The Tale of Two Dresses

Your reception is your time to celebrate, let your hair down, and make bank off that money dance! Some brides, after they ditch the veil, have been swapping out their tent sized dresses for shorter, tea length dresses for the reception. I've seen it at places from Alfred Angelo to Kleinfeld! So is it worth it? I guess it depends on how much you want to spend on your wedding dress(es)! If you get two dresses, you can go the ball gown route for the ceremony and then switch to the tea length one for the reception. David Tutera even designed a dress where part of the skirt detaches to make a shorter dress. That or you can go the easier, and probably less expensive  route and get a  dress that you can make a statement in and dance in. Either way if you love your dress/dresses you'll be looking and feeling fabulous.

I'm on a Boat!

Yesterday while trying to turn myself back into a human from my previous state of human popsicle I watched the movie 27 Dresses. It's a movie about a woman who is like the superman version of a MOH but has never been married herself. I'll try not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but at the end the main character jumps onto this cruise ship where there's a wedding reception. That got me thinking, where else can you have a reception?! In a blimp, or even in an underwater sea cave? *scuba masks or mermaidism required*. Seriously though, a boat would be kind of cool for a reception site! Just think of it, you and your new spouse can make your entrance to "I'm On A Boat!". O.K. maybe that's a terrible idea, but a nautical reception would be pretty unique! I've heard of other brides holding their receptions in castles, ski lodges, and wine vineyards, so why not on a boat? As long as people have food, entertainment, and lets not forget alcohol, they'll have a good time! So don't be afraid to step away from the normal and have your reception somewhere different!

What the What!!?? How Much is That?

I read yesterday that the typical wedding costs like 15,000 to 20,000 dollars, not gum wrappers, aluminum cans, or soup labels, dollars. Personally, I could never, ever, in a million years, spend that much on anything except a down payment on a house! I don't have the spending power of say Khloe Kardashian, and even if I did...no! As important as your wedding is, it's just one day! On the flip side, I know no bride really wants to have her reception at the local Elk Lodge, or High School gymnasium, so how do you have a fabuluos wedding that won't break the bank? I came up with some ideas with help of the knot, and Simple living Weddings

1. Cut the guest list: Do you really care if your Dad's, former boss's sister is in attendance? I didn't think so.

2. Get a two layer wedding cake: Apparently all you need is one layer to cut into, and one to save for your anniversary. Have a sheet cake in the kitchen for everyone to actually eat!

3. Pick one or two things to splurge on, then save the rest: If you want a one of a kind dress then center your budget around that and go simpler on everything else!

4. That being said, have a budget and keep to it: Nothing is worse than fighting about money, and the last thing you want to be doing after your wedding is surprise your new husband with an unexpected $5,000 bill!

5. Be upfront with your vendors about your budget: they might be the nicest people in the world, but every vendor is trying to run a business. They will probably try to sell you the most expensive thing they can.  If they're really good they'll probably try to persuade you to spend more than you said you wanted to, so be direct with how much you want to spend and stick to it.

6. It's O.K. to  negotiate prices with vendors: some people think this is tacky, but especially during "off seasons" vendors may be a little desperate for your business. Besides that, it never hurts to ask!

7. Consider having your wedding in the off season: I.E. not spring! Also you can save a few bucks typically by not holding your wedding on a Saturday night!

8. This one's tried and true. Reuse the flowers from your ceremony at the reception site. Do you have a friend that can hall them over? Great!

The point is, you don't need to go crazy to have a spectacular wedding! Don't go overboard with little details, and do stick to the budget, at least as much as humanly possible ;)!

The Bridesmaid Dress Debacle

Very rarely do you hear a bridesmaid say, "I love, love, love my bridesmaid dress".  I take that back, very rarely do you hear that without a heavy dose of sarcasm. The stereotype is that you're supposed to vehemently hate your bridesmaid dress but why? Is it because one dress doesn't fit all? Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't get why everyone has to completely match. From the dress, to the hair, to the shoes, jewelry and makeup! It kind of reminds me of when parents with a lot of small children dress their kids in matching outfits so no one gets lost at the park. Plus what if your bridesmaids have different body types? For example, I know I cannot rock a halter dress, but my friend Rachel can.

Now, I get that uniformity of the bridesmaids makes it obvious that they're in the wedding party and not just your 15th cousin twice removed, but does everything have to match? Coming from someone with zero experience, I have no idea, but my vote is no! If you want everyone in the same outfit great, but maybe let the girls choose the hair, with your guidance of course ;). Or if you know everyone isn't going to look good in a certain style, let your bridesmaids pick out dresses they look fantastic in that are the same color! Anyway you go, just make sure you love whatever look you choose and that your bridesmaids do too because no one wants revenge from a girl that had taffeta up her bum all night!

The Language of the Wedding, $$$$

Can I just say I would die for a Lazaro wedding gown? I can? Fantastic. I would. They are SO pretty and at the same time just a little bit sexy, which I love. The one thing that drives me absoluteally insane about anyone who sells them is that there is no actual price for the dresses. Just $$$$...what does that mean?! I see it everywhere, especially at the more expencive wedding vendors. Plus, if you actually can find a translation for what the difference between $,$$, $$$,and $$$$ is, it usually differs from site to site! Personally I am a big planner, especially if it comes to money.  If I don't know at least a ball park figure, I'm not going to go in and get sold a dress or anything else, that might be way out of my price range. I think a lot of brides are the same way, so why play the guessing game with all these dollar signs? It's like trying to ask a newborn to read Mandarin Chinese! I guess it's just a sales technique, and I understand the venders are trying to make some money. I just wish venders would be upfront and tell me what I can get for $$$$. I don't care if it's just  a roll of toilet paper and some double sided tape that says "some assembly required".

Deliciously Spooky Weddings

Someone reminded me yesterday that Halloween was next week. I'm obviously really up on things since I have no costume, plans, or any idea that it was so soon. The first thing that popped into my mind when they said that was Voodoo Doughnuts! I've recently decided, based on the crap food I love, I should be about 400 pounds...one day I'm going to achieve that goal. One of my absolute favorite things in life is eating a Voodoo Doughnut. If you've never had one, get on the first flight to Portland or Eugene Oregon and find the first delicious smelling pink building.... RIGHT NOW!!! Apart from the Voodoo Doll and the Bacon Maple, Voodoo Doughnuts does wedding ceremonies! That's right, you can get married and go into a diabetic coma at the same time! Thank God for America. I've never actually seen anyone get married there, but I've heard they do a real voodoo ceremony. Spooky, yes? Pros: Wedding cake out of doughnuts, the whole package would cost you about 1 tenth of what you'd spend on a wedding normally. Cons: potential eternal voodoo curse! O.K. not really with the curse but you do get a Voodoo Doll doughnut!

Break with Tradition and Get Rid of Some of Those Flowers!

I was watching "My Fair Wedding" the other day, and man, if David Tutera ever needs a kidney in exchange for him planning a wedding I'm going to be first to the doctor's, scalpel in hand. For those of you who've never seen it, it's a show about these women who want to do things like have a clown themed wedding, or something outrageous, and David Tutera comes in and fabulizes their crazy plans. He's like Super Man if Super Man wore Dolce and Gabanna and could throw together the worlds best wedding in like 3 minutes.  There was this bride who (I think) wanted lilly pads and frogs for centerpeices instead of flowers. After I could pick my jaw up from the floor, I started thinking "maybe flowers are kind of overrated. I mean think about it, they're everywhere, just waiting to explode your sinuses and give you itchy eyes!
Flower in the bouquets, boutonnieres, all over the wedding site, as centerpieces at your reception, on your cake! Next thing you know these flowers are going to go "Little Shop of Horrors'" on you! Now, I love flowers, don't get me wrong, but what if you don't, or you're deathly allergic to Lilly's? Not to mention flower's can cost a butt load! I went on to what I like to call the "Wedding Yoda" aka Martha Stewart, and found some awesome ideas for non-floral center pieces. Some, like the animals in a big glass jar, I thought might get you in trouble with a Peta lover, but others, like the Harvest center piece or the Branch and Leaf center pieces, were both beautiful and didn't involve a trip to the Pharmacy for some sinus meds! Check it out here

Where the *Bleep* Should You Get Married??

In my, what I like to call "crazy time", I started thinking about where the heck I would get married, if I ever get married...cough cough. After about five minutes of thinking "well, all my family and Mike's family is from Nor Cal, not to mention our friends from before college. But I live in Oregon and planning a wedding 500ish miles away might be, I don't know, like an atomic explosion..not to mention all our Oregon friends are well, in Oregon. But if I had a wedding in Oregon would anyone even come??"  Plus I am pretty much in love with this one place in Oregon for weddings that is, of course, super expensive. After awhile, the little voice in my head wasn't whispering, "15 minute ceremony in vegas," it was screaming it. Rest assured, I don't think venereal diseases and a 3 day buzz really say "let's spend our lives tother" so don't worry mom ;).
So how do brides that have lots of family and friends in one place but live in another place do it? Do you splurge on a wedding planner in your hometown and hope that they can put everything together in time? Pray your MOH lives back home and you put everything on her? Or do you just have a wedding where you live, and pray to God someone shows up to witness the ceremony? I know people have destination weddings all the time, and I'm always wondering...HOW!? Do they have a magic genie that can make sure things will get there on time, pay for the guests to fly and stay there, and also knows what venders are good in Guatemala? I'm going to guess a lot of times, the brides either have a great wedding planner, or the destination wedding is put together by an event planner at the hotel/beach. I like my genie idea much better though, it's way more realistic.

Lookin' for Your Happily Ever After...at Disney Land?

So I got to fly out to "sunny" San Diego with my boyfriend Mike to see one of his older brothers graduate from boot camp this weekend.  I have to say if you want your guy to drop a few...hundred, pounds send em to boot camp! hahaha just kidding. Anyways, after that we all drove to Disney Land! Mike and I only got to stay a few hours, but I told him I'm going there for my 21st birthday. I know I'm a complete weirdo, Disney serves no alcohol, but Im pretty sure I can find a few bars in LA ;)
One of the last times I was at Disney Land, I saw a women in a wedding dress get into that glass carriege from Cinderella. I assume to get married, but maybe she just wanted a shuttle to Space Mountian or somthing. So I looked up weddings on Disneys site and I was SHOCKED! In a good way.
First off, you can get married at Disney Land...that's pretty cool in itself, BUT you can choose if you want to go the fairytale route or the couture route! You can have your wedding at Cinderella's castle (i think), or in a beach setting at California Adventures. I know a lot of brides are probably thinking that Disney Land is not the most mature venue for there wedding site, and honestly I wouldn't disagree, but Disney does have some beautifulvenues. And hey, you could even wear one of those Disney Wedding dresses! Just nix the plastic sparkly shoes and clip on earrings you had as a kid!

Weird Wedding dresses: Runaway bridal Chic!

Yesterday my mom, the runner and jokester in the family, posted on my facebook wall this link about weddings. At first I was so confused, I didn't know my mom read my blog much less would find something to post on my wall. Then I opened it and it was a video about a wedding dress you can run long distance in. I was seriously having flashbacks of Julia Roberts in Run Away Bride for the next hour! It's even complete with a ring holder and a "fuel garter belt".  The dress was made so that you can run a marathon and get married at the same time, but if  I was going to have cold feet at my wedding I know what dress I'd be wearing! My mom's post inspired me to look up some more "unconventional wedding dresses", and I found a magnificent website full of crazy!

This one lights up incase you loose the bride or forget where you parked her.

This wedding cake doubles as the wedding cake mmmmmeeeeeew! Please, please, PLEASE be wearing shorts!

This wedding dress was made of balloons and doubles as decorations for the reception!

Point is, wear what you want but PLEASE leave the cake dress at home!

"Supertastic" Engagements

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac3AzaDohd0]
Back in high school, every time there was a dance like homecoming, or prom, some of the guys would go CRAZY trying to find the most spectacular way to ask the girl they liked to go with them. I remember coming back to campus one night after a band competition. There was this guy on a white horse and he had lit up a walkway with candles to ask her to homecoming. Homecoming. High school was a few years ago, and now that everyone is graduating college I'm seeing the same thing happen with proposals!
Apparently, long gone are the days of the putting the ring in champagne at your favorite restaurant. Honestly this is a trend I am all for, but guys if you're going to go all out, don't go crazy! For example, if you want to propose in front of a huge crowd, test the waters with your significant other first and see how they feel about A) marriage, and B)being put on the spotlight in front of a huge crowd of people! You don't want to be that guy that asks their partner in front of a bazillion people and they say no. I love the idea of putting a lot of thought into your proposal, after all, you only get to do it once...hopefully! But make sure you know your partners feelings of having a million eyes on them before you put them on the "jumbo cam".

Have a Memorable Not Miserable Wedding

No matter if you're getting married in a religious venue, on a beach, or in your back yard, you want your ceremony to be one of a kind. Two summers ago, my sister got married to a wonderful guy in the back yard of a restaurant in NY. For the wedding ceremony we were outside under the stars,tables with guests lined the isle, and we hummed   along to their own wedding song as they walked down the isle together. The ceremony space doubled as the reception site, and we had some delicious dinner and after  some unfortunate dancing on my part ensued. It was such a pretty site, and every part of the wedding was so them.
I think the key to pulling off a fabulous and memorable wedding is to make it comfortable for you. If you love dancing and entertaining people, then make sure you have a great DJ and a big enough dance floor. If you love a good meal, then have an excellent cater.  Having things that you love  let you have fun at your own wedding. Imagine that :O! You don't need to go over the top with fireworks, and balloons, and a three hour ceremony,  and, and, and. See it's even tiring to read. You may think having all these things will impress your guests, and make your wedding the event of the year. But after the third fireworks display, people are just going to get bored. Pick a few things that are true to who you are as a couple, and what you guys love, and make them a center point of the wedding instead.

Over Themed Overkill

I think it's safe to say that watching the show Bridzillas is like watching a train wreck,  but GOD is it addicting. I mean how do these men marry these she-demons?? I mean honestly, I would rather marry a rabid raccoon. Anyways, I was watching the other day, and this woman had a wedding cake made to look just like her...I think her reasoning was that she never had a life sized doll of herself or something. Other than fulfilling her life long mini-her dream, I started seeing that there are tons of brides out there that choose not to go with the traditional four tier, vanilla cake, with a chocolate layer.
It's almost like the grooms cake has morphed with the wedding cake to make this modern super cake. I think this could either be a great way to make your wedding fun and tie in your interests, or it could end up being uber tacky if EVERYTHING is tied in to one theme. Like the couple in the picture -the groom and BRIDE are both wearing camo. I'm willing to bet they had camo table linens, camo colored cake, and instead of a black tie event it was, you guessed it "wear your best camo!". I'm all for tying things into the theme of the wedding but I feel like that might be overkill or "over-themed".
I think it's a great idea to try to mix traditional with untraditional and make your wedding your own, but how do you do that without it being over kill? I think it's all about moderation. If you love ducks for instance, that doesn't mean you need to have a duck cake, with ducks being released instead of doves, and duck centerpieces. Just incorporate whatever you like in small doses. Have some crystal ducks incorporated into your center pieces or give them away as your thank you gifts. Not that ducks aren't amazing, but do you really want your guest going home thinking you're obsessed with poultry?

Disney Wedding Dresses: Dream come true or ridiculous and tacky?

When I have nothing to do I like to I go on Yahoo and click through the stories they have. A few days ago, among the "How to save 1000 by the Holidays" and "What your boyfriend really thinks of your butt", I saw "Disney Themed Wedding Dresses". My heart just about stopped. I am a Disney fanatic!!! Then if it couldn't get any better, the designer that was making these dresses was Alfred Angelo, one of my favorite wedding dress designers!!! I'm surprised I didn't end up in cardiac arrest or something cause I was FREAKING out! It was like that scene  from Legally Blond when Elle finds out she got into law school or something. Anyways, all they have up so far is a pretty poor quality youtube video of the dresses but OMG I am in love with that Ariel dress. Dilemma. I mean, Disney doesn't really say grown up, I'm ready to be Mrs. so-and-so does it? But it doesn't matter anyway because by the time I get married the dress will be loooong gone. My question is, if you get a disney wedding dress, does that make you like all those little five year olds running around in their princess dresses with plastic sparkly heals? Or is it just more Disney magic? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzj94IoIAws]

Fall Wedding Ideas

Two weeks ago it was blazing hot, with no wind, and a heavy dose of humidity. I walk outside this morning and BAM Fall! Leaves are everywhere, trees are changing color, and it's cold :D! I know this women who's getting married at the end of this month, specifically on Halloween.Of course she's having a Halloween themed wedding and reception. Complete with a haunted house reception, jack-o-lanterns and plethora of black roses for their flowers. I think it's great to have a wedding you're going to have fun at and enjoy, but why is a fall wedding synonymous with a trip to a party city for a great costume to wear to the reception, or excuse me, haunted house?
What do you do if you  like that time of year to get married but aren't into ghouls and goblins? I'm guessing fall is a great time to get married with the foliage and it's probably cheaper then getting married in the spring.  So I went on the Martha Stewart Wedding website and looked up "fall weddings" and they had some fantastic, and dare I say uber classy, ideas for having a fall wedding. My favorite was the fall bouquets they had that had some great color but I also LOVED the pinecone escort cards, and the cedar wedding programs. Not to mention both those last things were from a wedding in Sun River Oregon which has got to be the most naturally beutiful place I've ever seen.
All in all I think having a fall wedding is a great idea, and there is a ton of inspiration from the season itself! Just look at the nature around you, or, if there is no nature around you, just google Fall! ;). There are some beautiful colors out there that you cant get any other season. Plus what other time of year can you have pumpkin pie instead of cake, apple cider instead of wine, and a thanksgiving feast instead of steak or chicken for your reception!?
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/fall-wedding-ideas

Ring Rage

So, I was watching the History Channel the other day and started flipping through the channels during a comercial break. I saw that Breakfast at Tiffanys was on, and it started me thinking "what is so great about a Tiffany engagement ring"? Now I'll be the first to admit I know little to nothing about rings, other that what I styles I like. However, after comparing a 2K ring at Tiffany's to a 2K ring at other place such as; Shane Co, Kay Jewelers, and a few other places, I don't get why they're SO much more expensive. I understand most of the markup is due to its brand name but JEESE! A 2K solitaire diamond ring at Tiffany's is 30,000 while the twin sister of that same ring at Shane Co cost about  3,500. And no, I'm not trying to plug Shane Co. I got the same results at almost any non "luxury" jewelry shop. I also noticed the lack of selection you get on Tiffany's and other high end jewlers, while the less known jelwlers websites had tools where you could create and completally custamizable ring. Strange? Yeah. If I'm going to put down 30,000 on a ring it better change the cat litter, finish my spanish homework and be one of a kind! But I digress, I wouldn't object to that little blue box!