Wedding Trends of 2014

Last year (couldn't resist) we shared with our readers the color of the year for 2014 is Radiant Orchid. If you got engaged over the Christmas and New Years holidays, congrats!! December is the month for engagements!

Now that you are engaged, let the planning begin. If you don't know where to start with the planning process, check out the wedding trends of 2014. You don't need to follow all or any of the trends, these are to give you a inspirational starting point. Just make sure you are planning the wedding that reflects you and your fiancé's personality and you are having fun!

Contact me if you want to chat more about your wedding! I am and will become your only girlfriend that wants to hear about your wedding 24/7.

~Monica
If you like our weekly ramblings, LIKE us on our Wishahmon page too! More goes on there!

BE A BLUSHING BRIDE
Blush colored wedding and bridesmaid gowns are back on trend. Think a nude blush color and not double bubble gum pink. (I love double bubble..)

Oscar de la Renta

METALS ARE HOT, HOT, HOT
Metallics are showing up in all sorts of ways in a wedding. Whether attire, accessories, décor, or even on cakes. An ultra easy way of incorporating this trend into your wedding is giving your wedding party a wonderful piece of (gold/silver) jewelry as a thank you for being there for you.

BRING BACK THE ROMANCE
In previous years, weddings were becoming more laid back and casual. Last year, the Great Gatsby had a huge influence and inspired couples to bring on the glitz. This year, the inspiration continues and we will be seeing more opulence at weddings. Think chandeliers, candelabras, and candles. (The three C's of décor for 2014!)

 David & Sherry

BOLD IS OUT SUBTLE IS IN
The Chevron pattern was huge last year but this year you will be seeing a lot of subtle patterns such as trellis, stripes, and florals. Just because it is not "in your face" it doesn't mean it won't have an impact in your overall décor design.

 Christine Bentley

LUSH PEONIES
The peony flower is a staple for a romantic floral centerpiece. (I think it even over takes the rose for most romantic!) For an elegant floral option, you must chose a vessel that is in silver/gold/crystal. A stunning vessel will absolutely put your centerpiece over the top!

NOT HOT OFF THE PRESS
Gone are the days of printing your own invitations on your computer. Couples are now incorporating sweet details such as lace, hand drawings, and floral additions. Invitations are also getting smaller (less than 5x7" big) now too. Could this be to save on postage?

Lion in the Sun

CLASSIC UPDATES
Or updates on classic - dishes. All of the menu items that you grown up to enjoy or enjoy only at weddings are being updated for couple's weddings this coming year. This might be through the use of ingredients, presentation, or different combos.

Karen Bussen

ROUND AND ROUND
In the past couple of years, the tiered square cake was dominating the cake scene. (Sounds dramatic, I know.) This coming year, we are going back to the classic romantic look of tiers of round cake. The design is also more sleek.

 Damon Tucci Photography

NOD TO CULTURE
In relation to music selection, stay true to yourself and your culture. Play the songs that you love regardless of the venue, theme, or your guest's taste in music. Most likely, your guests will enjoy learning some new tunes from you!

Tanya Plonka

FAVORITE THINGS
As wedding favors, the favorite things to give are still edible or going to a great cause. Share your favorite small eats (truffles/macarons) or donate to your favorite cause. Either way, you are letting your guests end on a high note.

One Wed

Carisa and Richard: Wedding Design

This is part of the blog series about Carisa and Richard's wedding planning process up until their wedding on August 31, 2013. In addition to sharing with readers their love story and wedding planning adventures, insights and tips for brides and grooms planning their own wedding will also be shared!

If you have been following Carisa and Richard's wedding planning adventures on our blog, you will know they tied the knot on August 31 and have been officially happily married for a couple of months now!

Planning their wedding with them was a total blast. The actual wedding was even better. When we initially met to discuss their wedding, Carisa said she wanted a peach colored rustic wedding. Richard said he wanted red Chinese accents. In summary, we designed a fun peach colored rustic wedding with red Chinese accents. The fun aspect naturally was added. Almost every person I told at the beginning just looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Here are the pictures to prove that we totally pulled together Carisa and Richard's wedding design vision.

The pictures were taken and provided by Carisa and Richard's photographer, Fritz of Fritzology.

~Monica
If you like our weekly ramblings, LIKE us on our Wishahmon page too! More goes on there!

 

Staircase leading up to the reception area.

Ceiling Décor and Backdrop

Guest Tables

 

Head Table



 

 



If you missed the first couple of blog posts on Carisa and Richard's wedding planning adventures, you can catch up on how they got engaged, set the date, found a venue, found a marriage commissioner, found a photographer, sent out invitations, took care of out of town guests, found a DJ, found a wedding gown, found a wedding cake, designed their décor, chose their flowers and booked hair and makeup artists, drafting a wedding timeline,  final details, and day before the wedding.

4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Lose Weight for Your Big Day

Guest Blogger: Vincci Tsui, RD

Flipping through bridal magazines today, there are more and more wedding diet tips creeping in between the latest wedding dresses and accessories. Many personal trainers are offering Bridal Boot Camps for the weeks leading up to "I Do". As a dietitian, I'm often fielding requests for meal plans to help people drop those "last five pounds" to fit in their wedding dress, or to look good in their bathing suit for a destination wedding. But I'm here to argue that you shouldn't lose weight for your big day - here's why:

Diets don't work.
Diets might "work" in the sense that you might lose weight, but in almost all cases, as soon as you stop the diet, you gain the weight back… and then some. Diets don't do anything to promote health because often the focus is on the number on the scale and as soon as people go off the diet, they go back on to their old eating habits.

With that in mind, I generally don't make meal plans for my clients because they don't work - even if I was able to factor in your food likes/dislikes, lifestyle, cooking skill and nutritional needs, as life happens, things come up so that we might not stick to the plan one way or another. And then you feel bad because you couldn't stick to the plan and it just turns into a vicious circle. So don't diet, whether it's for your big day, to squeeze into a bikini or even if you "just want to try" a cleanse.

You will decrease your chances of becoming Bridezilla.
I'm not married, nor am I planning to in the near future, so reading the Wishahmon blog sometimes makes my head spin - the 18-part series of all the planning that went into Carisa and Richard's wedding? Deciding how much alcohol to buy?? I definitely admire all the hard work that couples put into their wedding to ensure that their day is memorable and that their guests have a good time!

I work with many clients who are trying to manage their weight and many describe it as a "part-time job", what with the menu planning, grocery shopping, food preparation, food journalling, physical activity and other lifestyle changes that they have to make. I can't imagine trying to do all that and choose a wedding party, say yes to the dress, pick the perfect venue, convince my fiancé to take on some of the planning duties, hire a photographer, florist, DJ, etc. etc.

Food is not just about fuelling our bodies - it's also about fuelling your brain. Restricting your intake might make it harder to cope with the stress that comes with planning a wedding, and I'm sure we've all met people on restrictive diets who always seem a little hangry (hungry + angry). Just sayin'.

You don't have to mess with the dress.
There are many soon-to-be brides who buy or alter their wedding dresses just a *little* too small so that they could lose weight into them and use it as motivation. That's a terrible idea.

Even with the clients I work with, I don't get them to set a "goal weight" because there are so many different factors that affect the number on the scale, beyond just the calories we eat. We weigh different at different times of day, at different times of the month, depending on when/what we've eaten, etc. Also, because we can't spot-reduce, losing a certain amount of weight doesn't guarantee that it'll be in the places where your dress is too tight.

It's expensive and stressful to try to get your dress altered three days before your wedding just because you didn't "make your goal weight". Just get a dress that fits the first time, because chances are, it'll look better that way anyway.

Everyone will still love you and have a good time.
When men propose to their future fiancées, they don't do it with the mindset of "OK, now she's going to go on a wedding diet and finally lose those 10 pounds!" They do it because they love you and want to spend the rest of their lives with you.

Weddings are there to bring together family and friends to celebrate two people in love - they're not there for people to guess how much weight the bride has lost/didn't lose, or who looks better in what. If that does happen at your wedding, then you're either a) inviting the wrong people or b) Kim Kardashian.

Whether you lose weight or not, your future husband will still love you, your family will still love you and your friends will still love you. Whether people are going to have a good time is not affected your weight unless you spend the entire night blabbing about it. So just let go of that extra stressor and worry about it some other time. Have a happy wedding!
 
Still not convinced?
Stay tuned for the second and third parts of the series, where I will tackle some common weight loss/dieting myths as well as give practical tips for those of you who really want to lose weight.

Vincci is a Calgary-based dietitian who loves nutritious food that nourishes. She has featured on a variety of local and national media, including Breakfast Television Calgary, Global Calgary, Fairchild Radio, Canadian Living and Best Health magazine. For more information on Vincci and her services, please visit www.vinccitsui.com.

Green Wedding Shoes

Calculating Alcohol at Your Wedding

Guys (and grooms) often cannot tell the difference between tulle or organza but they definitely know the difference between host bar, cash bar, and toonie bar. Brides often don't care too much about this aspect because it is pretty much the only thing that the groom speaks up about during the wedding planning process. Grooms don't care they have to wear a pink three piece suit in plus 30 degrees as long as they get to keep the booze flowing all night.

While it is nice to treat your guests to a host bar (meaning they don't have to pay), there is a way to calculate the damage it will make to your overall wedding budget. To get started, let’s define serving sizes:

•  1 bottle of wine = 5 servings
•  1 case = 12 bottles
•  750ml bottle of liquor = 18 servings (1.5 oz servings)
•  1 bottle = 1 serving of beer
•  1 full sized keg = 165 beers

And, the all-important basic ratio:

•  Full bar: 20% liquor, 15% beer, 65% wine
•  Beer and wine only: 20% beer, 80% wine

For a Friday or Saturday night wedding with dinner and dancing, calculate one drink per guest per hour of reception, with the understanding that some people will drink more than that, and some will drink less.

So for example, for 100 guests, for a spring or summer Saturday night wedding, with a 4:00 pm ceremony and a reception that ends at 10:00pm, that’s 5 hours. For beer and wine only:

•  100 (guests) x 5 (hours) = 500 drinks

•  500 x 0.2 = 100 beers, or 8.5 twelve-packs 

•  500 x 0.8 = 400 glasses of wine, /5 = 80 bottles of wine, /12 = 6.6 cases = I’d buy    2.5 red, 2 white, 2.5 champagne

Remember to remind your guests not to drink and drive. Identify the designated drivers at your wedding and be ready to call taxis for your guests. If your wedding venue is at a hotel, maybe consider checking some of your guests into an available room.

Always have a safe and fun wedding!

Cheers!

~Monica
If you like our weekly ramblings, LIKE us  on our Wishahmon page too! More goes on there!

Photo Credit: Dawn E. Roscoe