Tips for brides coming to our Eugene January show!
January 4, 2010
A couple of tips for brides who are coming to our January 2010 Eugene Oregon Wedding Showcase:
* We have two fashion shows on Saturday, and two again on Sunday. On both days, the fashion shows will take place at 12:30 and again at 3:00 p.m. The fashion shows are a lot of fun, plus you get a chance to see a variety of gowns being worn. It’s fantastic to see these gowns in motion!
* The first 600 brides through the door will receive a complimentary Show Guide & Wedding Professionals Directory/Planner. This 3-ring binder has a variety of wedding planning information as well as a floorplan of the show, contact information for exhibitors, a line of march for the fashion, and extra pages just for your notes on the show. You can customize this view binder after the show and use it to organize all of your wedding planning!
* Be sure to register as you arrive at the show, as you’ll receive a one-year subscription to Brides Magazine, plus enter to win a Honeymoon Cruise vacation package!
* Brides who come on Saturday can ask to receive a complimentary pass back into the show for Sunday. This allows you to browse the Showcase on Saturday, and then come back on Sunday with your groom to show him your favorites!
Sweet wedding cake trends!
November 5, 2009
The Knot (www.theknot.com) has proclaimed that that the seven wedding cake trends of the moment are: buttercream icing, chocolate chocolate & more chocolate, playful lines, dramatic color, cake trios, global patterns, and sophisticated monograms.
Sweet Life Patisserie has long been one of the Eugene area’s leading wedding cake professionals – they are happy to help today’s bride navigate the trends to create the wedding cake of her dreams!
Just two of many tips the wedding cake designers at Sweet Life will share with you:
* When choosing a flavor, it’s a good idea to pick several different kinds for different tiers. This way you can satisfy those with a chocolate craving and also those looking for something on the lighter side.
* The bottom tier of a cake is the one you will usually cut into, so make sure it is a flavor both you and your groom!
You will be able to sample some of Sweet Life’s delicious cake at the Oregon Wedding Showcase in Eugene on January 9 & 10, 2010!
Why you need a professional Wedding Videographer!
October 13, 2009
A wedding video is more than a luxury! On the big-day-of, your wedding is going to whip by in one great big blur for you.. A professional wedding videographer will capture everything that happens during your wedding, and will preserve it forever for you and your family. ”A wedding video is an heirloom you can show your children, and which they can show their children,” says Jeffrey Haney of Lights in the Attic Creative Media. “We often hear from our brides and grooms that their wedding video was the best investment they made on their wedding day.”
Think of it like this: memories fade, and photos are static — they don’t capture the music, laughter, and motion that is the celebratory whirl of your wedding day. Plus, a wedding video will capture for you those special moments that you may have missed. After your wedding is all done and your friends and relatives have gone home, you have your wedding video to relive your special day. You will see the smiles & the tears, hear the laughter, and get the opportunity to enjoy all of those magical moments which you may have otherwise have missed. You will see how your parents react to you saying ?I do? –when at that moment, you only had eyes for your husband. You will see how your groom teared up when he saw you walking down the aisle — when, at the time, you were too busy trying not to cry and trying not to trip. You can watch your friends and family having fun and celebrating your union — when you don?t even remember seeing some of them there. You will see the flower girl going the wrong way down the aisle — and now you know why you heard laughing while you were waiting nervously in the hall. These memories are precious and once it?s over, it?s over. Only a wedding video will capture and preserve these priceless moments for you.
Professional Videographers seem too pricey?
If you are planning on putting a tripod up at your wedding, here are some things to consider: full bright sunlight, a crying baby, coughing, a dark ceremony, lots of beams in the reception hall. Editing itself is an art form both with the video and the audio side (take the hours you filmed and at least triple it for editing). You might not think of this, but professional videographers have dealt with these issues and know how to make your wedding video look and sound as though none of these obstacles existed. You are not going to be able to see yourself and your fiancée?s expressions or really hear your voices when you’ve only one tripod set up in the back of your wedding venue. Wedding videographers not only document your day, but create a wedding video that even strangers would want to watch over and over again.
When choosing a wedding film professional, ask questions like how many cameras do they use during the ceremony? Do they mike up the pastor and your future husband? Do they charge extra for High Definition filming? Ask to watch a wedding video filmed by the professional wedding videographer and you will see that, just like with wedding photography, videography is an investment which more than pays for itself!
Oregon wedding videographers are in the forefront of recreating what it means to having a wedding film, and Oregon is lucky to have a number of top videographers. “We are all striving to perfect our art and storytelling , and every year we are inspired by what fellow videographers are creating and what we have created,” says Jeffrey Hayes of Lights in the Attic Creative Media.
To see for yourself examples of some dynamic & award-winning wedding films, visit Tara & Jeffrey Hanes of Lights in the Attic Creative Media — and plan on visiting them at our upcoming Eugene October, and both January Salem & Eugene bridal shows!
Why Use A Wedding Planner?
September 17, 2009
Your wedding day should be the most fantastic day of your life, yet one of the things I hear most often from my friends and family members after their weddings is the simple wish “I wish I had hired a wedding planner, so I could actually have enjoyed my wedding myself.” Don’t let this happen to you — consider hiring a wedding planner to help make your dream day come true!
Planning a wedding takes an incredible amount of time, especially if you want yours done right!! A wedding planner is like having a personal assistant who is there all the way, looking out after you and doing all of the calling, ordering, and taking care of those details that you may not have time to deal with.
* A good wedding planner will more than pay for herself (or himself!) by helping you set a reasonable budget for your big day, and then helping you avoid costly mistakes and delays. This is extremely important, especially in today’s economy. A good wedding professional also has contacts with other professionals which means they are often going to get discounts that you would not be able to get by doing it yourself! Plus — how much gas money will you save? How many hours will you not have to take off from work, because now your wedding planner can handle it?
* Save you time! Planning a wedding is a very complicated effort which takes an incredible amount of time, especially if you want it done right! Plus, most of us don’t know how to set a timeline or how to follow it very well, and in planning a wedding, that leads to preventable disasters. If you’re the type of girl who procrastinates at all (as most of us are!), a wedding planner is going to keep your big day from being marred by those last-minute disasters, and possibly save you from walking down the aisle with your face all swollen from crying your eyes out!
* Someone who knows what they’re doing! It’s obvious, but it’s important: wedding planners plan weddings! Face it — very few of us have friends or family who’ve planned a successful wedding all by themselves. So why leave one of the most important days of your life up to amateurs? A good wedding planner has been planning weddings of all sizes and all types. She or he already knows who are the best professional photographers, caterers, florists, etc. in your area. They will have the knowledge and connections you need to make your wedding day the day of your dreams.
* Support. It’s true — as much as we wish otherwise, the guys we love are often not the best of partners when it comes to planning a wedding! Most guys would rather just sit back and let you do all of the research and make all of the decisions when it comes to many of the important details about a wedding — like wedding colors, wedding flowers, the wedding cake, how to seat friends and family at the reception, etc. Your wedding planner is there to support you through a confusing and complicated process — and while many of us rely on our mothers, sisters, and best friends for advice in making these once-in-a-lifetime decisions about our weddings, a good wedding planner will provide you with an unbiased honesty that is often difficult to find from those we love!
Deciphering the Dress Code!
September 8, 2009
Quick — what’s the difference between a black tie wedding and a white tie wedding? Are you confident you’ll choose the right dress for a cocktail affair, versus and the event which requests festive attire? Don’t feel alone if you don’t immediately know when a frock coat, tails, and formal ball gown are required, or when your favorite flirty little black dress will do instead — most of us have grown up hearing the terms “white tie attire” or “black tie affair”, but we’ve never seen a clear definition for them. The Summer 2009 issue of Instyle Weddings magazine (www.instyleweddings.com) corrects that by deciphering the dress code for us, once and for all:
White Tie: Male guests are to wear a black tail coat (a waist-length jacket with two long tails in back), matching black pants, white bow tie, white pique shirt, and white vest. Women must wear floor-length or ball gowns.
Black Tie: Men wear tuxedos; women wear floor-length gowns or cocktail dresses that go beyond the little black dress (think ruffles, sequins or other embellishments).
Black Tie Optional: Tuxedos and suits are equally appropriate for male guests, while women can wear either a cocktail dress or straight floor-length gown (but not a ball gown).
Cocktail Attire: Men wear suits; women arrive in either knee-length dresses or dressy pants (such as tuxedo style) paired with a silk, chiffon or otherwise evening-appropriate blouse.
Festive Attire: Though it may seem frustratingly vague, this allows guests to have fun with their attire. The fashion-forward and daring types will take it as a license to wear whatever they please, and others will probably stick to cocktail looks.
No dress code: Guests will take their cues from the time of day, season and location of the wedding.
If you are considering an “iPod Wedding”…
September 3, 2009
If you are thinking about having an “iPod” wedding, as has become a somewhat popular way to cut costs, you should really think twice. Your DJ is one of the most important people at your wedding. A good professional DJ controls the flow of the reception, keeps people on task, and will make your reception much more smooth. You want an event to remember? A professional DJ will ensure you have one!
The American Disc Jockey Association has released a short video of an actual wedding reception where they used an iPod. Click on the following link to see just why you may want to rethink saving money on the DJ!
The Muse reflects on Wedding Party Roles
August 25, 2009
As a busy bride swept up in planning your wedding day, do you find yourself confused over what responsibilities should be asked of the various members of your wedding party? One of our marvelous vendors, Wedding Planning & Coordinator Christina Safford of The Muse, has this informative article for your edification!
Muse: Roles of the Wedding Party
