future Hollywood character actors Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, and Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Vesturport became known for conceptually ambitious productions, touring internationally with adaptations of Büchner’s ‘Woyzeck’ and Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ featuring music by Nick Caveand Warren Ellis. The company’s experimental, egalitarian approach extends to their films, ensemble works with deep casts and unpredictable moods, beginning with Ragnar Bragason’s black-and-white companion films ‘Children’ (2006) and ‘Parents’ (2007), featuring loosely connected stories of urban life, sometimes gritty and sometimes darkly comic.

‘Country Wedding’ and ‘King’s Road’ (2010), also directed by Valdís Óskarsdóttir, about the flamboyantly lost souls populating a trailer park, feel more like plays, with constrained settings and actors bouncing off each other like charged particles. They’re similar to the films of the English director Mike Leigh, which he develops through one-on-one character-based improv with his cast, so that each character comes across as at once a potential larger-than-life gravitational center, and a piece of the overall narrative plan. Likewise, Valdís worked on the story of ‘Country Wedding’ in individual rehearsals with each actor, independently developing the characters’ backstories, personalities, and the buried secrets—one for everyone—which would inevitably “start to pop up” once the cast was unleashed on each other.

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Summer brings wedding season in the Holy Land. And with it, a mathematical conundrum for many Israeli wedding guests: How much money to gift the bride and groom?

Wedding gift registries are uncommon in Israel Jewish tradition, as couples prefer cash gifts to kitchen gadgets. Guests deposit envelopes of cash into a large box at the entry of the reception hall, and the couple will typically use the money to pay for the party, sometimes even settling up with the venue at the end of the night.

Simple as it sounds, the cash-as-wedding-gift tradition presents a dilemma to guests who aren’t sure how to convey their well-wishes with shekels. Give too much and the average cash-strapped Israeli won’t make rent for the month, give too little and he or she will risk being remembered as “bunker,” Hebrew slang for a stingy person, as in “tight as a bunker.”

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Enter the Israeli wedding gift calculator. In the past few years, Israeli web sites have cropped up to help guests determine the appropriate amount to give based on a set of questions about the event.

The site Hogegim asks a guest to log in the month of the wedding, the day of the week, his or her connection with the bride or groom (close friend, best friend, “fair” friend, brother, sister, cousin, etcetera), the type of venue (synagogue, garden, private house, among others) and the amount of money the guest makes (a guest can mark their salary or simply say they work in high tech — known as a more lucrative Israeli field.) Then it calculates the appropriate amount.

For instance, a “close cousin” of the bride or groom who works full time and is attending a synagogue wedding on a Thursday in August, would be safe to bring 335.30 shekels, or exactly $89.

The site Mitnatchim provides an almost identical service.

The Hogegim site notes that getting the cash gift right is important “since this decision will contribute to your well-being and joy,” and presumably that of the bride and groom.

But no pressure. Just put the shekels in the envelope.

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Your wedding is the most special day of your life, but it can also be the most expensive – and costs are rising. In fact, a survey from wedding insurance specialist WeddingPlan has found that the average cost of a wedding in the UK has risen by nearly 15% in the last six years, and now stands at a whopping £24,000.

Salary sacrifice

This average cost has not only risen from the £21,000 figure of 2010, but it isn’t far below the average UK salary of £27,600, easily making it one of the biggest outlays of a person’s life.

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Considering how much time people spend planning the big day and how much of a celebration people are hoping for, it’s no wonder the cost quickly ramps up. The survey found that 47% of couples spend an average of one to two years planning their wedding, with 94% conducting online research to give them a helping hand. And, given that 44% want a full-on celebration complete with daytime and evening festivities, it’s easy to see how prices can escalate.

It’s even easier when you consider how many people the happy couple will need to feed and entertain – couples typically invite between 50 and 100 guests, with food and drink taking up 27% of the budget. However, it’s the cost of the venue itself that can eat up the largest part of the budget – an average of 63% – while the honeymoon accounts for 6% overall.

Protect your investment

There’s also been a clear shift in tradition, with the age-old custom of the bride’s family paying for the wedding thought to be out of date. This means that the happy couple themselves will typically have to stump up the cash – with a suitable savings accountbeing vital – but given the cost involved, doesn’t it make sense to protect your investment?

Insurance is an essential component for many other parts of life, and it’s also growing in popularity for weddings, with 88% of survey respondents saying that they considered insurance to be an important part of their wedding. And with good reason – it’s always wise to be prepared, particularly with such huge amounts of money at stake, and with so many aspects of the day out of your control, it makes senses to have everything covered.

Of course, it’s never nice to think of anything ruining your big day, but what if the venue had to cancel, the band was a no-show or extreme weather flooded the church? These things may be disastrous, but with the right kind of insurance, at least you wouldn’t be out of pocket. Be on the lookout for a suitable policy and have peace of mind that your day will run as smoothly as possible.

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