Summer Wedding Tips~

Summer is the time for weddings! 

All the venues are booked, the photographers are spending their weekends capturing couple's perfect moments, and the brides are stressing until the day they can say "I do". 

Summer is the PEAK wedding season. Why? Because it's beautiful out!!!! 

Even though it's not snowing and the trees aren't bare anymore- there are still a few things brides should watch out for when planning a wedding in the summer. 

1. Bugs! 
Yes. Bugs. It's that time ladies- you don't want to be standing in front of all your family sharing your vows with your future hubby while trying to swat away a mosquito.... believe me- it happens. 
How to prepare: You can definitely find ways to make bug dope look cute- thank you pinterest!

Bud Spray Label Idea

DON'T FORGET- Spray yourself and your girls before you walk down the isle (if you're ceremony is outside!)  

Here's one more idea~ If your food is outside, don't forget to cover it up! You don't want to smash a piece of cake in your hubby's face unless it's clean and bug free.

2. The Sun! 
We all love some Vitamin D and a day without rain, but we don't want our guests to burn! 
Here are some other cute ways to protect yourself and your guests from the rays of your love on your special day! ;) 

Maybe it can be as simple as having them in a cute setup?

You can even personalize them!

Sunscreen is not the only way to protect yourself from the sun. Umbrellas also have become a unique way to stay safe from rays and heat! Not only is it a cute idea~ but you have a little shelter in case it rains! 

And they make cute pictures!

3. The Heat!

Grandma and Grandpa will thank you for thinking of this next craft. With summer comes the heat, and nobody wants to get wet with anything but tears on your wedding day. There should be no sweating at your wedding. Everyone should be cool and calm ;) 

Fans have become a popular DIY project for outdoor weddings. 

Some are personalized. This is such a quick and easy craft! All you need is a printer, glue, some popsicle sticks, and maybe a ribbon or some glitter. 

These are some other cute ideas!

4. Dehydration~ 

Water, water, water. It's so important for your guests and you to drink what you can. With the heat, the dancing, and all the excitement it's easy to forget to hydrate. You don't want any guests passing out on the floor so here's a cute way to remind them to drink. 

 Personalize them!

 Here are some label ideas to help you out!

Well, we hope we helped you a little! These are really important ideas to think about adding to your wedding budget. Even if you keep things simple and don't personalize~ your guests will be thankful. 

Check out more pins and boards of ours at http://pinterest.com/thegardenroomep. 

Yellow Weddings

Hello Sunshine! 

When you're taking the time to figure out what wedding colors would be fit you... don't forget to consider yellow.  Some might think yellow is too much- it's in your face- it's overwhelming. Well, we've found that believe it or not it has become on of the most popular colors of 2013! 

Whether you add a little yellow to your color pallet or make it the color of the day, we can show you how to make yellow work. 

Here's some bright ideas to help you with your decor~

There are so many things you can do to add a touch of yellow... we personally love this color combo (gold/yellow/mint)

If you don't want to overwhelm your guests with yellow there are some small things you can do to add a little sunshine to the day...

Such as:

Name placement cards with yellow!

Or just having yellow flowers in your bouquet or with your bridesmaids...

Maybe some yellow signage would simply do?

Maybe you'd like the yellow pop to be a surprise. You can wear yellow heals!

They can hide under your dress and add a little "oohhh and ahhh" to your day. 

 

We love yellow. And. We love these ideas!!!

Check out our pinterest page for more posts related to this blog post! 

http://pinterest.com/thegardenroomep

One of our workers had a bachelorette party and wanted to share!

Sorry for the late post!~ After the Bachelorette Party it was time to help with the wedding and graduate college and move (basically, I've been non-stop busy busy)

So, I've heard that my Bachelorette Party was pretty legit for being the first one I've ever thrown or even been too. Let me recap the night for you. 

• People arrived at noon. I had ten girls including the bride who were able to make it (out of 12 so pretty good turnout!) 

• This is how I decorated the place (we used my mom's house and she left for the weekend) :

Balloons everywhere for effect.

This was the Goodie bag table. There were name tags they could choose from (one for now and one for when we went out). You'll see them later. There was also bridal confetti I made and a sign telling them what to do. 

In each goodie bag contained: A bingo card I hand wrote, some light sticks, our itinerary, mints, candy, truth or dare scratch off cards for later, and mini shot glasses for each girl.

Can you believe that they gave me all these Victoria Secret bags for free?!

Activity 1: Games Galore

Game 1: Bridal Bingo

I wrote in my own board ideas. Some would have to make other girls do things like the "chicken dance" or "fake sneeze" others were said things I knew Alie would do like "Alie jumps up and down" or "Alie says :oh my gosh!" which she did. haha They would just mark their cards as the day went on and once they filled two bingos (diagonal, vertical, etc) they'd get a prize. I rewarded the first 3 people.

Game 2: Kiss the Stripper

Set up was also my stripper for the night (Channing). Basically, I just bought some poster board from the dollar store, drew on a body, and printed off his head! I had a mini mirror, lipstick, and a blind fold next to him. The goal is to kiss the stripper (like pin the tail on the donkey). Once they did they had a marker they could write their name next to their kiss. I had a prize for the girl who got closest to the mouth and the dirtiest place possible.

Also set up was the food. There were cute place cards by each item. Some of the girls made desserts which helped a lot! We had alcoholic orange juice drinks with frozen strawberries when they first arrived. We also made crock pot dishes so we could bring them to the hotel later to finish off (mini weenies, pulled pork) and of course fruit and veggies. 

 Game 3: The Newlywed Game

For this game, I interviewed Shane (the groom) ahead of time, recorded it, and put it into a video format. I would stop the video after he held up his card for the answer- have Alie (the bride) look the other way and give her answer to the girls. The girls would giggle knowing both answers and then Alie would turn to the TV screen and see his. Then next round she was given a card and would hold it up before I would play his answer to the questions. Whoever put their initial next to the closest amount of points they got won a prize. (I had 2 rounds of 5 pt and 2 rounds of 10 pt questions). 

I just used my computer, an HD cable, and a tv. SO EASY! 

Game 4: What's In Your Purse?

I used this and just took whiteout to the name!

Activity 2: Wack a Penis!

Yep. I made a penis pinata folks! 

Here's how I did it. I just blew up a few balloons, duct taped them, and made a flour/water/and some glue mixture (you can find any online) and paper mache'd them! I let each coat dry (did about 3 coats) and then painted it the best I could. 
Inside I had candy, penis whistles (which were used the whole day), and penis suckers. It was a hit! (Literally!) 

Activity 3: Bring on the Passion

Basically, I had a passion party. It's where someone comes to your house and shows you different ways to get passionate with your man through toys, books, and things you can use like candles that turn into massage wax! It was fun to just sit and listen for a bit. 

Then we headed to the Hotel to drop off our stuff! 

Once we got there, I had told the girls ahead of time to bring cute leggings for working out and a cute top. So they changed and I introduced them to Activity 4.

Activity 4: Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya!

POLE DANCING!

This was so fun. We had all different kinds of personalities at this party and EVERYONE loved pole dancing. Plus, it makes for some pretty neat pictures!

After that- we were pretty tired! So I had all the girls relax and swim for an hour or so before we got ready and rounded up for a few last games before going out!

Games 5 and 6:

The last two games we played were the Underwear Game.......

And of course, Shot Roulette! 

Then we went out on the town! I made Alie a veil, got her a necklace with a shot glass, and the girls used up their truth or dares!  It was a great night and everything went smoothly. We had a few friends (guys) we were our chauffeurs for the night too! I recommend planning far in advance, booking things right away, and sending out the save the dates with constant reminders! 

Good luck!

Planning Help for Bachelorette Parties

Okay so here are some steps that I feel are necessary

to follow when planning a bachelorette party:

1. Ask the bride to be what date she would like it to be on
2. Ask her exactly who she would like you to invite and get their addresses
3. Optional: If you would like- you can send out a save-the-date just so they can make sure to keep that date open- nothing else needs to be on the save the dates besides a date, brides name, your name, maybe a picture, and something telling them their invite will come soon
4. Start Planning!
1. Pick a theme - if you want one- it's a pretty popular thing to do! 
2. Figure out WHERE you will have and FOR HOW MANY DAYS-  Some only do bachelorette parties for the night and others plan them for a whole weekend so figure out what will work for your bride and you. 
3. Figure out if there will be a hotel, airplane tickets, or trip details. 
4. Figure out the cost of the above details and if you have enough to budget other activities in.
5. If so, plan them! Some ideas include; hiking, yoga, laser tag, paintball, pole dancing, spa days, bowling, doing a fun run, scavenger hunts, and so on.
6. Figure out what you would like to pay for and what you want everyone else to pay for. For example, maybe you'll want the girls to pay for the hotel room . 
7. Ask the bride what her garment sizes are and if she would prefer gifts from a certain place, etc. 
8. Get invitations or make them! 
9. On the invites- tell the girls the date, time, where, when, how long the party will be, and what they should bring. You can make certain activities a secret to them if you wish! Also, I informed my girls on a separate Facebook page of the costs for the hotel. Before I booked I checked to see if they wanted to do a hotel and pay for the night's stay. 
10. After you send them out you can start planning your games if you are having them! 
11. Figure out the decorations and food you will buy and there you go! 
12. Start buying small gifts for the games here and there when you are out. This gives you a variety or prizes and makes the budget seem less intense. 
13. Figure out transportation. I assume you'll be drinking at some point and time so make sure you can have someone or a taxi service pick you up and drop you off if you go anywhere.
5. Putting it all together!
1. Maybe you can have a few of the girls help you decorate and cook the day of or before?
2. Set up the gift bags and activities and make sure to double check with the activities to make sure everyone is on the same track as you.

I will be posting images and tips from my own bachelorette part VERY soon!  KEEP POSTED!

Red Sweet Love

Oh la la! 

What is a very bold and eye capturing color for weddings that we can't get enough of!?
RED that's what  

Red is a color that can be hard to pull off. It's not necessarily a top trend for weddings at the moment. ~Lately, 2013 has looked to be about lighter colors and pastels.~

BUT... that just gives women all the more reason to have a wedding that's one of a kind and RED!

We aren't telling anyone to overload on the color, but with just a few red accents here and there at your wedding... it can really get people to "ohh and ahhh". 

Let us show you :) 

ACCESSORIZE.

Women love to do this with just about any color, but you put that red against the white and boom. It's a great contrast and we can gaurantee it will be a show stopper. 

Bouquets are a great way to add a pop of color..

Here's one without the usual roses :) A little less romantic and a little more fun?

Shoes. You can't go wrong with a kickin pair of red heels. 

FOOD! 

With red, you can have all sorts of red treats and fruits mixed in with your theme. Strawberries, raspberries, and cherries are some popular fruits for red weddings.

Raspberry mojito anyone?

These could be in cute little gift boxes for the guests

um. YUM!

Cakes! 

Red and gold.. we approve!

Here are some other inspirations we found! 

Before we go... check out how a bride at the Garden Room decorated with red!

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Well, we hope you red and enjoyed our red post! haha. Check out our Pintrest page for more red images! 

http://pinterest.com/thegardenroomep/

Until next time :)