Every bride dreams of her perfect wedding and pictures her special day in a certain way. Why not pick one of America’s most romantic cities to get married in? For a classy and extravagantly romantic wedding, consider these cities for your celebration. Boasting low divorce rates and some of the most romantic restaurants and wedding venues, these cities should be at the top of your list when planning a chic city wedding.

5. Chicago

Coming in at number five, Chicago has the sixth-lowest divorce rate in the nation, with only 8% of its residents being divorced. It is also the nation’s second-most beautiful city, according to a poll taken by Best Tourism. For an intimate dinner, visit The Boarding House, one of the most romantic restaurants in the United States. The Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago is a great place for a modern and classy ceremony, and if you’re design savvy, you’ll fall in love with this world-renowned museum as a place for your nuptials.

4. Los Angeles

Home to the Marvimon, a famous historic downtown loft space, Los Angeles has some of the most romantic places to get married in the nation. Tie the knot with a 20-foot wall of succulents behind you. While in the city, don’t forget to dine at Acabar in West Hollywood for a romantic dinner you will remember for a lifetime. Los Angeles is also ranked as one of the United States’ most romantic cities. With a low divorce rate of 8.6%, your marriage stands a good chance of lasting in this beautiful city.

3. Boston

Being romantic, beautiful and an overall great place to live, it isn’t surprising that Boston comes in at number three for the most romantic places to get married. As the sixth-happiest city in the nation, Boston will win you over with its charm. And at an 8.6% rate of divorce, the same as Los Angeles, couples can enjoy many sites and have a wide variety of entertainment options in this historic city. With the overwhelming friendliness of Bostonians, there is certainly something to be said about the second-happiest and second-most romantic city on our list. Check out more destinations in the Boston area Here.

2. New York City

Boasting the lowest divorce rate among major cities in the nation, it makes sense that New York City is on the short list for best places to get married. Grab a bite to eat at El Comedor at El Quinto Pino for the ultimate romantic experience. Consider getting married at The New York Public Library for a unique wedding ceremony, especially if you’re a bibliophile. Considered to be one of the United States’ most romantic cities, you won’t regret saying “I do” in the Big Apple.

1. San Francisco

San Francisco has been dubbed by Best Tourism as the most beautiful city in America. Also ranking as one of the happiest cities in the nation, it’s no surprise that San Francisco is at the top of our list. The 9% divorce rate is well below average, and the venue and dining options are incredible. Go enjoy a lovely dinner at the nostalgic Tosca Cafe before you tour the vast array of available venues. One of the best is the James Leary Flood Mansion, a 1915 Renaissance-style mansion fit for a king.

Choosing a location for your wedding is a very important decision. Make sure to look at the atmosphere of the city, the available venue and dining options, and any sentimental meaning there may be. Make your memories special and unique to the two of you by choosing a location that fits your style of romance!

Unique Wedding Photo Ideas

A woman’s wedding day is typically the most important day in her life, and therefore it should be the most memorable. Since wedding photos are still the most popular form of commemorating and documenting this celebratory occasion, adding some creative, unique approaches to these photographs will only enhance the momentous experience.
One idea for a pair of his and her wedding photos is to have the photographer shoot a picture of the bride’s veil and any train she might have from the back, using black and white film. For the groom, a close-up shot of his tie in color against a totally black and white background will make the color pop. This pair of photos allows the couple to commemorate their special day while capturing the meaning of their choice in accessories.

There are also a number of ideas based on the season of a wedding that make for interesting photo options for the bride and groom. If the wedding is in winter, perhaps a photograph of the happy couple dressed in mostly black against a snowy background, maybe at the site of their proposal, would make for an interesting, not to mention memorable, photograph to look back on down the road. Another romantic idea for winter features the happy couple trying to catch snowflakes.

For a spring wedding, a photograph set in an area featuring a large array of blossoming flowers or even something a little bit crazy like the butterfly exhibit at a local zoo, with butterflies fluttering over and around the happy couple as they are photographed somewhat candidly or seriously, will help mark the occasion. Another photo idea features the groom kneeling in front of his bride, offering her the wedding bouquet, with the photo focusing mostly on the bouquet itself.

If the wedding is scheduled for summer, maybe a beach photo or a summer sport the couple enjoys, like baseball, is the way to go. A visit to a playground, especially if it is a significant spot for the couple, can provide the perfect backdrop, with the bride and groom taking turns pushing each other on the swings or playing on other equipment. Like the spring ideas, these photos can also be done both candidly and seriously. These type of photos are fun for the couple to look back on and smile at while remembering the most important day of their lives.

Autumn weddings, especially late autumn weddings when the leaves have fallen, can be enhanced with photos taken in a park or wooded area against trees without leaves. Another choice might be to incorporate the brilliant colors of autumn — the oranges and reds — by perhaps posing the bride and groom laying in a pile of leaves together.

Other Romantic Ideas

If the couple will be dancing the traditional first dance, a beautiful photograph can be captured with most of the room dark and the slightest bit of light shining on the couple as they dance on the floor alone. An alternative to this photo might be to photograph the couple and have only them in color against a black and white dance floor and room.

For fairy tale fan couples, a great idea is posing in a Romeo and Juliet scene, perhaps from an elaborate staircase in the wedding location or even a staircase significant to the couple, or of the bride or groom individually. Another storybook inspiration idea comes from Cinderella, posing the groom close up from behind, holding one of the bride’s shoes as he chases after her — a bit blurred in the distance in her wedding gown. Another idea is a photograph of the bride and groom’s shoes, with or without their feet inside.

Sharing Your Love Story on Your Wedding Day

Tell All in Your Wedding Programs

If your love story is an interesting or unique one, sit down with your spouse-to-be and write it out for the world to read. Publish the tale in your wedding program for your guests to read as they anxiously await your nuptials. This is especially fun for guests who do not already know how you met or the journey that led up to your wedding day.

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, a beautifully arranged photo collage chronicling your love story will write the book for you and your future spouse. For some couples who have known each other since elementary school, the collage may include some of those first special memories, perhaps on the playground or kindergarten graduation. Other couples met at their place of employment, some even serving together in the military. Sharing these pictures of the two of you working or serving together can enhance the specialness of the occasion.

Arrange the photos near the guestbook or maybe on the walls of the reception hall. You can also take this idea a step further by creating a video showing off your photo journey, set to a song which is somehow meaningful.

Inspiring Invitations

If there is something significant in your love journey, design or choose a style of wedding invitations to commemorate this aspect of your journey. For example, one couple met in kindergarten and went through their entire school career together. While they were each other’s first kiss as youngsters, they did not become a couple until their senior year of high school. When the groom-to-be proposed, he did it at the swings on the playground of their old elementary school. In their invitations, they included a picture of them as children playing together and a photo of the two of them as adults on the swings in the same place.
This idea can work in a multitude of ways, even without photographs. If you met someplace special, maybe a map of the place you met at can be the background image for the invitations. You can also add a level of creativity by adding pins on the map of special places where you spent time together as your romance grew.

Decorate With Your Story

Some couples have trouble deciding how to decorate for their reception. What better way to decorate than with pieces that tell the story of your journey of love? For the couple mentioned previously who met in elementary school, for example, aspects reminiscent of a playground make for romantic decoration choices. One couple who met working at an old-fashioned-style diner decided to decorate using items reminiscent of the 1950s, complete with a 1957 Chevy outside the reception hall — the perfect place for the wedding party to pose for photographs.

When you tie the knot, convey to the world the special journey that led you both down the aisle. There is no better way to celebrate your life and love together than by telling your love story in whatever way you choose to tell it.

How to Create a Social Media Frenzy for Your Chosen Wedding Dress

The next best thing to showing off your engagement ring as a new bride-to-be is showing off your chosen gown for the upcoming occasion. Here are some tips guaranteed to make your wedding gown go viral among your friends and family:

 Instagram

Chrissy Teigen posted an Instagram photo featuring her posing in her elegant Vera Wang gown after marrying John Legend in Lake Como, Italy. The post quickly went viral, with everyone wanting to see the dress and how the blushing bride looked wearing it.

If you want to feel like a celebrity, post an Instagram shot of you trying on your chosen gown, much like Teigen after her wedding. If you are superstitious and don’t want to take the chance of the groom sneaking a peek of your viral photo, consider a photo featuring only the gown or with the gown simply draped over you in some way.

Facebook

Announcing both your dress and your engagement at the same time can create quite the frenzy, particularly over the social media giant Facebook. It is likely most of the people you want to see your aspiring viral post are Facebook users over other social media sites. This will make it easy to share your message with the world — at least your little corner of it.

Post a photo of you in your chosen dress, perhaps with the date of your engagement across the photo, and tag all the people you want to be certain to see it. Within moments, you will begin receiving messages that friends “liked” your post, and before you know it, you will be a top story on the newsfeeds of your friends and family members.

Twitter

If you have a large Twitter following, simply post a photo of yourself in your wedding gown or beside or holding your chosen gown, or even just a link to a photo, with a simple tweet such as, “Ready to tie the knot.” Before you know it, all of your friends and family who “follow” you will be retweeting your message all over cyberspace.

Google+

If you have a circle of family and friends, even acquaintances, on Google+, consider sharing something similar to your “Ready to tie the knot” tweet on Twitter. While many are still not familiar with utilizing this particular social media platform, it is estimated to service 120 million users, so there is bound to be someone you know with whom you can share your exciting news.

Put It All Together

The best strategy is to make each message identical or nearly identical so you present a uniform splash when you begin posting your gown. You want everyone you know to see the gorgeous gown you’ve chosen, but you don’t want them confused, thinking you are still trying to decide. Therefore, when you post a photo, use the same one on each site. Release all of your posts and tweets through an app like Post-Planner or something similar so everything hits the airwaves at approximately the same moment. If people are connected to you on more than one social media site, this will only motivate them to share your info on a multiple-fold basis.

While you may not be a real celebrity, for the period of your engagement and on your wedding day, it is OK to be the center of your friends’ attention. Feel special and glamorous for a day, or even a few days, while all of your friends and family share in your joy, congratulating you on your engagement and commenting on your wedding dress fashion sense. 

There are so many fabulous wedding venue options in Boston. We at Bridepower have taken a good look at all the possibilities and have compiled this list, in no particular order, of the absolute best places to book for your big day. From small weddings to large affairs, we have you covered. The top ten picks below cater to every style wedding and include some hidden gems that you may not have known about! Enjoy.

The Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library Wedding Venue
Photo credit: bpl.org

The Boston Public Library has become a popular choice for a unique space to hold wedding ceremonies and receptions. It embodies all that is elegant, timeless, and historic. This is the perfect venue for the bride who wants to have an elaborate formal affair. The library also has a variety of event intimate spaces for those brides who want to have a smaller wedding.

Alden Castle

Alden Castle Wedding Venue
Photo credit: longwoodevents.com

Alden Castle is simply stunning. This Tudor-style castle oozes romance with large grand spaces with by soaring ceiling, wood inlays, and gorgeous chandeliers. This venue is fantastic for a large wedding, and really brings the old world charm to the big day. There is a vintage ballroom, a garden room, a wine cellar, and modern club from which to choose your perfect setting.

The Boston Opera House

The Boston Opera House Venue
Photo credit: ticketingbox.com

When you have your wedding at The Boston Opera House, all the world’s a stage, literally. After a staggering $50 million in renovations in 2004, the theater can house large weddings. Or, you can have a smaller, intimate gathering in one of the historical lobbies. And don’t forget about an astonishing dinner on the stage! Your wedding day will be a day you and your guests will never forget.

Pier 4 at the Courageous Sailing Center

Pier 4 Courageous Sailing Center Venue
Photo credit: caperscatering.com

Pier 4 at the Courageous Sailing Center is not a Boston venue that everyone is aware of. It is what we call a hidden gem for an intimate, yet elegant wedding venue. The non-profit center normally functions as a family recreational facility, but it also hosts weddings year round. You will be astonished by the breathtaking, unobstructed views of Boston Harbor and the city skyline. This really is undiscovered territory, so be unique and check it out of you are a water lover!

Elite Private Yachts

Seaport Elite II Private Yacht Venue
Photo credit: eventup.com

With Elite Private Yachts, land and sea lovers alike will be impressed with this wedding venue. Create a one-of-a-kind day aboard your own private yacht. With its sensational views and completely customizable options, the Seaport Elite is Boston’s most exclusive dining and entertainment experience. An intimate wedding event aboard the Seaport Elite will be an affair to remember.

Hampshire House

Hampshire House Wedding Venue
Photo credit: hampshirehouse.com

The Hampshire House is one of Boston’s premier wedding venues and reception locations. Relax amidst comfortable luxury exquisite setting that will make you feel like royalty. Whether you are envisioning an intimate champagne brunch or a large, elaborate evening reception, the Hampshire House will fit the bill. This stunning house is among one of the area’s most prestigious venues.

Omni Parker House

Omni Parker House Venue
Photo credit: omnihotels.com

The historic Omni Parker House is very well known as one of the most popular wedding venues in Boston, and for good reason! It has been hosting couples since 1855. People of all ages can enjoy the modern amenities mixed with lovely historic charm. One of the main draws is the balcony, where the bride and groom, as well as the guests can take beautiful photos with the landscape of Boston in the background. The famous rooftop ballroom, the only one in the city, occupies the entire 15th floor!

State Room (Boston, MA)

State Room Venue
Photo credit: longwoodevents.com

The State Room is known for it absolutely stunning floor to ceiling windows and four different rooms to choose from for your wedding reception, each providing guests with a breathtaking view of Boston. Contemporary couples love this venue as it has a modern feel. For large or small affairs, it has made our list for views of a lifetime. For six years in a row, the State Room has been awarded “Best Wedding Reception” by the Know Magazine.

Artists for Humanity EpiCenter

Artists for Humanity EpiCenter Venue
Photo credit: afhboston.org

The EpiCenter is another hidden gem and awesome pick of ours. It is perfect for an eco-friendly couple, as it holds the title of Boston’s only LEED Platinum building. The super modern, industrial-looking space is a able to house a small wedding or large elaborate weddings. An added bonus is a garage-inspired glass door that can open to a 1,200 square-foot courtyard!

Venezia Waterfront Banquet Facility & Restaurant

Venezia Waterfront Banquet Venue
Photo credit: veneziaboston.com

The Venezia Waterfront Banquet Facility & Restaurant is a taste of Venice or Italy right around Boston! This is another venue that may not be that well known, but we love it! Every bride dreams of the perfect, romantic reception site that will bring to life her dream wedding. It boasts a fantastic ballroom overlooking the water, with unforgettable views of the Boston skyline. Sunset weddings are to die for and the venue is flexible about the number of guests it can accommodate.

Have you been married in Boston recently? If so, where did you have your wedding at? Would you recommend the venue to others? Please share your thoughts with our readers below!

Don’t wait too late to start shopping for your dream dress!

Give yourself plenty of time to complete your look before the wedding day!

Many brides make the huge mistake of procrastinating or waiting until the last minute to look for a wedding gown. They are under the assumption that it is a quick and easy task; when in fact, it is far from it. If you want to look your best and have the dress of your dreams, it is of the utmost importance that you shop for your wedding dress well in advance. How far in advance you ask? The answer is at least nine months, but a year is even better. Below are the top reasons to go get that dress early and in advance!

Allow enough time to find your dream dress: Some brides think that finding the right dress for them will be a quick thing to do. One trip, and you are finished. Maybe this does happen for a few ladies, but for the most part you are looking at more than one trip and days of searching. Also, consider your schedule. If you work full-time, you are going to have to search on the weekends, which in part could take even a month. You want to take your time and find a wedding gown you love. Never settle for less.

Allow enough time for it to arrive on time: It is so important to know that if you order a gown, it can take up to six months to receive it. This is especially true for custom wedding gowns that can take even longer! So, be sure and order your dress early to avoid stress.

Allow enough time for alterations: Never underestimate how long alterations may take. But you can almost bet that you will need some after your dress comes in. If they are extensive it could take several weeks to get them done. You need to factor this into your timeline. If you wait until the last minute to order or purchase the dress, the alterations may not be able to be done on time.

Allow time to accessorize the dress perfectly: This is a step in completing your bridal ensemble that some brides completely overlook. Once your dress arrives, you want to give yourself sufficient time to pick out the bridal accessories such as shoes, jewelry, handbag, etc. This may take some time to find the perfect compliment to your gown. Rushing to throw together a look is something you want to avoid.

It’s no secret that wedding planning can be stressful! How can you beat the heat?

It’s perfectly natural to be stressed out more and more as your wedding day approaches; however, you shouldn’t be!

You know what they say, stressed is just desserts spelled backwards. Short of scheduling multiple days of cake tastings though, how can you deal with wedding day and wedding planning stress? Tackle it like any other major project! Take a lot of time for yourself, appreciate the progress that you have made and have a sense of humor! We will look at some common wedding planning and wedding day scenarios and try to teach you that it’s easy as pie to start laughing instead of crying.

See also: 5 Tips for Staying Calm When Wedding Planning

It’s your wedding day and not only is it raining all over your expensive and imported flower arrangements but your feet seem to have grown two sizes and you cannot fit into the perfect shoes you ordered and had your gown fitting in. Wedding day disasters are around every corner and while they always seem like the literal end of the world think back to every other time you thought that. How about that time in junior high when you gave a speech to the entire student body and your underwear was sticking out of your pants? It literally felt like the end of the world then too and you might have begged your parents to let you skip school the next day but they always forced you to go and miraculously, the world turned on. When you feel yourself getting into a situation that only slightly falls short of a world war level crisis, remember to take a step back. Maybe have a funny memory on hand. A good memory to pick would be something that used to seem so incredibly embarrassing or important to you and think about how you feel now. Prom was also one of those nights touted as being once in a lifetime and maybe you never found that perfect dress or your hairdo wasn’t as cool as it had looked in the magazine. It doesn’t matter to you at all today and so will it be on your wedding day. Plans are made to fall apart, so when it feels like you just can’t go on without that one thing remember that in a few years you probably won’t even remember that one thing. You don’t need flowers and you could walk down the aisle barefoot, if it doesn’t turn into a funny story then it will be completely forgotten altogether. What you won’t forget is the commitment that you are making on that day and that’s what you should put your energy towards.

Everyday you talk to so many people but who should you talk to about your wedding?

When you have questions or concerns about your upcoming wedding, you should always be able to turn to either your mom or fiance for sound advice.

When you’re surfing Pinterest on your lunch break at work and your friendly and understanding boss walks by is it okay to get her opinion on centerpieces? What about the person behind you in line at the fabric store who has done the same DIY for her wedding? Or even just a stranger who is waiting in line at the bank with you. You’ve got wedding fever but who should you infect and is it okay to talk about everything with everyone? We’ve got a helpful guide to help you break it down.

Your fiance. He’s your go-to guy. That’s why you’re marrying him after all! The two of you are in constant communication. He texts you a picture of him eating the lunch you made him and you call him on your way to the gym after work. You are talking all the time but could you be talking about the wedding too much? A good rule to follow to keep from turning into a bridezilla is to forget that this is not just your day but his and your family and friend’s day as well. You definitely want him to be as involved as he wants to be, so don’t assume that he doesn’t want to be at all but also respect his boundaries. If he’s not a details guy but he likes to help you make the big decisions then he’s not the person you should be forwarding articles to all day about centerpiece design. You’ll get frustrated in his lack of interest and he could become weary of being more involved in the planning process. Talk about what your limits are and encourage him to be open with you when he doesn’t feel like talking.

Your mother. When he doesn’t feel like talking, there are other people you have to have on speed dial! Hopefully your mother is someone you talk to often enough anyways and hopefully she is just as excited and wants just as much to help you with your big day as you want her to. Mom has been helping you pick out clothes, steering you away from bad haircuts and guiding you with decisions for as long as you can remember so she might be a better choice for hours looking at wedding magazines. She can see the difference between ecru and ivory and she appreciates that fondant never looks as good as it tastes.

Neutrals are hard colors to remember but when used correctly they can be hard to forget!

A neutral color theme to your wedding is a safe way to make sure decor and outfits match accordingly.

There’s something about the word neutral that makes you want to just glaze over it. You know that if something is neutral, then it must be uninteresting. Without a strong opinion either way it seems like something neutral has nothing to say at all but when it comes to neutral colors, that is so far from the case! It’s kind of like the idea of negative space–that it’s not just about the lines and the drawings but the space inside and around the image which helps to frame it. Neutrals help you say what you want to say by acting as a frame or accent. It takes some clever tricks to use neutrals effectively and correctly but when you do, they can make for an incredibly classy and elegant wedding.

See also: The meaning of colors in your wedding

Definitions of neutral colors can vary but think about colors you might use to paint the wall of a quiet and reflective room. Shades of white that veer towards yellow like ivory, ecru and eggshell or nude colors such as beige or taupe. These colors actually had a really big moment last spring when neons were also very trendy because they were the perfect balance and complement to the highlighter yellows and iridescent pinks that were a staple of every runway. While the neon trend might have quieted down a little bit, the spotlight is definitely still on neutrals! In fashion neutrals have been great for accessories and accent pieces. Nude nails will always be loved by fashion editors while the color of choice for purchasing sky-high Louboutins is still a very sage neutral.

Neutrals are a natural fit for weddings because they are very close to white on the color spectrum. Don’t be fooled into thinking this will make for a boring wedding. On the contrary, neutrals such as sand or earth tones will give a very complacent and homey feel to the ceremony and decor. One of the great things about neutrals is that you can’t really go wrong or overboard with them. You can use as many neutrals as you want without worrying about them clashing or being overwhelming. The more neutrals you use, the more the white of your wedding will stand out. If you choose to use less neutrals you actually have to be more careful to use them effectively because they can be very powerful.

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: it gets hard to manage all your wedding photos. This new app makes real time sharing fast, easy and fun.

Everlapse App for Brides

It seems like there is a new way to share your photos everyday, there just isn’t enough time to even look at all of the pictures. While hashtags on Twitter and Instagram make your wedding accessible internationally in real time, what about for your memories? It gets clunky to scroll through hundreds of tagged photos, especially ones that are incorrectly marked. Chronology becomes confusing and confounding and the entire process seems harder than you could have imagined. A new app called Everlapse wants to take care of that problem for you by letting you create instantaneous wedding slideshows.

Don’t be fooled by the slideshow aspect, it’s not your old uncle’s slide reel of his safari! These slideshows move fast, can incorporate music and isn’t a project you need to put together on your own. One of the coolest features about this new app is that it still incorporates the ease of sharing and the aggregation of photos related to your wedding but it helps you organize them in some kind of cohesive way. You could group pictures together to create different slideshows of different events or moments in your wedding, you could group them together based on your guests or you could even group them in a way that tells a story. Everlapse gives you a lot of control over the presentation of the photos but it doesn’t need you to gather them together. Guests and users of the app can submit photos by using the hashtag #everlapse or by sending in a twitpic. The app is only two weeks old but support for Instagram is also in the process meaning you will have access to all pictures taken at and of your wedding. Another neat feature of Everlapse is the control you have over these slideshows. You can edit the pictures, and while there aren’t filters or complex manipulations (yet?) you can add cute little drawings or effects. For now it is on the adorable side of editing and manipulation but it is fun and functional which is a good place to start.

One of our favorite features is that it not only a place for social input but you can also generate output. Friends can contribute to as well as view your slideshows but they can also follow you. Any app that has implications outside of wedding planning is always bound to do well for itself and this one has already got us sold! Start looking for our slideshows!