As I was browsing online stores (what woman doesn’t occasionally pass the time doing so?) I found some great finds that are reasonably priced and can help any modern bride look chic without spending a fortune. Check out a few inspiration pieces below. P.S. The Nina shoes are customizable — you can choose the base color, the heel color, and the bow color!
Clockwise from Top Left: Pearl bracelent from JCPenney. Stain Rosette handbag by Coloriffics. Crystal hair pins by Naugi Bridal. Bow-topped satin heel by Nina.
I’ve been helping some of my brides search for the perfect shoes.. I just wanted to share with you some of the great shoes I’ve come across in my searches… wouldn’t these look hot on any bride?!
And if you’re not the type of gal to wear shoes with a huge pop of color, but you want to veer away from wedding white.. why not go with one of this season’s trendy colors – blush pink.
I’ve been meaning to blog about this wedding for a while! My friends Marni & Matt were actually married in June! OK, so I am a little behind. But I’ve kept it on my radar, because I wanted to share the fabulous touches that Marni planned in her wedding that just made it so… her!
First, I just want to show you a beautiful Picture of Marni with her bridesmaids. This picture just exudes classiness. True Marni.
Matt & Marni were married in Florida on a beautiful day! For the ceremony, Marni stayed in all white — dress & shoes.
Then, after she was wed, Marni sassed it up a bit by changing into hot pink shoes! Anyone who knows Marni knows her love of pink (I didn’t realize kitchen appliances actually came in Pink until I went to Marni’s one evening for a dinner party…)
But the creativity doesn’t end there — perhaps one of my favorite moments of this wedding was that Marni & her bridesmaids changed into red dresses (as a surprise) for the last dance — Lady in Red.
There were soooo many great details to this wedding, including the PINK LIMO (outside & inside) and the pink M&M’s (for Matt & Marni). We can tell that this Lady in Red and her dapper man truly wed in style!
all photos from Kenzie Shores Photography
Finding the PERFECT bridal shoe can be a pain. Depending on your personality, you might want to match your dress, you might want to wear hot pink shoes that pop, or you might want to bling it out. Regardless, it’s hard to find the ones you’ve been dreaming of.. especially if you’re on any type of budget. Well, here’s a solution so simple than even the non-craftiest bride can do: Add rhinestones to your own shoes!
From plain
To Sassy!
After dating my boyfriend (now husband) for 3 months or so, I went with him to his cousin’s wedding, and of course met the ENTIRE family. While waiting for the bride to make her way to the aisle, my future mother-in-law said, “I don’t even know why girls wear white these days. It means nothing.” I had no idea what to say. I think I laughed it off. A plethora of thoughts crossed my mind: is she serious? does she think this bride is unpure? Is she hinting that she thinks I am unpure? I then sat, watching a beautiful couple tie their vows, while I silently wondered what the heck does this mean?!? That got me thinking of wedding superstitions and their genesis. If the white dress traditionally is meant to symbolize purity, where do all of the other wedding traditions get their roots? I did a little digging, and here’s what I found out {my real-life items listed after the description}.
- Something Old: The bride is supposed to wear something old as a sign that even though the wedding symbolizes a new beginning, the couple is not forsaking their friends and family even as they step into a new life together {my deceased paternal grandmother’s pearls were draped on my wedding bouquet}.
- Something New: The bride should wear/have something new to show a symbolic reference to the new life she is embarking upon, which will bring her health, happiness, and success {practically everything I was wearing was new}.
- Something Borrowed: The bride and her family reaffirm their love & affection with each other with this tradition. By borrowing from her family (or close friends), the bride shows she is close to them, and by returning what she borrowed, she wishes them luck {my maternal grandmother’s rose pin tucked into my bouquet}.
- Something Blue: Wearing something blue is meant to be a throwback to ancient times when the color represented fidelity and consistency. The bride is thus reinforcing her commitment, symbolically, to the groom {Blue Sapphire ring — lucky me, my hubby gave it to me as a wedding gift}.
- The groom’s bout matches the bridal bouquet: By the groom wearing a flower from the bridal bouquet, he is showing that his bride is his lady and declaring his love for her. This is from an old custom when knights roamed England and wore their ladies’ colors to show their love for them {my groom wore a burgandy callalily which matched my bouquet}.
and finally…. the white wedding gown has 2 stories of its creation
- White wedding gowns: 1) White is the color that represents purity, to show that the bride is a virgin. A bride is never supposed to wear green since that is the color that shows “loose morals” — women who rolled around in the grass with various men would get green grass stains on her dress. 2) In the olden days, white linens were very costly. Women didn’t tend to wear white dresses because they would often get ruined very quickly and thus would have to be thrown away, resulting in a waste of money. So, by wearing a white gown, the bride’s family was declaring that they come from high society and can afford a dress to only be worn once {ivory is also an accepted color and much more common these days — and was worn by yours truly}.
Any other traditions I left out? Feel free to let me know!