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From the ever-helpful people at The Kitchen comes this list of five important considerations when planning your reception menu. Whether you're doing it yourself, or planning with a caterer, whether you're having a dessert buffet or a sit-down, three-course dinner, these factors will apply.

1. Seasonality. Foods that are in season are less expensive and easier to find. Seasonal dishes make sense to your guests, too: people prefer lighter fare in hot weather, comfort food in cold.

2. Variety. Even if you're having a dessert buffet, as are the writers at The Kitchen, you can still provide variety in taste, texture, temperature, and color. With a less focused menu comes opportunity for even greater variety.

It's probably no surprise that weddings represent a huge amount of annual spending in the United States, in fact around $70 billion! But online sales are a mere fraction of this number. Even those of us who often pump credit card numbers into forms to order shoes, books, and other goods hesitate when it comes to Web shopping for a wedding. Those cyberstores just don't seem as real as the brick and mortar ones for something this important.

Christy Terry, author of iDo: Planning Your Wedding With Nothing But Net highlights the advantages of wedding shopping online. The first is convenience. Online stores are open 24 hours a day, so you don't have to wait for Saturday or explain to your boss why you took yet another 3 hour lunch. The Web also allows you to browse infinitely more products for ideas and inspiration than could possibly be held in your average bridal shop. Finally, the Internet makes it easy to search, find, and compare prices without wasting gas by driving around town. Online shopping can also be safe, especially when you follow these tips.

Here's another great tip from Christa Terry, author of iDo: Planning Your Wedding With Nothing But Net. There's a lot of good stuff on the multitude of wedding websites out there, but if you're going to be a big-time browser, you're also going to end up having to register on some of those sites. Registering basically means you're giving your contact information to those companies so they can (and they will) market their products, their friend's products, and their friend's friend's products to you as you plan your wedding and well beyond. One of the great things about the Internet, is you can set up a separate e-mail account (for free) to collect all those "extra" solicitous e-mails for easy disposal. Take the time to visit Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail and set up an e-mail account to use when you're registering with wedding sites online. This will keep your regular personal or business e-mail account free of all those spammy ads.

This week we brought you Do It Yourself (DIY) weddings. One of the great things about doing it yourself is the money you can save. And who else knows what you want better than you do? Here are the things we found for you:

Standard unity candles, which are often little more than just a plain white pillar, usually sell for $30 or more. It's not like this is the most expensive part of your wedding, but it is a huge markup nonetheless, especially for an item that you can make yourself, and have a lot of fun doing so.

I first tried candle making at a workshop at a resort where I was vacationing. The class was fun and educational, cost me $20, and I walked away with five candles of my own design -- I'd selected the color, the shape, and the scent of each.

Candle making is not difficult or time consuming, but it is a complicated process. You can find instructions and supplies online, but if you've never tried it before, we recommend starting with a class. Call around to local craft stores and see if any of them offer candle classes, or know where one is available.

You woke up at 2 a.m. last night and decided that you absolutely must have those cute little favors you saw online a few weeks ago...only now you can't remember which of the thousands of favor-selling Websites had it. Finding that Website again is even more frustrating than finding a needle in a haystack -- at least the haystack has a finite amount of hay to search. That's why Christa Terry, author of iDo: Planning Your Wedding With Nothing But Net, says that if you're going to do any of your idea gathering and shopping on the Internet, you're going to need a way to manage the Web pages you save as favorites or bookmarks. Spend a few minutes now to set up a file system for yourself. Create a folder in Bookmarks (if you use Safari or Firefox) or Favorites (if you're on Internet Explorer) for all of your wedding stuff. Within that folder create sub-folders for each major part of your wedding: dresses, flowers, favors, and so on. Terry also recommends having a way to mark the things you really super like (versus things that you just kinda like), such as putting asterisks around the name of the bookmark (***gorgeous gowns***). With a basic filing system, you'll save yourself the hassle and frustration of lost Websites. You've got enough to do anyway.

This is a very simple, yet striking cake topper. Not your traditional bride and groom, nor even a monograph, these delectable crystals hang suspended and glittering over your cake, catching the eye as they catch the light.

These drops are sold in a set of nine. You can place them all in the top layer, as shown in the picture, or you could set them at varying levels on a tiered cake.

They would also be very simple to make. A light to moderate gauge of wire, a pair of wire cutters and needle-nose pliers, and a handful of crystals in your choice of colors and sizes, and a reasonably steady hand, and you could have a set of these made in less than half an hour. Stunning!

If you're interested in more information on the crystal cake toppers shown, contact SavvySneaks.com.

For the uber-casual wedding (or even for the bride whose feet have given way under the strain of those luscious silver stappy confections with the six-inch heels -- what were you THINKING?), we have here the ultimate in bridal comfort: sneakers.

Yes, bridal sneakers, also called runners. You can purchase your own pair any number of places. The pair in the picture, which are bridal tennis shoes, came from Savvy Sneaks, and at just under $45, they're not going to break the bank. Savvy Sneaks, as it happens, provides a good range of embellishment options, and will dress up a pair for you to your specifications. If you're a creative bride with an itch to make every aspect of the wedding yours, however, you might want to dress up your own pair.

Buy a comfy pair of white sneakers or tennis shoes, or if you already have a pair in good repair, just clean them up a bit! Replace the laces with pretty ribbon, and with your handy hot-melt glue gun -- because every DIY bride has a hot-melt glue gun -- dress them up a bit with teeny fabric flowers, crystals, beads, sequins, ribbons, whatever embellishment suits your style!

We confess to being just a little dubious about this. We can see the temptation, however. Receptions eat up (no pun intended) a huge percentage of your wedding costs. If you're working with a very tight budget, those costs may well be something you'd like to reduce. Is it realistic to self-cater?

It would depend a lot on the size and formality of the wedding, of course. Catering your own formal sit-down four-course banquet for 300 guests? We can't imagine how you'd manage that. A simple cold buffet for 30? That could be do-able.

The trick is liable to be in spreading out the work. Most people have family or friends who love to cook. Maybe you could organize a reception pot-luck for your casual wedding. In that case, you're likely not going to be doing much of the food preparation yourselves, but instead be organizing the people who will be bringing the food. What do you think? Could the couple organize their own catering, or is this one wedding task that really should be left to the professionals?

If you'd like to create one-of-a-kind glasses for the two of you -- either wine glasses, champagne flutes, or even just simple water goblet -- it can be a simple project to take on. Some glass paint and conditioner, a brush or two, and the glass. If you're not the best artist in the world, a few hearts or just some swirls can create a very attractive effect. Remember, for an elegant effect, less is very often more, particularly on glass, where you can see the design from both sides, and it can easily get looking too busy.

If you have a little more talent as a painter, you might want to get more adventurous. Check out the gallery for inspiration!

One of the perks of tying the knot -- other than all eyes focused adoringly on you and the free reign of the cake table -- is the ability to register for things you need (or just really want) and then having them magically appear on your doorstep or on your gift table at no charge to you. But if you aren't careful and you don't put a little thought into what you're asking for, you may get a coffee pot when you don't drink coffee or three full sets of red wine glasses because they were all too pretty to pass up (I may have some personal experience with that last one).

Here are a few tips to consider when you set out to put together the perfect wedding registry:

You read our post about the floating candle centerpieces, and you really want to make them for your reception. Thing is, you want something unusual, let's say, oh ... unicorn candles! Yes, unicorn candles to go with your fairy-tale theme. Sadly, you just can't find them anywhere.

There might be a solution. Instead of hunting in candle stores, try cooking supply stores. If you can find a cookie-cutter in the shape you're after, you're all set, because you can actually make candles from cookie cutters. You'll need the cutter, of course, some modelling clay, wicks and wax. If you're adding scent or color, you'll need those, too.

For complete how-to details, head over to All Free Crafts and follow the instructions. As long as you're appropriately careful when working with hot wax, you can easily create one-of-a-kind candles for those centerpieces!

Floating candles are an ideal way to create a peaceful, romantic atmosphere at your reception. They are one of the simplest centerpieces to make, too. Simply choose an attractive receptacle -- a wide, shallow clear glass bowl works very well. Fill it with an inch or three of water, place the candles on the surface, and light them. Done!

There are many easy ways to add a little flare to this basic idea. You might choose to put some pretty river pebbles or glass beads on the bottom of the bowl, or float flower petals or metallic (inflammable) confetti on the surface of the water. Perhaps you could even add a few drops of food coloring to the water to create a glowing basin of color.

Choose candles that match your color and/or theme. Wax floats, so any candle that is wider at the top than the bottom will work.

Christy Terry of Manolo for the Brides fame brings us iDo: Planning Your Wedding WIth Nothing But Net. In other words, using the Internet to your utmost advantage when putting your wedding together. This book proves to be a huge Web resource for everything wedding from money to monogram and fashion to photography, with tips on how to get the most from your surfing time and how to feel confident buying online. Written in Christy's witty style, it's anything but a boring read. As a bonus, each chapter ends with a great list of websites so you're not lost in cyberspace wondering if you'll ever resurface with anything that resembles a pretty flower display. The book is undoubtedly worth the admission price (around $16) for the list of websites alone, and you might pick up a laugh, a good idea, and some great advice as well. I will be bringing you a small smattering of these good ideas in a series of "computer-savvy bride posts," but get the whole book. It's a three-point "nothing but net" shot for every bride who intends to click and type her way through any of the wedding plans.

We love DIYBride around here! There are always such great ideas, things you see and know that's just what you were wanting for your wedding, or things you see which inspire other ideas, perfect for your day.

Which is why, when we found instructions for making these super-sweet, super-easy treat baskets, we just had to try them out! When she made hers, Khris used some funky scrapbook paper. Ours are made from pale blue card stock. Two different approaches yielding two quite different looks -- but both take only minutes to make! Check out Khris's post to see her basket and instructions, and then check out gallery below to see our very own step-by-step construction of this very simple favor.