A Blend Of Your Personal Tastes and Personalities: Creating a Signature Cocktail

          Weddings are full of many details that are all chosen from your personal tastes and preferences.  From the dress and the flowers to the food and the venue space, you are in charge of making your dream wedding reflect just who you and your fiancé are.  Well this is just the same when it comes to a trending detail: The Signature Cocktail.  The signature cocktail has been trending for many years, but is becoming even more popular in 2012.  We have a couple tips for you to consider when it comes to choosing your very own signature cocktail.

Appearance

Appearance is everything.  First of all, make sure your very own signature drink matches your wedding color scheme.  You do not want a red cocktail in a venue that is decorated in green fabrics.  You want your cocktail to look fabulous and delicious so everyone will want to try the drink that shows off your personal tastes and personality.  Also, you could add a personal touch such as your favorite flower on top or a small umbrella that could possibly have a logo with your names and wedding date on it.  The skies the limit with personal touches, make it your very own.

Follow Your Theme

Follow, follow, follow your theme of your wedding when choosing your signature cocktail.  For example, if you are having a country wedding, you might want to go with a Long Island, a Twisted Lemonade or a Harvester cocktail.  Making sure all of your details directly link together will really help pull your wedding together in an amazing and beautiful way. 

Consider The Season

During the winter months, do you see yourself or experience yourself drinking a Margarita or a Pina Colada?  Or during the summer months, do you crave to drink a warm Baileys cocktail?  We would like to think your answers would be no.  Making sure your cocktail associates with the season your wedding date is set in is very important.  We have researched and found a great cocktail to consider for your wedding no matter what season it is in.

Spring: Cherry Blossom Tini

Summer: Twisted Lemonade or a Lemon Drop Martini

Autumn: Harvester or a Manhattan

Winter: Pomegranate Champaign Cocktail

Adding a personal signature cocktail to your menu is fun and unique.  It shows your and your fiancés personalities and your taste in a creative way.  Create something delicious that you and your guests can enjoy together, and if it is an exact blend of the two of you, you can go no wrong. 

BBFN (Bridal Bliss For Now),

Olivia

Keeping Decision Makers Happy

Being a bride is a balancing act in many ways. One of the toughest jobs you have is to keep all of the decision makers involved in your wedding happy. You have to establish priorities as a couple, and decide on what means the most to you. Then…

You need to figure out who else will be contributing to your wedding budget, and what spoken or unspoken expectations come with that financial contribution. Even if there are not immediately spoken expectations, they are there. Your father may be making a small contribution and seem laid back (but he assumes you want him to walk you down the aisle), your grandmother may want to pay for your gown (as long as it’s not strapless), mother may tell you that she trusts you to select a menu (as long as it doesn’t include fish), and his mother may make a passing comment that she knows a photographer (but what she is not saying is that she fully expects you to use said photographer).

Here are a few tips to help you navigate these tricky waters:

• Start the conversation early – the earlier you start to talk about each person’s vision for your wedding, the better. This gives you the most amount of time to find common ground.
• It is your day, be careful how often you assert that – everyone wants you to be happy with your wedding day. The memories will be most vivid for the two of you. BUT, you will surely earn the title of Bridezilla if you overuse that statement.
• Be prepared to make concessions – as you and your fiancé decide what is most important to you, also start to think about areas that you are willing to bend to keep people happy.
• Listen to others’ wishes – while you may be exhausted of listening to others opinions, you never know when someone will offer up a suggestion that you truly are excited about.

The old cliché is true, you can’t keep all of the people happy, all of the time. It is definitely in your best interest to figure out which people are most important for you to compromise with. Just don't forget, it's your big day. Stay strong, and do what makes you happy, your family will see it too. 

BBFN (Bridal Bliss for Now),

Olivia

Uniquely Yours: 2012 Wedding Trends/Engagement Ring Trends

When the love of your life finally proposes, asks your hand in marriage and opens the most important box in a women’s life, what do you imagine and hope to see?  Well whether you desire a traditional or modern ring, 2012 wedding band trends have each style with a unique twist. 

            What’s Your Favorite Color?: Incorporating colored gems alongside a diamond has become a very popular trend that brides are desiring on their engagement and wedding rings.  Muted peaches, pinks and pale blues have been the most trending colors by future brides and have been the most purchased by future grooms.  This piece of jewelry should represent who you are and is a lifetime timeless piece, so make sure the color your fiancé chooses is one you will love forever.  Whatever you desire though, any color can add a unique twist to an incredible diamond ring.

            From the Heart: A way for a bride to have a constant reminder of just how her fiancé feels for her is for a message to be engraved inside the wedding band.  An engraving on a ring has become an even more popular trend in 2012.  Writing a personalized message, an inside joke or maybe even a short statement can be a very unique and romantic way to express your love for one another.

            Black Diamonds: Different & Desirable:   Sophisticated, glamorous and non-traditional all describe a black diamond engagement ring.  Black diamonds have been trending this year and are a great and classy alternative to a white diamond ring.  So if you want something different and timeless, a black diamond might be the perfect stone for your perfect engagement ring. 

            Don’t Forget the Men!:  Traditionally, men have been the ones to give an engagement ring but not receive one.  Although this is trending slowly, we are seeing more and more men wearing an engagement ring or a “man-engagement” ring as well.  Women are starting to desire that their fiancé wear this symbol of love, commitment and a future life with them, and most men are accepting to wear it.  Women have always received this symbol for centuries now, so why can’t we give the men this symbol as well? 

            A fun fact for those that do not know this, there is a reason why we place the wedding ring on the fourth left finger.  The wedding ring is worn here because there is a vein in this finger called the vena amoris that directly connects to the heart.  So since we are placing the symbol of a never ending love and bond on this finger, we want to make sure it is something that represents each of you and the love you have for one another.  Adding personalized touches like a color, the black diamond or a personalized engraving is exactly what will make your ring uniquely yours.  

BBFN,

Olivia

The Real Cost of Your Dream Wedding

Establishing a budget for your wedding is something that you must do, and it should happen early in your planning process. It may mean a few uncomfortable conversations with your parents, but it’s best to know where you stand. There are a number of websites out there that will assist you in creating a wedding budget. This should be the starting point of your budget, feel free to reallocate dollars to those things you care most about. For some it will be décor, others will want to place emphasis on the menu and some will want to buy a designer gown, no matter what sacrifices have to be made. Remember lovely brides, for every expense you justify going “just a little over budget” you either need to reallocate those dollars, or add to your bottom line. This can add up quickly.

As an example we decided to look at a few online calculators and provide you some concrete examples of how pieces of a $25,000 budget (with 150 guests) can be allocated.

Bridal gown: Online calculators allocated an average of $1,500 to the complete cost of a bridal gown. We are going to automatically deduct $200 for alterations and foundation garments (this is a conservative estimate), This leaves us $1,300 to spend on the gown of your dreams.

• With $1,300 you can afford almost any gown at an establishment like David’s Bridal (including Vera Wang’s new line)
• In Bridal Gown Boutiques you will also find you can afford a gown by many of the designers you see in magazines, including Alfred Angelo, DaVinci, Watters and more.
• If you are looking for something from a high-end designer, and are an “average” size in a wedding gown (Size 6 – 10 regularly), be sure to check out local trunk shows and sample sales. You may find your budget stretches a bit more there.

Invitations: Online calculators allocated an average of $750 for invitations, and all stationary needs. This is inclusive of invitations, postage, programs and any other “paper” needs.

• With 150 guests I am going to estimate that you will need 100 invitations (some will be going to couples/families
• The average wedding invitations costs $.61 to mail, so we immediately need to allocate $61 in postage
• We will allocate $1/Thank You card, plus $.44 in postage per card for a total of $144 on Thank You Cards
• That leaves $545 for all other stationary needs. Let’s allocate $4 per invitation and have $145 left for all misc. stationary
• For $4 we found a wide range of options on Etsy.com, moderate selections (including some pocket folds) through Carlson Crafts, or you may be able to work with a local shop to create a custom DIY (Do-It-Yourself) invitation

Floral & Décor: Online calculators allocated an average of $1,800 for flowers and decoration.

• We had to make a few more assumptions in this budget, so we are budgeting for 4 attendants on each side and a sit down dinner reception that will require centerpieces.
• There will be delivery and set-up fees so we are estimating that initial cost at $200
• The average bridal bouquet is $175. This could be a large bouquet of wild seasonal flowers, an appropriately sized hand tied bouquet of roses, tulips, daisies, or an eloquent arrangement of orchids or calla lilies.
• You should estimate $60 - $70 per female attendant for her bouquet. This is typically a smaller version of the brides bouquet, but may it may not be. It may be flowers in a similar color family, or just a single orchid stem.
•  The ceremony will most likely need one or two large arrangements, and that total cost can be estimated at $300. These will be modest arrangements (think Daisies, carnations, and some green and babies breathe between the flowers of your choice)
• Assuming 15 dining tables at the reception this leaves approximately $55/centerpiece. For $55 you should anticipate a small floral arrangement, or possible a duo or trio of vases with submerged flowers and candles around it. Your florist should be able to work with this budget to incorporate your colors and flowers of choice.

Be sure to review the entirety of your budge before you start spending, and as always, take your time and enjoy the process!

BBFN,

Olivia