Gilt is a luxury web retailer, offering the most coveted designer fashions and brands at  50-70% off the retail price.  Gilt is not like shopping at a Marshall’s or T.J. Max.  You don’t have to dig deep to find your designer steal.  The hottest styles from the runway are at your fingertips and are finally pocket book friendly.

The site is by invitation only, but you can sign up for free at this link:

http://www.gilt.com/invite/ali

Starting tomorrow, Gilt pays homage to the savvy bride with their Wedding Weekend sale series.  Who more deserving than brides to save money without sacrificing style?

In partnership with Martha Stewart and affiliated wedding expert Darcy Miller, you will have access to some of the most beautiful designer bridal fashions, including Carolina Herrera, Amsale and Vera Wang.  See a few of Darcy’s favorite finds!

But bridal fashion is only a one of the many luxurious wedding products offered including:

For the Groom gifts

Bridal Party Favors

Wedding Stationary

Bridal Accessories and Lingerie

Flower Girls and Ring Bearers

Fabulous wedding gifts

Ladies, stand by!  We know how crazy bridezillas are when it comes to saving on style.

I know the point is to cover ugly, old fashioned banquet chairs, but nothing can conceal the “cheesy” look of a room saturated with grainy white textiles.  To me, the pretty colored sashes only draw more attention to the tacky seating solution.  Additionally, I have been witness to  at least three incidents of guests getting pricked by chair linen pins…

If your goal is to create a beautiful and classy affair, I strongly encourage you seek other rental options.  If the extra cost means using the basic table linens from your venue, so be it!  You would be amazed to see how gorgeous seating can glam up any setting.

You can’t go wrong with chiavari chairs and nowadays, there are plenty more-equally elegant-color options beyond gold and silver.  Check out the many different crystal chiavari chairs from OC Designs or their division of Commercial plastics at crystalchiavari.com

Need more convincing? Feast your eyes on the exquisite chair collections available by Chameleon Chairs.  Thankfully, you can easily find Chameleon Chairs at any of the many nationwide Classic Party Rentals locations.

DIY Brides rejoice- paper orchid also provides downloadable templates!

It’s affordable elegance  at your fingertips…

More DIY Paper Projects:

Paper pom-pom kits from Good Things Wedding Favors

DIY Paper Rosette Instructions from Paper Source

Zakka Life has a fabulous, easy to follow tutorial for Tiny Tissue flower decorations

DIY Paper Pomanders from Something Old, Something New

Every newly engaged woman would covet the custom, wedding planning notebooks by Pick Me Paper Designs.  As soon as the ring is on the finger, there is wedding on the brain.  Before things get out of control and overwhelming give your girl this stylish, wedding organization tool to contain all the planning chaos ahead…

NOTE TO BRIDES: Seeing a bridal party looking less than stellar does not make you look better. It only makes guests feel bad for your girls and think you have terrible taste.

Bridesmaid dresses of 2010 are refreshingly stylish and versatile- available in every color under the sun!  Here are some of my top picks:

Take the pressure of trying to please everyone’s unique body types off of you and let your loved ones have some input!

• Tell them your color preference and let them present you with their top picks.
• Choose a bunch of different dress styles you would be happy wearing and let them vote amongst themselves or send you their rankings to find the winner!
• Pick a versatile dress and let them choose their own versions (e.g. halter, strapless, v-neck…)

Case and point:  If you want your wedding to have a positive legacy, keep your bridesmaids happy.
A must-read article for future brides is  ”How to avoid being a bridezilla” from eHow.
Memorize it, if you must!

Although,this Lela Rose “loft style” dress is from the past 2009 Collection, it deserves some 2010 attention. I applaud Lela’s use of versatile, sheer draped sleeves that provide the bride with different looks for that one special dress.

Off the shoulder dresses and sheer fabrics are currently in high demand- they are sexy, sweet, and feminine!  However, dancing without the strap support can be uncomfortable for the bride doing dips and spins on the dance floor- hoping NOT to pull a “Janet Jackson superbowl” moment.

Thankfully, a quick transformation into the halter style sleeve version will act as a seatbelt for your bust.  I hope to see more wedding dresses in Lela’s “Loft” form=)

Celebrities like Katie Holmes and Ivanka Trump have opted to wear non strapless dresses to their ultra-chic weddings. Have they been inspiring modern brides to follow?

Let’s face it, some brides go a little overboard when it comes to wedding themes and schemes.  While it’s always nice to start planning with a concrete vision, allow yourself to be inspired along the way…

As an invitation dealer for several companies like Carlson Craft, Encore Studios and Rexcraft, we have a full library of invitation books in our home, to browse through at our convenience.  We found our invitation first- a shimmer pearl, pocket style invitation (#E1160) from the Encore Expressions of Love Wedding Ensemble Collection. Sadly, it’s rare for my hubby and I to have similar taste, so the choice was a no brainer when it appeared on both of our “list of favs!”

When browsing gowns with my bridesmaids, I was thrilled that they all loved this silky satin Melissa Sweet dress (style MS215 in fig) at Bella Bridesmaid.  Pictured on two of my bridesmaids above, the beautiful sweetheart style bust strongly resembles the folded pattern on our invite!

Finally, with the big day right around the corner, I was brainstorming cake ideas in my pocket notebook. We wanted it to be simple and elegant, with some added flair.  With the pearly fold pattern on the brain, I came up with this design (please excuse my terrible sketching skills).

I faxed this sketch to the fabulous baker/designer, Mary Winslow at Take the Cake, who created our beautiful and BEYOND DELICIOUS wedding cake.

We received lots of compliments for the subtle incorporations, from beginning to end.

We allowed ourselves to inspire ourselves (I know that sounds cheesy) and it resulted in an affair with beautiful originality and cohesiveness=)

Filed under: Bridesmaids, Decor, Fashion, Real Weddings, Resources, Stationary ]]> http://wedsavvy.com/2010/02/18/inspire-yourself/feed/ 1 wedsavvy In the fold cake sketch http://wedsavvy.com/2010/02/14/tres-chic/ http://wedsavvy.com/2010/02/14/tres-chic/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:47:04 +0000 wedsavvy http://wedsavvy.com/?p=1003 ]]> Learn from the French when it comes to romance and have a Parisian style wedding. Beautiful, bold black and white elements can set the perfect tone for your black tie affair.
Your bridesmaid’s will love to sport a chic black dress they can re-wear and re-style.

Items in this set:

3.1 Phillip Lim dresses-SILK BALLERINA DRESS
Jim Hjelm Occasions Bridesmaid Dresses
DIY Bridesmaid’s Dress « M&J Blog- add a black embellished sash to any dress
White House | Black Market – Floral Coin Purse, $38
French 5 Branch Figeac Chandelier, $980- hung above the sweetheart table

Lettuce Entertain You restaurants are marked for excellence. The food, service and ambiance is exceptional- proving to be everything you want for your wedding related events.
Don’t miss the opportunity to explore 20 unique restaurants that are sure to please you and your guests. RSVP (see instructions above) before the event fills up.

You could also win a Napa Honeymoon by texting BRIDE10 to 30364!
Thanks LEYE