It’s your day! You’ve got the perfect dress, veil, and shoes, now you need the perfect makeup. Here are some Dos and Don’t tips to help you on your very special day.

DOs

- Use a professional makeup artist if possible. Have a pre-wedding consultation so your makeup artist already knows what you want

- If you decide to do your own makeup then visit the cosmetic counter at least a month before your wedding and have the consultant try different colors to see what looks best on you

- Do your makeup before dressing

- Have your makeup done as close to the ceremony as possible

- Have a facial two weeks prior to your wedding. If you’ve not had facials in the past we would recommend you start this process 3-4 months prior to your wedding.

- Use a primer before applying your foundation. This will make your foundation last longer. It is also a good idea to use an eye primer to eliminate shadow creasing

- Make certain your foundation is an exact match to your skin tone

- Use powdered rice papers to eliminate any shine

- Use a light to medium lipstick that is long wearing. If you will be having black and white photos then add a layer of lip gloss

- Exfoliating your lips will result in your lipstick lasting longer

- Use translucent powder to set your makeup

- Blend, blend, and blend again to make sure all your makeup is smooth and even.

- If you are prone to red eyes use eye drops prior to the ceremony

- Use water proof mascara just incase the tears of joy appear

- Charcoal, navy, or mahogany are your best options for eyeliner. Black or brown may look too severe, especially if your wedding will be held during the daytime and/or outdoors.

- When applying your makeup wear a button shirt that can be easily removed when its time to dress.

- Place a towel over your head prior to slipping into your gown to avoid getting makeup on your gown.

- Don’t forget your blush! A pop of color on your cheeks is like an instant facelift.

- If you’ve had your hair professionally done and you will be removing your veil, then have the stylist show your mom or bridesmaids how to fix your style.

- A week before your wedding rehearse your makeup. Practice, practice, and practice some more, until you perfect the look you want for your wedding day.

- Treat nails at least a week prior to your wedding to ensure you are not dealing with ragged or dry cuticles

- If your wearing sandals then about a month before your wedding start your foot treatment so your feet look as good as the rest of you.

DON’Ts

- Do not do your own makeup. Have a professional makeup artist or a friend do it. Chances are you’ve got a bit of the jitters with all the excitement which could result in you having difficulties doing your own makeup

- Don’t make your foundation thick like a mask. Light for overall evenness is best.

- Don’t use shiny or shimmering products on dry skin

- Don’t overuse lip gloss

- Don’t have a facial within the previous 48 hours of your wedding. Facials can occasionally have unexpected results and you don’t need any surprises.

- Don’t pop any pre wedding zits, instead use Visine to take the red out.

by Sher Matsen

2) Expand the flowers for table decor with 2/3 greenery to 1/3 flowers.

3) Use mirror rounds under the flowers to expand their appearance on tables.

4) Have the bridesmaids carry one long-stemmed flower keyed into your wedding bouquet.

5) Selecting in-season flowers for your bouquets and decor can save a third of the costs.

6) Learn how to do your make-up prior to the event date and complete your own prior to putting on your gown.

7) Take advantage of wine sales the months prior to the wedding day.

Event location fees can be less when you hold your event mid-week or on a Friday or Sunday.

9) Shop for a specific price per slice on your cake. This can range from $3 to 9 per slice.

10) A Band or a DJ is often countered with a D.J. is only one or two meals extra, but a band can be 5 or 10 meals. Negotiate to not feed the band a full meal, but a nice boxed lunch. Some will agree.

11) Go to discount houses for your wedding and attendant dresses.

12) Some tux formalwear companies give the tux free for the groom when they bring four or more men in to be fitted for a wedding.

by Judith Rivers-Moore
author of Beautiful Events Books

Just as with any big show, your wedding day will not be perfect, but that’s okay. While you cannot plan ahead for every little detail or problematic situation that may arise, you can arm yourself with some helpful advice to be prepared at all times for any potential wedding mistakes. But before you begin planning your special day, consider these five biggest wedding preparation and planning mistakes that amateur ‘wedding planners’ often make.

1. Not Budgeting Costs

It’s hard to believe, but true, many couples do not create a budget when it comes to wedding preparation and end up in a deep hole of debt. The very first thing you should do to avoid disastrous (and bankrupting) wedding mistakes is devise an itemized budget, allowing for the necessary requirements, such as a venue for both the ceremony and reception, food and drinks, flowers, favors, decorations, etc. If anything is left over, either use this money for your honeymoon or spend it on something a little more frivolous, like a horse drawn carriage for your departure from the reception.

Budgeting ahead of time also involves your acknowledging the fact that you may surpass the total by at least 10%. Surprises do happen, so cutting back on other needless things will ensure that you don’t go over budget too much. In these initial wedding preparation stages, you and your fiance need to discuss who will be paying for what. It used to be that the bride’s parents paid for everything, but this ideal is slowly fading away. If you’re still coming up short on funds, there are literally hundreds of ways to cut costs for your wedding day, including having fewer guests, choosing an off-season date, selecting flowers that are in season, and having friends and family play a bigger part by making the wedding cake or trying their hand at photography.

2. Not Giving Yourself Enough Time

The image of the harried bride has been engrained into the psyche through a number of television shows that hype up the combination of little to no time and a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude. This is why giving yourself ample wedding preparation time is necessary to ensuring that your wedding flows seamlessly. If you want a large, extravagant wedding, you need to begin planning at least a year and a half in advance; for a smaller, more intimate wedding of about 50 guests, eight months to a year is fine. You need to take into account what your plans are for your wedding and adjust your schedule accordingly to prevent costly wedding mistakes from occurring.

Giving yourself more wedding preparation time allows you to order your cake, dress, wedding favors, flowers, decorations, etc. well in advance so that you don’t come up empty-handed from last minute rushing. Allotting enough time also applies to your wedding ceremony and reception. Don’t keep your guests waiting at the reception venue while you and your wedding party are taking hundreds of photos, consider taking a majority of the pictures before the ceremony and the all-important couple, wedding party, and family pictures after the vows have been exchanged.

3. Not Delegating Responsibilities

Delegating responsibilities, wedding preparation tasks, and roles is vital, you cannot do everything! For brides, their bridesmaids are there to help them with the important duties of the wedding day, so creating a short list of responsibilities for each friend is not unexpected. Mothers, family members, and friends are also glad to help run a few errands or make calls for you if you ask. Just make sure you ask someone you know will get the job done on time.

Part of the wedding experience also relies on a number of people who require detailed wedding preparation directives from you, such as the caterer, photographer, florist, transportation and/or drivers, and DJ. Discussing your ideas with them ensures that you can work together on the same wavelength and avoid embarrassing wedding mistakes during the actual reception. You should also arrange for the wedding party to meet at the church or the wedding ceremony location at a specified time. Corralling so many people at the same time is what leads many couples to pick up the wedding party members at their homes. Late arriving wedding party members is one of the most frequent and sometimes uncontrollable wedding mistakes a bride and groom have to deal with.

4. Not Hiring a Wedding Planner or Someone You Trust

Many brides swear by their wedding planners, and yes, it’s true that they take care of just about everything involved in wedding preparation and planning, preventing a number of the more common wedding mistakes brides make. It’s kind of like you and your fiance are the stars, while the wedding planner works behind the scenes for your big performance, seeing everything from start to finish. Wedding planners know all the ins and outs of great wedding preparation and planning and can help the couple find reliable caterers, bridal attire and supply stores, transportation, and DJs at lower prices. Before signing any contracts, however, talk with the wedding planner to see if it’s a situation you’re happy with.

While incredibly helpful, wedding planners can also be pricey, unfortunate for the bride who is trying to cut costs. This scenario goes back to delegating responsibilities, ask someone you trust to help you make wedding preparation arrangements and appointments with each wedding supply store and/or vendor. You can even scale back operations and have a simplistic wedding that you plan or DIY completely to save money.

5. Not Fully Considering the Reception Venue and Details

Sending your guests on a wild goose chase to find the reception venue is something that happens more often than you’d think and is one of the biggest wedding mistakes couples overlook. For out-of-town guests, this is confusing; for in-town guests, it’s an annoyance. Choosing a reception venue that’s close to the wedding site is a must, unless you provide the transportation to and from the reception. More than 15 – 20 minutes away is a hassle, and some guests may not even bother going if it’s farther than that.

Otherwise, if your reception venue is outside (or exposed to the elements), rain and windy conditions may appear so you should always have a back up in cases of inclement weather. A rained out wedding reception is one of the more common wedding mistakes brides have neglected to plan for. Part of the wedding preparation necessities should also include your requesting the venue’s landscaper to spray for bugs so your guests aren’t being bitten by mosquitoes and gnats.

Learn to Laugh Off Those Wedding Mistakes

Pre-wedding preparation, while helpful, will inevitably miss some little detail of your big day. These wedding mistakes (or, more likely, minor ‘blips’) are to be expected and may even provide a funny moment for you and your fiance to laugh about in the future. Wedding mistakes do and will happen, but you shouldn’t be bothered by them. Simply go on with the show and smile, no one will know the difference!

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About the Author

Cherie Johnson is the founder and owner of Creative Bride, a one-stop shop for personalized, unique baby and bridal shower, graduation, quinceañera, anniversary, and wedding favors, helping countless couples and families make their big events a success. Before she launched the company in 2006, Cherie worked as a professional wedding photographer, capturing the most special moments of the bride and groom’s big day. For more information on Creative Bride or to find a variety of colorful, customizable gifts and favors, please visit www.Creative-Bride.com.

via http://www.littleweddingguide.com

The 4-C’s

Selecting a quality diamond at a great price starts with an understanding of the 4-C’s Carat weight, Cut, Color and Clarity. Nobody is more qualified to help you identify the right combination of these characteristics than your local jeweler. Educate yourself as best you can online, and when you’re ready, visit your jeweler to make your final decision. It’s the best way to ensure you get a deal you feel good about on a ring that’ll impress her as well as everybody she shows it off to.

Carat Weight

Diamond weight is measured in carats. There are five carats in a gram, and 100 points in each carat. For example, a 50-point diamond is a half-carat diamond. As a general rule, larger diamonds are more rare and valuable. But size does not determine beauty and brilliance. Two stones of the same carat weight can have very different values depending on their cut, color and clarity.

Cut

Cut is the most important contributor to a diamond’s fire and brilliance. Diamonds that are cut to precise proportions bounce light from one facet to another. But if the pavilion angle is cut too deep, your diamond will look dark. If it is too shallow, your diamond will look watery. It takes a skilled master craftsman to cut a diamond with pinpoint precision and effectively release its true scintillation.

Colour

Diamonds are graded on the GIA color scale from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow). The most expensive diamonds are found at either end of the scale, due to their rarity.

Clarity

The clearer a diamond is, the rarer it is. Most diamonds contain natural ‘inclusions’ that resemble tiny crystals. These are the birthmarks that make each stone unique. The number, size and position of these inclusions affect the value. The Gemological Institute of America clarity scale ranges from Fl (flawless) to I3 (many inclusions visible to the naked eye).

Shape

To most people, the word, diamond conjures images of the ever-popular and always classic round stone. Going this route is almost guaranteed to get you the reaction you’re looking for, but you can also choose one of the more unique shapes collectively referred to as fancy cuts.

Shape does not affect the quality of the stone. If it is well cut its brilliance and value will endure no matter what. The shape of the rough diamond crystal usually dictates the shape of the stone. All are cut for maximum fire and brilliance, but facet shape varies with the cut and as a result, filters light differently. Additionally, some designs are more suited to a particular shape.

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If you want to be come a featured vendor simply go to the pricing page, fill out the form and choose Package 4.

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone & Fax
• Toll Free & Cell
• Includes basic package
• Email link
• Website link
• Map Link
• 1 Image or Logo (125×125 px)
• Ad placed at the top of the page (in alphabetical order)
• Front page direct website link (via the advertise here boxes)
• Site wide direct website link (right column)
• Individual advertising page with more info and 8 image gallery or video
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