If you’re in the Metro Detroit area, chances are you’ve heard of Roma Sposa. It’s a couture bridal salon in Birmingham. While there’s no way I could deny that their dresses are gorgeous, I will tell you that they probably carry several gowns that cost more than our entire wedding.

But you’re in luck, my dear readers. Turns out they’re having a sale during the last weekend of this month. They’re calling it the Bride on a Budget Sales Event. There is a $5 entrance fee, but apparently it’s to benefit a charitable cause.

And get this:
Gown pricing will start at $599.

My advice is that you not go in with a single no-other-Vera-Wang-dress-will-do in mind. That’ll likely still cost you an arm, a leg, and your first born child.

Instead, go in with an open mind. Shoot, try on a dress opposite from they style you think you want for yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised. And if not, no harm done.

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• Shoe #3

Technorati Tags: Bridal, Bridal Gown, Dress, Wedding Dress

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• Shoe #3

Technorati Tags: Bridal, Bridal Shoes, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Nine West, Red, Shoes, Stuart Weitzman

Everyone’s been asking me how I want to wear my hair for the wedding. Up until this point all I knew was that I wanted it down as opposed to an updo. After looking around the web though, I keep coming back to the same style with only slight variations. Loose curls – that is all.

Sanaa Lathan

Gabrielle Union

Viola Davis

Taraji Henson

Nia Long

Nia Long

Kerry Washington

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, Hair, hair style, hairstyle, Headpiece

If you missed the first 50, you can find them here:

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 1-25

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 26-50

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51.    Search the internet for DIY videos done by other people. You can find them for everything from bouquet arrangements to cake baking. DIYnetwork.com is a good place to start
52.    Grow your own flowers for your wedding. If you start early enough, and grow flowers native to your region, you should have plenty to use in bouquets or centerpieces
53.    Use fruit as centerpieces. Apples, Oranges, Pears and Lemons have good color and are far less expensive than flowers. Plus, what your guests don’t take with them, you can donate to a local food bank
54.    Search etsy.com for handmade goods that are unique and customizable. Some items are just as expensive as mass made goods, but if you do a little digging you can find some good values
55.    Watch wedding related forums and message boards, especially those local to your area. People will often post about their good experiences with little-known vendors who offer a really good deal. Theknot.com and partypop.com are good places for this
56.    Stay on top of your budget. Keep all your contracts in one place so you know exactly where they are if you need to refer to them. Question every line item to be sure it’s something you should be paying for
57.    Keep a spreadsheet or use software to manage your budget. Know exactly how much you owe each vendor and exactly when that amount is due
58.    Sew your own garter
59.    Rather than pay someone you don’t know to officiate your wedding, ask someone close to you to become ordained. You can do so online without much trouble.
60.    Instead of hiring a and or a dj, enlist the help of a friend and use your iPod to keep the crowd entertained. Create your playlists beforehand and have your friend keep an eye on it.
61.    Plan your wedding yourself. Wedding planners are nice when you can afford them, but if you’re working with a tight budget, you can take on the role yourself.
62.    Be willing to compromise on the food you serve your guests. Lunch is always cheaper than dinner and buffets are generally cheaper than plated meals. Work with your caterer to find the best balance between your ideal situation and your budget
63.    Everyone wants whiter teeth for all the pictures they’ll be taking on their wedding day, but instead of splurging for zoom whitening, use a drugstore kit. It may take a little more effort, but the results should be comparable
64.    Find non-bridesmaid dresses for your bridesmaids. Just because they’re not labeled as such, doesn’t mean they can’t be worn as bridesmaid dresses. Shop department store websites, where they’ll usually have a decent amount of stock and in many different colors. And chances are if it doesn’t have the bridesmaid dress label, your girls will be more likely to wear it again.
65.    Ask only your closest friends to be your attendants. The more attendants you have, the more you’d spend should you choose to give them gifts.
66.    If your ceremony or reception venue are already very ornate or make a statement by themselves, go light on the décor. Years from now, no one will hardly remember what your centerpieces looked like
67.    Use address numbers from the hardware store for your table numbers
68.    Use saveoncrafts.com for DIY supplies
69.    Keep all your receipts for everything you buy. You may not use something and need to take it back. You’ll want to get back every penny you can for it.
70.    Shop Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving in brick and mortar stores for deals on things like craft supplies, dresses and shoes.
71.    Shop Cyber Monday the Monday after Thanksgiving online to find deals similar to those on Black Friday
72.    Take advantage of free shipping for anything you order online, even if it means you have to wait a little longer for it. Patience is a virtue
73.    If you have a vintage feel to your wedding, visit antique stores and flea markets to find deals on décor. As a bonus, you can use the pieces in your home after the wedding.
74.    Use a site like bagborroworsteal.com to find jewelry and other accessories for your wedding day that you might not be able to afford otherwise.
75.    Use a wholesale club like Sam’s Club or Costco to purchase flowers for your DIY bouquets and centerpieces

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, Candleholders, Candles, Detroit, Florist, Flowers, fonts, Hair, hairpiece, Headpiece, Invitations, letterpress, Makeup, postcard, Save the Dates, Shoes, veil, vendors, Wedding

If you missed the first 25, you can find them here:

101 Ways to Save on Your Wedding: 1-25

——————————————————

26.    Sew your own veil with tulle from the fabric store
27.    Create your own hairpiece from silk flowers and feathers from the craft store
28.    Send postcards as Save the Dates and save on postage and paper costs
29.    Avoid letterpress printing for your invitations. Although it might be one of the nicest printing methods, it’s also one of the priciest.
30.    Use construction paper as one element of your DIY invitations. It will add lots of texture, with only a little expense
31.    Avoid hiring a calligrapher and use a computerized script font instead
32.    Limit the number of pieces in your invitation suite and save on postage, since it’s based on weight
33.    Use flowers that are locally grown and in-season and avoid the cost of flying them in during the off-season
34.    Use a storage or organization box or basket for your card box that you can re-use in your home after the wedding for storage
35.    Befriend someone in the event planning industry. They often have access to discounts to wholesalers and rental vendors
36.    Do your own makeup, hair and/or nails
37.    Have your hair, makeup and nails done at a cosmetology school like Aveda. The cost is lower and the results are usually just as good
38.    Design your invitations yourself and have them printed by a company like gotprint.com. Once you get them, add a little interest yourself either with embossing or a similar technique
39.    Serve cupcakes instead of cake. Cupcakes are often cheaper and can help you avoid a cake cutting fee that most caterers will charge
40.    Depending on your décor, you may be able to find some things at a site like Oriental Trading Company. While most of the items aren’t necessarily for a wedding, you might find a diamond in the rough
41.    Watch sites like craigslist.com and freecycle.org for free and inexpensive items that people are just looking to get rid of.
42.    Repurpose mason jars as candleholders
43.    Shop the brick and mortar outlet versions of your favorite stores like Crate and Barrel, Pier 1, and Pottery Barn
44.    Get your wedding shoes from the clearance section. This is easiest to do when they’re off-season, but make sure you check the clearance area often as the selection often dwindles quickly
45.    Support local business. They are often more flexible and willing to work with you to achieve your goals
46.    Barter services. If you happen to be a talented computer progammer, offer to create or update a website for a vendor in return for their services
47.    Let vendors know when you’re dissatisfied. They’re often willing to accommodate you and knockdown the cost, rather than risk a bad review or unhappy client
48.    Look for your honeymoon travel on sites like priceline.com, cheapcaribbean.com, travelzoo.com, and farecast.com
49.    Travel during the offseason for your honeymoon, even if it’s months after your wedding. Rates will be cheaper on airfare and your hotel
50.    Dafont.com and 1001freefonts.com offer a range of free fonts that you can use for your invitations and any other paper projects

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, Candleholders, Candles, Detroit, Florist, Flowers, fonts, Hair, hairpiece, Headpiece, Invitations, letterpress, Makeup, postcard, Save the Dates, Shoes, veil, vendors, Wedding

I was in Steve Madden the other day with some of my best girls looking for shoes for the bridesmaids. They didn’t have the ones we wanted for the bridesmaids in stock, but they did have these fancies. They’re called Geneviva by Steve Madden and they  are a champagne colored peep toe with 3.5ish inch heel. I tried on the 8 and they felt okay but I ended up going up a half size on the advice of the ladies so I could fit a comfy insole inside.

I still have to try them on with my dress to be sure I like them, but I believe I have to return them within 10 days if I want a full refund. So I’ll definitely be trying them sooner than later.

I can’t say for sure that this is my final answer. But they are the answer for now at least.

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, peep toe, Shoes, steve madden

I was on Bag, Borrow or Steal some months ago and found several necklaces that I really liked. My favorite was this one by Kenneth Jay Lane.

Kenneth Jay Lane Pearl and Flower Necklace

While this necklace is still a possibility, I started looking around for something else with similar characteristics. I want multi-strand, with some sort of focal point. Here’s what I came up with so far.

Vintage Pearl Bouquet Necklace

Rhinestone Sparkle Necklace

Forever in Bloom

Sparkling Elegant Leaf with Pearls

There is always the possibility of making my own. Anyone else ever made a pearl necklace before?

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Technorati Tags: Accessories, Bridal, jewelry, necklace, pearl

You might remember my first bouquet trial. That one was mixed and was red, yellow and orange.

This time around, I did a trial with all white carnations. I’m leaning toward the idea of having an all white bouquet for myself and the mixed color bouquet for my girls. The carnations were pretty cheap. I got 2 dozen for $18 from a wholesale flower distributor. I took basically the same steps as with the first bouquet:

• Strip all the leaves
• Bunch the stems together and secure with floral tape
• I didn’t use a cardboard wrapper around the stems this time, but I should have
• Wrap the handle in ribbon and secure it with pins

The good thing about the carnations is that they’re very durable and very forgiving even at the mercy of my novice ability. I felt like they looked pretty good. My main concern is probably the fact that the stems are jointed so they snap pretty easily at the different joints in the stem. Other than that the were pretty easy to work with. If I do decide to do this, I might add one more dozen to make it a little fuller.

I’ll try and post some better pictures over the next few days, but I think you get the idea.

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Technorati Tags: Bouquet, Bridal, Carnations, Cheap, DIY, Florist, Flowers, store

So, remember the post about grocery store flowers. Right – how could you forget?

As promised, I tried it out myself. I ventured out in the cold and rain this morning and paid a visit to Trader Joe’s. I bought 2 bouquets of flowers for $5.99 each. One was a red/orange/yellow mixed bouquet and the other was just solid red roses.

I stripped all the leaves, thorns and extra stems. This was pretty easy except for some of the yellow flowers, which I think may be mums, unless you want them all grouped together, the stems end up pretty short once you separate them from the main stem.

I started grouping them together in my hand. There was no particular order to it – I just tried to mix up the the flowers so that there weren’t large groups of any one flower. This was a little challenging with the shorter stem flowers because they kept popping out and didn’t want to cooperate at times. I didn’t have any wire, which i looked at in the store and decided I wouldn’t need, which also made this part a little challenging. I ended up just wrapping the floral tape directly around the stems. As I’ve read before, the tape sticks better to itself if you pull it just a little taut.

The flowers were pretty secure with the tape but the stems were jutting out left and right. The ribbon would’ve looked just as uneven. So I needed something smooth and sturdy to serve as a base for the ribbon. First thing I thought of was a paper towel roll. Go figure, but I couldn’t find one anywhere.

The roses came wrapped in some semi-thin corrugated cardboard. It was perfect because it was smooth on one side but pretty sturdy so you wouldn’t be able to see the stems through the ribbon.

I bought a roll of clearance ribbon when I got the floral tape. I wrapped it all the way around the stem-handle and put in a column of pearl pushpins.

It’s by no means perfect but pretty good for a first try (I think).

What do you guys think? Any tips or tricks to share with the rest of us?

——————————————–

Cost:

$5.99 mixed bouquet

$5.99 rose bouquet

$1.59 stem tape

$1.00 ribbon

=14.57

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Technorati Tags: Bouquet, Bridal, DIY, Flowers, ribbon

I just noticed it’s wedding week over at the WashingtonPost.com. On Wednesday, they’ll be talking to Denise and Alan Fields, authors of the famous book, Bridal Bargains.

I haven’t read it yet myself, but I keep hearing about it, so I think I’ll be making a trip to the bookstore soon.

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Technorati Tags: Bargain, Book, Bridal, Bridal Bargains, deal, washington post