Wedding Decorations on a Budget

We all know that weddings are expensive! If you're a bride on a budget, you might be interested in learning where to find inexpensive wedding decorations.

Did you know your local dollar store yields an amazing assortment of items that can be used to decorate your ceremony and reception area? Go ahead and take a look around, you might be pleasantly surprised at what you'll find. Behold some of the items found in the aisles of the dollar store:

• Candles
• Fabric
• Silk Flowers
• Baskets
• Plastic pearls and other jewels
• Table Cloths
• Potpourri
• Vases
• Picture frames
• Ribbon

The trick to using items from the dollar store is to class the items up with beautiful ribbons & embellishments. So only you will know where they came from, and only you will know how much money you saved!

To Trash the Dress or Not?

You can go on You Tube and see lots of videos of brides getting their photos taken jumping into water, rolling in mud or even setting themselves on fire (!) in order to make sure THE dress is a true one of a kind.

It's becoming quite a world-wide phenomenon. There is even mass trashing of the dresses! A large group dress trashing took place on 10-10-10 and the next one will be held on 11-11-11, of course.

So how do you get great trash the dress pictures if you actually want to keep your wedding dress?

Trash the Dress Tips:

1. A professional cleaning service should be able to restore the dress to brand-new quality so you can do what ever you like with it after the shoot.

2. If you are not sure about trashing your own wedding dress, consider buying a cheap dress off the rack.

3. If you want a bouquet, you can pick up one at a local grocery store or make one from silk flowers bought from the local craft store.

4. Bring some props to add a unique touch and that is exactly what you’re looking for.

5. Wear comfortable and contrasting shoes. And, don't be afraid to break out the “bling” as it really adds to your photos.

6. Not sure what to do? Or are you shy? Search Google images for trash the dress photos and print out the ones you like. Your photographer should also be able to walk you through body placement and facial expressions to help you get creative and loosen up.

7. The sun is NOT your friend! The sun will wash out your photos and makes you squint your eyes like crazy. Schedule for an overcast chance of rain day or later in the day as the sun starts to go down.

8. Bring your improv skills and don't be uptight. This shoot is where you want to have fun and NOT do the norm. Relax, be silly, get dirty, goofy and bring out your personality in these photos.

Have fun!!!

Trends & Traditions

New wedding themes will also emerge in 2010. Thanks in part to Vera Wang’s 2009 classical design of Ivanka Trump’s dress, I believe we will start to see fewer strapless gowns and more creative accents like feathers. "The stuffy by-the-rule-book wedding of years past has completely vanished. There is a woman in white, music, food, cake and vows - but every other aspect of the American wedding has been reconsidered," reports BRIDES Magazine New American Wedding Survey. Here are some additional statistics from the survey related to emerging wedding trends:
• Fewer than half of weddings take place in a house of worship.
• 20% of couples have a friend or relative deputized to perform the ceremony.
• 13% of receptions feature music via iPod.
• Couples going with live bands are hiring specialty bands such as salsa, R&B and Polka.
• Over 1/4 of couples plan their weddings around a theme.
• 97% of grooms get involved with the planning.
• Soul-food and Mexican are the new go-to wedding cuisines.

Despite the surge in new wedding trends, many old traditions will still live on throughout the next decade. BRIDES Magazine New American Wedding Survey also reported:
• 76% will have a large wedding with all the traditions.
• 87% of women will wear a long white dress.
• 93% will indulge in a cake-cutting ceremony.
• 75% of brides will toss the bouquet and just under that amount will share a father/daughter dance.