Use Design-Seeds for Color

Do you need help picking out wedding colors? Check out www.design-seeds.com.

The website has an expansive collection of color palettes based on pictures of objects and scenes. You can browse palettes by theme or even pick a color and pull up all of the palettes containing that color. This site is phenomenal if you are open to different color choices or have no idea what colors you want to use. Even if you have a color or two picked out, design-seeds can help you find what other colors would go great with it, including some combinations you wouldn't even imagine putting together!

Some of my favorites from www.design-seeds.com!

Signs, Save the Dates & Being Realistic

Use Signs
Signs are a wonderful idea for photos. Lately I've seen them used a lot for thank you cards (a shot of the bride and groom holding a sign that reads "thank you") and engagement photos (signs that read something like "future Mr. & Mrs.). But you can use them for so much more! Opt for your flower girl to hold a sign that says "here comes the bride". Or if your guests enjoy a good joke, have her carry a "last chance to run" sign. The ideas are endless!

Definitely Send Save the Dates
This might seem like an unnecessary expense, but I think save the dates are a must! Everyone is just so busy nowadays that you want to give them a heads up before the actual invitations come out in the few months before. Some guests might be planning a vacation, others might have to bid for their time off of work, and out of town guests on a budget might need awhile to save up. If you send out save the dates you will give your guests the best possible notice and they will have a better chance of attending given other circumstances.

Be Realistic
Be realistic. It's a no-brainer right? Many brides set themselves up for failure while planning a wedding, whether it be setting a goal weight to fit into the perfect dress, or deciding to make every favor and centerpiece the week before. Make your life easier and be realistic about the things you are deciding/ scheduling to do for your wedding. And if you need it, ask for help! That's what the wedding party is for.

Use a Variety of Centerpieces

When picking out your centerpieces, take into consideration how many tables you will have and all of the other items that will be on the table. Sometimes, it's best to have short centerpieces. Other times, like in a room with high ceilings, it makes a better presentation to have tall centerpieces. But at all times, it's perfectly acceptable to do both! You can really transform a room with centerpieces; and having some tables with tall, and others with short, is a great way to create contrast in your reception room. You can even do a combination of tall and short on the same table. It's also a great way to incorporate multiple ideas that you like, as opposed to choosing just one!

Save on Your Honeymoon

Everyone deserves a solid vacation after months of wedding planning, but not everyone can afford the vacation they deserve! If you are not too too picky on the location and are willing to make last minute plans you can typically save a lot of money. Instead of planning too far in advance, go to popular travel websites in the couple months before and click on their last-minute deals. You can usually find great all-inclusive vacations at affordable prices. The only catch is it's usually certain places offered. So if you want to go on a very specific vacations, this wouldn't work well for you.

Here are some websites that offer last minute deals that are super simple to book:

www.applevacations.com
www.travelocity.com
www.cheaptickets.com

Purchase sparkbooth

If you were thinking about renting a photo booth for your wedding, check out sparkbooth! Even if you weren't, think about it. It's a great idea! What better way to get your guests to take fun photos? You can even bring props and have all of the photos taken saved to your computer.

Photo booths are typically hundreds of dollars to rent, but sparkbooth is only $59 to download the software. All photos are saved to your computer and can be uploaded automatically to users' Facebook pages if you are connected to the internet. Connect to a printer and the photos will print out in seconds for your guests to take with them!

Here is what the sparkbooth website says about the product:

Simple setup. Just install on your computer with webcam, and that is it!

Easy-to-use full screen kiosk interface. Great for unattended operation. Guests simply walk up, follow the on-screen instructions, press the spacebar, and there it goes.

Customize photos with your own graphics. Add backgrounds or overlays to create a party favor to commemorate your special event.

Automatically share photos on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, tumblr, SmugMug and others in real-time!

Voice prompts to guide your guests. Or customize with your own mp3s.

Customize on-screen messages for your event or language

Variety of 4-photo, 3-photo, or 1-photo layouts

Automatically print photos

Saves copies of photos to your computer

Fun animated photo previews

Color, black and white, sepia, or toy camera photo output

Plus other customizable options to tweak to your needs

Assigned Seating & Wedding Files

Do Assigned Seating
Figuring out a seating chart for your guests can seem like a chore. I know figuring out who wants to sit with who and where to sit the single people is not always the simplest task. But it's usually the best thing to do, even if you are doing a buffet style dinner. Typically a venue only sets up as many tables as necessary for your guest count. So, without assigned tables, when the last few larger families are arriving there may not be enough seats for them left at any one table.

Also, this is your best bet if you have any family/ friend drama. You can seat feuding people as far away as possible. Hopefully you don't have to deal with that though!

It might seem like a huge hassle, but you will be thankful you had assigned seating when no one is fighting and everyone has a seat next to who they want!

Keep Everything in a "Wedding File"
This one is simple- keep everything. You never know when a venue will forget about something they promised you, a photographer will lose your list of must-have photos, or the bakery will try to say you hadn't paid for the cake you are picking up. Get a folder or binder and keep it all together so you can find anything at a moment's notice!

Save Photography Ideas

If you are anything like me, catering and photography are going to be 2 of your biggest concerns, without counting the dress of course!

That being said, in the midst of planning a wedding you are probably going to forget some ideas you come across. Don't let that happen with photography! Most photographers will go through a list with you of all of the types of pictures you want taken. However, if you come across some really cute and unique shots that you want, it might be hard to describe them to your photographer or you might forget about them with everything else going on during pictures. The simple solution is to clip these photos out of magazines, print them offline, or take a picture with your phone if the other options are not doable. Then, along with your list of the traditional photos you want, hand your photographer your collection of photo ideas. The photographer will know exactly what you want and you will get all of the photos you want. Everyone wins!

Hair Trials, Postage & DIY

Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend! Here are a few quick wedding tips to make up for the last few days!

Do a Hair Trail
After selecting the stylist that you are going to have to your hair, make sure that you do a hair trial a few weeks before the wedding, and don't get your hair cut in between! This way there will be no surprises, mistakes or anything you don't like the day of when it's too late to change your mind!

Check Postage/ Weights
Before ordering/mailing out all of your invitations, make sure that you check postage rates for whatever weight they are. If you don't, you might have to pay an unexpected amount for postage that you didn't fit into your budget. Definitely do this if your invitations are an odd shape or weight!

Don't Try to DIY Everything
For those brides that are trying to save a lot of money, you might be thinking of DIY projects, which is great! However, don't try to do everything. If you do you will leave yourself stressed and rushing around. Now if you have a huge bridal party willing to pitch in, you can handle more. Just make sure you weigh the pros and cons- sometimes its worth it so spend the money!

Personal Wedding Websites

If you are engaged and have started the planning process, you have probably already had relatives and family members asking you tons of questions. Once the invitations go out, you will get even more questions. Especially if you are having a lot of out of town guests who will need travel arrangements, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. Although getting back to all of these questions may seem like a burden, they are also necessary so your guests are prepared.

One of the best ways to answer all of these questions at once is to create a personal wedding website. This can serve as a platform for all things pertaining to your wedding. Most couples even have a page about themselves so friends and family can read the proposal story and other fun little facts! You can also put things on the website that are typically considered inappropriate to put on the invitations themselves, like the dress code and where you are registered for gifts.

Out of town guests will especially find this website useful, as you can put the information for the hotel that you have blocked rooms at and the best time to purchase plane tickets, as well as places of interest in the area that they might want to check out if they are in town for a few days.

You can create this valuable tool with little to no website skills whatsoever. Many website offer free wedding websites that are designed in a way that you only have to put in the information and it is designed for you. Below are some websites to check out if you are interested in creating one!

The Knot

Perfect Wedding Guide

My Wedding

Wedding Window

Wix

I personally love using Wix to create all websites! However, this site may take someone with a little more time and skill. Although you can use templates or build your own site from scratch, it doesn't walk you through the process the same way the other websites do. But the benefit is a lot more personal creativity can be put into the site!

Create a Bridal Emergency Kit

For some brides this step will be easy. If you have hired a wedding planner, check with them first. Chances are they will provide the bridal emergency kit for you.

However, if you do not have a day-of planner, you will want to create your own bridal emergency kit. You can make it as simple (just the bare minimum like Tylenol, bobby pins and clear nail polish), or as elaborate as you would like. The benefit is less stress on you the day of the wedding. Although I hope you need absolutely nothing from this kit, you will be prepared no matter what happens to your make-up, attire or accessories. You'll also be covered for last minute headaches, cuts, etc.

Below are some suggestions for a bridal kit that will prepare you for anything on the big day!

Band-Aids
Pain Relievers
Water
White Chalk
Clear nail polish (for stocking runs)
Corsage pins
Dental floss/toothpicks
Eye drops
Extra earring backs
Extra panty hose
Hair pins/ponytail holder
Hand towelettes
Hem tape
Mini sewing kit
Safety pins
Tape
Scissors
Spot remover
Static-cling spray
Tissues
Tweezers
Breath mints/ gum
Comb/brush
Cash (because you never know)
Hair spray
Makeup (for touch-ups)
Mirror
Nail file
Perfume
Tampons/sanitary napkins
Sun Screen
Flip Flops
Crazy Glue