Wedding Advice – Page 10 – St. Simons Wedding Planner

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Definition: Bengaline

Featured, Wedding Advice

Apple Green Bengaline from BBJ Linen

ben·ga·line (bngg-ln) n. A fabric having a crosswise ribbed effect made of silk, wool, or synthetic fibers.

[French, from Bengale, Bengal.]

Putting a modern edge to decor is always fun. Bengalines help you incorporate the soft feel of a fabric, with your choice of sheen or matte, without splurging on other costlier linens like lamours. It’s ribbed texture is a nice difference from a lamour, but is not a knit fabric, but a woven one. Bengaline is used in everything from wedding gowns to linens to tent lining.

:: photo = apple green bengaline from bbj linen ::

The Man and His Ascot

Terrica Talk, Wedding Advice, Wedding Sugar

Ascots are coming back into fashion this year—can you picture your Mister in one?

They are absolutely stunning—especially when paired with vests and/or long jackets. The look, as seen on Joshua Jackson, has a certain air and style that cannot be achieved with a classic bowtie or long tie. They are tres sexy and European. His Luxeness can rent his ascot if he would like, or purchase a silk one from such places as Forzieri Italia (be sure to sign up for their newsletter to receive 5% off!). If you do purchase it, why not personalize the inside of it with his initials or a love note from you. There are several styles and colors that will very well complement the wedding theme you have chosen and its colors.

Also, be sure to practice, if you do decide to purchase or rent!

Your Name in Lights

Wedding Advice

Now who doesn’t love that!?

Cruising around the blogosphere, I found these wonderful lights from Perch on the decor8 blog. They start at $110 each, but can be customized to form words up to six letters or less (you can also make two to put more words together if necessary). These are awesome for weddings with a modern chic twist and looking to do something different from the monogram. Of course, you’ll have to discuss this with your venue, but the perk is that you can always take it with you for your new home!

:: photos from perch ::

Me, You and Your Cocktail Hour: Romance Style

St Simons & Jekyll Island Weddings, Terrica Talk, Wedding Advice, Wedding Sugar

With today being Valentine’s Day, you may be looking to take the romantic atmosphere to your cocktail hour. If you want your wedding to be reflective of your love, passion and adoration for one another, don’t just incorporate it into your design…share some with your signature drink and hors d’oeuvres. With the sensual flavors of chocolate and champagne, these are sure to be a hit!

Hors d’ouevres:

Grilled Shrimp with Cocoa-Nib Romesco Sauce

With rich chocolate and nutty flavors, partnered with the fusion of roasted pepper are a succulent mix of flavors to seduce the palate.

Full Recipe

Signature Drink:

Passionate Kiss

2 oz. Intrigue (a mixture of vodka, XO Cognac and passionfruit juice)
2 oz. Champagne
Serve in champagne flute

Operation Recessionista Series {$5000 Bridal Bailout}: The Cake

Wedding Advice

This week, we’ll look at your cake. We only have $150 allotted for the cake, according to our budget. For this example, we will act as if we have exhausted all our other funds in other areas. However, if you have saved money in other areas—like we did for reception or invitations, you can take that money and add it to your cake budget. I know $150 doesn’t seem like a lot. But with an invited guest list of only 50 people (MAX! I can’t stress this enough), more likely than not, you may have a little less show, which of course will work to your benefit.

Talk to a local baker about their smaller wedding cakes. Many make “elopement cakes” that will be enough for your guests. A small, simple two tiered cake will be just enough for your family and friends. You can also ask if they can create a cupcake order, which you can set up decoratively on a cupcake tower. Towers are available for rent or you can purchase them. Check out these greats by Pink Cake Box.

You may also opt for a cake from a supermarket chain like Publix. Cakes like Gentle Touch or Lovers for a Lifetime (flowers and topper not included) are great places to start your search. All of the cakes can be sized to fit your amount of guests. Ordering is easy, and you can fill out most information online to take to your local store. Their designs may not be very elaborate, but the cakes are affordable and taste good.

So instead, if you have negotiated or allotted for desserts with your meal, get a cake for only 50-75% of your guests. Even if you do not do an additional dessert, you may want to opt for a cake for 75% of your list. You may want to sacrifice design for taste and add fillings and icings, or eliminate them altogether to cut cake costs.

Gilt By Association

Wedding Advice, Wedding Sugar

You are going to see a lot of gold in 2009. It’s vintage elegance will be the new bling of the year. Gold can be a rich (pardon the pun) color, and when paired with texture, it can create quite a refined look. However, if overdone, it can look gaudy—and what was once your subdued elegant event is now the Mr. T of weddings.

Not fabulous.

How to Get It Right

Gold is powerful—its opulence should be used sparingly to get the full effect. You could opt for gold bridesmaid dresses to add color, like these from Impression Bridal (styles 16377 and 1642). They aren’t a brassy, overpowering gold. Instead, they are a soft gold. But if you did use these and went with gold laced decor, it would lose its meaning and appear overdone.

Linens

If you go gold, incorporate some texture, like BBJ’s Golden Shantung. It’s rich texture really does the color justice. You could also use gold sheer overlays to soften some colors or liven up a drab white or ivory standard linen, all the while, adding a hint of your “gilty” pleasure.

If you opt for a solid gold satin, bring out the color by using a patterned linen of another color. For example, BBJ’s Ivory Deauville would be amazing over a solid gold lamour. If you really want to “do it up”, you could also check out their Gold Deauville;with its hint of deep red, you can really luxe up your linens.

Decor

Depending on your color scheme, you could take full advantage of a gold base by adding regal colors such as reds or purples. All white flowers can also have a rich but subtle effect. Incorporating golden containers, candelabras, candlesticks, chargers, lined glassware, etc. are other ways to play up this opulent theme. Gold chiavaris are also a great way to add opulence to your decor. Even if you find yourself loving the idea of gold, but don’t want to fully commit your linens (or budget), look for gold runners which can be custom-made or rented to match your theme.

Tying in the Other Details

With edible gold leaf and powders, you can take your affinity for the precious metal to a new level with your signature drink and cake. Adding gold touches to your wedding cake is a sure fire way to go from bridal dessert to work of art. The same can be said for your signature drink. At last year’s Governor’s Ball, Patron served 4000 of their very own siggies—the Patron Red Carpet. What was this divinity in a glass? Red raspberry tequila drenched in gold (ok, just rimmed in gold—but “drenched” sounds so luxe.) You can find a video of the recipe at the above link.

Recap:

Don’t over do it! You don’t gold to compete with your design, but complete it.
Remember the details—this could be something as small as chargers and flatware. Little things make a big impact.
If you feel like you’ve over done it, you probably have. Scale back a bit and see if your vision is still being conveyed.
Go luxe or go home 🙂

Operation: Recessionista Series {$5,000 Wedding Bailout} :: Ceremony and Reception Venue

Featured, Wedding Advice

So, you have only $5000 for your entire wedding budget. Can you still have everything you want? Everything you need to have to pull off a beautiful event? With Operation: Recessionista, we’ll show you how to approach your planning, budget and overall event vision, without compromising your special day or having to rely on family and friends to get things done. Instead, we will rely on ingenuity, DIY, With each Operation: Recessionistasegment, we will form a budget with you, break it down and give you suggested resources to make it fabulous.

This week, we will talk about your venues.

Ceremony

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Budget: $250

Look for places that will require minimum expense. While you want to preserve the solmenity of the ceremony itslef, also recognize that this is where a maximum of 45 minutes will be spent of the entire day. Of course talk to your pastor or administrator at your place of worship. They may be able to give you a deal that is within your budget. Research places owned by your county, city or state. Depending on your area, you can get a very nice site without breaking the bank. As your officiant’s fee also has to come out of this section, you may be best suited in finding free locations. Think of public parks with scenic fountains or nooks; you could also try for beaches or municipal buildings. Consider cutting the time of your prelude—you won’t be having that many guests (remember, we agreed on a small number) and it will help cut down on the time of your rental.

Whatever you do, don’t think you’re going to go to any location and accidentally on purpose get married. It does happen, and those couples do get kicked out. Don’t think you can just show up at a private location (hotel lobby, for example) and get married with your guests in tow. Some locations require a permit, so be sure to take this into account when budgeting. If you decide to use a justice of the peace, they too, can offer suggestions in your area for low-cost, but meaningful locations.

Reception

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Budget: $2250

For your reception, look for a private room at an exclusive restaurant. The ambiance is already there, it may need just a little extra—like candles, linens or flowers. Depending on whom you choose, some of these may be made available to you. You will find the service personalized and the setting extremely private and intimate. Most will have a minimum of $2000 in order to take your event, but with your current budget, it is doable. Since we are looking to accommodate a max of 50 people, we will be able to do more for them than 100+ family and friends at the VFW.

Look to negotiate your hours; with minimal people in your party, try to roll in the pricing for alcohol. Pay by the drink if you do not have heavy drinkers, otherwise, negotiate one drink per person that is served with dinner (if they ask for additional libation, instruct your servers to announce that “Unfortunately, the bar is closed”). Another option to handling the alcohol issue is to print up menus (the cost of these can be rolled into your dinner or into your miscellaneous budget). Some restaurants are happy to do this gratis, so be sure to ask. Of course, you can save even more by eliminating alcohol altogether. To avoid any confusion with food choices or extra expenditures, your menu should list the items you have chosen for the meal. Consider if you would like to offer a dessert after your dinner or just use your cake instead.

Let’s total it out for a dinner offering no dessert or alcohol(note these are prices averaged from different establishments that offer private dining):

Soup or Salad– $4.95
Entree– $23.95
Beverage–$2.50
_______________________

Total(including a tax rate of 6% and gratuity of 30%) : $40.32 per person

$40.32 per guest @ 50 guests: $2015.88

You still have some money to play with (almost $5 per person) to upgrade something on your menu.

Next week, we’ll talk flowers!

Operation: Recessionista Series {$5,000 Wedding Bailout} :: Invites

Wedding Advice

So, you have only $5000 for your entire wedding budget. Can you still have everything you want? Everything you need to have to pull off a beautiful event? With Operation: Recessionista, we’ll show you how to approach your planning, budget and overall event vision, without compromising your special day or having to rely on family and friends to get things done. Instead, we will rely on ingenuity, DIY, With each Operation: Recessionista segment, we will form a budget with you, break it down and give you suggested resources to make it fabulous. This week, we will talk about your invites.

Invites
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Budget: $200

Everything about your wedding will be intensive upon your guest list number. When you are working with only $5,000, you should look to keep your guest list numbers low. To be completely honest—ditch the ego and the need to show off. There is no way you can have a wedding with all of the laced details with this amount of money without something missing something. That being said, our hypothetical guest list is no more than fifty people. Just because you have a budget of $200, doesn’t mean you cannot have gorgeous invites. Enter: BRIDES Chocolate Pocket Invites. Created by BRIDES (yes, the magazine people!) and sold at Michaels stores nationwide, the kit is all you need: beauty without breaking the bank. It comes with:

Includes printable invites, response cards, ribbon, jackets, address labels and seals to make 30

Response card and envelope fits in invite jacket

Just "wrap" invite in ribbon jacket, seal, label and send

The kits retail for $34.95 apiece, but can be scored for much lower if you are able to find a Michaels coupon. There are other colors in this same design: Black and White and Silver and White (note that you can get different styles as well for a similar price). You can print these out and and they will be a great touch with your wedding. Try to find some standard colors and add your own signature color—replace ribbon if necessary. For other beautiful DIY invitations that are also in this same price range, try Target, who also carries a retail Jean M line. Another one of my personal favorites are Uniquity Invitations. These beautiful templates allow you customize them your way, just be sure to price out your paper and envelopes to stay within your budget. Depending on your left over budget or what you decide to do for your invites, you may choose to forego the save-the-dates.

Let’s total it out:

BRIDES invites $34.95 x 2; inc any taxes: $74.95

Canceled 2 oz Stamps x 2 books of 20, inc. taxes: $12.80 (We say only 40 stamps, as we will assume that some of your guests will be invited as couples)

Canceled 1 oz Stamps x 2 books of 20, inc. taxes: $16.93 (see above)

Wedding Photo Thank You Cards (set of 50) inc. taxes: $23.98

Ink Cartridges (if needed) inc. taxes: $23.98

______________________________________________________________________

Total: $152.64 Remaining budget: $47.36

Stay tuned for next week, when we talk about your ceremony and reception sites.

Celebrity Beauty for Your Wedding Day

Terrica Talk, Wedding Advice

As you snatch every picture out of all of your bridal magazines for ideas of hairstyles, bouquets, menus, etc., don’t leave your makeup in the dust! Even for those brides who do not wear makeup frequently, you can benefit from this practice. I’ll share with you some of my most recent favorite celebrity looks that will keep you looking fresh, glamorous and natural.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

I am not sure of the artist who did Hayden Panettiere’s makeup for this event, but it is absolutely flawless. I love the subtle glow she has to her base, and how the playful blush of her lips enhance her eyes. A beautiful look for your wedding day!

Here is similar look on Jada Pinkett-Smith. I love this look and chose it because even though it is very close to what Hayden Panettiere has on (above), it shows that women of color can benefit from bronzing and neutral color lips. As you can see, Jada even extended her bronzer to her shoulders for her beautiful shirred ivory décolletage dress. Fabulous.

Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage.com

Eva Mendes’ look is very soft and feminine, but the lining and highlighting under the eyes and jaw steps up the glamour for her. Some pastel shades work really well with different complexions, so try out a few to avoid the “easter egg” look.

Christina Aguilera, aside from Dita Von Teese, is one of the few stars that I think can pull off the Old Hollywood look effortlessly. In this Stephen Webster ad, you see that instead of bronzing, the artist used a pearlized base along with other frosty tones for the eyes. In addition to the perfectly lined eyes (more likely than not with liquid liner) and extended lashes, the lips are drenched in deep color. As the polar opposite of Jada and Hayden’s looks here the mouth was played down to accentuate the eyes, Christina’s look emphasizes and enhances her mouth and its shape. Gorgeous.

Halle Berry is quite possibly one of the most beautiful women in the history of anything inhaling and exhaling. I think this minimalist look on her is perfect because it brings out all of her features, but is also great for those women who are afraid of “not looking like themselves” on their wedding day. If you feel like this, make sure you tell your artist to play up your features and stick with complementary, neutral shades.

I hope you enjoy and that it sparks some ideas for your bridal beauty! Remember to take into account the time of day of your wedding, your location (i.e., indoor vs. outdoor), lighting (lest you want to appear garish or wiped out) and your theme ( you cannot show up looking like a glamour girl at your extremely casual wedding). Your artist will help you take this into consideration along with your complexion, eye and hair color.

Cocktails and Details Virtual Soiree: Look Who’s Coming!

Company News, Wedding Advice

I am blessed to know so many phenomenal people in the industry– awesome individuals that are creative, inspiring and genuinely care about their clients and their work. Because of the wonderful blogosphere, brides have access to so many talented planners across the country. We are hosting a virtual party to allow brides to get to know and gain advice from some of their favorite wedding bloggers on an intimate level.

Look who’s coming to party with us on December 4th!

Liene from Blue Orchid Designs. A passion for life and giving has taken Liene all across the world– and she uses her unique experiences to help brides create beautiful, yet meaningful weddings. In addition to the Blue Orchid Blog, Liene also splits her time to her other business, The Smart Planner. The Smart Planner helps wedding planners hone and develop their skills so that they run a more effective and successful business. Her expertise has been sought out by such publications such as Phoenix Bride and Groom, Conde Nast Portfolio, Arizona Weddings and CNN. Liene resides in Phoenix, Arizona and also has offices in DC and New York.

Andria Lewis of Andria Lewis Events. Andria’s love for life is showcased in every one of her events. Her no-nonsense style ensures that they are run with military precision, but her passion for clients is what brings out the beauty of their love. When you meet Andria, you instantly feel like you are talking with an old friend and feel comfortable entrusting your event to her. It is in good hands too– Andria’s eye for detail and color have been documented in issues of Midsouth Southern Bride and Commercial Appeal. You can find Andria’s excitement and advice on her blog, The Planner Pages and in Memphis, Tennessee and surrounding areas.

Aletha Vandermaas of Pearls Events. Aletha’s fresh perspective and eye for design have made her one of this year’s best up and coming wedding planners in the industry. She has completely infused her experience in the bridal, service and corporate business industries with her love for weddings and created a company that has excited brides all across Michigan and the United States. Although, she has been featured in Brides Michigan and The Knot Michigan, nothing shines brighter than Aletha’s smile and her desire to make one couples wedding day the most beautiful day in their lives. Aletha’s sound advice can be found at The Pearls Events Blog while she can be found in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Isis Petrie of Posh Events, LLC. Isis combines two parts of her life to maintain one of New Jersey’s hottest event planning firms: she’s a self-professed social butterfly and an accountant by trade. Isis’ clients are assured that they will have the party that is the event of the year but also fiscally responsible. Isis accentuates the luxury and personalities in all of her client’s events– making each a unique party experience. She’s been a contributing expert for the Courier Post and also featured as one of Impulse Magazine’s “35 under 35” successful young business persons making a difference in their community. In addition to setting trends, Isis also sits on the board of the Southern New Jersey chapter’s networking group for the Association of Bridal Consultants. Destination…Soiree is a virtual extension of Isis’ creativity and talent, while she, in reality, can be located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Want to join these fabulous ladies around the cocktail table and get help for your wedding? You can still get invited! Email us at blog {at} fabuluxeinc.com and we’ll get you on the guest list!