Glamour's 20 Wedding Do's and Don'ts

We here at Flaming Tulle are on holiday break, but that doesn't mean our minds aren't on blogging. It just means we're not sitting in front of computers. Vicky has parents, in-laws, and a toddler to deal with. I found out a week ago that I have to move to D.C. by the end of January so I'm in the throes of moving madness.

But weddings are still on our minds, at least part-time. While sitting around this morning half working, half waiting for maintenance guys to pop in, half flipping through tv channels, I came across Glamour's 20 Wedding Do's and Don'ts on the Style channel. While it's partly a montage of celebrities and celebrity designers and quippy sound bites, they're actually giving some good advice. Don't make your bridesmaids spend a lot of money on ugly dresses. Did you know that even Vera Wang has a closet full of ugly bridesmaids dresses? Make sure your veil doesn't look like mosquito netting. If you splurge on your dress, make sure you don't skimp in another important aspect of the wedding. One person noted that a $15K wedding dress and a cash bar are incredibly tacky. That same person noted that men should buy their tuxedoes: If you're grown up enough to get married, you're grown up enough to own a tuxedo. (They can be affordable! For serious! They're often cheaper than wedding dresses.)

And of course, what celebrity wedding discussion would be complete without mention of one of my absolute favorite wedding dresses, the Gwen Stefani gown. It's still tops on everyone's list for all-time great gowns. It's beautiful and actually quite big and pouffy while still complementing the style of the woman who's wearing it.

If you get a hankering for one of those end of the year countdown shows, Glamour's 20 Wedding Do's and Don'ts is an entertaining hour.

Things are Not Always What They Seem

This dress just won an award for design. It's beautifully detailed don't you think? Do you know what it is made from?




Would you be shocked if I said it was toilet paper? It just goes to show that weddings don't have to be uber-serious affairs. If the dress of your dreams just happens to be made out of some Mr. Whipple-endorsed product then so be it. Congratulations to Hanah Kim for winning Cheap Chic Weddings T.P. Dress Design contest!

I for one, am amazed at these creations. You can check our more winners from past years and runners up here.

Holiday Wedding Favors

Favors, not thoroughly condoned here at Flaming Tulle (we feel they can be unnecessary items that just make you crazy and spend extra money), are never the less a booming industry all their own in the wedding world. In fact, there is a whole line of just holiday themed favors out there too. Here are just a few. We know it's late in the game for this holiday season but perhaps next year?

1. Make a CD of holiday music. You can buy Cd's in the holiday colors of your choosing or even order them from sites like this. You can design the music, covers and the actual CD. It's actually a not so horrible idea.

2. Snowflake guest soap anyone? Or how about coasters? Find them here.

3. Visit the Stocking Factory for custom ornaments and thank yous.



4. OK I just don't get this one. Best in Favors has a cheese grater? Call it 'One Grate Love'. That's um... cheesy.

5. Bells, tiny Menorahs, Snowmen and more can be cut out or put on the table in ornament and figurine form. Done.

6. Cookies, candy and truffles in bags or boxes in your holiday's colors can make the occasion and table favorable. No pun intended. OK maybe just a little bit.

7. Cookie cutters tied up with string. Or ribbon. Whatever. It's your choice and favor!

8. Votive candles can even be holidayized into favors for your wedding.

9. Go cheap and give people candy canes! They come in bulk right? Be really cheap and get the tiny ones that come in strings like banks give out. Ha!

10. Just forget favors all together and get this cake topper instead. It says it all.

Wedding How-To Books

When I'm stuck for inspiration on what to write here I turn to the New York Times wedding pages. All those fancy society weddings make me feel so deliciously snarky. Plus they have a pretty good archive of "field note" articles pertaining to wedding planning, like this one:

Books Strew the Path to the Altar
By ABBY ELLIN
Published: March 11, 2007
To be sure she is hitched without a glitch, Sarah Cartwright has spent $150 for books on advice, planning and etiquette for her wedding on June 7.

Being a budget-conscious bride who's also a book-ophile, I was conflicted about that $150 price tag. I'd love to spend that much money on books. I myself purchased a couple books to help get me started with my planning. (I literally had no idea how to start planning a wedding.) But your head will spin and nothing will get planned if you take every bit of advice literally. If you are a book person on a budget you can get away with one or two books, and then everything else you need to know is instinct. Or for free online somewhere. (I've always thought that how-to-save-money books should start with the line, "If you're on a budget, then I hope you got this book from the library or used bookstore instead of paying full retail price for it.")

There's no question that wedding book publishing has become part of the Wedding Industry, so much so that there are anti-bride guide books and books criticizing the other books. And any celebrity can slap her name and picture on a book and make the reader feel like intimate celebrity wedding secrets are being shared.

My books. Someone gave me a wedding crafts book. I purchased an Anti-Bride guide and "Everything Weddings on a Budget," both of which I recently gave away to another bride. I also bought "Emily Post on Etiquette" and "Emily Post on Weddings," just for the olde-timey fun of it. It seems like a fairly paltry collection compared to some brides, but they provided more information than I ended up using.

What wedding books are you using?

Book Review- Gone with the Groom

We don’t review many items here at Flaming Tulle unless you count wedding favor ideas. So when author Janice A. Thompson’s PR people asked if I would like to review her latest book, Gone with the Groom, I thought- Whew! A post topic I don’t have to come up with myself. Ha. Really, I thought what a wonderful idea! I love reading and I love weddings so a book about a wedding mystery might be fun!

First things first, don’t read the acknowledgements. I did and I quickly figured out the story line and outcome of the book. I also noticed that all the chapter titles were song titles and that this book is serious on sap. There’s lots of ‘feel the love’ goodness as well as ‘I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family....’ stuff going on here. Annie the main character and MOB (mother of the bride) is quite possibly the most laid back MOB I’ve ever heard about. She is the quiet in the storm when the groom goes missing and the wedding plans begin to fall apart just like her daughter Brandi falls apart. A bride would be hard pressed to find a better MOB than Annie. I enjoyed the little tidbits of advice she gives to other MOB’s throughout the book a lot. All of it is very good and accurate.

This Christian-based book is high on fluff and good feelings. I struggled with how some parts of the book seemed unrealistic, but overall the book’s pace is quick and the writing is good. I read a lot of mysteries and I’ve read books by bigger authors (Patterson) whose characters become mythic in proportions as the writing goes downhill with each formulaic twist and turn. Gone with the Groom does not do that. The plot is fun and the characters are enjoyable and it will easily pass your time. Gone with the Groom is the second installment in Thompson’s collection of Annie Patterson mysteries. Her books remind me of Diane Mott Davidson’s a bit and I found myself liking Annie purely based on the fact that she reminded me a lot of Davidson’s mystery solving caterer Goldy. I devour those books like candy so Thompson is in good company creating a character akin to Goldy.

Gone with the Groom is a fun, easy read. It’s engaging and might help a bride or two relax and take a breather from all her own planning hullabaloo. I recommend picking up a copy if you like mysteries on the light side of things.

You can purchase this book and other wedding books here.

Thank-you Notes and Zazzle

I have a confession to make. I still have five thank-you notes left to send. I don't know why I'm procrastinating on these, but I'll probably get around to writing them out this afternoon. I just ordered my holiday cards and I vowed all the thank-you notes would be sent before any holiday cards.

I'd been trying to get custom-printed cards made from one of my favorite wedding photos. I tried two different companies, Qoop and Snapfish, and I wasn't happy with either one. Thank goodness I bought just one of each card to test. It was costly, but less costly than getting 50 cards I'd be unhappy with. I resigned myself to buying plain old cards or stationary.

But I wanted something custom-made. I don't know why it was so important to me. It just was. What's a girl to do? I turned to Zazzle.com for stamps. I used a photo of my bouquet and turned it into a beautifal stamp to use on all my thank-you notes. The stamp is a small thing, but it meant a lot to me. So my mom was the only person who noticed. At least someone did. Buying the stamps was a little gift to myself. I worked hard to pull off a great wedding. I deserved my own stamp.

And in the end I found some beautiful stationary in a book store in San Francisco's Japantown. Everyone still got a nice personal note. (Well, everyone except those five pending.)