Invest in Each Other

There’s a reason why you’re getting married right? You love each other tremendously and want to spend the rest of your lives together. But it’s easy to let the stress and pressure of wedding planning drive you apart, rather than together. So during your engagement, go on dates, do nice things for no reason, appreciate each other’s strengths, kiss frequently, and accept each other’s faults with love.

Engagement is a Preparation for Marriage

Did you know that during your engagement, you’ll be doing a lot of negotiation about topics that you’ll still need to negotiate once you’re married? Common topics include money and budgets, family relationships and roles, friends, and boundaries.

For example. rather than trying automatically to win on the tiny pink bows you so desperately want and your partner thinks are a waste of money, think about how you’ll want to handle bigger money decisions in your marriage. Do you want to decide money decisions equally, compromising? Do you each want to have “splurge” accounts that you can spend freely without consulting each other? You certainly wouldn’t want your partner to go behind your back, so make sure that you are negotiating fairly.

Consider pre-marital counseling to help strengthen your bonds and prepare you for the challenges and joys of marriage.

Celebrate Love

It’s not just your future spouse that you need to show extra affection to during your engagement. Take this time to thank your parents for the ways they raised you and prepared you for this time. Check in with your bridesmaids & groomsmen about what’s going on in their lives, and use the engagement as an excuse to get together and strengthen your friendships.

Treat Yourself Well During Your Engagement

Most of all, you need to love yourself. There’s a huge (and understandable) focus on looking good for your big day, and so many brides and grooms use this time to suddenly be making cosmetic changes. But crash diets and harsh treatments will leave you irritated, cranky, and lacking the energy to really be investing in your marriage. If you want to lose weight or change your eating and exercise habits, think about making yourself healthier as a lifelong commitment rather than a countdown to a date and a number on a scale.

Think about what you want and what’s important to you. With so many decisions to be made and other people’s opinions swirling around you, it’s easy to get lost. Keeping a journal can be helpful, as can talking to trusted friends and recentering yourself.

Engagement is Not Just a Countdown!

While you do want to be using a checklist to make sure you are keeping on top of your tasks, forget the countdown calendars and tickers. Instead, you might think to yourself, “What do I want this month of my engagement to be about? How am I going to prepare for my marriage this week/month/day?” And while those preparations will certainly include finding a caterer and deciding on favors, they can and should also include mental preparations and strengthening your relationships.

By Nina Callaway, About.com Guide to Weddings

May through August is the number one most popular time of year to get married, and for good reason too. Summer weddings are full of sunshine and warmth, and allow you to get married outside in good weather. Take full advantage of the season and all it has to offer you when planning your summer wedding with these tips and ideas.

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The Setting for Your Summer Wedding

Summer weddings are ripe for an outdoor setting such as a beach, a garden, or a beautiful yard. Take advantage of the long days with an afternoon wedding, or highlight the glorious sunsets by saying your vows as the sun goes down behind you. Use fresh fruits and vegetables to decorate — perhaps including clementines and cumquats in your flower arrangements, or simply filling a large vase with bright yellow lemons. Bring light to an evening wedding with torches and strings of lanterns in the trees. An extra-summery idea is to use gingham tablecloths with a few sunflowers in metal watering cans as centerpieces.

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Summer Wedding Dresses and Attire for the Bridal Party

The bride who marries in the warmth of May, June, July or August is a lucky one; over 75% of dresses that you’ll find are sleeveless and/or strapless, making them perfect for the season. Look for light fabrics such as organdy, linen, chiffon, crepe, georgette, and other light weight silk, so as to not add too much bulk.

At a beach wedding, look for an easy and elegant slip dress such as Carolyn Bissette wore when she married John F. Kennedy Jr. in Hyannisport. The bridal party can all go barefoot, and the men can wear dress shirts with slacks, or linen suits. For a garden wedding, ; consider big straw hats, either for just you or for all the bridesmaids. You might choose brightly colored dresses or short floral cocktail dresses for the bridesmaids to really evoke the season. The men in the bridal party can go for the classic navy blazer with khaki slacks, or beautiful suits. For a more formal affair, there’s no reason not to choose morning suits or tuxedos (depending on whether it’s an evening or daytime wedding) but give a nod to the season by replacing the black tuxedo jacket with a natty white dinner jacket.

Of course, for all the women in the bridal party (and some of the men!), you must think about what heat, humidity and moisture will do to your hair. Most importantly, don’t try to fight your hair in the summer: straight hair will get straighter and limper, and wavy hair will get wavier and frizzier. Updos by a professional who will design a long-lasting style are one of your best bets. A crown of flowers, or a single large flower tucked into your hair will look summery and beautiful.

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Food for Your Summer Wedding

Celebrate the bounty of the season by filling your menu with fresh fruits such as watermelon, and berries, and fresh vegetables such as corn. Between courses, or as an additional dessert, offer refreshing granitas and sorbets. An elegant summer wedding menu could include a bevy of fresh seafood, including lobster and oysters. For a more casual affair, consider a backyard barbecue, or traditional picnic food including potato salad.

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Wedding Favors

Send your guests home with a taste of the season: in August, a fresh pear, or earlier in the summer, a ripe peach. For a beach wedding, you might consider giving out perfect sand dollars, seashells, or beach-themed candles. Summer weddings are is also perfect for seeds or small pots of flowers as favors. If it will be warm or extra sunny, give out beautiful wooden fans or paper parasols to use during the ceremony and then take home.

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Summer Wedding Flowers

You can’t go wrong with an abundance of flowers at a summer wedding. There are so many varieties in season, you may have a tough time narrowing your choices down! Fill the scene with bright and cheerful flowers such as roses, sunflowers, red and yellow calla lilies, dahlias, gerber daisies, cosmos, mums, and zinnias. Bright purple dendrobium orchids are much less expensive during the summer months, so you can feel like a queen without the budget of one.

An alternative idea is an airy summer look with mostly white and light colored flowers such as roses, stephanotis, white phlox, elegant white calla lilies, huge and fragrant casa blanca lilies, hydrangea, snowball mums, and daisies (also known as Shasta daisies).

By Nina Callaway, About.com Guide to Weddings

The reception was nice. We had it at the Italian American Cultural Center in Clinton Township. It’s a beautiful hall. And both the food and the service were outstanding! We had many compliments from our guests. I decided to use turquoise organza chair sashes and matching turquoise embroidered runners on the tables (photo below). Teddy bears were used as centerpieces with balloons attached to the arms.  So cute! It was a beautiful day, but I’m glad it’s over with. Anita, who is the proud aunt, can relax now too.