Complimenting a Bridal Toe Ring
A bridal toe ring is a fun and flirty piece of jewelry that you can wear on your wedding day that will add a subtle sparkle to your look.
The Practicality and Aesthetic of Wedding Favor Cards
If you’re making your own favors, be it jarring jams or packaging chocolates or crafting miniature birdhouses, you need a way to dress up your gifts for your guests.
Literary Wedding Inspiration
Theme weddings have a habit of borrowing from literature. While finding inspiration in great novels, plays, and poems can be a fun way to personalize your wedding day, it’s easy to go over the top. That’s why, if you don’t want a theme wedding, many people simply don’t bother. Here are some low-key ideas inspired by some of my favorite authors (without stepping into the bounds of “theme-y”:
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald was the author of the famous American novel The Great Gatsby, and his career was absolutely saturated with stories of high society in the 1920s. Though his stories were timely critical comments on excess and wealth, his worlds still serve as inspiration for weddings the world over.
Keep it Simple with:
Mint Juleps, Martinis, and Bubbly
and
Feathers, White Dinner Jackets, and Low Waists.
J. R. R. Tolkien
I’ve never met anyone who wouldn’t drop everything for the chance to live in J.R.R. Tolkien’s pastoral domicile: the humble Hobbit hole. The Shire, the mythical serene landscape within Tolkien’s Middle Earth, is perfect in every way. Weddings in the Shire employ the gratuitous use of flowers and the outdoors, plenty of ale, and a plethora of pastels.
Keep it Simple with:
Beer and Ale and More Beer
and
Bright Colors, Flowers, and Airy Fabrics.
Edgar Allen Poe
Poe was the author of such famous short horror stories as “The Black Cat” and “The Premature Burial” and poems such as “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee.” Chilling and weirdly romantic, his works have haunted our hearts and minds for decades. While few associate his stories with uplifting happy endings, fans of his enchanting language know exactly why he inspires light and dark weddings everywhere.
Keep it Simple with:
Wed Wine and Cognac, Red Wine
and
Lace, Red Roses, and Buttery Silk.
Setting Up Bridal Shower Decorations
Designing Cohesive and Cost-Effective Bridal Shower Decorations
Bridal Shower Decorations
Hosting a bridal shower can sometimes become as stressful and difficult as planning a wedding. There’s guest lists, catering, planning, and – of course – decorating. Bridal shower decorations don’t get nearly as much spotlight as wedding decorations, but the aesthetics and ambiance of a bridal shower can’t be overlooked or ignored. The trick to beautiful bridal shower decorations is simplicity and consistency. It doesn’t matter how much you spend or how much you saturate your venue in tissue paper – your bridal shower decorations should be cohesive and minimal. Paper bridal shower decorations are my personal favorite; they’re easy and they always look great. Think about paper bunting, confetti, and classy table numbers to tie your bridal shower decorations together.
There’s no need to go crazy buying any and all bridal shower decorations you can. Find a theme and stick to it, but don’t go overboard. For bridal shower decorations, it’s all about beauty in simplicity.
The bride will love her bridal shower as long as she’s surrounded by the women who love her, but that doesn’t mean you should skip the bridal shower decorations! Photos from this event will be stacked next to the ones from the wedding itself – let your bridal shower decorations speak to the quality of the event!
Beer and You: A Classy Affair
There are some who believe that a bride has no place slinging beers at her wedding. The picture of a sparkling bride in white handling a bottle of PBR just doesn’t sit well with some critics. Beer can have a place within a wedding – it just has to be handled classily and correctly. Should you be knocking back Buds from the bottle for six straight hours during your reception? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make beer classy.
Try adding…
Beer Samplers
The simple allure of a stacked and colorful beer sampler has always caught my attention at high-class breweries. A group of six 8-ounce glasses of assorted microbrews (sometimes mixed with fresh fruit!) is a delicacy that many restaurants implore within their catering services – just ask! This is a more stylish way to imbibe without the threat of ugly half-finished bottles cluttering your tables. And for beer snobs like myself, a sampler per table gives me the opportunity to show my friends and relatives a world outside of Miller Light. You can finish the one you love and ignore the rest – much like a husband.
Local Brews
By offering up a beer- only hosted bar, you set yourself up to save a lot of money, but not all couples are gung-ho about the idea. Full bars are expensive, but a beer-specific bar doesn’t have to be bland and insipid. Try experimenting with hosting local and seasonal brews – without the bottle, if you please. Spring for the right glasses. You aren’t shackled to champagne, so try to experiment with something new, full, and exciting if you’re going for beer.
Favors
A fun addition to your brewed wedding could be a little something delicious for your guests to take home with them – a fermented favor, if you will. If you plan on offering seasonal and/or local brews during your reception, offer bottled versions for later consumption as guests exit. Good beers tend to be bottled in attractive receptacles, and it’s likely that the addition of a bottle at every place setting – or at a display as guests exit – will add to rather than detract from your décor. For younger guests, offer fancy bottled soda as an “I’m Sorry You’re Not 21” consolation favor.
The Shapes and Sizes of Stylish Wedding Favor Boxes
My Favorite Stylish Wedding Favor Boxes
Stylish Wedding Favor Boxes
Making your own favors is a fun but laborious experience that often involves a lot more work than you think it will. Even if you’re just combining store bought goodies or putting together a candy bar, you soon realize that you have nothing to present to your guests at their place settings. Instead of dumping the goodies into a pile on their chargers, I recommend a good solid set of stylish wedding favor boxes. Instead of regular folded containers or simple paper bags, stylish wedding favor boxes offer a variety of choices for your favor storing needs. My favorite stylish wedding favor boxes have a window cut right into the top or side so that guests can take a peek at the goodness to come. Of that category, the stylish wedding favor boxes with heart-shaped windows are my favorite.
If straight-up boxes aren’t your thing (or you don’t think your favor will fit into a cube), consider stylish wedding favor boxes that come in a tent shape. These stylish wedding favor boxes are good for lollypops, other strangely-shaped favors, or even just more of the same! It isn’t hard to find stylish wedding favor boxes that fit your style and your purposes.
Bridal Shower Bingo: A Rowdy Afternoon of Frolic
Fun Times with Bridal Shower Bingo
Bridal Shower Bingo
Bridal shower games are probably my favorite part of the wedding marathon that brides subject themselves to in the months leading up to their big day. They’re inexpensive, fun, and provide a great bonding opportunity for the women closest to you. You don’t really know your Great Aunt Sally until you’ve seen her viciously plotting against your Maid of Honor in a lively round of bridal shower bingo. Bridal shower bingo really brings out the competitive side in many women you wouldn’t expect it from – even a poised afternoon tea can get a little rowdy with the addition of a few cutesy prizes.
The competition inspired by bridal shower bingo isn’t negative, however: quite the contrary. Bridal shower bingo is fun, and it breathes life into an ordinary celebratory bridal get-together. The multiple winners and excitable participants keep any hard feelings at bay (unlike strategic and cutthroat gaming scenarios like family “Risk” or “Monopoly” night).
Finding great bridal shower bingo games isn’t too difficult, but you might want to skip trying to make them yourself. A few hours struggling with clip art and Microsoft word functions will leave you frustrated (and sporting an inferior product). Bridal shower bingo is just what your shower needs for an unforgettable afternoon.
The Proud Pumpkin: A Wedding’s Most Versatile Vegetable
It’s hard to find a way around pumpkin in autumn, no matter how unseasonable the weather gets. I wait for weeks with bated breath for pumpkin spice lattes to hit the shelves no matter how much it still feels like summer, and nothing puts a smile on my face faster than a trip to my neighborhood pumpkin patch. The orange gourd’s versatility makes them great decorating tools, and there aren’t many of my favorite dishes that can’t be improved with a little pumpkin spicing.
So, for your impending autumn wedding, you might want to use pumpkins…
To Welcome your Guests
This is a bit of décor that scales up or down on the difficulty scale depending on the amount of energy you want to dedicate to finding and carving the perfect set of pumpkins. Set up a pumpkin(s) to spell out a personal welcome message for your guests as they arrive to your ceremony/reception. If your wedding falls around dusk, think about setting up the pumpkins at the ceremony space and having them transported to your reception venue with a candle or candles to add a little after-sunset illumination. If you want something that will last a little longer (and you aren’t so confident concerning your carving abilities), some craft stores (such as Michael’s) offer imitation pumpkins with personalized messages.
To Imbibe
Make pumpkin patches a little more adult-friendly by adding a little orange to your signature cocktails. The subtle nod of the cocktail allows you a more grown-up take on the familiar flavor, while the more conspicuous decorative additions, such as candy corn or black licorice, help take these cocktails to the next level around Halloween. Think about including such famous delicious brews as “Pumpkin Spice” or the “Pumpkin Margarita,” or you can ask your bartender what his or her favorite pumpkin delights are around this glorious season.
To Show Guests to Their Seats
Though mini pumpkins are often ignored at pumpkin patches by excited and optimistic youth, decoration gurus know how indispensable the mini gourd can be for holiday displays. If you aren’t a florist, building your own overfilled cornucopia or elaborate centerpiece might be a bit of a challenge. I recommend using mini pumpkins as place cards instead, either at each place setting for a small affair or at an escort card table. The mini pumpkins double as take-home favors when you hollow them out and fill them with goodies. Attach hand-written or hand-stamped cards to the stem of the pumpkin with twine to add a little touch of autumn authenticity to your event tables.
Versatility and Style: Cupcake Favor Boxes
Delicious and Adorable Cupcake Favor Boxes!
Cupcake Favor Boxes
Cupcakes are quickly becoming my favorite wedding dessert. They’re delicious, artistic, convenient, and kill two birds with one stone. Instead of splurging on favors and dessert, provide cupcake favor boxes to your guests so they can bring a little bit of the wedding home with them. Cupcake favor boxes are cute and inexpensive: a perfect match for a wedding on a budget; or any wedding for that matter! Cupcake favor boxes should be laid out by the dessert table where guests can see them either as they collect dessert or on their way out the door. Have your dessert table set up near the exit so no one misses your cupcake favor boxes.
Set up a display so your cupcake favor boxes aren’t just stacked in a boring utilitarian way. Make a small pyramid of a few pre-assembled ones so your guests get the right idea. No one will confuse your cupcake favor boxes with anything else, as most cupcake favor boxes have a window for your cupcake viewing pleasure.
There are plenty of styles of cupcake favor boxes to choose from – pick the ones that best suit the style of your wedding for an unforgettable favor surprise!
Using Your Proposal in Wedding Décor
Your proposal has likely already become a part of your relationship story. It’s an anecdote you tell to coworkers, at parties, or maybe even on Facebook. It doesn’t matter how extravagant or crazy your proposal was, they’re all memorable. How and when you decided to make it official will be a story you will be asked to repeat for your entire lives. Your kids will want to hear it just as much as you wanted to know the story of your parent’s courtship. So embrace it! Here are a few fun ideas to give a nod to your proposal story in your wedding décor:
Wedding Stationary
Photo shoots for your invitations and save-the-dates are a great time to express your individuality and the unique story of your relationship. Think about snapping photos at the location where you decided to tie the knot for your wedded paper good. If you got engaged at sunset at a local park (even if you were wearing your workout gear), pay homage to that site by staging photos at the exact location where it all went down (sweats optional). Illustrations are a less literal way to interpret your proposal story – subtle references (such as kissing fish stamps for an aquarium proposal or twin rocking chairs for a quiet promise at home) are a silent inside nod that you and your fiancé can share with guests.
Unique Centerpieces
There are many unique and fun centerpieces that have been constructed by couples to reference their unique proposal story. A new and popular choice seems to be table number reorganization – naming guests’ tables after locations (or items) that hold some significance to the relationship. You could also integrate items into the displays that play into your tale, such as monopoly piece confetti (if the proposal happened over a friendly – or heated – board game) or small appetizers that nod to the last meal you shared before becoming fiancé/fiancée.
If you plan to go this route, think about setting up a small display that explains the significance of the unique touches of personal décor. You probably don’t want to be fielding questions all night about the stack of American modernist anthologies under each vase of white roses.
Wedding Website
Every newly-engaged couple should have a wedding website, especially if you’re expecting any number of guests from out of town. A wedding website is a great home base to organize information about your wedding, and it’s easy to find a host for a free one. Many of the sites also come with this fun little tab for details about your relationship. If you haven’t committed the favorite stories of your relationship to paper, this is your chance. There are some details you might not remember in another thirty or forty years, and writing it down while it’s fresh will be something posterity will thank you for.
This is also an opportunity for distant relatives to catch up on the special stories of your relationship that may come up during wedding festivities. After all, you don’t want anyone to be confused about your use of a science fair volcano in place of a unity candle.
A Personal Wedding Gift for the Happy Couple
A Worthwhile Personal Wedding Gift
Personal Wedding Gift
As a wedding guest, it can sometimes be difficult to find just the right personal wedding gift for your favorite couple – especially if they are without a registry. If you’re uncomfortable just handing over a gift card and calling it a day, think about finding a personal wedding gift that the couple will be sure to use and love for decades. A personal wedding gift that will really get the couple excited for their new life together is often something monogrammed with their new combined initials. A newly wedded couple will love to see the letters that make up their new life together on everything – glassware, hygiene kits, luggage, or even hankies. Embroidering or engraving the couple’s monogram on a personal wedding gift will make your contribution to their gift pile stand out.
Another great way to make any gift a personal wedding gift is to appeal to the couple’s new title set. Newlyweds are always happy to be referred to as “Mr” and “Mrs,” and finding the right personal wedding gift to reflect that is sure to delight. Towels, beach gear, and passport covers are all examples of “Mr” and “Mrs” honeymoon accessories that really work well as a personal wedding gift.
So no matter who you’re buying for, be sure that you find just the right personal wedding gift for the happy couple in your life.
Last-Minute Autumn Wedding Details to Brighten your Day
Finding and Using Autumn Wedding Details
Autumn Wedding Details
With summer quickly wrapping things up, autumn is making its way in. For those brides marrying after the 22nd of September but before the 21st of December, it’s time to start planning some of your last-minute autumn wedding details. The setting will be colorful, serene, and have just the slightest nip to it – how will you compliment that with your autumn wedding details? Consider finding some brown and orange accents (maybe even a little DIY) to give your fall wedding just the right touch. While a cake topper is always a beautiful addition to your autumn wedding details, there are other small touches that can really tie your scene together.
If you haven’t yet sent out invitations, stationary will a rustic autumn feel will really put your guests in the mood for your event. Characterize these autumn wedding details by finding a brown/orange/red/yellow color palette and sticking to it. Favors are also a fun way to remind your guests of the beauty of the season. These autumn wedding details don’t have to be in-your-face with the fall theme, but they should have a hint of it in them. Consider leaf bookmarks or candy that suits the season (candy corn, caramels, etc).
Autumn wedding details will tie your day together and remind your guests just why you selected this beautiful season as the backdrop for your wedding day.