"The Great Gatsby"

Your guest should be able to tell the tone of your wedding from the very beginning! Every element of your wedding should be an example of your theme and formality of your wedding. This bride and groom (Ebony & Derrick Brown) created an experience that their guest will remember for years to come. It began with their engagement pictures....

2014 Spring Trends

Vintage and romantic are still popular wedding themes. Brides are wearing blush and champagne wedding gowns, having black and white photos, photo booths, lace table cloths, and champagne cocktails. Add a captivating touch to your wedding with a touch of sparkle or bling.

Green Weddings (Eco-Friendly)

 

 

Planning a green wedding requires a lot of thoughts and resources. Lots of couples get creative and show their uniqueness, values, and personalities in their choices and come up with hand crafted invitations or homemade centerpieces. You have access to more products now than ever…..visit www.ota.com to start your search for vendors. The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is a membership-based association for the organic industry in North America. Their mission is to promote and protect organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public, and the economy.

 

Banana Pudding Shots

What a way to add spunk to your dessert bar with one of America's favorite desserts. This recipe is easy to follow and I hope you enjoy it!

 

Makes 24 shooters

 

1 (4-serving) box vanilla pudding and pie filling mix (not instant)

2 Cups half-and-half

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup of whipping cream

48 miniature vanilla wafer cookies

2 small bananas, thinly sliced

10 miniature vanilla wafer cookies, coarsely crushed

 

1. In 2-qt saucepan, stir pudding and mix half-and-half. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir in vanilla. Remove from heat; pour into medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour or until thoroughly chilled.

2. Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.

3. Spoon pudding into a 1-gal, zip-top plastic bag; seal bag. Spoon whipped cream into 1-qt. zip-top plastic bag; seal bag. Cut 1/8-inch opening diagonally across 1 corner of each bag.

4. In bottom of each of 24 (2-oz) shot glasses, place 1 cookie. In each glass, pipe about 2 tsp. pudding over cookie. Top with 1 banana slice. Pipe about 2 tsp. whipped topping over banana. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with crushed cookies. Serve immediately, or chill up to 30 minutes.

 

 



Who is Your Planner?

First off, let me ask you a very important question!!! WHO IS YOUR PLANNER? A Wedding Planner is not an add on but a part of your wedding. There are massive benefits in having a planner and keeping cost down is one of them. If you do not have a Wedding Planner; you should be looking for one RIGHT NOW. What is your BUDGET??? This is very important. You need to decide how much you can pay for your wedding. Your budget will dictate where and how you spend your money. Together you and your planner can decide. Wedding cost has spiraled out of control. TV shows such as Bridezilla, Four Weddings, and My Fair Wedding just to name a few, have contributed to brides wedding taste. I am a firm believer of you can have the wedding of your dreams and not have to go bankrupt. You have to keep in mind you have to live after the wedding.

The guest list believe it or not dictates a lot of your cost. All of your decisions depend upon your number of guest and establishing that early on will be very beneficial. When you order your cake it is made to feed the number of guest you have, catering is per head, linens determine the number of tables, chair covers depends on the number of guest, wedding favors, and your venue is determine by the capacity. To keep cost down you can start with your guest list. You should make a list and the groom should make his own list. These are just my thoughts but I think you should only invite people that are close to your heart. Everyone you know doesn’t have to receive an invite. You want to have people there who are there for you and not there as spectators. Stay tuned and Weddings of Grace will share with you how to complete your guest list in an upcoming post. Happy Planning!

Ombre

We are loving the trend of "Ombre Weddings." If you are not familiar with ombre; brace yourself. Ombre is the graduation of color. It can be from light to dark or from dark to light. You can get very creative when transitioning between shades. You will see a lot of this in 2013. Ombre can be used anywhere from your flowers, dress, decor, invitations, and your nails. There is no limit to how you can implement ombre..........

Wedding Flowers

When selecting flowers for your wedding day; you must consider the style of you and your bridesmaid's dresses. Do not ignore your dress styles and accept a standard set of bouquets. The general rule is to use flowers---such as roses, lilies, and orchids with formal attire and casual flowers such as daisies, carnations, and gerberas with informal attire! A bouquet should always coordinate with your gown and never distract from you being the focal point!!!