Prepped To Go || The Body Truths

Fitness routines, workout plans, and diet fads will come and go. Deciding on the best nutrition for your body should be the most important worry in life. Your wedding day is coming up and many brides are troubled with fitting into their dress. Have you determined what you want to look like on your day? My guess is the perfect bride.


There is more to consider than just getting fit. Consider all the variables that will produce the most impact on your goals. Here are some crucial pieces to make sure you are on the right track.

Stress

• Be sure that you are getting at least 7 hours of rest each night. This plays a large part in stress and weight management
• Practice stress reducing tips before and during your wedding day.
• Challenge yourself to prioritize your wedding plans or hire a planner to handle those details.
  

Nutrition

• Ensure that you stock up on healthy foods. Visit a dietician for a safe plan.
• Learn and understand some common nutrition basics.
• Tell your family about your healthy eating plans to get them on-board with your new attitude on eating. The holidays can be the hardest to balance without your families help.
• Ensure your body is fully hydrated with 8 glasses of water per day. Hydration is especially important to look fully prepped on your wedding day.
  

Fitness

• Check out your local fitness boot camps. These are great to get you moving.
• Hire a trainer. You can pay for what you can afford and interview each trainer carefully. A good trainer will learn about your health concerns and fitness goals.
• Join a local gym, health center, or group sport. You might find it helpful to attend the group classes offered at theses to include yoga or kick-boxing.
  

Skin Care

• Learn the expert way to apply your makeup and quick tips.
• Visit your dermatologist or skin care professional at least 6 months prior to wedding day for skincare treatments. A red face is hard to conceal on a fresh looking face.
• Determine the daily treatments and quick facial fixes that you want prior to your wedding day. Never experiment with a new color or topical treatment less than 2 weeks before wedding.

BPAffairs || Fun Session With Love

Weddings, engagement photos, and baby pictures are a glimpse at many types of shoots that Michelle Myers of Shelly Love Photography perfects. Recently, I decided to update some of my business photos and see how Michelle brings 'fun' to her sessions. We visited a nearby park on an unusually cool Arizona day and Michelle had her way with my pictures.


Funny to admit~ I really loved hamming it up in front of the camera. I thought many of you could get an idea of what a great photographer can do with some candid shots. Her website has other wedding samples too if you're curious. As your wedding planner, my comprehensive list of professional vendors like Michelle can provide the services to best fit your needs.

It's easy to have your dream wedding with the right vendors whose relationships can be seen behind the scenes and the cameras.

Vendor Insights || How to Pick Wedding Veil {P.1}

Custom wedding dresses, veils and other wedding accessories are specialities to a local online boutique owner Iris Drevet of Iris D Bridal. Iris provides many fashionable styles to brides looking for any wedding style to fit their budget. Read below on some tips she provided on picking your ideal wedding veil. Enjoy!

Intro
Selecting a wedding veil can be very complicated. Along with all the other tasks related to the wedding, this seemingly small one can become rather stressful and overwhelming unless you’re a bride who knows exactly what she wants. The right veil is necessary to help complete the entire look for your wedding day.
One of the most important steps while choosing a veil is selecting the veil color. Ideally, the color should match the dress, but there are plenty of colors that are very similar to white and can work with it in case you can’t an exact match. By following the tips and tricks mentioned below, you can reduce the stress before your big day and easily select the right colored veil for your wedding.
One of the best things nowadays is that you can easily get a custom veil, instead of having to settle for one you don’t like as much. Find a good vendor, and give them your specifications so you can get the veil of your dreams made for you.
Steps

1. The first thing to decide on is your bridal gown. Once you have chosen a wedding gown, many things will fall into place, including the limitations you have for your veil’s colors. This is because you can only choose a veil that is the same color, or a lighter shade, than your dress.

2. There are many colors to choose from. You will need to decide the color your dress and then choose a veil that goes with it best. Here are the colors commonly found:

• White: This is bright white. If your gown is called “white” in color, than this is the color you should go with.
• Diamond White: This is an off—white shade. It is best for gowns that are a silk white, which is barely off-white. It is also great for candlelight or antique white gowns.
• Ivory: This has yellow undertones so is best for an ivory colored gown.
• Champagne: This usually needs to be special ordered and has a slight brown overtone to match champagne or dark ivory dresses.

3. Once you have decided on the colors, or shortlisted the ones you need to look at closely, you can ask your custom veil maker to send you a free veil tulle swatch which you can then hold against your dress to confirm the actual color you will need.
4. When you are sure about the color, you should custom order your veil since this is the only way to ensure you get the exact veil you need.

Wedding Ideas || Monogram Heaven

Weddings wouldn’t be complete without the added touch of monogrammed initials. Through the use of creative cursive or standard font, your initials can transform the ceremony and/or reception into your own personal wonderland. Thinking of doing monograms at your wedding? The choices are endless to create something with a designer or using your own creative talents in Microsoft Word . Below are some creative ways to show off your new personalized style on your wedding day or any day you choose.

Here are some fun ways to make your wedding special:

1. Personalize favors of choice with special labels
2. Decorate your cake table with a decorative runner
3. Mail out invitations with a cool postage stamp
4. Adorn the top of your sweet wedding confection
5. Greet your guests with floral elegance
6. Decorate windows and glass areas throughout the reception area and cars windows

Q&A | Michelle Myers || Picture Love

Pictures capture words without speaking. Michelle Myers of Shelly Love Photography captures the best moments in your life: wedding, birth, family. I'm so happy to say that Michelle also took time to snap a few pictures for me recently ~wedding planner profile pics. Read below for a fun look of insight with photographers like Michelle who love to capture life.

"Most of my clients end up telling me how much fun they had during their session" - Michelle Myers

1. What made you decide to be a photographer?
I decided to become a photographer when I was a child. I'm not really sure what made me want to do it, I just know that some of my earliest memories include a cheap little film camera and my mom chasing me around trying to take it away from me so I didn't waste her film. I remember being fascinated with the idea of capturing a moment on film that you could look back on and re-live forever.

2. What’s the best moment you’ve captured from a session?
I love capturing emotions - every wedding has wonderful emotion-filled moments that I thrive on capturing. One of my favorites is the first dance - since it's more relaxed than the ceremony, the bride and groom always seem to be more comfortable letting their emotions shine through on their faces and I love being able to catch them on camera.

3. What’s the best way to describe your photo sessions?
I try to make each session as comfortable as possible. I really like to try to get to know a little bit about my clients before photographing a session or event so that I have an understanding of who they are and what their personality is like. I try not to be too restrictive about time, I'm a firm believer that great portraits can't usually be made in 15-20 minutes. All of my portrait sessions are done on location, so typically I spend an hour or more with my clients shooting a variety of posed, semi-posed, and candid images with several different backgrounds. Most of my clients end up telling me how much fun they had during their session - we laugh, joke, and do silly poses which makes my clients comfortable and helps them to look relaxed and natural in their images.

4. How do you make the bride and groom feel comfortable taking many photos during their wedding day?
A big part of making couples feel comfortable on their wedding day is getting to know them a little bit ahead of time. The majority of my clients do an engagement session with me before their wedding, so by the time their wedding day comes around they are already comfortable being around me and being in front of the camera. During most of the wedding, I stay in the background and photograph details and moments as they happen - many couples don't even notice me for a lot of the evening. The formal portraits take a relatively short amount of time, and since the couple has already worked with me for formal portraits during their engagement session usually they are relaxed and may even look forward to the formal portraits on their wedding day.

5. What photography style do you prefer?
I like several styles, but for weddings I like to blend photojournalism with art/fashion photography. For the majority of a wedding I shoot like a photojournalist - in the background, always watching and anticipating, capturing things as they happen. For the necessary posed shots, I'm inspired by fine art and fashion photography - I love bright colors, unusual textures, and edgy non-traditional poses.

6. What do you see through the lens of a great photo?
Photography is a form of visual communication, so a great photo communicates something - not just how a person looks, but a little bit about who they are, what they're all about, and what they're feeling at the moment the shutter opens.

7. What’s your take on the “Trash the Dress” post-wedding trend?
I LOVE the trash the dress trend! Trash the dress sessions are basically fashion shoots with big pretty dresses and unusual circumstances and situations, what's not to love? They're not for everyone, most people who decide to do one of these sessions are people who love to have their picture taken, want to do something different, and who are adventurous. The name can be misleading though - not all dresses end up getting "trashed." A trash the dress session can range from mild to wild, from a fashion-style shoot at a playground or fair where the dress barely gets dirty and can still be cleaned to an all out mess involving mud, splattering food, etc. These types of sessions can be a wonderful wrap-up for a wedding - they can relieve stress while at the same time create some awesome memories.

Q & A | Larry James || Romantic Is In

Guest bloggers offer additional insight into the area of expertise that I find interesting. For many of you, hearing directly from the source is quite interesting. One of those guest bloggers is Larry James, Minister, Professional Speaker, Author and Relationship Coach. I decided to ask Larry a few questions that I feel would help you in deciding on your wedding officiant.

Take a look at Larry's responses below.


1. How long have you been officiating weddings?
My first wedding was on Saturday, October 26, 2002. Most of the wedding ceremonies I've performed have been in the past 4 years. In 2008 I performed 79 ceremonies. This year (2009) I will set a another record.

2. What's the best advice you can offer newly married couples?
Have open and honest communication all the time. Learn how to talk so your partner will listen. If you ask most people they will say that communications is high on the list of problems in relationships. I believe that it's also about the tone of voice you use when you are upset and it's also about "undelivered" communications. It's those things we don't say and know we should. Usually the reason we give is because the last time we talked about it, someone got upset and we don't want to go through that again so we shut down and keep it to ourselves. Then one day he doesn't take out the garbage and she wants a divorce and it's not about the garbage. It's about all the things you didn't talk about. Do your best to not have any undelivered communication. A great promise to make to each other is, "We promise to talk about anything and everything, all the time. No "undelivered" communication!"

3. How do you create a memorable wedding ceremony?
I have written what is considered to be a very "romantic" wedding ceremony however when I meet with the bride and groom for the first time I ask them what kind of ceremony THEY want. We go through the ceremony word for word and they have the option of changing or deleting anything that they don't like in the ceremony. They can also add anything they want. My Wedding Website has lot of mini add-on ceremonies like the Blending of the Sands, the Breaking of the Glass, Handfasting ceremony and many more.

I am an ordained non-denominational minister and they can have as much or as little spiritually in their ceremony as they choose. Their wedding ceremony can be as solemn and dignified or as fun and creative as you want it. They always have the last word in creating their very special ceremony. I encourage them to write some of their own vows (I call these Personal Promises) and give them assistance and tips about how to do this. I've been a professional speaker since 1987 and have a lot of secrets to share with them to make their part of the ceremony as stress-free as possible.

4. What is your favorite moment in your career?
In 1999 I was on ABC TV's "The View" and was interviewed by Barbara Walters. We talked about my best selling book, "How to Really Love the One You're With: Affirmative Guidelines for a Healthy Love Relationship." That was the highlight of my speaking career. The highlight of my wedding career was performing a "Renewal of Vows" ceremony for a couples 18th anniversary as a surprise to the wife in a hot air balloon. You can see some photos at: http://www.celebrateintimateweddings.com/mckimmey.html

5. What would your clients tell us about their experience with you?
They would say that I am very easy to work with, reliable, very flexible with regard to editing the ceremony to their complete satisfaction, very organized, and willing to share tips, ideas and suggestions to make everything flow smoothly at the rehearsal and at the wedding. You can peruse the "Rave Reviews" that past clients have send me at: http://www.CelebrateIntimateWeddings.com/ravereviews.html

6. What’s the reason you pursued this lifelong journey in Love?
I was once in a relationship that ended unexpectedly and when it did I realized that I really didn't know how to be in a "healthy" love relationship. I began making notes to myself about what I thought a healthy relationship would look like and put them together in a small booklet originally intended for my eyes only. When I shared them with several other authors and therapists, I was encourage to write more and publish them in a book. That is how my second book, "How to Really Love the One You're With" came to be. When the book came out there were numerous therapists who began to offer it to their clients and they encouraged me to offer relationship coaching. Since then I have written 4 other books. Every wedding client receives a "Coaching Certificate" worth $120 with no expiration date after the wedding. If they every have situations they cannot handle, they have an hour of my time for me to share with them the lessons I've learned about relationships.

It's been said that "the teacher teaches most what the teacher needs to learn" so I began presenting personal and business relationship seminars and the rest is history. I worked with Dr. John Gray, author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" for eight years. I'm proud to say that he has endorse all three of my relationship books.

7. What’s your advice to couples who are seeking an officiant for their wedding day?
Make sure that the Officiant or Minister is willing to let you have the last word on what is said in your ceremony. Resist the urge to have Uncle Joe or a family friend perform your ceremony just to save a few bucks. It's just not the thing to do. Your wedding day is very special and your ceremony should also be special and performed by an experienced Officiant or Minister. Hire the best DJ, the best Photographer, the best Videographer (the best of everything) and always hire a Wedding Coordinator for your wedding. You would be surprise of the $$$ they can save you and the ideas they have for making the wedding as stress-free as possible.


Copyright 2009 - Larry James. This idea is adapted from Larry's Wedding Website. Larry James is a non-denominational minister and performs the most "Romantic" wedding ceremony you will find anywhere! Call to check availabilty: 480-998-9411 or 800-725-9223. You will find more than 430 pages of Wedding ideas, tips. Check out Larry- http://www.celebrateintimateweddings.com/tips.html http://www.celebrateintimateweddings.com/
http://www.celebrateintimateweddings.com/requestinfo.html

Your Wedding || Eco-Friendly

Staying in touch with things that matter like the environment is more important than ever. There are so many ways that we can all do our part to recycle and there are ways you didn’t even realize. Making a smaller carbon footprint by using products that use fewer resources is ideal. Think about what things you could do to make your wedding better for the environment.

Here are a few ideas:

Invitations –

• Choose invitations and paper products with 35% - 100% recycled post consumer parts
• Decide on organic style materials for invite

Veils –

• Borrowed veils from family or friends also ties into your “Something borrowed….”
• Capture the essence of your style by reusing lace from older veils

Flowers –

• Choosing florists with local growers can help minimize the extra costs to you and the environment
• Silk or dried flowers is another way to do your part
  

Favors –

• Sending your guests home with seeds to grow their own tree (http://www.greenworldproject.net/)
• Provide a donation in your guests name for a charity (http://www.americanforests.org/)

Dress

• Organic Cotton – great choice for hot summer days in Arizona
• Vintage – a chic look that’s always in style (http://tinyurl.com/yktqtsf )

Transportation

• Choose a horse drawn carriage to arrive at your ceremony
• Arrive in style with a hybrid limo

Catering

• Choose a dinner menu of organic products with flair and taste
• Choose a catering company that recognizes eco friendly business practices

Fairy God Mothers Do Exist!

In a world of magic pumpkins and fairytale weddings, there come the things that make even fantasy weddings a little more difficult. I like to call it life. Many brides know they are getting married even before they announce those key words to the whole world...We’re Engaged! Why not bring in life’s real Fairy God Mother – a wedding planner.

I bet you are the bride scouring websites like pantone.com looking for your favorite wedding colors for spring 2010. Or, visiting every last venue site in Arizona’s Finest Wedding Sites and Services magazine finding the best site for gorgeous sunset photos? Sound familiar? There are probably many more details that you hope will magically happen on your wedding day. It takes many professional vendors to bring together a perfect day only made for you. Have you thought about what would happen if one vendor did not come through or arrived late to your wedding? These are the details and stories that even Fairy God Mothers leave out of the fairytale endings.

Be prepared! That’s what I always tell my brides. Things will happen and this includes rain in Arizona on your most important day – your wedding day. While working with your wedding planner, you must always consider the worst case scenarios can or will happen. What if the pastor shows up late? Or, the cake topples over while being delivered to your reception? Make sure your wedding has those contingency plans in place because a great planner is constantly rehearsing your fairytale ending.