Thursday, May 31, 2012

Thematic Thursdays: DIY Flags for your Wedding

Flags (or bunting) is the staple of DIY weddings. It adds instant color and whimsy. Flags can be used to decorate speciality tables, ceiling, as photo props, and even cakes! You can have a uniform look with similar colors or similar sized flags, or different sizes and shapes for a fun look.

There are a variety of ways and materials that you can use to make these flags. Of course, you can buy it from Intimate Weddings through their Etsy page or you can break out the dusty sewing machine and make it yourself! Here is a tutorial on how you can make your own vintage looking flags through different fabric patterns in the same scheme.

Are you thinking of using flags for your wedding? What do you love about this look? Leave us a comment! We would love to hear your thoughts!

~Monica






Photo Credits: 1) Tamara Kuzminski 2) and 3) Stay Inspired 4) Green Wedding Shoes 5) Intimate Weddings 6) Miss Ingredient

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Honeymoon Registry

Traditionally, guests are not required to bring the bride and groom a wedding gift. Bridal and wedding showers are when gifts are accepted. It is also a taboo for the bride and groom to ask for money as a wedding gift. Proper etiquette outlines that the engaged couple can ask for specific gifts but it should be through word of mouth. Gift registries are totally ok but must be discreet.

With so many couples sharing a household before getting married, they probably already have two toasters, five frying pans, and three fondue sets. When they are planning their wedding registry, they are becoming more creative. Couples are now asking for luxury items and/or contributions to their downpayment on their dream home. 

Another new option for couples is a honeymoon registry at Wanderable. Building a Basic Registry is free and the website claims the process is so easy that couples can have their registry completed in five minutes. There is also a Premium Honeymoon Registry and Unlimited Registry for a small cost if the basic registry does not meet your needs.

With Wanderable, not only can you include in your registry the honeymoon destination but also the events and perks you would like at your honeymoon. This can include a honeymoon suite, museum tours, cooking classes, and even chocolate covered strawberries! Of course, you are not asking each guest to pay for a certain big ticket item, rather the registry is broken up into smaller costs. Like a registry you are asking for 20 contributions of $60.00 for your plane tickets to France. Totally doable and a great idea! Couples can say "Bonjour" a lot faster and easier on the wallet.

~Monica
Honeymoon-registry-free-screenshot

Photo Credit: Wanderable

Friday, May 25, 2012

Monique Lhuillier's Spring 2013 collection

Every Friday, we hope to post some swoon worthy gowns for brides to consider before they head out on the weekend with her bridesmaids to look for her dream wedding gown. It is always good to have an idea of what you absolutely LOVE, not too crazy over, and what you think will look good on you. I honestly believe that any gown looks great on any bride because she has the perfect I-am-getting-married glow!
Here are some pictures of Monique Lhuillier's Spring 2013 collection.

~Monica (Love all the bows in this collection!)

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Photo Credits: Monique Lhuillier

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bound Together: Book Themed Wedding

I totally clicked with the maid of honor of one of my brides. She suggested reading a verse from a book that she and bride loved growing up. As we started to chat some more, we learned that we might be two of the few people that have a Calgary Public Library card and actually uses it. We both agreed that you can't beat paying $12 a year and get access to a ton of books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs. We are both CPL advocates and agreed that when she starts planning her wedding, we are going to design a book themed wedding.

Here are some inspiration ideas of how this theme can be carried out. (Lots of pictures ahead!)

~Monica

Wedding Invitation and Book




Table Numbers



Decor

Flowers
6 Vintage Book Page Stem Flowers -Paper Flower -Eco Wedding -Brown and White Wedding -DIY Wedding Accessory


Wedding Favor Boxes

Seating Cards/Charts

Photo Props


Centerpieces



Photo Credit: 1) Two Upon Ten 2), 3) and 10) Wedding Wire 4) The Book Shelf Sophisticate 5) and 8)Rycrafty 6), 7) and 9) The Paper Girl 11) and 14) Jessica Claire 12) We Heart It 13) Nerd Nuptials 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Wedding Graduates: Ngoc Anh and Thinh

My husband and I have been married for almost one year. Whenever we look back at our wedding photos, I always spot things that I would change. He on the other hand, maintains it was the perfect day. Here are some my tips for a minimal-stress planning process:

Flowers for the bridal party – I would skip this even for myself. The only time the girls and I used it was for the ceremony. The flowers were in a couple of photos and that was it. I didn’t really like to carry it because I felt it covered up the nice details of my dress. 

Heels – if you can’t walk in them to begin with, skip them. I stressed myself out looking for the perfect pair of heels and in the end I didn’t wear them for that long. I ended up wearing my sneakers for the whole night and it gave it a cute look with the fancy dress.

Receiving line – We decided we weren’t going to stand at the door to greet guest but instead we walked around and mingled. It was nice to catch up with people during cocktail hour but we missed out on taking photos with all of our guests. The receiving line may seem tedious but it’s actually a nice setting to grab a photo and do small talk with every guest as they come in. 

List of important ‘must have’ photos – It was a crazy day and after we had all our photos back, I realized I didn’t have photos with our wedding party with their significant other. My husband and I didn’t have photos taken individually with each of the wedding party members. I didn’t have a picture of us with my dad. So take time to make a list of your ‘must have’ photos and give that list to your photographer and a copy to your maid of honor or someone you can trust to make sure each of those photo is captured. If your photographer is with you for a fixed number of hours, work it out so that they can capture your first dance. I had scheduled our first dance for later in the evening but our DJ recommended we do it just as dinner was about done. At first I thought that was weird but the pictures that came from that moment are amongst my favorite captures. 

Do a photobooth – we had one and the photos turned out fantastic! We had a lot of family kids at the wedding and they had a blast with. Even the older generation stepped out of their shell and created some great memories. 

Candy bar – we didn’t have a lot of kids at our wedding but the candy booth was a huge hit anyways. It was very inexpensive and it brought out the kid in all of our guests.

Ask for help – I didn’t want to bother my wedding party with the little things so I took on a lot of it myself. I ended up being overwhelmed the week before the wedding. Good thing for me, one of my younger cousins stepped up and helped me with all the DIY tasks! We had a wedding decorator that took on a lot of the bigger tasks which was really helpful. I had the ideas, I just didn’t know how to execute it. 

Be decisive – I changed a lot of details as the wedding date approached. Some of the details were changed because the original idea took to long to complete or we didn’t have patience. I didn’t want to fight the week before the wedding so I gave in to making some things simpler. It wasn’t a huge deal but now when I look back, I wished I had been more firm with some my choices. 

It’s okay to say ‘no’ – When I was planning the wedding, a lot of people told me that during this time, the family can be very persuasive and overly involved in the process. You have to realize you cannot make everyone happy. It is your day after all. I knew I didn’t want the wedding to be over and have the feeling that it wasn’t really our wedding. We were firm at the beginning with the amount of guests our families were allowed to invite. We went with a much smaller venue so that it couldn’t be compromised. 

Asian traditions – Like most Asian couples, we had to do a tea ceremony for our families. I would highly recommend that if you can (meaning your parents are easy going or you are really firm) do the tea ceremony on a separate day – like the weekend before. We did ours on the same day. The girls and I had to wake up at 4am to do hair and makeup so that we would be ready for a 9:30am ceremony. We were all tired and running on coffee and a light breakfast. The morning just whizzed by us and right after we were whisked off for photos with the photographer. I don’t think our families would’ve minded if we did the tea ceremony on another day. We just didn’t think to put it out there. It would’ve allowed us to have a good amount of sleep and not be rushed through the photo sessions and most importantly, lasted longer during the dancing part of the evening. 

Water and snacks – keep a cooler full of water in the all cars traveling with the bride and groom especially for summer weddings. You are constantly on the move so keep yourself hydrated. Have simple snacks like nuts and crackers for the wedding party. It’s easy to eat and it won’t ruin your make up. 

It’s better to not have enough then to have leftovers – when we ordered the cupcakes for our wedding, I was constantly worried that we wouldn’t have enough. In the end, we had about half of the cupcakes left. In our case, it was an Asian wedding done at a western place. We did a buffet reception. For the older generation, it’s not common for them to self serve therefore, after dinner, they barely left their seats. We had the cupcakes at the front of the room so they did not help themselves to the dessert. We also didn’t have the staff walk around passing it around. If you are thinking about doing cupcakes and you know your guests are not ‘self-servers’ maybe think about having it passed out. 

Simplicity – you can keep yourself stress free if you keep things simple. Having simplicity in your theme does not make your wedding any less grand. We focused our money and our energy into areas that were most important (wedding attire, photography and food). In other aspects, we had the mantra of “no one sees the little details except you” so why spend so much energy on it? That mantra really helped us stay grounded and it made our wedding all about us and not what was around us. 

Note cards – we didn’t have a guest book. Instead I had made cards the size of regular business cards out of cardstock I bought for really cheap at Michael’s. I stamped our names on it and had little flowers cut out. We had a table set up off to the side between the entrance and the bar and our guests were able to write a little note to us without feeling rushed. It was nice to read all the lovely thoughts from our guests. Plus, the little kids enjoyed it so much we had multiple cards from each of them filled with great pictures of the day so far- a lovely surprise. 

Schedule – make a detailed schedule and pass it to the members of your wedding party and your family. This way everyone will know the times of all the events throughout the day. Have one person, like your maid of honor, be the time checker. My matron of honor did an amazing job and our day went on smoothly.

Make your own rules – just because it’s the ‘norm’ doesn’t mean it is right for you. Just because it is tradition doesn’t mean it fits with your vision. Don’t let what mainstream dictate is ‘right’ to alter your decisions. I didn’t do a traditional Asian 10-course dinner or do a change of outfits during the reception or do plated dinners. But in the end, we were happy and that is what matters. 

Though I say there are things I would change, they’re not big enough to make me regret any choices I made for the day. I would have to say, I did not have any stress on the day of the wedding. I had so much fun with my family and friends. I cherished the thought that every time I looked out to the crowd, I knew each person and why they were there. I hope these tips helped you.

~Ngoc Anh and Thinh





Photo Credits: Sarah Pukin Photography

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Thematic Thursday: "Framing" Your Wedding

I love picture...frames. I think that a really nice picture frame can transform what it is put inside a picture frame. On one of my travels to Asia, I got a really awesome shopping bag and I got it professionally framed. Everyone that comes to my house comments on it and says it is a great idea. (I don't actually ask what they "think" of this idea!)

Picture frames can be used so many different ways in a wedding as well. The most conventional use is to have engagement pictures of the couple at the guest sign in table. Some other uses include using picture frames for table numbers and as a seating chart. Here are some “think outside of the frame” ideas that I hope will be incorporated into some future weddings! Enjoy! 

~Monica

1) Use Frames as Props with your Professional Portrait Session


2) As Backdrops and Focal Points






3) As Wedding Decor




4) Table Decor


5) Photo Booth Props




Photo Credits: 1) Artfelt Photography 2), 3), 4)  Style Me Pretty 5) Wedding By Color 6) Blush Botanicals 7) and 8) Elizabeth Anne Designs 9) Kiss the Groom 10) Lovely Girls

Friday, May 11, 2012

Carrie's Vivienne Westwood Gown (SATC)

I started watching Sex and the City about four years ago. Once I started, I couldn’t stop! I bought the entire series on one receipt. When SATC came out with a movie, I watched it in the theatre, bought it on DVD, watched it at least three times a year and every time it is on tv.

I think the movie is about love and friendships but I am always mesmerized by the wedding gowns that she tried on. Carrie ultimately chooses the Vivienne Westwood (or Ms. Westwood chose her.) To all the brides out there looking for her dream gown, which dress would you chose if given the same choices by all these amazing designers? (Sorry for the poor quality pictures. If you watched the movie, you will have a clear image of the gowns already!)

My choice would be the Vera Wang! (The first one)
~Monica






Photo Credits: New Line Cinema

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