Weddings

Photo: Heather Kincaid It's true what they say—there's a perfect wedding dress out there for every bride! But what if your body type doesn't match your dream dress style? Our wedding etiquette experts are here to solve your wedding dress woes in our daily post. Can a girl who's a 36D wear a strapless gown? I've always loved the look. Strapless dresses often cause big-breasted women to spill over on the sides—not a great visual. But if you have your heart set on this style, "invest in a good strapless foundation that will support your shape and work with your dress," advises Sara Tervo of Victoria's Secret, which offers a seamless, strapless bra and a low-back microfiber bustier from their Body by Victoria collection. You Might Also Like: Browse all strapless wedding dresses How to Find the Perfect Wedding Dress for Your Body Type Great Gatsby-Inspired Wedding Dresses

We are just full of good news this week. First it was the release of Jen Huang’s new book, and today we’re helping Thea of Hushed Commotion announce the release of her 2013 hand crafted bridal accessories collection. And yeah, they’re obviously all gorgeous! Thea had the wonderful opportunity of working with Jen Huang again to shoot her new look book in Central Park amongst all the blooming cherry blossoms… and we’re thinking it wouldn’t be a special announcement without a fabulous giveaway to go along with it. So get this… we’re going to give away a $250 Hushed Commotion voucher to one lucky reader! A little sneak peek at what it looked like behind the scenes… You know the drill. Enter with the form below and we’ll pick one random winner (DATE). Good luck! Photography: Jen Huang / Dresses: Nearly NewlyWed / Makeup: Face The Day NY by Ellen Bodkins / Hair: Styles On B by Stacy Pitt / Videography: Love + Brain Films

Dear ESB What should two thirtysomething country bumpkins from England do in San Francisco in early June? We'll be staying for 6 nights and have done a bit of research on the 'touristy' things we'd like to do - see the Golden Gate Bridge, hike in Muir Woods etc. but would love some ideas from your awesome readers. Staying in the financial district (random I know - but it was super cheap and we're prepared to walk/catch the bus etc). Like - Antiques/curiosity shops Hiking CHEESECAKE Indian food American food (traditional and fusion) Interesting baby/toy/nursery shops Dislike - Pretentious bars where they charge an extra $5 per drink just because the bartenders are wearing idiotic looking bow ties and flat caps Hawkers If any of your readers ever want advice on good hiking spots in England I'll be happy to return the favour... Thanks ESB - ***** First off, NEVER USE THAT FONT AGAIN. Do you srsly send all your emails in that font?? Second, I keep getting requests for San Francisco guides, and I keep ignoring them because San Francisco is my home town and I'd really like to be able to write the damn guide myself but the truth is I'm not qualified.... So. Here are a few of my favorite places in SF: Paxton Gate = the best curiosity shop EVAR. Perfect place to buy your dad a skull. Dosa (a few blocks from Paxton Gate) = delish, upscale Indian Humphrey Slocombe (also within walking distance) = the best, weirdest ice cream. Get the sundae with Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee ice cream + proscuitto ice cream. Trust. The Alembic (in the Haight) = the best cocktails, which you would most certainly deem pretentious. OH SHIT HE'S WEARING A CAP. Eric's (in Noe Valley, where I grew up) = my old favorite Chinese restaurant. House of Nanking (in Chinatown) is also terrif. I leave it to the current residents to offer more recommends.... Most importantly, who can recommend the best BURRITOS? La Cumbre was my jam back in the day, but I'm willing to recognize that there may be better burritos. Note: San Francisco is the burrito capital of the world, which means you're required to eat at least two each while you're in town. Anyone know who took the photo?

Alison and Cory were wed in a simply lovely ceremony in the romantic town of Seaside, Florida. Thoughtful details (the groom sent his bride a love note in a bottle!) made the most of an already beautiful beach town setting. Says Alison, “I had ten bridesmaids, and it was important to me that they have just as much fun as I did. I stuck to a color scheme but ultimately let them choose what they felt the prettiest in.” The bride’s bouquet consisted of white hydrangea and ranunculus, plus ostrich feathers for a little drama. Why did you choose this location for your wedding?  Seaside, Florida is a beautiful, relaxing beach town, and it was always our dream to have our guests stay in the pastel-hued cottages, walk the narrow streets with white picket fences, and make a vacation of our wedding weekend. Perfect weather and having everything within walking distance really made for the perfect wedding scene. What was your favorite moment or part of the day?  Walking down the aisle. (Alison) That day, we chose not to see each other up until that moment. My beautiful bride dressed in the perfect wedding dress. (Cory) Did you include any traditions in your wedding?  Our mothers lit candles at the altar, which we used to light a unity candle during the ceremony. What was the best advice you received as a bride?  In the early stages of planning, my fiancé and I made a list of what was important to us for our special day. During the planning, we revisited the list to make sure we were saying on track and remembering the important things. Is there anything else that helps tell the story of the day?  We were blessed with perfect weather! See all of Alison and Cory’s Florida beach wedding in the gallery. Photographer: Lauren Kinsey / Event Planner:  Heather Archdeacon- Williams / Venue: Seaside Chapel / Dress: Lazaro / Shoes: Bettye Mullet from BHLDN / Earrings: Broque Revival / Tuxedo: Jos A. Bank / Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew, BHLDN, Dillards / Stationery: The Paper Moon / Floral Designer: Bella Flora / Getaway Car: A Brides Ride / Music: The NashVegas Allstars / Catering: Café Thirty-A / Cake: Confections On The Coast / Videographer: Diva Productions

Last November Sparky and I went to a charity wedding event. We’d gone to a couple of events, but this was the first one that was entirely for charity. This was something we were really excited about—getting wedding vendors we needed AND donating money was kind of wonderful. Sparky with a mighty fine mustache / Personal photo Get Hitched Give Hope (also mentioned two times by Mrs. Cherry Pie!) was part silent auction and part live auction. The proceeds for this event went to the Dream Foundation, which is like the Make a Wish but for adults. The beautiful thing about the evening was that the founder for the charity was there and he told a moving story about his husband who passed away and how he wanted to make his last months super meaningful. Live auction / Personal photo We went into the event with a couple of desired things: a day-of coordinator, a photo booth, and transportation for the day of. All of the vendors who were present had donated their services because they believed in the charity. It made me excited to work with any of them. Fancy flashing bling / Personal photo We bid on several things but only won two of them. We missed the photo booth by one bid, but we did end up winning a day-of coordinator and some day-of snacks. I was most excited for the day-of coordinator because I am a high stress person. Knowing we’ll have someone there to make our day run smoothly is a huge load off. It’s awesome that we won something that I REALLY wanted and that all the proceeds went to charity. The best part? That night the charity made over $100,000. The founder was sitting next to us during the live auction and he was so excited. He even cried because he was touched by people’s generosity. If you’re in Seattle and you have the opportunity to go to Get Hitched Give Hope please do it. It was an amazing party, full of like-minded people, for a good cause. A lot of the donated goods/services went for WAY less than they were worth, so it might be a good chance for those on a budget. Seattle bees: I really can’t recommend this charity event enough. It was the best wedding event we have attended. Check it out! Have you been to any wedding charity events? Did you love them or did they stress you out?

Just a quick reminder to our wonderful readers, Ann’s Bridal Bargains, offers so many fun and affordable invitations for your wedding. Now couples can get the desired wedding invitations they want for a price they can afford. By choosing certain invitation ensembles, Couples can save up to 20%! Here’s how it works: Their 1st option includes... Read more »Find more great content like Ann’s Bridal Bargains on Once Wed.

Erik Ekroth is a genius.  A serious genius.  Because not only is he one super-awesome photog (he sooo is), he always, always manages to send us the sweetest of love stories, too.  Like these two cuties, who lived 1,700 miles apart (North Dakota to Oregon), met (briefly) on the city streets of Idaho and got to know each other over Facebook and long chats on the phone.  And when it came time to celebrate their nuptials, they picked a destination wedding in NYC, one of their favorite cities in the world and a place they could re-visit time and time again.  Are they adorable??  Yes, indeed.  See every last magical moment in the full gallery. ColorsSeasonsSpringSummerSettingsOutdoorRestaurantStylesTraditional From the Bride… I grew up in North Dakota and Marcus in Oregon. Late one Friday night, in 2005,  at the corner of 6th & Main in downtown Boise, Idaho, we met briefly and then went back to our normal lives 1,400 miles apart. But we never stopped thinking about each other– and it didn’t take long for Marcus to find me on Facebook. We started slowly getting to know each other over Facebook, texting and leaving each other 30-minute long voicemails. Pretty soon we were falling asleep together over the phone after hours and hours of just talking and getting to know each other. The distance couldn’t keep us apart for long. We’ve been inseparable ever since. New York City was one of the first vacations we took together and we just fell in love with the energy of the city. The history, fast pace, bright lights, music, food, entertainment. It was unlike any place either of us had been before and we immediately knew we wanted to come back as often as possible. When we were trying to decide between getting married in North Dakota and Oregon, New York ended up being the perfect compromise. Our families hadn’t spent very much time together and had never been to New York. So we thought how wonderful it would be for us all to meet there and spend a week exploring all the beautiful parts of the city together. We always wanted to get married in a special location that we could come back to 10, 20 or 50 years later (a place even our children could visit some day and see the exact spot where we got married) and our little area in Central Park turned out to be so perfect. We will never forget it. Our wedding style was classic, timeless. One of my favorite colors is purple, so we used this as our accent color, along with black and white, throughout the wedding shown in the invitations, favors, the bouquet ribbons, bridesmaid dresses, and decorations. The day came together perfectly. Planning a wedding while living across the country could be impossible, but we had such a wonderful team pulling it all together! I kept thinking that I should have been more stressed, but the entire wedding week was instead full of fun, excitement, family, and love. It was absolutely perfect! My favorite moments included walking through Central Park with Marcus and overlooking the city from our rooftop reception while close friends and family were able to get to know each other more. This was really a time where our families were able to meet each other and share in our love! From the Groom… After our ceremony, I’ll never forget walking through Central Park hand-in-hand with Michelle in her wedding dress. Not only was it the brightest, happiest day in my life, but it was amazing to see the joy it brought to every one around us as well. In a big busy city, even strangers walking by stopped to watch us with huge smiles on their faces, congratulating us. It seemed like everything in the world slowed down for a moment just for the two of us. Wedding Photography: Erik Ekroth | Officiant: Jason Isbell | Floral Design: Lena Osorio-Gemisic | Ceremony Venue: Central Park, New York City, Cherry Hill | Reception Venue: Ink 48 Hotel – Heaven Over Hell’s Kitchen Suite | Event Design + Planning: Emily Lester | Invitations: Ni

Key West is the epitome of crazy cool, laid-back locales; a place where saying “I do” and getting your fun on go hand in hand.  So when this darling duo decided on hosting a memorable vacation-style weekend for their friends and family, they turned to none other than The Caribbean Resort, a seaside beauty more than perfect for a joy-filled celebration.  The result?  A dance ’till you drop, toes in the sand, drop-dead gorgeous wedding planned to perfection by Just Save the Date and captured in mesmerizing images by Concept Photography.  See it all right here. ColorsSeasonsSpringSummerSettingsBeachTentStylesCasualcoastal From the Bride… We had always talked about having a laid-back wedding where people could just relax, unwind and have fun. We knew the Florida Keys would be the perfect place for this and that people could make a vacation out of it if they wanted.  The DIY details were one of my favorite parts of planning the wedding! Like a lot of people do, we designed our own koozies. I also made signs for the front of the resort and throughout the reception area. In keeping up with our nautical theme, we ordered starfish and made the seating cards for everyone (Pat was a huge help with this!).  Also– on each of the tables, Pat made monkey fist nautical rope knots to hold the table numbers – I’m guessing people liked these because we only came home with 4 out of 16 of them! We also absolutely loved having the clear tent with the hanging lights, as well as the perimeter lighting for the dance floor. It looked absolutely amazing at night. My favorite part of the day, though, was seeing each other for the first time on the dock when we did our first look photos. It was so nice to be able to kiss and hug him and let a lot of the nerves go by, seeing him for those two hours before the ceremony started. Wedding Photography: Concept Photography | Venue: The Caribbean Resort, Islamorada, Florida | Event Coordination: Kelly Fowler of Just Save the Date | Floral Design:  Floral Fantasy Weddings | Wedding Cake: Bob’s Bunz  | Wedding Cinematography: Bruce Ostrout of First Sight Pictures | DJ: Michael of DJ Innovations | Makeup: Lindy Fialkin, Makeup by Lindy | Hair: Ciao Bella © Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2013. | Permalink | Comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Starfish Post categories: Casual, Nautical, Real Weddings

Vi and Joseph’s modern Dallas wedding is a study in stark but romantic contrasts. Bright pink BCBG Max Azria bridesmaids dresses against Vi’s Romona Keveza Collection gown and blush colored lace Valentino shoes were the only colors in the all-white Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, where the ceremony was held. At the uber-stylish reception at F.I.G.: Fashion Industry Gallery, pink and purple flowers by Luxe Petals crown round tables covered in plum linens. In keeping with the minimalist theme, the all-white cake from Paris Bakery is a classic detail in the sea of contemporary. Ivy Weddings did a fabulous job of capturing every special element of the day, thanks to meticulous planning from Significant Events of Texas. We hope you love this amazing affair as much as we do! Photography – Ivy Weddings \ Ceremony Venue – Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center \ Reception Venue – F.I.G.: Fashion Industry Gallery \ Floral – Luxe Petals \ Event Planning – Significant Events of Texas \ Catering – CN Catering \ Bakery – Paris Bakery \ Officiant – Rev. Ken Byrd \ Rentals – Celebration Event Rental \ Videography – JChristopher Films \ DJ – DJ Super T \ Transportation – CitiSedan \ Photobooth – LeForce Entertainment \ Bridesmaids Dresses – BCBG Max Azria \ Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist – Adrienne Schoech of Legacy Salons & Day Spa \ Gown – Legends by Romona Keveza Collection \ Shoes – Valentino \ Sash – Nina \ Jewelry – Nadri Jewelry Group \ Suits – Hugo Boss and Kenneth Cole The post Contemporary Purple + White Wedding appeared first on Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog.

Today we are excited to introduce to you our newest sponsor, The Memory Trunk! Specializing in custom and affordable stationery, The Memory Trunk offers full design and printing services, as well as do-it-yourself options for the crafty bride. The Memory Trunk specializes in versatility, so whether it is modern, classic elegance, vintage, or whichever style suits you, they are able to customize paper goods to meet your style! The Memory Trunk has designed custom wedding invitations for over 500 brides and worked with 7 different countries!!! Today we are giving away 100 printed menus. You can choose from their already designed options or commission something custom! What a GREAT giveaway! So, if you’d like to win, we want to know, what food are you serving your guests at your wedding??? The post Menu Card Giveaway appeared first on Best Wedding Blog - Wedding Fashion & Inspiration | Grey Likes Weddings.