Everyone deserves a good laugh, especially those who are planning a wedding. So, when you need a break from all the wedding plans, you should check out AwkwardWeddingPhotos.com.
Will it help you come up with awesome ideas for your wedding? Let’s hope not. But it will give you the stress-relieving laugh you’ve been looking for.
Check it out daily for a dose of awkwardness.
Some final notes on SnapKnot from the creators Mike and Reid:
A wedding is truly special when it is outfitted with special details like handmade decorations. We all know Pinterest is great for wedding inspiration, but there are some fantastic DIY wedding decorations on there as well. We have combed through Pinterest and chosen distinctive DIY wedding decorations that will make your wedding the talk of the town. (For more info on all these projects, check out our gallery at the end with step-by-step photo tutorials.)
Kissing Bride & Groom Clothespin Party Favors
All you need to create unforgettable party favors are wooden clothespins, two tubes of acrylic paint and small paintbrushes. They also look fun to play with. Instead of the traditional tap of the glass to encourage kisses between the bride and the groom at the reception, reception-goers could squeeze the end of the pins and release to make a kissing motion. Plus, these would make adorable place card holders.
Step 1: Buy materials.
Step 2: Paint the bride and groom on the wooden clothespins.
Step 3: Accessorize as you desire and you are done!
Rustic DIY Bouquet
We love this DIY bouquet from the Wedding Chicks. Flowers, brown ribbon, brown paper and copper wire together make a rustic bouquet. It looks so good you won’t want to throw the bouquet!
Step 1: Gather the materials.
Step 2: Group the flowers together.
Step 3: Bind the flowers at the top and end of the stems using the copper wire.
Step 4: Wrap the stems in the brown paper so the stems are completely covered. Wrap the brown ribbon at the beginning of the stem.
Step 5: Bind the covered stems in the remaining copper wire loosely. Now you have a beautiful bouquet!
Rustic Wedding Cake Stand
Once Wed has fabulous DIY wedding decoration ideas! This is another great wedding decoration piece for those rustic-themed weddings. These cake stands are a little bit more complicated to make than the other wedding decorations in this post, but the look is worth it! You will need a big wooden log and a tree stump, a clamp and wood glue.
Step 1: Saw a thin layer off of the big wooden log to make the cake stand top.
Step 2: Glue the thin layer on the tree stump using wood glue and clamp it together to make sure the glue sticks.
Step 3: Accessorize according to your tastes and you are done!
Icing Tip Place Card Holders
Here’s another fun idea from Once Wed. All you need for these quirky name card holders are cake icing tips, spray paint, paper and pen. Who knew you could use cake icing tips for more than icing cakes!
Step 1: Spray paint the cake icing tip. Let it dry.
Step 2: Write the names on paper with a pen. Now you have beautiful name card holders!
For more inspiration and tips, check out our Pinterest page!
Click on the below photos to see step-by-step photo tutorials of the above projects:
Veil available at SimplyBridal.com
Floral, Crystal and Jeweled Pins
If your wedding venue is outside, you may as well let a bit of nature in on your special day. Flowered pins allow brides to do just that and brides that incorporate one or two flowers can have a huge impact on their bridal look. Floral pins make brides look ethereal and complement an outdoor wedding look.
Left Photo Source; Right Photo Source
Brides that choose to forgo flowered pins can still achieve the a gorgeous result through crystal or jeweled pins. Jeweled pins create the same effect as crystal pins, but with a bit more depth. Brides looking to have their something blue can place a sapphire-colored pin in their hair as well as choose any other number of colored pins for that special bit of color. Brides can match jeweled pins to their colored wedding dresses; they also show up better in light-colored hair. Whichever pin you choose, remember that even one can elevate a chignon into a work of art.
Left Photo Source; Right Photo Source
Elaborate Combs
All of the aforementioned pins can be combined with a veil and comb to create a unique hairstyle or you can use a jeweled comb alone to add a bit of shimmer to your hairstyle. Don’t worry if you think all of that beauty will be trapped under a heavy veil never to be seen again. You can purchase a veil and a comb separately in order to show off an amazing comb. Thanks to a variety of styles, you can select combs with pearls, crystals and anything else your heart desires.
Feathers
Why not take a cue from the animal kingdom and top off your wedding day ensemble with a little plumage of your own? There are a variety of heights and widths to suit any fauna-loving bride out there, she just needs to find one that suits her.
We believe that the woman makes the bride and what is on her head isn’t as important as what’s in her head. Fortunately, you can make the outside match the inside, you just have to choose your topping.
To see more Simply Bridal veils and accessories, click on the photos below or visit SimplyBridal.com.
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Anna Knight is lead contributor to SimplyBridal. She was born and raised in New York. She loves fashion, especially jewelry and shoes. She adores simple, classic pieces and even designed her own wedding dress. She tied the knot in 2010 in a small, intimate ceremony, but can’t wait to renew her vows in Bali.
Ahh, the maid of honor. We all know it is the easiest job in the world. While the bride is running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to organize the wedding, the maid of honor gets to sit back, relax and sip on a cosmopolitan. JUST KIDDING. Being the maid of honor is a huge responsibility and the stress can make you spin out of control as much, if not more, than the bride. We all saw what happens when everything goes wrong in the hilarious movie Bridesmaids. If you haven’t seen it, here is a tip from the movie–DO NOT go to a fitting after eating bad Brazilian food. It will always end badly. The following steps are guidelines to keep you on track with your maid of honor duties.
Clear Your Schedule
You need to clear your schedule from now until the wedding. The maid of honor is always on call. If the bride has cold feet at 2 AM, you need to be there with a pep talk and a pint of chunky monkey. When, not if, something goes wrong, you need to help put out the fires. Sometimes clearing your schedule warrants a simple rearranging of your schedule. You can use Google Calendar to sync your schedule with the bride’s schedule. Google Calendar is a useful tool because it is online, you can is it offline, you can sync it with existing calendars (like iCal) and you can collaborate with the bride using their to-do lists.
Keeping the Bride (and Yourself) Calm
Planning a wedding is stressful. Just ask the brides on the show Bridezillas. But with the proper planning and right mental state, that stress can be minimized. Group exercise is one way to reduce stress and bond the wedding party. Months before the wedding, plan weekly, bi-weekly or monthly get-togethers when you, the bridesmaids and the bride can hang out and exercise. Your stress levels will decrease. Everyone will become closer and, hopefully, avoid any pre-wedding drama. The exercise doesn’t have to be gym-oriented. Yoga, walking or even sweating it out in a game of paintball are good too, and they are activities that will help keep your mind and the bride’s mind off of wedding planning, at least for a couple of hours.
The Speech
After months (or years) of planning, the big day is finally here. You have made it this far and you want your speech to say everything you are feeling. You might even start to freak out that nothing you say will capture the moment perfectly. Don’t over-analyze what you are going to say. The best speeches come from the heart. If you don’t have the right words, you can talk about a heartfelt memory of you and the bride or tell a joke that is sentimental at its core. The point is there is a reason you are the maid of honor. You have a special bond with the bride and that bond will come out in your speech naturally. Still don’t have the words? Check out this maid of honor/bridesmaid speech app.
Weddings are stressful to plan and can turn even the most laid-back women into high-maintenance bridezillas. The bridezilla is such a common phenomenon that the WE TV reality show Bridezillas shows a different group of brides-to-be screaming, barking orders and throwing fits every week. To prevent diva behavior from ruining your wedding experience, we have come up with some helpful tips and ideas to keep your inner Bridezilla at bay.
Exercise regularly
Exercise releases endorphins which makes you happier by lessening your stress. Create and stick to a regular workout schedule to reduce wedding induced tension. Bonus: not only will you be a calmer bride, but you will also look fantastic on your wedding day as well. Even if you don’t like the gym you can still do yoga. The breathing exercises used in yoga classes will divert your mind away from the billion items on your wedding to-do list.
Plan In Advance
This is where our Wedding To-Do Checklist comes in handy. Our wedding to-do checklist organizes all the tasks, from choosing a date to the rehearsal, nine months before your wedding date. Having an organized checklist will help you be more in control of your wedding planning and it will save you from the last minute frenzy that plagues disorganized brides. Tip: Always plan for the worst case scenario. List off all the things that can go wrong and think of ways to deal with those potential situations.
Delegate
Planning for that special day can easily turn into a one-woman show. You may have been dreaming of your wedding day for so long that you are convinced that everything must go perfectly. That chase for perfection may tempt you to control every aspect of the planning process. But doing everything yourself is a one way street to Bridezilla Town. Remember the resources that you have– your maid of honor and future husband. Maid of honors exist to be the bride’s right hand woman. She is there to be in the places you can’t and do the things you don’t have the time to do. So don’t be afraid to have her shoulder some of the wedding planning burden. Another resource you have is your soon to to be husband. Planning the wedding together is the greatest exercise of trust and good practice for the life you will be sharing together.
And don’t forget that planning a wedding, like life, is a journey. A journey that is to be enjoyed and savored.
Focus on the journey not the destination.
Joy is not found in finishing an activity but in doing it.
–Greg Anderson
You will be amazed at how less stressed you will feel if you focus your energy on the journey and try to enjoy the wedding planning process.
Summertime reminds us of a few things. Swimming pools, hot dogs, fireworks, and, most importantly, WEDDINGS. Especially beach weddings, which is why we are so excited to feature this “beachy” themed real wedding today! We’ll let beautiful bride, Cori, tell you all about it. Thanks to KWU Weddings for taking such beautiful pictures!
Says Cori - As far as my wedding went, I wanted to do things simple, clean, and uncomplicated. (If that’s a possibility with any wedding!) We got married at Paradise Cove on Lake Bryan in Lake Buena Vista. Its such a beautiful place, that we really didn’t have to do much to make it nice.
Dress – I am not the hugest fan of “wedding dresses” and really couldn’t stomach spending thousands on a dress that I would only wear once; so I was so excited when I walked into the Cache outlet down at the Sawgrass mall in South Florida and saw this dress, in my size, on the rack! $225!!!!! It still cost $200 to alter, but still for less than $500 I found something really special that I LOVED.
Shoes – I fell in love with this pair of Christian Louboutin’s crystallized pumps, but couldn’t afford the $4,200 price tag. So, I took matters into my own hands. I have a pair of leather pumps from ALDO that are super comfy; so I went to the ALDO outlet here in Orlando and bought a new pair for $30. I then went onto Etsy.com and found a girl (DaedreamDesigns) who hand crystallizes shoes that you send her! She did such an amazing job, and I was able to get something really similar to what I dreamed of that was probably 1000x more comfortable than Louboutin’s for a fraction of the price. And I will wear them again! LOVE.
Ceremony – We had one of our good friends marry us. It was really special, as we were able to really personalize the ceremony. We had a few family members come up and read some poetry that my late step-dad had written about love, and it was really nice.
I didn’t want to spend too much on the ceremony, so I kept it simple with the starfish on the back of the chairs and the capiz shell curtain to hang from the arbor. (Arbor was provided by the venue). I had a friend of mine who plays guitar and sings, Jeremy Ezell, do the music for the ceremony and cocktail hour. Check out his band, The Well Reds.
We didn’t really have a wedding party either. I don’t really like being a bridesmaid and feel it can be really expensive for people, so we each just had one – my Maid of Honor and his Best Man. We, of course, had flower girls though and a ring bearer. Advice, try your best for weeks before the wedding to get these little guys excited about walking down the aisle. Because when I showed up to the wedding my ring bearer was dressed as Spider Man and refused to walk down the aisle. So, my little nephew (carried by my brother) stepped in to save the day!
*Photo taken by family member
Reception – For place cards, I bought sand dollars to go with the “beachy” theme. There is a really amazing wholesaler here in town, Blue Seas Trading Company. They have a show room, so you can walk in whenever you’d like and pretty much get anything you want. They have pretty much every shell you have ever imagined, or seen, in all sizes at really low prices. It’s pretty cool.
For my center pieces, my sister in law volunteered to design them. I have to say this was a HUGE task, so I would recommend a professional if you don’t know what you are doing. BUT what we tried to do was use things that I would keep after the wedding. So, if you look closely, some of the candle/flower holders are actually wine/champagne glasses, so now I have a whole new set of those. We also used old glass bottles. The rest of it was hurricane vases/candle holders from Pottery Barn that now we have around our house, and it looks really cool. Like I said, the venue is so pretty, you really don’t have to do much with it. There are twinkle lights everywhere that come with the venue, too, so you don’t even have to worry about lighting or anything. It’s amazing.
Favorite Moment - I think my favorite moment was walking down the aisle. Walking down the aisle was so exhilarating and the true moment where everything came together. Everyone says to try and walk slowly down the aisle, and take it all in…and that is so hard to do! But it was amazing and beautiful, and remembering my husband’s face will be an image in my mind that I will hold onto forever.
Advice for Brides Currently Planning Their Wedding - I think the best advice I could give is to remember that your wedding is supposed to be about your love for one another, and if you always make that more important than everything else, you should be fine. Sure you’re allowed to have “the dress,” the flowers you want, the nice chairs, etc. But don’t ever let anything get so stressful or out of reach (or budget for that matter) that you forget why you are doing all of this: to marry the love of your life. SO, if you find yourself obsessing over or getting upset at silly things, remember, at the end of the day, those beautiful centerpieces that had to be just so will be taken apart, that expensive dress that you wore once will just hang in your closet, and those wedding invitations that you spent so much time (and money) on will end up in the trash. But what is going to last and what you will always have, is your love for one another and your marriage; and that’s all that really matters.
Thank you Cori and Oli for sharing your day with us! And thanks again to Kellie Warren-Underwood with KWU Weddings for these amazing pictures!
Venue: Paradise Cove
Photography: KWU Weddings (unless otherwise specified)
The big day finally arrives and after the months (possibly years) of planning, you don’t want anything to ruin your special moment. Why not walk on the safe side and be prepared with a wedding day survival kit? Below are just a few companies that have created kits for “in case of emergency.” However, if you’re on a tight budget, these kits are easy to DIY! Either you or a bridesmaid can pick up a variety of these items, then on the day of the wedding hand it over to someone you trust (i.e. Maid of Honor) so that you can relax, clear minded, prepared as you can be to survive those wedding day mini-emergencies.
Mindy Weiss Bridal Emergency Kit ($65) includes: Aspirin, baby powder, moisturizer, manicure set, deodorant, toothbrush,toothpaste, first aid kit, ponytail holders, lip balm, cotton balls, sewing kit, nail polish, Tampax and more
We love it when couples refuse to stick to cookie cutter ideas when it comes to their weddings. So, when we got in contact with Beth & Buck and found out about their rehearsal dinner, we just had to share! They thought outside of the box, bypassed the ordinary restaurant rehearsal dinner, and held their rehearsal dinner at none other than the bowling alley. Love it!
Better yet? Melissa & Beth were there to take some fun shots throughout the evening. Having your photographers take memorable pics of your rehearsal dinner? Love it more!
So much fun! Thanks again to Beth & Buck for sharing another special moment with us, and to Melissa & Beth for sharing these awesome pictures.
We love all the details in this wedding! There is just something so fabulous about a couple that is so obviously meant to be, and self-proclaimed “Midwesterners” Beth and Buck are just that. After being in the same social circle for a few years, it was a happy hour at the Plaza that brought Beth and Buck together. We spent the entire night talking, explains Beth, and we realized who had been right in front of us all these years. They had their first date at La Bodega the next week. We found that we had a lot in common, from our close relationships with our friends and family, to our love of life and living every day to the fullest. We truly became not only a couple but best friends.
Tell Us More!
Buck planned the proposal for several months, finding the perfect ring, finding the perfect time and place, and most importantly, asking for my parents blessing. I just thought we were going out to dinner, but Buck had other plans. On the way to dinner, Buck made a detour to Loose Park, and as we walked around the gorgeous park, Buck got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. To celebrate, we went back to the restaurant where we had our first date, La Bodega.
What Was Your Favorite Moment of the Day?
It is really hard to choose just one favorite moment from a day filled with amazing memories. But if we have to choose, our favorite moment was seeing each other for the first time. We decided early on that we wanted to see each other before the actual ceremony, so we planned a “first look” with just ourselves and our photographer. It was such a special moment for the two of us to share, and gave us a few moments together before all the craziness of the day began. We were able to just take in the day together, and laugh, cry, and imagine what our lives had in store for us from that day forward. And it was so special to have that all captured on film, to remind us of the emotions and feelings that we had at that time.
Why Did You Choose to Have Your Wedding Where You Did?
I grew up in Lawrence and had always pictured having my wedding in Lawrence. Plus Lawrence is such a fun town, so we knew that all our friends and family would have a great time during the weekend. The church that we got married at, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, was where my family has attended church for years, so we knew this was where we wanted to have our wedding ceremony. For our reception venue, we visited several places around Lawrence, and we knew we wanted a place where our guests would have a great and memorable time. Because most importantly, we wanted our guests to have a great time at the reception. From the minute we walked into Abe and Jake’s, we knew this was the place for our reception. It has such a fun vibe, amazing architecture, and a large venue with unique elements that just added to our day.
Are There Any Particularly Special Details You’d Like to Point Out?
I made all the jewelry for the bridesmaids and myself that we wore the day of the wedding, as well as totes for the bridesmaids, hairpieces for the flower girl and myself, and many other little tokens of thanks for the bridesmaids.
Buck and The Men
Buck is a huge baseball fan, so we knew we wanted to incorporate that into our wedding. The entire bridal party went a to nearby baseball field and we took photos there. We had a groom’s cake, made by Bucks sister, in the shape of a baseball.
I also made custom cufflinks for each of the groomsmen with their favorite sports team on them. Buck loves argyle, so all of the groomsmen wore argyle ties, and the ring bearers wore argyle socks. Buck’s wedding band even has an argyle pattern on it. Instead of having our two ring bearers carry pillows with the rings on them, we had them carry a sign that said, “Here Comes the Bride,” and when they walked back up the aisle after the wedding, the sign said, “Just Married.”
The Reception
We wanted our reception to be a big party, with lots of fun aspects for our guests to enjoy. We had a photo booth, where our guests could go in and take pictures with props, and they each got to take a copy of the photo with them as a favor from the wedding. Our photo booth also made a scrapbook for us of all the photos from the booth, and our guests got to sign it.
Instead of a traditional wedding cake, we had an interactive cupcake bar. Cupcakes have been a big trend in weddings, but we wanted to do something a little more unique than just cupcakes. We hired Cupcake Construction Co. They brought in a cupcake bar, so guests were able to choose their cupcake flavor, their icing flavor, and the toppings for their cupcake. This was a huge hit, from kids to adults, as everyone was able to make their own custom cupcake.
Do you have any advice for brides-to-be currently planning their wedding?
The wedding process can be very overwhelming, because there are so many details to consider and think about. Take things one step at a time. The first step we’d recommend is start booking the vendors that can only book one wedding a weekend, because these book up quickly. Then look at the things that are most important to you as a couple. We knew that really wanted a photo booth, so we booked that right after we booked the church and reception because it was important to us.
We also hired a wedding coordinator for the day of the wedding, and my father will tell you it was the best money they spent, because the coordinator took care of everything the day of the wedding. Our family and friends were able to enjoy the day, and didn’t have to worry about setting up, making sure vendors were there, and didn’t have to clean up at the end of the night. The day of the wedding some of our flowers didn’t arrive, but we didn’t know it until the next day because our coordinator had our spreadsheet with what the florist was supposed to bring, and she was able to have them bring the missing flowers without anyone knowing. That little detail could have really stressed us out the day of the wedding, but the coordinator was able to solve it and we never knew.
And lastly, talk to your friends that have been married before you. They are a great resource for things to do, things not to do, and what things they would have done differently. It can save you a lot of time if they’ve already done some of the legwork and research for you.
Great advice! Thanks so much, Beth & Buck, for sharing your wedding day with us. And a big thank you to Melissa & Beth for sharing these pictures with us! Great work, ladies!
