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03/03/10
Setting up my gift registries has been one of the best and worst tasks during my wedding planning process. If you searched my fiancé’s last name, you’d find four different registries for our wedding date but only two of those registries are fully functioning. The etiquette “rules” surrounding gift registries, as well as the lack of a best/worst guide, has led me down the wrong path a few times. Thankfully, I was able to do the leg work, so you guys won’t have to.
Many brides will make it seem as though the wedding gifts aren’t that important to them. Some choose to do a honeymoon registry to allow guests to purchase funds toward the vacation of their dreams. Others will forgo gift-giving altogether in lieu of a donation to the...
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01/20/10
Before choosing the flowers for my wedding, I did a lot of research. There are so many articles online about which blooms to choose, how to express certain feelings with flowers and what the selection of each flower means. It’s very overwhelming and can be frustrating for brides who don’t think that flowers really matter. This is where the selection of an excellent florist comes into play.
I had frequented the bridal show florist booths, picking up pamphlets and looking at sample bouquets. This helped me to understand that florists have two distinct styles: full and fat or thin and sparse. Full and fat bouquets feature, for example, roses that have been intentionally opened or lots of different types of flowers to fill any and all available space....
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12/15/09
When I imagined going to purchase my wedding gown, I pictured rows of beautiful white gowns and a smiling, bright-eyed saleswoman eager to help me with the selection of the most important dress of my life. I would put the dress on, and the tears would well up in my mom’s eyes because her little girl was going to be a beautiful, blushing bride. Everyone would gasp, oooh and aaah at me as I stepped onto the pedestal while a team of women pinned and tucked the fabric for a perfect fit.
But that didn’t happen for me –– at least not at first.
I made an appointment at a well-known chain bridal store because they were open on a Sunday. With my work schedule, it’s amazing that I found time this early to search for a dress. I had...
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10/14/09
OK, everyone. The time has come –– we only have one year until we tie the knot! It seems as though I’ve been engaged for a few short months, but almost a year has gone by. I am happy to be sharing this information with all of you. It is certainly a pleasure to share what I’m doing in the planning process in the hopes that all of you may use this information for yourselves.
But enough of all that stuff. On to what you guys really want to hear.
Money!
Wait, you didn’t want to talk about your wedding budget? Sorry to break the news, but wedding budgeting is probably the least-acknowledged part of the planning process and one of the most important. Wedding Web sites offer budget calculators, and we are all able to...
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09/17/09
There are so many different types of bridal shows going on around town each year that it is difficult to decipher exactly how beneficial each show can be for a bride. I, for one, am not a fan of bridal shows, but I still go. Is it the allure of free gifts? Maybe it’s the chance to see different vendors in the name of research? I’m not exactly sure. But I can say this –– bridal shows take effort and discipline. Here are my Top 5 tips about attending bridal shows based on personal experience.
1. Arrive early! Many bridal shows have valet parking included, but I’ve never actually been able to take advantage of this perk. If the bridal show begins at 3 p.m. and you arrive at 3:30, chances are you’ve already missed out on...
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08/19/09
I am not a jealous person. OK, OK … maybe a little bit, sometimes. But when I learned I have to share part of my bridal party with another bride, I have to admit that my thoughts were far from pleasant. My maid of honor is my cousin, but she lives out of town, so most of the planning and brainstorming is happening with one of my closest friends –– sort of like my second maid of honor (without the title).
When I found out she’d been asked to be in another wedding, I hoped her friends would choose to have their wedding after mine. I’ve been engaged longer, for crying out loud, and I’m going to need her help in the months leading up to our wedding.
No such luck. The other couple will be having their wedding within a...
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08/03/09
A friend of mine just got engaged about a week ago and they chose to have their wedding within the same year. We have already established that Brandon and I will be having what feels like the longest engagement ever. My friend is talking about bridesmaids dresses and color schemes, but it feels like it’s way too soon for me to jump on that bandwagon. When do I get to start doing fun things like picking out favors and planning parties? I’m starting to get antsy.
I have finally realized what all those wedding guides mean, when they tell you to get a “wedding idea binder.” I can’t remember what I like and don’t like anymore. Not to mention that I can’t begin to explain to any florist or cake designer what my style is...
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07/01/09
Every wedding has some kind of theme and some weddings even have multiple themes. When it came down to hashing out ours, I learned that it is much more than selecting the reception venue, church and photographer. The theme is an outward expression of your style as a couple and an expression of your gratitude to the people who have been there for you as individuals. This was certainly something to be careful about.
The first thing I thought about was the size of the wedding. Did I want something small, with just 50-100 of our closest friends and family? That’s not really my style. I’ve always favored bigger events over smaller, more intimate affairs. So I would definitely have over 200 guests. I started making a list of family and mutual friends of...
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06/02/09
I received an email from TheKnot.com a few days ago that told me, “Only 17 months left until your wedding!” I started to question our decision to wait until October 2010. What is stopping me from marrying Brandon tomorrow at City Hall in a white suit, a la Carrie Bradshaw? Why not just elope to Las Vegas and get it over with?
This also came in conjunction with a very chilling season finale of Grey’s Anatomy last month. This TV show contemplates marriage as a union and not as an event. Big weddings are rather taboo to these surgeons because they don’t have the time to plan and execute a big event – they’re too busy helping other people live to execute their own. One of the characters in the finale said the following line, which I have...
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05/01/09
Now that I have an amazing reception facility, you would think I could rest easy, right? No way! My next mission was to find the most important vendor of them all: the photographer. I knew this would be easy, considering I want my wedding day depicted in a certain style. Little did I know that there are so many great New Orleans photographers that do just that very thing.
I went to a few bridal shows and found that many photographers have begun to shy away from traditional wedding photography and move more towards photojournalism. This means that instead of having eight million pictures of your family, posed in straight lines, smiles plastered on their faces, what you get is a reel of candid photos with spectacular edits. I knew I wanted black and white photos where my...
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Jessica is a life-long New Orleans resident who wants nothing more than to get married in this beautiful city. From the food to the fais-do-do, who wouldn’t want to tie the knot in such a great place? She began working in the wedding industry five years ago as a banquet server, moving up in rank until she reached the position of event coordinator at a French Quarter hotel. Her fiancé Brandon is also a wedding DJ and bartender for a local reception hall. Between the two of them, they have nearly 12 years of wedding experience – you would think that would make things easy! Not quite. The two are pickier than most people and know what they want for their big day. Read her blog to find out what happens during the planning process!
