Category Archives: Ideas

Wedding dress dilemmas

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dresses

Choose your co-shoppers carefully

The people you choose to take wedding dress shopping are very important people. Not only should they consider themselves lucky, but they should have a personality that shows it. If you’ve got a couple of friends you feel will get bored or enthusiastic quickly, they may not be your best choices. Get a small group of people that will offer helpful comments on each of the dresses you try on, and that will keep up interest no matter how long the shopping takes!

You won’t always stick to your plan

Before you embark on the wedding dress search, you might have a specific image in your head. Don’t lose that ideal image of a lace fit-and-flare with an illusion neckline, but don’t dismiss other options. Trying on things you don’t think will suit you may sometimes surprise you, you know… Make sure you try on a range of different designs and shapes, and take the advice of the shop assistants into consideration!

It’s not always love at first sight

Remember, most dresses will look bad on the hanger! Try things on! Whilst the shape may not look your cup of tea while it hangs on the dress rail, the moment you put it on, pair it with a killer pair of heels and add the accessories you might change your mind completely. But don’t go through all the dresses you can get your hands on in the boutique, be selective!

Wear the right underwear

For wedding dress shopping, make sure you’re wearing plain and seam-free underwear to give you an idea of how the dress really should look. Step away from the bras and knickers covered in frills and the bows for today, please. You’ll thank us later.

Consider bridal sizes

Picking up your usual size 10 off the dress rail and it not fitting does not mean those after-dinner biscuits last night has gone to your hips already. Fear not! Wedding dresses are typically one to two sizes smaller than regular street sizes, so don’t get too fixed on the number. And for those brides that are wedding dress shopping with the plans to lose weight, don’t be too ambitious. Often, it’s a lot better to order the size that fits you now and deal with fittings nearer to the big day itself.

You will get tired

Wedding dresses – they’re not exactly the lightest of garments, are they? The repetitive routine of getting undressed and dressed during any shopping day is tiring enough, let alone getting undressed and dressed into a series of heavy wedding dresses. Before you head out, get a good, but light, breakfast down you, and keep a bottle of water on hand – then you’ll be ready for the ‘Wedding dress workout’.

Try before you buy

Once you’ve got it on and think it might be ‘the one’, try and glide like you’re walking down the aisle and move like you’re on the dancefloor! If you can strut your stuff in the dress, we’re with you: it is the one. Everyone present, hold back the tears or grab the tissue.

Good reasons to have a winter wedding

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The number of winter weddings taking place every year is increasing. Although off-season rates are a factor for many couple’s, there are lots of fun reasons to have your big day during the winter months. Read on to find out more…

1. Dusk till Dawn

As dusk falls early, you have an extended evening to celebrate. With endless possibilities for candles, fairy lights, and fireworks to light up the night sky, winter weddings are a great excuse to have fun with lights.

2. White Wedding

Every winter bride dreams of a magical sprinkling of snow. If you get married north of the border, the chance increases even further.

3. Money Matters

The biggie. Most venues and suppliers will have off season rates, but many will also provide tempting incentives. Scottish venue Dundas Castle is offering complimentary bubbly, fairy light ceiling, and sparklers to all winter weddings in January and February 2016 as part of its ‘Winter Sparkle’ promotion.

4. Fireside Glow

Why not welcome your guests into a venue that has a roaring open fire? You could also reflect on your day with a night cap as the fire crackles – one of the great pleasures of winter weddings.

5. A date to remember

Winter is full of memorable dates to make your chosen day even more special. You could have a festive Christmas wedding, a romantic Valentine’s weekend wedding, or even start the New Year as you mean to go on – as a married couple.

6. Honeymoon Heaven

Fly to the Maldives during Summer, and you’ll hit a monsoon! Winter is southern hemisphere honeymoon season, with no school holiday supplements. The chance to ski or get some much needed winter sun makes it a honeymoon triple whammy!

7. Sunshine Stress

Getting married in winter totally eliminates ‘Will it? Won’t it?’ weather related stress. Guests will be expecting colder weather, so the focus will be on what’s going on indoors. That way, any snow or winter sun comes as an added bonus.

8. A Break from the norm

Your guests may have ‘wedding fatigue’ by the time your summer wedding comes around. A winter wedding will be a seasonal highlight too. This gives you and your guests a great excuse for a post-Christmas knees up.

9. Great Availability

Winter is still low season, making getting your ideal Saturday date a breeze. It’s also much easier finding accommodation for your guests, or bagging your dream wedding photographer or wedding band.

10. Winter Wellies

Last but surely not least, a winter wedding is your chance to sport some stylish bridal wellies. If you’re less adventurous, winter offers a plethora of clothing options. Why not go for fake fur, feathers and capes to tempt the fashion conscious.

How to avoid wedding shoe mishaps

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Say goodbye to sore feet, blisters and sinking into the grass!

Every bride-to-be must, at some point, get the fear of falling. Tripping as they walk up the aisle, slipping as they walk on the grass – the fear of being the next wedding fail on YouTube! But have no fear. Follow these top tips and you’ll be gliding elegantly down the aisle in no time…

Relax!

When you are tense and nervous, you are more awkward and therefore clumsier. We know this is easier said than done but this aside, it’s your wedding day, your friends and family are there to see you get married to each other, and they want the best for you. Smile, look directly into your partner’s eyes and take a deep breath.

Go for comfort

Ouch! There is nothing worse than limping around with sore feet because of ill-fitting or cheap shoes. Please remember that comfort is key here – pick a pair from a reputable seller of professional bridal shoes. The biggest secret of wedding shoes is they are designed to be the most comfortable shoes you will ever wear. Most shoes purchased off the high street do not have these extra added comfort features as they have cushioned lining and extra insole padding. Shoes with leather linings are also really comfortable as they mould to the shape of your foot, enhancing the comfort. 

Think about heel height

Linking in with tip number 2, don’t choose your wedding day to be the first time you decide to wear 6-inch heels then totter around like a bride on stilts with your bottom sticking out and sore feet to boot! That’s not a good look and you are likely to fall over, too.

Get some practice

If you want to wear heels and you’re not used to wearing them, then you’ve got to practice! Firstly, relax, then walk slowly, lean back – it may feel unnatural, but you are compensating for heels you have so lean into them. Shoulders back, don’t swing your arms but keep them at your side, one foot in front of the other, heel to toe, head up, smile and glide!

Avoid that sinking feeling

Your photographer beckons you onto the grass for those all-important couple shots – but wait! No bride wants to be sinking into the grass, so luckily we have the perfect solution. We know of the perfect solution: Clean Heels, as featured on Dragon’s Den, feature a large disc on the bottom to give your stilettos more circumference to stop them sinking in.

The right dress length

Make sure you get your wedding dress altered wearing the shoes you’re going to be wearing on the day. And remember, if you kick your shoes off later in the evening, your dress will become a trip hazard! If your dress has a train, make sure you know how to bustle it up before you start dancing.

Don’t get drunk

Sure, you’ll have the odd glass of champagne to celebrate the big day, but no one wants to see a drunk bride wobbling all over the dance floor – and falling flat on her face! You won’t have had a lot of practice walking in these shoes so do yourself a favour and stay away from the booze.

How do you buy a gift that says everything?

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A groom may want to write a poem for his bride about all the things he loved about her – right down to her not being the best singer in the world, but loved to hear her sing as it meant she was happy.  You may have been through tough times, but against all the odds, you made it to the altar and are looking forward to the future together.

Sometimes words are not enough and writing something for a bride who had been told she that only had a short time to live, she may want to write a poem for her groom thanking him for sticking by her, and loving her through tough times. Or writing something to be read at the reception, thanking all their friends and family who helped her to put the wedding together so quickly. This of course can be a very precious keepsake.

Little details make the difference, so in each case try to weave your personal memories and feelings into something that you are proud to deliver, either written down, or read aloud.

How is a poem useful when used in a best man speech?

Poems are incredibly useful when used as best man speeches. Often the best man doesn’t have a lot of public speaking experience and it can be daunting, and so it can be nice to have the rhythm of a poem as something to focus on while they are trying to deliver their speech. Also, for a best man, what they really want to do is be there for their friend in the run up to the wedding, so having a poem to be used as their best man speech frees up their time to really be there for them. Then all they need to do is practice their poem, present on the big day and then sit back and take all the praise for their clever delivery! Perfect!

Best Man poems can contain all the regular things you would put into a best man speech, so humorous tales from the groom’s younger days, and how he met his bride and what his friends think of her, messages from friends who can’t be there and thanks you’s and so on. They can choose to have their full wedding speech as poem, or just a small part, perhaps to be used as the crowning glory and rounding off their speech.

Poems can be presented as gifts in a number of ways, as the main gift where the sentiment is in the words, or as thank you poems for the bridesmaids to go alongside any other little gifts that you may give them. They may want to simply write it into a card, frame it with a photo, record themselves reading it and then share it on YouTube, or have it transcribed into calligraphy.

Breaking the ice with some entertainment ideas

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When it comes to wedding reception entertainment ideas (and we’re talking about the drinks reception here), there’s a number of ways which you can go. Many choose to simply ditch entertainment completely in favour of quiet talking or complete silence as guests struggle to work out just who they should speak to over their glass of Champagne. In order to break the ice, we think that a little wedding entertainment goes a long way and here are just a few ideas to get you started

There’s nothing quite like completing the wedding vows and heading to the wedding reception to be met by the sound of bagpipes. Many of the guests may be in kilts anyway so it’s a perfect excuse to celebrate your heritage! Admittedly if neither the groom nor bride are Scottish or Irish, bagpipes may be a truly unusual wedding party entertainment idea, but there are many other options. The kora is a gorgeous instrument for those of African heritage.

Some find it very difficult to chat to others at weddings, especially if they haven’t brought along a plus one. Not to worry what about having some lookalikes which will be a fantastic way to get wedding guests talking be they playing a celebrity that the bride or groom might fancy or a favourite character from their childhood! Captain Jack Sparrow is sure to give the wedding party ideas when it comes to breaking the ice or you could even go for the real thing! Contestants from the X Factor and Britain’s got Talent aren’t as expensive as you might think and are sure to wow the assembled guests with their musical talents.

Some strolling entertainment at your reception is often a fab way to get people chatting. Moving away from the music acts, there are some wonderfully romantic wedding entertainment ideas that at first might not seem obvious but then make sense when you’re there. One of these is looking into hiring a fortune teller, tarot card or palm reader. A great bit of fun, you never know, they may just see another wedding on the horizon between a couple of your guests!

If you aren’t too sure about predicting the future of those in your wedding party, ideas don’t come much better than getting a magician for your big day. As the wedding reception entertainment, magic is sure to bring people together and provides a little relaxation for the Best Man and others ahead of the speeches later on! A handwriting expert is also an unusual entertainment idea for a wedding but no less compelling. Who doesn’t want to know what their handwriting tells an expert about them!? You never know, the writing might be on the wall for another marriage before too long.

Winter Wonderland Weddings

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There’s something magical about winter and in particular, a winter wedding. As the public flock to various winter-themed events and Christmas markets, it’s difficult to know quite how your wedding can capture that Christmassy atmosphere without becoming tacky and whilst also seeking to retain all of the magic that makes December such a wonderful time of the year to get married. Yes, it’s a lot colder than if you had a summer wedding but with these fabulous acts, you’ll be sure to have a great day. 

There’s nothing quite as gorgeous a carousel. A free standing aerial rig, two acrobats perform a choreographed show or ambient performance for the whole family to enjoy. Coming with an ‘Ice Garden’ theme and able to be used for acrobatic or aerial silks or hoop, this is a stunning slice of entertainment for your big day. A mesmerising, relaxing affair, it is sure to take a bit of the stress off ahead of the best man’s speech!

You could go for the usual wedding band or DJ for your wedding reception, but what with the festivities of the season taking hold, it might be a somewhat unique idea to hire a brass band to perform Christmas classics for the room. Feel free to join in with some of your favourite Christmas carols or sit back as husband and wife and just enjoy the occasion. A chance to really put your mark on your wedding day without necessarily being too overtly Christmassy!

Wedding Day Traditions explained

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There are lots of weird and wonderful wedding day traditions – your own wedding day might include a few ancient superstitions to avoid bringing ‘bad luck’ without you even realising! Here are a couple you might not know about…

Rain on your wedding day is thought to be unlucky – not only for the soggy guests, but the rest of the marriage too! However, it is considered good luck for a bride to meet a spider, chimney sweep or black cat on her way to the wedding ceremony.

One of the most familiar superstitions is that it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding ceremony. This one isn’t such a romantic tradition – it originated in a time when arranged marriages were common, and seeing each other was more likely to result in one or both parties doing a runner!

Have you ever wondered why the groom carries his new bride over the threshold? In medieval Europe, it was believed that evil spirits might make their way into the house through the soles of the bride’s feet!

Much of the bride’s outfit has been based upon superstitions, including a white wedding dress to signify virginity and purity. Some think that a sugar cube in your glove will sweeten your union, whilst almost every bride knows the traditional poem, ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’.

Wearing ‘something old’ is meant to represent the life that the bride is leaving behind, while the ‘something new’ represents her new life as a married woman. The ‘something borrowed’ should come from someone who has had a long and happy marriage, and blue is meant to symbolise purity, fidelity and love.

The final part of the poem is ‘and a silver sixpence in her shoe’. Traditionally the bride’s father would slip a sixpence coin into his daughter’s left shoe on the way to the altar, to bring luck and wish the happy couple a long and prosperous life together. Today, you can buy special wedding sixpences to recreate this tradition.

For many years it was also tradition for the bride and groom to give each other gold and silver coins after exchanging rings, and this act is recorded in the first book of common prayer published in 1549. Gold Sovereign coins and silver Britannia coins are a perfect way to observe that tradition today.

Used to symbolise prosperity, love and unity, coins have a long-standing history within many wedding traditions across the world.

In Wales, silver coins are inserted into the popped champagne or wine corks and given to the bride and groom as a lasting memento of their day of celebration.

In Sweden, the bride’s mother gives her a gold coin to put in her right shoe and the bride’s father gives her a silver coin to put in her left shoe to represent their wish that she will never be without.

In Spain and Latin America, a coin is given by the groom to his bride after the blessing of the rings. It symbolises his willingness to share all that he has or will have. The coin is kept as a family keepsake and passed down from mother to her eldest son on his wedding day.

In Poland, coins are tossed over the newlyweds instead of confetti as they leave the ceremony. The couple is required to pick up all of the coins together as a sign of their new unity.

Winter Wedding Hair

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It’s a given that every single bride wants to look beautiful on her wedding day, and while some may argue that winter hairstyles are no different from looks at any other time of year, there are some things you really ought to consider for winter weddings.

Get the right tools

Looking radiant in the winter will take some extra work and care – however, armed with the right products, preparation and mind-set you can ensure you look perfect on your wedding day. Winter weather plays havoc with our hair and causes it to dry out and become frizzy – especially in cold, less humid climates. Moisture is sucked away from your locks, causing hair to become static, so it’s best to use a natural bristle brush or a wide tooth wooden comb.

Embrace the updo

Winter brides also need to think about their natural hair texture and type more than summer brides. I strongly recommend that you let your hair be itself and work with it instead of fighting against it. You can try to a degree to force your hair into unnatural shapes, but what with cold winds outside and central heating inside, fine straight hair will be more prone to drop curls, while naturally thick hair may frizz.

Updos are your best bet if you’re trying to tame unruly hair, as they’re more likely to withstand changes in the climate. Choosing an updo will mean that your hair will be neatly tucked into a beautiful style that won’t budge throughout the day.

Choose the right products

Ensure that your wedding hair stylist uses premium products to really help you avoid hair disasters on your special day. Hair products will vary depending on the style you choose, but for curls we recommend a good volumiser also a good helping of a high-quality hairspray to stop it losing its shape.

Consider your outfit

A lot of winter brides will wear a beautiful faux fur stole or shrug to keep warm while walking down the aisle and having their pictures taken outside. If you are considering a shawl, you must take this into consideration when choosing your hairstyle.

If you decide to wear a low bun at the side or back, the bottom of the bun may rub against your stole – this will not only make your hair look windswept, but will also weaken the hairstyle and cause it to fall out. You can still wear a bun, but just make sure that your hairdresser is aware that you’ll be wearing something to cover your shoulders so that they can make your hair high enough.

Many brides go for heavy luxurious fabrics when choosing their winter wedding dress and these may have many buttons at the back which you could get your hair tangled on. I would recommend having your hair up if you are going for this option so that you can avoid this nightmare scenario and also fully show off the intricate detailing on your wedding dress.

Brides choosing a high-necked dress should also try and wear their hair up as high as possible to create height – this will elongate your neckline and make you feel tall and slender. You could opt for hair to be swept to the side if you feel uncomfortable with all your hair up, and have a few loose strands to frame your face.

Add some sparkle

Winter brides can indulge not only in rich colours and fabrics but plenty of sparkle too. As the winter light fades and the crisp cold night starts to fall, a winter bride will look stunning with a glitzy hair accessory. Flowers may be a little more limited at this time of the year, but brides can experiment with feathers, diamantes and beautifully coloured jewels.

These days’ brides have a wide range of hair accessories from headbands, combs, tiaras, fascinators, skull caps or hair pins to choose from – there’s something for everyone, regardless of whether you want an extravagant statement piece or a simpler accessory. Enjoy finding the right thing for you and don’t forget to show your hairdresser what you want to use so they can factor this into your wedding hairstyle on your special day.

Losing a few pounds before your big day

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There are more myths about dieting than any other subject. So we are here to help separate the facts from the fiction and get on the road to super slimming success to lose weight for your wedding day.

Myth 1 – Small portions are the key to losing weight

The truth; It’s an out of date myth that dieting has to mean deprivation. We now know it’s not the size of your portion that counts – it’s the kind of food on your plate.

The latest research into healthy eating shows that it’s possible to eat satisfying, filling meals, do light exercise and still lose weight by choosing foods that are low in energy density. Energy density is the amount of energy (or calories) per gram of food which means we can eat more of them while consuming fewer calories. Foods that are low in energy density include fruit and veg, lean meat, rice and pasta.

Brides-to-be should fill their plates high with fresh fruit and veg, pasta, rice, potatoes and lean meat and still see great results on the scales.

Myth 2 – It’s harder to lose weight when you’re older

The truth: You might think it was easier to stop a dress size in your teens or 20s, but that’s really your memory playing tricks on you.

There’s actually no evidence that the ability to lose weight for your wedding is any more difficult as you get older.

In fact, it could be a little easier if you’ve swapped partying, takeaways and eating-on-the-run for home cooking and healthy snacks as you’ve got older.

Follow a healthy eating programme and support it by staying as active as you can and you’ll be able to lose weight at almost any age.

Myth 3 – Diets only work short-term and you always put weight back on again

The truth: If you’re talking about your diet in the sense of faddy, restrictive, short-term, quick fixes then this is true because with those types of diets as soon as you go back to the way of eating that made you put on weight in the first place, you’ll gain weight again, meaning that even though your wedding photos look great, you’ll be putting weight back on soon after. Not a good boost for your self-esteem either!

Ban the ‘D’ word. It has so many negative associations for most people, making them think of being deprived and not being able to share meals with family and friends and enjoy social events.

Myth 4 – Healthy eating is expensive.

The truth: It’s true that more often than not it’s processed food like frozen chips and pizzas or packs of crisps and chocolates that are on cut-price offers. And a trolley full of fruit and vegetables along with fresh meat and fish may cost more than one loaded with all these processed food deals, but your healthy trolley will provide the ingredients for many more family meals.

Your weekly shop will go further, your overall food bills won’t go up – and neither will your weight.

Although they may be spending more on fruit and veg, the savings they make by cutting down on takeaways and processed foods mean their food bills come to less overall.

The usual things people complain about at a Wedding

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Sometimes certain things won’t impress everyone, and we’ve put together some of the most common complaints from wedding guests, just so you know what to expect, or what to avoid…

The invitation

From the inconvenient date at the top of the invite, to the lack of mention about a plus one or the ‘No children, please’ at the bottom – the wedding save the dates and invitations can be a source of great irritation to those receiving them. But at the end of the day, your wedding is YOUR day – if you don’t want children there, you don’t want children there. And that is that.

The waiting around

You’ve had the big day planned out for a while now – every hour, every minute, every second almost, but have you thought about the guests? There are lots of times during a wedding day that guests can be left waiting around, whether due to disorganisation in the wedding planning or the vendors. Think about it though: whilst you’re off with your groom and the photographer taking amazing shots for your wedding album, will your guests be happy? Will your guests be okay with you pushing back the three-course meal because you want a pianist to perform at the reception?

The seating arrangement

No matter how hard you try to do a seating plan that will suit everyone, often it doesn’t quite work out. Even your last resort of placing those two certain people on opposite ends of the table could lead to a complaint! And the same goes for when you haven’t put them with someone they want to be with. Don’t stress too much about this though, after all, it’s only for the meal time – they can pick and choose who they do and don’t hang around with for every other part of the day!

The wallet

Forking out extra cash is never seen as a good thing, even to the richest of people! Ensure your wedding day has no unexpected or hidden costs that they’ll have to empty their wallets and purses for, otherwise you might find your reception tables filled with grumpy guests. They’ve paid for your wedding gift, they’ve paid to get here, and they’ve most likely paid for a brand new outfit (not that we’d complain about that!). If you’re worried about how people will react, let people know about things with a little note in the invitations or similar.

The food

Isn’t it strange that once you seat certain people in front of a fancy three-course meal that they suddenly turn all ‘foodie’ on you? Complaints about the food almost always happen, but sometimes it can’t be helped – one person can have very different tastes to another person! The best you can do is make sure you satisfy everyone’s dietary requirements. Those vegetarians won’t be happy if a plate of roasted lamb and gravy is presented to them

The music

Let it be known that, as much as people pretend that dancing isn’t their thing, wedding guests love a bit of dancefloor action. Even the essential dad dancing involved in every wedding is a treat! Make sure you’ve got a playlist, band or DJ that will get people going, and end the evening with a bang!

The lack of appreciation

Whether those you’ve invited have travelled far or not, they will expect to have a little conversation with you at least. Only getting a glance of you as you walk down the aisle just won’t cut it! Plus, a thank-you card after the big day through the post will avoid any complaints about you and your groom being ungrateful about them attending your big day.