Having trouble finding the right jewelry for your bridesmaids?  It may be easier to customize a matching earrings and necklace set.  But where to begin?

Redot Designs offers dozens of design option for you to choose from.  First you select the style you like, and then you pick the color of the stones and the clasp material.  The prices can’t be beat, and if you order a set of 5 or more you’ll save 10% on the cost of your order.

But before you place your order, you can enter to win up to $300 worth of jewelry for your bridesmaids from Redot Designs through The Handcrafted Wedding's blog.

 

Entry to the sweepstakes is free.  All you have to do is a post a comment on this entry on the Handcrafted blog this week with the name of your favorite Redot earring style.  Your post has to appear before 7a.m. on Friday, March 28^th.  Click here to browse the Redot earring styles, and then add your comment to the Handcrafted blog.

The grand prize winner will receive jewelry for 5 bridesmaids (up to $300 retail value), but every entry is a winner, because you will receive a 10% coupon, via email, off your next Redot order.

Click here to learn more about the sweepstakes.  Good luck!

And if you’re not familiar with The Handcrafted Wedding, the site sells beautiful wedding day accessories and stationery you should definitely check out.

 

 

iVillage is not a sponsor and is not responsible for the administration of the sweepstakes on The Handcrafted Wedding.  For additional information, including the official rules, please visit their site at www.thehandcraftedwedding.com.

Unlike a wedding where you should only take your theme so far, a bridal shower can be as theme-oriented as you want it to be.  Kind of like a Bar Mitzvah. You can feature your theme on everything from the invite to the decor to the games and favor.

A very simple theme I like is love. You can decorate with hearts – look for sales around Valentine’s Day – and play love songs in the background. For awhile I wanted to have a heart-themed bridesmaid tea for my ‘maids and bought a bunch of vintage V-Day hankies for a steal on eBay. I thought they’d make great napkins.

 

I think this Bonnie Marcus Collection shower invite, appropriately named “Showering Hearts”, would be perfect for a love themed shower. The entire line of shower invites (and wedding stationery) by the Bonnie Marcus Collection features a sophisticated bride in a fun setting.

If you're worried that your bridesmaids won’t pick a theme or games that you want, you have to tell them what your thoughts are. Don’t be shy, after all these are your best buds. Just make suggestions. Forward them articles and items you find online, or mention in passing what you do and don’t like.

Not every bride wants to sit on a large white wicker chair, and some would prefer a hat made of ribbons over a bouquet. So whatever you want, or don’t want, make it known. After all, it is your shower.

I get a lot of emails asking for bridal shower poems.  The cleaning product, candle and candy poems are the most popular ones.

Click here for more wedding planning tips.

I was talking with a colleague Friday morning and she told me that her best friend just got engaged, and she was going to be the maid-of-honor.  Then she told me that she was getting really anxious and nervous because so  much had to get done.  And when I told her not to stress because the shower and bachelorette party wouldn’t take place for months, she implied that she is going to be helping the bride with every detail of the wedding, and that the bride is not that into it.

If you saw the movie 27 Dresses, the main character, Jane, is a bridesmaid or MOH in 27 weddings.  At each one, including her sister’s, she is acting more like a wedding planner and not a bridesmaid or MOH.

So let me just say this.  Your bridesmaids and MOH should not be your wedding planner – unless of course that’s what she does for a living and has offered to work with you as your wedding planner.

It is NOT fair for you to expect your ‘maids to schedule appointments with vendors for you or do any research for you, unless they offer.  Of course you can bring them with you dress shopping and to met with a vendor, but they are NOT your private army of wedding planners. 

Here’s a list of the main bridesmaid and maid-of-honor responsibilities:

• Plan and host the bridal shower and bachelorette party
• Shop for and buy the bridesmaid dress and accessories the bride selects without complaining
• Attend the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner
• If the bride asks – help with wrapping favors, binding programs, stuffing invitation envelopes, etc...
• Show up on time on the wedding day with a positive attitude
• Help the bride get ready
• Walk down the aisle without complaining about the order or who she is paired with
• Take part in the ceremony if the bride asks
• Dance and have a great time at the reception

So this is beauty week at From “I Will” to “I Do” and I have some fabulous tips that you’re going to love.

I thought I’d start out with one of my all-time favorite beauty tips for bridesmaids.

As you probably know, you can visit almost any makeup counter in the beauty department of a department store and the sales staff will apply not just one product, but make you up for the night. And the price for these makeovers? The cost of one product.

If you’re getting married near a shopping mall – or your bridesmaids can get to one well before the time you need them at the wedding location – send them to the mall to have their makeup done.

Each girl can pick whichever counter she likes – MAC, Prescriptives, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, NARS – and ask the sales girl to apply makeup for her. She should specify if the wedding is a formal black-tie affair or something more casual.

The cost of lipstick is probably around $20-$30 – much less than the cost of a professional makeup artist. She can always use the lipstick to reapply it at the wedding, and unlike her bridesmaid dress, she will use it again.

How much money do you think you’ve spent or will spend on bridesmaid dresses? I’ve been lucky enough to only own one traditional bridesmaid dress (see photo above). For the other 2 weddings I was in I got to wear a black dress of my choice and I wore the same one to both.

If you spend an average of $250 on a bridesmaid dress – and I know some of you are spending a lot more – and you’re in 5 weddings that’s $1250 out of your pocket. Not to mention the cost of gifts, showers, bachelorette parties and other incidentals – meals at all of those shower planning meetings. Being a bridesmaid can be very expensive.

So I was thinking. Maybe we should start a new wedding trend. What if the bride is responsible for the cost of the bridesmaid dresses? Think about it. As a bride, you’d have to pay a one-time fee to cover all of your bridesmaids’ dresses, but then you’d be off the hook for all the other weddings you are in.

For one thing, brides would probably stop picking $300+ bridesmaid dresses, and while it can be an extra $1000 to $2000 out of your wedding budget, think of the long-term savings, especially if you have a lot of sisters, cousins and girlfriends.

Now some of you may have already been a bridesmaid a number of times and already laid out over $1000 for bridesmaid dresses that you have not worn again, and probably won't wear in the future. You may not see this as a great deal for your situation and I completely understand that you may not like this idea.

So I put this idea out to all of you. Should the bride add the expense of bridesmaid dresses to her wedding budget? Do you think it would be a cost saving factor in the long run? Or do you think we shouldn’t mess with tradition?

Over the summer I wrote a post about donating your never-gonna-wear-them-again bridesmaid dresses to charity. If you haven’t had a chance to donate your BM dresses yet, here’s your chance to clean out your closet.

The Princess Project and Palm, Inc are teaming up to host 8 special screenings across the country for Katherine Heigl’s new romantic comedy, 27 Dresses.

The first 27 people on line at the screening who donate a dress will receive a brand-new Palm® Centro™ smartphone. Which is a great gadget to help you keep your wedding plans and appointments organized. The dress you donate must be dry-cleaned, on a hanger and designed no earlier than 2002. The Princess Project provides free prom dresses to high school girls.

Tickets to the screening are available at participating Palm and Sprint stores — visit palm.com for a list of stores. Screenings will be held in the following cities: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

27 Dresses hits theatres on Friday, January 18th. I went to a screening of the movie last week and will post my review tomorrow.

Photo credit: Barry Wetcher/27 Dresses

I met with the owner of accessory website RimiStyle today. The site sells affordable accessories - bags, belts, necklaces, earrings and bracelets - that you can wear everyday, including your wedding day.

I fell in love with the 2 bracelets featured above. The Ice Stretch Bracelet would be perfect for a modern bride, while the Emerald City style would be great for your bridesmaids - as long as it matches their dress. The prices on the site are unbelievable. Guess how much these bracelets are?

If you guessed $28 for the ice stretch and $22 for the emerald you’d be right! Can you believe it?

You can search for what you’re looking for by product type or e-mail their personal shopper service to help you find the right accessories for you and your bridesmaids.

I heard a story recently about a bridesmaid who knew she was never wearing the purple bridesmaid dress she wore to a friend’s wedding, so she put it on eBay and sold it. Then a year later another friend decided she wanted her bridesmaids in purple. So the same bridesmaid turned to eBay again and found a purple bridesmaid dress for a steal.

I went on eBay earlier today and searched for “bridesmaid dress” and over 1500 results turned up. There were over 10,000 wedding dresses that turned up, in case you’re still shopping for a wedding dress.

Most of the dresses were going for under $50 and some under $10. When shopping for a dress on eBay, make sure you see a photo of the exact dress you are buying. Not just the marketing photo taken off company’s website – the image above is a marketing photo a seller posted with the black Jim Hjelm bridesmaid dress they were selling for $29.99 plus shipping.

Look up the seller’s record to make sure you are dealing with someone who has a good reputation and I recommend using Paypal to make your purchase instead of sending a check. Don’t be afraid to e-mail the seller questions about the dress.

And while you’re shopping, search for shoes, accessories and jewelry. You never know what you’ll find on eBay.

Shopping for bridesmaid dresses is not always fun. You find the silhouette but not the right color. Or you find the color but it’s not quite what you’re looking for. Don’t settle for second best. Design the dress you want your bridesmaids to wear at Coco Myles. The site lets you pick everything from the top and skirt shapes to the fabric and color. You can also pick the embellishments – beading, a sash or place a bow on the front or back of the dress.

You would think that designing a bridesmaid dress would be expensive, but it's not. Coco Myles’ pricing is extremely reasonably. Almost every dress I designed on the site was less than $150 – and most were in the very low 100s. Dresses are available in sizes 0 through 32 and you can also design dresses for pregnant and junior bridesmaids. You can check out some of the dresses brides have designed on the Coco Myles Dress Blog.

If you’re not sure what you want your girls to wear, the site offers a variety of celebrity inspired dresses to help you get started. My favorite is the Bradgelina.

So you want to write your own vows, but can’t seem to put your feelings into words. Not a problem. Wordsmith Lindsay Rolfson, opened Perfectly Noted, to help couples find exactly the right words to say.



For over a year, Lindsay has been helping couples – or you can go solo and surprise your groom - say the words they feel from the bottom of their heart. Prices start at around $75 and the process takes 2-3 sessions with Lindsay through e-mails and phone calls. You can save 10% by going as a couple, and can work together or separately and surprise each other on your wedding day.

Perfectly Noted can also help you write toasts – so send their information to your best man, maid-of-honor and dad if they need the help.



Photo Credit: Jenny Ebert Photography

Dave and I just got back from a week in LA. We went to a beautiful wedding, which I’ll tell you all about later this week. While we were in town I visited a number of shops and came across the Bead Boutique on 3rd Street.

My mother and sister have been going there for years, and now I know why. The shop is filled with beautiful beads, charms and chains and the customer can design their own necklaces, earrings and bracelets.

The store has a number of designs to help inspire you, or you can buy one the creations made by the store's owners, Pamela and Francesca.

In addition to making something for yourself – I made a double gold chain necklace with amethyst stones – you can take a class on how to make jewelry.

For brides looking to create something special for each of their bridesmaids, I recommend making custom jewelry for each of your girls. If you don’t live in Southern California, call the store and tell them what you want to do and they can help you create something special that your ‘maids are sure to wear again and again.

And while you're there, make something to wear on your honeymoon - there's no rule that you can't buy yourself a a wedding present.



Click here for more wedding planning tips.

Looking for the perfect accessories for your beach wedding? UnCommon Goods sells a beautiful set of starfish and coral inspired jewelry that is perfect for an oceanfront location. In addition to looking great on you, the earrings and necklace would also make a great bridesmaid gift.

And if you're still looking for a thank you gift for your groomsmen, I like the set of 4 "Ground Rules" baseball glasses.

This weekend I stopped by the Gift Show to see what new and exciting products will soon be on store shelves. Design by Debra Shepard - a jewelry booth caught my eye.

These Earstrings® earrings are the most fabulous earrings I have seen in a long time. There are a variety of colors and styles available - pick up silver, gold or pearl for yourself or a color for your 'maids. I promise, they will want to wear these earrings again and again! Prices for these gems start at $38 at their online store - well within the bridesmaid gift budget.

The two earrings above, Expression Threader Earrings on the right and Bling Strings on the left are priced at $38 and $72, respectively.

I highly recommend checking out the online store and picking up a pair for yourself – whether for your bachelorette party, wedding or honeymoon.

The moment you've all been waiting for...the bridal party photo from Elissa's wedding!

Elissa chose blue and white for her colors and we wore teal mermaid gowns by Jim Hjelm and carried white rose and blue hydrangea bouquets.

Unfortunately, I don’t know where I’m wearing this dress again, so I’ve decided to donate it to a charity. I’ve been researching organizations that take bridesmaid dresses to give to high school seniors who can’t afford a prom dress.

The Princess Project, in California, is one organization I came across that accepts formal dresses. Because you're making a donation to a charity, you can get a receipt to submit to the IRS – a tax deduction - and recoup some of the cost.

There are similar organizations around the country - I’m still trying to find one in New York - here’s a link to charities across the country where you can donate your old bridesmaid dresses, or encourage your ‘maids to send theirs.

If you know of a great charity where you can donate an old prom dress, please post them here.

I'm not making a toast at this weekend's wedding, but I've been asked to speak at two weddings and quite a few other parties. I'm not nervous in front of the crowd, I’m more anxious about making sure I say everything I want to say. My problem is that I don't like to write things down. I prefer to wing it. And so far I haven’t heard any complaints.

But if you're nervous about making a speech or toast at an upcoming wedding, or worried about a toast someone will be making at yours, here's a few toasting tips:

1 - If you have no idea what to say either write out the whole speech or a few points you want to make sure your say.

2 - Practice your toast/speech if you're not comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. Even if you know all of the guests, you'll be more comfortable if you rehearse a few times in the days before the wedding.

3 – Keep the dirty jokes and inappropriate comments for the bachelor and bachlorette parties.

4 – Remember to make it sweet and simple. No bride was ever upset because the toast maker wished the couple a happy life together.

5 – And keep it short. The guests are there to mingle and dance so keep your speech or toast to less than 2 minutes. Longer speeches can be said at the rehearsal dinner the night before.

If you want a few more tips, watch this clip on how to make a wedding toast.

I'm a bridesmaid at my friend's wedding this Sunday. I've talked about her shower and her bachelorette party, and next week I'll tell you all about her wedding.

As a bridesmaid, we are responsible for throwing the bridal shower and bachlorette party, help the bride with her plans and most importantly be her lady in waiting on the wedding day. And because we do our jobs so well, we get a beautiful thank you gift from the bride. But what is a good bridesmaid gift?

Some brides get jewelry to go with the gown. Other brides give each girl something personal, which I think is a much better option.

If you're looking for the perfect gift for your girls, Red Envelope carries a large line of great gifts for bridesmaids – including jewelry – and most of the items can be monogrammed with the ‘maids initial or name. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the bridesmaid section, take a look around the site – they have great gifts for the home, travel and bath. If you're not sure how much to spend I suggest planning to spend a minimum of $25-30 per gift.

And by the way, Red Envelope also has great gifts for the groomsmen, so send this link to your groom so he doesn't forget to pick something up for his friends.

So I went to a bachelorette party this weekend, and before a delicious dinner at Rosa Mexicana, the bridemaids treated the bride, as well as ourselves, to an S Factor Party.

For those of you not familiar with S Factor, it's an exercise/dance studio for classes in pole dancing, lap dances and a sexy-dance routine. The two-hour class was a lot of fun and we all learned something new. (As soon as I get the pictures, I'll add them to the blog.) The class was well under $100 per person and it was so much more fun than a stripper at someone's house or going to a strip club where our bride would be vying for attention with the 10 other brides and their 'maids in the club.

The best thing about S Factor, is that they have studio locations all around the country - Houston, LA, San Francisco, Chicago - and if there's not one in your area you can call and ask if they'll plan a workshop in your town.