Jun 29, 2011
Our clients often come to us desiring to put their unique twist to their reception so it fully resembles their personalities. Why not start with the ceremony? Let’s move beyond the ‘box’ seating layout and explore a few circular and creative set-ups for the wedding ceremony. How fitting to literally tie the knot in the middle of your family and closest friends!
Circular seating, or 360, is a modern way to incorporate a more intimate feel for your guests (almost no seat is a bad seat) and it truly represents the ring of love. The wedding band is a circle which represents the continuity of never-ending love. Outdoor weddings are an ideal setting for round ceremonies with plenty of space. Even if space should be an issue, there are ways to modify a circular design and make it work.
These below set-ups are fun and different ways to showcase your ceremony and what a wonderful way to provide a 360 view for your guests!
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This swirl set-up creates a magnificent aisle with front row seats for all.
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If limited on space, creating a half-moon or semi-circle will also work.
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Jun 23, 2011
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Mention Father of the Bride and images of Steve Martin come to mind, but not everyone can deal with stress and pressure by making us laugh…
The Father of the Bride is a role that can be left out during the wedding planning process (except to keep up with all the payments). He is expected to be experienced enough to cope with his nerves and expected to be strong enough to cope with his emotions. Giving your daughter away can be a very difficult and bittersweet moment. We thought we would help.
Take a moment and if you know someone in this role, pass on our advice!
1. Getting Over The Nerves
Nerves about the ceremony, speeches and toasts can be overwhelming. Don’t worry all of these nervous can be settled with a little preparation. Make sure and make it to the rehearsal that way the only thing to worry about during the ceremony is giving away “Daddy’s little girl”. Also make sure to write and practice your speech well before your daughter’s big day. A little preparation can go a long way when it comes to easing nerves.
2. Prepare for Your Speeches
Preparing your speeches in full before hand is the best thing you can do to ease your nerves, don’t wing it! For more tips on how to write a great speech take a look at MW’s “Cheers Worthy Toast” post. The Father of the Bride sets the tempo, welcomes his guests, new members of the family and speaks about his daughter while trying to not embarrass her! Remember…Practice makes perfect!
3. Plan Your Advice
One of the most important tasks of the Father of the Bride is to pass on advice to the couple. This advice can be in a toast, in passing, or in a letter. Make sure to prepare what advice you would like to give the couple, many couples will remember what advice you gave them for years to come. Remember what you’ve learned throughout your years and share it with them!
4. Be Ready for the Emotions
Men sometimes try and hide their emotions from the rest of the world. Make sure and take some time with your daughter before the wedding to talk about what she means to you. Many Father of the Brides believe that they will come up with the perfect thing to say when the time comes but never do. By doing this you can remorse for never getting the chance to tell your daughter how you feel or be overwhelmed by emotions during the ceremony.
Jun 8, 2011
We thought this new bridesmaid dress website, Weddington Way, would be a perfect follow-up to our post on floral frocks. More often than not, when planning a destination wedding, your closest gals and BFF’s are not down the street or even in the same area code. This can make selecting bridesmaids dresses more of a logistical nightmare rather than one of the fun details of the wedding.
Weddington Way is a new web site that is dedicated to bringing together brides and their bridesmaids – no matter the distance. At Weddington Way, you and your bridesmaids can connect, shop and share the perfect dresses without complicated travel and multiple dress appointments.
This shopping site is the brainchild of a former buyer of Bloomingdales who noticed a need for better online resources for brides-to-be and their bridal parties. This will simplify the way brides shop for the bridesmaid dress. Anyone, a bride (or a bridesmaid) can register on the site for free and then invite the rest of the party to join her. Your personal bridal party page allows you to custom write messages to your bridal party through out the selection process.
Shop: There’s a hand-selected collection of dresses from top designers. You can filter your search by style, theme, color, price and more.
Compare: You can mark certain dresses as your favorites and share them with your bridal party. A drag and drop feature allows you to see your potential dress lineup.
Share: You can select styles and share opinions on the shared social page between your entire bridal party.
Track: As a bride, you can see how your bridesmaids rank different dresses and track their ordering activity. This way, it’s easy to stay on top of the process with very little direct communication.
Weddington Way also allows you to virtually see a chosen bridesmaid dress in different styles. If a bride was leaning towards one color but not sure the perfect cut for everyone, then this will allow each bridesmaid to select the style that flatters her the best. Or the bridesmaids can select the dresses that they like and would compliment their curves the best, and the bride can choose which style(s) she prefers. Genius!
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May 27, 2011
Are you in love with color, lots of color?, and can’t decide on just one shade for your bridesmaid dress? With a floral bridesmaid dress you can have it all. It is fresh and playful but can also be sophisticated depending on the colors and floral design you select. Add a carefully chosen bouquet and you have created a stunning and unforgettable look for your wedding party.
The floral design is ideal for garden weddings but with the right pattern, it is equally at home at an outdoor wedding on a vast lawn or with a tropical twist, a beach wedding. Nothing seems more cheery in the summertime!
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You can even carry the floral pattern over to the groomsmen with matching ties for a coordinated, polished look.
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How to accessorize? By pairing your bridesmaid dress with a monochromatic bouquet you have a winning look. Maybe you are drawn to patterns and like the look of a black and white design while color spotting your bouquet? Subtle flowers, vibrant flowers or a retro pattern – this is where your wedding style comes into play.
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Mix it up by selecting one floral pattern yet have different dress style/cut options which allows your bridesmaids to chose the style that flatters her the most. Project Runway competitor, Jesse LeNoir, designed these one-of-a-kind bridesmaid dresses for his wedding in March 2010. Each dress was designed to complement each bridesmaid’s body type and personal style.
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Personally, I love this look when pulled off correctly and even selected it for my own wedding. I chose a simple silk Tommy Bahama dress with a subtle tropical pattern – after all, we were in Maui! My gals carried green cymbidium orchids with callas which were slightly smaller than my own bouquet. One of my favorite getting ready pics below.
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Our Top Picks:
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BHLDN Bubble Floral Dress
Chiffon Orange/Pink Floral Pretty Bridesmaids.com
Chiffon Floral from Pretty Bridesmaids.com
Long Version of Chiffon Pretty Bridesmaids.com
BCBGMaxAzaria - Ivory Dress with Floral Adorned Rosettes
Poppy Galore by Tommy Bahama
Anemones Dress by Tommy Bahama
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May 13, 2011
Monograms have been the oldest form of identification in the world – always omnipresent for royalty, but now it seems everyone is taking pride in their initials or initials to be… How to show these off in ways that best suit you and your style of wedding?
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Ways To Rock Your Monogram
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Ideas are endless here.
In the Ceremony you can make your mark on your aisle/aisle runner, your program, bouquet wrap, altar decor, chair backs, ring bearer pillow, flower girl baskets…
In the Reception you can showcase your initials on pillows, your menu, your napkins, your cake topper, the dance floor, personalized signs, centerpiece vases, linen decor/runners, gift bags or actually create letters out of flowers or wood. These are just a few!
For your Attire, personalized jewelry is at the top as well as lounge wear for your wedding party, personalized hangers for you, tote bags or any garment – nothing is off limits!
A very popular look in Tahoe is the woodland look but we love to jazz this up (or down) depending on the taste of our bride. Softening the wood look with fabric and flowers is a sure hit but also unexpected elements also from nature like berries or gemstones work too. If gemstones aren’t in the budget, some great inexpensive crystals can give an unforgettable effect too. Some of our favorite woodland finds from Etsy artist BraggingBags:
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Some of our favorite monogram looks from our past Merrily Wed weddings:
Photos courtesy of: clockwise from top – Jay Reilly Photography, Catherine Hall Studios and Zorn Photography.
Photos courtesy of: Kendall Price Photography, Jennifer Baciocco Photography and Kendall Price Photography.
Express yourself! There are many websites that create custom wedding monograms and logos for you. If you are more of a DIY type, there is even a whole blog spot dedicated to helping you create your custom monogram. It gives you a step-by-step tutorial: weddingmonograms.blogspot.
