Award-Winning, Summer Wedding Ideas

Weather, flowers and sunshine all make summer weddings the most beautiful weddings year after year. From casual afternoon beach weddings to black-tie evening weddings, summertime offers some of the most unique and award-winning wedding ideas there are.

Bright Colors
We’re talking really bright colors, not pale pink or yellow, but hot pink or bright yellow. Bright colors should be used sparingly, but can really jazz up a wedding when paired with black or grey. Use the bright color of your choosing as an accent color in things like napkins, flowers, or even your cake. Have the bridesmaids wear solid colored black dresses and add a bright colored sash for a pop of summer color. Summer is a time to celebrate the bold, beautiful colors we love, and they’ve been showing up more and more in summer weddings.

Think Outside the Cake Box
You don’t have to serve cake at a wedding. Some brides are finding summer weddings are perfect opportunities to serve other, lighter desserts to their guests. Strawberry shortcake, tropical fruit cocktail and even sorbet or Italian ice are unique desserts starting to make their way into summer weddings. If you insist on cake, consider a summery fruit filling.

Different Destinations
Although often spectacular, beach weddings are anything but unique these days. Some summer wedding planners are finding rather exceptional locations for nuptials that fit better with the personalities of the bride and groom. Weddings are held in barns, in the mountains, museums, and even in aquariums. Some bride and grooms who are major sports fans are even tying the knot at their favorite team’s stadium.

Wine Smoothies
Make your signature drink stand out from all other weddings! Instead of opting for your average fruity mixed drink, TheKnot.com suggests serving wine smoothies. Make the drink even more special by serving it in personalized cups. They make for a nice decoration as well as a favor guests can take home after the wedding. If you think your wine smoothies will be a major hit, create personalized recipe cards so wedding guests can recreate your signature wedding drink at home.

Fruit Favors
Fruit is huge right now as both a decoration and a favor at summer weddings. Tropical fruits can make for beautiful centerpieces and then double as a favor at the end of the reception. Consider tying some ribbon or twine around the fruit with a personalized tag, thanking guests for attending your special day.

Keep it Casual
The casual, yet classy, summer wedding is certainly a big request of wedding planners for the summer of 2013. Backyard weddings and park weddings are perfect spots for casual weddings where the bride is sometimes in a short dress and the groom and groomsmen in shorts. Food is simple and might even be cooked on the grill. “Casual” doesn’t mean cheap-looking. When done right with some cute, personalized decorations, it can be a real delightful wedding!

5 Places to Wear Your Tiara and Sash

Every Girl Loves a Tiara

Tiaras and sashes have always gone hand-in-hand, whether for a prom queen or a bachelorette. While many girls buy pretty tiaras to wear to prom, not many girls can wear the tiara and sash of a prom queen.

You may be thinking to yourself, “how many places can a person really wear a tiara (and get away with it)?” The answer: many more places than you think! Here are a few examples…

Where to Wear Your Tiara and Sash

1. Dances: While homecoming is typically a much more casual affair than prom, you could still wear a small tiara to set off your dress.  A tiara is almost a staple for any girl going to prom. It’s a great way to add just a little bling to any dress. And if you’re crowned queen at either dance, you’ll have a beautiful sash to wear with your tiara!
2. Birthdays: A Quinceañera, Sweet Sixteens, 18^th and 21^st birthdays all give you a great reason to don a tiara and sash for the day! It’s your day, why not wear a tiara? Typically, a Quinceañera and a
   Sweet Sixteen both give you the perfect reason to plan a huge party and wear a “Birthday Girl” sash and a pretty tiara. You could also get matching tiaras for your best girlfriends to wear.
3. Pageant Queen: If you’re into the beauty pageant circuit at all, you know pageant queens get crowns or tiaras to wear with their sashes for various public appearances. A few of those appearances will include county fairs, state fairs (in some cases), and maybe even parades! Whichever event you’re involved in, you’ll get to show off your tiara and your sash.
4. Bachelorette Party or Wedding: Either at your bachelorette party or at your wedding, you will wear a tiara. If your bridesmaids are sweet, they’ll buy you two tiaras—a wild, fun bachelorette tiara and a pretty, elegant bridal comb tiara. That way, you’ll have a special way to remember each special event. You could also find small tiaras for your bridesmaids to wear for the bachelorette party.
5. County Fair: Many county fairs have small beauty pageants or talent shows, too. If you’ve competed in a state pageant and won the title, you may be called upon to don your tiara and sash to crown a county queen or simply make an appearance at the fair.

 

These are just a few places to wear your tiara and sash. You may, if you’re crowned prom queen or a pageant queen, be required to wear them to a few other events. You could even reuse the tiara on your own and be a medieval princess for Halloween! You could wear the costume a few times—and it gives you the perfect reason to wear your tiara again and again. Always make sure to find a reason to wear your tiara and sash more than once! Every girl needs to feel extra pretty every now and then.

Winter Wedding Ideas

Romance doesn’t necessarily have to mean warm weather and daisies. A winter wedding can be just as gorgeous and romantic as a wedding in spring or summer. Imagine how beautiful freshly fallen snow would be, and snuggling up with your new spouse in the limo on the way to the reception. Winter weddings can be very classy and elegant if done right.

Most weddings are centered around color, and picking the right colors for a winter wedding is key to making it beautiful and unforgettable. Consider the following color schemes for a winter wedding.

Black is Back

While some people think black is a color for funerals, it’s actually a very popular color for weddings, especially in the winter. Black, if done right, can be very classy. For example, whether at the ceremony or reception, a black elegant garden arch will create a very romantic setting, and is accented with 200 tiny lights. Add even more sparkle and shimmer with a black shimmering square column. The glimmer fabric stretches over a metal frame and would be perfect for entrances to the reception.

The key to making black work as a wedding color is having an accent color. Say you use something like black deco beads on the tables at the reception. Put colorful flowers in vases with the beads. Bright red roses would stand out nicely, or any other colorful flower that’s in bloom in the winter. Black doesn’t have to be dull, but instead can turn out very sophisticated for a winter wedding.

Red is for Romance

The color of passion and love is red, and red at a winter wedding is very fashionable, especially when paired with silver or gold. This winter look might include tables covered in red glitter taffeta. The sheen material catches light and creates shimmering effects.

Add more glow to the reception with red afterglow inflatable columns. These 8-feet tall columns sit on a motorized base. The look of the columns can change depending on the color light bulb used inside. There are many other columns out there to choose from, find the one that best suits your wedding theme.

Celebrate in Silver

Another elegant way to celebrate romance is with silver. Imagine silver, elegant swirls hanging from the ceiling via a silver shimmering swirl chandelier. At 4-feet 9-inches long, the chandelier will dazzle wherever your reception is.

Add splashes of silver all over your reception. The Silver Luminescent Wave Column is six feet high and is sure to draw some attention. Sprinkle star confetti on the tables, and choose one other color for your accent color. Use the accent color in table decorations and place settings.

Winter doesn’t have to mean the blues. Weddings in the cooler months are just as romantic and special as those in the spring and summer.