The Grand Wedding Vol 4 The wedding party

The Goodwin family. How gorgeous.  I love that we were able to make them official!

We have always been a fan of tuxes and ties, and we are so grateful for Rnells for contributing these classic tuxes!

I think Pewter and Pink were one of my favorite color combinations this year.

Getting married on the steps of this historic building.  I love how Christys dress falls perfectly down the steps.

 

One of my favorite parts of weddings is the joining of families.  The nervousness in his face is adorable. You can tell he was taking this very seriously.  This was one of the sweetest families I've had the pleasure of working with, and I love that the whole family was included in the sand ceremony.

Vol 1, and 2, and 3 (still another to come!)
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The ultimate wedding travel gift & a giveaway!

My clients will often ask what is a little something they can give to their bridesmaids just before they leave to head down to their destination wedding.  I love this pair because its perfectly small, airport friendly, and completely on the mark for sun-shining-get-me-to-the-beach-now weather. I found and immediately fell in love with these Travel Packets. How many times have you gotten off the airplane and just wanted to start all over? Enter La Fresh...

These La Fresh travel pockets are beyond amazing. I keep one in my purse and they're stocked in our Bridal Party ER box.  Yes, they make a combo pack for the guys too.

Some might think matching wedding party tanks or tees are cheesy.  I don't.  When I'm waiting to get my hair and makeup done, I want to look cute some how.

Another great thing, its so light you can mail this cute gift with minimal postage.  Throw in an itunes gift card so that they can buy an audio-book to listen to during their flights, and you have the ultimate destination wedding travel gift. Have a bit more to spend?  Pre-load an ipod shuffle and include that too. Guaranteed giddiness.

Giveaway: Two ways to win a travel pouch (We're giving away up to 5!)
1. Leave a comment with your favorite travel item or tip or
2. Tweet this post (click below)
Grand Prize for the best tip or tweet: A travel pouch, a bunch of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazines, and an itunes card.
Everyone (Wedding Industry Pros included!) in the continental US is eligible to win. Winner announced Friday.

Quick tip: Put a weekend itinerary in with the gift.  One more chance to remind everyone in the wedding party what time rehearsal is and what time to show up for hair & makeup and pictures.

How to tell them what to wear

Hands down one of the trickiest (kinda) parts of the wedding invitation elements. Deciding on the attire wordage ranks right up there with getting your eyebrows waxed. It's no fun, but ya kinda gotta do it.Here are some articles and tips I found helpful from Wedding Channel, the knot, Destination I Do and Martha Stewart Weddings.

Now here's my 2 cents for destination weddings:

Island casual: Light weight and casual wear. Most guests will take this as nice shorts and short sleeved button up shirts or polos for the men and simple sundresses for the ladies.
Island/Tropical elegant: Again lightweight, and short sleeved, but adding a minimum of slacks and a full length sundress. Certainly less than sequins and ties though.
Resort elegant: Nearly the same as cocktail, only with lightweight fabrics being appropriate. No shorts, no sundresses. Yes to ties & slacks and cocktail dresses without sequins.

I do find it nice to state on guest guides when hats and/or wraps would be a benefit or appropriate.
{Quick Tip} J Crew currently has the best hands down grooms/groomsmen destination wedding suits available. Just sayin.

Wedding party gifts that aren't stupid

Truth be told, I think this is the best wedding party gift. The price is right, its itty bitty, good for both bridesmaids and groomsmen, and can totally be personalized in more ways than one. Personally, I would love if someone handed me this ipod shuffle:
The ipod above is just $49 at apple.com or just about anywhere ipods are sold. The 4GB below is awesome, as you can have it engraved with a name. I'll say that I am against engraving your names or wedding date on it. I do however recommend pre-loading some music they'll love. If you want to put your wedding "stamp" on it, pre-load it with songs you know will be played at your wedding. Empty ipods are boring without music (and kind of a tease).
Yeah, this is way better than a beer mug or monogrammed tote bag. Been there, done that.

It's Gettin' Hot in Here!

Sweaty shirts. Yuck. Not exactly what everyone wants to look at or see when flipping through a wedding album. Chances are that if you’re planning on having a wedding in a warm location and/or having a boogie down hour (or 2 or 3), your fellas will get a bit (or alot) sweaty in their suits.
I’ve seen more than my fair share of completely drenched male wedding party members; and I may have finally figured out a way to at least make it a little more comfortable for these guys and the photos alot more, ummmm, dry.
How about a change of clothes? Even better, make the change of clothes a gift!

Well before the wedding, purchase all the guys in the wedding party matching shirts that they can change into at the reception after all the formalities and formal photos are complete. This way they still look like members of the wedding party, because they’re all uniform; but at the same time, they are dry and feel oh so much better. Photographs will be “drier” longer into the evening, and they walk away with a nice new shirt that will always remind them of the best party they ever attended. If you want to step it up a notch, have their names or initials embroidered. Perhaps even the date.You can give each of the guys their gifts at the rehearsal dinner. To make things convenient, gift wrap the outfits in a tagged bag that is large enough to hold their suit jackets and wet shirts. Have your wedding planner take the bags and shirts after the rehearsal dinner. Then she can stash the bags under the table at each guys seat so that when they’re ready to make the change, it will be somewhere easy to find, and they’ll have a bag ready to collect all their stuff.

Spa getaway with the girls, golf retreat for the guys

Well if this isn't one of the neatest websites I've seen in a while...


Basically, with this FREE service, you can plan a group getaway, and manage everything online.




They have hundreds of locations, itineraries, and budgets to choose from. A cool option they offer- you can have hotels bid on your group trip! You can even order group "gear" like tee shirts and bags. A very funny thing they have- group mad libs. Those always made me laugh.

"Jim! I found your tie!"

So remember a few weeks back when I found tie gold mine at Solid Color Neck Ties? Well, here's another way to customize! Each of the groomsmen in the wedding are getting the ties, and since we saved so much on the ties, I was able to do a little something extra.
I took matching satin ribbon to an embroiderer, and had each groomsmens name embroidered onto the ribbon. A monogram would be even better...But I didn't have all the initials. Anyway, once I find my handy dandy sewing kit I'll attach it as the loop on the back of the tie (you know, that little loop that holds the skinny end). Voila! Custom tie, personalized gift!
Wrap it up nice and neat, and it's a cool addition to the grooms party gifts. Make sure you tell your photographer about this nifty little secret. It makes for a cute photo opportunity.

TIE-dy up that budget!

There is nothing more that I love than a great deal. A couple weeks ago I searched up and down 3 cities trying to find satin finish chocolate brown neckties for the groomsmen in one of next months weddings. I had ZERO luck. I ended up buying yards of fabric and dropping it off at a seamstress. What did I find today? A GOLD MINE. Check out SolidColorNeckties.com.
Not only are the ties extremely inexpensive, but they have about every color under the sun, and every type of tie: standard ties, skinny ties, bow ties, cross over ties. LOVE it.

A cool idea? These ties are so cheap ($3.75!!!!) you could outfit all the catering staff in your wedding colors! How awesome would that be? Just order one tie per table of guests, and you should have the appropriate number to cover the servers and bartenders. Check with your venue in advance of course.

Wedding Bells

Well how about that. I hate to be harsh, I really do. But I was so looking forward to a really funny show about wedding planners and their experiences. Boy was I ever duped by the previews.
I only laughed twice during the show, both times at the assistant who was responsible for chasing down the blonde wedding crashing twins.
I guess I am most shocked because it was so absurd. There are enough hilarious wedding stories that really happen, which could totally be exaggerated into a sitcom format, to have the show run twice daily. But nooooooo, instead they have a wedding planner sleeping with married groomsmen in broom closets, a chef seducing yet another wedding planner with Putinesca, a chain smoking bride running down the street and over a guy, and a mother of the bride faking tears with visine. And that whole thing with the bride and the band leader? Give me a break. Ugh.
Seriously, if they had just taken the Law and Order method, you know, "Ripped from the headlines", the show would have been hilarious. Somebody get me a producer.