The OurWeddingDay Blog

Create Your Own Wedding Invitations

OWD — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:36:22 -0400

We just posted a new article about creating your own DIY wedding invitations.

We've shared creative DIY wedding invitations with you before. More than once. A few times, even!

Do-it-yourself invitations are a fun, inspirational idea for your wedding day. If you’re graphic-savvy and have the time, go for it. In the creative process, you’ll also save a great deal of cash.

Check it out!

The Down Lo: DIY Makeup Lesson

OWD — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:07:19 -0400

Laura Nadeau is the creator and owner of Lo & Co Makeup Artists, specializing in creating a fun and fabulous community for brides or any woman who wants to step-up her beauty routine. In addition to her own blog, The Down Lo, Laura shares her insight and advice on bridal beauty secrets right here, every week.

I work with many brides who are having out of town or destination weddings. They feel more comfortable doing their own makeup than leaving it to chance with a local artist so they come to me for a lesson. I always try to convince the bride to take me with them (especially to island destinations), but unfortunately the air and hotel costs for me isn't in their budget - darn economy!!

A lesson is always fun and even if the bride is going to use a local artist, I will often design the look for a bride and she can use that as a guideline for anyone who does her makeup. I don't want to disparage non-NYC makeup artists, as there are great artists everywhere. The trouble is finding someone with the same aesthetic and because makeup styles differ regionally and culturally it can be difficult to explain your preferences to a foreign artist. A good makeup artist will understand this and should be happy to have as many details as possible and not consider it an insult.

Alisa came to see me for a makeup lesson last April and we worked together to find a great look for her upstate NY wedding. Alisa was kind enough to share her experience with me.

Lo: Why did you decide to do your own makeup?

Alisa: I wanted to have more control over my look. I was getting married out of town, so was not to familiar with the makeup services there. I was worried about being overdone. I knew I was going to get my hair done professionally, so I wanted to concentrate on finding someone I was comfortable with for my hair and do the makeup myself. Plus my maid of honor is my sister and she prefers to do her own. My two bridesmaids are 11, so they didn't need a lot of makeup. So finding someone for one person might be tricky. I also have been getting mixed results from the mac counter where I usually get my makeup. I wanted to get an update especially since I am not a twenty-something anymore!

Lo: What was the most difficult part to do/learn?

Alisa: The false eyelashes were tricky but worth it. Other than that it was pretty smooth. I wear makeup, so it wasn't like I was learning a new skill. Just refining and learning better techniques.

Lo: Was there anything that surprised you about your makeup and/or taking a lesson?

Alisa: Nothing too surprising. But I learned about how to get my makeup to last throughout the day. That was really important. A lot of the products I was using seemed like they would be gone in three hours. Now I know what to do so my look lasts throughout the day.

Lo: What advice would you give another bride who is doing their own makeup?

Alisa: Practice, practice, practice. I had my appointment in the beginning of April for a late May wedding. Plus, if you are going to be a nervous wreck the day of your wedding, you might be better off having someone do it for you. Also, time yourself and schedule the right amount of time you need. You don't want to rush on your wedding day! I got married at 4pm. I had my hair appointment at 11:30. I started my makeup before the appointment. Afterward, I touched up my foundation and did my eye makeup and final touches after. I was ready on time for photos beforehand, everyone else was a little late!

I feel like a proud mother bird, pushing her baby out of the nest and seeing her fly! Great job, Alisa.

The key was to keep Alisa's makeup soft while still adding definition. With fair skin and light brows one needs to be careful not to overdo the eyebrows or use colors which are too severe. This can make a women look older instead of prettier. I think the only female who wants that is an 18 year old trying to pass for 21 at a bar! We still want to use color, but we want everything to be blended and soft.

The look: M.A.C eyebrow pencil in Fling, M.A.C eye shadows (Quarry, Coquette, Shroom), Bobbi Brown Granite Gel Liner (smudged into the eyeshadow), #53 Andrea Lashes, M.A.C Twig lipstick (a fantastic lip color to wear alone or with gloss)

Thanks Alisa and best of luck!

xoxo Lo

Responding to the Commentators

OWD — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:19:14 -0400

Real OurWeddingDay.com brides, sharing their personal planning experiences.

I hopped on the blog today and was reliving some old posts and trying to keep up with comments. I realized when I got to the original My Dream Wedding Despite My Budget post that there were many wonderful comments and I wanted to follow up on some of them.

First off, to Jz1: Feel free to contact me through my blog and we can go from there.

Next, to all of you wonderful brides planning weddings on a budget that is strict and tight in this economy. I feel you and I know that there are times of stress and hardship. You wonder if it's even possible to plan a wedding that will be as beautiful as all those you see in magazines and blogs for a shoestring. My answer to you is YES!! Yes, your wedding can be beautiful and thoughtful and well put together even on a tiny budget. I wish you all the best. And if you want to talk to me or want any advice, stop by my blog and send me along a message and we can chat.

To Tammy: An open bar is really expensive, but there are ways to cut the costs. Serve only a few beers, mixed drinks, and 1 of each type of wine. Another option is a few signature drinks. What we are doing is getting a few bottles of champagne for each table and when they have finished it ... it's gone. However, we are having an after party at our house with our friends (who do drink but our family does not) where we will serve the alcohol we have on hand.

To Brandy: 200 guests for $5000! I need to talk to you girl. That's impressive.

To Cohiba918: The best place to start is to think about what is important to you. For us, it was photography and the ceremony. Start by making a list of all the parts of a wedding... photography, ceremony, reception, flowers, cake, food, invitations, etc and then put the list in order of what is important to you. Ask your boy to do the same and start from there. Once you figure out what is important the rest will flow. Feel free to contact me from blog if you'd like some more advice.

To Venicia: Some people would call you crazy for spending $65,000 on a wedding. I won't. But I do think you can have a big beautiful wedding for much less than that. My only advice to you is to not get caught up in the wedding traps. You can have a great wedding for any price. And if you can swing $65,000 your wedding will be lavish and wonderful.

I'll tell you what guys -- since this is such a hot button issue, next week I will post some of my favorite tips on how to trim a budget. I also think I need to share with you my wedding rules. So, next week, budget tips and wedding rules. And remember if you want to talk to me personally, please don't hesitate to contact me through my blog.

-Amy

OurWeddingDocumentary

alamster — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:42:08 -0400

Caroline and her soon-to-be husband had an inspired idea to capture their wedding day. They rented three Super 8 video cameras and gave them to their friends to document the expierence.

It resulted in a compilation of lovely images that capture the feeling of an amazing day. Check it out!

The Wedding Show

OWD — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:11:35 -0400

Check out today's episode of Martha because it's her big Wedding Show!

Martha Stewart will welcome an audience full of blushing brides, Weddings editorial director Darcy Miller, top hair designer Frederic Fekka, celebrity eyelash guru Ja'Maal Buster, New York City event expert David Monn and the one and only Vera Wang.

We just love Martha, and just know that the show will be fun while offering practical ideas! Start your TiVos!

Books Of Love

OWD — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:08:53 -0500

One of the things Mr. J and I wanted to include in our wedding decor was our love of books. We wracked our brains, and I trolled all the wedding blogs I could find and did some research.

We finally settled on authentic library cards, hand-typed. I ordered "check out" cards from a library supply store, and borrowed and old fashioned typewriter from my aunt and went to work!

It was a long process, but we picked out a book for each person attending. Then I had stamps made with our wedding date, names and a monogram, and ordered some orange ink.

The final effect was a personalized card that said when and where we were getting married, and some other fun stuff too. Then we purchased some thick envelopes in ivory and hand-typed our address and theirs on all of our Save The Dates.

The finishing touch (and a hold up!) was the last detail. We had our engagement pictures (and other pictures of us we love too) made into stickers from London-based company Moo. I placed them on the back and our Save The Dates were completed!

Where The Boys Are (And Aren't)

OWD — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:17:02 -0500

Following celebrity weddings and reading glamorous bridal magazines can be a lot of fun, but nothing’s more helpful than learning how real brides plan their big day. With that in mind, meet OWD's Real Brides: real OurWeddingDay.com brides-to-be sharing their experiences every day. It’s not about the “right” way to plan; it’s about each bride planning the wedding that’s right for her.

Another wedding party blunder!

Attention all brides: I need some serious advice! I have a Maid of Honour named Michelle who is great; my second best friend is a male by the name of Scott, and my third best friend is another male by the name of Ibrahim. Now seeing how it's 2009 I didn't see a problem in having male bridesmaids standing up for me. So I asked my three best friends to accept their roles and of course they did with bells on.

Well, my fiancé, Steve, lost it when he found out. He doesn't agree that we should have men on my side standing up, he would like to be more traditional and have only men on his side. I could relate to his theory if I had more women to choose from but my friendships are very important to me, and I keep very few people close enough to ask such a question. What am I to do? I already asked my male friends, they already said yes, we have looked at tux colours, and now I have to figure out some way to tell them without putting all the blame on Steve that they can't stand for me anymore.

Would any of you put your foot down and say they want males on their side? Should I take it as Steve is threatened by all the men standing up? I know I want to be the prettiest girl on that day, maybe he wants to be the most handsome and the most important one up there on the big day. I don't know what to do, I don't mind having only the MOH and the Best Man standing without any other attendants but then the pictures will be of just four people and I always pictured a big wedding party. I could ask my male friends to be ushers, but it's really important to me that they stand next to me. I just don't want to upset Steve on our big day-this is obviously driving him crazy!

I asked my male friends over two months ago..and he is just blowing up now. Can anyone relate or give me a hand with this problem I could really use some great advice here ladies!

Have Some Fun!

alamster — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:09:32 -0500

Sometimes the planning of a wedding can be so overwhelming that the fun of it all can get lost a little (see: Bridezillas). Why not take a hint from KC and Sara who had a lively and amazing wedding full of great ideas.

From their Save the Date cards (yes, they are really lying on the grass!) to signs directing traffic and wooden backdrops for the ceremony, KC and Sara brought their unique and artistic personalities to the event. Check out more photos from their big day on their blog.

And let us repeat: Those Save the Date cards are genius and adorable!

“Baby, I Found the Dress”

OWD — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:35:54 -0500

With wedding bells and endless amounts of tulle in mind, I started planning my wedding two weeks after Mr. Right popped the question. What can I say, I’ve been dreaming about this day since I was almost out of the womb!

The first thing we did was select our bridal planner, which wasn’t as easy a task as I had expected to be. Jay and I had a mini-argument about which bridal planner to use. The one he wanted to get was ugly but had tons of little pockets to store receipts and paperwork in. I wanted a really pretty, slightly less organized one. I told him that if I had to look at the thing for the rest of my life it was going to have to be pretty. So I, with a reluctant fiancé in tow, marched up to the counter and bought it. From that day on, that book and I have been best friends.

From the get-go I have included Jay in all of the planning. Most of my guy friends I talk to tell me when they get married they want the girls to take care of the details and they will just show up. Not the case with my guy. I’m really happy that he wants to be as involved with the wedding planning process as I am, which means he will be able to enjoy that day with as much pride and joy as I am knowing that we pulled it off together.

I guess the hardest thing to keep in mind is where we stand on our budget which is close to $13,000. I have become aware that that isn’t very much money in the wedding industry, especially because I’m planning a wedding consisting of about 350 guests (which is another story all in it’s own). We ended up making the decision to plan our wedding all by ourselves in order to forgo the extra cost. We haven’t worked out the ‘wedding day’ mechanics yet but we know that the day before we are going to set up the décor for the ceremony venue and reception, before the rehearsal. I barely have any ideas about the ceremony decorations but we’ve been dreaming up ways to decorate the reception.

Needless to say we are having to crunch on our spending for the wedding items. A lot of our shopping I am doing online through stores like ThingsRemembered.com for our cake serving set, ebay for various items, and InvitationsByDawn.com for our invitations and our guest book as well. I guess I can be called quite the online bride. I am ALWAYS online looking at wedding stuff trying to find the right candelabras for the main table or the right aisle runner.

The thing I would recommend to every bride that have REALLY is a wedding planner book, complete with plenty of checklists. My parents have been complete angels about everything including taking me dress shopping. I had done quite a bit of window shopping online and seriously considered ordering online but I really didn’t want to skip out on the trying-on-the-dress experience. I work right across from a David’s Bridal so I stopped in. I had seen their site previously to going in so I knew what I wanted and it was the first dress I tried on. I had fallen in love with it online but I fell in love with it when I put it on also. The size was perfect as well. So I rang fiancé and said (ever so sweetly!), “baby, I found the dress.” In a few minutes we had it all wrapped up and ready to take home. So excited!

Shout It From The... Bridge?

alamster — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:20:25 -0500

Ever wished your proposal was shared with the world? Who hasn't? Well one lucky couple in New York included not only friends but some entirely unknown people they found on the street to participate.

The groom-to-be set it up so that he and his girlfriend would take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and as they kept walking, a flurry of people (some friends, some strangers) walked up with pink balloons attached to love notes. They were approached one-by-one until the couple got to the other side of the bridge and he proposed!

Check out these adorable photos! It looks like it was lovely weather for the lovely couple.