Bridesmaid Tips and Advice

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Wedding Songs

March 1, 2010 in Angela, Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Uncategorized by Twirl Talk | No comments

How does one decide their perfect wedding songs? There are so many choices!

The first one that comes to mind and is a must is your “First Dance” song. Some couples make this song “their song” – which usually means it was the first song they heard together on their first date. Or maybe the first song they danced together to. Or in some cases I have seen (heard) it be a song with a message that represents their relationship. When my best friend got married, her “First Dance Song” was called “Looks like we made it” by Shania Twain. It couldn’t have fit their relationship any more perfect than if the song had been personally written for them. I like this idea the most. This way while people are watching you share your first dance, they can listen to the words tell a story about the couple. I have been to one wedding where their “First Dance” song was the first song that came on the radio on their first date. To this day I don’t remember the name of the song or who it was by, but it was heavy metal and I can imagine very awkward to dance to (considering how awkward it was to watch them try to dance to) and there was clearly no “special message”.

Once you have the very important “First Dance Song” taken care of, it’s time to move on to the equally important “Father Daughter Song”. I understand not everyone is close to their fathers, or perhaps their fathers are not around to share in this special day… but the weddings I have been to the Fathers have been present and this dance has been special. Being a HUGE country music fan (largely in part because of the story that most country songs tell) there are several songs that come to mind for this particular dance. Tim McGraw’s “I Loved her First” or perhaps “Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle (which has been re-done several times by country artists such as Garth Brooks).

The one thing that is kind of a bummer is that there are SO many songs out there… but some how only a handful of them make the list for these two categories of wedding songs. Before my best friend got married, she had a few of us over and we spent hours trying to help her find her “perfect” song. We sat around her kitchen table with her i-Pod plugged in, our lap tops on hand and a box of old CD’s we hadn’t seen for years. We opened a bottle of wine and spent the whole night coming up with different songs that brought back memories for us… but also told stories that related to my friend and her soon to be husband. We had so much fun. I think involving your bridesmaids in this task is a great way to get different opinions and they will no doubt come up with songs or artists you may not have come up with on your own.

Now in all fairness, I would almost guarantee that @ some point, you will attend a wedding and hear the same song that you heard at a wedding the year before during one of these two dances. Does it really matter though? I don’t think so. In the moment that the song is playing, and the two people are dancing… all that matters is the happiness that theses people are sharing and the beautiful message or story that is being told by the song. If you do like one of the more popular first dance songs, perhaps you can make it your own by having it sung to you by someone important to you instead of using the DJ version. Little touches like that can turn something that’s “already been done” into something that is yours.

I am going to leave you with the “First Dance” link below. I know you have all seen it a million times… but I think it is just too fun and fabulous to not mention!!! I am not going to lie… depending on who I end up marrying, if they are “cool” enough… I many just reenact something like this myself. ;)

First Dance Song

Happy Wedding Planning to you all! I hope you have fun going through old song books and current popular albums in search of your perfect wedding songs.

xoxo *angela

Bridesmaid Gifts

February 15, 2010 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Jenni by Twirl Talk | No comments

Just the other day Keri and I were talking to a bride about what to get her bridesmaids as a gift.  We sat there and reminisced about the gifts we have been given in the past and came up with a few that we think were just fabulous. 

Jewelry – This is probably the most popular gift.  After all it is necessary to accessorize when wearing your bridesmaid dress.  Dressing it up is half the fun.  For a variety of inexpensive and cute options we love Forever 21. 

If you want to coordinate your jewelry with the color of your dresses our favorite is Liz Love Collections.  She has so many beautiful stones.  With a swatch of your bridesmaid’s dress you could match them perfectly.  We even had one bride go the extra mile and she asked Liz to design a different pair of earrings for each of her girls to suit their individual personalities.  

Clutch – This was my most favorite gift.  I received this lovely brown clutch embroidered with delicate flowers for my friend Jenn’s wedding.  I still have and use it today.  It was so nice to have something to put my lipstick, etc in for the night.  I don’t know what I would have done without it.  

Shoes – Who wouldn’t love to get shoes as a gift?  We have seen it all.  Even a bride who bought her girls the most amazing bright red Manolo Blahniks.  Our favorite bridesmaid shoe designer is Blue Tux Shoes.  They are reasonably priced and have many cute strappy options to choose from.  Another fun option is to buy some flip flops or ballet flats for your girls to wear during the reception.  We love the personalized look of Phat Flops for flip flop options or for ballet flats, designer Dessy. 

Bridesmaid Dress – Many brides worry and fret over asking their girls to pay for their bridesmaid dress.  So some decide to make that the gift.  I love this!  Especially when it is a cute style that someone can wear again – what a great gift. When doing your wedding budget factoring in an extra $1000.00 might not seem that bad in the whole scheme of things.  And your girls will be forever grateful. 

- Jenni

Bridal Parties in WHITE

February 1, 2010 in Angela, Bridesmaid Tips and Advice by Twirl Talk | No comments

So, over the past month I have had multiple brides come to me with the idea that they are going to have their bridesmaids in white  just like them. At first I was a little taken back by it… but the more I hear the bride’s vision, the more the idea starts to grow on me. Below is a picture of a bridal party that was all allowed to choose their own, white dress. The designer of choice: THREAD.

After hundreds of years of weddings, I think we can agree that it has ALL been done! There is no color scheme that hasn’t been tested. No crazy dress that hasn’t been worn. No venue that hasn’t already been chosen. It’s even hard to come up with a first song that has never been danced to.

So I think the fact that it has all been done before is causing brides to strive even more to bring out their creative side. The couple brides that have the vision of an all white wedding have said to me, “I don’t know anyone that has ever done it before”. And aside from the fact that I currently have 3 brides all with that idea… they are right. It is not common to have the bridesmaids in WHITE!!!!

Aside from being different, it also gives off a very clean, crisp look. In the picture below, they even kept the theme going with the flowers. Again, not as common, but it looks great. And having the guys not wear the traditional tux… also stepping outside the box.

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You have to admit, this wedding party is looking good. They chose dresses from Jim Hjelm, Melissa Sweet and Alvina Valenta.

I’m not going to lie… when it comes time for my wedding, I may not rule this idea out! I would however, choose some fabulously bright colored, fun shoes for the girls to wear and have the flowers match. I mean, I have to at least stand out a little on my big day!

The more I see it, the more it is growing on me! ;)

xoxo *Angela

Helping Your Bride from Far Away

January 25, 2010 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Keri by Twirl Talk | No comments

In Arizona, probably 90 percent of our Twirl bridal parties have girls who live all over the country, or in other countries.  I always feel so bad for brides who feel the weight of all the wedding planning on their shoulders because their bridesmaids are scattered all over the place.  I was talking to one of my brides last week who was going through this, and it broke my heart for her.

So to you bridesmaids out there – step up and volunteer!  It’s really hard when your bride is planning from far away to realize all that she has to do, but knowing you’re there for her no matter where you are will make her planning much more enjoyable and stress free. 

Here are some wedding planning tasks bridesmaids can offer to help out with:

Addressing Wedding Invitations

Offer to have the invitations and stamps sent to you – you can address, stamp, and mail them from wherever you are.  This is such a huge task – believe me.  I hated addressing my wedding invitations!  I think it’s perfectly acceptable for wedding invitations to be addressed with mailing labels, but if your bride wants them written by hand make sure you have that nice handwriting the rest of us are jealous of.  If she’s hiring someone to address her invitations with calligraphy, you can still offer to stuff, stamp, and take them to the post office.

Make Phone Calls to Wedding Vendors

You can follow up with wedding vendors to confirm dates, times, and details.  You can also make a nice spreadsheet for the bride and groom with all the contact information for each wedding vendor, along with service details.  They’ll love you for this organization!

Plan the Bachelorette Party

This is something that the whole bridal party can so easily to via email.  Your bride will be so excited that her bridesmaids have all communicated and planned her bachelorette party/weekend.

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

Help Manage the Bridal Party

You would think that a bride and groom’s closest pals and family would be completely on top of it when it comes to getting bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen tuxedos ordered…so wrong!  It baffles me on a daily basis how many bridesmaids and groomsmen I have to hunt down at Twirl.  As a responsible member of the bridal party (and you obviously are if you’re reading this), offer to help manage the bridal party.  You can get a list of names, emails, and phone numbers and be the one in charge of reminding everyone to get their orders in on time.  Slacker bridesmaids and groomsmen can be so stressful (and heartbreaking) to the bride and groom – by taking care of this matter, they’ll never know who was slacking.

Volunteer for Day-Of Duties

The very last thing brides, grooms, and families should be doing on the wedding day is running errands, paying vendors, helping guests, etc.  Hopefully your bride and groom will have a wedding planner to take care of all of this, but if not, offering to take the lead to help the walk down the aisle run smoothly will be much appreciated.  This isn’t a job for one bridesmaid, so team up and see what needs to be done.  Otherwise, you may end up seeing these two at the end of the aisle.

Just remember, whether around the corner from your bride, or a thousand miles away, being there for whatever she needs will be the best gift you could give her. 

-Keri

Picking a Bridesmaid Dress Size

January 18, 2010 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Jenni by Twirl Talk | No comments

After your bride decides on the style of dress, next comes getting measured and choosing a size to order.  This is probably by far the least fun of the entire process for all of our girls.  What makes it even more confusing is that every designer has a different sizing chart.  Some bridal and bridesmaid dress designers run “true to size” (if that even really exists anymore) and others are way off.   Here are some tips and advice on what to expect and how to choose the best size possible.

When you get measured in most cases the bridesmaid consultant will be measuring your bust, waist, and hips.  She will pull the measuring tape around your body , snug, but not too tight.  After writing down your information, she will go over the designer’s measurement chart to see where each of those measurements are falling.  It is rare that women fall perfectly into one size.  More likely you will see your bust in one size, waist in another, and so on.   This is so normal , so please don’t be alarmed.  For example, even Marilyn Monroe would have ended up in different sizes.  Her measurements were 37-23-36.  On designer Amale’s chart that would put her bust in a size 10, waist a size 00, and hips a size 2! 

What you need to remember ladies is where bridesmaid dresses are concerned, alterations are our best friend.  If you ever fall between sizes the rule of thumb is to order the larger size and alter it in.  Too much fabric is better than too little.  Our Marilyn Monroe would have had to do that exact thing, order a size 10 to fit her bust and alter around her waist and hips. 

So many times we hear girls who just don’t want to believe that they have to order a size bigger than what they typically wear.  My advice here is disregard the tag!!  Seriously – we are in a bridesmaid dress world, and what you are used to does not apply.  No one is going to know what size tag you have under the dress, however, they will notice when the dress didn’t zip and you had to add a panel of fabric.  Listed below are two designers’ measurement charts so you can see how different they can be.

Designer Jenny Yoo:  Size 10: bust: 37.5, waist: 30.5, hips: 40.5
Designer Jim Hjelm:  Size 10: bust: 36,  waist: 28, hips: 38

As you can see the two designers above are quite different since every inch matters.  In actuality Jim Hjelm’s size 10 is most similar to Jenny Yoo’s size 6 or 8.  If I were ordering from Jenny Yoo I would get a dress two sizes smaller than if I were ordering from Jim Hjelm. 

One last common mistake is to use your jean size.  This simply just does not factor in when ordering a dress.

I know this is a touchy topic.  Who wants to break out the measuring tape just for fun?  Forget all the media and pressure to be a certain size when ordering a bridesmaid dress.  Looking confident and fabulous in a size that fits you beautifully is what matters most.

-Jenni

Brooches for Bridesmaid Dresses

January 4, 2010 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Keri by Twirl Talk | No comments

Jenni’s blog last week about adding a wrap to your bridesmaid dress got me thinking about other pieces that are fun to add, specifically brooches.  Correctly placed, a piece of jewelry can spice up a simple dress and add an elegance to any style.  Some designers offer bridesmaid dresses with brooches attached like these dresses below by Lazaro, Vera Wang, and Watters Bridesmaids.

 

If you fall in love with a bridesmaid dress that doesn’t come with a brooch, it’s easy to add one, and it makes a great gift for your bridal party.  My favorite places to shop for unique pieces are antique stores.  They usually have a good selection with a classic and historic feel, plus second-hand shops are usually less expensive than department stores.  You can get creative and buy a different style for each bridesmaid, giving some individual personality to each girl as she walks down the aisle.  You can also try Ebay or Etsy and search “vintage brooches”.  I also found these feminine, affordable brooches on Amazon – who would have thought?

  

Last week I had a bride who fell in love with this bridesmaid dress by Vineyard, but she’s having a black-tie optional wedding, so we talked about adding a brooch where the ruching meets at the waist – love it!

-Keri

Brooches for Bridesmaid Dresses

January 4, 2010 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Keri by Twirl Talk | No comments

Jenni’s blog last week about adding a wrap to your bridesmaid dress got me thinking about other pieces that are fun to add, specifically brooches. Correctly placed, a piece of jewelry can spice up a simple dress and add an elegance to any style. Some designers offer bridesmaid dresses with brooches attached like these dresses below by Lazaro, Vera Wang, and Watters Bridesmaids.

If you fall in love with a bridesmaid dress that doesn’t come with a brooch, it’s easy to add one, and it makes a great gift for your bridal party. My favorite places to shop for unique pieces are antique stores. They usually have a good selection with a classic and historic feel, plus second-hand shops are usually less expensive than department stores. You can get creative and buy a different style for each bridesmaid, giving some individual personality to each girl as she walks down the aisle. You can also try Ebay or Etsy and search “vintage brooches”. I also found these feminine, affordable brooches on Amazon – who would have thought?

Last week I had a bride who fell in love with this bridesmaid dress by Vineyard, but she’s having a black-tie optional wedding, so we talked about adding a brooch where the ruching meets at the waist – love it!

-Keri

Adding a Wrap to Your Bridesmaid Dress

December 28, 2009 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Jenni by Keri | No comments

With many weddings taking place in the fall or at an outside venue, let’s face it, fashionable bridesmaid dresses don’t always offer up the most warmth. The last thing you want to do is freeze in your strapless dress. Even in Arizona this can happen.  I remember my best friend’s wedding in Sedona during October we were all caught empty handed, freezing, once the sun went down.  We ended up wearing our guy’s suit jackets.  Not exactly the cutest alternative.

A way to avoid looking like a man and instead be fashionable/warm at the same time is to add a coordinating wrap.  I got married at the Desert Botanical Gardens and decided at the last minute to purchase wraps for all of my bridesmaids as gifts.  I was so thankful I did as everyone had the option to warm up a bit if necessary.  They even became a part of some really great dance moves as the night went on. ;)  

Many bridesmaid dress designers offer wraps in several fabric options, typically in chiffon, satin, or charmeuse.  If the fabric or color of your choice is not available as a wrap you can always order fabric then have it made.  Or, one of my favorite ideas is to go with a pashmina.  I pretty much take one to every wedding I attend.

 

After you choose your bridesmaid dress, keep in mind the venue and time of your wedding.  Don’t forget this important accessory and be left in the cold.

-Jenni

What is Alternative Bridal?

November 30, 2009 in Bridesmaid Tips and Advice, Jenni by Keri | No comments

When my sister got married she had a destination wedding in Scotland.  She needed a dress that was easy to travel with, simple, yet elegant enough for a ceremony in castle ruins on the Isle of Skye.  She picked out the perfect alternative bridal dress.

My sister, Shelli and her husband, Gez

Alternative bridal suits the bride that is looking for something non-traditional.  It is a dress that is simple, understated and stylish.  Many bridesmaid dress designers offer alternative bridal.  Or, if available, you can choose a bridesmaid dress style and have it made in ivory or white.  What is great about alternative bridal is how inexpensive they can be when compared to some of the more popular traditional designer choices. 

These dresses are perfect for brides that have chosen a destination wedding, beach wedding, garden wedding or for those ladies that are simply looking for something different.  Listed below are some of our favorite alternative bridal designers. 

Nicole Miller
Coren Moore
Jenny Yoo
Thread
Lynn Lugo
Simple Silhouettes
Blush by JLM

           

-Jenni

Tips for Trimming Your Destination Wedding Guest List

November 23, 2009 in Angela, Bridesmaid Tips and Advice by Keri | No comments

Months before your wedding you have to create your guest list. You begin your list with the obvious family members, then add your close friends. You then move on to your neighbors and you can’t forget your parent’s friends who have watched you grow up. Then you have your co-workers and the family members of your best friends (I mean in some cases they are practically family)! Then you take that list and double it (because the groom no doubt has a similar list) and when you finally step back and look at the GIANT list you have both created, you need a moment to catch your breathe. That is a lot of people you are going to have to pay for to eat, drink and dance the night away at your big event. But how do you know who to leave out? Where do you start making cuts? Feelings are at stake here.

Ever since I can remember, I have always envisioned my wedding HUGE! I’m talking everyone I know and then some. But over the past years I have had the pleasure of experiencing  these “HUGE weddings first hand. As much fun as I have being a guest, I sit back and watch the bride and groom move from table to table thanking people for coming, repeating the line, “It’s so good to see you” and never actually seeming to snag enough time to enjoy their food, or drinks or even the dance floor. There are hugs to be given and hand shakes to be exchanged – and with a wedding this size, it could take hours.

All this has caused me to re-evaluate my “HUGE” wedding dreams. I have begun to wonder how people can get away with this though. Having a smaller wedding and truly only inviting those closest to you. Then it hit me – DESTINATION WEDDING!

I can’t even count the number of brides in the past month that have said they were having a destination wedding! These ladies are brilliant! They are clearly a few steps ahead of me. You can still invite the large number of guests you would if you were staying in town , but realize that not everyone will be able to make it (work, kids, life… whatever). Those that are closest to you (whether they are friends or family) will figure out a way to be there. Another way to keep the idea of a smaller wedding within reach would be to consider a smaller bridal party. It is easier to coordinate with the travels – and you can, in some cases, help your bridal party pay for a portion of their “trip” (something that might not be possible if you had 8+ girls). It could become your wedding party gift (which would be so helpful). For the other girls, if they are your close friends/family, they will no doubt still attend.  A perfect example of this was Keri’s wedding (one of Twirl’s owners). She decided to do a destination wedding – and opted to not have all 16 of her closest friends in her bridal party. All of her closest friends were of course still in attendance, but she chose to only have her future sister-in-law and best friend stand up for her. It was Perfect!

So aside from creating a smaller wedding, it becomes a mini vacation with everyone. The groups can split up the couple days before the wedding. Girls can do their girl stuff and the guys can do their guy stuff! Then everyone can come together for the wedding and have a wonderful time. The bride and groom can enjoy their wedding as much as their guests…with all their guests.

Regardless of where you have your wedding or how many people attend, this is your day! I hope it’s one to remember!

xoxo

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