Wedding Planning Tips for Brides -- from iVillage Wedding Expert Anne Chertoff

You already know that the invitation – to any event – will let your guests now what type of party they will be attending: formal or casual, beach or ballroom. While you want to make a statement with your invites, sometimes it’s hard to find a stylish and affordable one.

Pingg, a new online invitation company, offers beautiful e-vitations for free! Yes, that’s right, for free!

It’s so simple: Pick your occasion and then choose from hundreds of designs for the right image. (Their photos are beautiful.) Simply add your event details, guest list and click send. For a small fee you can send the e-vitation by text message. Your guests can RSVP online and there’s an event Web page to help you keep track of them. You can also add a link to your registry and upload photos and video.

While I’m still a fan of sending a more traditional (read: tangible) wedding invitation to your guests for the big day, I think Pingg e-vitations are a great source for invites for every other wedding-related party: engagement party, the shower, bachelor and bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinner, bridesmaid luncheon and post-wedding brunch.

My colleague, Josey Miller, Sr. Editor of Love and Weddings at iVillage, learned about a unique product she thought brides should know about. So I asked her to write a post on it:

Blue Hawaiian! Red Fizz! Purple Monster! Isn’t there a more subtle—and elegant—way to incorporate your color scheme into your cocktail menu?

There is now.

I recently attended a press event for Cointreau at Daniel, one of the top restaurants in New York City, where head bartender Xavier walked me and Maggie through the complicated process of creating Cointreau Caviar, also known as Cointreau Pearls. Between the magnetic stirrers and the beakers, the method—known as Spherification—looked like seventh-grade science class, but the project was much more sophisticated and fun. Not only was the final product—Cointreau Pearls infused with strawberry, dancing around a glass of Champagne—delicious; it was also absolutely beautiful.

Their more “traditional” version of Cointreau Pearls involve flecks of 24K gold (yes, really). But bartenders could also potentially use practically any fruit, or even food coloring, for an unforgettable thematic effect. Drinks with Cointreau Caviar are currently only being served at the highest-end restaurant bars and lounges in London, Paris and NYC. But expect to see them at weddings—most likely starting at those where money is no object! —in the years to come.

--Josey Miller iVillage Love and Weddings Senior Editor and Author of Sex on My Desk

Whether you're getting married in a ballroom, on an estate or in a private home you need to think about what items will need to rent. Your florist and caterer will tell you what you need - linens, china, silver serving pieces, glassware, flatware, tables, chairs, tents, floors, generators, heaters, lighting and floors - are some of the items you may need.

Don't assume that all of these items will be included with your wedding location. In most cases they will be, but if you are getting married in a loft space or a private home you may have to bring everything in to accommodate your guests.

Enter the rental company. A rental company can offer you numerous options to customize and create the feeling and tone you’ve always imagined.

Take your florist to your wedding location to decide which linen color will work best with the flowers and the room, and ask the caterer what plates, serving pieces, flatware and glassware you'll need.  Then visit a local (and recommended) company to determine which pieces to rent.  

Here is a list of few rental companies from across the country:

Be Our Guest, based in Boston and serving New England

Party Rental, serving the New York tri-state area and Washington, DC areas

Snyder Event Rentals and Staffing, Charleston

La Bella Party Rental, San Francisco

A few months ago I wrote a post about maternity wedding dresses, but what if your bridesmaid or maid-of-honor is pregnant?  Many bridesmaid dress companies make a maternity version of their popular designs, but today with many brides giving their bridesmaids the freedom to select their own dress your ‘maids may be at a loss of where to go shopping.

If you are just dictating the dress color and formality, you may want to also give your girls an idea of where to start looking – local dress shops, department stores, etc…  But if one of your bridesmaids is pregnant, she may need some extra help in finding a gown that is not only comfortable, but also fits the look and feel of your wedding.

I attended a press preview for the maternity clothing stores – A Pea in the Pod, Mimi Maternity and Motherhood.  Each store has a line of evening wear gowns for moms-to-be.

The two dresses featured above are from A Pea in the Pod.  Here's a link to their evening wear collection.

And if you are a pregnant bride, they also carry maternity wedding dresses:

If you find other great designers that carry maternity dresses for brides or bridesmaids please let us know!

 

 

I know I’ve written about how your guests will email you photos they took at your wedding, but what are you going to do with all of them?  Just store them in a file on your computer? 

 

How about making a digital scrapbook?  With digital photographs, creating an album online is easier than ever!

 

I recently learned about a fabulous digital scrapbooking company, Scrapblog, which will allow you to create beautiful pages for your wedding scrapbook, for free!   They have hundreds of templates to fit a variety of occasions, including dozens in the wedding category.  You can add text, graphics, audio and even video to it! 

 

Once you’ve designed your pages, print them out or have them bound into a book, or email them to your friends and family. 

 

I know the process sounds a little daunting, but I swear on Aggie, it’s really simple.  Click here to take a tour of the whole process!