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February 15, 2011
Managingthose Details
VINTAGE
CHICEVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN!
Weddingson theWeb
LifeSTYLEWeddingWeddingYour Perfect
12 details to get just right2 — Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
By ANJA WINIKKA TheKnot.com
The key to a standout celebration? It’s thelittle things that count.
The perfect groom? Check. Dress, cake andband? Check, check and check. While youmay have the big parts covered, a few often-overlooked details will make your day mem-orable. We take you from the ceremony pro-grams to the exit with a list of particularslonging for attention.
DIRECTIONS AND SIGNAGEYou don’t want your guests getting lost on
the way to the chapel. If you spell it out forthem, they’re more likely to be on time, andyour entire wedding day has a better chanceof running smoothly.
Include a map or add a link to GoogleMaps on your wedding website so guestshave an idea of where they’re going. As asafeguard, consider including a map fromthe ceremony site to the reception venue inyour programs or your invites. For the day-of, create signage for each wedding spot (theceremony, cocktail hour, and reception) di-recting guests where to go. If it’s an outdoorwedding, make or buy a wooden sign andpaint it with an arrow. For a more sophisti-cated soiree, consider using printed black-and-white-framed signage in a scripted font.
THE ENTRANCE No matter where you wed, first impres-
sions are essential. A personalized entrywaywill make your site more welcoming andhelp guests feel at home almost immediate-ly.
If you’re having an outdoor wedding, hangleis of orchids or sun-catching glass orna-ments on the surrounding trees. For a ball-room, have your florist create an escort cardtable arrangement with plenty of height soit’s the first thing guests see. A rustic affaircalls for tons of lanterns lining the pathways.
THE ESCORT CARDS When the seating is assigned ahead of
time, you save guests the pressure of search-ing for a seat at the wedding reception. Youalso guarantee that your guests of honor(grandparents and close relatives) get a quietspot while your rowdy friends from collegesit closest to the dance floor.
Escort cards are easy to personalize and anexcellent way to bring in your wedding daycolors — from calligraphed seating cards setatop a textured linen to apples tagged witheach guest’s name or small personalizedbundles of lavender tied off with string.Other ways to display escort cards: Pin themto a clothesline, post them on a board cov-ered in color-coordinated ribbon, or incor-porate them into your cocktail hour usingpersonalized stirrers tagged with guests’names.
THE GUEST BOOK It takes more than setting out a couple of
pens to make a guest book enticing enough
to get all your guests to sign in. The trick is toshow off your creativity in an inviting way.
Ask guests to contribute to a scrapbook byproviding a Polaroid camera. Make a back-drop by hanging an attractive piece of fabricand then ask each guest, couple, or family tostand in front of it and pose. Have a closefriend man the camera. When their picture isready, they can pop it into the guest bookand sign their names next to it. Or get yourvideographer involved and go for a live guestbook reel by having each of your guests ex-press all of their sentiments on camera.
THE LIGHTING The right lighting can help flatter any
space and make you and your guests lookgreat. Use colored lighting to punch up adrab hallway. Pick a different yet comple-mentary hue for the rest of the reception(use blue for a white wedding, amber for apink celebration). Decorative hanging lights,lamps with patterned shades, or crystalchandeliers will transform a space fromplain to extravagant.
THE KIDS Even if you love children, you won’t want
them disrupting the ceremony or reception.Have a plan to keep little ones at their best.At the ceremony, have an usher hand outcoloring books and crayons. At mealtime,seat little ones with their parents so they’llbe in top form while eating. If lots of kids willbe attending, setting up a nearby room withgames, craft supplies and DVDs guaranteesthat they’ll have a good time during the re-ception (as will their eternally grateful par-ents).
THE LOO The restroom is an often-overlooked space
that, when given a little tender love and care,creates an unexpected wow. It doesn’t takemuch either — even the slightest bit of decorwill perk up and personalize this space. Addsmall bud vases of flowers, give the bath-room new “Ladies” and “Gents” signs, orsplurge on some monogrammed towels inyour wedding colors. To really impress yourguests, scan childhood pictures of the two ofyou through the years, laminate them andpost them on the bathroom walls.
THE BAR Let’s face it: The bar is a spot where most of
your guests will probably spend a significantamount of time, which is precisely why it’s agreat place to add a burst of color, which willboost the look of the room. Serve someunique bar snacks like vodka-soaked water-melon balls in antique ice cream glasses,Grand Marnier-infused apricots or ice cubeswith a berry or another piece of fruit frozeninside. Consider printing your signaturecocktail recipe right on your coasters or bev-erage napkins. Also, think about giving thebar itself a facelift: Ask your wedding plan-ner to use bamboo, Lucite, or even laser-cutwood in a bold pattern for the front of thebar and use backlighting to create a stun-
ning centerpiece for the room.
THE MENU CARDS Menu cards designed to complement your
wedding day stationery and coordinate withyour signature colors will add a stylish extratouch to each of your place settings. Theycan be as formal or informal as your recep-tion. Place round menu cards in the centerof each charger to suit a decidedly formal re-ception. A more laid-back wedding mightcall for the menu to be written on a chalk-board set up near the entrance. If you planon serving a multi-course meal, considergiving guests mini menu booklets. They caneven double as place cards.
THE CAKE TABLE The cake table is often a main focal point
of the reception space where many of yourguests will congregate to take pictures. Keepin mind that an inadequately decorated dis-play table can make or break your photos.Create the perfect setting by keeping decorlow to the table so you don’t detract fromyour main dessert. Consider using a mono-grammed table linen in a complementarycolor. Or have your florist sprinkle smallflowers in your wedding hues, such as bellsof Ireland or freesias. To give it the royaltreatment, set your cake on a riser at a ball-room wedding or cover it with a fabric-draped canopy if you’re having an outdoorparty.
THE CHAIRS The right chairs and chair treatments can
transform what was a hodgepodge roominto something that’s elegant and refined.Match your chair treatments to your wed-ding style. If it’s a black-tie wedding, coverevery chair in rich, silk fabric and add a coor-dinating sash. For a wedding that’s outdoors,consider using simple chiavari chairs in-stead of the plastic folding kind. For a freshtwist, get colorful, patterned chair cushionsin lieu of monochromatic ones. You can alsouse your chairs to highlight the season. Paytribute to the time of year by decoratingevery chair with a miniature wreath for awinter wedding, or tie fresh blooms to eachof the chair backs if you’re having a spring-time affair.
THE EXIT A stylish exit is the exclamation point to a
great wedding day, not to mention your lastchance to drive home your personal style.Take full advantage of this opportunity. Rosepetals are pretty but often overdone, so toend the night with a bang (literally), hire pro-fessionals to shoot off fireworks. If pyrotech-nics are not in your budget, have your guestsshower you with light from sparklers. Whenit comes to your getaway transportation, getcreative: Drive away in a vintage car decorat-ed with bright flowers; toss your hair into thewind on a moped; or jump into a sleek, styl-ish sports car. And don’t forget that “JustMarried” sign.
Scripps Howard News Service
What’sInside
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DRESS■ Vintage styles are makingan appearance in many weddings.Page 3
■ Put your dress to use afterthe big day.Page 5
■ Make the right gown decisions for your destination wedding.Page 6
IMPORTANT DETAILS■ Shine a little light on yourday to create the right mood.Page 7
■ Get all the important information to your guests with a little help from the Web.Page 10
■ Practice makes perfect!How to make your rehearsaldinner memorable.Page 11
■ Men are starting off on theright foot with the help of afew dance lessons.Page 12
■ Add a personal touch toyour event with a slideshow.Page 15
By SAMANTHA CRITCHELLAP Fashion Writer
NEW YORK — There’s somethingromantic about the idea of a vin-tage wedding dress, with the won-derful stories it could tell. Maybethere’d be some delicate lace, too,or exquisite siren-worthy satin.
Reality, though, isn’t always sopretty.
Some vintage dresses are thoseperfect gowns you dream of, saysMark Ingram, CEO and creative di-rector of Manhattan’s Mark IngramBridal Atelier, but others are toocostume-y, too dated or, more like-ly, simply ill-fitting.
“You can reach back to some vin-tage eras and look as contempo-rary as buying a new dress. But,”he says, “you have to consider yourfigure first and foremost. If thedress isn’t flattering to your figuretype, just don’t go down the road.”
Cameron Silver, owner of the LosAngeles couture vintage shopDecades, suggests these questionsto ask — frankly — of yourself:
Do you need to wear a bra? Doyou have a boyish figure? An hour-glass shape? What about yourhips? All of these, he says, are fac-tors in buying any wedding gown,but particularly those meant to fitwomen of previous generations.
Silver, a resource for Hollywoodred-carpet looks, also warns thatfinding a pristine white vintagedress can be hard, and that a goodvintage dress, if it’s not an heir-loom, can be more expensive thanyou’d think. Even with your grand-mother’s dress, there could bepricey alterations.
“Don’t do this because you thinkit’s the easy way out, or that it’ll becheaper,” adds Ingram. “You haveto want it — you have to want tohave this look.”
But if you do find that ideal gownfrom yesteryear, Silver says, it’s amagical moment. He once sold afull Chantilly lace wedding gownby Chanel. “It was such a thrill,” hesays.
There was a more recent OlivierTheyskens for Rochas gown thatpractically brought tears to hiseyes.
(If you find a keeper, be ready tobuy it right away — no wavering —because there’s not another onestuck in some inventory closet.)
If you’re partial to embroidery,look at gowns from the 1920s and’30s, while sultry, satin gownscome out of the ’40s. Women witha full bust might look to the curvier‘50s silhouette, says Ingram, WETV’s “gown guru,” while mini-
dresses of the ’60s are cool, yethard to pull off unless the event iscasual or the bride prides herselfan individualist.
Silver says that’s usually the casewith those who wear vintage. “Thisbride doesn’t want to look likeeveryone else.”
Still, you can hit contemporaryfashion trends. Something fromthe ’70s, a little bohemian but sexy,too, is probably the hippest lookgoing.
The period to stay away from is,no surprise: the ’80s, with its over-size pouffy shoulders and taperedsleeves. “Right now, the ’80s looksso dated. Yes, 20, 30 years back is‘vintage,’ but if you’re going back,that’s a bad period to dip into. No‘Dynasty,’ not even PrincessDiana,” Ingram says. “There could
be a big trend back to the ’80s ifKate (Middleton) wore it, but Ican’t imagine that. It’s too big. Theproportion was too big, and itwouldn’t look modern now.”
A bride’s goal often is a timelesslook, since the photos will hope-fully last a lifetime, but each erastill has its signature, says MichaelShettel, designer of bridal brandAlfred Angelo. You might be bestoff with a classic silhouette, whileadjusting embellishments and de-tails to current tastes, he suggests.
Wedding-gown trends don’tswing as quickly as ready-to-wearfashion, he explains: Of course,white always dominates the mar-ket and the overall vibe is fancy,but when you line them up, you’llsee differences in the size and
Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 3
Choose vintage look because you love it
Continued on Page 4
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Choose vintage look because you love it
types of pearls and beads, changes in pop-ular lace patterns, hemlines going up anddown.
“You want to make it your own, whilestill honoring whoever wore a vintagedress before. ... Maybe you’d like to make ita little more low-cut, a little more fitted,maybe give it a fuller skirt,” Shettel says.
He also borrows from the past for newgowns. The tight-bodice, tea-length ball-gown, which “Mad Men” helped bringback in style, seems very fresh, Shettelsays, and the asymmetrical neckline re-mains popular.
Ingram says the best of both worldsmight be vintage or vintage-inspired ac-
cessories on a new dress. “Add a fur piece— a shrug or a stole — and it looks vintage,even if it’s new, which probably means abetter fit. The look could be 1910 or 2010,”he says. He also likes to add a beaded beltor sash, which also can give the illusion ofa small waist, and carries that retro feel.
There’s no reason, though, to go back intime for your beauty routine.
“If you do a vintage wedding dress, youraccessories, hair and makeup have to beincredibly modern,” says Decades’ Silver.“You don’t want to be the bride ofFrankenstein. If the dress looks ‘period,’you have to play against it in your styling— unless you have a Renaissance theme,and who does that?”
“DON’T DO this because you think it’s the easy way out, or that it’ll becheaper. You have to want it — you have to want to have this look.”
Mark Ingram,CEO of Manhattan’s Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier
Continued from Page 3
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By SUSAN THURSTON St. Petersburg Times
In closets everywhere hangmemories of walks down the aisle.Wedding dresses that girls grew updreaming about. Dresses thathushed a crowd at first sight andcaused mothers to reach for tis-sues.
Traditionally, after the big day,brides clean and preserve theirgowns in the hope a daughtermight wear it.
These days, that rarely happens.Styles change, and most bridesprefer to pick their own dress.
Even if they don’t, who has thespace to store such a cumbersomeitem for possibly decades?
Instead, more brides are turningto creative and thoughtful ways toreuse their gowns, beyond cover-ing it with fake blood and wearingit for Halloween as the Bride ofFrankenstein.
Here are a few examples, fromtrash-the-dress events to seam-stress makeovers.
TRASH IT! Even before she started shop-
ping for her wedding dress, EmilyWilliamson wanted to trash it.
It had to be something fun andunique to match her live-life-to-the-fullest attitude.
“You can pass your dress downto your children and grandchil-dren, but I wanted to pass downwho I was, not just the dress,” shesaid.
A few months after her May 7wedding at Caesar’s Palace in LasVegas, she and her husband, Pre-ston, did a trash-the-dress photoshoot with Divine Light Photogra-phy.
The couple spent a rainy after-noon splashing around downtownTampa in their wedding best —and roller skates.
Photographers shot them sit-ting in the middle of a wet FloridaAvenue, kissing. Another showsEmily, 25, thigh deep in a foun-tain.
“At one point it got very messyand I thought, ‘What am I doing?’”she said.
The result was better than sheand her husband expected. Sur-prisingly, the shoot didn’t ruin the$1,500 dress, prompting Emily toponder a trash-the-dress do-over.
SELL IT! Cindy Almanzar thought a sim-
ple, diamond-white mermaidgown by Allure Bridal was the per-fect dress for her Nov. 6 wedding.
That is until calls started comingfrom family in the Dominican Re-public who wanted their hand-made dresses to match. What’s thefabric? Any sequins or embellish-ments? Ah, well, actually, no, shesaid. “My dress is pretty plain.”
Too plain, it turns out. Almanzar, 26, bought a second,
more elaborate gown and postedher first dress for sale on eBay andCraigslist. A few months later, the
$940 dress still hung in her closet. Disappointed, she stumbled
across preownedweddingdresses.com and paid the $25 fee to posther dress online. The next day, itsold. A Tampa doctor, who alsohad regrets about her first pur-chase, bought it for $750.
“I was just completely shocked,”Almanzar said.
A few weeks before the wedding,she’s already thinking about sellingher actual dress on the same site.
REMAKE IT! When Jessica Karcher Fladd got
married in 2005, she knew shewanted to do something specialwith her wedding dress.
Keeping it for a daughter sound-ed nice, but not realistic. Even inthe off chance that she would want
to wear her dress, storing it didn’tseem feasible. So she decided shewould turn it into a christeninggown for a future child.
“I was trying to find a way tokeep it but not store it,” she said.
“My husband and I move arounda lot with his job, and he’s not onefor keeping things. I was avoidingthe inevitable of him tossing itout.”
When Fladd, now 27, found outshe was pregnant with a girl a fewyears later, her mother, KarlaKarcher, took the gown to a seam-stress. Snip, snip and she made achristening dress out of some ofthe train. Taylor Ann Fladd wore itto her baptism, and there’s “stillplenty of fabric for future grand-children,” noted her happygrandmother.
Wedding dresses come out of the closetIndiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 5
“YOU CAN pass your dressdown to your children ... butI wanted to pass down whoI was, not just a dress.”
Emily Williamson,bride
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A destination wedding can addextra romance to a wedding. But ifa knock-out bridal gown is also onyour wish list, plan accordingly.
“There are a lot of types of desti-nations — from a beach in Mexicoto a cathedral in Italy,” says Hous-ton-based stylist Wendy NorwoodPatterson, “and they don’t call forthe same types of dresses.”
If you’re carrying it yourself on aplane, a gown with a slender sil-houette will be easier to pack.
You can always embellish yourlook with antique diamond-and-pearl jewelry, jeweled hairpins,brooches or even a belt — all easyto tuck into a suitcase. Most im-portantly, say experts, is finding adress in a travel-friendly fabric.
“Don’t think you have to sacrificeyour dream dress,” Patterson says,“but a full ball gown of simple silkprobably won’t travel well.”
Anja Winikka, editor at The-Knot.com, concurs.
“Stay away from big ball gownsin heavy silks and satins,” she says.
“You can still have that big skirt,but choose the right fabric.”
Look for breathable, flowy fab-rics like chiffon, any silk blend andcharmeuses, she suggests.
If you’ll be standing on a beachor a lawn, have the dress hemmedproperly — “so it’s just above theground, rather than skimming it,”Winikka adds. She recommends awedge-style shoe rather than heelsfor outdoor spaces. Sandals can befine, too. Even flip-flop makershave created bridal lines. “Thinkabout your theme,” Winikka says.“You’ve chosen a destination, solet your dress celebrate that spot.”
TAKING FLIGHT Don’t even think about packing a
bridal gown in a suitcase. Some boutiques will pack it and
send it ahead to your destination,says stylist Wendy Norwood Pat-terson. If you must take it with you,carry the dress in a hanging rack —and arrange with the airline earlyto stow it in the on-board closet,not an overhead bin.
“Do not ever let anyone tell youthey’re going to check your wed-ding dress,” Winikka says.
Any gown that’s endured a tripwill need a little bit of touch-up be-fore the ceremony. “Have a propersteamer and supplies, including astain remover pack, ready,” saysWinikka.
And take the time as soon as youarrive to hang up your dress.”
Destination dresses need special thought6 — Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 7
Lighting can transform a wedding spaceBy DIANA MARSZALEKFor The Associated Press
You’d be hard pressed to find abride who doesn’t make flowers,centerpieces and tablecloths apriority when it comes to creatinga certain mood for the wedding.
But talk to wedding lighting de-signer Bentley Meeker — whoseclients have included ChelseaClinton and Catherine Zeta Jones— and he’ll tell you that simpletricks, such as changing the colorof light bulbs, can create the de-sired ambiance more effectivelythen roses and fancy tableclothsever could.
“Wedding lighting is reallyabout what people are always try-ing to do with their weddings,which is to create a certain vibe
and atmosphere,” the New YorkCity lighting pro said.
“Say you’re going to do a wed-ding in your office, and you bringin flowers and the tables and youstill have fluorescent lighting,” hesaid.
“It will look like your office dec-orated for a wedding.
“But if I came in and lit the of-fice and didn’t do any other deco-rations, we would have trans-formed that space.”
Diann Valentine, a Los Angeleswedding designer and expert onthe cable station Wedding Cen-tral, agreed that lighting shouldtop brides’ decorating prioritylists because it “allows us to pro-gram the mood of an event.”
That might mean changing theintensity of light throughout a
wedding — dimmer for cocktails,brighter for dinner, for example— or using it to completelychange the feel of a room.
Rainer Flor, who married wifeCandice last month at singer Glo-ria Estefan’s Costa d’Este in VeroBeach, Fla., said lighting effectsenhanced the “Miami chic” at-mosphere they were looking for.
With floor lights and strategical-ly placed LED lights, he said, theroom, right off the beach, “lookedalmost like an aquarium.”
Central Florida wedding plan-ner Karry Castillo, who helped de-sign the Flors’ wedding, said ef-fects can range from using simplespotlights on particular room fea-tures or decorations, to lightingmotifs and special patterns on
Continued on Page 8Associated Press photo
EYES ADJUST to lights dimmed somewhat darker than you’d expect.
walls, floors and ceilings.In addition, lighting effects
can be relatively inexpensive,anywhere from a few hundreddollars to thousands, dependingon complexity.
“In many ways, lighting notonly enhances the elements youhave in place, but it can alsogive you a lot more bang for thedollar too,” Castillo said.
Meeker is particularly fond ofusing pink and amber lightbulbs, though he warns thatthose colors must be used cau-tiously saying “There is uglyamber”.
Dimmed incandescent light isanother of his favorites.
Particularly in closed rooms,he said, use lighting that’s ap-propriate for the setting — fix-tures that can be absorbed into,rather than take over, the largersetting.
“It has to look beautiful sowhen the guests walk in theylose their breath,” Meeker said.
Make sure light isn’t so glaring— or dark — that it distorts ordistracts from the weddingparty.
And choose soft, flattering col-ors to create a serene atmos-phere, particularly by quellingstrong lights.
“Lighting can change so muchthat people really feel goodabout themselves,” Meeker said.
Meeker sometimes works withcrews 120 strong, and chargesanywhere from $4,000 to$500,000 to custom light a wed-ding.
But there is plenty that bridesand wedding planners withmore limited resources can doquite simply, he said.
One cost-free suggestion: Dimthe lights.
“If you want to transform aspace, you put everything ondimmers,” he said.
Meeker says he dims lightssomewhat darker than you’d ex-pect (“Your eye adjusts”);whether you can see your shoesand laces clearly is a goodbarometer or whether you’ve hitit right.
Other wise advice: “Ask yourmother or mother-in-law-to-be,and if it’s not too dark for her,there’s your atmosphere.”
Meeker also suggests this fair-ly inexpensive trick: Use smallspotlights (about $30 each, hesaid) to highlight architecturalor decorative features aroundthe wedding space.
8 — Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Lighting can transform a wedding spaceContinued from Page 7
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By ALICIA CHANGAssociated Press
LOS ANGELES — Jennifer Cas-sista expected that her 18-monthjourney to the altar would includea few stumbles.
A mixed-up order, perhaps. Anincorrect size. A meltdown or two.
She didn’t count on having tobook a new venue less than threemonths before her May nuptialsbecause her first choice closeddown.
Of all the troubles that can ariseduring wedding planning, havingthe location fall through at the lastminute is perhaps the most trying.Couples tend to decide earlywhere to tie the knot, and everyother detail is linked to that. Whena seemingly perfect spot unex-pectedly evaporates before the bigday, it sets off a domino effect.
Real-life stories of desperatebrides abound on Internet mes-sage boards and vendor blogs.With many world economiesweakened in the last few years, it’snot uncommon for restaurants orevent spaces to go out of business,leaving couples in the lurch.
Pre-wedding hurdles usually canbe fixed in time, said Tampa, Fla.,wedding planner Lauren Grove,who keeps the “Every Last Detail”blog. For couples who find them-selves venue-less before the bigday, the priority should be fightingto get the deposit back.
Those who can’t need to rethinktheir budget when searching for aplan B venue, Grove said.
“Hopefully the losses wouldn’tbe too severe, and they would beable to reschedule and have theirdream wedding day,” she said.
Luck and resourcefulness savedthe day for Cassista and her fiance,Tom Bryan. They had thought theyhad found their dream ceremonysite when they booked a resortlodge not far from where they livedin Ontario, Canada, in March 2009.During a walk-through, the wed-ding coordinator gushed about anupcoming renovation to erect anew vow-exchange site down bysome rapids, complete with a lushgarden and pew-style seating.Though the couple had to use theirimagination, they trusted the re-sort to deliver.
Things became suspicious whenno one returned Bryan’s calls or e-mails when he asked for updateson the project. Last spring, he re-ceived a call from a resort frontdesk receptionist saying the placehad gone bankrupt.
Cassista and Bryan started dial-
ing other venues on their short list.All were booked on their weddingdate, May 29.
“We were in desperation mode.It was like, ‘Oh my God, we have todo this all over again,’” Bryan said.
Bryan’s father, who sells comput-er touchscreens to restaurants,suggested Golden Beach Resort onthe south shore of Rice Lake, eastof Toronto.
Cassista and Bryan weren’t im-pressed by the space’s website, butin desperation decided to check itout in person. Not only were thegrounds better than the first place,but the dance floor was larger. Anadded bonus was that it was avail-able the day they wanted, and wascheaper than the previous resort,too. With the new venue locked in,the couple spent the next several
weeks redoing invitations and no-tifying other vendors.
Looking back, Cassista said, shewas willing to change the weddingdate if they didn’t find a backup intime.
“You just need to relax and rollwith the punches. Things will hap-pen in every bride’s planning,” shesaid. “Be levelheaded and try tofigure it out.”
Self-described foodies SarinaChhay and Brian Harnett workedtheir connections to turn a pre-wedding near-disaster in theirfavor. The couple were set on hold-ing their reception at Great Bayrestaurant, a seafood restaurantclose to Fenway Park in Boston.But the economy had other plans.After six years in business, therestaurant was shuttered at the
end of May 2009, three months be-fore their wedding. They scurriedto find a replacement, calling morethan 20 places and visiting half adozen, with zero luck.
“There was a feeling of helpless-ness,” Chhay said. “I was losingsleep.”
Harnett had an idea. As a last re-sort, he reached out to the restau-rant’s events manager, who prom-ised to check with the other sisterrestaurants to see if they couldhost their wedding.
Fortunately, Radius, known formodern French cuisine, was avail-able. The couple went with it sinceit was where they shared their firstfine dining experience. In Septem-ber, they celebrated their one-yearanniversary there, too, the chaosall but a memory.
Christina and Christoph Schu-macher had a laundry list of thingsgo wrong before they said their “Idos” in June 2008. Many couplesworry about the weather not coop-erating, but for the Schumachers,Mother Nature unleashed a flood aweek before their wedding in asmall Indiana town, triggering astate of emergency.
The state park where theyplanned to have their wedding wasshut down because of lack ofwater, and it was unclear whetherit would reopen in time.
With no backup plan, the couplecontacted several politicians andexplained the situation.
In the end, they were able to usea log cabin at the park for their cer-emony, but the guest lodgingswere off-limits.
Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 9
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Inform your guests with a wedding website10 — Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
By CARYN ROUSSEAUAssociated Press
With friends and family headed to her Cal-ifornia wedding from all over, bride-to-beCarrie Shields decided online organizationwas key.
“Really, the wedding website was one ofthe first things we did,” the 32-year-old pub-lic relations director from San Diego said.Shields is marrying fiance R.J. Jones, 36, whowas born and raised in Wales. Their Aprilwedding in Napa Valley comes four yearsafter they met through friends.
“I knew people were going to have a lot ofquestions about what to do and how to getthere,” Shields said. “I wanted to make it funand personal.
“I kind of jumped right on things becausepeople were traveling so far.”
Wedding experts at TheKnot.com and itspartner, WeddingChannel.com, say thisyear’s annual survey found 64 percent of
brides now have a website to share detailswith guests about ceremony and receptionlogistics, registry information and travel ac-commodations.
Web companies exist that allow couples tohost wedding sites for free while otherscharge a fee for access to fancier templatesand tools.
The page Shields created has a personaland creative flair.
It features a blue and orange frame with abrown background. The happy couple smilefrom behind sunglasses on a beach. Acounter below them lets visitors know it’s“151 days until our wedding!”
“A lot of the people coming over, they’venever been to America,” Shields said. “I’mgoing to add a little bit about things to do inSan Francisco, trying to take the guessworkout of it.”
Experts at WeddingWire.com recommendthat couples launch their website at least sixmonths before the wedding date to give
guests as much information as early as pos-sible. That allows enough time to make trav-el arrangements. WeddingWire also offersother online tools, including a program thatlets guests RSVP directly from the website.
Carley Roney, editor and founder of TheKnot.com, said her site and WeddingChan-nel.com together host more than 500,000wedding websites for couples.
“It’s a simple, easy way of communica-tion,” Roney said.
“It’s really like going to the website for arestaurant or a concert event. Everything isin one place.”
That’s why more wedding website ad-dresses are appearing in fancy fonts on thebottom of printed invitations.
“You’re going to want to give the same in-formation you always needed to have on aninvitation: the name, location, time ofevent,” Roney said. But things like dresscode or baby-sitting services can be saved
Continued on Page 11
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Dishing with a rehearsal-dinner plannerInform yourguests with a wedding
website
Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 11
for the website.Some sites let couples upload
music or an audio track of theirvoices, video, animated graphics,or polls asking guests what songsto play or which appetizers toserve.
To personalize her website,Shields added a “glossary” of Welshand American words, and photosof the 20-member wedding party.
Couples who choose WeddingChannel.com to host their web-sites can choose from templates byhigh-fashion designers like Oscarde la Renta, Monique Lhuillier andVera Wang.
“You still want to make the in-vestment in it to make it uniquelyyou,” Roney said.
“Just like you do on the weddingday.”
Roney offers three tips for settingup a wedding website:
■ Don’t assume your audience isonly younger friends, and remem-ber your etiquette.
“You want to keep things ‘wed-ding and older people friendly,’”Roney said.
“You don’t want to go on and onforever. You don’t want to putthings like, ‘please ship our giftsto.’ Some of the etiquette that iswrong for wedding invitations iswrong for this, too. To be makingspecific demands of your guestsisn’t appropriate.”
■ Include your registry informa-tion. According to TheKnot.comand WeddingChannel.com survey,about 61 percent of guests find outwhere a couple is registered fromtheir wedding website — a figurethat has grown from 47 percent in2008.
“It really is becoming the ab-solute de facto way that guests aregoing to find out where you’re reg-istered,” Roney said.
“It used to be that brides wereworried it was tacky, but it’s sim-ply not tacky. It’s how it’s donenow.”
■ Get the word out. Don’t justcreate and publish the website andassume everyone knows it exists.“Send the information directly toyour guests,” sometimes morethan once, Roney said. “You can’tassume that something you put onyour website was acknowledged byall.”
Continued from Page 10
By SAM WHITING San Francisco Chronicle
The rehearsal dinner has poten-tial to be even more fraught withperil than the wedding reception.It is the one opportunity for thegroom’s family to get revenge onall the perceived slights inflictedby the bride’s family over thecourse of the long engagementseason.
Kathy Goodman, 34, offers aservice to keep things smooth andapolitical. She runs Well Re-hearsed (www.wellrehearsed.com).
The wedding season is just nowheating up, but she found time toclarify the duties of a rehearsal-dinner planner, a consultant cate-gory she created.
QUESTION: What do you do? ANSWER: I take the event from
simply a sit-down dinner and ele-vate it and bring some personalityto it. I don’t get involved with thefood preparation. I’m not a cater-er. I will get involved with menuselection and finding the appro-priate place to hold the event.Then I go into a custom designthat really helps them tell a storythat is unique that kicks off thewedding that is going to happenthe next day.
QUESTION: How did rehearsaldinners get started in the firstplace?
ANSWER: That’s a good question.I should know that. It’s definitelyan American tradition. I don’tknow when or why. My assump-tion is that it’s a way for thegroom’s side to be involved withthe wedding celebration, becausetraditionally it is the bride’s familythat pays for the wedding.
QUESTION: Who contacts you, thebride or the groom?
ANSWER: Both, or the mom of thegroom.
QUESTION: What is it that theywant?
ANSWER: They want a memo-rable experience that first nightwhen all of their friends and fami-ly are together. Sometimes it is thefirst time the families are meeting,so it’s a really important night. Therehearsal dinner is sort of wherethe toasts and roasts from familymembers and friends can comeout.
QUESTION: Do you coach thebride and groom on how to act?
ANSWER: I absolutely coachthem and walk them through theevening and the time frame. Thereis a cocktail reception as peopleare arriving for the event and thengoing through the evening. There
will be toasts, and a lot of timesthey have put together a slideshow. It’s not as complicated asthe wedding. I always recommendthat couples do some sort of seat-ing arrangement.
QUESTION: What is the No. 1 thingnot to do at a rehearsal dinner?
ANSWER: Get too drunk. QUESTION: What qualifies you as
an expert on rehearsal dinners? ANSWER: My business has organ-
ically grown because of how Iplanned my rehearsal dinner in2004. That was the start of mybusiness. Not only did I plan it,but it was actually a surprise formy husband. I also planned thewedding.
QUESTION: Why didn’t your hus-band plan your rehearsal dinner?
ANSWER: Because I wouldn’t lethim. (Laughs) I’m an event plan-ner, so I wanted to plan it all.
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Looking silly — or worse — dur-ing the first dance as a marriedcouple rates way up there on thescale of wedding stress for groomswho are terrified of anything fanci-er than the high school prom sway.
“It’s not Emily Post’s dance any-more,” said Crista Tharp, a wed-ding planner in Kokomo, Ind.“Some are doing rap, hip-hop,break dancing in little snippets.Most grooms would probably nixthe dance, but they’re not giventhat option.”
Motivated by television’s“Dancing with the Stars” andwacky wedding dance YouTubevideos, more couples are build-ing fancy footwork into their big-day budgets, turning up the pres-sure on members of the wedding
party with two left feet. For those who can’t dance — but
will be singled out by cameras andwatching guests — setting a cleargoal is a good place to begin,dance instructors suggest. Are youmerely looking to survive with afew basic steps, or are you goingall-in with dance sequences puttogether with help from an in-structor or a wedding choreogra-pher?
Groom-to-be Jerry Karran, 28, avideo editor in New York City, de-cided on regular lessons at a dancestudio ahead of his wedding in Julywith 400 invited guests. He triedwatching instructional videos on-line, but they left him confused.
“I’m very nervous,” he said. “I’mnot nervous about anything elseconcerning the wedding but that. Ican’t dance, like, at all. Everybody’slooking at you. I don’t want to lookstupid messing up, or stepping onher toes or something.”
Dance lessons helped calm Jere-my Gorelick, 30, when he got mar-ried in April at Johns Hopkins Uni-versity, where he met his wife. Hehas always enjoyed dancing inclubs, but slow dancing was “THEworry of the wedding for both ofus.”
They took lessons together, buthe often practiced on his own witha broom. That, Gorelick said, was amisstep because it wasn’t at all likeleading his bride on the dancefloor.
“A broom will do whatever youdo, so it was actually an exercise infutility and probably did moredamage,” said Gorelick, of NewYork City and White SulphurSprings, N.Y.
Start taking lessons well in ad-vance of the big day to make yourmovements more instinctive andless dependent on shaky, short-term memory, instructors recom-mend. Beginning at least sixmonths ahead of a wedding isideal, but six weeks would suffice,so long as at least four lessons areinvolved.
Start with group lessons, manysuggest, to get comfortable on adance floor and boost confidence.Then take private instruction towork on a specific routine ordance.
Jackie Horner, who was Gore-lick’s instructor, often teacheswhole wedding parties how todance. While women, too, can bedance-challenged, men are oftenmore nervous because they mustalso learn how to lead, she said.
“I say to them, dancing is justwalking to music,” Horner said. “Ihave them walk around the room
for me to just feel the music a littlebit, because there are men who donot have any rhythm at all. Usuallyit’s a little easier than theythought.”
Gorelick said beginners shouldadvocate for a short song. He andhis wife chose “The Way I Am” byIngrid Michaelson after their in-structor steered them away from alonger tune, “based on the fact thatI seemed so tense. She didn’t wantme to be out there for an eternity,which is sort of what it felt like.”
James Joseph, who wrote thebook “Every Man’s Survival Guideto Ballroom Dancing” (BlueChip,2010), said taking lessons is fine ifcouples have the time, money andinclination. For those in dance-floor survival mode, try embellish-ing the basic side step with a sim-ple change of footwork, a slow ro-tation or some underarm turns.
“If anyone asks, tell them it’s afoxtrot,” he said.
Change steps when the musicchanges, from verse to chorus, forinstance, to avoid getting lost.Making four or five changes, with adip in the middle and at the end,can look more difficult than it real-ly is.
Working with a choreographer,Joseph said, may be more troublethan it’s worth.
“If you work with a teacher,there’s a temptation to add chore-ography that you might not be ableto handle,” he said.
“Don’t get in over your head.” Practicing in wedding clothes,
including shoes, also helps lessen
anxiety, said Joseph, a former two-left-footer who lives in JacksonHole, Wyo. Videotape a practicesession to see what needs work —and practice, practice, practice.
Grooms aren’t the only front-and-center wedding participantswho may be jittery about bigdances.
In 2006, at age 62, bawdy TV per-sonality Jerry Springer broughttears to the set of “Dancing withthe Stars” with an on-air kiss forhis daughter Katie after a waltz helearned so he could dance at herwedding that December.
“I’ve never really danced,”Springer, now 66, said in an inter-view. “So the night of the wedding,it’s time for the big father-daughterdance. In the middle of it, Katielooks up at me and says, ‘Dad, no-body can see our feet.’ They werecovered by her big gown. My ad-vice to dads unsure if they candance for their daughter’s weddingis to make sure they have a biggown. Then you can get by doinganything.”
Shelley Kapitulik, 29, and her fi-ance, Michael Drazin, 27, both ofGreenwich, Conn., hope to domore than just get by when theydance to the Michael Buble coverof James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is(To be Loved by You)” at their Junereception. They plan a swingdance, and took lessons to get anervous Drazin over the hump.
“The more we dance and I makemistakes, we figure out how to justkeep going, which has decreasedthe anxiety level,” he said.
12 — Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The pressure’s on for grooms with two left feet
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Cake, crickets and other ‘lucky’ wedding foodsBy MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON
For The Associated Press
Brides and grooms hoping toadd some good fortune to theirmarriages have some interestingoptions when planning a weddingfeast. Many cultures around theglobe have identified foods fornewlyweds that supposedly willbring good luck, fertility or otherblessings. The foods range fromfried crickets to candied almondsto fish. Attaching symbolism tofood is common practice through-out the world, said Amy Bentley,associate professor of food studiesat New York University.
“All rituals and holidays and cel-ebrations involve food,” she said.“This is somewhat universal.”
In Mexico, brides and groomssometimes dine on fried crickets,
lentil soup, and a bean, rice andagave dish, said Beatriz Mejia, di-rector of celebrations at One andOnly Palmilla resort in Los Cabos,Mexico. The crickets and the ricedish are said to bring fertility andgood luck, and the soup is associ-ated with good luck and good for-tune, she said. The resort has seengrowing interest from couples out-side of Mexico in the foods and tra-ditions of the region, she said.
“Couples today are seeking amore personalized and authenticexperience when they host a desti-nation wedding that is reflected inboth the food and venue,” she said.
Brides and grooms discussingtheir celebrations on the weddingwebsite TheKnot.com also seemmore interested than before in in-corporating traditional elementsinto their plans, said Rebecca Dol-
gin, an executive editor for the site.“Couples reaching into their ownculture is more popular now,” shesaid. “Incorporating culture is cre-ating a buzz on the messageboards.”
Often, foods are consideredlucky because of shape, color ortaste, Dolgin explained.
Italians serve almonds at wed-dings because their bittersweettaste represents life, she said. Thealmonds are sugarcoated to wishthe couple more sweetness thanbitterness.
Common at a Chinese weddingis whole fish, because the Chineseword for fish sounds similar to theword for abundance, Dolgin said.
“The Chinese also believe thateating spring rolls will bringwealth and prosperity,” she said.“Due to its color and size, it is also
thought to resemble gold bars.” Moroccan couples also eat fish
because it’s an ancient symbol offertility, she said. Fish appears onthe menu at many weddings,added Pam Frese, a professor ofanthropology at the College ofWooster in Ohio. Fish and otherwhite meats, such as turkey andchicken, are common weddingfoods because of old beliefs thatwomen had whiter blood thanmen, she said. White meats werethought to strengthen women’sblood, so they were served at wed-dings to energize the bride.
“It was extra strength to her onher wedding night so she can be-come a mother,” Frese said.
In Caribbean countries, specialattention is paid to the groom’ssexual performance on the wed-ding night, said Caitlin Austin, a
spokeswoman for Grace Bay Clubin the Turks and Caicos. Groomsare encouraged to eat the pistil of aconch “to increase their drive,” shesaid.
“The conch’s pistil is viewed bylocals as nature’s Viagra.”
Conch meat also is commonlyserved to wedding guests becauseislanders believe it’s an aphrodisi-ac, she said. Wedding cake, one ofthe oldest elements of a weddingbanquet, also has connections toluck and fertility.
“The traditionally acceptedpractice is for the bride to have thefirst bite; otherwise, she’d be child-less and barren,” Dolgin said.
Early English cakes were fruitcakes, and brides used to countthe number of raisins in their pieceof cake to see how many childrenthey would bear, Frese said.
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14 — Indiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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Slide shows put personal stamp on weddingIndiana Gazette Bridal Supplement, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 15
By AMY LORENTZENFor The Associated Press
Jennifer Cocchiara wants guestsat her wedding in November to un-derstand how she and her fiancefell in love, so she plans to presenta slide show with photos of themgrowing up and growing togetheras a couple.
It also will include shots of thepeople who are important to thecouple — the people who will beviewing the photos.
“We want it to be more interac-tive for the guests and interactivefor all of us — it’s a group celebra-tion,” said Cocchiara, of Ewing,N.J. Slide shows have becomecommon at weddings. Experts saythey must be done properly to suc-ceed, but are generally a fun andsimple way to personalize the dayand help guests get to know thecouple better.
“It’s an extra way to remind you,as a guest, where you are and howspecial it is you are there,” saidAnja Winikka, editor of TheKnot.com, a wedding planning website.
A slide show can be included inany part of the wedding weekend— rehearsal dinner, cocktail hour,post-wedding brunch or recep-tion, she said.
If a couple is uncomfortablestopping the festivities to show theslide show, it can be played in thebackground, on a loop, for gueststo view at their leisure.
Some couples run a slide showon digital photo frames near theguest book or even in the restroomarea.
Winikka cautions that slideshows should be “crafted in ameaningful manner.” They shouldbe organized chronologically or by
theme, and should feature photosthat don’t embarrass anyone andare appropriate for guests youngand old. The equipment used todisplay them should be tested be-forehand to avoid any glitches.
And, Winikka agrees, thereshould be photos of more peoplethan just the bride and groom.
“It’s great to see pictures of thetwo of you, but (guests) really arethere to enjoy themselves withyour friends and family, not justthe two of you,” she said.
Photo slide shows can be createdthrough various websites, for freeor a small fee, and on commoncomputer software such as Mi-
crosoft PowerPoint. You can rent aprojector or audio visual equip-ment to show it.
Couples may create the slideshow themselves, or let a familymember or friend do it. For thosewho aren’t good with computers,professional photographers cancraft a slide show that features art-fully edited photographs and videoclips. Rates can run from hundredsto thousands of dollars.
Phoenix videographer and discjockey Cameron Carpenter, ownerof Three Oceans Entertainment,says it can take a few days in thestudio for him to put together awedding slide show. Some of his
clients choose to tell only their lovestory, while others include photosof themselves growing up as well.
“It’s a neat way to watch some-body grow up right in front of youreyes, and that’s the big appeal forit,” he said. “For out-of-town rela-tives ... it kind of fills in thosegaps.”
Some wedding planners areagainst the whole idea.
Cristina Verger, owner of CristinaVerger’s Tasty Thoughts, a high-end wedding planning and eventdesign service in New York and theHamptons, said she’s never done aphoto slide show at a wedding.
“I would discourage it actually
because a slide show, no matterhow short, it really requires every-one’s attention, and you are inter-rupting,” she said. “You have tostop to make everyone sit downand pay attention to the slideshow, which is kind of an imposi-tion to your guests.”
If a couple feels strongly aboutincluding a slide show, Verger saidshe would suggest it be shownwith no sound during the cocktailhour.
Carpenter and Winikka agreedthat slide shows should comple-ment the wedding activities, notmake everything come to a stand-still or delay the dinner, dancing orspeeches. Both said that a goodtime for viewing is during dinner.“Before the fast eaters are doneand starting to mingle aroundagain, there’s a nice window there,”Carpenter said.
Slide shows also should be nomore than 10 or 15 minutes, heand Winikka said.
Cocchiara said she and her fi-ance, Damien Glonek, 37, are hor-ror movie fans who attended hor-ror movie conventions as young-sters and eventually met at one ofthem. Their slide show, she said,will likely include pictures of themin Halloween costumes and pos-ing with the actors from some oftheir favorite scary flicks.
Not only will the slide show bepersonal and a little nontradition-al, it also will help them avoidsomething they truly dread: danc-ing.
“We don’t like to dance, most ofour friends don’t like to dance, andwe were trying to think of whattype of entertainment we could in-corporate in the reception,” Coc-chiara said.
Associated Press photoA SLIDE SHOW can be included in any part of the wedding weekend — rehearsal dinner, cocktail hour, post-wedding brunch or reception.
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