Wedding Tips + Tricks | Tackling the Wedding Registry

One of the funniest aspects of preparing for your wedding is the creating the wedding registry. This can be a great bonding time with you and you fiance finding the best products to compliment your home and to start off your married life together. For men, its the power of the registry scanner and for women its picking out your own gifts. The key to a successful registry experience is to register together since this is for the both of you; and to make a whole day out of it by going out to lunch or dinner afterward. Remember the process can take anymore from one to three hours so make sure that you are not under any time constraints.

Here are some helpful hints for registering:

1. Determine what store(s) you want to register at and what are your needs for the household. Make sure that you register at stores you frequent and if you are going to register for a speciality store make sure that you register for a nationwide department store to accommodate all of your guests.

2. Register in person rather than online. This is best since you can touch and feel out the products and then after completing your registry you can always go online to change or add a product.

3. Register for items to fit every kind of budget. With the current state of our economy make sure to register for a wide variety of products with price points. But don't shy away from registering for big ticket items such as a luggage set since a new trend is for wedding guests to pool their money to purchase one large gift.

4. Do your research on household products. Before you register figure out what your needs are. Don't register for something just to register. Stick to one brand for linens, towels, stemware, luggage and china. This will avoid receiving several items from different product lines.

5. Before your wedding, find a reliable friend or family member to gather all of your gifts at the church and/or reception venue to bring to your residence.

Prepare Everything in Advance for Your Wedding Day - Wake up Stressless!

Weddings can bring on a lot of different emotions: joy and elation or fear and stress, maybe all at the same time. It’s often a time that requires a lot of moving pieces to be in sync and different family dynamics to come together under one roof. It’s no wonder that the day goes by so quickly for the bride and groom.

Fortunately, being adequately prepared can help mitigate stress. With all of your ducks in a row, you can wake up stress-free on your big day and handle anything that comes your way. Here are some tips for the days leading up to your trip down the aisle.

Have Everyone Test Their Look

In the week leading up to the wedding, your dress and your bridesmaids dresses should all be hanging in closets, altered and ready to go. Of course, this means ordering your dresses months in advance from a reliable supplier; if you’re running low on time, check here. 

To avoid any last-minute stressful situations, have everyone try on their dress with their shoes and an approximation of their chosen hairstyle. Take note of how your dress feels when you walk around or sit. Determine if you need an extra little tuck somewhere or some tape to make you feel secure, so you can have the right tools available for the day of your wedding.

Create an Emergency Kit

Any seasoned wedding planner will tell you that having an emergency kit is a lifesaver when the wedding day hits. Spend the days leading up to the wedding stocking up on things like deodorant, hairspray, travel sewing kits, medication, baby wipes, bobby pins, and even extension cords. 

Let’s face it, with an event of this magnitude something is bound to go wrong; it’s just a fact of life. While planning ahead to prevent issues will limit challenges, it’s also important to have a plan B in place for when an issue arises. An emergency kit can cover all of that. 

Designate Your Bodyguard

Call them your bodyguard, your buffer, your partner in crime or your right-hand man, but having someone to shield you on the day of will be a huge stress relief. Give that person your phone and have them handle any lost vendors, pushy aunts, last-minute RSVPs, and so on. Instruct them to shield you from information that will cause you more stress and give them the power to boss people around for you. 

Not only will having a bodyguard help relieve stress on the day-of, but not having your phone handy will help you be present in the moment.

Photo by Unique Moments Photography

Touch Base with Your Vendors

Remember those vendors you booked eons ago? The few weeks leading up to the wedding is a great time to touch base with them and confirm the final details about your big day. Go over your timeline and determine when you can expect them to show up and what they need from you. 

For example, if your caterer is waiting on a final headcount, you can make some calls to find out if your guests who missed the RSVP deadline are coming or not. Last minute changes to your song? Let your DJ know now. Call your venue and confirm when you can arrive for set up.

By preparing in advance you’re setting yourself up for success. Your wedding day should be about celebrating with your favorite people and reaping the rewards of your planning efforts.

Watercolored Wedding

Who doesn’t love watercolor? 

There are plenty of ways to incorporate watercolor into your wedding day through décor, fashion and even bites and beverages!  Watercolor is so versatile: it can be a traditional floral pattern or abstract brush strokes or edgy geometric painted shapes!  The visual texture is so appealing to me and I love the whimsical effect it always brings.

For instance, are you an artist yourself?  Why not transform your passion into favors for your guests by gifting them their own watercolor set?  How creative!  Are you a non-traditional and fashion-forward gal?  Get rebellious and stray from the white gown and don a watercolored floral showstopper instead!  Or maybe get your girls in on the trend by having their bridesmaids dresses in a similar watercolored pattern.  Of course, any and all paper products look beautiful with a watercolored touch, so designing your save-the-dates, invitations or menus are an obvious must!  And DIY watercolored linens or candle votives?  Yes, please!  A gorgeous hand-painted watercolor cake?  Definitely.  Take a look below and get inspired by all the wonderful features that watercolor has to offer! :)