Category Archives: planning tips

{Planning Tips} Let Your Bridesmaids Be Individuals

By Chandra Fredrick | Jun 12

mismatched bridesmaids and tips on how to treat your bridesmaids

{Athena Blude / original post on Oh Lovely Day)

Do you make your bridesmaids wear a “uniform?” And no, I don’t mean like a baseball uniform or a military uniform, I mean the exact same uniform look for each bridesmaid. Are they told to wear the same dress, the same accessories, the same hairstyle? Or do you give them a little leeway in the individuality department? Remember ladies, your bridesmaids are your best friends (or are supposed to be). Don’t make them look bad or take away any chance they have of looking a bit like themselves at your wedding. Here are some options to make both you and your bridesmaids happy!

Same Dress Color, Different Styles

{Jamie Delaine / original post on Oh Lovely Day}

If you do want them to all wear the same gown, how about choosing different styles or shades? Or if you want them exactly the same, why not let them to wear whatever shoes they like (If you are afraid this will get out of hand, specify any nude shoe, or any black shoe, or any closed toe shoe in the blue color family, etc). Or let them wear their hair however they want.

Same Dresss Style, Different Shades

{Becky Hill / original post on Oh Lovely Day}

{Melody Davis / original post on Oh Lovely Day}

But my favorite bridesmaid look is to be completely mismatched! Let your girls wear a dress of their choice in the same color family, or in your palette of colors. As long as the dress isn’t completely inappropriate, it will look great, your bridesmaid will appreciate being able to choose (or possible wear something she already has or will actually wear again), and it makes for a really cool look! Plus, everyone is really looking at you, right?

Bridesmaid choice of dress in different shades

{Austin Gros via Green Wedding Shoes}

Bridesmaid choice of dress in different colors

{via People.com}

{Love Me Sailor via 100 Layer Cake}

Personally, I chose a bridesmaid dress by Lela Rose with my bridesmaids that came in 3 different styles (halter, one shoulder, and two straps) and told them to choose whichever style they thought looked best on them. Ironically, they all chose the same one! But they did wear whatever shoe, jewelry, and hair style they wanted. And they looked fab! See

{Jennifer Roper / my wedding posts seen here}

So, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you like your bridesmaids to be uniform or are you going for a mismatched look? If you want matching dresses, do you let your bridesmaids pick their own accessories and hairstyles? You should! This isn’t a cheerleading squad. But I digress… What do you think?

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{Planning Tips} Honeymoon Registries with Honeymoon Pixie

By Chandra Fredrick | Apr 28

These days so many engaged couples already have linens, pots and pans, appliances, flatware, and all of the other things traditional wedding registries provide. And lots of couples don’t feel they need the “stuff” but have wedding guests who would like the guidance for gift giving that a registry provides. My solution? A honeymoon registry!

My husband and I had both a traditional registry (so I could get the Kitchen Aid standing mixer I always wanted, a nice set of servingware and flatware, and a full set of “grown up” glasses – the ones that match and aren’t plastic!) and a honeymoon registry. Having a honeymoon registry is one of the best wedding-related decisions we made and almost our entire Italian honeymoon was paid for!

Honeymoon Pixie provides a honeymoon registry service to engaged couples. It’s similar to a traditional wedding registry; however guests purchase fun activities for you to enjoy during your honeymoon. It’s ideal for couples who live on their own and have many of the household items needed to start a home together. Get inspired with these sample honeymoon registries. Creating your free honeymoon registry is easy with Honeymoon Pixie. Simply select one of their pre-built registries and they produce your own honeymoon registry website to share with family and friends. It’s brilliant!

If that doesn’t convince you, here’s a little inspiration from my Italian honeymoon (by way of a 26 hour layover in Paris!)

{Paris}

{Florence}

{Lucca}

(we got rained on a bit, but Lucca was still one of the most charming stops on our trip)

{Cinque Terre}

(if we look like we’re glowing, it is because we hiked as far back as you can see…)

{Pisa, San Gimignano, & Siena}

{Orvieto}

(the hubs was a bit sick in all of the “sunglasses” photos – he caught an Italian cold)

{Rome}

{Venice}

(the $150 dollar 15 minute gondola ride was totally worth it, but only because it was our honeymoon and because it was a gift from one of our wedding guests from our honeymoon registry!)

For any brides-to-be out there, I would highly recommend an Italian honeymoon! And ours would not have been possible without our honeymoon registry. So be sure to check out Honeymoon Pixie and start planning your dream honeymoon.

*all photos are property of Oh Lovely Day -

please do not reproduce or use on your blog without asking permission*

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{Lovely Tip} Why I Happily Spent A lot of Money on My Wedding (and it isn’t for the reason you might think!)

By Chandra Fredrick | Apr 19

This post was hard to write, for several reasons. First, looking back at how much I spent on my wedding now that I have a child, I sometimes think “I could have put a down payment on a house with that money.” Second, I don’t like to talk about money spent on something, like it is bragging. I worked very hard as a lawyer to pay for my wedding, and my mother and stepfather were very generous and had saved to help us as well, but it was a choice that we made together on what we were comfortable spending. And if we had our wedding in a different location, I would have happily spent less money, and I think that you can have a fantastic wedding for under $10,000, or even $5,000 (I featured one that had was a gorgeous DIY wedding with a $4,000 budget!) But despite these misgivings, I still wanted to share why I happily spent well over $30,000 on my wedding, because to me it is what made our wedding so special, because of what we spent that money on.

My husband and I got married in the Los Angeles area, where we live. We knew that for most of our guests, it would be a destination wedding since most came from Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and various other parts of the country. They would have to spend a lot of money and effort to come to our wedding, and many of them made it a vacation. So we wanted them to be as comfortable as possible, as close to the beach as possible, and to get a real Southern California experience. That meant getting married on the coast somewhere close by and making sure there were hotels close by so they could stay close to the wedding venue and the beach, which significantly increased the cost of our wedding venue (and by significantly, I mean 2/3 of our budget).

We also provided transportation to and from the wedding from the hotel so our guests could enjoy some cocktails and not worry about driving, and so they could avoid renting a car or taking a cab. We also wanted them to feel like we thought of each of them when planning our wedding. We made nice out-of-town bags for each guest staying at the hotel, complete with snacks, TWO bottles of water (a must in my humble opinion), a map of the area, suggested things to do, and the weekend’s scheduled activities, plus a homemade hangover helper kit.

We had two guests whose birthdays fell on our wedding day. We had Vanilla Bake Shop (who did our cupcake tower) make them special birthday cupcakes, and we DIY’d cupcake flags for them and sang to them during our reception. We also had fun drink stirs with fun quotes about enjoying a cocktail, which were a fun conversation piece. And my maid of honor made really nice bathroom baskets with all of the essentials for our guests, along with all of the flags, stirs, and cute signs, making everything seem really thought out and personal. I also DIY’d our programs and included a CD inside each one with music that we loved as a couple and that was included in our wedding day. Guests still tell me they listen to that CD in their car and think of our wedding.

We wanted our wedding to be a fun party and we love to dance and wanted to encourage everyone to participate and literally kick off their shoes, so we had flip flops for all of our guests, which I bought at Old Navy’s yearly $1 sale. Almost everyone, including the men, wore them at our reception! And because we were getting married in sunny Southern California at 5pm and there was no shade, I bought some parasols in case guests needed a little. Mostly they just used them as photo props!

(see everyone wearing their yellow flip flops favors!?)

And the reason why I happily spent well over $30,000 on my wedding is that every dollar spent, every splurge and every small detail, made our guests feel special and loved and made our day the best day ever. I didn’t spend a ton on flowers. I got my dress for a steal. But we spent a lot on our venue and details for our guests. We still hear from guests how much they loved our wedding, how they feel like they were taken care of, and how they had the best time. To me, that makes the expense totally worth it! It may not be for everyone but if you can do it, spending money to make sure your guests feel loved, comfortable, and taken care of is never a waste.

All photos by Jennifer Roper / go here for full vendor credits

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{Sponsored Post} Wedding Snap: Collect All of Your Wedding Guests’ Photos Automatically + A Discount & Giveaway!

By Chandra Fredrick | Apr 2

Wedding Snap is not your average wedding app. It is a new photo sharing website that has iPhone and Android apps that make collecting your wedding guests’ photos a million times easier! No more begging your guests to send you the photos they took at your wedding or hunting them down on facebook! When you purchase Wedding Snap all of your guests get the iPhone and Android app downloads for free. Wedding Snap will even print 250 customized cards for your guests telling them what to do.

And while most of your guests probably have them, any of your guests that don’t have smart phones or used a regular digital camera can upload their photos directly to the website after the wedding. And how’s this for cool: You can even project your photos live to a screen at your wedding so they can be enjoyed as they happen (the live show is monitored in real time by Wedding Snap to ensure all photos are appropriate).

Check out this video for more information and a demo!

And the best part: The first 20 couples to sign up for Wedding Snap can get the Basic Package (a $65 value) for only $1! And three of those lucky couples will be selected to receive a complimentary Luxury package (a $240 value) for free! Just use code LOVELY46 when you sign up! Now hurry and get your photo sharing on!

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{Sponsored Post} Introducing Appy Couple + A Free Download

By Chandra Fredrick | Mar 31

By now I’m sure we’ve all heard of wedding websites, but these days it is so much better to have your very own wedding app! Appy Couple is an amazing new mobile app that you can share with your wedding guests to fill them in on all of the details and events of your wedding!

Appy Couple gives your guests all the info they need about events, lets them share pictures in real time, pop virtual champagne, send messages to you and the other guests—all great stuff. Plus, because it is mobile guests can access it for information and details long before your wedding, or for last minute registry gift purchases, schedule of events, or directions on the way to the wedding!

But what really sets Appy Couple apart from any other solution out there is that it’s a reflection of your style, your values, and the kind of day your wedding will be. Modern? Vintage? Classic? Luxe? Appy Couple has designs that fit all those styles and more.

That’s because the whole idea for Appy Couple started with design. The founders aren’t techies, they’re creatives, who understand how important it is that your day is perfect. And they wanted to make something that would not only take some pressure off brides (and grooms), but actually be fun to create and use.

And this is more than just a wedding app! Yes, you get the iPhone and iPad app (Android is coming soon), but the whole package also includes a free wedding website that coordinates with your app, and guest RSVPs and instant updates. How fab is that!?

In case you were wondering how hard it will be to set up your Appy Couple app, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s easy, easy, easy. You just have to know how to upload pictures, drag and drop, and type. And it’s actually fun, too. The whole site is beautifully designed and a pleasure to use.

There’s a very special invitation for you lovely readers: When you create your new Appy Couple account, you can get free access with coupon code OLDSP1. But hurry and get yours because it is for a limited time only!

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{I Do or I Don’t?} First Looks

By Chandra Fredrick | Feb 1

I’m so torn. As a bride, I couldn’t fathom doing a first look, but as a blogger I totally get why it can be such a good idea. Brides who didn’t do one swear by sticking to tradition, and brides who do don’t regret seeing each other before the ceremony. Photographers love them. So who’s right? Here’s my two cents:

A first look can serve several purposes, the obvious being that you get more photos out of the way before the ceremony so you have more time after for other photos and mingling with your guests. It also helps you get over any pre-wedding jitters, major bouts of tears, and lets you get a makeup touch up from those tears. Plus, the first look makes for some great photos.

Here is why I didn’t do a first look: Seeing my husband at the end of the aisle for the first time on our wedding day was the absolute best moment of my wedding, maybe of my life (until I had a baby). Of course I didn’t know that when I made the decision not to do one, but both my husband and I agreed we wanted to wait to see each other. That anticipation, that seeing each other in front of all of our friends and family and not seeing anyone else but each other in that moment, and that joy was priceless. Plus, it led to this:

{I love the look of anticipation as he is seeing me round the corner}

{queue the tears!}

Now, I’ve seen a lot of great “first look” emotional shots too. I think the first time you see each other is going to be emotional, but I love that ours was part of the ceremony.

Another great idea is to do a no peeking first look, like this couple.

{photos by Gina Leigh via Bridal Guide. To see Gina’s work featured on this blog, go here}

Isn’t that such a cute idea!? Makes for great photos, helps with the jitters and tears, but you still get to wait to actually see each other until the ceremony. Love it!

So, what do you think? Say yes to a first look or wait till the ceremony? I’d love to hear what you did or plan to do in your wedding or which you like to see best.