Real Wedding Planning: Brittany Cadwallader & Philip Burton

 

A few days ago I talked with another bride-to-be, Brittany Cadwallader, about her plans to marry her fiance Philip Burton next April and am now bringing you audio of some of the fun details of hers and Philip's wedding planning process.

Q: Where are you and Philip getting married?

 

Q: What do you have planned for the ceremony thus far?

Q: Have you decided on your colors?  What will they be?

 

Q: What are your plans for wedding dress shopping?

DIY Wedding Boutonnieres

In the spirit of all my recent DIY project posts, I came across this great article from BRIDES magazine online on how to create your own wedding boutonnieres.  The article walks you through how to create these flower pieces step-by-step.  The cool thing about this article is that it is so simple that you don't have the use the exact flowers and ribbon used in the instructions.  You can mix and match with flowers and ribbons and other materials to cover the stems!  Check it out and see what you think!

Real Wedding: DIY Envelopes Costs

When assessing the idea of doing DIY projects for your wedding, cost is always something to think about.  Creativity can sometimes come at a cost so it is nice to know what supplies will cost and where you can cut costs if necessary.  If you are the creative type who enjoys doing DIY projects, you're probably wondering about the cost of the supplies of Lauren's envelope project.  Below is a visual compilation of supply costs:

Card Stock: $15
Glue: $7
Rubber Stamps (2): $5 each
Stamp Cleaner: $5
Ink Pad: $3
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Total: $40 for 150 envelopes

With this project, there are a few places to cut costs.  Card stock is the first.  Instead of using card stock, find another type of paper that will be thick enough for your envelopes.  Try going to your local office supply store and trying out different weights of paper.  Many times you will be able to find a weight that is less than card stock and less in price.  The next is with the rubber stamps.  Lauren chose to use two different stamps to create the image on the bottom of her envelopes spending a total of $10 on rubber stamps for the envelopes.  If you are trying to save money, consider only using one stamp or even none.  If you do not use any stamps, you do not have to spend the $5 on stamp cleaner or $3 on the ink pad taking your cost down to $22 total for 150 envelopes.

Real Wedding Planning: Lauren Kelley and Will Mack

As a follow up to yesterday's DIY projects from Lauren Kelley, I decided I would include some video from the interview I did with her about her and her fiance Will's wedding coming up on May 21.  They have done quite a few projects to get ready for their wedding including the Save-the-Dates, invitations and reply cards, lighting for the barn they are getting married in, their own centerpieces and a few other projects to stay a surprise until the wedding.

Q: Tell me about the process of your Save the Date cards.

Q: How did you decide to do the invitations and reply cards yourself?

Q: Tell me about the barn you are getting married in.

Q: What about the lighting you created?

Q: Tell me what you can about the centerpieces.

Q: How did you decide on the colors for the wedding?

Real Wedding: DIY Envelopes and Save the Dates

In the spirit of do it yourself projects, I decided to talk to a friend of mine, Lauren Kelley who has done quite a few DIY projects for her wedding coming up later in May including her own Save the Date cards and envelopes.  After creating her own Save the Date cards using the photo strip idea, Lauren realized that that there weren't any envelopes in the perfect size to fit her special cards.  So she decided to create her own out of cardstock.  After measuring the cards, she created a template for her envelopes and started cutting!  "The glue for these was a little bit expensive, but definitely worth it.  It worked really well to hold them together," she said.  She then finished off the envelopes with cute stamps for a personal touch.  In total she made 150 envelopes!

Top Tips for Being a Groom

Kevin Meyers Photography

As the groom, sometimes it is hard to know what your role is.  Many times the bride's role is clear as she is the one who does most of the planning and decision-making.  But grooms play a large role too! The Knot has a great article with its top tips for grooms, but I decided to do a little research of my own and ask some men who have already been through the groom process what their top pieces of advice would be for grooms-to-be.  This is what they said:

1. Sit down before the wedding planning even starts and write a list of what things are truly important to you about the wedding and rehearsal logistics. Whichever things you pick, cut them in half. If you're a smart groom, you'll have no more than one or two things you want (for instance, I wanted to write my own music for the wedding, and I wanted no alcohol at the reception). After you determine those things, only get involved when your fiance asks for help beyond those one or two things.

2. Remember that while we may have thought a lot about being married throughout single life, we've thought about the ceremony for about 5 minutes compared to your fiances' dreaming about it her entire life. Let her have the spotlight!

3. Remember that the wedding is one day, it's a wonderful celebration but put as much thought into your marriage as your wedding day

4. Listen to your bride-to-be.  You may not have an opinion but it's important to her that you care and at least listen to her wedding plans.

5. Don't let family or friends dictate what you and your bride envision your wedding being.  Take their advice, but at the end of the day it's your wedding so you and your bride make the decisions.

6. Be clear with your best man; hand off responsibilities.

7. If you don't care about a wedding plan, say "I have no preference" instead of "I don't care."

8. Get your wife a wedding day gift.

9. Organize beforehand your transportation plan for the wedding

10. Give your cell phone to your best man on the wedding day and have him field all the calls

11. Be supportive and do whatever the bride says to do. Really, it's her day anyways.

12. Make sure all the logistics for your lives together are in order to reduce stress while planning and after the wedding.

Real People, Real Wedding Planners: Courtney & Taylor

Elon University seniors Courtney Corr and Taylor Hughes are planning for their big day on June 17, 2011.  I wanted to get an inside scoop from two young people in school who are planning for their day so here is an inside look at their wedding planning process.

Q: Tell me a little bit about the wedding.

 

Q: Has is been hard planning a wedding while in school?

Q: What are you most looking forward to for the wedding?