Manolo for the Brides

We love weddings around here. We also tend to assume that by the time you come here, you’re probably involved somehow in a wedding (I know it isn’t always the case, but the majority of the time that’s why people are looking for bridal blogs in the first place). We further assume that you know your own mind and heart. The fact remains, though, that most of us at some point in the wedding process wake up in a cold sweat wondering what the holy heck we think we’re doing.

In the vast majority of cases, this is just jitters over a major life change. Many of us have experienced the same feelings over a significant move, applying to grad school, buying a house or car, or even a really drastic haircut. It’s human nature to panic a little over new experiences, and the bigger the change the more likely it is to induce a small freakout or two. The less comfortable you are with being the center of attention, the bigger the panic is likely to be.

Since getting married is a pretty huge change that puts you squarely in the spotlight, the psyche can go a little nuts in the short haul.

Every once in a while, though, it’s not just a momentary worry over doing something really unusual. Sometimes there’s something more serious going on. So how do you tell if you’re just on edge about standing up in front of everybody making a huge life-changing move in public, and how do you tell if it’s your inner compass telling you that you’re headed in completely the wrong direction? Read on and find out.
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This is one of the most contentious questions in wedding planning, for some reason. I’m really not quite sure why it makes so many otherwise perfectly reasonable people froth at the mouth and arm themselves with the verbal equivalent of thermonuclear devices. It’s just a question and there honestly is no universally right or wrong answer to it. Even Miss Manners et al agree that it is perfectly proper to make either decision.

And yet one side claims that allowing children in the door is tantamount to turning your wedding into Romper Room, leading to social disgrace and a miserable married life while the other side claims that anyone who wants a kid-free celebration hates all children and therefore has no business getting married.

Both sides have blown the thing entirely out of proportion. That’s right, I said it and I stand by it. I’ve been to a metric buttload of weddings in my day, and you know what didn’t determine whether or not it was a nice wedding? Whether or not children were invited. On this question, I am Switzerland… and a Switzerland that feels way too many other countries are being entirely too overwrought to make much sense.

The fact is, there are plenty of reasons to make either choice that do not include failing to take your wedding seriously or hating children. Even if you do have a preference for the less adult things in life or really do think children should be put into stasis from birth to age 21, it’s really your decision. You get to make it, and it’s okay.

But what if you’re not sure which way to go on this one? How do you decide? Take a look after the cut and see.
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How cute are these itty-bitty bottles of soda with custom labels? Mike 78 recently posted an easy-peasy DIY pop bottle tutorial – with pics! – over at 100 Layer Cake. She suggests using them as reception seating cards, but brides and grooms could bottle just about anything (juice, cider, champagne, local water, etc.), slap labels on them per her instructions, and give them away as wedding favors. Maybe not for a chilly wintertime wedding, but imagine how grateful your guests would be to find themselves in possession of an ice cold drink custom made by you at your outdoor summer wedding or unseasonably warm springtime affair!

Yes, you read that right. I’m talking about cake hats. For those who want to top their wedding cakes with something other than the usual bride(s) and/or groom(s) statuettes, sparkle monograms, and anthropomorphic animalia, Alison Dawson of Toronto, Canada founded Chapeau de Gateau.

Dawson creates custom cake hats using the finest quality Mokuba ribbon, and each wedding cake topper is made with the couple’s wedding colors or theme in mind. Or, if you already have a cake design in mind, I’m thinking you could have a ribbon model of your wedding cake created in miniature. (Put a hook in it and you have a keepsake decoration — I’m thinking a wedding cake on your Christmas tree.)

I definitely don’t hate cake hats, since they’re rather pretty and you’re not going to see them on every other wedding cake. I do think they’re a bit silly, but these are wedding cakes we’re talking about here. How dignified can a cake possibly be? Conversely, how much will a wedding cake’s innate dignity suffer if you put a little fancy hat on it? My guess: Not much.

What say you?

Remember Omnibus Driver? She wrote to ask a favor of us and it’s such a little thing that I think we should all do what she says (and no one gets hurt).

Please spread the word among your readers about this effort to help out a Chicago police officer who was paralyzed in the line of duty and the lovely lady who has been the rock by his side every step of the way. Come on! Help them get the wedding of their dreams!

Here’s the skinny: Densey and Mary want to win the Ultimate Wedding Contest. Yes, they’re already married, but they never had their dream wedding and now medical bills have pretty much made it an impossibility.

On May 27, 2009, my fiancé Densey, a Chicago Police Officer, was paralyzed in a head-on collision while responding to a burglary call. He was in a coma for four weeks, but we were married in the hospital when he awoke. Almost a year later, Densey grows stronger daily, but our lives are forever changed. With mounting medical bills, we can’t think about our dream wedding on a beach in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Densey has a machine that helps him stand for 30 minutes. To see him waiting for me, words cannot describe the feeling that would give me.

Here’s a pic of Densey and Mary:

You can vote for Densey and Mary here. Yes, you have to create an account, but it doesn’t cost anything and I think if anyone is deserving of a dream wedding, they are. Or just do it because Omnibus Driver is a cool chick.

When I was small, grape hyacinths were my absolute favorite flower. They grew in abundance in our neighborhood, and I routinely found myself in trouble for picking them in neighbors’ yards. As tiny as grape hyacinth blossoms are, I never really considered how they might be used in wedding flowers like bridal bouquets and reception centerpiece arrangements. Until, that is, I came across a beautiful photo of a grape hyacinth and paperwhite bouquet created by Flowers by Paula Cosgrove in the hands of a bride.

Pretty sweet, yeah? I love the delicacy of the flowers in the bouquet, and especially how they contrast with the thickness of the base of the bouquet. I was inspired to look for more grape hyacinths being used in weddings and, while there’s not much out there in terms of photographs from real weddings (since it’s not the most popular choice), I did find some imagines that you may find inspirational.

What do we have here? Have a look (in a clockwise direction):

1. Grape hyacinths in a recycled clementine container from Real Simple – this would be such an easy DIY centerpiece at a semi-rustic wedding!
2. Grape hyacinth invites from The Botanical Concept
3. A bouquet of naught but grape hyacinth In Style Weddings
4. A bright and colorful grape hyacinth centerpiece in tin from BHG
5. Grape hyacinth boutonnieres by Belle Fleur of New York
6. And grape hyacinth wedding favors laid out on table settings

When I went searching on this very blog for the overlap between weddings and wood (get your mind out of the gutter!), I did not think I’d find as much as I did. We all know that trees give their lives so that we can have wedding invitations that look like wood, but how about wedding invitations that actually are wood, like those from Oslo Press? From there, I found:

• flowers made of wood
• wood wedding cake toppers
• ring “pillows” cut from wood
• wood-covered guestbooks
• and wooden wedding bands

I never did think I’d see a wedding cake of wood. It’s not real wood, of course, but according to Melody Brandon of The Sweet and Saucy Shop, the bride and groom wanted it to look as much like real wood as a cake possibly could.

I’d say that she certainly captured the essence of real wood in this most unusual wedding cake. There were other cakes and sweets at the wedding, so the wood wedding cake isn’t all that big, but there’s a part of me that wants to think of it as being, oh, about as big as a pile of railroad ties.

With this level of detail, wouldn’t a giant wood wedding cake be ridiculously impressive? If not a bit odd to dig into…

To start off the week, I wanted to feature some pics from a wedding designed by the awesome and amazingJesi Haack. I’m pretty sure that if a genie came to me and told me I could go back in time to attend three wedding, this would be one of them. It just looks like it was so much fun, and how often can you really say that about a wedding?

The venue was in L.A., and the bride and groom really worked the whole Hollywood angle to good effect. Think movie posters as reception table names and centerpieces.

Here’s where I simply must ask how many brides would be brave enough to hang their wedding gowns on a street sign for a photo op? Maybe the same kind of bride who rocked the karaoke mic at her reception?

I know, I know, more deets. How about this: A vintage ticket booth served up the seating assignments! I’m not sure who the kid is, but what a cool way to include him in the wedding!

L.A., you crack me up. Apparently there was no shortage of photo opportunities involving freaky-deakies. Props to the bride and her maids for taking advantage of the scenery — these are the kind of wedding photos that memories are made of, not boring posed shots in vestibules.

Oh, and I have to mention that the bride did a choreographed dance to “All The Single Ladies” in lieu of a bouquet toss. I know there’s some debate over whether wedding guests should have to sit through dance numbers, but everyone in this video seems to be enjoying it!

Weddings are usually expensive things. It’s true that you can get married for the price of a marriage license and the fee for the officiant, but most people want to have a party, too. Most of us want to have pretty dresses, flowers, good food, photographs, music, rings, and all the other trappings that go with getting married in modern society.

The thing is, trappings cost money. It can be amazing how much money these trappings cost once you start looking at price tags. You may be lucky enough to have plenty of cash to cover all your dreams. If so, fantastic! Enjoy! On the other hand, you may discover that getting everything you would like will leave you hugely in debt.

So what to do? Look for the most painless ways to cut costs possible.

See, the thing about weddings is that vendors all think their product is the single most important part of the experience, and most of us have so little experience with organizing weddings that we don’t know our priorities going in. We assume that bigger floral arrangements, bigger diamonds, designer labels, and more elaborate transportation will automatically make the day better or that people will think less of us if we don’t have all the trimmings.

The fact is, though, that most of the trimmings are just that: trimmings. They’re optional. They’re possibilities rather than marching orders. If you keep that in mind, it’s easier to figure out what is extraneous in your world.

Here are a few suggestions for things that can be drastically cut or entirely eradicated without dimming the excitement of the day or inconveniencing your guests.
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