The Sims 2 Wedding Planner

Weddings have always been one of my favourite aspects of The Sims. There's a lot to think about when planning a Sims 2 wedding, so I decided to write down the main points to remember for my own use. This list grew and grew and I thought that perhaps it might be useful to other people, so I decided to turn it into a tutorial: The Sims 2 Wedding Planner .

This tutorial is really just me gathering my thoughts, making sure I don't forget anything in the run up to a Sims wedding. It starts with a summary of the different wedding formats available in the game and goes on to summarise how the various expansion and stuff packs added further options. I then compiled a list of all the various aspects to consider when planning a wedding, trying to include everything I could think of that one might wish to include, listed in roughly chronological order. I don't imagine anyone would want to include everything on the list - it's tricky, but it is possible!

I had a lot of fun setting up screenshots with which to illustrate the tutorial and these screenshots showcase a fair amount of custom content. The creators of this custom content are listed at the end of the tutorial with links to their sites (although unfortunately not all of these sites are still available).

I hope you enjoy my first tutorial - and that it helps you with your wedding planning. Please let me know if you think I've missed anything!

Stuff Pack Poll Results

Here are the results of my latest poll which ran between 7 April and 19 June 2009. Thank you to the 274 people who participated. The question was "Which is your favourite stuff pack?"

As you can see, the final stuff pack, Mansion & Garden Stuff, was the runaway winner with 20% of the votes, way ahead of the runner up, H&M Fashion Stuff with 13% of the votes. The least popular packs were Happy Holiday Stuff, Family Fun Stuff and Celebration! Stuff with 4.36% of the votes each. The more recent packs fared better - which could mean that either these packs still had novelty value or perhaps Maxis just got better at making stuff packs as they went along!

Cosmopolitan

I don't actually play The Sims very often - most of the time I'm too busy creating and only play almost accidentally in the process of testing items and taking screenshots. However, with the release of The Sims 3 fast approaching, I decided I really should spend some time playing The Sims 2. I only very recently installed Apartment Life and am in the process of exploring Belladonna Cove. While I was settling my Sim into her new apartment, winter arrived. I hadn't realised how much time Sims actually spend wearing outerwear during the winter and I quickly became frustrated with the very limited selection of outerwear that comes with the game. I started off by adding tights to the Glamour Life Stuff fur coats (something which had irritated me for a long time!), so that gave me a few extra items. Next, I remembered a Nightlife coat dress mesh I'd always liked - although I personally don't like the Maxis textures it comes with. I played around with the colours and added a turtle neck sweater and stockings to create a stylish set of outerwear.

As explained above, this set was made for my own personal use, but I decided to share it in case other people shared my frustration at the paucity of outerwear supplied with the game.The original mesh was for adults only but I've converted it to work for young adults too - even students deserve nice winter clothing! Look for the coats in the outerwear category. Nightlife is required in order for the coats to show up in your game - and also Seasons, as these items are categorised as outerwear.

Hen Party

I wanted to throw a Hen Party for one of my Sims who was getting married but was unable to find any Hen Party themed items for download. So I decided to make my own. These were made for my own personal use but, as there doesn't seem to be much else for Hen Parties out there, I decided to upload them in case anyone else might find them useful. This is a set of nine cute T-shirts specifically designed for Hen Nights / Bachelorette Parties. 

As these are top half only, they are very versatile and can be worn with a wide range of skirts and trousers. They are mainly in pink, black and white, simple re-colours of the basic Maxis T-shirt with the addition of appropriate slogans and logos. The T-shirts are available for adult and young adult females, use a standard Maxis mesh and are base game compatible. I hope you and your Sims have some fun Hen Nights / Bachelorette Parties using these tops.

Caledonia Cottage

It's always good to try something new so I decided to have a go at creating a lot. I must say I was amazed how much there is to it and how much work is involved! I have gained a new found respect for lot builders. It took me days. I found cyclonesue's Prepare and submit clean lots tutorial invaluable and would heartily recommend this to anyone contemplating starting to create and submit lots.

My first lot started out as a simple traditional Scottish country cottage and got rather out of hand, metamorphosing into something of a luxury mansion - it's hard to resist installing a sauna, games room, music room, large romantic en suite bathroom, etc, etc when you find you have the space! So I now view this lot as a luxury holiday let more than an everyday residence. Wish I lived there!

The cottage costs §118,496. The garden is compact and easily maintained (the way I like them!). The ground floor comprises entrance porch, hallway, open plan kitchen/utility room/dining room, principal bathroom with sauna and separate shower room, and sitting room with adjacent games room accessible via an archway. Upstairs you will find a sizeable master bedroom with romantic en suite bathroom and balcony, a nursery/child's bedroom, a guest bedroom and a study/library/music room.

Most of the furnishings I've used are standard Maxis pieces from the base game and expansion packs. I've made heavy use of the gorgeous country furniture from Seasons. I have also used items from three stuff packs. The kitchen and bathrooms use items from the wonderful Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Pack. The nursery uses some of the fantastic pink castle items from Family Fun Stuff and there are a few candles and flowers from Celebration! Stuff included to add to the romantic ambience.

As far as custom content goes, I used Windkeeper's Coloratura wall which matches the tiling in the Maxis shower, my own Caledonia recolours of Shtinky's fabulous Arizona sofas, Spaik's grey Country Modular Stairs recolour of Chrissy6930's recolourable modular stairs and matching round corners (brilliant idea!).

N.B. The Country 2 Stairs Mesh required some editing of the script file when I installed this item, but I'm hoping the stairs may work when installed as part of a lot without any editing being required. Just in case they don't work, I have included a link to the stairs mesh to allow this to be downloaded and installed separately if required (be sure to read the installation instructions!). Your feedback regarding this issue would be very useful.

The lot has been fully tested and cleaned using Sims2Pack Clean Installer.

Some screenshots:

For the unfurnished version, I simply removed all items that would be removed in real life when moving house and left all fixtures and fittings in situ e.g. kitchen units, bathroom suites, etc.

As I said, this is my first lot, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

My Wedding Anniversary

I'm going away for a few days to a romantic log cabin overlooking the sea to celebrate my Second Wedding Anniversary, so I will be away from my computer and unable to respond to PMs, comments, etc - I'm not just ignoring you! I'm hoping the weather will be good - but on the west coast of Scotland you never know what it might do. Snow was forecast at one stage...

Cotton Club

My Second Wedding Anniversary is rapidly approaching and I wanted to make something appropriate to mark the occasion. Last year, for my First Wedding Anniversary (the paper anniversary), I made a set of decorative books, using famous love stories as the theme: Love Stories. The Second Wedding Anniversary is traditionally associated with giving gifts made of cotton. I've been having lots of fun using the various items from Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff (which is a surprisingly good stuff pack, by the way) in my game lately. I love the bathrobe meshes but was disappointed by the limited selection of colours. So for my Second Wedding Anniversary I decided to create some romantic His & Hers luxury cotton bathrobes using those meshes. There are two pairs of bathrobes: one pair in white and one pair in navy blue. The navy blue robes are worn over white underwear. I have not added this to the white robes. All four bathrobes come with very cute co-ordinating slippers.

Obviously you will need to have Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff installed for the bathrobes to show up in your game. The bathrobes are available for adults and young adults and I have categorised them under sleepwear (tricky - they're not really sleepwear or underwear, are they?). I hope you and your Sims enjoy using them in your game.

American Football Jerseys Part 8

I've been making American football jerseys since August 2006 and finally I've reached the end! Here is my eighth and final set of four jerseys, taking the total to 32 different teams. The final set comprises jerseys for the following teams: Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans. My previous 31 jerseys can be found here: American Football Jerseys Superset. I will be updating this shortly to include the new jerseys.



As usual, these jerseys can be worn by adult and young adult males and use a standard Maxis mesh so they are base game compatible. I hope you've enjoyed seeing the collection grow over the last 3 years. It's been a challenge but fun too! Have fun using the jerseys in your game. I'd love to see your screenshots, so please post any links here.

American Football Jerseys Part 7

I've been asked many times to make more American football jerseys so here is my seventh set of four jerseys, which comprises jerseys for the following teams: Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. My previous 27 jerseys can be found here: American Football Jerseys Superset. I will be updating this shortly to include the new jerseys.



As usual, these jerseys can be worn by adult and young adult males and use a standard Maxis mesh so they are base game compatible.

Work that body!

Recently, I was asked to make some eighties-style aerobics outfits. I've come up with four variations with a definite eighties vibe.



All the oufits comprise a leotard worn over leggings. Three outfits have an additional top worn over the leotard and two outfits have the classic eighties legwarmers.

All outfits are available for adults and young adults, use a standard Maxis mesh and are base game compatible.