Archive for November, 2009
Monday, November 30th, 2009
 LolliBrides We’ve covered
boxed invitations, feather-accented invitations, message-in-a-bottle invitations, sculptural-floral invitations, video invitations…and now, chocolate invitations!
LolliBrides from Naturally Gifted in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., are 8 ½-inch-tall, 2-ounce chocolate lollipops dressed in gorgeously colorful strapless ball gowns complete with tulle overlays and ribbon sashes. These edible lovelies are available in milk or white chocolate and come in a range of juicy gown colors including Gem Peridot, Gem Citrine and Gem Pink (when you order online, you’ll have to send a separate e-mail specifying which colors you want, and how many of each). Personalized labels let you customize your LolliBrides for your occasion, whatever it may be.
We especially love LolliBrides for bridal showers…as invites, place-setting favors, take-home centerpieces, game prizes, dessert—you name it. Truly unique, truly gorgeous, truly WEDDING. Here comes the LolliBride!
Tags: Chocolate
Posted in Bridal Showers, Favors, Invitations | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
 Clay Flowers by DK Designs There’s nothing quite as beautiful, quite as fresh, quite as romantic as wedding-day flowers. Until the end of the night when they droop and discolor and have to be tossed unceremoniously in the trash bin, that is.
If you’ve dreamt about wedding flowers that would look gorgeous and last practically forever, your dreams have now come true. Diane Phillips of DK Designs creates clay flower arrangements that are every bit as vibrant as the real thing, but will stay totally fresh looking throughout your event, and endure for ages beyond (with proper care—don’t get them wet or expose them to extended direct sunlight—and storage).
DK Designs’ custom creations include centerpieces, bridal bouquets, hair accessories, boutonnieres and wedding favors—all made from CLAYCRAFT by DECO Soft Clay. The designer also sells standard designs through her Etsy shop. These flowers are incredibly lifelike and richly colored—guests will think they’re real, unless you tell them otherwise.
We love, love, love this concept, and we love DK Designs. So does Martha Stewart. The queen of crafts featured DK Designs on her “Martha Stewart Show” April Fool’s Day episode, where Diane taught Martha how to make clay hydrangeas.
Check out these stunning examples for inspiration!
Tags: clay flowers
Posted in Decor, Favors, Floral | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
If you’re planning to use ballroom chairs (otherwise known as chiavaris) at your reception dining tables, Houston bride, make sure they’re dressed for the occasion.
Anyone who’s familiar with The Linen House knows that Jan Cancila and her crew are always coming up with new ideas and beautiful designs in wedding linen. We recently came across some of their gorgeous covers and accents, which bring out the elegance of ballroom chairs, rather than concealing the chairs completely.
How about the feminine, fabulous Ballerina Chair Cover? We adore the combo of buttons and bow—a perfect way to soften the look of formal ballroom chairs.
 Ballerina Chair Cover For taller chairs, this look, reminiscent of tuxedos, is lovely, especially in a muted aqua-and-gold palette and hip stripes-and-dots print.
 Aqua-Gold Check out this chair—it’s got its own bridal gown! OK, maybe not quite, but this cover is so romantic, so pretty, so perfectly suited for a wedding. Love the splash of color from the orchid accent!
 Bar Stool Bridal Chair Something a little less lush your style? These chair pads add color and drama, but retain the classic chiavari look.
 Classic Chiavari Chairs with Cushion Don’t see exactly what your hear desires here? The Linen House can create a custom chair cover just for you!
Tags: Chair Covers, chiavari, Chiavaris
Posted in Decor, Reception | No Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
 Brides Across America at Brickhouse Bridal We love our servicemen and women as much as the next American. So we were super excited to discover how Brickhouse Bridal in Spring saluted brides-to-be in the armed forces, as well as the fiancées of men in the military.
The shop knows that a gorgeous gown is the ticket to a perfect wedding day. They also know that the price tag on those gorgeous gowns can be a bit hefty for military brides, who are already giving so much to our country.
 Military Brides at Brickhouse Bridal So last week, Brickhouse Bridal celebrated Veteran’s Day by joining 17 other bridal shops across the country to participate in Brides Across America. To show their appreciation for our military personnel, this fabulous Spring bridal salon gave away—yes, gave away!—designer wedding gowns to military brides who visited the store on Wednesday, November 11. Brides came to Brickhouse Bridal from all over Texas and even as far away as Minnesota, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
“It’s so wonderful to see these brides,” says Brickhouse Bridal’s Jill Ivers. “They give so much by serving themselves or supporting their fiancées who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.”
 Military Bride at Brickhouse Bridal Before the big day, Brickhouse Bridal selected 100 gowns for military brides to choose from. The most in-demand ones were designed by Pronovias, Rosa Clara, and Henry Roth. The ten dresses that the shop ended up giving away that day ranged from $1,000 to $2,000.
This was the third time that Brickhouse Bridal participated in Brides Across America. They also participated on July 4 and last Veteran’s Day. Between the three events, they’ve given away more than 50 wedding gowns. Talk about giving back!
“The brides are so excited, happy and appreciative to be wedding gown shopping and nearly every single one cries!” says Ivers. With that kind of generosity, we don’t blame them!
 Military Bride at Brickhouse Bridal
Tags: Brickhouse Bridal, Brides Across America
Posted in Fashion | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
You may want to pass this post along (subtly) to whoever’s planning your shower, Houston bride. Trust us, she’ll be glad you did.
The Soap & Paper Factory makes natural scented beeswax candles, stationery, soaps, bath powders and more, then wraps their paraben-free, phthalate-free yummies in eco-friendly, recyclable, totally beautiful packaging.
 Soap & Paper Solid Perfume We especially love S&P’s solid perfumes—little travel-size, purse-size pots filled with heavenly fragrance in solid form. Made from pure jojoba and beeswax, in aromas including Jasmine, Gardenia and Orange Blossom, S&P’s solid perfumes make great take-home goodies for girls of all ages. And they’re pretty enough to fit right in on an all-dolled-up tabletop.
 Soap & Paper Beeswax Candles We’re also fans of S&P’s divine scented beeswax candles, packaged in elegant Italian glass, which can be cleaned and reused for water, wine or your favorite Chardonnay. Yay!
Looking for something special for your bridesmaids’? The Soap & Paper Factory does amazing custom gifts, too.
Tags: Candles, Eco-Friendly, Fragrance, Perfume
Posted in Bridal Showers, Bridesmaids, Gifts | No Comments »
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Nobody loves her bling more than a Texas bride. But today’s tough economy has put a damper on many a gal’s diamond dreams. So it is with great excitement that we direct you to Adorn Brides. If you think you can’t afford red-carpet diamonds for your white-wedding day, Houston bride, Adorn is here to tell you, “Yes you can!”
Adorn’s selection of jewelry for rent includes pendant necklaces, chandelier and drop earrings, and bangle and cuff bracelets. These are extraordinary pieces with retail values that range from $5,000 to more than $100,000—and you can “borrow” them for a tiny fraction of the price. How’d you like to sport the spectacular Spencer Necklace—a brilliant lace-pattern drop necklace featuring clusters of round bezel diamonds that sells for almost $10,000? Well you can, for a few days at least, for a mere $360 (including insurance!).
 Spencer Necklace at AdornBrides.com Looking for a serious statement piece? You can’t do much better than the gorgeous Adkins Pendant—an Art-Deco-inspired diamond beauty. To buy the $7,300 Adkins necklace, you might have to give up a little something—like, say, your gown. But if you’ve got $190, you can rent it from Adorn, and wear it with, rather than instead of, your dream dress. Another $190 gets you the matching earrings.
 Adkins Necklace at Adornbridal.com Adorn items are shipped to arrive two days prior to your wedding, leaving lots of time to admire your borrowed bling. Can’t find what you like on the Adorn site? “If a customer doesn’t find exactly what they are looking for, we encourage them to call us. Often times we are able to access more jewelry styles and options then are listed on the Web site,” says Adorn vice president of marketing Laura Carrington. What a gem!
Tags: diamonds, something borrowed
Posted in Fashion, Jewelry | No Comments »
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
 I Want My Mother's Dress To Match The Napkins If you’ve got an impulse to outfit your mom for your wedding, Houston bride, Barbara Coolidge Tibbetts advises you to fight it. Hard. “Brides dress their bridesmaids. Mothers dress themselves,” Tibbetts says—and, as co-owner of Houston’s T. Carolyn Fashions and author of “I Want My Mother’s Dress to Match the Napkins: Funny Stories and Serious Advice for Looking Your Best at Your Child’s Wedding,” she ought to know.
 T. Carolyn
If your mother, or your groom’s, has already started searching for the perfect MOB/MOG dress, she’s probably aware of T. Carolyn, which is among the nation’s tiny handful of boutiques dedicated to dressing wedding moms. In fact, proud mamas travel to T. Carolyn from all over Texas, the United States, even other parts of the globe, to get that picture-perfect dress. If your mom doesn’t know about the shop, she’ll thank you for pointing her in the right direction. And if you really, really want to help, instead of insisting on that seafoam pantsuit or mauve-ish mumu, just buy her the book (available at the store, too). She’ll love it (unlike the mumu).
 T. Carolyn In the meanwhile, here are some words of wedding-dressing wisdom from Tibbetts herself:
“The three most important things in a dress are color, color and color. Color can transform a woman from being ordinary to being beautiful. This is your second most photographed day after your own wedding. If you don’t wear your color, you’re not going to be happy with the pictures.”
“One thing I have a real beef with is women executives who come in here and turn into bowls of jelly in the presence of the bride. When shopping for a dress, mothers of the bride should first go into the store themselves and see what the options are. After you’ve done that and narrowed your choices, take your husband or the bride. It’s important not to get confused by too many opinions.”
“Dresses run anywhere from $200 to $2,000, and we sell lots in the high range and lots in the low range. To find the right dress, and something within your budget, start shopping early—six months in advance. That gives us time to order without a rush charge, and with plenty of time for alterations.”
“The mother-of-the-bride and mother-of-the-groom should coordinate with each other—if one goes long, the other should go long. But they should each wear their own color, although it’s not a sin to wear the same color if they both look best in that color.”
Tags: Mother-of-the-bride, Mother-of-the-groom, T. Carolyn Houston
Posted in Fashion | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 9th, 2009
We had so much great advice we just couldn’t squeeze into our upcoming Weddings in Houston magazine story on maximizing the impact of your wedding budget, we decided a blog post was in order. Let’s face it: These are tough times. Now more than ever, Houston’s style-savvy brides are searching for ways to get the most bang—whether in decor, fashion, food, etc.—for their wedding budget buck.
Lucky for us, hometown wedding coordinator extraordinaire Karen Brown of Karen For Your Memories has these 7 essential tips for getting the most for your wedding money, however much you plan to spend. Don’t event THINK about planning your big day without reading this first!
1. Cut back on the number of people invited. This gives you a chance to spend more on food, décor, entertainment, or whatever will make you happy.
2. Order invitations from a reputable dealer…but create your own save-the-dates and programs.
3. If you are searching for a location that is different, but generally less expensive, check out small art galleries. Just be sure that the art on display during your wedding/reception is something you want to be included in your décor. Another lower cost venue is a garden club where you have beautiful grounds to work with. Just make sure there is an indoor area for backup, in case of bad weather.
4. Find magazine photos of things that you love and work with your consultant to try and adapt them to your wedding and budget. I had one bride who fell in love with a hand-painted aisle runner of black-and-white paisley. We started searching wallpaper stores and found a similar pattern that could be used, but for less cost. One double roll provided the runner all the way down the aisle. We taped it directly to the wooden floor with tape the color of her green accents.
5. Add dummy layers to the bottom of your cake. We try to arrange to have the cake moved into the back before being cut and served to the guests, so sometimes all but one layer of the cake is a dummy, and sheet cakes are already cut and plated in the back and ready to be served. You still have a beautiful display cake that is a great focal point, but you spend less money. The guests won’t know unless you tell them!
6. Never sacrifice memories for other areas that seem to be important to you at the moment. Photography and videography are probably the most valuable things you will take with you from your wedding—besides your new mate, that is.
7. Always go for quality, not quantity.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Thanks, Karen!
Tags: Bang for Your Buck, Save Money
Posted in Budget, Ceremony, Planning, Reception | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
 MyVideoMyVoice Video Memory Album We’re always looking for cool new wedding photo/video ideas, right? Well, lucky us—wedding-planner and Style Network star Mary Dann recently clued us in to one of the coolest!
Dann has teamed up with MyVideoMyVoice to introduce brides to the Video Memory Album—a full-size (8.5-by-10.5-inch), hardcover wedding album embedded with a 2.4-inch high-resolution audio/video player for viewing your cherished wedding videos in the palm of your hand.
The Video Memory Album can be uploaded with 45 minutes of wedding footage divided into five chapters. A built-in mini USB jack allows the album’s batteries to be recharged up to 500 times.
As for the albums themselves, they are beautifully constructed, sturdily bound books, with covers that can be personalized with your monogram or other text. Designs include the Modern Vibe (black with a pink, turquoise or lime-green ribbon accent) and Formal Elegance, with gorgeous Swarovski crystal detailing, along with several others.
Dann made sure we knew that MyVideoMyVoice knows its stuff: The company produces video inserts for Fortune 500 companies and recently did a video insert for CBS that was featured in Entertainment Weekly. Impressive!
If you like the idea of a Video Memory Album (and if you do, you might want to go ahead and put it on your wedding-gift wish list, Houston bride), then check out MyVideoMyVoice’s Video Memory Books (smaller versions of the albums) and fabulous Video Invites/Save-the-Date cards (Dann’s brides LOVE these).
Tags: MyVideoMyVoice
Posted in Invitations, Photography, Videography | No Comments »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
 Marry Monograms Rose We go to a LOT of weddings. And the ones that we love most, the ones that linger longest in our memories, are those weddings where the wedding couple’s personal touch is on everything from flowers to food to favors.
One of the most elegant ways to personalize your wedding, Houston bride, is with a sophisticated monogram logo bearing the initials or names of you and your new spouse. Monogram logos can be used to put your imprint on wedding items including:
–save-the-date cards and invitations
–aisles
–dance floors
–cakes
–wine bottles
–water bottles
–favors
 Marry Monograms Wine For versatile, memorable monogram logos, we adore Marry Monograms. For a very reasonable price, MM will create a downloadable JPEG-format logo that you can provide to your invitation designer, cake baker, favor-maker, dance-floor provider—pretty much any vendor whose product can be imprinted. Monogram style categories—MM has more than 200 standard designs available, and can do custom work as well—include Classic, Contemporary, Simple and Romantic, and many logo styles can include your wedding date or wedding locale.
 Marry Monograms Dance HWB tip: In the market for fun bridesmaids/groomsmen gifts or bachelor/bachelorette party favors? Use your MM monogram to customize clutches for the ladies and caps or T’s for the gents!
Tags: Monograms, Personal Touch
Posted in Bridesmaids, Ceremony, Decor, Favors, Reception | 1 Comment »
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