Giving Away My Brother

There are 2 more days until my big brother Tony gets married. I was graciously chosen as the Matron of Honor by his fiance Ashley. I have to say that it has been very fun planning just a rehearsal dinner for once. I planned my own wedding in about 2 months and there was a million things to do so this go round has been a lot less stressful. Traditionally the Groom's family is in charge of the rehearsal dinner so I have been helping my mom with all the planning. It helps that I am a teacher so I have the summer off giving me a ton of time to make centerpieces, phone calls and anything else that needs done.

One thing that I have noticed about the several weddings that I have been a part of and/or attended is that the ones that are personalized ALWAYS go better. It's 2008 people, you don't have to do everything the same as your parents and grandparents. Pretty much anything goes so do anything that you can to make YOUR day your style! You no longer have to settle for candy coated almond favors and a white dress with white shoes. Here is my list for the top five things you can do to make your day stand out:

1. Start with your color palette. You have to consider the season- lemon yellow looks a little silly in December- but then think of colors in the same family for accents. If you are doing Red, also think about adding punches of pink and orange. The boring ways of having Red dresses with red flowers and red shoes are outta here!

   

2. Think fake! Flowers I mean. I love the idea of fake flowers for bouquets because they allow you so many more options. I had an antique champagne colored dress and needed an off-white flower and couldn't find anything I wanted. Then I came across the most beautiful latex magnolias. Real magnolias are a pain in the behind to do bouquets out of so I was able to get the flower and color I wanted that didn't even exist! Plus I still have my flowers in a vase and they look just as wonderful as they did that day!
3. Go outside of the traditional guest book. You know who was there you sent the invites! There are tons of other ways to remember your guests. The cameras are good if you have really outgoing people who will take good pictures however, you don't want to end up with 20 cameras with 5 pictures on each one. Scrapbook pages are fun, so are notecards, both can be preserved forever and are great to read through on a rainy day. Lately I attended a wedding that had a ceramic platter that guests could sign. Originality points but you can run the risk of a crazy uncle writing something semi-inappropriate that you will have to look at when serving kabobs at your next get-together!
4. We, sugar fiends, know that it is all about the cake!! But you can get more creative with that too! My favorite idea is one that a friend did last year. Instead of a Groom's cake they had several relatives bake their signature dessert and placed a different one on each table. So the pound cakers were happy, the carrot crazies indulged and the regulars still had the bride's cake!

   

5. Lastly don't stick with just the pre-fab wedding goodies in the aisle at Michaels or Target. Or if you do shake things up by adding your own details. Buy ready made favor boxes but change the ribbon to your colors or put a cute tag on them. You never want anyone to go to the store and buy everything that they saw at your wedding right off the shelf

I hope this helps those who are getting married or know someone who is. Make it fun, different and PERSONAL! I leave you with a glimpse of my wonderful day!