Wow, what I can say…time flies by and it has been a long time since I have wrote about planning the wedding of my dreams. So many things have happened, all the wedding vendors are booked (Yeah!) and now my main focus has been designing our wedding invitations, and picking out decorations for the ceremony and reception. Along my journey of planning I have learned a couple of important lessons; I hope you find my survival tips helpful when planning your big day!

Planning a wedding survival tips:

Fabric swatches are a lifesaver! I don’t know about other brides, but I want everything to match perfectly and fabric swatches have been my savior.  After you pick your dress and bridesmaid dresses order a swatch of the fabric. This will make selecting the tuxes, decorations, flowers and every detail of your wedding way easier. You wouldn’t believe how many different shades of white or the color bridesmaid’s dress there are…it is crazy!

No Pressure!  Bridal shops consultants will pressure you to order your dress and bridesmaid dresses right away because they claim it will take 9 months for the dresses to arrive.  Wrong…They are just trying to make a sale so don’t feel the pressure to order your dress right away.  Take your time and make sure it really is “the dress”. My dress took only 3 months to arrive, but they originally told me 9 months.

Double Check!  Always have your mother-in-law check your guest list…I learned this the hard way. My fiancé worked on his half of the guest list and he has such a large family that I don’t know half of the people. I just assumed everything was correct…I should have never just “assumed”. Right before I sent out our save the cards he decided to go through the envelopes that were already addressed and stamped, and found a ton of mistakes. For example, his cousin’s ex-wife’s name was on the address label instead of his cousin’s new wife’s name. That would of not been good to send out a card with the ex-wife’s name..not even a little bit.  So, before we send out our invitations I am going to have my mother-in-law and my mom go through our guest list to make sure everything is perfect! It is always good to have a second set of eyes on anything, including your invitations or programs.

Be Different!  Have fun planning your wedding and don’t feel like you have to do everything straight out of how to plan a wedding book. It is your day! Embrace it and do everything you want to do.

Love the journey! Enjoy your experience of planning a wedding because before you know it your wedding day will be here and it will all be over. Don’t forget to enjoy being engaged! It is a special time in your life with your significant other.

I am sad to see my journey of being a bride coming to an end, I love planning all the details and I can’t wait to see the whole thing come together.  I can’t believe there is only 134 days until the big day and then I will officially be Mrs. Pronschinske.  ;)

Wedding hair. It’s a lot like prom hair. You put a decent amount of time and effort into deciding on how exactly your hair will look on your big day. You’ve probably heard of a trial bridal hairstyle before and know that it is a must. Odds are, you’re going to have a TON of pictures taken on your wedding day and you’re going to want to look your absolute best. Whether you’re going to have a friend or a professional style your locks, do a run through a few weeks to a month prior to your wedding day. Between your trial bridal hairstyle appointment and your wedding day do not do anything drastic to your hair that could tamper with your wedding look.

Do bring pictures of bridal hairstyles you like so that your stylist can test them out on you and make recommendations. Also make sure to bring with you any hair jewelry and your veil, if you are wearing one. Finally, bring your camera to the trial hairstyle appointment to take pictures of the finished look.

Posted by Sara, a Dot-arilla Blogger

Our Dancing Garden Wedding Invitations make a great choice if you’re looking for simple yet elegant wedding invitations. The soft colors are perfect no matter what season it is.

The best part? Our designers print and assemble these wedding invitations just the way you want.

No matter what season your big day is in, this Letter Opener with Heart Top Wedding Favor is be perfect!

Classic and classy, letter openers make a fine statement as enduring mementos for any special occasion. When you add an exquisitely designed heart theme you’ll have wedding favors that you and your guests can really tear into.

I was ecstatic when my boyfriend proposed to me the eve before college graduation, and I could not WAIT to start planning! Like most women, I had dreamed of my wedding day since I was a little girl and wanted it to be absolutely perfect. The question now was, how do I achieve that perfection without going crazy from stress?

I tend to be a type-A personality; I thrive on to-do lists (mine are usually color-coded and have multiple sections!) and organization, and I knew right away that planning the details of such a special event might make my head explode. However, I didn’t know anyone who had used an official wedding planner before, and I couldn’t help but associate the utilization of such a person with a large-scale, “hoity-toity” event. My fiancé and I were planning a “medium-sized” wedding, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if my family would chide me for spending money on a wedding planner or even make fun of me for not being able to plan my own event! After some consideration, however, my fiancé and I decided to at least do some research on wedding planners, and this is what I learned:

First of all, there’s a difference between a full-scale wedding planner who completely takes over the planning and coordination of invitees and vendors, and a planner who’s simply there to oversee the day-of schedule and flow of everything so the bride isn’t bothered by any last-minute details while she’s trying to get ready. Second, depending on who you talk to, you can find a happy medium between these two service levels; most planners are willing to work with you to make sure you are satisfied with the amount of control you have over the details and the level of independence the planner has to make important decisions. You can do whatever you’re most comfortable with!

Most wedding planners will, at minimum, be able to help you:
• Tailor a budget that works for your specific needs (then help you stay within that budget!).
• Find local vendors who can work within your price range.
• Help you plan a menu that is realistic for your guests, including recommendations for special diets and other concerns.’
• Recommend a schedule for the day-of festivities that matches the “mood” you want to achieve, then help make sure that schedule is achieved.

If any of the aforementioned items are things you think you need help with, I recommend at least consulting with your local wedding planners. Think of a list of questions beforehand, and don’t be afraid to ask this person exactly how much the different levels of service will cost you! After all, budgeting for a wedding planner is just as important as budgeting for photography or your menu.

My husband and I ended up working with a planner who consulted with us over the major vendor and budget questions, but let us make the final decisions on our own; she was then present the entire wedding day, and supervised the ceremony and reception so that I wasn’t bothered with any last-minute questions and could enjoy every moment of the actual day. It was a nice balance between a full-blown wedding planner and a day-of service, and was not at all something I thought I could do when I first began considering help! =)

So my advice is this: If you are at curious whether a wedding planner is right for you, don’t be afraid to do some research, make some calls, and ask some questions. There is a surprisingly large amount of good wedding planners out there who are willing to customize a “package” just for you, so you can achieve that perfect wedding day you’ve always dreamed of!

Posted by Emily, an Expert Expert

Do you have any wedding themes in mind? Spring is a lovely time of year for a wedding! If you’re planning a spring wedding, take a look at this Cherry Blossom Wedding Theme – it fits the season perfectly!

In fact, the Cherry Blossom wedding theme is one of today’s premier romantic wedding themes! Create an enchanting ambiance a combination of cherry blossom theme wedding invitations, wedding favors and wedding decorations.

Sometimes just getting started with all the planning can be challenging for the Bride-to-be. Something that you can suggest to your bride is to go to a Bridal Expo or Fair. I went with the bride and a few of the bridesmaids this past weekend and it was super helpful! We got great ideas for flowers, cakes, centerpieces, food, invites and so much more. There was even a fashion show with wedding gowns, tuxes, and bridesmaid dresses. There are usually a great deals if you book that day and you can sign up for tons of free gifts and give-a-ways. They do usually charge admission but it was totally worth it. It really sparks some great ideas for the bride and made for a fun girls weekend!

Posted by Jessy, Developer of Dots – Photographer

Planning a beach wedding? How exciting! These beach wedding invitations are a perfect match for your beach wedding theme!

Of course you can personalize them! These wedding invitations also come with the white square flap envelopes – in fact, you will receive 2 extra envelopes in case you need them. A standard postage stamp is all that is required!

Picking your color palette is truly one of the hardest decisions to make when planning a wedding. I went from wanting green as my wedding color to fuchsia, and then finally deciding on the color eggplant. Brides Magazine just released four helpful tips to picking your color palette in their February 2010 issue. I love these tips and I wish I would have had them when picking my color palette because it would have made my decision a lot easier.

4 Basic Tips on Picking Out Your Color Palette

1. What’s your favorite color?
Build your color palette around colors that you love. Just don’t think about the basic rainbow colors; go beyond that with different shades such as turquoise or rose.
2. What does your ceremony and reception location look like?
If your ballroom is red, tangerine and lime probably won’t look the best. It is important to consider a color palette that will match your locations.
3. What kind of flowers do you want to have?
Love red roses; pick out a color palette that matches. Or if you adore green hydrangeas pick coordinating colors such as purple to match the hydrangeas.
4. What season is your wedding in?
Let the date of your wedding  inspire your color palette. If you are having a fall wedding pick warm colors, for winter weddings select blues with white, for spring weddings choose  pastel colors and for summer weddings pick bright colors.

If you are planning your wedding, you have probably come across a ton of checklists to help you plan for the big day. I know I have! Checklists that come in a form of an email, magazine, books, and direct mail…how is a bride suppose to keep everything straight with so many checklists? As a person that likes to be organized and not to have a ton of paper lying around with checklists, I have found that Wedding Wire’s planning tools is a great way to keep everything for your wedding organized. Wedding Wire has an electronic checklist, budget spreadsheet, vendor information, guest list information, seating chart and an inspiration board. It also has a feature where you can create your own wedding web site for your guests to view.

Another helpful tool for planning a bridal shower is SimplyWeddingStuff.com’s checklist. The bridal shower checklist has a FAQ section about bridal showers and a checklist for the shower starting 3 months before the event. Happy planning!!