Wedding Dress 101

Happy Holidays! I hope all your Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc. dreams have come true! For those of you who's dream of getting engaged over the holidays came true I'm here to help! Here are first of many tips to come!

10 Tips for Wedding Dress Shopping Success!
Wendi Hroncich

1. Always make an appointment at the dress shop beforehand!

2. Shop for your wedding gown SEPARATE from Bride's maid dresses. Shopping for both at the same time can be too overwhelming and does NOT give either shopping experience the value it deserves!

3. Wear or bring a strapless bar

4. Wear or bring heals with a comparable heel height to what you will wear on wedding day.

5. Shower and do your hair/makeup - when you try on dresses you will feel better in them if you like your hair and makeup that day!

6. Bring more than 1 person with you, especially if this person will like or hate everything you try on. Bringing someone whom you love their style/taste or has similar taste to you will really help. A 2nd set of great eyes will give you more confidence in your decision! If you have to - bring the people you love, whom you don't share taste, as your last option. They can make your decision harder or with out meaning to make you 2nd guess your self or not enjoy the experience at all. Surrounding yourself with positive people with great fashion sense will help you the most!

7. Try on dresses outside of your comfort zone. You never know what you will end up loving once it is on you. Have fun with this experience! After the wedding is over, you will wish you could go dress shopping again!

8. With that said, keep your wedding vision in mind - you don't want to end up with a dress that doesn't match your venue or formality of your wedding. For you I know you have a pretty clear idea of what you want and it really fits your whole vision, but don't rule anything out before at least trying it on!

9. Ask for a fabric swatch of the dresses you love and take pictures, if the shop will let you!

10. Bring a snack for in between appointments. Have everyone coming with you do the same! Dress shopping takes a lot of energy and time. It's important for all to become starving in the middle of the day!

It's Crunch Time!

It is getting to the time of year when your wedding day is just around the corner! You have hired all your vendors, completed all your projects, bought your favors, had your dress fitted, etc., and now you need to know how to make your wedding day run smoothly.

Many of us have been a guest at wedding where there was a lot of standing around wondering, where are the bride and groom?, or when is the next thing going to happen? I'm sure you want to avoid this for your special day. Good News! It is so easy to make sure that you, your new hubby/wife, and your guests have a great time on wedding day! All it takes is putting together a simple timeline for your vendors to follow and guide you through! You have probably considered the placement of the major events of the day: whether you want to be introduced into your reception or sneak in during cocktail hour. When the first dance will take place if your dancing at all. If you want to do a garter and bouquet toss or avoid the whole thing altogether! The list can go on and on!

Luckily, now days there is no "right or wrong way" to way to put your day together. There are just many things to consider, from ceremony start time to last call, inorder to have a smooth flow to your day.



Many of your vendors have probably tried to help you put together a time line already. (Their tools can be really helpful so please use them!) But, I recommend putting together a detailed timeline for the way YOU see your day going. You should share it with ALL your vendors, and not rely on each individual vendor's. They may all be slightly different from one another! Using the ONE you created ensures that everyone has the same overall picture of the day’s events as you want it! It also helps you make sure that you are fitting in all the major events in the time allotted in your contracts. If you only have 7 hours with your photographer, you don't want the ceremony to start at 2:30 and the toast to happen at 10:00pm. You want your photographer there to capture all of the elements you have planned in the 7 hours!

For an easy way to arrange this, I recommend using sticky notes and a large piece of paper with the start of your day on one side and end on the other! It can make for a fun game, mixing and matching the order of events on the time line to find what makes the most sense and works best! It is also a easy way to visually move the key events around to find the suitable order for the two of you! With the events in order you can start filling in the time surrounding the events and creating the time line.





No matter how you schedule your day, make sure that it's all about you two having the best time EVER, and taking special moments to slip away and enjoy being married!