Details That Personalize Your Wedding - Part 4 Linens

Okay, you have your flowers decided on, what's next? One of the big areas that I think make a wedding reception special is the use of linens. Sure, your site probably includes white or ivory linens as part of your package and that’s great. But if there is room in your budget, nothing, in my opinion, makes a room pop like the use of sheer overlays on the table. They come in just about every color of the rainbow plus gold and silver. But at around $18.00 an overlay, they are not cheap. Also, chair covers with matching sashes can glam-up those ugly folding chairs into a thing of beauty. Even more gorgeous are the Chivari chairs. If you can afford them, go for it, as nothing gives the room a more elegant look. But wait, you say, my budget is already screaming, what can I do? Well instead of overlays, use table runners. The secret here is to use chair sashes you can rent for around $1.50 a piece as the runners on your table. Still gives that pop of color. If you know someone that sews, buy material in your color and have them make oversized squares to use in the center of the table to add the color. Rent colored napkins, they're cheap and add color to your table. Are you planning to make menus? Add a ribbon at the top in your color and place them on the table. On your cake table, just rent one overlay and use it to bring in a little glamour. Again, ribbons can be wrapped around your napkins to dress them up. The idea is to reflect your choice of colors all the way through both your wedding and reception for a beautiful coordinated look.

Details That Personalize Your Wedding - Part 3 Flowers

So now you have chosen the site, the dress, the colors and the invitations. What's next? Now the fun begins, now you can let your creativity loose to be reflected in your details. Start by looking through wedding magazines. What kind of flowers are you drawn to? Do you like the lush, over the top, look of a Preston Bailey wedding or a sleeker, more modern look? Start pulling pictures out of magazines of everything you like and don’t like. Take these to the florist and the planner so they know what direction you are leaning towards. Do you want flowers everywhere or just candles and a few flowers? Tall centerpieces or short? My recommendation would be some of each to make the room pop. Maybe tall vases filled with floating candles surrounded by river rocks in the center of the table for an “out of the box” zen sort of idea. Just remember to make it reflect you and what you are drawn to. If you’re having an outdoor wedding, be sure and check out pictures of submerged flowers. Not only is this beautiful and easy to accomplish, but it is heavy and you don’t have to worry about them blowing over in windy weather. What about your personal flowers? Make sure your bouquet and the bouquets of your girls reflect the style of the wedding, and compliment you and your dress. There are many different styles of bouquets to pick from, with the most popular being the cascade (tear-shaped with flowers flowing in a cascade of blooms down from the central bouquet), nosegay (small round tight grouping of flowers, popular choice for mothers to carry down the aisle instead of the traditional corsage), pomander (a ball of flowers suspended on a ribbon for carrying, very popular for flower girls), presentation (the arm bouquet, made up of long stem flowers, usually calla lilies, carried in the crook of the arm) and round (larger than a nosegay, rounded with a slight mound in the center). Spend some time too, thinking about how you want these bouquets tied. There are multitudes of ribbon colors to choose from, just one more way to pull the colors of your wedding together. These ribbons can be decorated with jewels, family heirlooms, monograms, anything that will make them special and unique to you. Tiny crystals or pearls can be interspersed in your flowers for a beautiful look that reflects the beading on your dress. Your groom’s boutonnière should be made up of one of the flowers found in your bouquet to tie the two of you together.

Remember flowers can be muted for the ceremony but should be brighter with more pop (in the same palate) for the reception, giving guest that party feel as soon as they walk into the room. You can look at using some of the same flowers at the reception as the wedding, but be aware this involves an extra fee for having the florist come at the end of the ceremony and move the flowers to the reception. It also means that your reception site may not be fully decorated when your guests start arriving. Now I know the question on everyone’s mind is “how much is this going to cost me”? Of course the price varies depending on flowers, design concept, even the number of bridesmaids (remember the more people in your processional, the higher the bill). I can tell you that the average cost for weddings I’ve planned has been in the $2,000 range.

Details That Personalize Your Wedding - Part 2 Invitations

The first glimpse your guests have of the wedding to come is in the invitations. Today there are hundreds of different ways to go with invitations, you can order them in all prices ranges or for the creative bride you can make them. There are kits you can buy at any of the arts and crafts stores, office supply stores or online. They come complete with everything you need and you just print them on your own printer. For the bride working on a tight budget I really recommend this choice. You can watch the newspaper for discount coupons and stock up to save a ton of money. There are all kinds of patterns and details to choose from. Just make sure the details of the wedding are reflected in the invitations and save the dates cards. Save the date cards for those of you that don’t know are cards sent out six months before your wedding, that just give the guests a heads up that you are getting married and they need to save the date. Unless you have a large budget, are getting married on a holiday weekend, or having a destination wedding that is going to require the guests to make flight and hotel reservations these are not required. Invitations now come in pocktfold envelopes that can hold your reception cards, maps, hotel information for the more informal choice, or with ribbon detail, crystals and every color you can dream of. Just make sure that they reflect your choice of site and the colors that will run through your wedding. You can choose natural elements such as maybe cherry blossoms on the invitation if that’s your favorite flower; maybe you want your monogram on the invitation which can also run as a theme throughout your wedding or the colors of your wedding on the invitation. Of course there is nothing wrong with going with the traditional white or ivory invitation to reflect the formal traditional wedding you are planning. On another day we will discuss how to go about deciding on the colors you want for wedding.

Details That Personalize Your Wedding

Let’s talk about some of the hundreds of details that can go into making your wedding your own. No one wants their wedding to be just like their friends’ weddings, or their cousins’ weddings or siblings’ wedding. What can you do to make an event that is different from everyone else’s but yet follows all the traditional long established rules for a wedding. Here in the South we are very big on the etiquette of weddings. If you dare to step away from the “rules” believe me your mother, your grandmother and your Aunt Alice are all going to be shocked by it. So the question is, “how can I make my wedding stand out from the crowd without giving my grandmother a heart attack”?

The answer dear bride is in the details. Let’s start first with the site you decide on for your wedding. Do you want the traditional church, or a more contemporary site, such as a garden, loft area, or museum. Think about what choice is more “you”. The biggest compliment I believe a bride and groom can receive regarding their wedding is that the wedding was so “them”. Next comes the decision on the reception site. Is it the church social hall, a hotel ballroom, a tent, or a country club? Again whatever the decision, make sure it reflects you as a couple. This is what will make your wedding feel right to your guests that know you so well.

Now that you have the two big decisions covered, everything else will work off of these decisions. What type of dress you pick is reflected by the site, maybe a ballgown for a large church wedding followed by a hotel reception, or a simple beautiful sheath for a garden wedding, followed by a tent reception. Make sure your decisions flow together.

Time of day that you pick for your service and reception is also important. Are you a morning couple, who loves the outdoors and being out in nature then go for the early wedding with maybe an outdoor brunch reception. Are you night owls with a late night social life, then choose the loft wedding with a hotel, nightclub atmosphere reception.

We will continue this discussion next with a look at invitations and décor and their role in making your wedding your own.

Welcome

Welcome to the first posting of the Wedding Planner's Blog, provided by Willrich Bridal and Special Events. We are the elite wedding planners for Upstate SC, including Greenville, Simpsonville, Mauldin and Clemson. In this blog I hope to talk about all the questions, thoughts, plans and concerns that you have as a new bride or groom. Also, all the questions thoughts, plans and concerns I have as a wedding planner. I plan to talk about what is new and exciting in the world of weddings and what is tried, true and traditional. All, to help you make a better decision on how to make your dreams and reality become one beautiful wedding.