Dos and Don’ts for the Maid of Honor

Do: Offer to help the bride. Planning a wedding is a huge job, and no one should have to do it all alone. Be a good maid of honor by offering to help your bride with jobs large and small. See if she needs someone to pick up her grandmother at the airport for her bridal shower or offer to help her address and stamp the wedding invitations. Talk to florists with her, go with her to shop for wedding jewelry and her bridal gown, and help her tie ribbons on favor boxes. It’s all part of the job of being a best friend or sister, let alone a maid of honor too.

Don’t: Push your opinions on her. If there is one piece of wedding advice all maids of honor need, it is not to overwhelm the bride with opinions. Sure, she values your input, but it is still her wedding, not yours. A good maid of honor will listen and help the bride plan her idea of the perfect wedding, not what the maid of honor thinks is perfect. If people start calling you a “maidzilla”, you know it is time to back off!

Do: Give suggestions for the bridesmaid dresses and jewelry. Picking a bridesmaid dress can be a very stressful job for a bride. She has a vision in mind, she wants your dresses to match her dresses, she wants you all to like it, and so forth. Finding one dress that meets all these requirements and is also flattering and affordable is a monumental task. Ask the bride what she is generally interested in seeing the bridesmaids wear, and then help her out by finding some samples for her to check out.

Don’t: Act like the final choice about the bridesmaid dresses is yours. Being made of honor does not give you the final say about what the bridesmaid dresses will be. That decision can only be made by the bride. Give her your input, but understand that in the end, being maid of honor means wearing whatever dress your friend the bride chooses. Being a great maid of honor means telling the bride you love the dress she chose, no matter what you privately may think of it!

Spring Wedding Bouquets in Every Color

Pink: The most feminine of all colors, pink is a lovely choice for a spring bouquet. Lush pink peonies are a favorite flower of late spring brides. They combine wonderfully with fresh garden roses to make gorgeous bouquets. Ruffly pink sweet peas are a special blossom to include in a vintage inspired wedding, while vivid Stargazer lilies are great for a big showy arrangement. A simple hand-tied bouquet of tulips in shades ranging from ballet to rose to deep pink is a lovely classic style for a spring bride. Other pink choices include anemones, ranunculus, and delicate lily-of-the-valley.

Yellow: As cheerful and fresh as a sunny spring afternoon, there is something about yellow that is just perfect for a spring wedding. Many of the best loved spring blossoms come in wonderful lemon or sunshine shades, including tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths. Papery ranunculus are also available in yellow, as are creamy garden roses. One of my favorite spring wedding planning ideas is to combine cheerful yellow blossoms with blue flowers in the bouquets for the bridesmaids.

Blue: More rare than other flower colors, blue is a highly sought after hue for floral arrangements. Spring is a bit early for blue hydrangeas, but you can get anemones, delphiniums, and hyacinths in shades of blue. Small muscari (also known as grape hyacinth) are one of the most intense naturally blue flowers available, and they work very well in mixed arrangements.

Purple: Purple has become a very popular color for weddings in recent years. Purple flowers can range from pale lilac to deep aubergine, and everything in between. Some lovely spring blossoms are available in shades of purple, including sweet peas, hyacinths, and tulips. Fragrant lilacs grow in the most marvelous shades of purple, of course, but the season for them is limited and they are quick to wilt out of water so they require care.

White: Of course many brides like the classic all white bouquet, and you can create a delightful springtime arrangement using white blossoms. The most classic of all blossoms is white lily-of-the-valley, which are available in May. Tie a small posy with a wide sage green satin ribbon for a heavenly little bouquet to carry with a lace gown. Other springtime favorites such as peonies, ranunculus, sweet peas, hyacinths, and tulips are also readily available in white.

How to Match Your Bridal Shoes to Your Wedding Dress

When you start shopping for your bridal shoes, you want to keep in mind certain things about your wedding gown to get a good match. The color of your dress is one thing. If you wish to match it, definitely get a swatch you can take shopping with you. However, do not feel like you are limited to white or ivory shoes; a lot of brides these days are making a splash with blue, green, red, or metallic footwear. It is a fun way to add personality to your attire and also makes the shoes more likely to be worn again after the wedding. And if you are splurging on a to-to-die-for pair of designer heels, every little bit of justification for the price helps!

The style of your dress is also very important, particularly if you are wearing a vintage inspired gown. Pumps, slingbacks, peep toes, and D’orsay pumps look wonderful with classic 1950s inspired wedding dresses. If you wearing a flapper inspired beaded sheath, you might consider a high heeled Mary Jane in a champagne silk color. More cutting edge modern gowns can carry off really wild shoes, so shop with abandon. You can consider high heels with a slight platform (a high platform tends to make it hard to walk without stomping), crystal encrusted stiletto heels, patterned shoes, or whatever else captures your fancy.

The shoe fabric is another thing to consider. It should complement the material of your gown, but not necessarily match it exactly. If your gown is made of silk, a silk pump or sandal would definitely work. Dresses made of matte fabrics like crepe or chiffon tend to look better with non-shiny crepe fabric shoes. But you can also experiment with interesting textures. A simple A-line strapless gown would be great with an exquisite pair of lace heels. Or choose a metallic brocade to wear with a mikado dress. Generally speaking, if your gown is very textured, your shoes should be less so. Lace pumps with a lace dress would be overdone.

Look for shoes that tie in with the embellishments on your gown and in your bridal jewelry. If you are wearing a dress with a crystal belt and sparkly cz bridal jewelry, choose footwear with a gorgeous crystal brooch on the toe. If you are wearing a shredded chiffon gown and a feather fascinator tucked into your hair, opt for shoes with a fun feather accent. Brides who are pulling a signature color into their gown and bridal jewelry and also use that hue for their footwear. It is a great way to tie your whole look together.

Determining the Ideal Timing for Your Wedding Day

The start time for your wedding ceremony may well be set in stone by your church. If they only do ceremonies on 1pm on Saturdays, then a 1pm ceremony it is. Knowing that, you will have to find a reception venue that can host your reception at a reasonably close time to the end of the ceremony. A typical marriage ceremony at a church runs for about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, there will usually be a receiving line outside and people may hang around and chat outside the church for a few minutes. The newlyweds and bridal party will also have pictures done at this point.

Long gaps between the ceremony and reception are often caused by extended photo sessions. A good way to prevent that issue is by doing a lot of the wedding pictures before the start of the ceremony. Some couples like to do a “first look”, where the bride and groom can get together to take some photographs before their ceremony. If you do not want your groom to see you before the ceremony, you can still do all of the formal pictures with your bridesmaids and immediate family to get those out of the way. That will limit the time you need to do pictures following the ceremony so you can keep the day moving forward on schedule. Besides, it is nice to get some pictures when you have just gotten into your bridal gown and elegant wedding jewelry while your hair and makeup are freshly done.

Cocktail hours typically last for 45 minutes to an hour. Anything less than that feels rushed, but if it runs too much longer, people drink too much. After about an hour, people are definitely ready to move on to the main part of the reception. Everyone moves into the dining room, and the bride and groom make their grand entrance. A lot of newlyweds will do their first dance immediately upon entering the room and being announced, while others will wait until after dinner to do the spotlight dances. You will need to decide if you will open the floor up to general dancing if you do your first dance in the beginning of the reception or move from there directly to the meal. People do not like to be kept waiting too long for dinner, so limit how long those pre-meal dances last.

The total length of your reception will be anywhere from three to six hours, depending on whether you serve a full meal or not, if there is dancing, and if you have a late night snack or Viennese hour. When you schedule your day well, your wedding will flow seamlessly from one part to the next, and everyone will have a fantastic time!

Wedding Dress Regrets

Shopping for a bridal gown, veil, and wedding jewelry is one of the highlights of planning a wedding. In fact, many brides have been dreaming about their wedding gown since they were little girls. But what happens if you buy a wedding gown and start having second thoughts about it? These are some tips on how to handle wedding dress regrets.

If there is one piece of advice every bridal consultant wishes engaged women would listen to, it is stop looking at wedding gowns once you have picked yours! There will always, always be another beautiful gown to admire, and you could shop forever, but then you would have nothing to wear on your wedding day. After you have placed a deposit on your bridal gown, the best thing you can do for yourself is to close the dress shopping chapter of your wedding planning. And besides, you will still get to shop for wedding jewelry, a veil, a headpiece, shoes, and lots of other gorgeous accessories.

But what if you just can’t shake the feeling that you have made a bad choice and ordered the wrong gown for your wedding? 99% of the time, this second guessing is simply pre-wedding jitters. Call up the bridal salon and make an appointment to try on the sample gown again. The chances are very strong that as soon as you put it on you will remember exactly what you loved about it. If you still are not sure, try on a few other dresses, and you will probably be reminded that your original dress is still the one for you.

With all these tips in mind, there might still be occasions when brides come to realize that they have definitely chosen a wedding gown that they no longer love. At that point, it is time to re-select. You only have one wedding day (hopefully!), and you deserve to feel incredible for it. You will also be living with your wedding photos for the rest of your life, and it would be a terrible shame to hate the way you look in your pictures. Some salons may allow you to transfer a deposit from one gown to another, but most will not. In that case, you can sell the first gown online and treat yourself to the wedding dress that you really love. Just promise yourself that you will really stop shopping after that!

Practical Wedding Planning Advice About Florists

A successful working relationship with your wedding florist starts with determining your flower budget. You have to know what you can spend before you start picking out bouquets and centerpieces. Also think about what you really want from a florist. While most brides hire a floral designer to do all of the wedding arrangements, some brides DIY some of their decorations and only hire a florist for specific things. For instance, you might want to make your own centerpieces, but have the florist create the bouquets and boutonierres.

It is helpful to know what role you want a florist to play in your wedding planning before you start meeting with them. You may find that some are very flexible about providing a la carte services, while the big name floral designers may want to have creative control over the entire event. It is also smart to have at least a general sense of your wedding decorating style in mind before signing a contract.  While most can certainly create beautiful arrangements in a wide range of styles, it helps to have a florist who “gets” your sense of style. A florist who specializes in formal, elaborate centerpieces might not be the best one to decorate your whimsical reception or rustic casual wedding.

Come to your initial interview with a florist prepared with color swatches, pictures of bouquets and centerpieces that you like, and photos of your wedding venue. Be sure to let them know if you have any special requests, as that can affect the quote they give you for their services. Perhaps you want to have crystals added to your bouquet to match your crystal bridal jewelry or you would like to carry the same variety of orchid that your mother did. At the same time, it pays to be open to suggestions from the florist. They are the professionals, after all, and if they are advising against choosing a specific out-of-season flower or recommend switching out one variety for another to trim costs, they probably have a very good reason.

Something else that will enhance your working relationship with your florist is to expect professionalism, but not unrealistic perfection. Flowers are natural things, after all, and each one is unique. It is always possible that your roses might come in looking more peach than apricot or that a certain flower is suddenly unavailable at the last minute due to a weather issue. As long as the florist delivers gorgeous arrangements in the generally agreed upon style and color, it’s all good.

5 Essential Honeymoon Planning Tips

One: Check the Weather Before Booking Your Trip. Before you book your honeymoon, find out what the weather is usually like in your destination at the time of year in which you will be married. Hurricane season in the Atlantic happens to coincide with prime wedding season, so if a beach honeymoon is your dream, think Hawaii rather than the Cayman Islands.

Two: Check Your Documents. Plenty of people do not have passports, but you now need one to travel to any international destination, including Canada and Mexico. Applying for a passport can take a couple of months, so this is not something you can leave until the last minute!  You may also need a visa for travel to some countries. Check the US State Department’s website for specifics.

Three: Plan For Your Spending. It is a good idea to have some cash in whatever the local currency is where you will be going. Your best bet is to exchange your dollars for euros or pesos at your local bank before leaving town to avoid the fees and surcharges at hotel and airport currency exchange desks. If you plan to put your souvenirs on your credit card, call the issuing banks of all your accounts beforehand to find out which one has the lowest fees for international transactions.

Four: Pack Wisely. Even if you are just going to the beach, pack nice quality shorts and polo shirts rather than cut offs and ratty old t-shirts. It is nice to look good for your new spouse after all, and the locals where you honeymoon will appreciate the effort as well. If heading to Europe, bring stylish walking shoes (no white sneakers!), and skirts instead of shorts. Leave your expensive jewelry at home, and instead bring along your crystal bridal jewelry for dressing up in the evenings.

Five: Keep Memories Alive. A key piece of wedding advice is to hire a great photographer to capture your wedding day memories, but what about your honeymoon? Bring along a high quality digital camera with plenty of extra batteries so you can take lots of photos. Save tickets and programs for a honeymoon scrapbook, and if you like to write, keep a travel journal of your adventures. You will enjoy revisiting the memories of your perfect honeymoon year after year.

Help! My Sister Is Taking Over My Wedding!

Sometimes, there can be too much of a good thing. This is definitely true when it comes to wedding planning. While some help from family and friends is great, it becomes overwhelming when one person decides to designate herself as the unofficial wedding planner. Find out what to do when your sister tries to hijack your wedding.

The first step is to think about why your sister has decided to take over your big day. Does she see that you are swamped with work or school and she is trying to ease your burden? Does she know that you are struggling to get everything organized, or that you tend to have a hard time making choices? When your sister is trying to do you a favor, the key to getting her to back off is reassurance. Let her know how grateful you are for her help so far, and that you feel like she has gotten your planning off to such a great start that you can take it the rest of the way. Of course, if it is true that you have no time or agonize over every choice, maybe you could benefit from having some sisterly help, just on your own terms. The way to handle this is to let your sister know that you will be grateful if she can help you shop for unique bridesmaid jewelry or source the perfect table linens. She will feel useful, and you will be able to take back the reins.

Not every sister’s motivation is quite so pure. A lot of times, an older sister just thinks that she knows more than her baby sister about everything, and feels like it is her duty to be in charge. This is a sister who needs to be informed that you are all grown up now (you’ re old enough to get married, for goodness sake!), and that you can handle it. Sometimes sisters also don’t trust the taste of the other one, and feel like taking over the wedding planning is the only way to make sure that everything is done “right”. This is a sibling who needs to be delicately informed that while your tastes are different, your wedding will nonetheless be beautiful.

The green eyed monster is often the cause of an overbearing sister. It could be that she is jealous of your upcoming nuptials, and taking over the planning is her way of dealing with it.  She might also be worried about losing you to your husband, in which case, plenty of alone time together is important. Don’t make it all about the wedding, since that will only reinforce the idea that your lives are taking two different paths. Go out to lunch, go shoe shopping, take in a movie, or whatever else you used to do together before you became engaged.

Tips For DIY Wedding Catering

It can be very challenging to balance out having the wedding you want and the wedding you can actually afford, the one that looks as great as the events showcased in the wedding planning books.  With the general trend towards more casual food at weddings, many brides are now considering going the DIY route and catering their own weddings. Before you decide whether to hire someone or DIY your wedding catering, check out these important tips.

First and foremost, only do your own wedding food if you are having a small reception. Anything more than fifty guests is going to make it very, very difficult to pull off. The last thing you need to be doing on your wedding day is running around refilling platters or bowls. Nor does your mom want to get all dressed up in a new dress and elegant pearl wedding jewelry to spend the whole event serving food at the buffet. Worse yet is to let the food run out before your guests are done eating dinner. All the wedding planning books will tell you that is a huge wedding “don’t”.

For weddings that are small enough to cater yourself, there are some key things you should know. For one thing, you will not have enough time to cook from scratch for fifty people the day before your wedding! Buy as much as you can readymade from a store, and then add your own seasonings or extra ingredients to make it special. A warehouse club is ideal for this. You can get huge quantities of classic picnic food like potato salad, rolls, and fruit salad for a very reasonable cost. Transfer everything into attractive serving bowls to give it a homemade look.

Something very important to plan when catering your own wedding dinner is having people on hand to fill bowls, clear plates from tables, and so forth. Even if you bring in all of the food, you should still plan on hiring a few servers to keep everything running smoothly. Some caterers will allow you to hire their servers and rent their silverware, napkins, and plates for a reasonable fee. You can also hire college or culinary students to be in charge of the dinner, but keep in mind that by the time you pay for the rentals, it might not be any savings to hire the servers a la carte.

How to Plan a Wedding Even the Men Will Enjoy

Weddings tend to be super girly events, but if you think about it, probably half the people there will be men. Is it any wonder, then, that most guys groan at the idea of attending a wedding? With a little extra thought, it is entirely possible to plan a wedding that all of your guests will enjoy – even the men.

While every couple should feel free to plan a wedding that is as formal or casual as they like, the truth of the matter is that most men do not enjoy dressing up. Your female guests might find it a treat to have an excuse to shop for wedding jewelry and a fabulous new dress, but the men would be much happier wearing something that they already have in their closet. Consider a semi-formal afternoon wedding so the guys can wear jackets and trousers instead of suits or tuxedos. That way, they can take off their jackets and relax after the ceremony. As the bride, you will still get to splurge on a stylish bridal gown and special wedding jewelry, so everyone should be happy.

The next tip for designing a guy-friendly wedding is to have it at a less stuffy venue. Few men feel at ease in a grand ballroom or an historic mansion crowded with fragile antiques. They will feel much more relaxed at a wedding on a lawn, in a rustic barn, or at a casual country club. The nice thing about outdoor receptions is that you can take advantage of the new trend of having lawn games during the cocktail hour. Set up activities like cornhole (bean bag toss), horseshoes, and bocce ball so the men feel like they have something to do other than chatting over cocktails. Croquet is another great lawn game for a wedding reception, and it is one that the ladies will also really enjoy.

Many weddings feature lounge areas during the reception, but if you really want to make your event a hit with the men, think about setting up a man cave. Arrange comfy leather sofas and club chairs in a corner of the reception site. Have a special bar offering “manly” after dinner drinks like bourbon. If the man cave will be outdoors, you can even set up a custom cigar rolling station if you like. Just be careful not to make it such a comfy place that the men will never leave. This means no televisions and no video game stations, no matter how hard your groom tries to talk you into them!