In love with Alison & Ryan’s fun DIY green wedding!  I love a wedding with guests participating in their exit.  So much excitement!

See their full wedding photos here

Today we have a roundup of some talented Etsians popular for their ceramic ring bearer dishes.  Elegant, delicate, and great item for keepsakes!

^ Ceramic Ring Bearer Bowl by palomasnest ^ Oyster Shell Ring Bearer Dish by hheaslip ^ LOVE, Always and Forever by sumiko2
^ Ceramic wedding ring holder by LennyMud^ Ceramic Ring Bearer Dish by dgordon ^Custom Baroque heart shaped ring dish by vanIveyCeramics

^ROSE “I DO” Wedding Ring Bearer Bowl by CupidsAtelier

Gorgeous Greek inspired wedding with this rosemary & lavender boutonnieres.  A must have photo in all weddings, displaying accessories on a vintage tray.

See the full wedding here.

3 Top Tips for a First-Time Maid of Honor

Naturally the bride and the groom are the most important part of the wedding, but the maid of honor is a close second. After all, the maid of honor is the bride’s right hand and she is there through the planning, staging, crying, shopping, laughing, etc. As my sister’s maid of honor, I was her right and left hand. I handled a million tasks and was her go-to person for every wedding planning dilemma. I was more than happy to do the job, but when you accept that role you have no idea what you’re in store for. My goal is to educate the future MOH’s of the world on what is expected of you, what you’ll experience and what you can do to be the best maid of honor a bride will ever ask for.

1. Be an Organizing Junkie

If you’re naturally organized this task will come easy, but if you’re like me, you’re going to need some help. There are a lot of things you’re responsible for as the maid of honor — planning the bachelorette party, going with the bride to fittings, organizing meetings, etc. I suggest making or buying a planner that you can devote to the maid of honor role solely. Use that planner to write down important dates, meetings, and contact information. I also use mine to keep track of my sister’s favorite online gift resource and what has been bought by whom. A maid of honor who misses appointments isn’t a reliable one, so set appointment reminders in your phone or email as well — that way you get an extra reminder aside from your written planner.

2. Be Everyone’s Friend

The bride is busy (and stressed) with the wedding planning. As the maid of honor, you’re her go-to and liaison between everyone else involved in the wedding. You’re likely the person who controls the wedding party, which means you should probably introduce yourself to them all. It’s important to start off on the right foot with the bridal party and introduce yourself as the maid of honor. Even if you cannot meet them in person, shoot them a “hi nice to meet you” email or give them a call. Once you know everyone involved in the wedding, you will be more comfortable handing off little tasks to them — yes, you can do that.

Now that you’re friends with everyone, you need to remember to be the bride’s best friend. Do what you can to take a few of those wedding to-do’s off her list. While you cannot do them all, every little bit you’re able to do for her helps. Consider doing the pick-ups, dropping off items, calling vendors to check-in, etc., to help her save a little time.

3. Be Prepared

I learned a lot as the maid of honor for my sister’s wedding, including how many things can go wrong. Just like the girl scouts and boy scouts always preach, you should always be prepared. I suggest bringing along a number of things on the actual wedding day, including things like my favorite stain pen, hair pins, mints, a copy of the bride’s vows, tissues, eye makeup kits and something for the headaches (for all party members). Pack a bridal party emergency kit with the essentials and the things you wouldn’t think you’d need.

Lastly, remember that wedding planning is stressful. Try to take yourself and the bride out on a regular basis and get away from the wedding planning. Go to dinner or see a movie and don’t discuss the wedding what-so-ever. The more relaxed you keep the bride, the easier the planning process will be. Make jokes about the process to lighten up the stress level. And of course, empathize with the bride. Be there to let her vent her frustrations and do what you can to make her smile. My sister relied on me to not only help her with the planning process, but keep her sane. By being there for her, through it all, you can make this the perfect wedding everyone will remember.

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“Morgan Gray is a writer from New York whose recent title of Maid of Honor has given her a bout of inspiration. While she has a personal fashion blog over at www.graygabbana.com, she is looking to reach out to any and all ladies in her Maid of Honor shoes in the hopes of sharing some first-hand advice.”

1. Budget Calculator
Probably one of the most important tools.  Before you fall in love with a venue, make sure it’s within your budget by filling out this form.

Your ultimate guide to how to address your guests on your invitation envelopes!

Traditionally, there are inner envelopes and outer envelopes.  The outer envelope is mainly for mailing purposes addressing it to the main guest.  The inner envelope is for the host to clear out who they are inviting.  This is also a good, polite way to tell the guests that you are either inviting or not inviting children and plus ones.  Outer envelopes are more formal, including the first name, title, and the last name, and the inner envelopes are generally less formal.  Please note that if you do not include the children or plus one in the inner envelope, you’re implying that they are not invited.

Hope this guideline helps for you to properly address your wedding guests!
(All “Ms.” listed below can be interchanged with “Miss”.)

Hello Everyone!!

I’m so excited to announce that we’re doing a free giveaway for this gorgeous Swarovski Elements bracelet!  Swarvoski has launched a new Wedding Directory where you can find all sorts of great wedding inspirations.  Shows you connections to products and vendors that uses Swarovski Elements, so that you can trust their quality in crystals.  You can learn more by going to their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Enter to win this Swarovski Elements Atomic Bracelet now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Entries will be accepted through September 27th 12:00am. Open to US residents only.  Once the winner is notified via email, the winner will have 48 hours to respond.  Otherwise a new winner will be chosen!  Good luck!

Oh not only are we giving this bracelet away… Swarovski has more to give!

Enter now to win more bling 😉

Giving wedding gifts to the couple sometimes be stressful and even pricey, especially if you’re attending all three engagement party, bridal shower and the wedding.  How much are you suppose to spend? Are you suppose to only choose from the registry or find something more personal between you and the couple?  Do you give cash instead of gifts, knowing the couple’s situation?

Here are a few etiquette tips on giving wedding gifts to the couple to ease your mind.

+ There are no minimum or maximum on cash gifts.  You need to look at your personal budget and the relationship to the couple.  Here’s a rough guideline for you if you have no idea how much to spend.  If you are a co-worker or a distant friend $75-100, relatives and friends $100-$125, close relatives and close friends should be $100-$150.

+ If you are invited with a plus one, there’s no traditional rule to this, but it’s customary to give a bigger gift since the couple is now paying for the two guests.

+ If you know you’re a part of all three big events such as the engagement party, bridal shower and the wedding, make sure to budget your financials in advance.  It might feel weird to give them a big gift at the engagement party then bring a small congratulations card to the wedding.  Think about how much you want to spend overall, and budget them 20% engagement party, 20% bridal shower and then 60% wedding gift.

+ It is customary to follow the couple’s wishlist on their registry.  However if your financial situation doesn’t fit with their wishlist, you might look at the registry as a guideline and find something elsewhere.  Don’t get offended though if they have exchanged your gift something else later!

+ If the couple are a really close friend of yours, and you would like to be creative on the wedding gift, there’s no rule saying that you can’t.  I personally loved all the creative gifts our friends got for us, but we’re pretty artsy like that.  One tip I would give you though is to keep it somewhat small.  If it’s a huge painting for them, unless they absolutely love it, it might stay in the attic and will become an awkward subject between you guys.

+ There’s nothing wrong with sending the wedding gifts in advance, or shortly after the wedding.  It’s a hassle for you to bring a big gift to the wedding in your lovely dress, and it is also a hassle for someone at the wedding to move all the gifts to a locked room, and then to the car at the end of the night and then deliver it again to the couple’s home after their honeymoon.  Mailing the gifts is the cool thing to do.

+ There is nothing wrong with cash gifts, as well as giving them a check.  Some couple might even prefer it, to contribute to their new home renovations, honeymoon, baby fund, savings, etc.

+ Please, please, write add a card with your name on the gift.  There’s nothing more awkward in not knowing who sent the gift, and being vague on the thank you card.

+ If you’re attending a destination wedding, it is okay to give a smaller gift since you’re spending much more on the traveling expense.  But make sure you do give a gift.

General rule of gift giving, give something or as much that you are comfortable with.  You don’t want all the weddings you go to be financially stressful every time.  Have fun with gift picking!

We all go to a wedding for the same reason, to celebrate the union of the couple and show our support and blessings.  The more closer you are to the couple, the more you want to do for them.  But the reality is, there are times when the wedding collides with other events in your life.  You may have a business trip, you may have kids, you may have an engagement party for your family, your babysitter bailed on you last minute, you may have someone in the hospital that you need to take care of, and the list goes on.  And plus, the wedding trend has changed a little bit that the bride and the groom aren’t in a hurry to go to their honeymoon.  They like to stay until the end of their wedding night to have a good time with their friends and family.

Instead of not showing to the wedding at all, these are few possible tips on how to leave a wedding early.

+ Check that you have a legitimate reason to leave a wedding that they’ve spent thousands of dollars and over a year of planning.

+Let the couple know your situation long before the wedding.

+Let the couple know that you will only be joining the ceremony, and that they should recalculate the number of plates they will report to the caterer.

+ Offer the couple to give up your seats for someone else if it’s a small wedding.

+ Show them your frustration for your unfortunate situation.

+ General rule is that you should stay until everything that the bride and the groom has paid for has been served.  Most of the time it would be your meal, desserts and reception favor.

+ Another good cue to leave would be after all the special events.  First dances, cake cutting, speeches, bouquet toss etc.

+ When you let the couple know that you will be leaving the wedding early, it should never be on the day of.

+ Tell them a specific reason for you changing your schedule, instead of saying “Something came up.”  That just sounds like an excuse.

+ If you know that you’re leaving early, don’t carpool with others.  It’s already a sensitive issue that you’re leaving early, you don’t need to take a whole big group with you.

+ Write them a congratulations/sorry/thank you card after the wedding to show your deepest apologies.

+ Try your very best to cancel the other event!

Remember, these are only tips on how to make a well-mannered wedding exit, ONLY if you absolutely have no solution for you to avoid it.  You should always try to stay at the wedding as long as you can.  These couples only get one wedding in their life time!

Herb potted DIY wedding favor tutorial. Loving the rustic, homey feel to this favor.

Read the full tutorial here.