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2012 Hot Wedding Colors

January 2, 2011 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

In this 3 minute read, you will discover the hot trend in wedding colors for 2012.

As we ring in each new year, we also invite a host of new trends. Wanting your wedding to be the perfect day, with the latest trends in wedding colors is only natural. How can you make sure that you know what is the hottest new look is for your dream wedding. When you decide on your wedding, you must make a choice to the type of season. Making the choice of season will determine what color palette you will use.

The hot color trends for spring 2012 are a lovely bouquet of magnolias, lavenders, and Berry’s. Summer can bring beautiful  contrasts between chocolate and Tiffany. Papaya is a great infusion of color and personality to your big day. For fall and winter weddings of 2012, other colors making their come back for 2012 dark chocolate, dark charcoal gray, sangria/brick red, myrtle (dark) green, dark tangerine, dark chestnut, asparagus, tyrian purple, dark midnight green, deep blue, Persian green, mocha taupe, agate blue, amazon green.

These new hot colors for 2012 make planning your wedding a dream. There are many variations  that you incorporate into your planning in order to provide a unique take on a traditional wedding. The colors you choose for your wedding day set the style and tone for your entire event. You can use color in your bridesmaids’ dresses, decorations, cake, favors, flowers, accessories, table linens and even the invitations.

A color wheel helps you choose coordinating colors. It is made out of three primary colors: red, blue and yellow, plus a blend of in-between colors. Below are three color-choosing strategies that will ensure you pick a well coordinated color scheme. Using different hues and contrasts can make your an elegant event with so many options for decoration. Try to limit your main colors to two or three so as not to look too jumbled and stay consistent with your colors throughout the wedding site. Use a few subdued colors for an elegant look.

There’s no question: choosing wedding colors is one of the earliest, trickiest tasks a bride has to cross off the list. You can’t even talk your florist until you’ve worked this out.

When all is said and done, you’re sure to have a great feeling about your colors, and how they fit your personal style. Even if the scheme you hit on isn’t “I’ve loved that all my life!”, it might be “I never would have thought of that, but I love these together!”

Picking your colors is a journey, just like finding the dress, or knocking all those planning items off your checklist. But hitting on the right colors, theme and setting for the ultimate expression of your own Romantic style? That can be the pleasure of a lifetime.

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2012 Wedding Cake Replacements

January 1, 2011 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Ever want something different than the norm for your wedding? Read this 3 minute article and choose a “wedding cake” that all your guest will remember.

Planning your wedding cake be one the most tasty chores you have in all your event planning. Deciding on what you would like for a wedding cake doesn’t have to fall under the traditional guidelines. You can be as unique with your wedding cake as you can be with the bridal gown. Having your wedding cake reflect your personalty says that you want your wedding to mirror the personality you have.

Would-be brides always look out for cakes that will make theirs stand out in the gathering only to be declared as unique and different, second to none. In this ever-changing world of fashion, several theme weddings are taking the lead which makes it obvious for other wedding aspects to follow accordingly.We all have an idea of what we would like in a cake but if you are searching for something that designed with the essence of “you”, you may want to consider some wedding cake replacements. With new trends for 2012, there are many classical and contemporary takes on the wedding cake.

                                                             The Cupcake Wedding

We’re seeing wedding cupcakes become increasingly popular every year. They can be frosted and arranged beautifully to match your wedding theme and colors. Your caterer can also personalize each one with a special flower, candy, wedding rings, or  monogrammed. These little darlings make it easy to create intricate designs for your wedding cake. Tiering your  cakes can be a fabulous way to display these little works of art for a grand effect.

The Chocolate Extravaganza!

Whether you go with stacked layers of brownies, chocolate truffles, chocolate-dipped fruit or a flowing chocolate fountain, this wedding cake replacement is a chocolate-lover’s dream. Just imagine how fun it could get when it comes time for the bride to feed the groom. If your known for your choco-holic nature, what better way to make it official than to have this as your wedding cake replacement.

The French Wedding

Croquembouche is a unique elegant take on a wedding cake .This French dessert, pronounced [kroh-kuhm-BOOSH], is a pyramid-shaped wedding cake alternative made of tiny cream puffs coated with crunchy caramel. Croquembouche literally means “crisp in mouth” and can be ornately decorated to match any wedding theme. This is certainly the way to leave a lasting impression on your guests.

The Cookie Monster Cake

Arrange delicious cookies of every kind into a unique display and have them adorned with flowers and icing to match your theme. You won’t believe how elegant cookies can be when designed for a wedding cake. Different gourmet flavours can be done to give a little taste for everyone. This can be a great way to offer your guests a little treat.

Take a new and unique twist on your wedding with some different alternatives. Suprise your guests with new tastes and offer a conversation at the same time.

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Wedding Invitation Boxes

December 17, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Sharing the most special day of your life with the people you love is an important event that happens during a wedding celebration. It has been something both you and your partner have been waiting for. Hours of thoughtful planning have be done to ensure this is the most memorable day, not only for you but for your guests as well.

A wedding is a union of two individuals that will be witnessed by those who are very dear to them. So how do you show your affection and gratitude to all the people that will be part of the grandest occasion of your life? You give them memories that will remind them of that very day and the best way to do that is through trendy wedding invitation boxes and everything that comes with it. This provides you the opportunity to have your personal style trend or the theme of your wedding carried out right through the invitation and it’s box.

Preparing for Your Wedding Properly

The invitation is one big part of the wedding preparation that a couple must decide upon. It sets the tone for the entire event and is the first thing anyone will see in reference to your wedding. Today, invitation boxes are becoming a big hit. Traditional wedding invitations are now slowly going out of trend while new trendier idea’s are taking shape. You can always come up with the most exceptional wedding invitation on a piece of luxurious paper. However, if you want to have an extraordinary wedding invitation for your very special day, you have to explore new styles and go for wedding invitations made in a box.

Be Creative and Yourself!

There is no limit to the creativity and style that can emerge from an idea like this. For the “shopaholic” bride, and invitation box of fabric made to look like a purse would be a trendy example. Having a unique invitation for your wedding day is a memento that you can offer to your guests which will mark this event as one to remember. Your wedding invitation boxes can be created in so many ways that will be a compliment of the occasion and that can really encompass both you and your partner.

Whatever style or theme you have set for your wedding , the wedding box invitation can be a great reflection. A wedding invitation can be as extravagant as silk invitation boxes, embedded with rhinestones. One may also go with elegance and have their wedding boxes adorned with flowers, uniquely decorated to create an exquisite design.

A couple may also decide with pure simplicity and class. All of these designs need thorough planning and all factors that concerns in the creation and distribution of your wedding invitation must be taken into account.

Things to Consider

There are several considerations that need to be taken into account when you’re deciding on your wedding invitations. Three significant factors that you must put your best effort to are the design, budget and distribution.

Your wedding invitation is personal and no one should be making the decision on its design but the two people that will be promising each other forever together with their designer. You need to make sure that you have taken care of all the necessary arrangements for your wedding invitations and discuss the designs months before the special event will come into place.

It is very important that your wedding invitation looks exactly what you’ve envisioned it to be. However, before the design comes to a final decision, there should be a budget that will cover all of its expenses.

Want to get more answers to your wedding questions? Get all your answers right here at Rachael West Designs, http://www.rachaelwestdesigns.com

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Funny Questions to Ask the Bride and Groom

November 23, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

This 4 minute read will show you how to make your wedding reception something special and different than any of your friends’ receptions.

So it’s come the time to make a speech or perhaps you have decided to incorporate some games into the reception. These all are the makings of a great wedding reception, but you want to do it right. With at least one hundred of the bride and grooms closest friends and family, you want to make sure that everything you have for “material” is kept in a tasteful manner. As the “wedding party” it is up to you to make sure that anything done for the bride and groom is done so in good taste.

The Newly Weds…

A great idea to get the wedding reception off to a good start is to replay an old classic of “The Newlywed Game”. In this forum the funny questions to ask the bride and groom can be done so ahead of time and written on large cue cards, and then presented to the guests. Each answer will be displayed for the reception to see. This can be a great way to lighten the mood and get your guests having fun.

If this isn’t the forum you like, you can have a microphone at the recpetion and have your MC walk around to guests and have questions ask from the crowd. This can be great fun when you give a guest a microphone. The only thing missing is knowing what funny questions to ask the bride and groom. This is where your MC comes in.

Trivial Wedding Pursuit?

Trivia is an excellent choice for the bride and grooms guest. These questions can be done ahead of time and asked either to the bride and groom about the courtship, in-laws make for some good material when it comes to humour. Asking the bride and groom about any of these subjects can be done with a great deal of humour. You can even venture out into the crowd and have some guests ask the trivia questions or ask the guests what they know about the bride and groom to as some extra humour.  This will draw your guests in to keep the evenings atmosphere full of entertainment.

Asking things like;

  • who has the funniest sense of humor?
  • who is the biggest clutz and what was the funniest thing that happened
  • who is the best cook?
  • who asked who out?
  • who gave the first kiss?
  • who asked for the second date?
  • who is most athletic?
  • who is the happiest about the marriage?
Make sure that you get opinions from the other members of the wedding party on the questions that you are asking. Remember the evening is to be one of class as well as entertainment, so anything that is written and asked needs to be done so with tact. After all this is their wedding, and will be remembered for the rest of their life. It can be wonderful memories made up friends and family that is fondly remembered, or it can be remembered with a bad taste left in your couples mouth.
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Can You Return Wedding Gifts?

November 18, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Weddings are an event. As with any event there is etiquette. There is always the question can you return the wedding gifts? Well it may depend on the circumstances. There are reason for returning gifts. Was the wedding cancelled before it even happened, or perhaps the marriage fell apart within a couple of weeks of the wedding. In this instance should it be OK to return wedding gifts? What about the fact that you just don’t like them? Should it then be OK to return these gifts?

Most etiquette says it’s perfectly fine to return the duplicates-and of course write a thank you to each gift giver. Should any of those people see the singular remaining gift at your home, it is fine to let them assume that this is the one and only version you received.

For wedding gifts that have been given during a wedding shower there is also etiquette.  That is yes, it is appropriate to return your shower gifts, with a brief note of thanks and explanation. As  embarrassing as it may be, it is only right to offer some sort of an explanation even if it is only to say that the wedding has been called off.

Weddings that have been called off  also have a proper course that should be taken. Wedding gifts should be returned if the wedding is canceled, or at least an effort should be made to return the gifts. It is suggested that the purposed group return them to his guest while the bride returns hers to the guest she invited to the wedding. An effort should be made by both to ensure that the gifts are given back to the gift givers.

What about the gifts that  you have received for your wedding? It is bound to happen; you receive a wedding gift you don’t want or you receive more of an item than you need. Some gifts have gift receipts, others don’t. Can you still return them? In some cases, you can still return or exchange the gift. Return policies vary from store to store, but by following the steps in this article, you will have the best chance of returning or exchanging your unwanted or unneeded wedding gifts.

Many stores have a time and price limit on what you can return without a receipt. It is best to return unwanted or unneeded gifts as soon as possible. If you are exchanging a gift without a receipt, you will get credit for the price for which it currently is listed, so you may get less than the person paid.
The best way to avoid having to worry about this etiquette  is to have a wedding registry set up in advance. When registering for your wedding, be sure to think not just about what you are looking for, but what might be easiest and most convenient for your guests. Remember to always send thank-you cards for gifts within 6 to 8 months after your wedding!

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How Do You Pick Your Wedding Song?

November 17, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

When couples decide to get married, there are so many aspects to their planning it can be overwhelming. The focal point for some brides is that moment when they share their first dance with their husband. This is moment that they will be sure to remember and what song will exemplify that moment? It can be a difficult decision to choose what song you first dance to as a married couple. This song, much like the one played at the wedding (if you choose to do this) should be one that has a lot of meaning and will make a powerful memory.

Some nervous grooms get sweaty palms at the mere mention of the first dance. But if you choose a song that is meaningful to you, and makes you happy, that first dance will go swimmingly. Some choose a song that has a significance to their first meeting, first date or if they are a long time couple significance to the longevity of their relationship.
Some couple choose their wedding song based on the genre of music they prefer. For instance, if the couples are dire hard country music fans,  they may very well choose a country love song that they both enjoy. For the couple who is having a traditional wedding, perhaps they will opt for a traditional love song such as an “Elvis” or “Frank Sinatra” ballad.
For the more modern or adventurous couple the first dance song choice might go hand in hand with a choreographed routine dance. Some couples choose to do a 50′s or 60′s love song that has some rhythm to it, and prepare a dance. While others may take a modern day song and incorporate a ballroom dance.
If your wedding how to decide on what is right for you and your spouse listen to the songs that you agreed on. Make sure it has a melody and tempo that you like. Many songs have been recreated by multiple artists, so you may want to listen to several different versions of the same song.

Look at the lyrics and the meaning of the song. Does the song speak to your relationship? Does it have veiled sexual innuendos that you would rather not have during your first dance? What was the meaning or background of the song when it was written? Looking at these specifics can help you with your decision.

You may want to choose an instrumental version of the song, if the lyrics aren’t exactly what you want. However, remember that your guests may know the words and be singing them along in their head while you are dancing. So make your song choice one that is memorable without any words.

Choosing first dance wedding songs can be a quite confusing task. However, you can choose some good songs which relate to a special aspect in your lives. If you still cannot decide on a song, the best option is to think of good love songs which will add up to the romance of the first dance. As the first dance is all about love between the couple, you can even choose a good love song.

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Who Pays for What for Your Wedding?

November 16, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Planning for your wedding brings many questions to light. What have you envisioned for your wedding, where will it be, how will you look. What you have been dreaming of can be a small intimate affair or it can be a grand event. The choice is yours, or is it? Does it depend on who is paying for your  wedding?

Traditionally, the bride’s family would pick up the tab for the cost of your wedding. With the average cost of a wedding skyrocketing, and more couples getting married later in life, these traditional roles are far from set in stone. Many couples have been living together for years now, so does that still make it tradition for the brides parents to pay?  Here is what the brides parents traditionally pay for;

  • Reception costs, including food, music, decorations, rental fees and entertainment
  • Ceremony Costs including rental fees, decorations
  • Flowers for Ceremony and Reception
  • The bride’s wedding dress and accessories
  • Invitations, announcements, programs, and mailing costs
  • Favors
  • Photography
  • Transportation
  • Their own attire and travel expenses

The grooms parents traditionally cover the cost of ;

  • The rehearsal dinner, including food, invitations, decorations and entertainment
  • Their own attire and travel expenses
  • A wedding present

This leaving the bride and groom to cover the costs of the wedding rings and any keepsakes they wish to purchase.  In today’s society this generally no longer applies. Is it realistic to expect the brides parents to take out a second or third mortgage to cover the costs of your wedding?  It maybe with couples getting married later on in life that  they have saved up a good chunk of the cost themselves. It will then likely fall to the parents who can afford to help out. If this happens to be the case on both sides the best idea here is to sit down with everyone.

Pooling your resources will allow you to get the biggest bang for your buck. If you and your mate have the biggest chunk of the money saved, your in the position to have the wedding you desire. When sitting down with both sets of parents, have a pen and paper ready to map out who will cover what cost. It may be that with covering some costs, your parents will like to have a hand in your wedding planning. Figure this dynamic out before you accept any money. Discussing the plans for your wedding with your parents will allow you both to convey a united front in the vision you have. If financially it is achievable, your parents may not have to pay for anything at all.

Expecting your parents to pay for lavish taste is a little unrealistic. No one should go in debt inorder to get married. If you  cannot afford the wedding you would like, perhaps waiting to get married would help to save up so money towards it. The other option would be to scale down what you have originally envisioned for you wedding, and perhaps opt for an intimate ceremony.

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Ceremony Schedule – How Should It Be Scheduled

November 15, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Creating a master schedule is an extremely helpful approach to achieving a wedding ceremony that is on schedule. Creating only a ceremony schedule will leave the rest of your day unorganized. By creating a “master” schedule you can have each time frame of your day planned out so that your ceremony is on schedule.

Organizing  a master schedule is easily done . You may use a variety of common software (Microsoft Excel) to achieve this. The schedule should list all of the tasks that need to be done and at what time. This is not only helpful for the bride and groom, but for all of the staff involved in your wedding. Knowing how and when everything on your wedding day is happening, will allow the proper time to be allotted to it. You definitely don’t want to be late for your ceremony because your hair and makeup took longer than you anticipated.

The schedule should be very detailed, illustrating every single task for the wedding, down to the very minute. The timeline begins several hours before the wedding ceremony, and ends after the last song of the reception. Include directions to the ceremony, hotels, reception and even a local pharmacy. Attach all forms of contact information: home, work and cell phone numbers, and email addresses. Make multiple copies for the entire wedding staff, caterers, photographer, florist, etc. Once the master schedule is complete, you can focus on the wedding sequence timeline to create another version of the master schedule for everyone else. Don’t forget to constantly update your schedules and make sure everyone has the latest version.

Once your master schedule has been established, focus on your ceremony. What denomination you are being married in will dictate your ceremony schedule. Organize your wedding party the way you wish you procession to proceed. Coordinate the music for your guests to be seated until the wedding march begins. Your wedding party will proceed down the aisle first, then the wedding march will play.

Once the bride has been walked down the aisle, there will be a presentation moment with the bride, and who has walked her down the aisle. Now the religious point of ceremony will begin. Again depending on the religion, this will direct the portion of the ceremony. Once the religious portion is completed, vows will be exchanged. The vows can be written from the heart and added in with the traditional vows of the ceremony. Once this is completed, rings will be exchanged, it is then time to sign your official registry and license. After this portion of the ceremony, it is time to  present the bride and the groom.

How you want  your ceremony to be scheduled out must be coordinated with the location for your ceremony. Having a rehearsal will give your master schedule a more organized time line for everyone to adhere to. Communication is key for a schedule to work, having constant conversations with everyone involved  will ensure your ceremony schedule is right on time.

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How to Make Simple Wedding Wrist Corsages

November 11, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Throughout recorded history men and women have adorned themselves with flowers for ceremonial purposes and for beautification. From Greek floral crowns to Hawaiian leis the natural beauty and fragrance of flowers made them readily available enhancements for everyday use. To make simple wedding wrist corsages you can use a few tricks to make an elegant addition  to your gowns and your bridesmaids dresses.

What to Use to Hold Your Flowers in Place

Using floral glue which can be purchased at an everyday craft store, simply snip the heads of your flowers close to the base of the stem and glue in place. Please be sure to use a special adhesive made for fresh flowers.  It should  dry quickly and be waterproof. Unlike hot glue guns, which adhesives pop off and crack in the refrigeration, this glue will hold your flowers firmly without damage to the blossoms.

Using floral wire or “corsage” bracelets are options available to hold your flowers in place. Each material is different, providing a unique look. If you don’t want to make your own using floral wire, simply glue the flowers to a bought corsage bracelet.

If you like, glue in a few corsage leaves, then add the main flowers. It is better is you use smaller flower heads like sweetheart roses or spray roses than the larger standard rose heads.

Start in the center, glue down your largest and main flower. Keep adding more flower heads from the center out. Lay and point your flower heads outward as you glue. Using floral wire gives you a slightly different effect, but is the traditional method of wrist corsage making.This brightly colored wire comes in a lot of different colors. It is easily bent and can be shaped into a coiled wire to go around the wrist – thus designing your own flower bracelet.

Get the opinion of your bridal party.  If your wanting to have this look duplicated for your bridesmaids, it might help to show them both styles of wrist corsage. Once you decide on what works for you and your group, you can recruit your brides,aid as helpers. The corsage making will certainly be allot more fun and a great way to involve everyone in your day.

How to Wear a Wrist Corsage

Wrist Corsages are traditionally worn on the left arm with the stems pointing towards the ground (or fingertips). The band should be adjusted to about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches above the wrist break to allow for comfort in dancing or movement. Generally, wrist corsages are made with three buds but can be made with more or less. Depending on the size of the floral arrangement, the positioning on the arm should always be made with comfort of wear in mind.

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Best Personalized Wedding Gifts

November 10, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Giving a gift for a wedding can be ultimately a difficult gift to give. If your looking to think  outside the box and prefer not give an envelope with money or the impersonal gift of an appliance, personalizing a wedding gift can be the direction to go. It is a thoughtful gesture that can say you are not only thinking of the couple in terms of sentiment, but also in originality. What can be the gift that says those things?

Think about the bride and groom. The best way to know what type of gift your couple will enjoy is to think about their relationship, what they enjoy and what their style is. Making sure you purchase the perfect gift can be easily done if you think of all of things.

A great way to show the couple that you are thinking of them is by looking at their interests. Is your bride and groom wine enthusiasts? A silver decanter with wine goblets can be engraved for a unique gift that will last throughout their marriage. A personal inscription can be out across the decanter with  corresponding messages on each goblet. This will be an everlasting message to the couple. If that is not your style, simply personalizing these pieces with the date they got married it ideal.

If your couple likes to cook how about a personalized recipe box, with personalized recipe cards? This is a great way to say you have thought about you bride and groom and what better better way to have gift last than personalizing the recipe cards that go inside? Having a new little message of love on each card  will always remind your couple each time they pull out a recipe to use. This is a cute and thoughtful gift for the couple who will cook.

If you know your couple well, and know they would love some keepsake inspired gifts for their wedding there are a number of options. Looking for items such as vases, picture frames, or photo albums can be easily be personalized in many different  ways to give such an elegant effect. You can pick various styles to match up with your bride and grooms taste.

A great idea for your couple is a wedding time capsule. A wedding time capsule is a wonderful keepsake set which holds memorabilia from their wedding day, honeymoon and first year together.

This gift encompasses all aspects of the couple, is thoughtful and can be brought out for every anniversary to include more items.  This is an orginial gift idea and will be something your couple can look back on the rest of their marriage.

Personalizing gifts can always be well received by your gift recipients for a wedding gift. Take your time to look and find what would suit your bride and groom best.

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