Bridal world spring 2015

Bridal world Spring2015

Even rainy days are beautiful in Ludington — Holly Chandler and Joseph Crea married July 12.

Photography by Sue Brown

2 Ludington Daily News/Bridal

Money-saving wedding tips (BPT) — Weddings can be expensive, and most brides and grooms need to establish a budget before they start planning the wedding so they can afford to get hitched.

Many couples are now getting married later in life and paying most or all of the costs themselves, so it’s important to start budgeting sooner than later.

The following tips will help you and your fiance keep your costs down so you can stay within your wedding budget.

They cover everything from the moment when you say “Yes” to the second you say “I do.”

Set a long engagement There are two benefits to having an engagement of a year or longer. First, it allows you to spread costs over several paychecks. For example, if you get engaged this spring, you can choose one month to put a down payment on the reception hall, and another month for purchasing the wedding dress and renting the tuxedo. A third month could be used for purchasing honeymoon trip tickets, and a fourth month for the photographer’s down payment. During your engagement you can also start putting money into a savings account so

you aren’t strapped for cash immediately following your wedding.

The second reason a long engagement makes financial sense is that many couples will set a seasonal theme for their weddings, wanting to decorate the wedding and reception hall in that theme.

The best time to purchase decorations and supplies for seasonal events is immediately following those events, because stores discount them when it’s time to get them off the shelves. If you are planning a fall theme, for example, keep an eye on the shelves for these kinds of discounted decorations right after Thanksgiving or

Halloween. Longer engagements allow couples to take advantage of a these seasonal discounts at least once, if not twice.

Combine your resources A couple living in the same household can save hundreds of dollars monthly by combining expenses related to rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries and even transportation. If you recently became engaged and are considering moving in together, calculate how much money you’ll be saving so you can apply those savings toward your wedding budget.

See money -saving tips, page 3

Ludington Daily News/Bridal 3

Money-saving tips: Keep your stress low while planning From page 2

During the moving process, you can save additional money. For example, when you combine your households, will you need two sets of dishes and furniture?

Probably not.

Perhaps you can even host a garage sale to sell the items you don’t need duplicates of; then you can put that money toward a wedding-related item.

As you plan your big move, be sure to check out great moving services like Penske Truck Rental, which offers AAA and other great discounts to help soon-to-be newlyweds save money on moving costs.

Find the best deals If you’ve always dreamed of getting married under a tent at a local park, you might discover that tent rental far exceeds your budget - especially if you live in an urban

setting. This is where the Internet can be very helpful.

Sometimes it’s cheaper to rent equipment like tents, folding chairs, wedding canopies and other decorations from businesses that are located outside of your com-

munity.

To save even more, drive your personal car to the community where you’ll be renting the equipment, rent a Penske truck to transport all the equipment to where your wedding will be, and then return the equipment in the truck once you’re finished with it. Then you can simply pick up your personal car for the drive home.

If you have friends around for the wedding, ask them to be responsible for this part of the wedding so you can concentrate on other plans.

When you and your loved one begin planning your wedding, keep your budget-balancing stress to a minimumwith money-saving tips.

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4 Ludington Daily News/Bridal

Green giving Wedding favors and gifts everyone can feel good about (BPT) - You faithfully recycle at home, use a refillable BPA-free water bottle and charge your smartphone with a solar recharger. When it’s time to choose wedding favors for your own nuptials, or a gift for someone else’s wedding, do you find environmental awareness taking a backseat to style? It doesn’t have to.

It’s possible to give wedding favors and gifts that are natural, responsible and useful — items that everyone can feel good about giving and receiving.

Kitchen-related products commonly appear on many wedding registry lists, and creative couples often distribute small pieces of kitchen ware as favors to their guests. For gifts that are sustainable, creative and practical, look beyond the pots, pans and dishes to the food itself.

Food-inspired gifts Many newly married couples will be setting up their homes together for the first time. They may already have the basics, but you can help them round out their kitchen with some useful utensils they may not have realized they need.

For example, every cook can benefit from a well-

stocked spice rack. Purchase an attractive spice rack and fill it with spices.

Making pizza at home can be a fun, easy meal for busy newlyweds. Put together a pizza-making kit, complete with a quality pizza cutter, a pizza stone for baking, a wedge of Parmesan, some baking yeast, and pizza seasonings like oregano, basil and garlic powder. Place everything in a basket and complete the gift with a book of pizza recipes.

Gardening is a popular activity, and if your newlywed friends will be trying their hand at it, they may find themselves with lots of leftover produce.

Giving canning supplies as a wedding gift can be a great way to encourage their love of growing their own produce, while helping ensure nothing goes to waste. Fill a canning pot with supplies like canning funnels and jars, and canning and pickling spices like bay leaves, peppercorns, celery seed, cumin, dill, mustard and salt, or even a Pickling Spice Blend.

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Green giving: Teas and spices make good favors From page 4

can make a great wedding favor. Simply purchase heartshaped tea infusers and fill them with a variety of loose teas, such as chamomile, peppermint, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, or black, green or white teas. Accent the favor with a ribbon in your wedding colors.

Pepper is a ubiquitous seasoning in numerous cuisines from around the world. For a useful, welcome wedding favor that will expand guest’s culinary knowledge, why not give different gourmet peppers of the world? Peppercorns come in a variety of shades and heat levels - and

even shapes! Present guests with a small peppermill and a selection of gourmet peppercorns.

Grilling is a great American paswtime. If your wedding will take place in spring or summer, grilling spices and seasoning blends can be a fun wedding favor that will turn into your guest’s go-to item when they grill. Look for a variety of seasonings that work with steaks, fish, fowl and even vegetables.

Organic, sustainably sourced food gifts can be creative, fun and useful wedding favors and gifts — and a great way to show Mother Nature some love while you’re celebrating your own love story.

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DIY wedding playlist?

Doable but demanding

By STEVE KNOPPER Associated Press As she prepared to get married in 2009, Meg Keene considered iPods “a small gift from the wedding gods.”

Rather than hiring a band or professional DJ for thousands of dollars, she and her fianci made their own playlist of Sir Mix-A-Lot, Frank Sinatra and Dolly Parton songs and cranked them on rented speakers.

Today, with phone apps

that let brides and grooms instantly play just about any song ever made, Keene counsels caution.

“It’s easier to screw up, honestly,” says Keene, 35, an Oakland, California, blogger and author of “A Practical Wedding” (Da Capo, 2011).

“People think a great way to DJ a wedding is to set up a Spotify playlist or have a Pandora station — that tends to not work very well. Putting a playlist on at random tends to just go down in flames.”

Although professional DJs and wedding planners scoff at the idea of do-it-yourself dance-floor playlists, tech-

‘It’s easier to screw up, honestly.’

Meg Keene

nology makes it almost irresistibly simple. Many venues have built-in sound systems with ports for phones and laptops or even Bluetooth for wireless audio connections.

For more electronically challenged churches and gaze-

bos, couples can buy or rent speakers that can be connected to a small, affordable mixer and a laptop. Google Cast and Apple’s AirPlay let you control the playlist remotely.

The trick is coming up with a playlist. There’s an art to it, as the staff at Google-owned Songza has discovered. A year ago, in the middle of wedding season, the staff of six full-time New York curators and a fleet of freelancers realized they had no wedding playlist. They corrected

See diy music, page 8

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DIY music: Takes some work, but can be done From page 7

that with a dozen specialized lists, from the Marvin Gayepacked “It’s Your Wedding Day!” to “Rustic Outdoor Wedding,” filled with Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons. Of course, users can go off the reservation and add their own songs.

“As long as you maintain a consistent mood, you can really mix whatever you want from whatever decade you want,” says Parry Ernsberger, a curation expert at Google Play Music, which oversees the Songza playlists. “Reading the room is important.”

Those who DJ their own weddings run into several challenges. They have to provide different playlists for different settings, from herecomes-the-bride tearjerkers for the ceremony to cocktail music for early drinks to dance music for the reception. They have to find the right balance between familiar, “YMCA”-type anthems and meaningful obscurities that risk clearing the dance floor. And they must do all this while greeting guests and making sure drunk uncles avoid face-planting into the cake.

“It can really be pulled off,” Keene says. “But it’s not something that you can sort of look away and be like, ‘That will work itself out.’ It takes some work.”

Keene recommends crafting a fully formed iTunes playlist, with a beginning, middle and end, including a series of “big, raging danceparty numbers” followed by a cool-down song. Pay atten-

Christina Richards via Ap

Guests dance at a backyard wedding with DIY music.

Guests dancing at a self-DJ’d wedding at Camp Lotus in Lotus, Calif.

Maddie Eisenhart via AP

tion, she says, to the early part of the reception, when older guests want to hear Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” or Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say.” Later, friends and family might want to hear Kesha and hip-hop. (She also recommends using iTunes’ cross-fade function to avoid awkward silences between tracks; backing up the playlist on several guests’ phones; and depending on a mobile streaming service only as a last resort, since Internet connections can be unreliable.)

Not everyone is sold on DIY wedding playlists. Asked for an interview, one prominent New York wedding planner sniffed, “That does not make sense at all. None of our clients have ever been interest-

ed in something like this.”

“Really, my experience?

We’ve always hired the professionals,” adds Trudy Baade, president of the American Association of Certified Wedding Planners. “There’s so much to plan.”

But Evan Minsker, 27, spent months making a playlist for his May 2014 wedding — then wrote about the process for indie-rock website Pitchfork, where he is a staff writer. Minsker built a reception soundtrack full of sure things (Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”), novelties (Eddie Murphy’s “Party All the Time”) and lesser-known, Pitchfork-friendly favorites (Todd Terje’s “Inspector Norse”), hitting all decades.

He posted playlists and wrote: “Pay attention to transitions. Try to make it so your playlist has a flow and

logic to it.”

Minsker’s reception playlist began with Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up, Part 1” and ended with Michael Jackson’s “Man In the Mirror.” He tried to entertain every age group.

The dance floor, at his wife’s parents’ house in the woods, was full for most of the wedding. The rare snag was when one of his friends temporarily commandeered his laptop, purchased Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” on iTunes for $1.29 and aired it as a practical joke.

Otherwise, Minsker, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, highly recommends the process.

“It was honestly the most fun and meditative part about putting together my wedding,” he says. “By the time the wedding rolled around, it was ‘hit play on the playlist.”’

Ludington Daily News/Bridal 9

The Later-Moon Many couples find the honeymoon can wait

Heather Hurley and her husband Jason Hurley, from Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts were married in 2015. The couple is now ready to head to Iceland for a week in June 2015.

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — “Where are you going on your honeymoon?”

It’s one of the most common questions asked of a couple engaged to marry.

Another appropriate question these days: “WHEN are you taking your honeymoon?”

For a variety of reasons, many couples now put off their post-wedding trip.

Weddings are expensive, so shelling out more for a vacation right away may be too much. Some couples want more time to map out a trip that lives up to the honeymoon hype. Or there might be work demands, school or other obligations that get in the way.

Heather Hurley of Arlington, Virginia, and her husband, Jason, bought their first home shortly before their June 2014 wedding.

They didn’t have the time or energy to think about a honeymoon then.

“Since we weren’t in any rush and we didn’t have any honeymoon deadline, we said, ‘Let’s wait a year and combine our delayed honeymoon and sort of a first-anniversary trip into something really special,”’ she said.

They’re now ready, and are

Heather Hurley via AP

‘Taking a delayed honeymoon was a blessing in disguise.’

Tiffany Marchand

heading to Iceland for a week in June.

“A lot of people are used to the tradition: You’re engaged, you get married, and then you go on your honeymoon and that’s it,” Hurley said. “We felt like we were in a whirlwind starting with the home-buying process and then a couple months later getting married. That was a lot of planning and timing and energy, and we wanted to recover from that and really rest up and appreciate the honeymoon trip, instead of feeling like it’s the slog at

the end of a marathon.”

Compared to previous generations, many of today’s couples are marrying older, and they’re often paying for the wedding, rather than having their parents do it.

“Things like living together already, having a home, having two incomes but not that much savings for the wedding of your dreams — I think those factors go into why people would postpone their honeymoon,” says Sara Margulis, founder of Honeyfund.com, a wedding-gift registry company that helps couples raise money from friends and relatives for their honeymoon.

“Two jobs, having to coordinate the time off, where people are in their careers when they get married — a lot of times it’s harder to take the time off that you would want to take,” she said.

Tiffany and Bryan March-

and of Montgomery, Alabama, were married in March 2014. Bryan had recently started a new job and didn’t have vacation time.

They waited until last February to go to Disneyworld and Universal Studios in Florida.

“Taking a delayed honeymoon was a blessing in disguise,” said Tiffany, since it gave her more time to plan both the wedding and the trip.

Kelly Hills says that after she married Nick Evans in April 2014, staying home together was more exciting than taking a trip together.

The couple met on Twitter and had a trans-continental courtship: Nick lived in Australia and Kelly was in the U.S. “Just being in the same time zone was so novel,” recalled Hills.

They’re heading to Barbados in May for their delayed honeymoon.

10 Ludington Daily News/Bridal

Love shabby chic?

Three secrets to creating the wedding of your dreams

(BPT) — Wedding trends come and go, driven by many cultural influences, but few are as enduring and romantic as shabby chic/shabby glam.

With its perfect combination of elegance and softness, bright sparkles and gentle hues, a shabby chic wedding complements the individuality and beauty of brides of every age and walk of life. And, thanks to many rental stores increasing their inventory of shabby chic items, it’s also one of the easiest and most fun wedding

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Vintage wedding gowns, repurposed items and a wide inventory of thematic rental items can all work together to create a shabby chic wedding that is unique, memorable and affordable.

To create a wedding theme that is the perfect marriage

of shabby and glam follow these three simple steps:

1. Flowers and lace are the perfect marriage Lace isn’t just for your

On The

wedding gown and flowers aren’t just for your bouquet.

Touches of lace added throughout the ceremony and reception underscore the air of nostalgic elegance that’s essential to shabby chic.

This can be as easy as adding lace touches to wedding invitations or using pieces of lace as placemats or coasters on reception tables. Or, it can be as grand as a lace tent liner that evokes a romantic, bygone era.

Florals are key to creating a shabby chic look. Whether the bride and groom stand See shabby chic, page 12

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shabby chic: Diverse colors and textures are key From page 10

beneath a bower of pastel blooms while exchanging vows, or floral accents throughout the bride’s couture, flowers and floral patterns lend romance and grace to every aspect of a shabby chic wedding.

2. Light the way Light plays an important role in any shabby chic themed event. For weddings, vintage-looking chandeliers, candelabras and hurricane lamps act both as decorative items and sources of romantic light. It’s easy to add thematic lighting to any wedding, even if your reception will be in an ordinary hall or tent.

Rental companies offer an array of lighting options that can be temporarily outfitted to any venue. Adorn tables with classic silver candelabras or add a stunning crystal chandelier to an outdoor tent.

Many rental stores have increased their inventory of shabby chic decor items to meet brides’ demands, so renting can give you access to greater variety. Plus, you’ll reap the cost savings of renting versus buying.

3. Layers of texture The pleasing union of diverse colors and textures is at the heart of a shabby chic wedding. Soft colors are the perfect foil for sparkles, and distressed wood comple-

ments the beauty of aged metals like silver and pewter.

All these elements come together to evoke the grace and comfort of bygone times.

Look for creative ways to harmoniously incorporate these touches into your wedding. For example, display your wedding cake, adorned with real flowers, atop a rus-

tic wooden table. Decorate an antique metal birdcage with lace and ribbon and use it as a holder where reception guests can deposit cards for the bride and groom. Add petite crystal and pearl accents to bouquets and centerpieces. For a rustic food table, rent wooden barrels, top with an aged wooden

plank, and present food on vintage serving plates.

Finally, look for inspiration online. Resources like Pinterest, Etsy and theknot yield a wealth of ideas, and you can browse photos of other weddings and bridal creations to find the perfect look for your shabby chic wedding.

Ludington Daily News/Bridal 13

What’s a groom to do?

When it comes to planning

By LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Kate MacHugh has a fabulous fiance, except when it comes to wedding planning.

“When I was a little girl I always envisioned it as ‘my wedding,’ where I would make all the decisions and my faceless groom would show up when I told him to in the suit that I picked out and he paid for,” said the Beachwood, New Jersey, social worker and bride to be.

“Flash forward to now — my fiance has an opinion on EVERYTHING,” MacHugh said, endorsing that approach with this caveat: “He’s a huge procrastinator and doesn’t understand that planning a wedding takes a boatload of work, time and coordination. He believes every small detail will fall into place without any effort on our part.”

So goes the dilemma of many modern-day grooms.

No longer on the sidelines, they’re ready, willing and able to participate, but what’s a groom to do when he hasn’t been planning every detail of his dream wedding since boyhood, has never shopped for or worn a tuxedo and doesn’t know his carats from his karats?

“My advice for all you grooms out there? Listen to your bride. She knows what she’s talking about. If she tells you that at the eight-

Mel Evans | AP photo

Friday, April 24, 2015 photo, Kate MacHugh and fiance CJ (Christopher John) Ecke walk together in Pine Beach, N.J. “My advice for all you grooms out there? Listen to your bride. She knows what she’s talking about. If she tells you that at the eight-month mark you should have picked a venue, she’s right. month mark you should have picked a venue, she’s right. If she’s droning on about getting your frat brothers’ addresses for save-the-dates, you really need to get them to her. And never, I repeat, never call her a bridezilla,” advises the 26-year-old MacHugh, who’s getting hitched Oct. 10.

Some grooms are happy to leave the details to their partners, said Kristen Ley, a “wedding broker” who works with couples and vendors in the Atlanta area. But if you want an active groom in the

lead-up, get him in the planning loop from the get-go, she urges.

“If he doesn’t feel included, he won’t be, and when it comes time for him to chip in, the interest won’t be there,” Ley said.

Let him put that tool chest or George Foreman grill on the wedding registry, or don suspenders or wacky colored socks on the big day if he so chooses, Ley suggests.

Above all, grooms can’t have their wedding wishes fulfilled if they don’t speak up, said Danielle Rothwei-

ler, a wedding and event planner in West Orange, New Jersey.

“The No. 1 thing I always tell grooms is that they MUST be vocal when planning a wedding,” she said.

It’s been awhile since Eric San Juan was a groom. He’s been married for 15 years, but he wrote a new book aimed squarely at grooms: “Stuff Every Groom Should Know,” part of a series of handy manuals from Quirk Books.

See a groom’s job, page 13

14 Ludington Daily News/Bridal

A groom’s job: Things to do leading up to the big day From page 13

Try these pro tips from San Juan:

POPPING THE QUESTION San Juan acknowledges there’s no one way, but he’s not a huge fan of stunt proposals. The kind that actually involve the public, that is, like asking via Jumbotron at a ballpark. Your proposal may just go viral for the wrong reasons.

“You risk putting the person you’re asking in a really awkward situation. Maybe he or she isn’t in the same place.

Maybe the answer won’t be yes,” San Juan said in an interview.

If you want the proposal photographed or filmed, find a photographer or videographer willing to shoot in secret to preserve the moment.

Also, consider going old school and asking your partner’s parents for permission to pop the question.

And never steal another couple’s thunder. Proposing at the wedding of a friend, relative or colleague is not a good idea, he said.

PICKING A TUX Do you even need one? Traditionally, they’re worn after 6 p.m. Morning or afternoon weddings call for a morning suit, usually dark gray.

Renting a tuxedo is cheaper and ensures groomsmen will match, but a custom tux is a nicer fit and worth the investment if a groom thinks he’ll wear it again, San Juan

‘Most men are not particularly well-versed in getting a tux. Don’t go into the process with the I’m-not-going-to-ask-for-directions mindset.’

Eric San Juan

said.

With arms down at the sides, fingertips should reach the bottom of the jacket, he said. Pants should hit the tops of the shoes. Silk is the desired tux fabric for summer, while cashmere, wool and flannel are popular for winter.

Rock the bowtie. It’s the classic option. And don’t fear the cummerbund. Modern ‘bunds are sleeker and more flattering than they used to be.

“Most men are not particularly well-versed in getting a tux,” San Juan said. “Don’t go into the process with the I’mnot-going-to-ask-for-directions mindset.”

THE MAN CRY There may be tears and they may be yours, guys.

“The ideal man cry is a cry that is in control. It’s not blubbering,” San Juan said.

A groom should avoid talking if his voice is going to crack. He should pause to compose himself. Man tears are awesome; “squeaky man voice, not so much,” San Juan said.

Dab, don’t rub. Surely the best man remembered the

handkerchief to gently pat at tears. Rubbing reddens eyes.

And avoid loud honking when nose-blowing.

“If you really can’t stop sobbing, visualize something totally un-sad to get yourself back in the game,” San Juan advises.

DRUNK COLLEGE FRIENDS A groom’s side is often full

of the guys he used to raise hell with. A generous tip for the bartender will help ensure they get cut off before the point of no return, San Juan said.

Stay on top of the toasts pre-reception to avoid the colorful or awkward ones.

And grooms should rely on their best men to police the unruly.

“You can’t completely avoid some degree of madness when it comes to your friends, but hopefully the best man can handle it,” San Juan said.

As for a groom’s imbibing, he should pace himself. Don’t down a full drink after every toast. Old buddies taking an open bar to the limit is one thing. Joining them is a mistake.

Ludington Daily News/Bridal 15

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