The Aquarium of the Pacific here in Long Beach does very classy and elegant weddings. I went to a formal wedding rehearsal there & it was amazing. My future brother-in-law had his high school prom there & he said it was great. An aquarium wedding is different but no one ever said you have to go the standard route.

First of all, give your daughter a big congratulations from me!!! She must be really excited. :D

Second of all, how Christmasy will this Christmas theme be? I saw a website once where the bride and groom went ALL out, and the bride was even wearing a red velvet dress with white faux-fur trim, like Santa Claus. I'm serious....the thing had a ridiculously long train too. But nevertheless, I think if your daughter went with a white and silver colour scheme, with white Christmas lights, and maybe small, potted pine trees with fake snow on them, then that might work well. Oh, and for centrepieces, she could arrange some pine cones in glass bowls, with either coloured glass Christmas balls (in whatever colours she wants.....I think you said something about red), small sprigs of holly, or both. If your daughter plans on going all out, maybe she could even replace the traditional limo to the church with a horse-drawn sleigh? I don't know, just a thought......I'm not even close to being ready to get married, but it's still fun fantasizing, lol.

Specifically, cardinal? :D
Silver

We finally got a reception site. Not easy in the Christmas season!

6 months to go. She was a bridesmaid 2 weeks ago and carried a kissing ball of gorgeous flowers and loved them, so that may be the way we go for the bridesmaids and flower girls and very possibly her. Ballerina and I are looking everywhere for photos of Christmas wedding flowers to figure out what would look good on a kissing ball!

Dumb question here but what is a kissing ball? :confused:

It's a hanging ball of flowers, decoration, etc. Google Image Search it :)

OH! *smacks forehead* We call those flower balls. :D

They can be covered with flowers, sugared fruit, lots of different items.

Magnolias, Holly, Red Rose(buds), Mistletoe?

I have to admit, I decorate with magnolias & roses at Christmas, with bouquets of holly.

Carnation, I think your daughter needs to have a cookie table ;)

I'm sure honey, myself, and the other Pittsburghers would gladly send a few dozen cookies your way to help out.

Just wanting to spread this wonderful Pittsburgh tradition!

(The wedding I went to on Saturday had a HUGE cookie table AND a chocolate fountain. Wow was I on a sugar buzz)

That would be so, so cool! What a Panhellenic wedding it would be!:) :) :)

sounds like you are well on the road, carnation.
xmas weddings are sounding terrific.
congrats

I've already volunteered my cookies, but I want to reinterate that I'm willing to send cookies!

You Pittsburgh folks are great! My daughter is sooooo excited about this!

That's because we love cookies! ;)

Carnation,

Congratulations to you and your daughter. It's very exciting!

My advice:
- Find a photographer you trust and look at as many books of his/her pictures as they can dig out. I had a ball with my photographer because we were on the same page as to what we wanted the finished product to look like. I had also know my photographer forever because we worked together when I was on yearbook staff in middle school and high school. I love my pictures.
- Do what yall want to do, even if its not exactly in keeping with local tradition. I got married in the fall which is my favorite season of the year because of the color (and football, of course)! My mom wanted me to have a punch for the reception but I hate punch. I had hot cider because that says fall to me more than punch and it would be something different.
I also let my girls choose their dresses and accesories instead of setting one style. Of course, I picked the color but they had the freedom to pick any dress in the collection that they could find in that color. It looke great and everyone was comfortable in the dress they had picked.
- Set a budget and be honest about it. I wish my mom would have been more open with me about what she wanted to spend on the wedding. It caused major stress when her standard reply became "If that's what you want." In my mom's speech that translates to "Go ahead, do what you want but I think it's too expensive/trendy/weird."

Good Luck!!

Has anybody heard of a new kind of artificial flower that has some kind of wax covering that makes it look real? This Southern Living consultant here keeps swearing that she's seen them and the roses look so real that you have to touch them to see if they are. I've searched on the Web and called florists with no luck.

We found a reception site--it's on campus too! YESSS!!!!

I think I saw something about that in a recent issue - have her find you a website, if not a sample. The ones I saw were magnolias, which are somewhat waxy to begin with, but looked amazing!

Good work on the reception site!!

Yeah on the reception site! Some silk flowers on scattered church window decorations/pew decorations and kissing balls are much easier to keep looking nice!
Silver

:D I'm feeling very satisfied right now because her informal china was on sale today PLUS there was a $10 off anything store coupon in the paper...I ended up getting 2 plates, which normally would've been $15-20 each, for about a dollar each.:D

Hooray! You should list what her patterns are!

Well, they chose Colorwave by Noritake. That's a good choice--so versatile, I think! The groom's mom has given them some formal china that a client gave her so they only registered for informal.

Carnation! That's mine, too!!! What color? Ours are blue. AND, the girl I sit next to at work has the same pattern/color - which we did not discover until she saw my registry. Excellent choice! :D

I like that Colorwave. I wonder if I can convince DH that it's time to change informal patterns?

AOII Alum, I kind of did that. My informal is Poppytrail Moulin Rouge and it has a stained-glass flower pattern in primary colors. I also like FiestaWare, so lately I've been getting pieces in the primary colors to dress up my first pattern.

Xo_kathy, I don't know if they've chosen a certain color or are just going for a rainbow effect...I do know that it's hard to find a lot of the pieces, apparently because it's popular!

I like the multi-color look, too. We almost went with that in FiestaWare. You can get all the Colorwave stuff via Bed Bath and Beyond website (though only certain stores carry it in stock)

I've just found the best book--Bridal Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields. Hundreds of moneysaving ideas plus they go into detail about how brides are ripped off all the time.

Boo on mother of the bride dresses. What's with these old lady designs in the stores with all the sequins and crap? My sorority sisters are taking me around Atlanta so we can find a dress that fits in more with my jeans-and-T shirt style!

I say....buy something you like and you fit well in!

If you don't sew....have one custom made for you.

When my oldest daughter got married, I wore BLACK (not happy about paying for the wedding...and the marriage lasted all of 3 months!!! geez)

When daughter #2 got married, I wore a wonderful floral guaze slip and over tunic!

Have you checked out some of the catalogs lately? I saw a dress in one that was a whopping $99, and I can certainly see it being used as a wedding dress! There are others that would work for MOB (I love that acronym!!) dresses, all under $100.

Carnation,
Check out Chadwick's on-line...always a sale going.
PM me about a store that you may be able to visit for exquisite $99 Bride's gowns.
Silver

Definitely check Chadwick's - that's where I found my bridesmaids' dresses.

There's no law that says you have to wear what the stores think you should wear. Choose something you and your daughter like. If that means going online or going farther afield, go!

Hijack:

I finally experienced my first cookie table! But they didn't put the cookies out until after the cake so I was too full to eat any. But yay for my first cookie table!!!

/hijack

BUMP!

How goes the planning? Was the "honorary bridesmaid" issue resolved to everyone's satisfaction?

It's definitely wedding season--lots of my HS classmates are getting engaged, and the hometown paper is filled with engagement announcements!

Ditto, Munchkin. I don't know how many engagement and wedding announcements I have seen in the past month.

In TN, it is only proper that you place an announcement of engagement from 1 year to 1 month away from the wedding. And, you are supposed to place your wedding announcement as soon as the photographer sends back the photo for the paper.

So, with everyone keeping with the social traditions, the paper is flooded with announcements right now.

So glad that you enjoyed it! Although it usually is out and ready to be go when you first enter the reception hall. :)

Carnation, I was just at IKEA, and they had really cute lanterns for about $5.99 - in white, red, dark blue, light blue, and galvanized silver. I got a couple for Christmas time, and when I saw this thread, I was thinking that you could somehow work those into centerpieces or such. The glass has etching on it! Here it is:

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/29068_PE086219_S2.jpg

Well, everything is kind of quiet now as she just moved back here after finishing her master's and working at a nearby camp. She'll continue to work there until she marries and moves to Macon, where her fiance already lives. He's here this weekend and they may get their engagement pictures made tomorrow.:)

I guess she's doing the honorary bridesmaids but I hope she'll have them do something like read scripture or keep the bridal book...it seems weird to have girls just sitting in the front dressed alike!

Honeychile, I adore those lanterns! I can see them now surrounded with, maybe, holly! How gorgeous would that be?

I have to give/make a few items for a Christmas auction, and that's exactly what I was thinking - lots of holly and maybe a plaid or red velvet bow.

BTW, since you are the horticulturist, when is the best time to prune back my holly bush?

Late winter--after the berry show fades but before the flowers, which will produce berries later, appear.

My holly bushes and I thank you!

:eek: Three months to go--exactly!

The bridesmaids' dresses are ordered and so is the material for the flower girls' dresses. The wedding and reception sites are secured. We have some ideas for the bouquets--hers will be red roses and we're thinking of something white with a red touch for the bridesmaids. Probably not white roses, as they brown so easily.

Now--our question this time: do the groomsmen process up the aisle these days or do they come out with the groom? My daughter swears that at every wedding she's been to lately, the guys have wallked up the aisle with or ahead of the bridesmaids. Any wedding I've been to, they walked out with the groom and stood with him during the whole processional.

The church has one aisle, if that makes any difference.