Author Archives: Alison

********** GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW THROUGH AUGUST 2nd!!! ***********

Don’t forget your chance to enter to win! Krystal of Stella & Dot is giving away a gift certificate to her store! Just check out all the goodies at Stella & Dot and report back by leaving a comment here and sharing what you would choose!

Entries will be accepted through Thursday, August 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winner is selected at random and announced on Facebook on August 3rd. Good luck!

******************************************

Your bridesmaids are like a potpourri of your life connections. Your collection of gals might consist of a family member, high school friends, and sorority sisters. Or maybe the girls from your college cheerleading squad make up your bridal party, but they’re scattered around the country, leading their different post-graduate lives. It’s very probable that the contact you have with your bridesmaids is via GChat during the work day and on the phone during your commute home in the evenings. Texting gets you quick fixes of inside jokes and updates, and your refrigerator serves as an exhibit of all the various things going on in everyones’ lives with birth announcements, bridal shower invitations, “We’re Moving” notifications, and wedding stationery attached to the door with magnets. Today’s bride rarely has in-person access to all or most of her bridesmaids and though it may seem tedious or complicated getting everyone acquainted and on the same page, it’s actually no big deal.

How do the bridesmaids know each other if everyone can’t be together? Well, introduce them! Send out an email to all the girls and do a mini orientation by listing their names and contact information. Give some context and explain how you know them. This breaks the ice so it’s not awkward for them to interact behind your back while they plan surprises and fun events for you.

In fact, just steal this:

Hi Ladies!
I’m so excited that you’ll be part of my big day!! You are all very special to me and having you by my side as I get married to Channing Tatum (just making sure you’re still with me) makes the day even more special!

Love,
Your Name

Okay, so once you’ve done the hello and how-do-you-dos, how else can you build your team of bridesmaid? You’ll have to decide on what they’ll be wearing. However, you can’t possibly cater to every girl’s taste and body. Work with your Maid of Honor to be the spearhead for this task. You want to please — it’s your tragic flaw — but it’s just not realistic to get everyone together and go shopping. Once the dresses have been selected, your Maid of Honor should instruct the bridesmaids to go to a professional tailor or dress shop to get measurements taken. Each bridesmaid should send their measurements to the Maid of Honor so she has them and can place the order with the shop that is selling the bridesmaid dresses. Your Maid of Honor needs to communicate the dress selection to the whole bridal party and the dresses really should be ordered all together so that dye lots are the same.

The bride should send out messages to the bridesmaid group about dates and costs of things with plenty of notice and several reminders afterward. It’s not that the girls are flaky or uncaring, but everyone is living their individual lives. You can’t expect that your girls will be on top of every date for your wedding events. So, just send some emails with updates about dates (rehearsal dinner, bridesmaid lunch, wedding day, day-after brunch, etc.) or with travel information once you know it. Especially if your girls are scattered around the country, you’ll want to give them inside scoop as you learn it about airfare, hotel reservations, transportation set ups, and any other travel-related pieces of information.

Make sure you give clear deadlines for bridesmaid things that have hard dates attached like dress order-by dates or RSVPs for a shower thrown by someone other than them. You can also delegate this to your MOH since you probably are too busy slash you don’t want to deal with harassing bridesmaids about these kinds of things. But that’s why choosing a MOH who’s on top of her game is super important!

Even if you’re a control freak, I don’t care — the bride does not plan her own parties like showers and bachelorettes! Just make sure to tell whoever is hosting a bridal shower that bridesmaids should be invited even if they’re not local or available. Because they’re part of your wedding inner-circle, they should be included in all events, though it is up to them if they can make them. You should make sure to communicate with them that it’s totally okay if they can’t make the shower or party. They should know they’re invited, but not pressured to travel.

As for the wedding weekend, you’ll need to set up clear communication with your bridesmaids about when everyone arrives in town so you can coordinate pick ups and car rides and hotel accommodations. You are not expected to pay for these things, but you should manage the bridesmaid reunion for your wedding weekend events. Emails with reply-all settings will help everyone stay on the same page.

Enjoy this special time with your favorite ladies. You picked them for a reason, so now is the time to enjoy your unique relationship with each bridesmaid. From sorority socials to high school football games to summer camp Shabbats, you have hundreds of memories combined with this group. Get excited to form many more for your big day!

Heidi Ryder Photography

********** GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW THROUGH AUGUST 2nd!!! ***********

Don’t forget your chance to enter to win! Krystal of Stella & Dot is giving away a gift certificate to her store! Just check out all the goodies at Stella & Dot and report back by leaving a comment here and sharing what you would choose!

Entries will be accepted through Thursday, August 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winner is selected at random and announced on Facebook on August 3rd. Good luck!

******************************************

Maybe it’s all the hubbub of Magic Mike or those fine-looking athletes who are doing their thaaaang at the Olympics (hello, Matt Anderson Who Plays Volleyball For Team USA And By The Way, Does He Like Nice Jewish Girls?), but there are some good lookin’ dudes in the media right now. Made me think back to when I younger — circa Bat Mitzvah 1996 — and my crush of the time was JTT. Please. Girls of the 90s. Who did NOT like JTT? I even had his poster from Teen Beat taped to the ceiling of my room (Devon Sawa was in the same issue. Good times). There may or may not have been a lipstick mark on his face. I think our moms all did this with Paul McCartney posters, so please, this age of practicing kissing has gone on for, like, generations. I’m sure Sarah and Rachel and Rebecca practiced kissing stone tablets or something, no?

Practicing kissing is not just a funny and innocent blip from your childhood. Did you ever think about doing some practice kissing with the lucky duck at the other end of the chuppah?

Hey, go for a mitzvah on Shabbat and take it as far as you want — we don’t need to discuss the nitty gritty of what practice kissing leads to. But there are benefits… besides the obvious.

Let’s be honest: were a jumble of nerves on the big wedding day. The nerves all stem from excitement, of course, but that adrenaline is running on turbo. In the same way couples may discuss the cake cutting (to smash or not to smash?) or the first dance (to choreograph or to wing it?) , it is probably beneficial to have a chat — or a kiss! — about the first smooch as newlyweds.

So what’s it gonna be? Passionate and steamy? A sweet peck, 7th grade style? With spaghetti between you like Lady and the Tramp? Okay, kidding (but really, you could practice with a kugel!), but better to chat about it now than to be humiliated about the way you were kissed and didn’t want to be on the wedding day.

Keep in mind, too, that you’re going to be surrounded by your family and friends. And if you’re doing the traditional chuppah thing, your parents are going to be under the canopy with you! And your grandparents will probably be in the front row! So, really, up to you, but you can always save the oo la la for your honeymoon. Just sayin’…

Are you a couple who’s usually participating in PDA to begin with? Those who are frequently in your company might be used to it and won’t even blink about a touchy-feely kiss. My husband and I are not quite the PDA type because we are always on the go, we don’t have time to get all mushy gushy. However, we are a playful and silly couple, so our first kiss was short and sweet with multiple pecks. I only know this from watching the video. It could have been a drinking game: take a shot every time Alison goes in for another!!

Maybe marry a few different styles of kisses. Instead of showing your passion that resembles a the cover of a Fabio romance novel, share a kiss or two that has impact with lips and add in some hand holding or neck hugging. A nice little dip at the end will get a perfect 10 from the judges/wedding guess.

Okay, okay, I’m not going to choreograph your first kiss for you. Just sharing some ideas and things to think about as you seal the deal.

If anything, just say that The Wedding Yentas demands you do a few test drives for your first kiss. I doubt there’ll be an argument about it and who knows, it could end in your own personal Magic Mike show!

********** GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW THROUGH AUGUST 2nd!!! ***********

Don’t forget your chance to enter to win! Krystal of Stella & Dot is giving away a gift certificate to her store! Just check out all the goodies at Stella & Dot and report back by leaving a comment here and sharing what you would choose!

Entries will be accepted through Thursday, August 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winner is selected at random and announced on Facebook on August 3rd. Good luck!

******************************************

Let’s talk about veils. To wear one or not to wear one? If you choose to wear a veil, then which kind of veil should you were? There are, like, a zillion styles. So what should you go with? What’s the terminology? Does the veil have to match the dress?

There’s so much to think about for an accessory that’s pretty to look at and serves a cultural purpose. Read on for information… unveiled.

Camo is a No No
If you choose to wear a detailed wedding gown that sparkles with beading or has serious texture like lace, consider wearing a veil that doesn’t clash or hide those elements. What a shame it would be to select your dream dress and then cover it up with a veil that hides jewels or fancy buttons. An elbow-length veil will still serve its purpose but then also not upstage your dress.

Caw! Caw! Wear a Birdcage
For serious drama or a vintage look, the birdcage veil is a classic. If you want a more traditional veil for your ceremony, you could always model a birdcage piece for photos or the reception. It’s a super-chic look that many brides love, but think they can’t pull off!! Just make sure your dress is in the same category of style. A very full and conservative gown might not mesh (haha, get it?) well with a birdcage veil, so go with a dress that’s sleek or sexy or vintage.

Image courtesy of Holladay Photo

Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Don’t let your dress fight with your veil. Instead, they should complement each other! If your dress has beading or pretty, sparkly doodads on it, then your veil should lean toward the plain side. If your dress provides simple beauty without jewels or lots of lacy additions, then your veil can have elaborate extras. But if you combine both, the veil and the dress will end up in a one-upping competition and you’ll lose the splendor altogether. This goes for your jewelry, too. The more detailed your veil is, the softer and simpler your jewelry must be. All three elements should definitely play well together, and not against each other. There is definitely such thing as too much of a good… bling.

Color Me Bride
Make sure to color coordinate! While you don’t want your dress and veil details to be too matchy-matchy, you definitely have to make sure your colors are! If you are wearing an ivory dress, it would be no bueno to wear a diamond white veil. Many bridal salons will offer you swatch samples to compare and be sure that both items match. There is no wrong color — it’s up to you to decide what works for your style and skin tone — but you definitely want to be sure that the color is consistent for both beauties.

Veil Types
You’d think that a drapey piece of mesh would be a no-brainer shopping experience. Wrong! If you’ve just started shopping for a veil, you’ll start to hear lots of body part-centric lingo that you didn’t know could describe a wedding day accessory. Basically, many veils are described by the body part they reach. There’s shoulder length, elbow length, fingertip length, knee length, and floor length (not a body part, but toe-length just sounds weird). Then, there’s church lingo that describes two other varieties of veils and let’s face it, Hebrew school didn’t prepare you for that kind of information. Chapel length veils extend to the floor, about seven feet from the top/head piece. A cathedral length veil trails anywhere from one to three yards behind the dress. The most formal style of veil is the cathedral length.

Bride, Groom… and Veil Photos?
You and your beloved will be taking a day’s worth of photos together. From posed shots to candid snaps, the two of you will get total paparazzi treatment and it’s your big opportunity to be fierce! Your veil can be a character in your photos, too! From romantic to playful, make sure to include your veil in your happy day. You’ll be happy you did… from head to toe. Here are some camera must haves to run by your photographer.

Image courtesy of eight20 photography

Image courtesy of Meghan Aileen Photography

Image courtesy of Jessica Claire

Image courtesy of Jessica Claire

Image courtesy of Brian Dorsey Studios

Image courtesy of Jennifer Bowen Photography