Convertible Bridesmaid Dresses

You picked your bridesmaids for a variety of reasons. Maybe she is your sister, cousin, best friend, or best childhood friend. One thing that you didn't pick them for (I hope) is their body shape. You love all your bridesmaids regardless of their body! Although this is your big day, you still want your besties to look great and feel comfortable.

Here is the usual dilemna: Finding a great dress to flatter all your bridesmaids.
Here is the solution: Convertible Bridesmaid Dresses!

These dresses can be wrapped in a variety of styles and they don't come in definitive sizes. A warm welcome to ladies currently in-between sizes! These dresses also come in a variety of colors and lengths. With convertible bridesmaid dresses, your bridesmaids can each have a different style while still be color coordinated for your wedding.

Another huge plus: Your bridesmaids CAN wear this dress again after the wedding as a different style/dress. Love this idea!

~Monica

Twobirds. They are available in 21 colours, four lengths and two sizes - size A fits 2 to 14 and size B fits 14 to 24. 

Dessy. Twist Wrap Dress aka convertible dress! Change the wrap to change the look. Available in cocktail length, full length, or mullet skirt .

Henkaa. One Dress, two sizes, three lengths. They are available in 24 colors.

Jenny Yoo. Skirts with two convertible panels that create alternate necklines and skirt details. 

Muse One dress, over 15 ways to wear it.

Photo Credit: 1) Rock My Wedding 2) dessy 3) Wedding Party Blog 4) Unbridaled 5) musebridalwear

Thematic Thursdays: Designing Your Escort Card Table

Couples have been moving away from escort cards in the last couple of years because they feel it might be too formal for their wedding, a lot of work and extra money spent. Personally, I love finding my own escort card amongst all the guest names. It makes me feel special knowing that I was one of the guests that the bride and groom wanted on their special day.

While I agree it is extra work, planning and money to have an escort card table, it is a great way to introduce your wedding theme right when your guests arrive. The display can be any way you want it, formal or informal. After all your guests have found their escort card and the wedding reception has started, you can use this table as double duty as a dessert table, midnight snack table, or wedding favor table (for guests to pick up upon leaving for the night!)

If I have convinced you to have an escort card table, here are some inspiration ideas!

~Monica

Photo Credits: 1) Floral Design/ via: Tantawan Blooms 2) Photo by emilie inc. photography, Floral Design/ via Kate Parker Designs 3) Photographer: Barnet Photography, Florist/ via: Nisie’s Enchanted Florist 4) Floral Design by Karen Tran, Photography by Darrin Fong, via Nancy's Brown Bag 5) Floral Design by / via: Karen Tran, Photography: The Youngrens Photography.

Vera Wang 2013 Spring Collection

I heart Vera Wang. I love everything she designs. I even love her sleek black hair. Her Spring Collection has some eye poppin' color. Forget about pale pastel gowns, she went all out and went with bold color. With some confidence, any bride can pull this look off and strut their stuff down the aisle!

Wear some bold lipstick too!
~Monica

Photo Credit: Brides, John Aquino

Thematic Thursdays: Mirror Mirror

Mirror mirror, who has the fairest wedding of them all?

Mirrors are not only a princess' best friend but also an event decorator's best friend. It reflects light perfectly, enhances the mood of a room, and extends beauty through "mirror-ing." It adds instant glam and glitz to any bride's dream day! There are endless possibilities for mirrors at weddings!!

Centerpieces - Usually mirrors are paired with centerpieces and amongst candles. Recently, mirrored vases (either one mirror on each side or slits of mirrors) have been used as the centerpiece vessel.



Seating Chart - This is a unique way to show your guests where they will be seated that night and provides some wow factor right when you enter the wedding venue.



Mirrored Table - How about a special sweet heart table for the bride and groom? I am sure it will be the focal point of the entire room.



Mirrored Table Top - If an entire mirrored table is too much for your taste, maybe you can enhance your sweetheart table or guest tables with a mirrored top. Also gorgeous!



Ceremony and Aisle Decor - Breath-taking. Enough said!

Mirrored Dance Floor - The ultimate "WOW" factor at a wedding. Imagine seeing the reflection of all the happy dancing guests.



Hopefully, this post has provided some inspiration! If you come across some other uses for mirrors at weddings, do share! We love to hear all creative ideas!

~Monica

Photo Credit: 1) Outstanding Occasions via Special events 2) Kiss The Groom via Pocket Full of Dreams 3) Recycle Bride 4)  Emily Smiley 5) source 6) Design with Chon 7) Kudos Music

Wedding Graduates and Wedding Makeup Tips!

I came across a wonderful blog written by beautiful makeup artist, Jen From Head to Toe. She provides makeup tips, tutorials, and review of makeup products. In one particular post, she shares with her readers pictures from her own wedding and some of her wedding makeup tips. I thought this post was most appropriate for our Wedding Graduates section and had to share with you all. Hope these tips help!

~Monica

Here are Jen's makeup tips:
1. Stay away from glitter and shimmery makeup. You want the photos to show your face, not white reflective dots all over. This includes mineral makeup.

2. Stay away from sunscreen or anything with spf because it will give your face a white cast in photos. The only exception is an outdoor wedding. :)

3. USE PRIMERS! Urban Decay Primer Potion is always great for eyelids, and a face primer is sure to keep your face matte and looking smooth with no touch ups for longer.

4. Consider using long-wear lip colors. I used Maybelline Superstay Gloss in 160 Glass Rose.

5. If you are bent on using lipstick, first apply liner on the entire lip and then the lipstick. Blot lips on a tissue, apply a second layer of lipstick, and dust loose powder over the lips through a tissue. This will set the lipstick and make it last.

6. I recommend using all matte eyeshadows. You can get away with something with a satin finish on the lid or crease, but at least get a good matte highlight color. I used NYX single eyeshadows in white and brown, and the Revlon Colorstay quad in Copper Spice.

7. Exfoliate your skin and lips the day before so you have a smooth canvas to work on.

8. Consider using false eyelashes. They really make eyes shine in photos!

9. Buy and use a new tube of WATERPROOF MASCARA. You will cry. Other people will cry. You will cry because other people cry. Even if you don't, you still want to be safe. ;)

10. Practice! If you are doing your own makeup, you want a game plan before the big day. You'll want the least amount of surprises, trust me. If you are having a makeup artist, is really pays to have a trial run so you know what you are getting. There is nothing worse than feeling awful or self-conscious because you weren't prepared for an uncomfortable makeup artist job. Same goes for hair!

11. Go a little more dramatic than usual, but stick with a classic look that you will be comfortable with. Trendy is fun, but you want everything to stand the test of time. Just look at old 80's wedding pics! Ahhh, the hair and makeup!!!

12. Don't forget your nails. So many people will ask to see your ring and your hand will be photographed more than usual. A simple pale pink or french manicure is really clean and classy.

13. Hire an awesome photographer! Your pretty makeup and dress will all be just memories without a great photographer to capture them. Do not skimp on this, and check out photographers' portfolios before you agree for them to shoot your wedding.

14. Get plenty of sleep and drink a lot of water. You will be going at full speed so it will REALLY be needed!

15. Relax, have fun, and don't sweat the small stuff. No wedding is perfect so whatever happens, just roll with it and have a good time. :)

Photo Credits: From Head to Toe

Awesome Father Daughter Dance

You know that you father will do everything for you from the day you are born. When you are ready to get married, he will help foot the bill, walk you down the aisle, and do an AWESOME father-daughter dance with you. Check this video out. You can't help but to smile.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there including mine!

~Monica

Source: Youtube Video

Custom Artwork for your Wedding Shoes

After choosing the wedding gown of your dreams, you need the perfect pair of pumps, shoes or sneakers to go with it. Everyone knows that you need an awesome pair of shoes for those pictures where you (or your groom) lift up your gown (slightly)!

You have customized everything in your wedding to suit your personality, what about your shoes? What if you can purchase a pair of shoes and have a designer put custom artwork on it? What if you can put you and your groom's names on it and your wedding date? No more what ifs, we have found the solution for you. Figgie Shoes!

Figgie Shoes was started by Deborah (also known as Figgie) in May of 2010. Figgie Shoes offers custom hand-painted footwear for brides and gals all over the globe who just want to have something unique that's all about them!

The process is so easy! You send a booking request, complete the order form query, pay and confirm your order, and then send Deborah your shoes! This way you know your shoes will fit and are comfortable!

If you decide you order your shoes from Figgie, do share pictures with us! We would love to swoon over them with you!

~Monica

 

 

Photo Credit: Figgie Shoes

Thematic Thursdays: Unique Cake Toppers

Who doesn't LOVE cake? Choosing your wedding cake probably one of the best aspects of wedding planning. Two words: Cake Tasting! After you have chosen the cake flavour you want, you get to chose the color scheme, and icing. You will now know the difference between fondant and buttercream. The only minor stressful part of the wedding cake for some brides is finding the best cake topper for their already awesome cake. Here are some of my favorite handmade cake toppers from Etsy vendors!

(I might even buy one for my next birthday cake!)
~Monica

Photo Credit: 1) Emilie Friday 2) Dear Girl Face 3) Milk Tea by Bthanari 4) Ura Star House 5) Lollipop Workshop

Wedding Graduates: Katie and Shaughn (Part 2)

Here are Katie's wedding tips! 

I think if I were to get married all over again, the tips I would find most useful for future brides would be:

1. Stay true to you and your future husbands personalities and do what you have always wanted for your wedding day

• I learned that you can’t please everyone, and if you try it will drive you crazy in the process and you probably won’t enjoy the day that is for you and your future husband as much as you should.
• My husband and I are very outdoorsy people. We are more private and shy then some lavish weddings set you up for. The thought of being in front of tons of people with a private ceremony kind of made us both feel uncomfortable. But the fact that there was so much family to consider made us often waffle back and forth between a more traditional wedding and one we really felt comfortable with. In the end we knew where our hearts were set on getting married and we didn’t want it any other way. We hoped our families would understand and give us their blessing.

2. Outdoor weddings although sound like an easier alternative, are a lot more work than they make themselves out to be (that being the campout)

When we thought a campout reception would be a lot more stress free and laid back we were wrong.  It was on the one hand laid back and all we could have hoped for when the day finally came. However there was way more planning and expenses that we didn’t quite anticipate. So some things to take into consideration if you are planning an outdoor wedding and reception are:

• Venue. Finding the right place to hold your party, does is fit enough people, easy to get to, set up for everything you want, cost, are you camping out there, how late can you have music playing? We wanted the place for the weekend as we knew many people were traveling from far we wanted them to be able to stay and camp the weekend if they chose and be close enough for those that wanted to stay in hotels, that they could do that too. We wanted live music that would be played late into the night, so we didn’t want to be disrupting anyone either.
• Food. We wanted to feed everyone since they were coming all the way out to celebrate with us. So you have to find someone who can cook outdoors in the facility you choose. We chose a big open field. Luckily in town we have a caterer with a giant BBQ who is used to doing meals for hundreds of people.
• Tables and chairs. Seems like a no brainer, but you need a place for all you guests to sit if you are going to feed them all. We had about 150 people in the end that were coming so, that was a larger number of chairs and tables we needed to find in our small town.
• A giant tent. What if the weather doesn’t hold up? We are after all in Alberta. Tents run a varying amount in cost and size, plus you need to look at the set up of it. This was a big reason we changed the venue of ours months before because the tent was already set up in the field and we wouldn’t have to pay extra to have it set up and moved and it was big enough to accommodate all of our guests.
• Washrooms. Since it was a big field and not everyone has a camper equipped with washrooms, we needed to think about this. So we rented out some port-a-potties. Classy I know but well needed.
• Music. We had always wanted live music especially from a band in our hometown as we knew they could get everyone up and dancing, which we love to do. This spot also had a stage set up that is there all year round, another reason for the change in venue.
• Dance floor. You are in a big open field after all so the whole place could be your dance floor, however we just wanted to be sure there would be no twisted ankles tripping over holes and other such things. We found a large mat that could be laid out in front of the stage and provide a bit of a dance floor.
• Beverages. We thought it would be fun to have sort of a Tiki Bar, where drinks could be ordered and margaritas could be made (we were hoping for nice weather). So an abundance of ice needed to be brought in through out the day as it was hot out, plenty of drinks and mixes and what I loved from a previous friends wedding was the bartenders. We had friends sign up for 30-minute slots to run the bar for our guests so everyone could kind or get to know one another
• Campfire. To keep guests warm, family donated time to cut up firewood and bring a large fire pit for the whole weekend
• Garbage’s and recycling. To make clean up a breeze and keep the area clean and tidy we set up giant recycling and garbage bins all around the site. We were lucky enough to find some there at the site we could use.
• These were some of the bigger things. Then of course you need clearly labeled signage so guests can attend, decorations if need be, desserts if wanted, a bar and many more.

3. If anyone offers to help take them up on it

• I didn’t want family and friends to feel pressured to help so I never really asked for any. I did find though that most people love to help out with weddings and when they offer to help you should let them.
• I had in my head I would do most of the stuff myself to save money and not burden other people, but learned there is not enough time in a day and no point on carrying the whole load  
• So if you are a do-it-yourselfer get help and try not to take on too much sometimes it is easier to buy something than make it yourself. I may have went overboard on making my own bridesmaids dresses, party favors (jam, salsa and chutney) for all the guests, decorations, desserts, etc.

4. Be flexible

• You have to be willing to roll with the punches if you are planning an outdoor celebration because there are many things you can’t control, like bugs and weather. Just make the best of things and enjoy yourself, your guests and your new husband. If you already have in your head that not everything will run smoothly you will be better able to deal with things that pop up.                 

5. I know you hear it all the time, but don’t sweat the small stuff. It will all work out in the end and it’s not worth worrying over, just enjoy your special day

• We were really worried about how everyone would feel not being invited to the actual ceremony. Which almost made us change our plans altogether. We finally realized we could never please everyone and isn’t this day supposed to be about you and your partner? In the end we got the day we dreamed of and the people who love you want what you want so they were happy for us and they got to experience a piece of the beauty through our video. And we wouldn’t have changed it.
• We were then also really worried about the campout. Would it run smoothly, would people have a good time, would they dance, etc. All that worry prior to was not needed as there will always be some bumps along the way, but everything will turn out and as long as you are having a good time most others will too. The campout went as good or better than we could have hoped; it wasn’t perfect, but perfect enough for us. We had a great time, the weather was beautiful, we believe our guests had a great time, everyone danced and that kept the band happy, and we got to celebrate the beginning of our life together with family and friends.

Katie and Shaughn

Photo Credits: Paper Tiger Media

Wedding Graduates: Katie and Shaughn (Part 1)

Katie and Shaughn's blog post is a little longer than usual because they felt it was important for readers to fully understand their wedding vision to truly understand the wedding tips they are sharing with us. Part 1 is on their wedding vision, part 2 are their wedding tips. Enjoy!

First I’ll give you a brief idea of what our wedding was like. My husband and I got married in the summer of 2011. It was not a very conventional wedding but one that we felt expressed who we were as a couple and as individuals. We decided what could be better than getting married at our favorite hiking destination in Jasper National Park, the Tonquin Valley. We had done this hike for the past 5 or 6 summers with our families and fell in love with the natural beauty and peacefulness of it. This hike is a 18.6 km hike into the valley where a quaint lodging facility is situated. The question was how do we get our families and friends in and pull off a wedding at the same time.  We waffled over this decision but knew in the end we couldn’t see ourselves getting married anywhere else and we would just have to make it work.

So after discussing it with the lodge owners and feeling their excitement in the idea we knew we could do it. We invited a small group of just under 20 of our family and closest friends that we knew would be able to tackle our wacky wedding plan. One major factor we needed to work out was photography and hopefully even video since only a small group of our nearest and dearest would be able to make this trip in. A great friend of mine and her boyfriend recently started up their own wedding photography and videography company Paper Tiger Media based out of Edmonton, AB. So when I approached them about our idea they were thrilled and more than willing to take the trip in with us. This would allow us to share our important day with friends and family back home.

Tonquin Valley Adventures consists of a number of little cabins for sleeping equipped with bedding, a cookhouse with two large tables to eat meals at, a cabin to hang out and sit by the fire and enjoy the beauty of the area, and a small shower facility. In the summer you can hike into this backcountry lodge and enjoy great staff and a home cooked meal.

The lodge has horses that can transport in some supplies so we sent in the dress, wedding clothes, some flowers and decorations and anything we could think of needing for the big day. I found a dress online that I had not thought ahead on but was so lucky that it could be rolled up in a ball and taken in and look the same when it was unrolled. The staff with the lodge Tonquin Valley Adventures planned all the food, which was above and beyond what we could have imagined. And most importantly we found a JP willing to take the hike in and marry us.

So with everything set for a go we packed with us any essentials we may need and took the hike in for our 2-night stay in the Rocky Mountains. We were so excited to also be showing our friends and family one of our favorite places.

We arrived to a thankfully sunny afternoon, considering just a week before it had been snowing in there. The staff helped us set up the docks and move boats at the shore of Amethyst lake where we wanted to hold the ceremony. With the boys already set out fishing and the shore sort of set up for a ceremony we relaxed into the beautiful Tonquin Valley.

We planned the ceremony for mid day the next day depending on weather, the nice thing being we could be fairly flexible seeing as all of us were already out there. The morning lent itself to some last minute decorating of the docks and getting ready in our makeshift outdoor salon. The sun held out long enough for us to have the ceremony we always dreamed of, the wind even keeping the nasty mosquitoes at bay. We were able to capture some pictures before the rain and hail took over for a short bit. We nestled in by the fire before enjoying a fabulous dinner and mini dance party.

To top it all off we didn’t stop there we really wanted the rest of our family and friends who were unable to be apart of the actual wedding to be able to celebrate with us. So we decided what could be better than a big campout where everyone could come out and celebrate and watch the video from our wedding. We held a weekend campout just outside of town, with live music and a BBQ dinner the following weekend. Though it was a lot of planning, things went off without a hitch and we wrapped up our wedding week with the whole gang of family and friends.

Katie and Shaughn

Photo Credit: Paper Tiger Media

Reem Acra Spring 2013 Collection

The use of organza is amazing in the Reem Acra Spring 2013 Collection! I personally never thought organza can be so elegant. It is used as discreet coverups, sleeves, and to add shape to a gown. There are literally two looks to each gown. (Imagine it with and without the organza!) Simply Amazing!

What are your thoughts on these gowns? Too much or just perfect?
~Monica

Photo Credit: Thomas Iannacone