Wedding Blog
Darcy Miller, Senior VP and Weddings Editorial Director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, has been at MS Weddings since its first issue in 1995. She also recently launched the Bride’s Guide blog, hosts a weekly radio show on Martha Stewart Living Radio on SIRIUS, and is going to be next week’s featured expert on Weddingbee!
If there’s anything you’re dying to ask her, please leave a question in the comments section below. We’ll feature the best questions and her answers next week! With over a decade of experience at one of the most inspirational wedding magazines out there, I can’t wait to hear what expertise she has to share with our readers. 
Do you have any questions for Darcy about weddings, herself, or her work at Martha Stewart?
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Share this post: Ask Darcy Miller of Martha Stewart!
Whats the biggest wedding trend you wish would go away?
Example: Elaborate first dances
There are SO many details in a wedding, and while details are important, it’s easy to get too caught up in them. What do you think are the most important elements in a wedding, that deserve the most attention and effort?
Can you provide any suggestions on making a reception look luxurious, without breaking the bank?
What are some new color palette trends you are seeing? Do you see any movement away from the chocolate brown plus [insert pastel color here] trend?
For a February wedding, what colors would you suggest for someone who wants a more modern wedding?
What are some of the best/most creative favors you’ve seen? Its so challenging to find something personal that a guest will really enjoy and use!
What things would she reccomend in a OOT bag for guests?
At what point does a wedding become *too* couple-customized?
How do they choose what weddings are featured in MS Weddings? Do couples apply with their own wedding photos, or does the staff find weddings in advance?
what ideas do you have for floral pew decorations that can’t be attached to the pews but can have a looped ribbon around them?
Winter weddings are quickly approaching. What are some creative ways to create a warm and inviting atmosphere for our guests?
I’m getting married on the Sweetest Day of the Year, a confectioner’s holiday. Do you have any ideas for tying sweets into the day?
What is your response to the ridiculously exhorbitant amount of money couples are spending on weddings and growth of the wedding industry? (besides pleased that if affords you anice job!)
This question is not meant to be snarky. I love weddings, but am appalled at the average pricetag.
Hi Darcy.
You probably get asked all the time to predict the next big wedding trend. But trends come and go.
In your opinion, what are some color schemes, dress styles, and details that will *never* go out of style?
Thanks!
What tips would you give a bride who is considering a career change into the wedding industry? How did you get started in weddings? What are your words of wisdom?
I just want to know how she got started!
What are the best ways to cut costs without making a wedding look cheap or under-done?
What are some of your favorite ways to bring a traditional Jewish wedding up to date in terms of design, ceremony, and menu? Thanks!
What do you do when you’re future in-laws have a GIANT family and the bride has a tiny family, and the bride’s family is expected to pay for it?
Specifically, My FMIL gave me a list of 84 people to invite to the wedding this includes great-great aunts and uncles that we never see… and my family litterally has 5 people. Most reception sites hold 150 people… so after accounting for anyone involved in the ceremony, we have 45 spots left. We’re very limited in the friends we can invite and due to my situation of having a tiny family, my friends became my family. I don’t want to tell him he can’t invite all of his friends or that mine are more important… but my parents are expected to foot the bill too!
I could go on forever, but hopefully you get the gist :-)! THANKS!
I am inviting 340 people to the wedding but the reception venue only holds around 280 (I’m praying many will not show up). I don’t like the idea of a seating chart and hate when other brides do it to me. (If I see someone I want to visit with, I would like to be able to sit with them) Do you think a seating chart is necessary in our case? How would you handle seating for that amount of people?
Mrs. Bee, this isn’t a question for you, but a big CONGRATS on scoring Ms. Miller as your expert of the week!
Erin - I just have to say that you need to talk to your fiance about this. I would think that the side that is paying gets to decide the parameters of who is invited. Whether you split the list down the middle, give them a #, and anything that they go over, they will have to pay for.
Good morning, Darcy and welcome to Weddingbee! I look forward to reading your contributions to this blog (your other blog is great).
With our wedding just five week away, we have most of the details finalized. The only thing outstanding: parents’ gifts. (My father has passed, so it’s just my mother and his parents.)
What can you suggest for thoughful yet modestly-priced gifts?
Thank you for your help!
How do brides get chosen for MSWeddings?
How did you become Director at MSWeddings?
What do you love most about your job?
If there is something you would change about your own wedding, what would that be?
How did your husband propose?
I’m getting married next summer and am considering sending out Save the Dates at Christmastime. Is this something appropriate to do or do you think the information will get overlooked with the large amts of mail that people get at this time of year. The hotels fill up quickly during August, so we don’t want people to misplace their information or forget we sent them and lose the hotel block.
Thank you!
My parents are divorced, and now my father is remarried while my mother is not. What is the correct way to word an invitation if I would like to include all our sets of parents (his mother and father, my mother, and my father and stepmother) without hurting anyone’s feelings or having the wording look too strange?
If a bride is on good terms, but not at all close to her father, is it still expected that he escort her down the isle, especially if the bride does not believe in being “given away”? What is a good alternative?
We are having a single venue wedding with ceremony at 1pm and hoping to have a late lunch as our meal (3pm start). Neither my fiance or I really want to have dancing at the wedding, so we were wondering how to make an after-meal cocktail hour work. Could we have passed desserts instead of hors d’oeuvres?
Also, we’d like to leave the reception before our guests (to have the “send-off” moment - any advice on that would be great too), but how can we encourage guests to move on when the venue is ready to shut down the party (~9pm)?
HELP!
Ali– We have six parents combined and chose to word it ‘together with our parents
cubangirl
and
cubanboy
request the honour of your presence’
I lovelovelove her new blog! And it seems like quite a coup that WB will have her as a guest–good job, Mrs. Bee!
Some questions I would enjoy wedding experts weighing in on:
What do you think of the more-or-less recent trend of super-customization for a wedding? ie, Brides planning each detail to symbolically or otherwise reflect some aspect of her lfie?
Do you think that the focus on the wedding as SuperParty has started to overshadow the community and marriage aspects of the event?
What is your favorite recent trend in weddings? Why is it your fav?
Is there a tradition that’s no longer practiced in most weddings that you’d like to see return?
With your constant professional focus on weddings–do you ever get burned-out on the subject? Ever get tired of one more bride asking the same old question?
In the year 2030, will our kids look back on the style of wedding dresses of this decade (ie. strapless dresses and pick-up skirts) and ask, “Ugh, what were they thinking?”
Theknot.com started off the year by predicting green weddings would be the big thing of 2007. What is the MS Weddings group predicting for 2008?
What do we have to look forward to as the Martha Stewart crew helps plan the Today Show wedding this year? Will it follow the same format or will there be some new twists?
My best friend is recently engaged and planning a destination wedding (from NYC to FL). The first thing I did was send her a subscription to Martha Stewart Weddings ; what are some other great ideas for engagement gifts?
My parents want to appear on the invitations (a la “Mr. & Mrs. Suchandsuch requests the honor of your presence for the marriage of their daughter_____), but have been vehemently unsupportive since the beginning of my relationship to my fiance. Also, my sister tells me that my father is expecting to walk me down the aisle, but he hasn’t played much of an active role in my life. It’s going to be a very small ceremony in a very large church. Would it be unforgivable if I remain true to my hurt feelings by sticking to my original plan, or would it be better to give in and let them have their moments of glory?
[...] So we’re thrilled that weddingbee readers had the opportunity to ask their pressing wedding questions, and tap into her [...]
In the collector’s edition of Martha Stewarts Weddings pg.67. There is a wedding in Sagaponack, NY in the bride’s backyard. Is there any way I could get any contact information, her reception was beautiful and I have a question about her lanterns.
Hi Darcy
My daughter is getting married next Sept or Nov. She would like a casual forest or outside wedding .Problem is we live in Florida and there is nothing Northern about that. We can’t spend a fortune but would like a nice wedding. Just like we see in Marthas magazine , all the cute table setting outside. Can you come up with any places that have a backup in case of rain but are elegant but not crazy in price for an ouside wedding. Thank Toni. She is my third daughter and are out of funds but will try to pull off a beautiful wedding.
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Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
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