Weddings

Tips for the Plus Size Brides

Posted in Weddings on January 7th, 2011 by Jim – Comments Off

For brides, her wedding day is the most important day in her life. So, brides usually make sure that everything is perfect for the big event. However, one problem of brides is finding the right gown that will make her stand out on her special day. And this problem is especially difficult for a plus size bride, especially with the designers’ obsession for designing dresses that are size 8 and choosing slim models.

Luckily, several designers now decide to design and market plus size wedding dresses. A plus size bride can visit the local bridal shop, which surely offers plus size lines, or she can search the Internet and browse the web sites of designers offering plus size lines. Additionally, these designers now offer plus size models, which benefits a plus size bride because she will have a vision of how she would look in the gown.

There are just some things that a plus size bride needs to take into consideration about the style of her gown that will compliment her figure. More importantly, she should select a gown that hides her figure flaws and puts emphasis on her body assets. To hide large arms, a plus size bride might opt for a gown that has short lacy sleeves or a gown that has long sleeves that fits her well.

For necklines, she needs to look for gowns that have portrait, square and sweetheart necklines and she should not choose those that have high necklines because these are not always flattering for the plus size bride. She should also examine the style of her gown and some recommended styles include A-line silhouette and a ballgown. These cuts fit the waist and flare through the hips. The bride’s body type should not be a factor when choosing the fabric because it largely depends on the time of year. Lighter and lace fabrics are preferable for the summer, spring and fall seasons and heavier fabrics are suitable for the cold weather.

As for price, most brides pay between $500-$1300 for a plus size bridal gown and sets aside $150 for alteration costs. Finding discounts gowns, while not entirely impossible, is difficult to do when dealing with plus sizes.

After reading this, plus size brides should realize that it’s easy to find and buy the right bridal gown that will look great on them. Just be patient when shopping for one and don’t forget the tips I have provided above.

Who Will March with the Bride in a Nashville Wedding?

Posted in Weddings on October 2nd, 2010 by Jim – Comments Off

For many years, it has been customary that the father walks with his daughter during the wedding to give his daughter’s hand to her future husband.  This tradition embodies a father entrusting his most priced treasure to the care of another man who will endlessly love, honor and respect her just like how he did.  This has been the common picture during the wedding but since most of the women today are getting married at a later age, such tradition is changing at some Nashville weddings.

Modern traditions are being created nowadays.  These traditions have been made because of today’s changing families, and also, the bride and groom want to display their uniqueness.  Therefore, the question on who should walk the bride down the aisle doesn’t matter, what is important is that the bride exudes with joy and happiness.  Below are the modern practices about the etiquettes in a wedding march.

A bride whose father has passed away or has not been around for the bride for several years, she can choose to have her stepfather or brother or other close relatives like her uncle, cousin or a family friend to walk with her on her wedding march.  She can also choose her mother to walk with her down the aisle if that’s what she prefers.

In Jewish tradition, it is customary that both parents walk their daughter down the aisle.  This tradition respects the love that the parents have for their daughter, and honour their effort in raising their child.  In many weddings of different religions, most of the brides have practiced this tradition and choose to have both her parents on their wedding march.  This tradition symbolizes how the bride has appreciated the love and care that her parents have given her.

The bride can also opt for both father and stepfather to walk her down the aisle if she considers them both very significant in her life.  In some cases, the father walks the bride halfway and the stepfather leads the bride on the next half of the aisle, or vice versa.  This represents the bride’s appreciation to her two fathers.  A Nashville wedding like this can work in a chapel with a long aisle like Wightman Chapel or in a location where there is an ample distance for the wedding march like Springhaven Mansion.

The bride with an older age may feel awkward to have her father walk her down the aisle.  It is a common practice nowadays that the bride marches down the aisle all by herself.  This represents how independent she is on her decision to get married and be united with the man she chose to be with.  A bride who has children from her previous marriage can take her son or daughter to walk with her down the aisle.  This does not show that the children are giving their mother away; this just simply demonstrates how important her kids are to her new life.

Other brides march down the aisle with their groom.  This is already common today, showing that they have made a life together apart from their families.  Walking down the aisle together illustrates the commitment they have for each other.  Meeting halfway is also another option, demonstrating the bride and groom’s union on middle ground.

What matters is that the bride chooses a wedding walk that fits her personality.  She can make a decision of doing the traditional wedding walk with her father or opt for something different.  The wedding march is very significant for the bride so it is barely up to her to decide.

Old and New Ideas to Save on Your Wedding Costs

Posted in Weddings on September 6th, 2010 by Jim – Comments Off

One, if you have a favorite place where you would like to marry, but it costs more than you can pay, look into off times for your wedding. This requires perhaps some other adjustments in your wedding planning, but if you really want to marry there for sentimental or other reasons, it might be worth it.

Two, take be hesitant to do some searching for wedding rings on ebay and other wedding items. Sometimes weddings are canceled, or couples are just trying to come up with some cash and will sell some of their wedding items from their recent wedding. This can be a great way to get cheap wedding accessories.

Three, one area that is expensive is wedding flower decorations. Save money on your wedding flowers by choosing a wedding venue that doesn’t require much decoration. For your wedding reception, you can choose unique wedding centerpieces of some kind rather than having flowers at every table. Rather than flowers, you can use various greenery instead. One option available for some brides if you live in the right place, are local farmers that grow flowers and allow people to come and pick their own. Might be a fun outing for the bride and bridesmaids.

Four, reduce the size of your wedding. That means both the number of guests you invite and the number of wedding attendants. This can be hard to do, but is one of the best sure fire ways to save big time on your wedding costs. You save on the food, the drinks, the wedding attire and the bridal party gifts.

Why have such a big wedding anyway? You may be afraid someone will be offended, but in most cases people do understand. If they don’t, then it shouldn’t matter than much anyway. They should understand how much weddings costs and not want to put you in a position of incurring debts you can’t handle. You will have the most important people to you at your wedding. The rest you may hardly know or ever see.

Five, if you are using a flower girl, she may already have a beautiful dress mom bought her that would fit fine into your wedding. Other than that, right after Christmas or Easter are great times to find bargains on little girls dresses.

Six, shop around for your wedding service providers. You don’t necessarily want the cheapest you can find. They may be cheap for a reason. But on the other hand, some may be good but new and trying to build their business, or for any number of reasons unrelated to the quality of their services be in a slump and can use the business.

In other words, you can find people and business who are willing to discuss options for working with your wedding budget. Just be sure to check references and reviews if needed to now you are getting quality services.

One caveat: don’t try to negotiate a wedding vendor down to an unreasonable price. Put yourself in their place. If you were in the same business to make money and somebody gave you a sob story about having no money and persisted in asking for discount after discount, how would you feel? How great of service would you be inclined to give that person? Words to the wise!