Wedding Themes

By Ashely Ferreri

 

          Within the hospitality industry there are several different sectors that fall under its umbrella; one of the more popular sections are weddings. Today, weddings are veering away from the more traditional church aspect. Now it’s all about the venues. Whether the venue is on the beach, at a barn, or in a grassy field it’s the nontraditional feel. One of the more popular trends is a themed venue.

          

         Based on an article in Bridal Guide magazine where the author, Kristen O'Gorman Klein, found the top five hottest wedding trends by looking at the Pinterest boards of women who entered to win a contest to have their dream wedding designed by David Tutera. The author saw a trend in the contestants Pinterest boards. The first trend was rustic themed weddings. Rustic themed weddings include barns as venues filled with branches, lanterns and nature inspired décor. The colors of this venue consist of natural browns, nature greens, and creams. This theme is becoming more and more popular and is similar to the vintage theme.

 

            The vintage theme is just how it sounds, old-fashioned. Within this theme couples include a lot of family heirlooms including the engagement ring, dresses, and even cars. This venue style is still nontraditional, but a hint of tradition in the sense of the hand-me-downs from generation to generation. Some couples think that the heirlooms or other antiques add to the romance of their big day. The vintage themed wedding is similar to the rustic based on the color scheme and décor items. The colors of a vintage wedding are also natural browns, nature greens, and with an addition of light pinks. Just as in rustic weddings vintage weddings use mason jars as décor to hold flowers/branches or tea lights. Since they have similar aspects people may also see a combination of the two called rustic-vintage weddings.

 

           Then there is the pure romance theme where a simple topic is taken to the extreme and very in depth perspective that captures the love between the couple. Within this theme, ceremonies had by candlelight or candle lit chandeliers at the reception, there’s a simple elegance to it that encompasses this theme. The venues and receptions were at gardens with gazebos covered in flowers or even lights. The flowers used in bouquets, centerpieces, or flooding the aisle are white and pink roses.

 

         Trends in the wedding industry are changing from generation to generation. As little girls, brides imagine what their big day will be like down to every last detail, but when they grow up it spirals several different ways. There are many outside sources that affect the way a bride wants her wedding. For example, the Internet is becoming a game changer for brides, as do television shows and movies. As generations from generations began to get married the idea and possibilities of weddings can change based on the many factors.

 

Rustic Wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pure Romance Wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Wedding Shower Fun!

By Kara Waznis
 

Want to keep the ladies entertained during your wedding shower? Here are a few suggestions on games you can play to keep your guests from getting bored. These are just a few fun thoughts but feel free to think of your own and get creative with it!

 

 
A nice game to start out with is How Well Do You Know the Bride? This is a great game to start the shower with because it really focuses on the bride and it is interesting to see how much all her guests really know about her. Before the shower, ask the bride the answers she would give to the questions. At the shower the winner is the guest who gets the most answers that correctly match with the brides responses.
 

 

Another classic wedding shower game is What’s In Your Purse? While its not centered on the bride it is definitely a great way to keep guests entertained, often bringing out a lot of competitive spirit. Give all the guests five minutes to go through their handbags and check off all the things they have on the list provided. All the items correspond with point values. The guest with the highest number of total points wins!

 

 

Another really fun shower game is Bridal Bingo. This game should specifically be played while the bride is opening her gifts. Its no secret that watching someone else open gifts can get a little boring after awhile (I’m just being honest), but Bridal Bingo makes this process much more lively for guests. Before the bride gets ready to open gifts, tell the guests to fill in their bingo card with the things they predict the bride will receive. Once everyone is done filling out their cards the bride will begin opening gifts and the classic game of bingo will ensue. Whenever the bride opens a present and receives something that is on a guest’s bingo card they can cross it off until they get five in a row. The winner must have five spaces crossed off in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and yell bingo first.

When planning a shower it is a good idea to print out the games before hand. You can use decorative paper, tie them into the color and theme of the shower, and get really creative with it. You can also hand them to guests as they are walking in, or have them waiting on the tables as part of the seating arrangements. As a bridesmaid, maid of honor, or person running the shower, you can decide the flow of the event. It is up to you if you would like to have a set time to play the games. Sometimes it is nice to play them while waiting for the meals to come out but they can also be played at specific times like before dessert or before opening gifts. You could even play one at the beginning, middle, and end of the shower. It is completely up to you!

 

Here are a few cute ideas for shower prizes as well. Sometimes it is a nice gesture to give the winners of the games a cute little token. You can have one winner for each game or do a first, second, and third place. Hopefully these game suggestions will serve as inspiration when planning a wedding shower and help to keep all guests entertained and having fun, including the bride to be!

Summer Bride Beauty Essentials

By Erica Eng
 

With your summer wedding only a few weeks away, skin care and makeup is most likely the last thing on your mind. But with these products you will have healthy and glowing skin all summer long that will be picture perfect ready at any moment.  Below is list of my favorite summer makeup tips and products for that will have you ready for your day in seconds.

 

Benefit Cosmetics Primer Stay Flawless is the perfect first step to your summer makeup. This primer acts like a magnet to lock on your foundation and reduces any redness that may be visible on the face. This primer is super easy to apply jut glide the stick all over your face and you are finished in seconds.

 

 

Laura Mercier’s Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 is the perfect combination of a moisturizer and a foundation. This is the best blend of skincare and makeup that helps control boil and gives your skin a hint of color for a healthy natural glow that lasts all day. What could be better than having a foundation that has moisturizer and SPF that lasts all day long?

 

With all those sleepless nights of planning your wedding your eyes start to look puffy and tired. Benefits Fake Up Cover-Up is a hydrating crease-control concealer with Vitamin E and apple seed extract to hide dark circles and fine lines that occur under the eyes. Just sweep a line of Fake UP under your eyes and blend it in with your finger and then you look like you have got a full night sleep.

 

 

Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Blush is the perfect touch to a flawless summer glow. My favorite is the Coral because it looks as though you have been in the sun all day. The Coral shade is not to pink and it does not make your face appear as though you are wearing tons of blush. Just sweep a little of this Shimmer Blush across your cheekbones and you are glowing for the rest of the day.

 

Your lips make or break your look for the summer. In the summer time I prefer to use a lip-gloss because it looks more natural and does not melt off your lips like lipstick does in the heat.  In the summer I prefer to use Bobbi Browns High Shimmer Lip Gloss in the shade Beach. This lip-gloss is the perfect compliment to the high shimmer blush. This lip-gloss does not give your lips much color but it does give them lots of beautiful shine and can be dressed up or dressed down with combining it with a brighter color on the bottom.

 

Capturing Moments

By Erica Eng

It would be impossible for the wedding photographer and videographer to capture every single moment at your wedding. The new wedding trend is to utilize your guests to help capture as many moments as possible. Luckily technology makes this easily accessible with instagram, cell phones, Facebook, twitter, and flip cameras. Below are three easy ways to get your guests involved with capturing moments.

Create an instagram hashtag so all of your guests can instagram and hashtag photos taken at your wedding. By creating a hashtag all of your wedding photos taken by your guests will be easily found through instagram. For example at each table a card could be placed that says, “do you instagram? Please tag your photos with #wilsonwedding and help us capture the story of our day” At the end of the wedding the couple can search the hashtag on facebook and see all the images their guests captured.

 

Make a game for your guests by playing a game of I Spy. Give each guest a card with tasks to complete. These tasks will be comprised of pictures you would like taken of your wedding day. For example one task could be capture tears of joy and another task could be capture a yummy treat. At the end of the wedding Guests can upload their pictures to the free wedding party app, that way the bride and groom can see all of the photography from their guests.

 

Use the company Wedit which sends wedding couples 5 HD cameras in the mail three days before the wedding for a small price. The couple can pass out the wedit cameras to their guests throughout the wedding to record all the festivities. Once the cameras are returned to Wedit, Wedit edits the footage into a video. This company allows your guests to help capture the evening.

Tanning for The Big Day

By Rachel Parker

Let’s be honest every bride wants to be bronze for their big day. Fake tanning seems like a quick and easy way to get some color without having to use the actual sun, but there are many things that people don’t realize about tanning for their wedding that they should. When you get a spray tan there is a good chance that you can turn an orange color, and no one wants to look like that, especially on their wedding day! There is an awesome alternative to this though that will leave you with a great color tan that will make you look like you came straight from a topical vacation.

 

Naomi’s Studio & Salon in Newington, CT they offer a top-notch airbrush spray tanning. This is called the “St. Tropez Airbrush Spray.” Airbrushing is done by hand so that the technician has complete control as to where and how much tan to apply to you. The booth that you see pictured in the picture is what you stand in front of and it has fans on it so that all the tanning liquid is spread evenly around you. This also allows you not to wear those horrible eye masks that leave you with a “sunglass tan” because the fans allow the tanning solution to move around so often that it never sprays directly in your face.
 

http://salonnaomi.com/#!/airbrush-tan

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t want to do this option at all because you are completely against tanning in general then I have another tip for you. Tanning lotions can be tough because unless you rub it in all the way the second you apply it to your body it can become streaky. Something that I have discovered is that if you mix self-tanning lotion with regular lotion then the color is not so harsh, and the streakiness does not happen. This is a great way to get a little hint of a bronze color quickly. Totalbeauty.com has a great list of the 9 best self-tanners, which are all really great products to use.

http://www.totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/best-self-tanners/p61062/page2

Try these methods months before your wedding; do NOT wait for the day before! Everyone’s skin has different reactions to different lotions and tanning sprays so make sure that you test this with plenty of time so that you can ultimately choose the right way to look glowing on your special day!

Sushi Takeover!

Sushi Takeover!

by: Juliane Prusinski

If you and your soon to be spouse are sushi lovers, why not incorporate it into your special day! Sushi is great for a wedding because it is versatile and delicious. Start by first setting up a sushi bar stationed where the majority of the guests will be. Hire a sushi chef to take order requests while preparing the rolls in front of guests.

A sushi tower is a huge crowd favorite! Ask your sushi vendor for an assortment of all kinds to be presented, including raw and cooked rolls. Hundreds of sushi rolls can be presented on a single tower! There should also be a soy sauce and chopstick station nearby the tower. Keep in mind that not everyone likes sushi! Provide an alternative food selection for guests that have food allergies or simply don’t like sushi. Offer Japanese steak or chicken as a second option.

For each table offer a sushi boat that comfortably feeds a party of 10. Guests can personalize what kinds of sushi to select, while enjoying the center presentation. Not every bride or groom can say they had sushi boats and towers at their wedding! This is a fun and unique style of eating that guests are sure to enjoy.