via FineTuxedos.com

Most people that write about wedding fashion talk mainly about what the women are going to wear. Since there are two people getting married, I think it’s time the guys got their due as well. Sure, it’s a little hard to do much with a tuxedo or suit, and yet there are still a few things that a groom might think of in making himself at least compete with the bride for looking a bit more spiffy. Here are 4 ideas to think of:

1. Wear a vest of a counter color to the suit or tuxedo. If you’re wearing black, go with a white vest, or even a bright red. If you’re wearing blue, a nice grey offsets it nicely. Everyone doesn’t think of vests if they wear a suit but it’s something that will help you stand out in some fashion so think about it.

2. Pinstripes. These days a groom can get a nice pinstripe along the seams of the pants, and it’s even possible to get one with different colored pinstripes. If it’s not already done, you can ask for it and most places will accommodate you. Make sure it’s not too wide, and if it’s reflective, it’ll look even cooler in pictures. Some tuxedo jackets come with pinstriping along the lapels, so think about asking for that as well.

3. This is going to seem somewhat strange, but there are grooms that will actually spread a little bit of glitter on their jackets. Not thick mind you, but taking a brush and applying a little bit of glitter everywhere on the jacket, very lightly so that it’s not necessarily apparent to people who aren’t right next to you, will definitely spice up the pictures and people will swear you were glowing on your wedding day.

4. Wear a bit more bling. Many guys aren’t really used to wearing a lot of jewelry, but maybe you can make an exception on the day you get married. Maybe wear your high school or college ring, if it can fit on a finger other than the one you’ll be putting your wedding ring on. Do you have any other rings you can wear or borrow for the day for the other hand? Maybe think of a gold or silver chain. Diamond or gold cufflinks are a nice touch as well. Anything that bring some sparkle to you on this day is fine; just don’t forget to give people back their stuff afterwards.

by Angie Garrett via Flickr

It’s finally down to the last stretch, the final few days before your big wedding day. Even though you’ve planned everything way in advance, you can’t let up now. There are so many things that can go wrong at the last minute, and obviously there’s no way you can fix them all. However, you can do something to help make sure things will go as smoothly as possible.

Here are 10 things that you should verify a week before you’re supposed to get married; either the bride or groom can take care of these, and the last one is the most important:

1. Verify that there are no conflicts with where you’re supposed to be getting married. There are stories where a person of some authority or respect passes away and funerals have been set up where weddings were supposed to take place. You certainly don’t want to show up for a wedding and have a funeral going on. Also, you want to make sure no one else has your spot.

2. Verify that the reception hall is confirmed and for what time. Here you’re just worried about the reception hall double-booking without realizing they did it.

3. If where you’re having the wedding isn’t taking care of the food, check on that next, as well as confirming how many people you’re hoping will come.

4. Contact the photographer to make sure he or she remembers where they’re supposed to be and for how long you’ll need them on the day.

5. Contact the florist to verify that any flower arrangements you ordered will be ready on your wedding day.

6. If you’re having people set up decorations, make sure they all know when and where they’re supposed to be, and also verify that they know they’re expected to take everything back down.

7. Make sure your wedding ensembles are ready for the day. Be sure to try everything on again at least a week before the wedding in case any alterations need to be done; odds are your body won’t change too drastically with only a week to go.

8. Make sure your transportation is all set, whether you’re going the limousine route or have set up something else.

9. Make sure your wedding party is all set and remembers where they need to be and when. This obviously includes the night before dinner and rehearsal, and children or animals participating in the ceremony, and of course parents.

10. This is the tough one; make sure both of you are ready to go through with the entire thing. Sure, it may be tough to ask this question but so many couples have pulled out of weddings either the day before or the day of that it’s crucial to talk about it to make sure you’re still ecstatic with getting married.

by Micah Sittig via Flickr

When it comes to your wedding reception, you might feel like there are so many things you have to deal with that it’s overwhelming. For the most part you might be right, yet if you can break it down into one of these four areas, it at least gives you a starting point and a direction on where to go.

1. How much do you want to spend? This is probably the biggest question of all but it’s the first one you need to answer; at least as far as for the reception. You first have to decide how big and how lavish you want your wedding to be before you can think of how much you want to spend. Your choices could go from buying a bunch of sheet pizzas to a 9 course dinner with a dessert room.

2. Who do you want to prepare it? This is an interesting decision to be made. Most people will go with the caterer that’s associated with wherever they’re having their reception but what if you have it in a place like an American Legion Hall, which doesn’t offer food service? Do you go with a big time catering company, a smaller restaurant that can offer some choices, or, what my wife and I did, hire a professional cook who does catering on the side?

3. What kind of food do you want? This is where I feel most couples break down because I see the same type of food at almost every wedding I go to. This means some type of pasta, maybe roast beef, a salad… boring. Yet, it’s affordable food that can feed a lot of people. However, you might want something different like filet mignon, turkey, even Chinese food. This sometimes comes down to economics, but truthfully with the right planning you could have almost anything, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt shaking up the menu a little bit.

4. How much food do you want? This can be dicey because you could ask for enough food to feed 50 people and end up with enough to feed 150, or ask for enough food to feed 200 and not have enough because more people show up than you were expecting. My recommendation is to always plan for at least 10% more than you’re expecting and if you end up with way too much food, send some home with your guests and take the rest home and pop it into the freezer, especially if it’s really tasty.

by Tory Brown via Flickr

Most of the time you see the same things over and over at weddings. Some of these ideas you may have seen but not often, and others you probably may not have seen, or may have seen once. It’s just something to add a new touch to your wedding, if you can pull it off.

1. Streamers. I see streamers here and there but never all that often. The thing about streamers is that they come in lots of colors, and are both easy to put up and easy to take down. You can even style streamers with a little bit of imagination.

2. Mirrored Balls. You know, the kind that one often sees in people’s gardens. They’re great to put up around the church or wherever you’re getting married. They also come in a lot of different colors and there’s never anything wrong with a little bit of sparkle. If you want more sparkle add glitter to them and really watch as things take off.

3. Pictures. Almost every time I’ve seen a picture at a wedding it’s depicting a relative that’s passed away. Yet one time I saw the wedding couple had put pictures of themselves all around the ceremonial hall. In each picture was both of them doing something, and they were always smiling. I thought that was a special way to allow people who might not known them all that well yet are at the wedding into their life.

4. Bubbles. I know, you’re saying “aren’t bubbles usually for after the wedding?” Yes, often people are given bubbles to blow at the couple when they leave but who says you can’t have a bubble machine inside that’s blowing bubbles during the wedding? This works best if there’s a balcony from which to launch them so that they’ll come wafting down.

5. Drapery for the pews. I’ve never seen this and yet it seems like it would be a cool idea. Who says that the pews have to remain the color of wood? Why not get multiple pieces of fabric and cover them up in different colors, or at least in a different color? Something bright on top of the pews would be outstanding, and there are so many different combinations you could come up with if you wanted to. You may go through a lot of tape trying to keep the secure, but it would bring an interesting look to your wedding.

Getting married isn’t a cheap proposition for many people. Sure, you can go to a jewelry store, get a cheap ring, then head downtown to get married and have that be that. But if you want a traditional wedding it’s going to cost you.
That being said, knowing where you’re probably going to spend the bulk of your money might help you decide where you want to save, especially if you don’t have unlimited funds. Here are the 4 biggest monetary concerns about weddings, or getting married; this list isn’t in order.

1. Wedding rings. This gets the entire process started, and it’s the first shock couples ready to get married will have. For women, a nice wedding ring starts at a thousand and goes up considerably from there. You can spend a lot of money on wedding rings, but on average you’re going to spend around $3,500 for a woman’s ring. Luckily, men’s rings cost much less. A standard non-diamond wedding band for men comes in around $100, and with diamonds of some kind averages around $250. Of course if the man’s used to wearing good jewelry the price will escalate.

2. Photographer. Do you want adequate or do you want good? Suffice it to say that if you want good or better you’re going to have to shell out some bucks for a photographer. The starting rate for someone good starts around $1,500, which might seem like a lot of money but not only does their equipment cost thousands more than that, but they’re working all day, from before the wedding begins up until the final guest leaves the reception. Then they have to go back to their studio to start processing your images, and with today’s cameras they probably took at least a thousand pictures. They earn their money.

3. Wedding dress. Unless you shop thrifty at a place like Bridepower, a wedding gown could cost you a lot of money. Brides average $1,250 for wedding gowns, but the range can go as high as $10,000 – $20,000 for many brides that want something new and exclusive. This is probably the biggest expense for the least amount of return for brides because, hopefully, you’ll only wear the dress once, and the bride is the only one that will enjoy it.

4. Reception. For most weddings, this will turn out to be the biggest expense because it concerns the most people. There’s the location, the silverware, the music, the food, the cake, and a host of other things that are exclusive to the reception that drives the price way up. The average wedding reception comes in around $15,000 on the low end, $50,000 on the high end. Of course there are many ways to save money, but if you have at least 200 guests you’re going to pay big dollars for your big day.

via Michelle Cakes

First, you need to know that they’re going to open your suitcase; that’s just how it is these days. So, don’t put anything in your suitcase that might be questionable. Put your smaller items in clear plastic so they can be easily seen, otherwise someone might start opening your stuff without your knowledge. If you have pills make sure they’re in a secure container, although it’s usually recommended you carry medications with you. And don’t even think about putting a lock on it, since you’ll have to take it off at the airport and carry it with you. However, having a lock for your bags while they’re in a hotel room isn’t such a bad idea.

Second, try having as little metal on you as possible because you’ll have to take it all off and put it into the bin for scanning. This can take up a lot of time and you might have a lot of people behind you that won’t be very happy. Don’t give them a reason to flag you and pull you out of line for a more thorough search.

Third, book your flight as far in advance as possible. When you’re researching flights, know that the price you see one day probably won’t be the same price a few days later, and prices almost never go down. But booking a flight at least 2 months ahead of schedule will cost you less than booking a flight two weeks in advance. And you’ll save money by going through an online travel service rather than booking with the airlines.

Fourth, you get to take some stuff on the flight with you, but there are rules. Anything liquid must be less than 3 ounces; nope, they’re not letting you through with a bottle of water. You’re allowed one carry-on and one small suitcase, if you will, which can be a travel bag with clothes as well. If you have medical equipment such as a CPAP you’re allowed to travel with that as well. But know that if you’re trying to get a full sized suitcase through you’ll be stopped at the ticket counter. Also, if your bag is too big to fit the attendants will ask you to leave it outside the plane and they’ll tag it and store it for you elsewhere.

Footwear and Co.

In a way men have it easy when it comes to finding close to wear for their wedding. You can either wear one of your best suits all our you can go to a tuxedo place and rent one. When it comes to the shoes however you start to find that things aren’t always as they seem, and it can be a frustrating experience.

For one, the type of leather used on the shoes from a rental place is probably something you’re not used to wearing ever before. It’s usually a very shiny and thin leather that doesn’t offer much support. It doesn’t help to get a fit that could shoot tighter because you still feel insecure.

The recommendation would be to still get to shoe size your normally used to. The reason for that isn’t because of the reason above. It’s because rented wedding shoes are often pointier than issue you’re used to, and if you go down to size your feet will feel squished around your toes. Since you’re probably going to be wearing these shoes for a while on your wedding day, that will get uncomfortable really quickly. So rent the normal size you wear, and if you have to either wear thick parasites or two pair socks for comfort.

Something else you have to deal with is the shoes are usually very slippery. I’ve often wondered how that happens since they have to be renting the shoes the other people, but it’s almost like each one of the shoes are brand new. This can lead to a dangerous situation if you’re not cognizant of the fact. I wouldn’t recommend scuffing issues up to give you more traction because it’s quite possible you could be charged for that later on. Instead the recommendation would be to just be more cautious while you’re walking to make sure you don’t injure yourself.

Another thing you have to deal with are the shoelaces. Most probably you have been tying your own shoes for a long time, but often these are really thin kind of plastic like leases that don’t hold well. One thing you can ask for are loafers, which are now in vogue and probably easy to get. Once again, loafers might feel a bit roomy even at your normal size, but at least they’ll be comfortable and you won’t have to worry about those laces coming untied.

If you don’t want to go through with all that, just ask your bride if it’s okay if you wear your own dress shoes. Truth be told she probably won’t care, as long as you show up for the wedding.

Bridepower Is one of the top online resources for wedding gowns in the country. We wish that everyone who thought about buying wedding gowns online came to us, but they don’t. In any case, even if you did come to our site for your wedding gowns, we believe there is some things you should be thinking about before you make your purchase. Here are five ideas to help you when you’re looking for wedding gowns online.
1. Decide on price. Even though buying a wedding gown online will afford you great discounts on wedding gowns, you should still have a budget in mind before you even start looking. The best thing is that less money will get you something better than buying new. The worst thing is that there are some designers whose gowns retain a high price even if they’re used.

2. Don’t decide on a designer immediately. That might be contrary to what a lot of people may say to you, but the truth is online you can usually find all kind of gowns that may look like a designer gown but actually cost thousands of dollars less. So think about whether you really need a Vera Wang gown or whether a knockoff that looks like a Vera Wang gown will do just fine.

3. Decide on a style of dress, but don’t hold yourself too tightly to it. There are literally thousands of wedding gowns online, and if you go looking through everything you’re going to boggle your mind. So it helps to have some kind of idea of the style address you looking for up front. Do you want a mermaid? Do you wish you for comfort? Do you want like a princess? Do you want straps or do you want sleeveless? Doesn’t mean that you can’t look at other things after the fact, but you’ll save a lot of time if you go in with a certain idea in mind.

4. Decide on whether you want a certain color or not. While most brides will go for white, you should know that there are not only many different types of light, but there are many other colors of wedding gowns that might look great. Also, if you’re thinking about having a theme wedding different colors might help to enhance the feel.

5. Research 5 to 10 websites that you might consider looking at, and then only look through three of them. They can get overwhelming when you start looking at so many wedding gowns that you might miss the reality that at a certain point website start showing you the same exact pictures. Unless a wedding gown was an exclusive, many website start carrying the exact same thing. However, you might not notice it and you could be trip and all over yourself. So try to limit yourself to three if you possibly can. If you don’t find what you’re looking for you can always go back and look at more.

by Kate Webster via Flickr

Every wedding has some kind of music. I hate to say this but not all of it is good. Some isn’t good because of the musicians. Some isn’t good because of the style of music. And some isn’t good because of what’s being used to deliver the music, such as bad speakers. No matter what, there are good and bad ways to have music at your wedding. Here are the 4 best:

1. Solo singer. It’s always great when you can find a singer that actually has some chops. A great singer really brings everything together during a wedding, and couples get to select songs they like that means something to them. If the singer plays an instrument, even better.

2. Wedding band. Wedding bands can be good, but you may not get all the music you’re hoping to hear. Every wedding band will have some standards that most receptions call for, but you don’t always get a lot of excitement from wedding bands. However, sometimes it’s good to shake things up, such as hiring a jazz band for your wedding.

3. Wedding DJ. Wedding DJ’s are great because they have a lot of musical choices of all styles, including newer music. These guys are also practiced in using the microphone to get people juiced up and on the dance floor. If there’s a minor problem, it’s that some of them talk too much between each song; it’s supposed to be about the music, not them.

4. Pre-recorded music. This is a route that more couples having smaller weddings are going. They get to pick all their favorite music and put it in any order they want to. They can put it on a CD and have a few hours of music, or just pop many songs into their MP3 player and hook it into a larger player with speakers, and everyone has a great time.

by Hollywood Hotel via Flickr

Sometimes the work in putting together your own wedding can be overwhelming. Unless you’re planning a small affair it can wear you out.

This is where a wedding planner can take over and help you out greatly. However, it’s always important to find a wedding planner you can work with that also understands your vision, one you feel you can trust even if they go beyond what you asked for to give you a great experience. Here are 5 tips in selecting a wedding planner.

1. Ask any friends that used one what they thought. You can get references from almost anyone but you’ll prize the ones you get from your friends. However, if you don’t have any friends that have ever used one then make sure you get at least 5 references and follow through on checking them all out.

2. Ask them their process in putting together weddings. All wedding planners work differently so it’s best to know how they work so you can put your mind at ease. Some plan very far ahead and have the entire wedding completed months in advance, while some pick and choose their times for booking different vendors they work with.

3. Find out who they prefer to work with and check them out. Wedding planners sometimes can provide many services for themselves, but if they don’t then they’ll have their favorites whom they love to call to work with. However, their favorites might not suit your needs so you need to check them out as well.

4. Find out how they charge for their services. Notice we didn’t say how much. Many wedding planners require a deposit then want to get paid during or after the reception. Some will wait until you get back from the honeymoon, and some will want the rest of their payment the day before the wedding. Don’t always balk at this because they might have to pay some of the people they’ve contracted with for your wedding before they’ll follow through on services.

5. Ask them for a portfolio of previous weddings they put together. Every wedding planner, except for new ones, loves showing off what they’ve accomplished in the past. This is a great way to see if their style matches yours. Anyone without a portfolio that’s been in the business for awhile… be wary.