I'm not someone that you would call superstitious. When it came to the "Something Old, Something New" rhyme, I wanted to have all my items checked off on the big day. Something old, my great-grandfather's class ring, (sized to fit my pinky), Something New - my tiara. But when it came to Something blue... I got stumped! I detest garter belts, and that is the most traditional way to add a little something in the hue. I ended up sewing a blue bow on to a hankie that I carried with me. As a bonus, you can turn the hankie into a christening bonnet for your first born. I found it at AC Moore. To get your creative juices flowing - here are just a few more ideas:
-Blue toenail polish
-Blue shoes
-Blue panties
-A blue hair pin - ala "Bride Wars" (search for one on ebay, there are some gorgeous ones)
-A sapphire ring or earrings
-A blue ribbon around your flowers
-I also heard of one bride who had a creative mother sew "Happily Ever After" in blue on her petticoat.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
A little sparkle
Nothing exemplifies the phrase "Queen for a Day" quite like your wedding day. You are in the nicest dress, carrying the most flowers, with all the attention on you. So, how about a crown fit for royalty?
Adding a little glitz to your attire is a really fun way to turn up the volume on your look, and a tiara is an easy way to do this. When you are trying on gowns, have fun trying on the pieces your salon offers to see what look will suit THE dress. There are so many different options, from yellow or white metal, rhinestones, pearls, combs, flowers, headbands and crowns. Experiment with different looks with each dress that you try. If you find the one that you love, by all means, buy it! A popular national chain sells many different headpiece options from twenty to upwards of two hundred dollars. When I was trying on options at a salon in North Carolina, the one I loved was broken and still over one hundred dollars.
If you want to save a little dough, once again try ebay. This is where I found the headband I wore. A quick search for "tiara" today yielded over $13,000 hits, with prices from 99 cents to $29,000. Mine ran about twenty five dollars and I was thrilled with it. Also try running searches for "bridal", "hair comb" and "hair pin". Or, how about fulfilling the "something borrowed" quota? If you have a girlfriend who has gotten married and you admired her headpiece, why not ask to borrow it? I feel sure she would be flattered and thrilled.
Finally, if you are at all crafty, a trip to the local craft store can yield something gorgeous and personal. One gal I know made something she loved so much, she blogged about it. Check out her creation along with other wedding crafts on her blog. I wish I had half her talent!
Adding a little glitz to your attire is a really fun way to turn up the volume on your look, and a tiara is an easy way to do this. When you are trying on gowns, have fun trying on the pieces your salon offers to see what look will suit THE dress. There are so many different options, from yellow or white metal, rhinestones, pearls, combs, flowers, headbands and crowns. Experiment with different looks with each dress that you try. If you find the one that you love, by all means, buy it! A popular national chain sells many different headpiece options from twenty to upwards of two hundred dollars. When I was trying on options at a salon in North Carolina, the one I loved was broken and still over one hundred dollars.
If you want to save a little dough, once again try ebay. This is where I found the headband I wore. A quick search for "tiara" today yielded over $13,000 hits, with prices from 99 cents to $29,000. Mine ran about twenty five dollars and I was thrilled with it. Also try running searches for "bridal", "hair comb" and "hair pin". Or, how about fulfilling the "something borrowed" quota? If you have a girlfriend who has gotten married and you admired her headpiece, why not ask to borrow it? I feel sure she would be flattered and thrilled.
Finally, if you are at all crafty, a trip to the local craft store can yield something gorgeous and personal. One gal I know made something she loved so much, she blogged about it. Check out her creation along with other wedding crafts on her blog. I wish I had half her talent!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Thoughts on including children
Kids are just the cutest. To be sure, they illicit many "ooh"s and "ahh"s when they are all dressed up and playing a part in your wedding. How sweet it its to see a little girl scattering flower petals and a little boy carefully guarding the rings. Children wonderfully fill the traditional role of the flower girl or ring bearer in the ceremony, but there are other ways to include a special little someone in your day.
At the time we were planning our wedding, Greg had a nephew and three nieces, and I also had a niece. The girls ranged in age from just under three to seven, and the boy was nine. I love them all, but the thought of either having four flower girls or choosing just one was not acceptable to me. Also, I was afraid that so many little girls standing up with us would distract from the seriousness of the covenant we were making to each other and to God. To top it all off, our venue did not allow the scattering of flower petals, glitter, bubbles or anything. My initial instinct was to just not have them play a part at all, but the point was made that this may well be the only chance any of them would have to be a flower girl or junior groomsman.
My solution was to have the children escort our parents down the isle. The girls were dressed all alike, in complementary colors, and our nephew looked very distinguished in khakis and a jacket. The eldest on Greg's side escorted his mom, and my only niece escorted mine. The advantage was that the kids got to be involved and add a lot to the ceremony, but were seated with their mom or grandparent, reducing any chances of distraction from the ceremony.
Oh, and a word on flower girl dresses. Wow! They are expensive! At one popular retailer, they ranged from $99 to over $200! With one sister having to buy three....whoa! Also, a lot of those dresses looked like mini-bride dresses, which was not the asthetic I was going for. I wanted little girls to look like little girls. So, I started a web search for flower girl dresses, and came across Cutie Clothes. We found the most adoreable silk dresses for the girls, under $40 each. They fit great and blended very nicely with my color scheme. Cutie Clothes has sale and clearance sections, as well as a "flower girl" section that has the mini-bride looks if that is your thing.
Another great place to look is on EBay. There are new and used dresses, starting at $5, but many in the $25 and up range. Just search for "flower girl dresses". My recent search turned up over twenty five thousand hits. You can narrow this down quickly but also including the size you need in the search. For example "flower girl dress 3T." If you need just one, this is an inexpensive way to go. I'm sure the parents will thank you!
Where to start?
Congratulations! You are in a loving relationship, he proposed, and now you are going to plan your dream wedding. So, where do you start? Should you find the dress first or book the venue? Should you recreate your parent's wedding or exchange vows underwater? Planning the perfect wedding is, to understate it, overwhelming. If you do not have the cash to hire a professional wedding planner, my advice would be to buy a wedding planner and organizer. Trust me, it will be the best thirty dollars you have ever spent.
My friend Misti got married a year before I did, and her engagement gift from me was an organizer. Dana, my maid of honor, is marrying in the spring and she received one as well. Practically on the day Greg proposed, I went to my local Barnes and Noble and started browsing the wedding section for myself. There are many styles and types available. Some of them are simply a file organizer for all of your receipts and contacts, others will lead your step by step down a time line for stress-reduced planning. I settled on The Complete Wedding Planner & Organizer
. This book is three-ring bound with a hole punch included to add brochures and print outs that you gather along the way. There are suggested wordings for programs and invitations, money saving tips, and inspirational photos.I chose this one because it was broken down into logical sections, had a budget planning tool and timeline for planning, and lists of questions to ask various vendors. It later makes a very nice keepsake, or you can share it with another bride to help reduce her legwork.
I found the vendor interview sections most helpful. They are set up spreadsheet-style, with a list of questions down the left hand side, and headers across the top where you can list each vendor. The types of questions are "Are you insured" and "Do you have a corkage fee" As you interview, you can record responses in the column. After two or three interviews, you now have a side-by-side comparison of what value you get for each. This makes it really easy to make informed decisions. Interestingly, everyone I interviewed for the wedding remarked that this was the toughest interview they had ever had from a bride. The questions really dig deep into the business end of booking a vendor, and help you to ensure they are a right fit for your dream wedding. Being thorough on the front end can potentially save you heartache later.
Equally practical is the budget planning tool. The authors help you take your bottom line number, and divide it according to what percentage of your budget should be allocated to each item. For example, your attire should be ten percent of the overall budget, but the flowers should be about nine percent. If you start with a price range of what you want to spend FIRST, then divide it out according to this list, you will quickly know how much you can afford for photography and stationary. This is quite helpful when you are shopping around, reducing the chances of falling in love with invitations that are twenty dollars each when you can only afford two dollars per invite.
Happy planning is organized planning. Take my advice and invest in an organizer!
My friend Misti got married a year before I did, and her engagement gift from me was an organizer. Dana, my maid of honor, is marrying in the spring and she received one as well. Practically on the day Greg proposed, I went to my local Barnes and Noble and started browsing the wedding section for myself. There are many styles and types available. Some of them are simply a file organizer for all of your receipts and contacts, others will lead your step by step down a time line for stress-reduced planning. I settled on The Complete Wedding Planner & Organizer
. This book is three-ring bound with a hole punch included to add brochures and print outs that you gather along the way. There are suggested wordings for programs and invitations, money saving tips, and inspirational photos.I chose this one because it was broken down into logical sections, had a budget planning tool and timeline for planning, and lists of questions to ask various vendors. It later makes a very nice keepsake, or you can share it with another bride to help reduce her legwork.I found the vendor interview sections most helpful. They are set up spreadsheet-style, with a list of questions down the left hand side, and headers across the top where you can list each vendor. The types of questions are "Are you insured" and "Do you have a corkage fee" As you interview, you can record responses in the column. After two or three interviews, you now have a side-by-side comparison of what value you get for each. This makes it really easy to make informed decisions. Interestingly, everyone I interviewed for the wedding remarked that this was the toughest interview they had ever had from a bride. The questions really dig deep into the business end of booking a vendor, and help you to ensure they are a right fit for your dream wedding. Being thorough on the front end can potentially save you heartache later.
Equally practical is the budget planning tool. The authors help you take your bottom line number, and divide it according to what percentage of your budget should be allocated to each item. For example, your attire should be ten percent of the overall budget, but the flowers should be about nine percent. If you start with a price range of what you want to spend FIRST, then divide it out according to this list, you will quickly know how much you can afford for photography and stationary. This is quite helpful when you are shopping around, reducing the chances of falling in love with invitations that are twenty dollars each when you can only afford two dollars per invite.
Happy planning is organized planning. Take my advice and invest in an organizer!
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