Poll Follow-Up: Short a Bridesmaid

For every poll I do, I will post a follow-up the following week to go more into detail on the topic. If you lose a member of the bridal party for whatever reason, there are a few different issues you may have to deal with. 

If a dress hasn't been bought yet, or shoes, or other items, then it shouldn't be a big deal other than an emotional stress that your friends can't be in your wedding. However, if money has been put into it and your bridesmaid has to bail, take these things into mind to prevent loss in money:

Remember a dress can be altered to fit a new bridesmaid. If a dress is already bought, maybe replacing your bridesmaid would make a better financial decision.

Whether, you or your bridesmaid buy the shoes, make sure to keep receipts (as you should for everything in your wedding) because it would make it a lot easier to exchange a shoe to a different size for your new bridesmaid.

If you already purchased engraved jewelry or gifts for your bridal party, you may have to accept the loss to buy a new one or if you don't replace that person, make it a special gift to that person :) I would check places like The Knot often because they are always having sales. So if you had to buy a new item to replace another, it won't hurt too much.

knot.com bridesmaids gift

Pickle: That's Not My Cake!

The Pickle: Not getting what you ordered for your cake.
When you looking at the hundreds of beautiful cake pics, you might be thinking, "I want them all!" Whether you got an idea of your cake in mind or if you end up planning a design with your cake maker, you expect to see the most beautiful at your reception waiting for you in all its glory. Really, the cake is the centerpiece of the party!

Imagine being inspired by this:

Designing this:

Then getting this:

I seriously think that it wasn't that she took creative liberty, but that she lost my design!

The Solution:
Always sign a contract, and if you did with your cake maker and something goes wrong you can at least fight it. Before signing though to avoid that happening, make sure your cake maker is open to communicating with you during the process of making the cake. Maybe ask for a pic sent to you as it is being made, or if you can visit, even just a phone call to double check everything is how you will like it. Always go by recommendations, see an album of their cakes, and if they don't do a tasting for you, you don't want that cake maker. Consider the question at the site below. Print it out and keep as a reference.

Questions to ask your Wedding Cake Baker or Designer

Scripture Sunday

Every Sunday, I want to bring us all back to what really matters. Not the petty wedding stuff but the blessing we have been given to even have a wedding. Your wedding day is a big day in your life and of course it will be stressful. I hope this blog helps you with that. However, we need to take a moment, take a breath. Your engagement is to be enjoyed! Celebrate the gift of Love that God has given us, allowing us to love others. You found love with your man, remember to focus on the blessing of marriage and the beginning of a new life together.

Every week, enjoy the scripture. Who knows you may even find one you may want to use in your ceremony!

Today's scripture definitely gives us a reminder that God loves us and gave his son as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. We need to love and forgive others for their sins. Keep this to heart with your future marriage. :)

Real Weddings: Melina & Michael

This is where I hope to get involved with my readers. Hopefully, as time progresses, I'm hoping to get many submissions. I would love for you to send in pictures of your wedding with a back story of the crazy things that happened when no one noticed, and then a list of a few blessings from the day. This is the day to show off and see how no matter what pickles happen, it all works out :)

To start with, I'll feature my wedding!

 

Pickles in my wedding: Got behind an hour from taking too long on hair, Cake was not the design agreed upon, Father/Daughter Dance was cut-off making for an awkward ending, Wine spilled on my dress, Tear ripped through dress, Caterer did not deliver what was agreed upon, Too many people were invited for a small reception facility, Get-Away car was not where it was supposed to be, Only half an hour to take pictures, therefore many desired shots missed, did not get to eat and wine got to me lol, a bridesmaid had to leave early due to a drunken man (nightmare and a long story!), mosquitos during the photos.

The Blessings! 

The weather was gorgeous, a beautiful garden for pictures just happened to be across the street from the church, everyone danced the night away, we got to get married in a gorgeous church, my man got to be in his blues, and he became my husband!

Just so you know, the issues are all petty in my mind because everything worked out. (Except my cake, can you sense the resentment lol) No cake in my photo collage!

Check out the Submissions page for information on how to send me pics from your wedding and what to include for your own featured post!

Emergency Kit: Hair pt.1

Every bride needs to have an emergency kit handy. I didn't and thank goodness I didn't need something I didn't have! Every Friday I will help you brides out there compile a comprehensive list of typical items you might forget or unusual items that really might save the day. Each week will feature a specific topic.
1.Bobby Pins- loose hair anyone? Have them in the appropriate colors to match different colors of hair for anyone in your bridal party.
2.Hairspray- Keep those locks in place. My fave is BIOSILK Finish. It is light and smells really good!

3.Blowdryer-My hairstylist actually had to borrow mine for one of my girl's hair. Glad I had it on hand!
4.Hand Mirror
5.Full Size Mirror- you can never have too many mirrors! Heck, a beautiful mirror can even make for beautiful pictures.

PotteryBarn

Since I am only one brain, please send me emergency kit ideas of any kind. Nothing is too weird!

Dialogue: Veil or Hair Piece?

This is the day every week where I will have a sort of editorial on something I came across on the internet, in a magazine, or on other blogs. Today I will be discussing veils vs. hair pieces.

I have noticed throughout my wedding planning in the past and during my current upkeep on staying up-to-date on trends for weddings, that hair pieces are complementing the look of the modern bride. I myself went with a hair piece, but it wasn't to be trendy, more rather, I was wanting to be different then what people expected of me. I remember when I would tell people that I wasn't having a veil, most reactions were along the lines of, "But that is what makes you feel like a bride!"

I went with a hair piece do be different. There are so many options, I just knew I could find one that would reflect my personality. Below is an example of many beautiful designs by Loboheme.

La Boheme Hairpiece

If you really want to personalize your look, even try making your own hair piece, or modifying one you like. I didn't want to look traditional or trendy. I just wanted to be me.

If you are the bride who dreamed your whole life of this traditional image in a big gown and long veil, go for it. If you are the type of bride who wants a light gown with a dainty feathery flower in your hair, go for it. Go for the light gown with the long veil for that matter. Certain hair pieces would even look great combined with a veil. You are the bride you dream yourself to be.

Hair pieces are everywhere, but even a veil made the cover this month in Bride Magazine (One of the best, most informative magazines out there in my opinion)

So what is your choice? How did you decide?

Pickle: Ran out of Invitations

This debut week, I will start with just one feature. I'm stuck in the process of moving out of state and my downtime for research won't really be available to me just yet but I have lots of ideas. Of course, ideas from you is always appreciated. I want this to be your blog, where you read about issues you didn't think of or that you want to figure a solution for. Since I am just starting, I only really have my own experiences. Today will be about a pickle I got in regarding my invitations.

The Pickle: I printed my own invitations using a boxed set from the store. It was really cute!

Well, I didn't buy enough. . .I had to go back to the store only to find that they no longer made that design. So about 30 invites went out a totally different style.

The pic shows my regular invite with an R.S.V.P. card in the different style just to show the difference.

The Solution: Always order extra. I had 150, I needed about 180. I thought, "Surely, we aren't inviting more than 300 people if each invite averages about 2 people right?" Wrong. I assumed a number before jumping in.

Take these steps
1. Hone down the guest list until you know that is ALL you want to invite and that you have cut all you can cut.
2. Figure out how many households you will be sending invites to in order to find your lovely number of invites.
3. Order or buy your invites adding 25 more ONLY after you have a definite number.

You need extras, even if you think you got your definite number. You will get some returned to you or someone may say they can't come, so you can send one to your "B" list. Or, you'll get your elders who everyone knows can't come, but they just want an invite anyway. Hey, you may need more than 25!

Poll: Short a Bridesmaid

Piperbella Photography

As you can see, I lost a bridesmaid who was my best friend. I opted to not replace her. Funny thing was that my groom lost a groomsman and he opted to replace that guy. I'm a bit OCD, but it didn't look as awkward as I thought. Though one guy walked by himself lol. 

Anyone else, have this happen? What did you do? Answer the poll and/or comment!

Debut!

I am so excited to debut this blog. I thought I'd start with an overview to introduce the idea behind it all. To start with, if you have read the About page, you will see why I have named this blog Wedding Pickle. I think it is really cute for not only the meaning behind it but how unique it is to have pickles relating with the daintiness of weddings. The link gives the background and history of how being "in a pickle" came about which is pretty interesting.

IN A PICKLE

Shakespeare was the first to coin the actual phrase. As a Shakespeare fan, I am all over any idea Shakespeare had.

I came across these pickles online and it cracked me up. I thought I'd share for fun. They are like little freaked out brides!

So, my plan is to start the week with feature articles. There will probably be 2-3 a week depending on how much research I will do for any given topic. Tuesdays will be poll days, Fridays will be Emergency Kit idea days, Saturdays will be about real brides, and Sundays will be the day to focus on what really matters, looking at scripture that remind us of God's love and in turn, can be used in your ceremony! I'll explain the days as I go, so follow along, comment, and have fun!

Piperbella Photography

This is me at my bridal shoot. I thought it was a good portrayal of a bride trying to figure things out. lol. Where would we be without our phones?