Wedding advice from an old married lady (Part 2)

A couple months ago you probably read our blog post from Ashley about her wedding advice. If you missed it, check it out here. I thought I'd go ahead and share my top tips for wedding planning as well! Remember - everyone has their own wish list when it comes to wedding planning. There's no one size fits all when it comes to weddings so feel free to ignore all those articles telling you to do this or do that. Do what works best for you ad your fiance...it is your day after all, right?

1. Find something that is important to you to splurge on.

$2000 for a wedding dress sounds like a lot of money, right? Well it is....but if you are one of those girls who has dreamed about the perfect dress since you were a little girl, go ahead an splurge on it! Don't forget your pictures last forever!

Maybe you really want an open bar but you're afraid of the cost? Do just beer and wine to keep cost down!

No matter what it is you most desire, find something else in the budget that you can cut back on. For my wedding I REALLY wanted an ice cream sundae bar! I don't know why but I always thought it would be so much fun! At $8 per person it was definitely a splurge and I almost talked myself out of it. When looking at our wedding budget and what we still needed to do, I decided I really did not care about programs! Just like that I was able to cut something out to accommodate my splurge and I'm so glad I did it!

2. Don't sweat the small stuff.

On the day of your wedding something is bound to go wrong. Even leading up to your wedding, you are probably going to stress about every little detail. I can't say I blame you. You want the day to be perfect and for the money you are spending, why shouldn't it be!? Don't let the tiny details get in the way of your enjoyment though. I look back on my wedding planning and I honestly enjoyed most of it! I sure did have my moments where my husband and I couldn't agree on something, or something didn't come out just as I had envisioned, but you know what? The only one that is going to notice those tiny details, is you. When you feel things going wrong - take a deep breath, pour a glass of wine, and just remember what is important about your wedding day and that's you and your significant other making a commitment to each other.

3. Take Dance Lessons

Ok not everyone loves to dance so this may not apply to you. One of the best things I did before my wedding was take dance lessons with my husband. He was traveling a lot for work so whenever he was home for a weekend we took some lessons and it was such a fun thing for us to do together. During our first dance, we floated across the dance floor with ease!

Are you recently married? Email us at amourbridaltexas@gmail.com with your top advice for wedding planning!

#Wedding #Bride #groom #Bridal

Why every bride needs to give herself 8 months...

Eight months for what, you ask? You need to have your dress ordered 8 months before your wedding.

8 months might sound like a looooong time to some of you but it is actually the minimum of what we recommend to our brides! We are primarily a special order store so when you order a gown, it is not typically in production at the designer yet. At Amour Bridal, all of our beaded gowns are hand-beaded, for example – that takes a long time to do! If a dress is not already in stock, it takes 4-6 months to come in.

So why the 8 month number?

You also have alterations to consider! 99% of brides need alterations of some sort and we recommend that you allow 2 - 3 months for that process. If you are not doing bridal portraits then you have a bit more time. The most important thing is that you are not rushing around at last minute trying to make sure your dress is perfect. There will be lots of little things that pop up in the weeks leading up to the big day and you don’t want something as major as your wedding gown to be one of them!

So your wedding is coming up in a few months - what to do?

Not to worry! Although we highly recommend at least 8 months there are still plenty of options if you have a tighter time frame. We often sell our sample gowns off the rack and we do have some designers that keep some gowns in stock. Just keep in mind the shorter time frame the fewer options we have.

#Weddinggown #Weddingdress #Bridalgown #Bridal #Shopping #Bride

Wedding advice from an old married lady (Part 1)

Hi ladies! I know that the wedding planning process can be tough and it is too easy to get bogged down in the details. As an old married lady of 7 years now haha, here are 3 tips that won't leave you looking back on your wedding like...

1. Figure out what is important to YOU and your partner!

If you don't care about favors, don't have them. If you have always dreamed of having queso or Mexican food at your reception, do it! I am not saying don't take anyone else's opinions to heart but if it is something that truly makes no difference to you or it actually makes ALL the difference, go for it! I am a queso girl through and through but thought it wasn't "nice" enough for a wedding dinner. Looking back, I would have just gone with Mexican food because that is what we love to eat! I mean who wouldn't take a burrito over some roasted chicken?

2. Invitations aren't that important.

I am going to be the bearer of bad news...are you ready? No matter how beautiful your wedding invitations are, they will be in the recycling or trash after your big day. I hate to say it but you do not need to go overboard on invites. You will have plenty of beautiful keepsakes from your wedding day and usually the invitation isn't one of them. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

3. Wedding Planner = MUST HAVE

I know this one is tough because wedding planning services aren't cheap but I promise you there are affordable ones and they are SO WORTH IT! It reduces the stress on the bride and groom to have someone who is project managing for you. At the very least, get a day-of coordinator to keep things moving and on-time. My husband and I had a wedding planner on our modest budget and she was worth every penny. We were able to enjoy our family and friends because it was her job to tell us what to do and when to do it. I cannot stress this enough...wedding planners are worth their weight in gold!!

~ Ashley S.

#wedding #cedarparkweddings #bridal #amourbridal #weddingplanning #brides

#Wedding #Weddingdress #Bride