There may be some help for you!

I am a HUGE fan of Groupon, and have purchased from them several times.  Today, Dallas special occasion store  Terry Costa is currently running a Groupon deal where you can purchase a $200 voucher for $69, or a $300 voucher for $99.  That is a pretty sweet deal!  Check out the deal here.

Of course with Groupon, you have to be sure to read the fine print.  It looks like the only noticeable restriction I’ve read is that you can’t use the Groupon for Maggie Sottero line.  (BUMMER, because her stuff is beautiful!)

If you want to get in on the deal, move quickly – the Groupon is over at midnight tonight!  Happy shopping! Hope you find that perfect dress!

~Regina

Photo Source: Rue La La

Happy Friday!

Being a Dallas resident for the past 14 years, I know that fashion is majorly important, especially for a Dallas bride’s wedding day!  If you are looking for some funky, trendy wedding fashion for your wedding ceremony or reception, I have a trendy site for you to check out to find some fashionable items for your wedding.  I am a big fan of Rue La La, an exclusive, invitation only boutique that has 48 hour sales on clothing and accessories my major brands, like Steve Madden, Spanx (yes, ladies, they sell SPANX…lol), BCBG, Escada, etc.  They send you weekly emails of the featured boutiques as well as upcoming sales that you can then purchase from during the specified timeframe.

This week, they are partnering up with The Knot for some specific wedding fashion!  They are calling the effort “The Knot presents STYLE, I Do!” I love the title.  They’re featuring various wedding gowns, reception gowns (for the bride who wants a different look for the reception), accessories and even groom/groomsmen attire that can be purchased immediately from the boutique.

If you are attending a wedding soon, they also have a boutique for party dresses and the best wedding gifts to give at a shower or wedding.

Check out the site and see what you think.  Quick warning, the boutique will by 10am CST tomorrow, so get on as quick as can to check it out before it closes (never know when the boutique will open again).  As I mentioned, you need to be invited to access the boutique, so I’ll make you a deal.  Leave a comment below requesting an invite and I will send you one!  ;

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Regina

Source: www.iloveswmag.com

 Southern Weddings V3 Issue pictured above

In the words of the great Lara Casey - “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!”

Lara Casey is an awesome wedding professional and founder/creator of Southern Weddings magazine.  I wanted to give all of you brides in Dallas (and other places in the South) a heads up that the Fall issue (V4) of Southern Weddings magazine hits newsstands on October 25!  If you haven’t seen an issue of their magazine, they specialize in all things Southern.  Their magazine covers beautiful inpsiration for decor, attire (even for the guys) and alot of really true Southern traditions – matter of fact, they are currently hosting a contest where wedding pros can submit the best mason jar concepts for some SW bragging rights. Now how’s that for Southern?  Be sure to add this to your collection of magazines you browse as you begin planning your wedding – I’m sure you’ll find some great inspiration from it!

Right now, the ladies over at Southern Weddings are offering your chance to win a copy of the Fall issue BEFORE it hits the stands.  You can find the details here.

Do you plan to add some “Southern” flair to your wedding?  Is it in the decor, the food, the style?  I’d love to hear your comments!

Happy Monday!

~Regina

Photo Source:www.aidenfoley.wordpress.com

Designing your wedding is a very fun and important process.  The design is what makes the wedding unique and totally you.  To design a beautiful event, you eed a vision for what you want to create, a focus on details and the ability to think ahead to the emotional reaction you want your guests to have to your event.

In today’s blog, I want to highlight for you the six elements that you MUST pay attention to in order to plan a fabulous wedding. I learned this from one of my favorite wedding/event designer inspriations, Preston Bailey,  and have used them in my wedding design inspiration ever since.

Anticipation

How do you want to your guests to anticipate the big day?  When your guests anticipate your big day, it makes it that much more exciting and you will surely get people to attend.  You can give them a sneak peek of what they will encounter once they arrive.  You can use invitations that fit the theme of your wedding, maybe an interesting Save the Date (DVD Save the Date are becoming very popular).

Arrival

Do you guests have clear directions?   Where will your out of town guests stay?  If the host hotel is separate from the wedding venue, how will the guests get there and what will there experience be like once they arrive?  Alot of brides overlook this, so please don’t for your wedding.  If this area is not organized and/or a pleasant experience, it can ruin the attitude of your guests before they have event arrived at the event.  This is where having friendly wait staff, greeters, valet service for guests who are driving, escort cards and restroom sign can really make a difference – and, they can be customized to fit the design of your wedding!

Atmosphere

This is where it really gets fun.  The atmosphere setting needs to engage your guests from the moment they enter into the celebration.  A wedding designer understands the need to create the design of the wedding for all five senses, and can make the senses come alive with florals, lighting and colors.  Energy and mood is also imporatant in creating an atmosphere.  Be sure to think about that when deciding on music for your wedding.  Also think about the sense of touch when selecting the various linens for your tables, favors, etc.  Creating a great atmosphere is a huge part of the overall experience your guests will encounter.

Appetite

You may be wondering, “Isn’t food part of the planning?”  Yes, you are right, but it also has an excellent opportunity for design.  The way the food is displayed or served can be designed n a very beautiful and unique way that fits the overall theme of your event.  Think about your guests walking in and seeing the food displayed.  Another addition to the overall guest experience.

Amusement

No one wants a boring wedding.  You don’t want your guests looking at their watches 30 min. into the reception wondering, “Can we go now?”  Weddings and celebrations almost always include some type of entertainment.  There is music, traditional dances,  or games to get everyone engaged.  Here is an area that can be designed to keep your guests wondering what will come next.  You can design in areas of staging, dance floor and lighting effects.

Appreciation

As a host, you definitely always want to show your guests that you appreciate them taking the time to come and celebrate your special day with you.  For weddings, this is typically done in the form of a favor at the end of the event.  This does not have to be over the top, just a small token that will help the guests remember their awesome experience.  You can also show your appreciation after guests have left your celebration, in your thank you cards and gifts for the bridal party and officiant who helped make your day fabulous!

Follow these great tips and you will be sure to have your guests talking (positively) about your wedding long after the music has stopped!  If this seems challenging, that is okay.  Today, more and more wedding professionals are getting into the wedding design aspect in additional to the planning.  Feel free to ask your planner if he/she also does wedding design.  Remember, they are different roles.  If you need help defining them, check out my previous blog post where I define the differences.

Happy Hump Day!

~Regina

So…….you’re engaged…..you’ve enjoyed your engagement for a while……you’ve been fantasizing about how fabulous and flawless your dream wedding will go.  Now, it’s time to begin the journey of actually making the dream a reality.  One of the major questions you will ask yourself (if you haven’t already) is, “What style of wedding do I want?”  -

Okay, okay, maybe not in those words. 

You may just say, “How do I want this wedding to look?”  With so many different styles of weddings, it can all get confusing.

You might even be thinking, “What’s up with all of this design style stuff all of a sudden?”

Well, let me tell you.

Design styles were originally created for the elite historically, but today, design style is influential in fashion, interior design, and, yes, weddings and other social events.  I love creating experiences, and, these days, weddings have become alot more about the magical experience your guests have, in addition to the flawless planning.

Today, I’ll share the definitions of each of the wedding design styles to help you figure our your personal style.  I’ll also include some examples of Dallas wedding venues that fit each of the styles, to give you an idea.

Traditional- Traditional style is very classic and timeless.  It’s very sophistacated and elegant.  This style utilizes alot of dark wood, rich jewel tones.  I would consider a traditional Dallas wedding venue to be somewhere like the Belo Mansion.

Modern- Modern style is very contemporary.  The style is very open and not busy, and  is usually very clean and polished.  Tends to use alot of white space and maybe some bold and bright colors.  A modern style wedding venue would be somewhere like the W Hotel Victory Park.

Eclectic – As the name suggests, this is a combination of the two. It’s a mixture of timeless sophication with modern, fresh elements.  The deep colors of traditional style mixed with funky, modern finishes.  An example of an eclectic would be Hickory Street Annex, where I shot an inspiration shoot back in July.

Whatever your taste, there is a style that will work for you. Think about things like the designers you like to wear, or how your home or apartment is decorated.   Just stretch your imagination and select the style of your dreams!

Which of  these styles do you like best?  Are you more traditional?  More modern?  Please share your comments below.  We love to hear from you!

~Regina

For today’s blog post, I am so excited to alert all of you brides about the new bridal line of one of my favorite wedding planners & designers in the industry!  One of my FAVORITE wedding-related shows is My Fair Wedding with David Tutera on WeTV.  He truly makes events magical and allows brides to dream big and realize that there are ways to create a beautiful, classy and unique wedding.    Some of you may have heard of his bridal gown line, David Tutera by Faviana.  It’s a beautiful line of wedding gowns that are red-carpet inspired by looks worn by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Chelsea Clinton and Fergie.  If you are a bride in the Dallas area, you can check out this bridal line at the Distinct Elegance  bridal boutique in Cedar Hill.  Check out some of his beautiful gowns:

Photo Source: www.davidtuterabyfaviana.com

Expanding his wedding gown portfolio, David just partnered with Mon Cheri, to create David Tutera for Mon Cheri.  Mon Cheri has been in the industry for over 20 years, and offers alot of different collections in bridal gowns and evening attire, from simplistic to couture, and they even have a children’s collection.

Photo Source: Mon Cheri Website

Check out this new collection for your Spring 2012 bridal gown ideas.  I am not sure yet whether you can get the line in the Dallas area as of yet, but if you are interested in finding out more about the collection, please contact Mon Cheri National Sales Manager John Amato at 609.530.1900, x213 or jamato[at]mcbridals.com

What do you think of the gowns?  Are there any particular celebrities who have inspired your bridal gown selection?  Please share below!

Have a fabulous weekend!

~Regina

Source: www.eventful-occasions.net

As someone who graduated college with a degree in psychology, I get a kick out of this cartoon….lol

Do you ever say this to yourself while looking over the potential guests to your wedding?  In the events that I have planned, making the guest list tends to be one of the hardest things about the planning.  Should you invite your old high school buddies you hung out with in the cafeteria?  What about your mom or dad’s co-workers, what about YOUR co-workers?  Sometimes it can be very tough to figure out who to invite and who can be left off.  Hopefully these tips will prevent you from having an emotional breakdown debating whether it’s more important to invite neighbor Johnny or old high school friend Natalie to the wedding.

You have already determined your budget and know how many guests you will be able to invite – YAY!!  Now, WHO do you you invite? I like to suggest to brides that you begin building your wedding invitiation list by making three lists. It will really help you!   List I will include your ( bride/groom’s) immediate families, bridal party and officiant.  These are basically the people who are definitely going to show up!   After you’ve made List I, determine the number of guests and the amount of invitations they will need reserved.  Then move on to List II.

List II broadens the scope a little, and contains your close family friends,  close friends, close business associates of  yours and your parents.  Same process occurs with this list – look at how many invitations you need and reserve accordingly.

Now for List III.  This includes anyone you did not place on List I or II, distant relatives and friends and casual work acquaintances.  If you have extra invitations to accomodate, fabulous!  If you do not, don’t fret, it is totally acceptable to send a wedding announcement to those folks.

Once you’ve made these lists, you can breathe a bit, because you have given yourself a logical, sensible way to decide who you should invite to your wedding.

I hope this helps you organize an order of importance when formulating your guest list.   For fun, here is a little chart that can help you figure out if you should invite someone to your  wedding or not, if you’re not sure.  This flowchart was featured in a Summer ’09 Brides magazine.

Happy Planning!

Photo Source: www.my1950swedding.tumblr.com

Tangerine Tango

Cabaret

I told you last week that I really liked the Tangerine Tango, remember??? 

These colors are bold and vibrant, and are colors that can be used for a very playful, fun yet elegant, wedding.  I thought about things like the season, fun couples who crave elegance, yet want their guests to experience a fun “escape” from everyday life and the many people preparing for their annual vacations, and created this board to reflect a destination wedding inspiration, somewhere like Costa Rica, Mexico or even Hawaii or Florida.   Check out the inspiration board below, which I created using Bridal Canvas – I hope it offers you some inspiration for your wedding (or at least encourage you to take a vacation!)

2012 Beach Wedding Inspiration Board

This inspiration is great for a couple who love the beach, love surfing, or simply love the colors.  It could inspire you to take the wedding to one of your favorite vacation spots, or inspire you to bring you dream island destination to the “city”.  You might not be a “beach” person – you can take the colors themselves and create an over-the-top elegant spring affair – the possibilities are endless! I’m thinking of so many exciting ways to take this board and create some fabulous wedding ideas of all different styles, from traditional to eclectic.  Hopefully this helps spark some creativity for you too as you imagine your special day!

How does this board inspire you?  Does this make you think of any cool ideas for your big day?  If so, post them below.  We love hearing from you!

Make it a great week!

~Regina

Last Friday, I posted about Sherri Shepherd’s lovely wedding, her blingy shoes and the fun wedding wands.  Today’s Wedding Style post is about something important to the supporting cast of the wedding day: the bridesmaid dress.  Selecting elegant bridesmaid dresses for an upcoming wedding can sometimes be a challenging task, especially if there are many ladies involved.  I recommend to brides that they only take their mother and one wedding party member (preferably maid of honor) with them to select the bridesmaids dress, at least initially.  Ladies, you know how we can get.  Can you imagine you and your 6 bridesmaids all agreeing on one dress??? 

One of the most challenging aspects of selecting a bridesmaid gown is that, with all of the varying styles of dresses (long, short, strapless, halter, empire waist, etc.), you have to consider the body type of all of your ladies.  Yes, you are the bride and will be the center of attention, along with your groom;  however, your bridesmaids want to look their best as they stand with you in honor of your union.  Also, the biggest complaint I hear from bridesmaids is that they do not want to spend lots of money for a dress they will only wear that one day. Fortunately, there are dress companies who can help address these challenges.  Both Twobirds and The Dessy Group have gowns that work not only to compliment the figure of your bridesmaids, but can also be a simple way to add some style and create unique & chic looks for each of the ladies, looks that they can wear several times after the wedding day.

Twobirds provides a solution to bridesmaids who want to have a unique style and want a dress that they can wear far beyond the wedding.  Twobirds’ dresses are made of a nylon/jersey/spandex blend and give your bridesmaids over 15 ways to wrap the dress, giving a different look each time.  They also have three different collections: Classic, Rosette and Two-Toned.  In the US, they unfortunately do not have any Dallas stores (only NY and Cali); however, you can order them from anywhere.  Check out examples of one dress shown here, wrapped in four different styles:

Photo Source: www.twobirdsbridesmaid.com

The Dessy Group recently launched their Convertible Twist Wrap Dress.  Similar to Twobirds, the dress can be worn in a variety of ways and comes in many colors.  The dresses can be worn as strapless, halter, twist front halter, one shoulder, cap sleeve, etc.  You can have alot of fun playing around with different styles.  I am not sure if you can only order the dress online or not, but there are some bridal boutiques in Dallas that carry the Dessy line, such as Circle Park Bridal, Mockingbird Bridal, Bella Bridesmaid and several other boutiques.  The Dessy website also has great guides that shows you step-by-step how to wrap the dress in the varying styles.  Here is a sample below:

Photo Source: www.dessy.com

These types of convertible dresses can really allow your bridesmaids to have their own unique style, yet still fit the overall elegance of your wedding.  It can also ensure that the dress doesn’t end up on the “I’ll never wear this again!” rack!

What do you think of this style?  Do you think bridesmaids should all wear the same exact dress or should they have some freedom to create a style of their own?

Have a great weekend!

~Regina