When I spotted these DIY Pom Poms yesterday at Justin & Mary Marantz’s blog, I knew they were too adorable not to share! Transporting decorations to a destination wedding for the reception isn’t always easy – but tissue paper is easy to pack, and you can always bring along scissors in your checked baggage! I’d do a few practice ones at home first as you perfect the craft, and you might want make them before having drinks poolside at your destination!

I asked Mary right away if I could share these with you, and she said yes! Super easy, super cute – can’t you just picture these floating above a wedding reception in the breeze? So adorable! Tissue paper is available in so many colors, the options are endless!

Here are Julia’s instructions (Julia is their amazing & awesome assistant, and has been sharing crafty goodness all week!):

We started with 8 pieces of tissue paper, string (you can also use monofilament), floral wire, and scissors. It all looks pretty harmless sitting there doesn’t it? The bright and cheery green has me thinking I might be able to do this after all!

We folded the tissue paper accordion style (each fold was about 1-2 inches wide). Then wrapped the middle with floral wire (about 20 inches long-). This is where I started to get scared. How do I get that derivative of a grade school fan to turn into a full, round, pom pom?!?

We trimmed the edges with the rotary trimmer just to make sure they were even. Then cut the edges so they were rounded on each end.

This is what it looked like right before I went into full on panic mode.

Next we pulled each layer out toward the center. We flipped it over and did the same thing on the other side.

Keep going! Word of warning, spread the tissue paper carefully! I may have ripped an edge or two while poofing it out!

Voila! A pom pom!! Not too shabby huh?!?

Keep an eye on Justin & Mary’s blog – they have been making DIY crafts all week because they are hosting an Old Fashioned Lemonade themed wedding workshop tomorrow, where several lucky photographers will get to walk through how Justin & Mary photograph a wedding with them. There will be lots of eye-candy, and Julia shared her DIY tips on how to make flag garlands, flags for guests to wave, fresh squeezed Old Fashioned Lemonade, and Mint Juleps. Ok, those last two probably wouldn’t travel very well to your destination wedding, but you could always sip on them while making the other goodies! There is one more DIY craft to come tomorrow as well on their blog – I can’t wait!

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Aren’t these shoes stunning? Who says brides need to wear white shoes on their wedding day? Have fun with it! Photographer Hilary Mercer from Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina sent in this photograph of these lovely shoes. The bride will be wearing them on her wedding day in October, and they have planned their whole color scheme based on the blue in these shoes!

Stunning!

Lots of fun, funky, wild, and all around beautiful shoes coming up over the next few weeks – along with the gorgeous weddings to go with them!

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We’re working on a feature about shoes that are anything but traditional for the wedding day. Not your average white heels, or the boring black tuxedo shoes. These days, people are letting go and going COLORFUL!

Had a client who wore something fabulous and you want to show the photos off? Or are you a wedding planner who had a client build their whole wedding color palette around the shoes? Or best of all — you’re a bride or groom, and you want to share not only what you wore on your big day, but also the story behind it? Fabulous! We want to hear all about it!

You can send them all my way – christine@whollymatrimony.com – and over the next few weeks we’ll be featuring some of the amazing shoes! Think of it as Shoe September!

We’ll have a whole new look next week too – so be sure to come back and check it out!

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While browsing blogs this morning, I spotted a post at Aisle Be Your Guru with the most adorable jewelry made by Kathryn Riechert! Aren’t these pieces just charming? And so affordable! Get yourself some diamond earrings, or have a custom ring or necklace made for your sweetheart! I just love them all!

[via Aisle Be Your Guru.]

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I was so excited this week to learn about Bride$hare™, the fantastic creation of Dana LaRue, the bride behind The Broke Ass Bride. If you’re looking for tips on planning your wedding on a budget, well … as you can guess, the Broke Ass Bride has them!

The inspiration for Bride$hare™ started like this:

Way back when, Rebecca saw a blog post of mine lamenting the desire for paper lanterns to spruce up the space at my venue, and she contacted me to suggest we go in on them together and share them. That was just the beginning. Together, we were able to co-purchase and recycle many items from our weddings, which went perfectly with Hunter and my mission to both save green and be green in our wedding plans! In fact, the reception venue owner likes them so much, she might even buy them off of us after the fact and keep them up, which means future brides can benefit from them, too! My bridal karma meter must be off tha charts, son!

Hunter & Dana were married back in May, and in early July they went back to their same venue to enjoy their decor all over again – as guests at Rebecca & her husband’s wedding! Dana & Rebecca shared $4000 worth of expenses – saving them each $2000, AND doing something good for the environment by not buying duplicates of the same items!

Dana knew a great thing when she saw it, and has since set up the BrideShare™ site as a way for other couples to save money on their wedding plans and have a wedding with a smaller carbon footprint at the same time.

The Bride$hare™ site is described as part social networking and part wedding planning. Bride$hare™ offers brides the opportunity to team up and share the daunting task, and costs, of wedding planning while creating less waste – addressing three top priorities of brides’ current economy.

While Dana is getting most of the mad props in this post, I want to share some with her fabulous husband, Hunter, as well. Because he has to be supportive and wonderful to stand beside her as she took on creating Bride$hare™, but also because this video he made cracks me up *every* time I watch it. He is mad creative, I tell you!

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Considering having your family member or friend photograph your wedding? You might want to think twice about doing that, and this post shares lots of the reasons why.

“Weddings are a “live” event where just about anything can and will happen to throw a wrench into the schedule. A professional wedding photographer knows this and can adapt to situations that arise with a transparency and skill that can only come from experience, skill, and training. “Uncle Bob” just doesn’t have anywhere near the experience, skill, and training of a professional wedding photographer.”

There is no do-over when it comes to your wedding day. If your photographs matter to you, invest in a photographer who is running a business photographing weddings. One that knows weddings and all the ins-and-outs that can happen on that day. One that can help you create the best images possible that your family can treasure for generations to come.

One of the biggest problems with having a friend or family member (or the college kid you found on Craigslist) photograph your wedding is that they do not have backup gear. If you talk to any wedding photographer they will tell you that sometimes gear fails when they least expect it. They drop a flash and it will no longer fire. Their camera suddenly has a weird error on it, and nothing will make it go away. They have to be able to think very fast to recover — and sometimes, they just have to set that piece of equipment down and pick up another flash or camera and move on. If someone isn’t a pro, they most likely will not have a bag full of backup gear.

If you truly value your wedding photography – the memories your family will cherish for generations – then make the most of it and hire a professional. Are you hiring someone with no experience to do everything else that goes into your wedding day?

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I discovered these sweet cards over at Fluff Paper – what an adorable way to ask someone special if they will be your Maid of Honor or your Bridesmaid for your wedding day?

Hmmm… now I wonder if there are cards out there for giving to the Best Man or Groomsman?

Also found at Fluff, fabulously sweet or snarky anniversary cards! Perfect to get for your beloved! Or maybe you need birthday cards? How about some cool gifts? Oh, there are a lot of options to be found there – check it out!

UPDATE! Julia of Fluff Papers contacted me and offered a special discount code for WhollyMatrimony! readers! When you place your order, use the code WHOLLY20 to get 20% off your entire order through April 3, 2009!

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The guys never seem very thrilled about being hauled out to the dance floor for the garter toss. As a photographer, I’ve seen many garters just fall to the floor as all the guys take a step backwards to avoid it. Sometimes it is funny, but most of the time it is just sad.

As I was reading through old posts over on the WeddingBee, I came across a wedding recap from Mrs. Eggplant where she talked about her wedding day and shared a *fabulous* tip – give the guys an incentive beyond the garter itself to make them grab for it!

Photograph by Apertura.

They added a token gift card to the garter from Best Buy, and the result?

Photograph by Apertura.

The guys went for it! No garter falling to the floor, and it makes for much more interesting photographs for your photographer as an added bonus!

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Image from Design Sponge

Remember back in the good old days when the decorations on the couple’s getaway car was so simple as a string of cans and maybe a sweet “Just Married!” note? I miss those days. Eventually, it seems that people took it to such an extreme that now people are told not to decorate the car at all. Wouldn’t it be cute though to have some adorable cans like these decorating the back of your car?

The above cans – along with a LOT of other fabulous finds – are for sale at Wedding So Sweet on Etsy (home of all things wonderful!), but thanks to Design Sponge’s DIY tips, you could make a set that is all your own! How fabulous would it be to coordinate them with your wedding colors? And the painted cans just seem to elevate it all to a whole new level. So fabulous!

Image from Green Wedding Shoes, found at Design Sponge

I love the bikes and other items decorated with these cute items – perfect for a romantic destination wedding where your retreat might not be in the usual car!

Here is to bringing back old traditions and seeing lots more cans announcing newlyweds in the future!

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Any bride can tell you planning a wedding can be a very stressful undertaking. The folks at RealSimple have recently released their 2009 Weddings magazine planner edition. This is the second year for the planner and is designed for everyone whether you are panning a backyard DIY wedding or a black tie extravaganza. This book will give you step by step guidance in planning your day with the least amount of stress.

In true RealSimple style, everything is laid out, well, simple. The editors have broken down the major categories that are entailed in planning including elements such as checklists, FAQ’s and stunning inspirational photos from actual weddings. The blurbs from each featured wedding include descriptions of how each couple incorporated design elements to fit their personality to make it a truly special day.

Some of the categories and planning features which really stood out for us to make this not just any other wedding planning book was the dress section and the flower section. The dress section has a full descriptions for eight different body types and which style dresses are flattering for those body types. A bride can then narrow down her dress style choices by choosing a style more flattering for her, but also save time by not trying on lots of dresses which may not flatter her figure.

In the flower section is a two page layout chart of common wedding flowers. The chart contains information such as time of the year commonly available, colors available and also a “good to know” section. Not only does this help you pick the flowers according to the time of the year they would be the least expensive, it will also let you know information such as whether the flower bruises easily or would it be good for table arrangements.

The book also has a pullout guide to carry around with you and contains a few checklists (including a “day of” checklist), spaces for vendor info and songlists, and also a resource guide for online associations that pertain to the wedding industry.

Lastly, the greatest feature of this book (I mean aside from all the great pictures) has got to be the large resource index in the back. Lists of websites for everything imaginable for planning your wedding. They have also included a resource list from the RealSimple website which includes more checklists and even lists of questions to ask the different vendors.

All in all this is an excellent planning resource. It’s very easy to read and look at and provides a lot of stimulus for planning a wedding unique and outside the box for any budget. And for a price tag of around $14, a total steal for the wealth of information it includes.  A very small investment to help you make one of the most special days of your life RealSimple.

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