Non-Floral Decorations for Wedding Receptions

As beautiful as fresh flowers are to decorate a wedding, they do not fit in with everybody’s taste or budget. There are many elegant and beautiful ways to dress up your reception venue without using cut flowers. These are some wonderful choices for non-floral decorations for wedding receptions.

Candles: The flickering glow of candlelight will add romance to any style of wedding. They are generally quite affordable when compared to flowers, which makes candles an excellent option for the bride on a budget. When decorating with candles, the key is to use them in large numbers to really make a statement. While a couple of votive candles in the middle of a table for ten will not look very impressive, a collection of ten candles in different heights will look marvelous. You can also use one large pillar candle and display it in an interesting holder like a lantern or a hurricane to give it style and size.

Balloons: This type of non-floral reception decoration is a bit more controversial. Some people feel that balloons are a fantastic way to add color and fill up a large reception space in a festive way. Others believe that balloons are either too casual or too juvenile for an event where the bride is wearing an elegant bridal gown with gorgeous wedding jewelry. As a rule of thumb, balloons work best for informal or whimsical receptions. They will look more sophisticated if you use chic color palettes such as gray and yellow or jewel tones, rather than primary colors that will call to mind a child’s birthday party.

Props: There is a big trend these days of using unique props for wedding decorations. They are fun because they are so different than the standard floral centerpiece. In addition, carefully selecting the props you use will allow you to express your personality and give your reception character. Ideas for cool props include stacks of vintage books, old birdcages, funky little sculptures, and large wicker balls. Use props that enhance the overall theme of your wedding, whether your style is a Roaring ’20s bridal gown with vintage wedding jewelry or an ultra modern loft wedding.

Fabric: Gorgeous fabrics can be used to truly transform your wedding venue without flowers. Drape the ceiling in pink organza to cast a flattering romantic glow over the entire space. Hide ugly columns with elegant curtains. Decorate the front of the bar with a swag of material in your wedding colors. Because fabric effects are done on a large dramatic scale, you will only need a minimum of additional decorations to complete your reception decor.

White Lies Every Bride Tells

What a Beautiful Handmade Ashtray! Every couple is bound to receive a wedding gift or two that they do not like, can’t use, or that is just plain bizarre. A lumpy handmade ceramic ashtray for the non-smoking fitness nuts would definitely fall into all three categories! Yet, you don’t want to hurt the feelings of the person who gave you the present, so it is best to fake it. Pretend, just for the moment, that it is the best gift you have ever received. Once you have sent a gracious thank you note, feel free to put the oddity in your next yard sale.

We’d Love for Your New Boyfriend (or Cousin or Kids) to Come. Somehow, there is always at least one wedding guest who does not seem to realize that only the people whose names are on the invitations are invited to the reception. Never mind that the caterer charges $150 a head or that it is supposed to be an intimate wedding for close family and friends only. Invariably, someone will call the bride three days before the wedding and ask to bring along their cousin who is in town for the weekend, the great new man they just started dating, or their kids “because they have never been to a wedding before”. While a gracious bride might indeed say yes for the sake of accommodating her invited guest, rest assured that she does not really want her wedding populated by random people. A polite guest will realize this and not put the bride on the spot.

I Don’t Mind That My Mother-in-Law Is Wearing White. Oh, what to do about the mother-in-law who decides to wear a white dress and pearl wedding jewelry to her son’s wedding? Well, if you are a wise bride, you will tell the little white lie above. Of course, only the bride should show up in a white gown and elegant pearl wedding jewelry, but making a fuss about what her mother-in-law is wearing will get the bride nowhere. The fact is that no one will think it is appropriate for the groom’s mom to wear white; the bride does not need to say a word, because all of the guests will see the mother of the groom’s fashion choice for the petty slight that it is. If the bride remains silent, she will definitely come out looking the better of the two.

We Are Having a Small Wedding. This is the classic line that brides use to get out of inviting extra people to their wedding. The beauty of it is that “small” can mean anything the bride and groom want it to mean. Small can mean twenty people in their living room or one hundred guests on a private yacht. All it really means is that the wedding is too small to invite that one particular individual. This is probably one of the most commonly used bridal white lies, and one of the most effective.

While no one advocates lying, there are certainly instances where telling a white lie is more polite and tactful than brutal honesty!

Survive the Heat During Your Summer Wedding!

Baby, it’s hot outside! From coast to coast, people are sweltering in the summer heat and looking for ways to stay cool. What about if you have a wedding that is going to take place during a heat wave? Check out these practical ideas for surviving the heat during your summer wedding.

Hopefully anyone getting married on a 100 degree day is doing so in air-conditioned comfort somewhere. But for those who booked an outdoor wedding ages ago and now have to deal with the crazy high heat and humidity, there are some steps you can take to make your wedding more pleasant. When temperatures soar, shade is essential. If you did not book a tent for your outdoor ceremony or reception, do so a.s.ap. For the reception tent, it is possible to have the rental company install ceiling fans to move the air around. An even more effective solution is to close the sides of the tent and use air conditioners. It might obscure the view, but at least your guests will not melt into puddles, leaving nothing behind but their nice outfits and wedding jewelry!

A very practical thing you can do for your guests is to provide fans they can use during the wedding ceremony. Have your wedding program printed on pretty paper fans to kill two birds with one stone. Or you can have the fans printed as wedding favors. Your guests will definitely be glad to have them! They will come in handy even for an indoor wedding, because when the mercury soars, even churches with air conditioning can get pretty stuffy.

It is important for everyone to stay well hydrated when the weather is brutally hot. Alcohol is dehydrating, so be sure to provide your guests with many non-alcoholic options. Provide chilled bottles of water before the ceremony so guests can sip while they wait for the bride to appear in her spectacular bridal gown and dazzling wedding jewelry. For a country wedding, it would be really cute to set up a lemonade stand. Display fresh squeezed lemonade served from large glass jugs with spigots so guests can grab a refreshing drink on their way into the ceremony or cocktail hour. A melon fruit salad would be a nice addition to the cocktail hour selection because it is also refreshing. Serve it in a watermelon carved to look like a basket for a charming detail.

Fall 2011 Wedding Dress Trends and Ideas

Romance is huge for Fall 2011 wedding gowns. Soft layers of tulle are a very popular trend across all price points and bridal gown designers. Many of the tulle wedding dresses are strapless, but it is not the straight across neckline which has dominated for the last several years. Gently shaped sweetheart strapless necklines are softer and more feminine than the straight ones, and they also tie in beautifully with the 1950′s flavor that many of the tulle gowns have. The tulle skirts are often artfully layered for a modern update to a classic style.

Natural waistlines will be another key trend for Fall 2011 weddings. To bring emphasis to the waist, designers often accent the area with a special belt or sash. Beaded or jeweled sashes are a very big design trend, particularly on bridal gowns which are otherwise fairly simple. These gowns look wonderful when accessorized with crystal wedding jewelry and a dainty tiara or jeweled headband. Colored belts are also a popular way to emphasize the natural waistline on a wedding dress. Pastels like blue and pink will be frequently seen, and black at the waist will also remain in style.

In the wake of this spring’s royal wedding, expect to see a lot of princess style wedding gowns for Fall 2011. These gowns are more sophisticated than poufy, perhaps inspired by the elegant and chic style of royal bride Princess Catherine. We aren’t talking puff sleeves and cathedral length trains as much as silk ballgowns with flat box pleats and fine lace trim. Delicate crystal beading or silver embroidery are other lovely accents for regal style bridal gowns. Small tiaras have made a roaring comeback since the royal wedding, especially when worn with gorgeous sparkling wedding jewelry like Princess Catherine’s now-famous drop earrings.

Speaking of the royal wedding, look for lace sleeves to be seen all over the place for Fall 2011 weddings. Brides who have tired of strapless gowns will be delighted to find many dresses available with sheer fitted lace sleeves. Even before the royal wedding, designers had started to feature these gowns in their collections, and now the number of options is sure to expand even more. How nice to finally have choices for fall wedding gowns that are not sleeveless! If you still like the look of strapless or are concerned about how long sleeves will limit your arm movement (they definitely do), consider adding a fitted lace shrug over your bridal gown to get the look for the ceremony. You can always remove it for dancing at the reception, giving you the best of both worlds.

Honeymoon Theme Wedding Centerpieces

The best wedding centerpieces are those which have a special meaning to the bride and groom. Whenever you can personalize your wedding decorations, they will add so much more to the feeling of the reception. A great source of inspiration can be your honeymoon destination. These are some creative ideas on how to design honeymoon theme wedding centerpieces.

Think about your honeymoon destination – for what is it famous? What is the vibe of the place? Is is a laid back beach, a glamorous city, or a rustic camp? These are great ideas to help you begin brainstorming centerpiece designs which are inspired by your honeymoon. Let’s say that you plan to go to Paris for your post-wedding trip. Instead of a regular vase of flowers, set a small replica of the Eiffel Tower in the center of each table. Weave a few fresh orchid blossoms around the tower for color. Then for your wedding jewelry gifts, give each of your bridesmaids silver Eiffel tower charm bracelets. What a unique and pleasing idea!

The flowers for which your honeymoon site is best known can be another starting point. Using the example of a French trip again, you could create centerpieces from lavender, which is a signature fragrance of France. Or if Hawaii is where you will be headed, use tropical blossoms like plumeria and hibiscus for your table arrangements. The vivid colors will brighten up any space and set a festive tone for your reception. Couples headed to England could adapt this concept by creating floral displays that look like they were cut from a rambling English country garden the morning of the wedding. When you say it with flowers, you can be as subtle or obvious as you like.

If a camping trip is on the agenda, how about a charming woodsy centerpiece? Use bark vessels to hold ferns, fiddleheads, and dark purple flowers like violets. Arrange moss in the bark vases around the flowers for a great look. If you wish, carve your initials in a heart into the bark for a romantic touch. You can take this idea even further with a coordinating chocolate wedding cake frosted to look like bark. Perch a charming pair of handcarved wooden squirrels on top in lieu of a bride and groom cake topper. Your guests will enjoy your original and clever centerpieces. And you will enjoy seeing them and anticipating your upcoming honeymoon trip!

Fun Summer Wedding Idea: Ice Cream Sundae Bar

Summer weddings are always a great time. People are in the mood to relax and enjoy a great party, and seeing a beautiful wedding just adds to the enjoyment. Make your party even more delightful for your guests by including a special surprise treat at the reception. A very fun summer wedding idea is to have an ice cream sundae bar.

An ice cream sundae bar is easy to set up, and such a great idea that you will wonder why more couples don’t do it. It can be a fairly simple DIY affair, or you can hire someone to staff the bar. If you really want to get fancy, bring in specialty gelato flavors as a wonderful treat. Trust me, it won’t just be your flower girls in their cute dresses and girls jewelry who swarm the ice cream sundae station; you will find plenty of adults going back for seconds!

Most ice cream sundaes are really about the toppings, so you don’t necessarily need to have a huge variety of ice cream flavors on hand. You would do just fine to have only chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and coffee ice cream at the station. The flavors could either be presented in large bowls with scoops, or you might find it neater to have pre-scooped dishes set out from which guests can choose. Just be sure that you keep the ice cream nice and cold so that it does not get soupy before everyone gets a chance to get their dessert.

The toppings are where you should really go overboard and wow your guests. Certainly you will need the basics like hot fudge, whipped cream, and cherries. From there, indulge your own sweet tooth fantasies! Chunks of Oreos and chocolate chip cookies make tasty toppings, as do chunks of brownies. There are many delicious candies which are just perfect for including in your sundae bar, such as M&Ms (maybe in your wedding colors), sprinkles (or “jimmies”, depending on where you live), Reeses Pieces, Heath bar crumbles, and peanut butter cup pieces. Your ice cream sundae bar will be a feast for the eyes as well as the palette – your guests will be sure to love it!

Bi-Lingual Marriage Ceremonies

Cross-cultural weddings have become increasingly common in our interconnected world. They can be a marvelous way to introduce the customs and culture of your partner’s heritage to your family, and vice versa. At the same time, it can be confusing to plan a service in two languages, especially when it comes to ensuring that all of your wedding guests can follow along. These are some tips on how to plan a beautiful bi-lingual marriage ceremony.

The first decision to make is in which language the marriage ceremony will be primarily conducted. A practical way to make the choice is based on what language the majority of the guests will understand. So if the bride speaks French, and the groom comes from a Spanish speaking family, think about which family will have more people attending the wedding. If it is pretty equal, opt for either the language that the bride and groom mostly use for conversation.

Wedding programs are a necessity for a bi-lingual ceremony. They should contain the order of the service in both languages to help guests follow along with what is happening. This will be especially useful for those guests who will not understand much of what is being said, as it will prevent them from getting bored or feeling excluded. Another option is to project a written translation onto the wall behind the altar for key parts of the service like the readings and vows.

One part of a wedding ceremony that everyone really wants to hear is when the bride and groom exchange their vows. The best solution may be to have the bride and groom recite their vows in both languages. The bi-lingual vows could be repeated in their entirety first in one language, and then in the other. If the vows are short and standard, it might work just as well to have each line repeated after the officiant in both languages. When done well, a bi-lingual marriage ceremony will be a very memorable experience that all of your guests will enjoy tremendously.

Eco-Friendly Wedding Transportation

If you are planning a “green” wedding, it would not really be appropriate to rent a stretch Hummer for your wedding transportation! There are, however, some easy ways to make your wedding more earth friendly while still getting where you need to go in style. These are some great ideas for eco-friendly wedding transportation.

It is customary in small European towns for the entire bridal party to walk from the church to the reception site. Why not adapt this traditional wedding processional for your own wedding? Onlookers will delight in seeing the bride pass by in her beautiful gown and wedding jewelry, and you will not be using any resources for the trip. Make it more fun by passing out noisemakers and streamers to the wedding party, to give the processional a real parade feeling. You can even have the walk led by a musician, if you really want to make an event of it.

A bicycle built for two is a romantic way for the newlyweds to get around. It is also a good option when you need to cover a distance that is a bit too far to walk with ease. Renting a tandem bicycle is pretty easy in most cities if you don’t happen to own one. Make it extra special by decorating the bike with garlands of flowers. Hang a “Just Married” sign on the basket in front or on the back of the tandem cycle. The bride will want to keep the bicycle trip in mind when she shops for her wedding gown; a soft A-line skirt will be easier to wear on a bike than either a fitted sheath or a bridal gown with a very full skirt and petticoats. Be sure to get lots of pictures of your romantic tandem bicycle ride.

All of these ideas are wonderful, but sometimes a car is the only practical form of transportation. If that is the case for your wedding, the best you can do is to use as eco-friendly a vehicle as possible. Rent a hybrid or even an electric car instead of a big stretch limo or Town Car. It will still look festive when decorated with a “Just Married” sign and streamers. If you really want to cut down on the carbon footprint caused by your wedding, rent hybrid or biodiesel vans to shuttle your guests to the wedding location. It will be more convenient for them, and will reduce the wasted fuel caused by many cars traveling with only a few occupants.

Planning an Inter-faith Wedding Ceremony

Open and frank discussion has to be the first step in planning an inter-faith wedding. The bride and groom need to be comfortable enough to talk about which aspects of their religion are the most important to them to include in the marriage service. If one person’s voice is not heard or their wishes respected, it is a sure breeding ground for resentment and conflict down the road. A spirit of compromise is also important, as the bride and groom will both have to let go of some of their own customs to make room for the other person’s religious traditions.

An inter-faith wedding can be used as a great opportunity to learn more about your future mate, their heritage, and their customs. A Presbyterian marrying a Jewish spouse will enjoy the breaking of the glass at the end of the ceremony more if the reasons behind the custom are understood. The Methodist marrying the Greek Orthodox bride should take the time to get educated on the importance of the stefana (wedding jewelry crowns) and the role of the Koumbaros (the male sponsor, sort of like a best man). Once you begin to learn about the symbolism of your future mate’s religious customs, you will likely discover that they are very beautiful and you will be glad to fold them into your own traditions.

Of course, every wedding ceremony requires an officiant. The ideal for an inter-faith wedding is to have a clergyman from each of the religious denominations. Each religion has its own rules about this, so consult with your religious leaders. There will also be situations in which the bride or groom’s minister or other clergyman is not willing to preside over a mixed-faith service. Other restrictions may also crop up; for instance, a Catholic marriage ceremony cannot be held outdoors. Sometimes couples have to look beyond their neighborhood house of worship to find an officiant who is willing to participate in an inter-faith ceremony and share the role of officiant. This is where a spirit of compromise will be very beneficial.

Parental objections can be a major stumbling block when planning an inter-faith ceremony. It may be that they object to their child being wed outside of their church or synagogue, while in other cases, parents disapprove of the inter-religious match altogether. This is a very challenging situation, and must be handled with great tact and sensitivity. The bride and groom must present a united front, and show their parents that they are dedicated to the inter-faith wedding. At the same time, it will go a long way towards smoothing ruffled parents if the hurt feelings of the parents are acknowledged. It can also help to point out the many similarities which occur across  faiths.

Picking the Right Style for Your Wedding

Your everyday lifestyle is always a good place to begin when thinking about the ideal style for your wedding celebration. If you are the sort of woman who favors twinsets with color coordinated shoes, you will probably be most at home in a classic location, such as a country club. Wear a white silk strapless A-line gown, carry a bouquet of pink peonies, and dance to a big band. Other options for brides with classic tastes can include yacht clubs or formal tented weddings.

A chic loft wedding will be perfect for you if you are the ultimate city girl. If you are the one who is in the know about the coolest restaurants, the best clubs, and the latest art events, you will feel right at tome in a loft. The wide open space is ideal for a modern wedding, and the blank canvas will allow your creative side to run wild. Modern minimalist or retro-chic are two great design schemes for a loft reception. An alternative to a loft is a wedding held in an art gallery, or other non-traditional space. You may need a wedding planner to help you track down some of the off-the-beaten path venues which can host your cool and unique urban wedding.

Many brides fantasize about being married on the beach. The natural beauty of a beach location is certainly beyond compare, but there is a certain lack of control which is inherent in this type of wedding. You will be happiest with a beach wedding if you are willing to put up with a bit of uncertainty or imperfections. Before committing to a ceremony on the beach, be sure that you will be comfortable with getting your wedding dress sandy or having your bridal veil being blown into your face by the wind during the vow exchange. Beach weddings are fantastic for sun-worshipers, couples who love the great outdoors, and brides who can be flexible. A short wedding dress worn with handmade beach theme wedding jewelry is terrific for a wedding on the sand.

Church weddings can run the range from formal to low-key, but in general they are fairly traditional. The number one reason to choose a church wedding is indeed tradition, as well as your religious beliefs. If you envision a formal wedding, a church ceremony is a great way to start. Feel free to choose a wedding gown with a long train, crystal beading, or ornate embroidery for a church wedding. Add all the trimmings, such as a veil, beautiful headpiece, and handmade pearl and crystal wedding jewelry. Follow a traditional church service with a reception in an equally traditional venue, like a hotel ballroom, country club, or an historic mansion.