Fink's Jewelers and Bride's Magazine Event!

 

Invites You!

View beautiful platinum jewelry by Ritani while

sipping champagne and savoring fine wedding cake.

Bridal and jewelry expert Alison Rowe will be available to

discuss the hottest trends and provide style consultations.

Plus, enter to win a custom cake by Tizzerts

or a Ritani wedding band set.

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

12-5 p.m.

 

Cake tasting 1-3 p.m.

 

SOUTHPARK

4400 SHARON ROAD, SUITE199

CHARLOTTE, NC

RSVP by November 5 to FinksRSVP@condenast.com



Color Your Wedding Wonderful -Part 1

Feature Article
By Tracey Baxter

Your wedding color choices should embody your personality. After all, that is the spirit of the event! Even if you want a light and airy feel to your wedding, if you don’t like yellow, you won’t enjoy the décor. So first think of colors that you love for the dominant color for your flowers and decor. If you love rich colors you can still achieve a breezy feeling by choosing lighter tones of your favorite shades.



Once you have narrowed down the main color, you have to decide how you’re going to accent it. You could search the internet for “orange weddings” and see what design boards come up. But if you want to create something a little more unique than everyone else’s color palette on the web, start with a color wheel. Remember from grade school ROY-G-BIV? Now take that concept and put it in a circle and you’ve got a color wheel. So let’s explore some color combining techniques.



Monochromatic:


If you want a monochromatic style, you’ll be using your main color in darker and lighter shades. On a color wheel, the darker shades are toward the outer edge of the circle and the lighter shades move in toward the center. Not getting that visual? Think about the paint department in your local home improvement store and what easily comes to mind is the array of paint swatch cards on the wall. The cards are typically arranged in monochromatic schemes with a dark shade on one end, a light shade on the other end and 2-4 shades in between. Find your favored color on a paint card and voila instant monochromatic scheme right? This is a fairly straightforward idea but you should still take the time to choose your shades wisely. To be sure to create an authentic monochromatic event, continue to check your color palette swatch against the linens, flowers and other décor you select. It’s easier to veer off the monochromatic path than you think. The danger in monochromatic schemes is they can look monotonous so carefully think of the space where your design will be used.






Analogic:


Analog colors neighbor each other on the color wheel. Because of this, they will have an harmonious feeling when used together. In simplest terms: red, orange and yellow are great autumn tones but technically speaking; they will work together because they are neighbors on the color wheel. Analogic color schemes are quite common.


If you want to try creating monochromatic and analogic color schemes, check out our post on 10/12/10 for links to fun and free tools!

Love Story Parody!

I thought this would be perfect for a whimsical day!



Did you see yourself in the first verse?  Embossed invitations, dad's freaking out about the costs... and the bottom line: a wedding without stress!

 What can you do to make your wedding stress free?  Hire a professional wedding planner!  Wedding day can turn overwhelming in a heartbeat! Your fiance will not be a great point person for the wedding professionals.  (Guys, don't trow tomatoes! You know it's true - you don't want that responsibility, you deserve to relax, after all it's your wedding too right!?)  Your mom, your sister, your bridesmaids- they all want to enjoy your wedding day as much as you do!

Aisle Do can help you at whatever stage of planning you have landed.     

The Bride's Shoes

I love this shoe! I would love it more if it had a platform, but that’s a post for another day! I love it because this is an incredibly versatile shoe.

It’s the Flash 647 and it also comes in a chocolaty brown. The white is great because it’s dyeable. I know, yawn – a white satin dyeable shoe, BTDT in 1987 right? But I look at this and see a graduated shade of your favorite color or maybe in blues to complete your set of somethings. With each fold of the satin, the color gets gradually darker.  Or instead perhaps make the heel, back and front most folds one of your wedding colors and the other folds are the accent color. This is the kind of shoe you can really get creative with. A strappy shoe also makes an easy DIY dye project! There are lots of dyeable shoes out there and there is no reason why you have to dye them a solid color.



How else can you customize your shoes? Add crystals, add ribbon, add glitter, sequins, a broach, paint the toe, paint the heel (yes, you can paint shoes!)… jazz up the soles with paint or if they are new add blue crystals to spell “I DO”, your names or initials, your wedding date or other lovely words. If your shoes are not new, you might want to get them resoled (any shoe repair shop can do this) or if they are in good shape but just dirty, clean them up well.


Don’t be the only one with great shoes – let your bridesmaids have some great shoes too! A cheese and chocolate gathering to work on some shoe crafts would be a fun addition to your bridesmaids itinerary!  

Wedding Fashion Photos

So many beautiful spring wedding gown collections are being unveiled! I love the run way shows! I’ll post some this week for you but because it’s a Monday, this is not all about the fabulous side of bridal fashion. See, I have one major pet peeve with wedding gown advertising, particularly in magazines. The model's posture! I have such a hard time looking at some ads without thinking the models are in pain, they hate the gown or they have scoliosis or maybe even early osteoporosis. Oh so you’ve seen them too? Yes, those!


Let’s look at this for a minute:

And this is not even the most atrocious example out there. Cropping it actually made the whole thing look better.To protect the innocent and/or the guilty, I’m not going to list this gown by name or designer but if you’re interested, I’ll be glad to supply you with the link! It’s actually a lovely gown. It’s a shame that it gets portrayed as difficult to wear. 

Draw your eye to the red arrow highlighting the accentuated curve of her back and angle of her shoulders. Does that look natural? I have yet to see a bride intentionally or accidentally pose like this at her wedding for even a millisecond. So why is this pose so popular in advertising?  What story is being told here? To me these types of photos are screaming “get me the heck out of this gown”.

Do we blame the photographer …the model …the designer? They have a mutual vested interest in the ad photo looking fabulous. I think they are equally guilty of getting caught in a whirlwind and following what others photographers and advertisers are doing to showcase their gowns. That’s unfortunate! But it gives people like me a good laugh at how utterly uncomfortable the model looks. I’m curious about the statistics of how many gowns are sold when featured in a way making the dress look excruciating to wear vs. gowns that were featured on a comfortable and relaxed looking model.

Wait, I almost forgot the blue arrow. Notice the model’s opposite shoulder is symmetrical? But where is her other arm? It’s bad enough we have this poor girl stuck in a dress that hunches her back but her arm has to be chopped out out too? Smooth their skin, make them look more or less shapely – but removing a whole arm is above and beyond the call of editing duty don’t you think? Seriously!




So what do you think? Does this style make you think of true haute couture or a hot mess?

Don't Invite Trouble

Feature Article
by Tracey Baxter



Have you checked out the Internet for inspirational wedding décor? Of course! There are great websites chock full of fun ideas. So who wouldn’t spend hours searching for inspiration and help? Many of the fabulous inspiration sites have an “Ask Us” section where you also can find all the answers for your biggest wedding etiquette questions. But beware – etiquette doesn’t change with the times and trends like the wedding décor ideas that you have found.





Let’s talk invitations! Invitations should be hand addressed for both the outer and inner envelop. So many websites will tell you that it’s OK to print labels or print the invitations. It’s not. It’s really not!! The first impression your guests will have of your wedding is based on the invitation. A printed label screams that you care so little about your guests attending that you can’t spend the time to write their address on the invitation. Ouch! Surely that is not the message you want to send with your jazzy invitation.






Do you have to get a calligrapher? No! Anyone with legible handwriting will do just fine. In fact, my brides often enlist a group of friends for an invitation addressing party. Sometimes its bridesmaids and sometimes other friends who want to help in any way they can. And this wedding planner I know (wink) usually shows up with wine, cheese and other treats! 5 girlfriends + 20 envelopes each = the work is completed fast and fun is had by all. But wait, you say? You’re concerned your half dozen friends all have different handwriting? That’s OK. It doesn’t have to be the same handwriting. It just has to be done with handwriting. Your guests are not going to call each other to compare envelopes. Trust me on this – you want the invitations hand written!






What about the guest? You know the guest - the one you don’t actually know … the one coming with your 3rd cousin twice removed. Oh yeah, that guest. Is it proper to address them ‘and guest’ on the invitation? Let's be honest. It looks awkward because it is. The best thing you can do is call your cousin and ask their guest’s name and address so they can be properly invited. This gesture conveys that not only do you want this cousin to attend; you want their guest to feel truly invited and welcome at your wedding too. The rare times an ‘and guest’ would be necessary, this would not be included on the outer envelope. Rather, you would address the inner envelop Ms. Jane Doe and Guest. If you are not using an inner envelope, including a personal hand written note indicating that they are welcome to bring a guest and request they let you know with the RSVP. Then enclose this note with the invitation.






Etiquette may seem like a lot of extra work. But it’s well worth the effort. The time you take to do these important details will be appreciated by your guests. They will also be freer to enjoy the other special wedding day décor details you have created because they know you didn’t take etiquette short cuts. You only have this one chance to make the best first impression on your guests.




Your Wedding Planning Homework!


Practice your handwriting! Set the date for the invitation addressing party! Invite bridesmaids, friends from the office who want to help or your mom and future mother in law. It's a great way to get make a seemingly big task more manageable and fun!






Want to use this article in your e-Zine, blog or website? You may as long as you include this complete statement:


Wedding Solutions Specialist Tracey Baxter publishes the "Aisle Do" bi-weekly e-zine. Get your Free Report: "5 Fun and Fabulous Reception Ideas for a Reluctant DIY Bride” at www.aisledoweddings.com

Surprise the Bride

Do you love creative engagements and surprise dances or skits at weddings too??!  Me too!! Actually, I just love all kinds of surprises but I pay too much attention to everything so it's pretty impressive if someone surprises me.

This choreographed toast is so much fun!  It continued to be surprising even after it got going.  My husband would have scored major points if he pulled this off at our wedding!