Blush + Bashful

A: Check out Kristina Carter’s blog for the answer!

She’s giving away free wedding photography to one lucky couple who is doing their part for the environment by having a green wedding.

Kristina will provide coverage up to 10 hours, travel nationwide, paperless proofs, and online gallery to the lucky couple. She’s an amazing photographer and this is over a $5,000 value! Imagine putting that towards your honeymoon at an eco-friendly resort?!

The submissions begin now and end by 10 pm (CST) on February 10th, 2008. The online poll will begin no later than 10 am the next morning and voting will last until 11 pm (CST) on February 13th. The winner will be announced on Valentine’s Day.

The winners will be a couple whose wedding plans make the “least impact on the environment and the most impact on the community on their wedding day…Three couples who have implemented the most things they can for planning their wedding will be then subject to a poll on this blog and you the viewers will be the final judges.”

Mail or email your submissions to Kristina. Include the plans already made or ideas to implement, a 5×7 photo of the couple sized to 300 dpi, and wedding date (must be no later than 12/31/2009), any other information helpful in making final selections.
Mailing address is PO Box 5212, Oak Brook IL 60522
Email is info@vraiphoto.com

Here’s a sample of Kristina’s work with my October 27th couple…Gorgeous!

I can’t wait to go see the new Katherine Heigl movie, “27 Dresses.” Unfortunately, they delayed the release a week to have a better chance for a big opening weekend with the MLK holiday. I’ve never heard of this happening before, but I guess I’ll just have to go with it!

Anyway, the movie is about a girl, Jane, who has been a bridesmaid in 27 weddings. She focuses on planning weddings and making memories for all of her friends, but never does the same for herself. Then, Jane falls in love with her sister’s fiance and starts planning their wedding…I know exactly where this is going! It sounds just like “The Wedding Planner.” YAY!

Here’s the website: www.27dressesthemovie.com

Have fun!
Meg

P.S. No, unfortunately we don’t wear ear pieces and have an emergency kit under our suit-jacket like JLo in “The Wedding Planner.” It seems that at every wedding, some well-meaning guest or tipsy groomsman makes a reference to those things!

By now, you probably know that I love makeovers. Watching someone go from ho-hum to Holy Cow! is just magical to me. I’ve already confessed that my favorite makeover show is TLC’s “What Not To Wear.” No one does a makeover better than Clinton, Stacy, Nick, and Carmindy!
Friday, June 8th is one WNTW episode that you just can’t miss. Clinton and Stacy are helping real brides choose the perfect wedding day looks! Hopefully you can take away some helpful hints for choosing your own perfect wedding gown. By the way, selecting a wedding dress is supposed to be the most exciting and joyous shopping trip you ever take. Remember that!
Here’s how TLC’s listings describe this episode:

For many women the wedding dress is the most important dress they’ll ever wear. But choosing the perfect one can be a tough decision. What Not to Wear takes three very lucky brides-to-be to New York for the bridal transformation of a lifetime.

In the meantime, here are Blush & Bashful’s tips for choosing the perfect-for-you gown:1) Show off your best assets: a tiny waist, great cleavage, or toned arms (camouflage the rest!).
2) Stay away from things that are too trendy because you’ll have these photos forever.
3) Choose a fabric shade that compliments your skin tone. Read: It doesn’t have to be white!
Have fun!
Meg

We’re in the Sun Times today. Isn’t that fun? Here’s the article, by Stephanie Gladley:

It takes months, often more than a year, of planning. You sacrifice sleep, money and your social life just to make sure things come off perfectly. Yet every woman fears something will go wrong on her wedding day. And something usually does. Whether it’s a small thing like the flower girl refusing to walk down the aisle or a big thing like the kitchen of the reception hall catching fire, things happen — despite the best-laid plans. A few Chicago area wedding coordinators shared some nuptial disasters with us. (Brides-to-be: Try not to stress too much — these stories mostly had happy endings!)

Melissa Phillips of Simply Perfect by Melissa (simplyperfectbymelissa. com) was working on a wedding about three years ago in Michigan when a blackout hit the East Coast and parts of the Midwest. Obviously, this created major problems for the event. For starters, the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner was being held had no electricity. The chef had to get creative by preparing cold appetizers, salads and anything that had been cooked before the power outage. The entire dinner was lit by candles, creating an unintended but welcoming romantic atmosphere. However, at least one participant was not seeing the bright side.”The bride stood in the corner and bawled her eyes out! She was devastated. Eighteen months of planning and over $75,000 spent and her day may not happen,” Phillips said.

As the eve of the wedding progressed, Phillips and the other vendors realized just how large the problem was. Without electricity, the cake and the flowers couldn’t be kept cool, the bride’s dress couldn’t be pressed and the food for the reception couldn’t be prepared. As if that weren’t enough, many of the guests’ flights were canceled.

“We quickly began scrambling. The florist moved all the flowers to the basement; the baker moved the cake to a walk-in freezer and kept the door shut; the reception hall began ordering portable toilets for the guests, buying bottled water, and planning to cook the food at another hall not affected about 50 miles away. We were calling hotels in Indiana trying to get a hotel room so she could have her hair done, anything that could be done to pull off her dream wedding,” Phillips said.

And just as Plan B began to come together, the electricity slowly trickled on, starting with the reception hall. By the morning of the wedding, almost all the power was back on and the wedding went on as originally planned.

“I have never seen two people so exceptionally happy and thankful on their wedding day!” Phillips said.

Ironically, the couple had been weighing their options with wedding insurance and had just decided not to get it because, as Phillips said, they thought “What are the chances of everything shutting down and not having the wedding happen?”

There once was a bride wearing a beautiful Vera Wang gown, and that bride had a friend with a lovely glass of red wine. It’s easy to guess what wedding coordinator Meghann VanderBaan of blush+bashful events (blushandbashfulevents.com) was about to recount:The bride’s friend joked with the bride about how surprised she was that the bride let her stand so close to the Vera Wang gown with her glass of wine. They had a good laugh and then the friend held the glass over the bride’s dress to show just how careful she was.

“At that exact moment, someone bumped into them and the whole glass of wine spilled down the front of the bride’s beautiful gown,” VanderBaan said.

Much like the stain, the incident became a memory that won’t soon fade.

Misse Daniel from Honeybee Weddings (misse@honeybeeweddings.com) was helping Bob and Shena plan their wedding on Bob’s family ranch. Since the location was unusual, transportation was a concern. The bridal party used SUVs to go from the groom’s parents’ house to the ceremony site. Due to a little miscommunication, the bride was left at the house.”It wasn’t until everyone but the bride arrived that we realized the problem. The bride had tried to call her bridal party, but everyone had already turned off their phones!” Daniel said.

A friend quickly left the ceremony to get the bride and the rest of the evening went smoothly.

I am flipping out over Sarah Jessica Parker’s new clothing line, Bitten. She partnered with Steve & Barry’s, which is the store where I used to by my U of I tee shirts in college, to make a clothing line where everything is LESS THAN $20!

I first saw her stylish and well-made pieces on Oprah. They will be available on June 7th at Steve and Barry’s stores. There are a few in our area. Check out Steve & Barry’s website for locations. I have a feeling that this opening is going to be one of those where you go stand in line and are limited to a few pieces. But, that isn’t going to stop me from being there!

I would post pictures, but Steve & Barry’s has been contacting other bloggers and asking them to remove the photos. So, I’m playing it safe! Check out SJP’s stuff on Oprah’s website.

Have a great weekend!
Meghann