‘Tis the season for eloping—no true planning needed! Imagine getting married in a white sundress with the wind whipping your flower-adorned hair back from your face. You shout, “I do!” over the romantic roar of the ocean. If that doesn’t appeal to you, or your parents just won’t hear of it, here are some more ways to stay cool in the hot months during one of the most stressful planning times of your life.
Plan far, far ahead! The summer months are the most saturated with weddings of all the seasons. If you don’t schedule your dream reception area within 6 months of your wedding date, you’re not too likely to get it unless it’s an obscure place. If you can snatch up the location a year ahead, that’s even better. Same thing goes for the place you want to have the ceremony. Book the person you want to perform your ceremony as much in advance as they’ll allow. And the sooner you can get your dress, the better. If you go into a big bridal store, try on 18 dresses, and choose to fall in love with the one that’s a size or two too big, you’re going to be waiting up to twelve weeks to get the right size delivered to you. Altering is a possibility but why pay the extra money if you’ve got time to spare ordering the perfect size? Once you’ve got the necessities (who, when, where and what you’ll wear) down for your wedding, the other things will fall into place.
The next thing you’ll want to decide on will be colors. Once you decide those, you can more easily choose the bridesmaids’ dresses and flowers. Bright colors and pastels are the best for summer. Bright colors work best for day, icy pastels for evening weddings. Make sure the colors you choose won’t clash with the background of the site of your ceremony, and also make sure they don’t blend so much that the dresses and flowers won’t stand out in the pictures later. You’re most likely going to pay more for your photographs than for any other part of your wedding. You can pick multiple colors, or just one or two. You can have everyone wear the same color and carry the same type of bouquets, or you can mix it up. Have fun with it.
You can use the same style/cut of dress but in different colors. I have a friend who put her matron of honor in a lavender dress and her bridesmaids in pastel pink, but all the dresses were made from the same pattern. The bouquets mixed those colors together, and added in white accent flowers as well to unify her with the other girls in the photographs. Her wedding pictures turned out gorgeous with the mixture. Another option brides go for is choosing one color for the dresses and letting their bridesmaids pick their own style within that color. Especially with bright or pastel colors, you want to let the girls feel comfortable by at least letting them pick whether they want strapless, halter, full skirt, fitted, etc. Hot pink’s not like black—it’s not that slimming.
As for the flowers, they should match the dresses, plus some complementary colors (or you could go with only colors that are complementary and leave the matching ones out, it’s up to you). Mix them all together. You may want to have separate types of flowers than the bridesmaids do, and your groom can wear a flower that matches the ones from your bouquet. The cheapest way to handle your bouquets is to make them yourself. And if you make them from silk flowers, they can look real but last forever. Sometimes something more tangible than a scene from a picture is a nice reminder of the day you said your vows. Arrange them until they look good and have the overall shape you want. You’ll know when you’ve achieved just the right combination. You can check out a book from the library, enlist friends who know what they’re doing, or get a quick how-to from the floral specialist in a craft store like Michael’s. I knew I wanted to use roses in my bouquets, but I didn’t know what else to get to go with them. There was a lady who worked in the flower department at a craft store who helped me walk through the aisles and pick out what would complement the red roses for my bouquet and the white ones for my bridesmaids’. I already knew how to make the bows from my barrette-making days, but if you don’t, they have bow-making machines you can buy for about $10.00 at the same craft stores you’ll be buying your flowers at. Have a girls’ day with your side of the wedding party to make the bouquets together, add some wine or make frozen daiquiris, and it’s really a party! Making your own from silk flowers saves you from worrying about whether the flowers will be delivered on time on the wedding day, saves you money, and also keeps you from having to deal with wilting blooms in the ceremony.
A wedding doesn’t really need a “theme,” but it does need to be unique to represent you and your new husband. Some people go with bringing Hawaii to themselves with a luau type wedding/reception in a big back yard. Some people make a color their theme (girls who really like pink may tend to do this, especially in summer). Others use their flowers and put them everywhere. My own wedding had roses and swans on the tables at the reception (swans being a play on our last name and also a symbol of love and elegance). Make sure you pick something you and your husband are going to look back on and smile; do not let someone else choose your theme for you—they will try and you will regret it. You will hear so many suggestions for outdoor weddings and receptions, you won’t even feel guilty turning down friend number 55 who offers to make up some of his famous barbecue for your backyard bash. Kindly decline and ask if you can schedule that for when you come back from your honeymoon and choose the place you and your fiancé think would be best.
The only way to make your wedding what you want it to be is to plan ahead. That way you can relax and enjoy the time prior to the wedding day with your significant other instead of being stressed about loose ends. This is a good way to fight cold feet, as well. Choose your location, pick your dress, and decide on colors far in advance. Everything else will fall into place.
