May 22, 2017
Tune in to Shrink Wrap on HealthyLife.Net to hear Sandy interviewed by Dr. Jane Greer on Tuesday - they're talking weddings, celebs, reality TV and sex!
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Tune in to Shrink Wrap on HealthyLife.Net to hear Sandy interviewed by Dr. Jane Greer on Tuesday - they're talking weddings, celebs, reality TV and sex!
President Trump announced he's lighting the White House up blue in honor of fallen law enforcement, but what do those lights really mean for police?
Only five months into this year, there are five celebrity weddings you should totally check out as the hottest tickets in 2017
Six very important wedding etiquette rules that brides and grooms should not break in front of wedding guests on the big day
How can you put your own special touch on a wedding you hired professionals to plan? Tina and Melissa made DIY wedding favors and signs
5 Holiday Gift Budgeting Tips for Engaged Couples
Photo: Getty Images
If you’re planning to get married in the first half of 2017, now is the time to start budgeting properly. Why now? Because it’s the engaged couple’s last chance to get their financial ducks in a row, ahead of the holiday season.
Between holiday travel expenses and gifts for family, friends, and colleagues, many couples find themselves financially tapped out in January and February. That’s not going to work for you this year if all of your final wedding expenses are going to be due in the first half of the New Year.
While you cannot use your upcoming wedding as an excuse to skip the holiday gift-giving entirely, you can make smarter decisions ahead of time, so that you don’t find yourself paying ridiculous shipping, and higher prices, at the last minute to give gifts that you really cannot afford.
Consider the following five tips to help you avoid blowing your whole wad, and causing wedding budget problems down the road.
1. Make a list of everybody you MUST shop for and evaluate it with your spouse. If you’ve previously given individual gifts to couple friends, consider giving just one gift to them together. Let them know that’s your plan so they can feel free to reciprocate in kind.
2. Set hard budgets for gifts for friends, and stick to those numbers. If you tend to overspend on the ones you love, get the gifts early. Wrap them and cross those people off of your list. Not another thought towards picking up little extra goodies or you’ll undermine your budget plan.
3. Plan an interactive gift night with close friends, instead of exchanging gifts in the traditional manner. Make reservations for a special restaurant with another couple, planning to split the tab, as your gift to each other. You’d probably have gone out to dinner together anyway — goose it up a bit and make it an extra special night with appetizers at a trendy martini bar before, and a visit to a champagne or hookah bar after.
See More: Holiday Gift Ideas for Your In-Laws
4. Homemade gifts are wonderful, as long as you don’t end up spending more to make them than it would have cost you to buy something similar. Fall is a great time to make jams and jellies to wrap as pretty gifts, if you’re feeling adventurous. All of your DIY gift ideas are sure to be thoughtful, but you have to plan ahead. Otherwise, you’ll run out of time, and end up spending money at the last minute to buy gifts when you already have the ingredients and parts and pieces from the craft store at home.
5. Your own families know that you’re paying for an upcoming wedding, so nobody will be surprised if you’ve spent less this Christmas than last. If you usually get individual gifts for your siblings, their spouses, and each of their children, consider getting a larger “family” gift instead. As long as it’s something that everyone will enjoy, the gift will be greatly appreciated.
Sandy Malone is the owner of Sandy Malone Weddings & Events and author of How to Plan Your Own Destination Wedding: Do-It-Yourself Tips from an Experienced Professional. Sandy is the star of TLC’s reality show Wedding Island, about her destination wedding planning company, Weddings in Vieques.
Source: Bride
5 Holiday Gift Budgeting Tips for Engaged Couples was originally published on Autumn Leaves
3 Wedding Day Looks Mothers of the Bride Should Avoid
Photo: Getty Images
It used to be that the biggest concern a bride had about her mother’s wedding outfit was that the mother of the bride didn’t wear anything close to white. In my opinion, nobody is supposed to wear white, except the bride. But it’s doubly inappropriate when it looks like the mother of the bride is trying to steal attention away from her own daughter.
I don’t think Emily Post could have even conceived of some of the atrocious mother-of-the-bride outfits I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in almost 10 years of wedding planning, or she would have dictated some stricter rules.
It isn’t the really ugly dresses that stand out in my mind — those were entertaining, but not all that memorable. The ones I cannot get out of my head stood out for entirely different reasons. Reasons that would made any logical mother realize that she absolutely, positively should not have worn that outfit in public, much less to her daughter’s wedding. Here, the top 3 wedding day looks mothers of the bride should steer clear from.
Avoid the See-Through Look I don’t care how fashionable sheer fabrics are, you must be very, very careful that you’re not showing off everything when you are backlit in your wedding outfit. On more than one occasion, I’ve actually cringed through an entire wedding ceremony when, from my angle, with the sun setting behind them, I could see EVERYTHING but the mother of the bride’s dress. Her bra was completely visible, but so was her thong.
I’ve seen this exact same peep-show over and over again at “white” weddings, where everybody is asked to wear all white clothing. In one unfortunate case, the bride’s mom had a horrendous wedgie, in very sheer white organza pants. And the guests stood through the ceremony. That wedding photographer had to do A LOT of editing.
Avoid Showing Too Much Skin Lightweight, colorful maxi dresses are wildly popular at summer and tropical weddings, but not everybody can wear them well. And wearing them well means having the appropriate undergarments to keep everything in place, not just having enough fabric there to cover your private parts. I understand the challenge of finding something summery with enough strap to cover my bra. I also know how hard it is to find the right bras that offer support, and can be hidden, under the most popular strappy looks.
Too often, we see mothers of the bride in dresses that do not flatter their shape, or properly cover their curves. I don’t care if the dress supposedly has a built in bra, if you’ve got C-cup or bigger, you need more support than some stitching inside an organza dress can ever provide.
See More: 5 Tips to Soothe a Stressed Mother of the Bride
Avoid Being a Showstopper It’s your daughter’s big day, and you want to look good. But you shouldn’t choose a dress that stands out in a big way from the way all the other guests. For example, if your daughter’s having an afternoon wedding on the beach, and cocktails and dinner in a tent, it’s not the time to choose a full-length beaded gown. It’s also not the time to bust out a brightly-sequined cocktail dress of questionable length.
Sandy Malone is the owner of Sandy Malone Weddings & Events and author of How to Plan Your Own Destination Wedding: Do-It-Yourself Tips from an Experienced Professional. Sandy is the star of TLC’s reality show Wedding Island, about her destination wedding planning company, Weddings in Vieques.
Source: Bride
3 Wedding Day Looks Mothers of the Bride Should Avoid was originally published on Autumn Leaves
The Pros and Cons of Having Your Wedding on Thanksgiving
Photo: Analisa Joy
Have you ever been to a wedding on Thanksgiving weekend? Opinions are mixed as to whether having your wedding on the second biggest holiday weekend of the year is a good idea.
Traditionally, Thanksgiving and Christmas are times reserved for family. And once you get married, your family grows. With that growth, your obligations expand. Many couples rotate whose family they spend the special holidays with each year. If they suddenly receive a wedding invitation a few months ahead of Thanksgiving, it can throw the balance of everything into a tailspin.
The Pros of a Thanksgiving Wedding…
1. If you’re having a destination wedding, and your guests are mostly family, you’ll be able to capitalize on the time spent together someplace awesome, and get married at the same time. You can stretch your wedding weekend into a four-day adventure with your favorite people.
2. The size of an out-of-control guest list can be seriously reduced by inviting your friends to spend an important holiday away from their families. Some of your friends won’t even consider it. If you can’t afford a big wedding but don’t want to leave people off the guest list, a Thanksgiving weekend wedding is a great way to get a lot more people to decline the invite.
3. Thanksgiving can be a fun theme to play with at your wedding! We had clients from Chicago who had a “Pie-Stravaganza” in lieu of a wedding cake at their Thanksgiving wedding. Yes, there was fabulous pumpkin pie on the menu, but there were also seven other flavors to choose from. And who doesn’t love pie?
See More: 42 Fall Inspired Wedding Cakes
The Cons of a Thanksgiving Wedding…
1. Airfares are outrageous for Thanksgiving week. Easily as bad, if not worse, than Christmas and Spring Break. If a lot of your guests will have to travel to your wedding, you have to take that into consideration. Everybody knows Thanksgiving is one of the most heavily-travelled days of the year.
2. Some guests you’d really like to have at your wedding will not be able to join you. They’ll already be committed with family, and unwilling to break their traditions. If it’s somebody coming from out-of-town, you’re virtually handing them an excuse to skip the expense of your wedding. Some must-attend invitees may think you’re being a bit selfish by taking away their Thanksgiving weekend. It’s a football lover’s nightmare.
3. Wedding vendors have families too, so don’t look for big discounts even if you’re getting married someplace that is supposed to be in “off-season.” I’ve had to resort to out-and-out bribery to staff large weddings on Thanksgiving. Professionals will hide their personal displeasure, and provide the very best vendor services for your big day. But you’ll pay to have them servicing your wedding while their entire family is sitting at home enjoying turkey together.
Sandy Malone is the owner of Sandy Malone Weddings & Events and author of How to Plan Your Own Destination Wedding: Do-It-Yourself Tips from an Experienced Professional. Sandy is the star of TLC’s reality show Wedding Island, about her destination wedding planning company, Weddings in Vieques.
Source: Bride
The Pros and Cons of Having Your Wedding on Thanksgiving was originally published on Autumn Leaves