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Best for Bride is proud to present GRAND OPENING with Special Discounts and Absolutely FREE Wedding Planning Seminars. It’s your opportunity to meet vendors that will help you to plan a Wedding of Your Dreams.
Wedding planning is a lot of work and can be a disconcerting task. With the average wedding eating up to 250 hours; So many choices, so many decisions, a strenuous timeline and a budget that can quickly get out of hand. This is your opportunity to learn everything you need to know to plan a Wedding of Your Dreams.
Seminar is presented by a Certified Wedding Planner Debbie Savic.
Topics of Discussion: Wedding and Bridesmaid Dresses by Denise from Best for Bride) Wedding Cakes by Dianna from Yours to Savour (http://www.yourstosavour.com/) Destination Weddings by Dan from American Express Travel Services (http://www.onthekingsway.com/) Invitation Wording & Etiquette Budgets by Debbie Savic from Fresh Occasions (http://www.freshoccasion.com/) Flowers & Decor Photography & Videography DJs & Entertainment Catering Trends…and much more! by Debbie Savic from Fresh Occasions (http://www.freshoccasion.com/)
The main challenge with choosing bridesmaid dresses is in finding one that will make everybody happy. And by everybody, it means the bridesmaids, of course. After all, your bridesmaid will come in different shapes and sizes, lengths and likes!
You have to choose bridesmaid dresses that are as simple as can be in terms of fabric embellishments like ruffles and fluff to achieve a slimming effect. If you must choose puffy skirts, balance the volume with a small shawl or shrug.
As much as possible, you have to steer clear of two-tone bridesmaid dresses because these will only shorten the silhouette and hence make your full-figured bridesmaid look more, well, full-figured. Styles like halters, empire waists, A-lines, crossover necklines and bias cut skirts are ideal to accentuate full figures while hiding the flaws.
And if your bridesmaid is worried about a wide waist, then you can always let her use a darker-colored sash to slim it down. Who says that your bridesmaids must look like clones of each other?
Pear Shape
For the pear-shaped bridesmaids, you can design bridesmaid dresses that downplay their biggest flaw, no pun intended, which are their largish hips. First, opt for halters since these necklines broaden the shoulders and, hence, provide the illusion of smaller hips.
Second, necklines with pretty details can distract attention away from heavy hips. Just make sure that said neckline complements the shape of the face.
Third, the skirts must either be A-line or subtly flared or pleated/gathered at the front/back. This way, the heavy bottom will not be emphasized. If possible, design the bridesmaid dress with a cinched waist to provide more definition.
Just make sure that you don’t incorporate all these suggestion in one dress lest your bridesmaid appear confused, style-wise. Just choose one that you can both agree on.
Tall
You can opt for bridesmaid dresses that break the long lines of a tall bridesmaid. Pretty details at the hips and waist like sashes and belts will do the trick of providing definition between the torso and the lower limbs.
Depending on the bridesmaid’s choice, she can either choose to wear a tea-length dress or a floor-length gown. Either one can highlight the desirable feature of a tall girl. Just make sure though that the other bridesmaids will look as tall as she is by allowing them to wear high heels. Well, except for a beach wedding, that is.
Petite
In this instance, you have to design bridesmaid dresses that will elongate the body. This can be achieved through short skirts preferably knee-length, sheaths and fitted dresses that provide an illusion of length, dropped waist bodices for longer-looking torsos and higher necklines.
Just make sure that your petite bridesmaid does not come dressed in floor-length dresses as she will surely look like a small child playing pretend party. Keep the dress short and you will make her look tall. And high heels do help!
Again, your bridesmaids don’t have to wear identical clothes if they don’t have similar body shapes. Your friendship is more important than wrangling over the prettiest design for her!
Many a bride has found that designing bridesmaid dresses present a challenge worth taking. You have to consider many factors like differences in skin tone, body and face shape as well as personality when designing a fairly uniform bridesmaid dress that will make all the bridesmaids happy. You will soon find that choosing your own bridal dress for your beach wedding was a breeze, pun intended, than choosing the bridesmaid dresses!
Fortunately, you can keep these helpful tips in mind when deciding on the bridesmaid dress that all your beautiful ladies in waiting can wear with smiles on their faces to rival the radiance of the sun during sunrises at the beach.
Weather Conditions
Depending on the location of your beach wedding, weather conditions will vary. For example, if you get married in Florida, you can either experience a subtropical climate or a true tropical climate depending on what region of the Sunshine State you are in. And there is also a difference between being married on the lakefront and on the riverfront.
Thus, you must design the bridesmaid dresses according to the prevailing weather in the wedding locale. If you get married during the autumn, be sure to include wraps to shield your bridesmaids for the cold. If you tie the knot in summer, then tube tops and spaghetti straps are excellent ideas.
Dress Construction
The bridesmaid dresses must be made of materials that are breathable, skim the body gracefully and present a picture of ethereal beauty. Ideal textiles for this purpose usually include cotton blends, silk, satin and chiffon. Rich fabrics such as wool and velvet have absolutely no place in a beach wedding!
Also, you have to ensure that the dress construction allows for the abovementioned ideal textiles to flow smoothly over the bridesmaids’ figures. Think of the images of sea goddesses rising out of the sea with their flowing garments moving with the wind and you get the idea – no stiff corsets and whalebone skirts please!
Beach-y Length
Have mercy on your bridesmaids. Their bridesmaids’ dresses must allow them freedom of movement in the sand and sea. Of course, they are not expected to take a dip but at least they should be able to walk without restraint on the soft sandy beach!
Thus, the length of the bridesmaid dress must be ankle-length at most. Knee-length is ideal although you also have to take into consideration the wind conditions as you don’t want your bridesmaids to be holding on to their skirts to prevent peep shows from happening. Not everybody wants to be Marilyn Monroe, after all.
Minimal Embellishments
When it comes to beach weddings, the less embellishments on the dress, the better. You have to avoid formal details like beadings and sequins because these do not belong on the beach. Instead, opt for natural-looking embellishments like thin ribbons and subtle lace overlays, maybe even a corsage instead of a bouquet.
Again, designing bridesmaid dresses present a challenge for most brides. But with beach weddings less formal and more casual, your life as a bride will become so much easier.
Much is already written regarding wedding invitations – the do’s and the don’ts as well as some budget tips. Well, this article will not be in so stiff a competition against those pieces as this will only focus on the “what not to do’s” in wedding invitations.
1. Don’t forget to double check
Most of the time, your wedding invitations are printed at once – together. Therefore, if one has a tiny error, all the other invitations will have that same mistake. Still, it doesn’t hurt to recheck. You may have not noticed that one invitation has an ink smudge. Surely, you don’t want to send a partially dirty invitation to your guests.
In addressing your invitations, don’t forget to recheck if the names and addresses are spelled out correctly. There’s nothing worse than sending out a card to a friend whose name you can hardly spell. This act looks sloppy and insincere.
2. Don’t let someone with a messy handwriting address your wedding invitations.
Etiquette requires you – and any couple who is planning to get married – to hand write your invitations. This allows you not only to save on printing costs; this also makes the whole invitation gesture more personalized.
As such, it is important that the person tasked to write on the wedding invitations has a legible handwriting. If you cannot find a close friend who will fit this qualification, you can always hire the services of a professional calligrapher.
3. Don’t forget to use full names
When addressing your wedding invitations, always use your guests’ full names. While using nicknames somehow shows that have a very close relationship with your guest, you don’t want to ruin the “formality” of the event. Remember, weddings are a formal occasion – this is precisely the reason why mother of the bride dresses are as expensive as wedding gowns!
Thus, use Mr. and Mrs. Mackinley Taylor rather than Mr. and Mrs. Mac Taylor. Of course, in writing the names of your guests, use the proper titles. Know who are the doctors, the engineers, and the honourables.
4. Don’t send out envelopes with spelling mistakes
When you committed an error in the name of your guest for example, don’t scratch out that mistake. In fact, you must never send the invitation using that envelope at all. Instead, use fresh envelopes -start again. With this, it is important for you to order a few extra envelopes from your wedding invitations supplier.
5. Don’t write “and guest” on the envelope
If you don’t know who your single friend will be inviting as her date, then don’t write “and guest” on the envelope. It looks awkward. Instead, put the note inside the envelope. This gesture still connotes that you will welcome whomever she will be bringing to your wedding but you did not announce this fact to the whole world.
Wedding invites may only account for a small budget in your overall wedding financial requirements. These little cards will have lesser budget whether you are shopping for wedding dresses in Toronto or in Montreal. Still, you cannot deny the fact that their significance to the success of your wedding is inversely proportional to their size -and budget! Without them, no one would come to your wedding.
FREE Wedding Planning Seminar
Wedding planning is a lot of work and can be a disconcerting task. With the average wedding eating up to 250 hours; So many choices, so many decisions, a strenuous timeline and a budget that can quickly get out of hand. This is your opportunity to learn everything you need to know to plan a Wedding of Your Dreams.
