One of the focal points of any wedding reception is the wedding cake.

Before you decide on which vendor you are going to use, there are a number of questions that a bride to be should have answered in order to make an informed decision regarding which cake designer will get her business.

Here is a short list of questions to ask any vendor before making your decision.

• Does the vendor have a portfolio of wedding cakes which can be viewed, either online or can a copy be sent in the post?
• Are there a number of set designs with set prices or is each cake bespoke?
• Does the vendor offer tasting appointments so that you can ‘try before you buy’?
• Is it possible to hire extra items such as stands, tiers, cutters and cake toppers? If they have to be purchased make sure that the cost of each item is clarified.
• Remember, the fresher your wedding cake is, the better it is likely to taste, so be sure to ask how far in advance will the cake be made before the day of the wedding.
• If additional cakes are required find out if these will be charged per slice, and if they will be delivered pre-wrapped and at what cost.
• Will your wedding cake be delivered (and at what if any additional cost?) or will you have to collect it, and if so, when? Bear in mind if you cannot collect or have it delivered on your wedding day, you will need somewhere to store it.

The worldwide credit crunch doesn’t yet appear to have deterred couples in the UK from tying the knot, but as global predictions for the 2009 economy hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, many couples are sure to be asking themselves if it makes financial sense to marry at the moment.

But even in a struggling economy it is possible to have a wedding without sending your finances into a cold sweat, and the good news is that a stylish wedding needn’t necessarily be a hideously expensive one.

A simple tip is to make sure that the bride and groom look good, making sure that the focus of the day is on them, and keep the remainder of the wedding clean and simple. Remember the old adage less is more? Well now is a great time to apply that proverb and an uncomplicated and simple ceremony will likely be remembered as elegant.

Planning your wedding during a recession might even save you money! As others prepare to extend their engagements and postpone their nuptials, it is likely that wedding vendors will be more open to negotiations in order to secure your business, and there will be deals to be had. Venues are likely to be more flexible where dates are concerned, and again some will even reduce their prices in order to fill their calendars.

2008 was a mammoth year for Civil weddings with the highest ever number of couples choosing to take their vows in venues other than the church.

The numbers civil weddings taking place In Scotland in particular has risen dramatically since the Scottish Marriage Act 2002 was introduced. The act enabled registrars throughout Scotland to conduct marriages outside registry offices and allowed couples a wider choice of venues for their nuptials including hotels, golf courses, and castles.

The first Scottish Civil wedding outside of a registry office took place at Airth Castle in Firth in September 2002, and since then the numbers have continued to climb.

The introduction of civil partnerships has also contributed to numbers.

2009 look set to follow suit, with 233 bookings for civil wedding bookings taken so far, and large numbers of bookings and enquiries for ceremonies 2010 have been reported.

One bride and groom travelled many thousands of miles in order to say their vows at Glenskirlie Castle in Banrock this year.

James Tarrier and his new wife Panchan live in Thailand where they met when James was visiting Phuket.

James who is originally from Larbert in the Forth Valley said:-

”We looked around and chose to have the day in the Glenskirlie Castle.

From start to finish the day was great; the staff were just fantastic and the professional yet personal approach from our registrar on the day was a complete success.

It was a mega busy few months but when the day came it all went fantastically well.

I have a pretty big and close family and everyone made a fantastic effort with Panchan to make her feel like one of the family. It is pretty great to feel you have that support around you.

Nicola, the registrar did an amazing job co-ordinating everyone and making sure all went to plan, all the while carrying out a beautiful ceremony which we will remember forever.

The Glenskirlie is a fantastic location and not having to change venues from ceremony to reception is a great idea with our weather the way it is. It was a perfect day and Panchan looked absolutely stunning.”

If you are planning to get married one of the things that you are required to do before the ceremony can take place is to secure the correct documentation.

For example after you have given your notice of marriage you will be required to produce proof of identification for both you and your fiancé.

A passport, birth certificate or driving licence are considered ideal identity proofs, although certain other documents are acceptable, your local registry office should be able to confirm which other forms of ID they will accept. (This includes supporting documentation if either party has legally changed their name by deed poll).

If either party has been married previously whether in the UK or in any other country, documentation to confirm how the marriage ended must also be produced.

If bride or groom has been divorced in England or Wales, the original and final divorce documentation or the Decree Absolute is required, and if either party has been divorced in another country, final divorce documentation must be produced, including an English translation of the papers if necessary.

In the event that either of the couple to he married has been widowed, the registrar will need to see an original copy of a death certificate.

Lastly, if you or your intended are under the age of 18, the written consent of either your parents or a legal guardian is necessary.

A Staffordshire town hall has come under fire from local residents who claim that wedding receptions at Burton Town Hall are accountable for severe traffic nuisances and unlawful parking.

The Town Hall is a frequent venue for wedding party’s, including spectacular Asian weddings which can draw anything up to 1,000 guests per event.

Staffordshire borough councillor Bill Ganley claims that the events are creating a public nuisance and confirmed his belief that the police and council are doing little to alleviate the problems.

He said: -

“You get between 500 and 1,000 people rolling through for these events during the course of the day. These include lads driving top-end cars which, understandably they like to parade around in.

It is causing an issue with traffic problems and vehicles parking on the pavement. A lot of businesses and residents are worried and concerned about this.”

I would like to see the police liaise with organisers to try and address these issues, and if that doesn’t work I’d like to see them do their job and make sure people are driving safely and not letting off fireworks in the street, which is illegal.

If the council know the dates of these weddings - and they do - they should have traffic enforcement officers out there.”

The local council are said to be currently investigating ways to address the issues raised by Councillor Ganely.

When 30 year old bride Lucy Bannister married her beau earlier this month she determined that she would reduce the carbon footprint left by her nuptials.

Lucy’s wedding gown was made by recycling a dress from the 1950’s and the wedding rings were fashioned from melted down gold from jewellery donated from various members of her family.

Many of the wedding party arrived at the wedding using local transport at Lucy’s request and carried home produced lanterns made using jam jars and tea lights to light up the reception.

All in all, environmentally conscious Lucy traded her traditional white wedding for an eco-friendly green wedding which cost a fraction of the price of a standard wedding at just £4,000.

After the wedding the newlyweds recycled everything from their wedding at a vintage wedding fair.

She said: -

“We decided we didn’t want to be wasteful.

I used my mum’s wedding ring and my first ever earrings from when I had my ears pierced along with lots of other bits of jewellery collected from our family, so the rings were from recycled gold and meant even more than buying them from a shop,”

The average wedding costs the earth in every sense. There is a huge amount of waste thanks to all the stuff that gets bought then thrown away and from the guests travelling by car to the event.”

Lucy and her new husband Stuart decided against issuing wasteful paper invitations and constructed a website which featured and online initiation and sent a link to the website to all of their guests by email.

Their wedding party consisted of guests from various parts of the country so the couple chose to hold their wedding reception in the Peak District in a location that could be reached very easily by public transport.

Lucy commented:-

“We encouraged people to come by train and bus or to car- share and to bring their tents.

We all camped, which was good because it cut the cost for everyone. When you go to a wedding these days it costs a fortune paying for accommodation. We also said there was no need to buy a new outfit for the event.”

The life of bride Sophie Clarke was suddenly in grave danger during the journey to her wedding when the horse pulling the carriage that she was in went completely out of control after becoming panicked by traffic.

29 year old Sophie’s life was saved when her Father pushed her from the carriage seconds before the terrified horse bolted in traffic in the bride’s hometown of Blackminster, Evesham.

Sophie spent what should have been the happiest day of her life in a local hospital and her Mother who had said that her daughter was lucky to be alive, confirmed that she became poorly again the day after and was readmitted to hospital.

The devastated bride had been on her way to wed her beau Karl Woods, aged 36 at their local church when the incident took place.

Instead of going to her wedding, poor Sophie spent the day in hospital in a neck collar whilst receiving treatment for a minor head injury.

Fortunately her Father was unhurt in the accident and Sophie looks to be on the mend. The wedding has been rescheduled for the New Year.

Glamour model and recent contestant on popular ITV show I’m a celebrity…get me out of here, Nicola McLean has spoken publicly about her forthcoming nuptials to 27 year old Peterborough United footballer, Tom Williams.

26 year old Nicola revealed that she has no intentions of holding what she described as a ‘typical footballer’s affair’.

Invites to her wedding in the summer of 2009 will be restricted to family and close friends of the couple, although a couple of select jungle buddies won’t be ruled out.

She said:-

“I’m going to invite some of my friends from the camp and I’d like everyone to come, apart from Timmy Mallett and David Van Day.

Timmy is very un-genuine. He just performs. He’s nice to my face and rude when I go for a trial. I’ve got a fake laugh for every situation but his takes it beyond a level. No-one was born with a laugh like that - it’s ridiculous.

If I invited Timmy to the wedding, I don’t think Tom would marry me, as they pronounced us man and wife, he’d just do that stupid laugh.

We’ve got the wedding all planed and I can’t wait for it. All I could think about was marrying my future husband. My dress is amazing.”

Nicola also revealed her romantic side, saying that if necessary she would have married her beau on the corner of the street, since she believed that the exchanging of vows was considerably more important then the location of the ceremony.

A dedicated cake maker from Scotland recently embarked on round trip totalling more than 2,000 miles in order to provide a wedding cake for a rich Scottish business man.

Paul Bradford of Truly Scrumptious based in Linlithgow, Lothian’s hopped on a plane and jetted off to the town of Monte Carlo in Monaco to make a cake for the business man who claimed that he was unable to find the right fruit cake for his 12 tiered wedding cake.

The un-named Scottish tycoon footed the bill, inclusive of travel costs, which totalled thousands of pounds to ensure that he had the perfect cake for his big day.

When he arrived in Monaco, Paul worked tirelessly in the kitchens of globally renowned hotel, Hotel de Paris, and spent more than 3 days creating the wedding cake from ingredients which were flown in from his native Scotland.

He commented: -

“France may be the best known gastronomic country in the world but the couple could not get the fruit cake they wanted there so we were called in.

It was by far the most expensive cake we’ve ever made.”

Truly Scrumptious is still providing in excess of 90 cakes for weddings and special occasion despite the current credit crunch.

A recent report has revealed that destination weddings or ‘Bikini’ weddings as they are sometimes known are on the increase.

It would appear that the conventional wedding is being swapped for a beach ceremony in the sun, with one in six weddings now taking place overseas.

An increasing number of couples are deciding against an extravagant white wedding in a church or a costly ceremony in a hotel, and are opting to exchange their vows in the sun, at a third of the cost of the average British wedding.

Since 2003, the market for destination weddings has grown by an astonishing 33%, and additional research indicated that this figure is set to grow further as the credit crunch across the UK deepens and a full blown recession grips the country.

A travel analyst for the market research company that published the report said:-

“Getting married abroad has become an increasingly popular choice for couples looking to tie the knot.

As the credit crunch bites and recession looms, this could be the perfect cost-saving measure allowing couples to have the wedding day they have always dreamed of.

The market is benefiting from a growing willingness amongst couples to break with social convention and experiment with new wedding styles. From beach ceremonies in the Caribbean to ’snow weddings’ in Lapland, this special occasion has certainly become more niche and personalised.”

Official findings have confirmed that the number of marriages taking place in the UK is at its lowest for more than 100 years as growing numbers of couples settle for living together rather than tying the knot, and the numbers of couples who are actually married is at its lowest ever, at less than 50% of the UK’s adult population.

Those couples who are getting married are choosing to wed in sunnier climes, lured by lower costs and elevated temperatures. The report also revealed that the average cost of a destination wedding came in at £6,500 in contrast to the £20,000 average that it costs for a wedding in the UK.