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!

Attending weddings can start to be a strain on your wallet. Here’s how to give a thoughtful and inexpensive gourmet gift basket sure to please any bride’s heart and stomach.

If you’ve been following the news lately, or read the previous article, then you might know about the brides who so rudely attacked a guest for bringing them a gift basket of delicious treats. For the guest it was a thoughtful and inexpensive way to show the brides how much he appreciated their invitation, but to the brides it was a cheap affront. We love the idea of the gift basket and though we try not to take sides based on hearsay so we’ve decided to construct our own gift basket. For the foodie bride who is interested in gourmet treats this gift basket will probably be the perfect post wedding or honeymoon treat. We’re going to try to find the right balance between inexpensive and thoughtful and hopefully the bride you gift this basket too will be much more receptive!

See also: Edible wedding favors for your bridal party

For starters, the key to any good gift basket is of course the basket. There are many companies and services who can provide you with the basket, the complex wrapping and the presentation as long as you provide them with the items you would like to include in the gift basket. There are also many tutorials online to help you learn how to find the perfect basket and how to then properly place the items inside so it looks professional. A wicker basket that could double as a picnic basket once all the treats have been gobbled is probably a great idea or a basket large enough for picking wildflowers or bringing home fresh fruit. The key to winning this gift is to be as reusable as possible since most food items are imminently perishable and won’t be around to serve as a memento of your appreciation. After you have found the perfect basket, decide how much money you want to spend. $50 is probably a good median amount (and if that seems exorbitant remember that your plate of food at a wedding is usually around $80-$100) but you could get away with less and of course more is definitely appreciated. You want to proportion the sum to one or two big ticket items that will definitely show the thought put into this project and bonus points if they can be reused or kept. Dish towels are a great purchase, you might even be able to get them monogrammed or personalized.

Shop local markets and online to find foodie inspiration and if you include a heartfelt note you will go down in wedding guest hall of fame.

While fall is a time to kick back and relax it can also be the perfect time to craft! If you’ve got a wedding coming up, don’t waste these valuable moments.

Making candles for your wedding is a fun, manageable DIY project that your friends will certainly help with.

There are details in planning a wedding that you would have never thought even cost money, let alone how much. These are the details that make a wedding perfect and these are the details that you might not remember too.

How do you decide how much money to spend on these tiny details? They are important but not long lasting so it can be a difficult conundrum. A great way to solve this problem is to do it yourself! When these small details are handmade they not only take on an added dimension of sentimentality but they also become much less expensive. A DIY project is great for those rainy fall days or those that are still too hot to enjoy some fun in the sun. A lot of DIY projects can be done on the beach or on your porch. Get your future partner involved or call the girls because this can turn into one really good night.

Dipping anything in gold glitter paint is the DIY equivalent of wrapping something in bacon. If you are using candles as a way of adding ambience, warmth or light to your wedding you might want to consider coating them in gold glitter paint or dipping the votives in gold glitter paint for an added dimension of color and texture. Gold glitter paint will take anything from blah to luxe in the time it takes to dry. If you don’t have something in mind that you want to dip in gold glitter paint it might be a good time to hit up some local craft stores or discount lots. Find small wooden animals, feathers, keys – any detail that really speaks to you. Once it is dipped in gold glitter paint it will be the perfect addition to the bouquet of flowers, it will round out the tablescape, it will serve as an escort card or who knows? Maybe it will even turn into a truly unique and glamorous cake topper!

Another easy DIY is candles. Candlemaking might seem like an art that died with witch-hunting in Puritan America but you don’t need to become a candlestick maker to present your guests or deck out your table with ombre candlesticks. You just need some acrylic paint and a cotton ball to turn ordinary candlesticks extraordinary. They will look specially ordered or exclusively made but only you will know how cheap and easy they are!

Summertime is not just a busy time for brides but also for their friends! If you’ve got a lot of weddings to attend this season look to this feature for some friendly advice.

It is considered to be unacceptable to discuss the cost of a wedding, so be careful who you discuss your wedding costs with.

If you’ve been following the news recently you may have been in stitches over one Canadian guest’s major wedding faux pas. Invited to a former colleague’s wedding the man thought he would play it cool by putting together a gift basket that incorporated some of his favorite treats, especially those from childhood. Thinking his plan charming he gifted the two brides some fluff, some snacks and some sweets in a well done up wicker basket. He attended the wedding with his girlfriend and after having what he thought was a nice time, woke up to find an angry text message from one of the brides. She informed him that she was gluten intolerant and therefore could not partake in many of the snacks he had so thoughtfully included. He apologized and thanked the two brides again for a wonderful night but what ensued was a text message barrage that started with one of the brides asking for a gift receipt and ended in her partner berating the man for being so “cheap” and thoughtless. The bride made the point that she spent close to $200 on the man and his date and she felt they deserved a better present.

If this article doesn’t come as shock and affront to common decency, then this article is for you. For the bride: it is never alright to even talk about the price of your wedding, the cost of each person attending your wedding or about the caliber of wedding gifts. While most people invited to the wedding are likely to bring a gift of some kind and registry’s exist for a reason as a bride you must always be open to the possibility of receiving some gifts that you may not be too enthusiastic about. In the case of this bride has she seen the gesture as sweet, literally and metaphorically, she may have reacted quite differently. In his defense the man mentions that he chose those particular snacks for their sentimental value and that there were many other items in the gift basket as well that the bride chose to ignore. While the gift basket may not equal the exorbitant price of his meal at this wedding, it shouldn’t have to. As a bride you budget for your wedding but as a guest you might not have any or a very small budget for your gift.

Known for sexy and feminine style, this latest collection definitely delivers that Alvina Valenta flair.

Alvina Valenta wedding dress designs are unique, typically showcasing tight fitting gowns with flaring frills.

Alvina Valenta, sold exclusively by JLM Couture, is a collection of dresses that are known for being modern, sophisticated and above all: feminine. The essence of Alvina Valenta has always been a refined and fitted silhouette with dainty and romantic details. The gowns in this collection are usually sought after for their impressive designs and one of a kind couture signature. These gowns are high in drama, but they won’t cause any at your wedding. They are for the modern-day princess who can look glamorous but also regal and classy at the same time. Alvina Valenta gowns prefer luxurious fabrics such as waterlike silk or decadent tulle and they more frequently opt for fitted rather than flared. The designer behind the amazing line is Jessica Williams who finds it important to reference the past and classic beauty while continually looking forward. Her Spring 2013 collection definitely encapsulated that feeling perfectly.

Currently available for viewing in catalogue form the 2013 Spring collection from Alvina Valenta features a doe eyed blonde who has an arresting gaze yet demure look. Styled with lustrous locks elaborately plaited or wildly flowing, the model really embodies the kind of bride who would be drawn to this collection. She is a unique woman with luxury tastes, and in those gowns she is satisfied by their intricate details and attention to quality. There is definitely more of a range in this collection as one of the first looks is an ivory gown with a sweetheart neckline. Veering a little more saccharine than the usual Alvina Valenta gown the addition of this dress to this collection makes it more widely accessible to a traditional bride who is looking for a modern update. This gown is still unique in that it is slashed with silk to create a faux tiered effect and the organza is layered asymmetrically to give the A-Line a more fitted feel. Another stand out for this collection would be the tulle ball gown. Williams has notoriously eschewed the ball gown silhouette time and again in favor of a fitted style but this is a ball gown with the rare quality of sex appeal. Probably due to the thin straps and low bodice, it is all lace and applique work which diminishes appealingly into luscious tulle. Frothy alencon lace sweeps the train of the dress tying the whole look together and it is exciting to see that there is no territory Alvina Valenta cannot conquer.

Image source: Pinterest