Bridal Planning Inspiration for Newlyweds and Newlyweds Becoming a Blended Family
April 2, 2010 by admin
Filed under Modern Family Weddings
It’s spring again, and as the flowers start to bloom, so will the season for wedded bliss. As you look forward to what will be one of the happiest days of your life, here is some inspiration for you as you prepare for your fantasy come true.
Invitations - The first glance that your guests see of your wedding style is of your invitations. Order your invitations at least 4 - 6 months before the wedding. Individualize your invitations with a luxe look. Luxurious Wedding Invitations offer lovely couture invitations to wow your guest list. A bride-to-be can memorialize a loved one, represent and include her blended family, or pet by having a custom cameo brooch added to their wedding invitations. The style is luxe. The sentiment is priceless!
Bridal Shower Favors - Wrapped Kreations offer a unique way to personalize your bridal shower, or any special event. These favors are custom made with your flavor, and are a treasure for your special moment.
Bouquets - Feathers add a couture touch to any bouquet. A monochromatic bouquet in a bright and intense shade of your favorite color adds drama and intensity for the glam bride, or in all white for the traditional bride. A Hand-tied bouquet of calla lilies, or one long stem of an orchid are an elegant way to express your signature style on your wedding day. Colorful bouquets are a sheer elegant way for a bride-to-be with a blended family, or for any bride wanting to honor a lost loved one, to incorporate birth month colors of that family member(s). With a monochromatic bouquet, you may consider using rhinestones or swarovski crystals placed on your flower petals, or decorating the stem of your hand-tied bouquet, in each birthstone color to welcome and include new family ties or old memories, while adding sparkle. The style is unique. The sentiment is unforgettable!
Tablescapes - For the frugal, but chic, a wonderful way to dress the tables at your reception site is to place varying sizes of all white pillar candles in the center of the table. Alternatively, the use of empty or water filled box or cylinder shaped vases simply topped with a beautiful floral arrangement surrounded by tea light candles on top of mirrored coasters adds sophistication to the ambience. For the fabulous, elevated, or hanging (from the ceiling) floral or manzanita branch arrangements with or without feathers dripping with crystals or pearls definitely add flair and fabulousness. For the dramatic and couture look, some tables for rent are made to allow for a tablescape of varying candles, flowers, manzanita branches, and even small fire pits containing treated glass to strategically be placed and safely secured inside the center of the table for a dramatic and couture look.
Custom Desserts and Signature Drinks - For a custom touch, ask your caterer or bar matron if they’d allow you to work with them to make up your own ice cream, gelato or signature drink. Do this by combining individual favorite flavors of the wedding couple. Try three different choices, and select the one you both love the best. Or have them made in your wedding colors. Have them name it after you.
Wishing you LIFE and LOVE,
Wanda Williamson
This post was written by guest blogger, Wanda Williamson, wife, stepmom, wedding planner (who specializes in second chance wedding celebrations) and owner of Sheer Elegant Events.
Getting the Word Out About Your Big Day!
March 6, 2010 by admin
Filed under Modern Family Weddings
Wedding Evite
Guest blogger and awesome event planner, Lynn Maxwell of XL Events, offers some great alternatives to traditional wedding invitations below. Check them out!
You have already picked out this Spring and Summer’s most sought after wedding color combination and have found a great way to include your kids and your soon to be step-children in all of the wedding planning; what’s next? Getting the word out about your big day. Traditionally, couples will find awesomely fancy and expensive stationary to send out to their loved ones, but what if you have “been there done that” and do not want to go back? What if you just want something simple, something easy, and something that is not going to take away from your wedding budget? I have the answer. With the Internet being the “it” way of communications nowadays, it is extremely simple to construct a fancy little email about the day of your nuptials; think about it you already have most of your contacts in your in your address book and most webhosting sites like Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, and MSN (or Hotmail) already have their own stationery built right into the email settings. Take a browse through what they have and you may find something suitable for your email invite or if you cannot find what you are looking for, you can always peruse “free email stationery” on Google.
Another fun little way to get the word out about your day is to grab one of those social networking websites like Facebook or Twitter and begin taking your friends, family and loved ones through your planning phase; they will be sure to appreciate the final results of your hard work once they arrive on your set date.
Lastly, and my personal favorite, you can set up a website to document everything if you don’t have the time to Facebook or Tweet everything you are doing? OMG….a website? No worries, it is not as hard to set one up than you think. Many wedding sites like, The Knot, will help you set one up. Want something original? That is easy as well; sign up on places like webs.com, for free and they will walk you through the entire process of setting up your site. After you are done, you will be able to load pictures, add content and even be able to have the visitors of your site RSVP to your invitation. This will not only save money on stamps, time at the post office and time making sure the printer gets every single detail right on your invites, but you will also be going green. You like the last idea, but you really do not have the time, creativity, or patience to do something of that caliber, no fear, XL Events, LLC can help.
Final Thoughts: Keep everything as simple as you possibly can. If you would like to incorporate more than one of the above ideas, then go for it. Your guests will be waiting as anxiously as you are for your magical day to roll around.
Happy Planning!
Lynn Maxwell
XL Events, LLC
xleventsllc@yahoo.com
Our certified stepfamily coaches/counselors focus ONLY on all issues of divorce, remarriage and the step/blended family. Whether you just got a divorce and are in need of a co-parenting plan, are about to get remarried and are in need of an entry play or are currently immersed in your blended family and are in need of a recovery plan, we can help. For a consultation, please send an email to counseling@blendedfamilysoapopera.com.
Author Rob Flood credits the principle of first response for helping to change his attitude and heal his marriage. He says that the course of any conflict is determined by the responder, not the initiator. Remember, as the responder, you can choose how the conversation will go. Are you interested in being right, and being heard; or are you interesting in hearing your partner/spouse in order to resolve the conflict? If you both make concerted efforts to hear each other and then respond accordingly, you will discover that you'll be much better at resolving conflict.