Unity Table Decor

This would look amazing on a unity table:

Plan the Best Bridal Shower

Bridal showers can be one of two things: either a lot of fun or a pain to plan. Weddings are supposed to be enjoyable not stressful, even for the bridal party. In order to make your bride’s very own party go as you envision, follow these steps to create a worry-free planning process.

23-year-old maid of honor, Jaime Bowen, has been in many weddings before. So when planning for her best friend’s bridal shower, she knew the routine. I asked her what the first few things a maid of honor must do when planning a bridal shower and she said, “of course first we pick the date and then the place to have it. After that we meet with the cake decorators and pick out our favorite, making sure it is scheduled to be picked up.”

Jaime and the bridesmaids wanted this cake to look like a wedding cake but still match the colors of the shower.

Jaime had some good ideas, but notice she said “we” plan. If you are the maid of honor, one of your main jobs is planning the bridal shower, but you do not have to go it alone. Call together the rest of the bridesmaids and ask them to help you out with both the planning process and the expenses. Most of the time, the bridesmaids want to be included in all of the processes.

It is a good idea to divvy up the pre-shower duties amongst the bridesmaids.

Theses bridesmaids decided to dress to match the shower. It is another fun way to add the colors to the room.

Next, after all of the bridesmaids have agreed to pitch in, get together and think about the theme you are going for. Do you want something that correlates with the wedding colors or do you want to provide a fun party atmosphere with another color scheme? If you pick a general theme, it will be a lot easier to pick the venue, the time of the shower and thus the decor.

The color scheme for this shower was the same as the color scheme for the wedding-lime green, black and silver.

Matching the favors and prizes are a great way to add to the color scheme.

You do not have to wrap every prize the same. Variety is always a good thing.

Decorate the bride's seat to give her the whole focus of the day while making the room look even nicer.

A dramatic centerpiece can make the feel of a large room more inviting.

The next step to the perfect bridal shower is picking out the decorations. Tulle is an inexpensive way to dazzle up a large room. Draping it along the tables can be a good idea so set the table off.

The tulle and the large diamonds added glitz to the simple, beige room.

You can also use tulle to make hanging tulle puffs by bunching them up into a ball and securing them in the center with the ends fanning out. Hang them from the ceiling with invisible fishing line. You can also string the tulle along the tables with simple white Christmas lights intertwined within. This will add dimension and texture to the room and make the atmosphere more inviting. You can also think about decorating each table with either the favors or the refreshments. If you go for the favors, center a candy jar in the center with various candies in the color scheme you chose. This eye candy will prove to be a sweet treat as the guests leave. It will also help reduce the amount of clean up in the end! If you want to create a centerpiece with the refreshments, you could follow to recently popular trend of making over-sized cupcakes to feed the entire table. This is an exceptionally great idea for large showers because it eliminates the need for one large, pricey cake while also serving as part of the room’s decor and eliminating the need for a cake-cutter.

Once you have the location and theme set, get to work on the invitations. There are many websites that provide a customizable template for invitations at a fairly reasonable price.

These were ordered online and made a great customizable piece for the shower.

These make the day seem more special in contrast to traditional store-bought invitations. Make sure on the invitations you include the registry information so the guests now where to go to get the bride’s gifts. Also, one nice addition to the shower is to give the bride a recipe book with a recipe from each guest. If you want to do this, make sure you make a note on the invitations to have everyone write down and bring their favorite one.

Now, with invitations in place, it is time to think about refreshments. The time of day will determine what you need to provide. If you are having the party during the time a meal would be eaten, it is a good idea to serve finger foods or an actual sit-down meal. During any other time of the day it is acceptable to simply serve cake and punch. The rest is up to you, based upon your budget and party size.

Because the guest list was so large (80 people) the bridesmaids decided to go with two identical refreshment tables.

There are many colors of punch you can make. This party chose green to match the color scheme.

Another thing to think about in relation to the size of the party is how many games to play. Typically a bridal shower will have around 3 or 4 games. This is a good number for a small shower with less than 20 people. If you are planning a party for any more than that, you may want to scale it down a bit. You don’t want people to stay all night long waiting on the bride to get done opening up her gifts. However, if you love games and do not want to sacrifice a game or two, consider having games for the guests to play while the bride opens her gifts. That is not the only thing that you should do during that time. It is a good idea to announce what the bride is opening and who it is from, while another person writes it all down. That way, the bride will be able to appropriately write her thank-you notes and always remember where everything came from.

At this shower, the flower girl was also there to help pass the gifts to the bride.

In the meantime, have some nice background music playing softly in the background to provide a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere. During this time it is a major help to the bride to pass around blank envelopes and ask the guests to fill out their names and addresses. This is one less thing the bride will have to do when filling out thank-you notes and she will appreciate the gesture.

Here the games and envelopes for the guests to fill out were already sitting on each place setting to save time.

As the shower is winding down, make sure and thank all of the guests for coming. Hand out the favors and wish them all a great rest of the day. Do not start cleaning up until all of the guests are gone and make sure to help the bride transport her new things to her home. This way, the day will end as successful as it began.

Although boys are sometimes not invited to the bridal shower, they always welcome at the end to help with clean-up!

Last-Minute Wedding Tips

From the little experience I have with being in weddings, I have been in enough to offer some good advice!

• Make sure all of the bridesmaids try on their dress within the week of the wedding. You may find yourself rushing to the nearest David’s Bridal to get someone a different size an hour before the wedding starts! (I had to do that with someone!)
• Bring safety pins, bobby pins, oil blot sheets and a set of Shout Wipes as an emergency kit. You never know when your face will get shiny or discover a make-up stain on your dress.
• Drink a lot of water before the ceremony. Not only will it keep you hydrated, but it will reduce bloating.
• Don’t get a dress that’s too tight. You’re going to want to sit down at some point without running the risk of ripping your gown.
• Don’t skip meals. You don’t want to pass out or feel woozy on stage.
• Get plenty of sleep the day before. If you don’t, you may have puffy eyes for the pictures.

How to Have a Vintage Wedding

A vintage-style wedding is something that can also be timeless if you decorate right. Check out this list of ways in which your wedding can be great for any vintage lover.

• Add patterned fabric such as a distressed floral print to table settings, bouquets, groomsmen pocket handkerchiefs, or as a backdrop for a photo booth.
• Decorate with large picture frames of all different sizes. Have them hanging or use them on the escort table. You can even place smaller ones on each reception table as the centerpiece.
• Hang Polaroid pictures from a loose twine line. These pictures can include family members’ wedding pictures from years and years ago or your engagement pictures.
• Use an old, rustic bird cage to house the cards at the reception.
• Decorate your cake with vintage ribbon, buttons or use a pair of birds as the topper.
• Use the same vintage fabric from bullet point one to cover your ring bearer’s pillow.
• Hang grainy paper flowers from trees or a tent as a cascading decoration in an outdoor wedding.
• Add willow branches to your decor. Set them up as centerpieces with flowers hanging for a more dramatic effect.
• Instead of a getaway limo, opt for a pair of bicycles (if your hotel is nearby) or a nice, classic car.
• Find a nice stamp to incorporate into your decor. Stamp invitations, escort cards and save-the-date envelopes before mailing.
• Instead of the traditional white plates that most reception sites offer, use your own antiques plates.
• Mix and match patterns. Just make sure they are in the same color scheme to avoid clashing.

Use this bird cage to hold your cards at the reception.

Vintage can be classy. These birds add a vintage flare to this cute cake.

Plates like these antiques will add that vintage feel to your wedding in no time.

Unique Escort Cards

Escort cards tell your guests what table they will be sitting at for the reception. If you will be having assigned seating, this idea is great for an original twist. This couple put pictures of themselves holding the table number and put them in envelopes with each guests name on the front. This may be an extra expense but this idea is anything ordinary.

What an Unusual Favor!

I never thought of this idea for a wedding favor, but on theknot.com, I saw that somebody made a compilation CD of their favorite love songs and gave that to their guests. You could also make a wedding soundtrack and include all of the songs heard at the wedding if they were original. Something like that is unusual but also something that the guests will be happy to receive.

The cute cover design makes this wedding favor that much more unique.

A Special Treat for Those Out-of-Town Guests

Every wedding has people coming from afar to share in the special day. Why not go the extra mile and leave them something in their hotel rooms as an extra thank you? It could be something that correlates with you and your fiance’s proposal or something that the two of you enjoy from the area you’re in. Think of a special bakery the two of you enjoy and wrap up some goodies for them to keep. You could make a pail of special teas to help them relax in their out of town room. You could also give them a wallet photo of you and your fiance that they can keep with them for a long time. Whatever it is, the nice gesture will certainly go a long way.

Wed with white.

An all white wedding has always looked so appealing to me. Especially with these pieces.

Black is Back!

Black and white can look amazing for a wedding. Take a look:

Black tea length dresses will make this wedding pop.

A coconut cupcake tree can add texture to a sleek color combo.

This black and white pattern is anything but ordinary.

My favorite thing for a black and white wedding-anemones.

Something Blue…

You’ve heard the old saying, “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” What if your wedding wasn’t just something blue, but everything blue? These pictures prove that a blue wedding may be out of the ordinary, but if you pull it off right, it can be glamorous.