Lingerie for Him - Why Not?

Well maybe not something made of lace but satin PJs might be nice.  So many wedding night and honeymoon stories focus on what they bride should (or shouldn't) wear but why can't the groom get dressed in something sexy too?

Either on your wedding night or the night before when you and your groom exchange wedding gifts give him something that you would like to see him wear the night of your wedding.  You can buy him a pair of silk boxer shorts or satin pajamas or a thong if you'd prefer.

And if you really want to get down to details, treat him to a trip to the spa for a mani/pedi and even a wax before the big day.  You can make it a date where each of you get a full body treatment.

Wedding Party Animals

A German magazine just published exclusive photos from Nicole Richie's wedding.  (I found them via Jezabel.)  I'm not commenting about her Marchesa wedding dress or how happy she looks.  This post is about the fact that she had an elephant at her wedding.

Why the bride wanted an elephant at her wedding is something I'm not familiar with but here are some thoughts about having animals or pets at your wedding.

It is not uncommon for a bride and groom to include a family pet - dog, cat, bird - as part of the wedding processional.  No one, I'm assuming, expects their household pets to spend the night on the dance floor.  But it's important that there is someone at the wedding, other than the bride and groom, who is in charge of the pet.  To feed it, walk it, clean up after it and babysit it before, during and after the ceremony.

When it comes to "wild" animals - assuming the elephant at the Richie/Madden wedding sparks a trend - you need to make sure that you have the proper zoning and licensing paperwork to have the animal there and that there are certified animal trainers on hand in case of any accidents or incidents.

Bookmark You Favorite Sites

When surfing the Internet for ideas for your wedding it's important to favorite or bookmark pages and sites that you like so that you can easily find them again.  I can't tell you how many times I come across something online and think to myself oh I won't forget that site and of course I never remember it and can't find it again.

While planning your wedding you'll probably be looking for wedding dresses, planning information, style ideas and a zillion other wedding things online.  With a magazine you can simply tear the page out and put it in your organizer but with a website you have to either print out the page and/or save the page.

Make a bookmark folder and label it by category:  wedding dresses, wedding planning, wedding style, etc... and don't be afraid to bookmark any and every site you come across.  It doesn't cost anything and will take up a minimal amount of space on your computer.  It will save you time and stress.

Multiple Wedding Dresses

I read today that Nicole Richie wore three wedding dresses, all by Marchesa, to her wedding this past weekend.  Reception dresses have been popular over the past year where a bride will change either before her wedding reception or at some point during the reception into a shorter, sexier dress.

While I think you should do whatever you want for your wedding I want to encourage you to forgo the second wedding dress and here's why:

Your wedding dress will be the most important fashion purchase and the most expensive fashion purchase you ever make. You should love the wedding dress you buy so much that you don't want to wear any other dress.  And one of the signs that you found "the one" is that you won't want to take it off at the bridal salon.

You can always wear a short, sexy party dress to someone else's wedding or any party.  How often do you get to wear a ball gown or mermaid gown or even a lace gown?

The wedding dress you buy can be sexy and even short!  You can buy a wedding dress in any style you like and if you want to look and feel sexy on your wedding day then shop for and buy a sexy wedding dress.

Above all it's important that you love your wedding dress and feel beautiful in it.  Take your time, start early and try on any and every dress the sales consultant brings you at a salon until you find your wedding dress.

Just Engaged: What To Do First

I met a woman today who had just got engaged over the weekend and she was very excited but a little confused as to where to begin.

I told her she should register somewhere even if she only registers online and then goes to the stores in a few weeks.  It's important to create a registry because if friends and family want to get you an engagement gift it's better to have a few items on a registry then to receive unwanted gifts that you can't exchange or return.

I asked her if the ring was insured.  It was.

I asked her if she had any idea as to what type of wedding she wanted and she answered that she just knows that they want to get married in the next 6 to 9 months.  They don't want a long engagement.

These are some of the things every just engaged bride should think about.  The next steps should include:

Discussing your wedding budget with your fiance and both sets of parents to determine how much you can afford to spend on the wedding.

Looking at venues and thinking about possible wedding dates.

Subscribing to wedding magazines and start browsing wedding planning websites and blogs for ideas.

While you should wait until you book a venue to shop for your wedding dress, you may want to start searching online wedding dress galleries and designer websites to get an idea of the styles you like.

Draw up a preliminary wedding guest list to have an idea of how many people you are planning on inviting to the wedding.

Engagement Portraits

When you're meeting with wedding photographers ask them if an engagement portrait session is included or if you can add one.  You want to know the added cost, if there is one, for the shoot and the cost of prints or albums from the shoot.  Find out how you will receive them, as printed proofs, on a CD or if they'll be posted on a website to review.

Besides framing a few photos in your home, and maybe gifting one to your parents and his, you can use your engagement photos on your save-the-date cards, wedding website and holiday cards, if you send them.

Engagement portraits are not a wedding must-have, but how many times in your life will you hire a professional photographer to take pictures of the two of you?  It might be worth cutting other areas of your wedding budget to make room for this expense.

Something Sky Blue, Navy Blue, Midnight Blue

I think most brides pick a something blue that's a light shade of blue but you're not bound to that part of the color spectrum.  The proverb isn't specific as to exactly what shade of blue is the one a bride should wear or carry with her down the aisle so pick a hue that feels right to you.

You can accessorize with sapphire blue jewelry or wear navy eye makeup or wear a pair of bold blue shoes a la Carrie Bradshaw in the first Sex & the City movie.

Dramatic Wedding Dress Trains

I've been doing a lot of reading on royal weddings lately and I'm amazed at how long the trains are on the wedding dresses of royal brides.  Princess Diana had a 25' train and Sarah Ferguson's train was 17'.  Now granted it took each of these brides 3 to 4 minutes to walk up the aisle at the church but can you imagine having to bustle that train or removing it after the ceremony and formal pictures were taken?

When you are selecting your wedding dress ask about the length of the train and make sure you have a friend or two at your fittings to learn how to bustle it or remove it for the wedding reception.

You may also want these friends to straighten your train once you reach the altar.  After being dragged along the aisle it may not look picture perfect by the time you stop at the end so ask your friends or bridesmaids to straighten it out so that your guests can see the back of your beautiful dress and to ensure that photos taken from this angle look great!

Hostess Gift Tip

I went to a holiday party tonight hosted by Colin Cowie for members of the B-List and brought two bottles of champagne as a gift from the bloggers.

I knew well enough not to show up with the bottles in a plastic grocery bag but I was mortified when I realized that I had forgotten to remove the price sticker from each bottle.

Vane from Brooklyn Bride and I quickly scraped as much as we could of the sticker off the bottle, but I still felt horrible that the sticker was there to begin with.

So before you enter the home of someone throwing a party remember to remove any price tags or stickers or other items that you don't want them to see on your hostess gift.

Sourcing Wedding Details

I got an email the other day from a woman getting married next spring and she was trying to find a pair of shoes with a specific design.  She said she did a Google search but she couldn't find anything that fit what she was looking for.

So I did a search of some shoe and style sites and couldn't find what she was looking for either so I told her to ask the bridal salon where she bought her wedding dress as well as local shoes stores.

While Google is a great resource don't forget about the salespeople who know their business inside and out.  They will know everything from where to find what you're looking for to whether or not it's even available. So call or email local stores that sell related or similar items and ask them if they have, can get or know where you can get whatever it is you're looking for.

And this doesn't just go for shoes.  This is for every type of wedding detail, wedding accessory and any and everything else you can think of.