Weddingbee Blog

I’ve recently seen a trend with brides attaching photos of their loved ones to their bouquets. One of this week’s featured Knot brides meg&ksexton included a picture of her dog and her father in a locket on her bouquet.

Planetjill creates custom jewelry where you provide a photo and they shrink it to fit in a piece of their jewelry. Perfect for attaching to your bouquet or as a sentimental gift for anyone in your wedding party.

(source: In Style Weddings)

I wish I had something of my grandmother’s when I walked down the aisle. She had passed away just a couple of months before I got married. I was the oldest grandchild so she never got to see any of her grandchildren get married. Having a photo of her attached to my bouquet would have been a wonderful way to remember her. She really would have loved to have been there.

Would you like to borrow the priceless gems celebs wear on the red carpet for your big day? Well now you can! Emitations knocks off the most popular celebrity red carpet jewelry.

You too can look like gorgeous Gwyneth, enchanting Eva, and captivating Charlize. Emitations offers a large line of bridal jewelry that’s sure to make you, your bridesmaids, and your mother feel like a star!

(source: In Style Weddings)

Last week we featured terraluvsbrett in our Knottie Bios of the Week. I thought her paper flowers were adorable, fun, and definitely unique.

While I was visiting Boston recently, I stopped by a Papersource store and saw the very same paper flowers. If you have an opportunity to visit, they carry a lot of things that aren’t available on the website. (Yes this is a picture of the actual store!)

You can make 10 flowers from these $14 kits.

How adorable would one of these flowers be tucked into each napkin?

Paper-Source has tons of projects and ideas for your Paper Wedding. Now if only they’d open a store in New York!

Winters and Rain offers a service where they’ll convert their tiaras into a piece of jewelry after your wedding.

Their bridal jewelry is made from freshwater pearls and crystals and range from $200-$600. Restringing a piece of jewelry costs $75 and an additional $50 if you want a multi-strand choker and a silver clasp added.

You can customize your headpiece by choosing your pearl color, as well as adding your favorite gemstone for a touch of color. You can exchange rhinestones, crystals, pearls or gemstones, creating the perfect headpiece for your wedding…

Wow I think this is pretty damn cool! The tiaras are a bit on the pricey side, but the cost of restringing them is totally reasonable. What an awesome way to give your daughter “something old” or “something borrowed.”

Winters and Rain products can be purchased at Kleinfelds.

I have a make-up trial scheduled for this evening with Meredith Carre.

She has two portfolios online - “bridal” and “events.” The women in “bridal” look good, “flawless” as they say. Of course, I’m not going for the flawless look. The women in “events” look fabulous; you can actually see their freckles (!). I venture to say that they look like themselves (the horror! the horror!). And that, to me, is a good thing.

I wish I hadn’t told Meredith that I was looking for make-up for my wedding; I should have told her that I have an “event” in June… for which I’ll have to wear an ivory dress and veil . Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. Of course, before and after pics will be posted.

This lingerie question will be answered by the fabulous Danae over at the knickersblog. For more information on bridal lingerie, please visit their new Bridal Lingerie Guide.

~~~

What type of bra should a bride wear? Are bustiers a must? Does it depend on your size, the dress, or something else?

Thanks in advance,

Darlene

~~~

You’re right, the best bra for a bride depends on a few factors, including cup size, the type of dress, and of course the bride’s own taste. The biggest factor is, of course, the dress - if you’ve got a chic strapless gown, none of the typical bras are going to work for you! Here are a few examples:

If you’re wearing a pure strapless gown with a high back, then a plain strapless bra will work fine for you. If you want a beautiful strapless bra, I recommend the Charnos Jacquard set - it’s available in a wide range of sizes, and has a beautiful floral print all over it (as well as matching suspenders, etc.).

Smaller cup sizes can happily just wear a bra, but larger cup sizes may also want to consider a basque or corset for a strapless dress - the construction of the basque creates more support for the cups, meaning the bride can move more confidently and comfortably on her big day. Here’s a lovely one that’s not too expensive.

If you’re wearing a halterneck gown, pretty much the same rules apply as a typical strapless dress - sure, you could use that one strap around the back of your neck, but do you really want to be fighting that thing when you’re having your first dance?

If you’re wearing a strapless and backless gown, this is where things get a bit more interesting - to date, I’ve not found any backless, strapless bras available. I’m sure there’s a few out there somewhere, but i think they’re so rare because they just don’t provide the right support (it makes sense that the backless bit would accidentally pull down the strapless bit).

So if you need something that is both backless and strapless, a longline bra (which is basically a bustier) is probably your best bet. Panache does a fantastic longline bra for larger cup sizes, and Maidenform has a great version that’s available for A-D cup.

Barring that, if you’ve really got your heart set on a backless, strapless bra, I would try this bra converter, which you can use to turn a strapless bra into backless and strapless.

Finally, if you’re wearing a gown with straps, you can pretty much do whatever you like! If you want some amazing lingerie with strapped bras, there are some stunning choices in Spoylt’s Eternity Collection.

The most important thing about choosing bridal lingerie is being sensible about what is going to keep you comfortable on your big day - be sure to choose something that really works with your dress, so that you won’t be constantly worrying about showing a bra strap or hitching up your bra. And don’t worry too much if you’re forced to wear less than amazing lingerie - there’s always time to change before the wedding night!

Hope that helps!

-Danae

Update: The resourceful Miss Ladybug has found photos of Ellen Yoo’s wedding featured on Inside Weddings. Ellen is designer Jenny Yoo’s sister, and Miss Ladybug’s former college roommate.

Jenny Yoo is another one of my favorite bridesmaids dress designers. She makes dresses that are definitely wearable after the wedding.

When Jenny Yoo’s sister got married, Jenny designed the wedding and bridesmaids dresses. My maid of honor and make-up artist worked on the make-up for the wedding and said that the dresses were gorgeous!

I wonder if these promo pics were taken at Loft Eleven or Penthouse 15. We got married at the Westside Loft (they’re all in the same building) and it looks awfully familiar.

meg&ksexton - A gorgeous California winery wedding.

monitosgirl - A beautiful New Jersey wedding with a monogrammed theme.

Jillaly - A New York affair at the Yale Club.

Jillaly has also compiled an amazing bio of must take photographs and why they’re great.

are engaged! Sheridan, 42, and Bolton, 53, dated for several years in the early 90’s. When Sheridan split from her fiance last year, the pair rekindled their relationship. And now wedding bells are in the future for these two!

(photo: John Shearer Wireimage)

I had my last fitting today. The dress just needs to be steamed and I can pick it up later this week. I also brought my veil with me with my little comb and velcro strip that it came with to show Yulia at Kleinfeld’s. They told me not to use the velcro and she had their veil expert sew it onto the comb for me while I was there. FOR FREE!!!

I love Yulia. You my girl yo! I need to get her flowers and chocolates after the wedding.

March 14, 2006 | My Knot | 32 days to go!

1 MONTH TO GO

Are you ready? Yes, there are a few remaining things to do, but be sure to take a little time out with your honey to remember what this whole wedding thing is all about…the two of you and your commitment to each other. All the best! We’ll be thinking of you.

It’s like they know!

Want a fun, different, and entertaining idea for wedding favors? What about hiring a caricaturist!

(image: nysketches)

There are tons of companies in New York that offer this service and they’re actually pretty affordable - about as much as you’d spend on favors anyway. Most require a 3 hour minimum and can do up to 15 sketches an hour!

• AAA Caricatures
• Caricature Cartoon
• nysketches
• Quick Sketch
• partypop - directory of NY based caricaturists
• the nose - directory of NY based caricaturists

Here’s a unique option - these silhouettes are created free hand using only paper and scissors.

Finally the sketch-it blog was featured on Gothamist yesterday. They’ll do a basic sketch from a photo or image you provide for only $1.

This is from a recent post on the site: “Here’s $2, because there are two people in the picture I’d like you to sketch. We’re getting married in 2 weeks, and may want to use this somehow in the wedding.”

Recently Mr. Bee had my engagement ring repaired because one of the small diamonds had come loose. The jeweler was kinda disgusted because my ring was FILTHY. I hadn’t cleaned it in at least 6 months!

I am sooo lazy when it comes to cleaning my rings. In fact I think I’ve cleaned my wedding band only once or twice in the past year. When I first bought my wedding band, I was told by my jeweler to scrub it lightly with a soft toothbrush and warm soapy water once a week. Even that was too much effort for me.

On a recent weddingbee post about cleaning your rings, Erica mentioned using efferdent - the denture cleaner - as an effective ring cleaner. I was fascinated because this sounded like less effort than scrubbing my rings by hand. So yesterday I went out an bought a box - 40 tablets for $4.00.

After researching a bit on the internet, I also purchased distilled water because it has no minerals to leave residue. I filled a cup with warm distilled water (microwaved for 45 seconds), put in my rings in the cup and dropped in an efferdent tablet. The water turned blue and then clear when the tablet dissolved completely.

After 15 minutes I took out the ring, rinsed it, even dried it with my hairdryer to get the full effect. The result? Sparkling clean rings! I know it’s kinda hard to tell in the picture, but you get the idea.

My engagement ring and wedding band don’t really fit together, but sometimes I wear them together. Anyway… I’m now a convert to efferdent!

Here are some other interesting reader tips for cleaning your ring from ehow:

Toothpaste
I have always used toothpaste (no special kind) to clean all of my rings and gold necklaces, and it does a good job. It makes the gold, as well as the diamond, shine. As I rinse them, I use a toothbrush to get all the toothpaste off.

I used to work in a nursing home…
And I found that using Efferdent to clean my rings worked wonderfully. I just placed them in the water with an Efferdent tablet, soaked for about 5 minutes, rinsed and they sparkled beautifully.

Blow-dry diamonds, don’t air-dry
After cleaning your diamonds (if you used tap water to rinse) always dry the diamonds with a blowdryer on a low heat. If you air-dry, chemicals in the tap water can cause a film to form on the diamonds while it’s drying that dulls the sparkle. If you must air-dry your diamonds, wash with pure, filtered water.

Distilled Water
When cleaning your diamonds always use distilled water (with whatever you are mixing in…for ex: ammonia, soap or other) because distilled water does not have minerals that can leave deposits on the gem.

Diamond cleaning Solution
I soak my diamonds in warm, soapy water and add a little bit of Windex to the solution. Let the diamond soak for about 15 minutes and pat it dry. Your diamonds will sparkle!

Sales

David’s Bridal
What: $99 select bridal gowns, save $50-$200 on every bridal gown
Where: David’s Bridal stores across the US
When: March 4 - March 20

Bridal Shows

New York Metro Weddings Showcase
Where: Metropolitan Pavilion
Address: 125 West 18th Street (bet 6th and 7th ave)
When: March 29, 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Tickets: $35, Register online.

Trunk Shows

Kenneth Pool
Where: Kleinfeld
Address: 110 West 20th Street (bet 6th and 7th Ave)
Phone: 646-633-4300
When: March 24

Augusta Jones
Where: Kleinfeld
Address: 110 West 20th Street (bet 6th and 7th Ave)
Phone: 646-633-4300
When: March 28

Rivini
Where: Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
Address: 127 E. 56th Street (bet Lex and Park)
Phone: 212-319-6778
When: March 30 - April 1

Vera Wang Maids
What: Showcase of new collection
Where: Vera Wang Maids
Address: 980 Madison Avenue (bet 76th and 77th)
Phone: 212-628-9898
When: March 30 - April 3

Reem Acra
Where: Reem Acra Salon
Address: 14 E. 60th Street
Phone: 212-308-8760
When: March 30 - April 2nd

Judd Waddell
Where: Kleinfeld
Address: 110 West 20th Street (bet 6th and 7th Ave)
Phone: 646-633-4300
When: March 31 - April 2

Bloembox offers pretty boxes adorned with a silk flower on top and a strip of seeds inside that grows into the flower on top of the box.

The biodegradable tissue paper seed ribbons keep up to a couple of years and come with easy planting instructions for even the gardening novice.

The attached gift tag reads “Happiness held is a seed. Happiness shared is the flower.” and also features a poem specific to each flower. At $14-$18 each, it’s a little pricey for a wedding favor, but it would make a very nice shower favor. They also carry gardens, favors, bulb kits, and sachets.

For more information on where to buy this product, please visit their website or call 707-895-3500.

(source: In Style Weddings Fall 2005)