Savvy Cinderella

Save and Splurge: Wedding Edition (with Rue La La)

by Colleen Toliver on Apr 24, 2012 (0) Comments

Here at Savvy Cinderella, we’re all about saving money. But sometimes – particularly regarding your wedding – it’s great to splurge, too!

And here’s a perfect opportunity to splurge a little. Rue La La, an exclusive, private online shopping boutique, will open their Style I Do boutique tomorrow, April 25^th, at 11 am. Better hurry – Style I Do will only be open for 48 hours, and there are loads of great name brands and gorgeous items you won’t want to miss!

If you’re a fan of bygone times, this boutique will be especially great for you – the theme is decades, featuring dresses inspired by the 1920s and 1970s. Our modern brides will be happy too – the latest trends have a presence, as well!

Here are some of our top picks for items to splurge on, and items to save on.

Our splurge list:

1. The dress. Every bride wants to feel beautiful on her big day. Find the dress that’s perfect for you, the dress that will make you happiest.

2. Location. You’ll want to pick some place important to you and your future hubby. Sometimes, that place is your own backyard – but sometimes it’s a beach or state park. Be sure to find the space that will make you happiest!

3. Hair and make-up. You’ll want to look perfect for the wedding. Make sure you’ve got an expert who can help you feel your prettiest.

Our save list:

1. Wedding favors. Pick something small, memorable, and easy to get ahold of. Don’t stress too much about what kind of favors you’ll need – focus more on creating great memories for yourself and your guests. Memories last longer than favors.

2. Food. There are loads of ways to save on the food at your reception without sacrificing taste. Consider carefully what kind of food you want to serve. The menu is yours exclusively, so choose something delicious and simple that will please the guests and your pocketbook.

3. Invitations, thank-you cards, and place cards. All of these paper-heavy wedding details are easy to create cheaply and simply. Make these cards yourself, or have a friend proficient in graphic design do it for you. Add personal touches that will make the cards unique to you. It’s easier than ever to put these things together yourself, without the huge price tag.

Want more splurging and saving tips? Check out our archives for hundreds of great money-saving tips, and be sure to get your invitation to Rue La La ASAP!

Wedding Round-Up: April 20, 2012

by Colleen Toliver on Apr 21, 2012 (0) Comments

Creating a seating chart – and designing decorations for your tables – can be one of the greatest pains during wedding planning. Make it simpler with this awesome table dimensions chart from BradshawKirchofer.com. The chart shows seating capacities for every possible kind of table, and lists the dimensions of each table type as well – just in case you’re making your table linens or need to get them from somewhere other than the venue.

For our more hands-on brides, here’s a great project: DIY place cards, and a holder too. These place cards are truly sweet – you won’t want to miss out on this great tutorial!

Here’s another great place card idea: attach a small clip to each place card so that the cards can hang on each guest’s wine glass. There will be no confusion as to whose seat – and whose glass – is whose!

Let’s not forget the small but important detail of wedding favors. There are hundreds of great ideas for favors, but here’s a truly sweet one: home-baked cookies sent home with every guest.

If you prefer cupcakes to cookies, then you might consider making your own and popping them in these adorable heart boxes for a finishing touch.

You may not want to leave your guests without an after dinner mint – and you won’t have to if you have these cute mint boxes for your guests to take home at the end of the night.

Looking for something non-edible? These salt-dough tags with cute phrases and pretty imagery will be just the thing.

Still searching for the perfect menu display? If you’re hosting a more rustic wedding, these little hand-carved menu displays will set just the right tone for your reception meal.

For our backyard brides hosting barbecues and cookouts, these ingenious party plates are a perfect way to keep drink and food together for every guest. Add these hanging mason jar lights to your backyard trees, and you’ve got a great party in full swing!

10 Bachelorette Party Ideas Sure to Be a Blast

by Colleen Toliver on Apr 11, 2012 (0) Comments

As a bridesmaid, one of your biggest and most important duties is planning the bachelorette party – a time for the bride and her friends to have one night of crazy fun before the big day. You’ve probably already got a few ideas of what to do for the party, but if you’re looking for something a little less traditional, here are ten great suggestions for a fun and unusual bachelorette party.

1. Have a scavenger hunt. Suggested by OffbeatBrides, this fun option will have the bride and bridesmaids scurrying all about town in a mad race to find all the objects listed in the hunt before the opposing team. You can put these events together yourself, or find a company who will do it for you.

2. Plan a camping/nature trip. For brides and friends who are more adventurous and outdoorsy, this kind of bachelorette party is ideal. She’ll get to spend plenty of quality time with her girls, and all of you will be out on your own – just the wilderness and your besties, ready to party and strike out for adventure!

3. Host a casino weekend. Whether or not you head to Las Vegas for the weekend is entirely optional. Take your girls out for gambling and have a blast winning (or losing) money. You’ll no doubt come back with loads of great stories – and maybe some extra money to show for it!

4. Have a destination bachelorette party. There are loads of places that cater specifically to bachelorette parties. The Knot lists the Hotel on Rivington in New York; the Miraval resort in Tucson, Arizona; and the Mason Cottage in Cape May, New Jersey as top locations with great bachelorette packages.

5. Plan an Ugly Dress Party. Gather your girls and go on a hunt for ugly wedding dresses at local thrift stores. Once every girl has an ugly dress, take them home, jazz them, and then wear them out for dinner, drinks, and partying.

6. Have a fondue party. Fondue is delicious and fun, and makes for a wonderful meal. Start with cheese fondue, and finish up with chocolate fondue and fruit.

7. Host a roleplay and bad fiction night. This one’s for our nerdy brides. Grab your D&D group and your gaming dice and host an epic gaming session. Finish the night with snacks, dessert, and a reading of the worst fantasy erotica you can find.

8. Invite a fortune teller. For the more New Age-oriented bride, call up your local psychic and palm reader and arrange a group session. Get a tarot reading and see what’s in the cards for the soon-to-be bride, and see what’s in store for the bridesmaids as well!

9. Host a Tea Party. For a bride with more Victorian sensibilities, a tea party will be just the thing. Get guzzied up in your Victorian or steampunk best and lunch on petit fours and tea sandwiches. Make sure to have a variety of different teas from all over the world – and don’t forget the scones!

10. Go to a comedy club. Sure to make the bride and her ladies smile, a comedy club is a surefire way to have a blast. Call ahead and make reservations, and make certain you get to be at the front – the comedian will have a blast cracking bride-related jokes.

Writing Your Wedding Vows

by Colleen Toliver on Apr 05, 2012 (0) Comments

The wedding vows are possibly the most important part of any wedding ceremony. There are many long-standing traditional vows, but increasingly, more and more couples are writing their own vows or seeking out alternatives.

Have you decided what you’d like to say in your vows, and how you’d like to say them? If you’re stuck for ideas and need a little inspiration, here are five great articles detailing the history of wedding vows, which vows are traditional, and tips for writing your own vows.

1. What better place to start than with a history of the wedding vow? The history given here is brief, but it offers up the original wedding vows from 1549 – and shares some fascinating stories about what’s changed in the vows since then.

2. The Knot takes us around the world with wedding vows from various religions. Examples of Hindu vows, Jewish vows, and Catholic and Protestant vows are presented, along with several others. This glimpse into many different styles of vows will potentially spark some wonderful ideas for your own vows.

3. Here’s a fantastic and in-depth guide to wedding vows, from Trustyguides.com. This guide is highly comprehensive, covering everything from traditional wedding vows, to funny wedding vows, to words commonly used in wedding vows. If you’re looking for a resource to help you choose what vows are right for you, you can do no better than this guide.

4. Merrily Married features a short and sweet list of sample wedding vows. These are vows that the owner of the site has used at many weddings – and she plans to add more in the near future.

5. Finally, here’s a comprehensive collection of You and Your Wedding’s articles on wedding vows. Their posts offer suggestions for romantic quotes to use as vows, tips for writing your own vows, vows to use in a religious setting, and far more. Be sure to give these articles a thorough reading.

Wedding Round-Up: March 30, 2012

by Colleen Toliver on Mar 30, 2012 (0) Comments

Themed weddings are common these days, and some themes are based around major pop culture icons. This wedding photo shoot is based around the popular books series, the Hunger Games. Our Hunger Games fan brides will be thrilled to see the attention to detail – the story of the shoot is quite amazing in and of itself.

You can find great, romantic inspiration from this lovely real-life wedding. The couple who hosted this wedding met as researchers, while pretending to be a couple. Eventually, they fell in love and became a real couple – and went on to host this absolutely stunning wedding, with some of the most gorgeous flower accents you’ll see at a reception.

Here’s a fantastic DIY wedding invitation – one that takes “tying the knot” quite literally! The main difficulty is figuring out the length of string you’ll need to make the knot function like you want it to.

Just get engaged? Then you’ll definitely want to check out these five things to do to start your wedding planning. The suggestions are basic, but easy to forget – and worth having on hand in your early engagement excitement.

Having a beach wedding? Then these beach seating cards and displays are just what you’re looking for.

Here are a few unique and stylish touches to make your wedding special. My favorite: instead of tossing the bouquet, have small wedding cakes on each table. Whoever finds the ring in their cake will be the next to marry.

Cake toppers are one of my favorite small wedding touches. These blue lovebird cake toppers are sweet and gorgeous, too. If you’d prefer a more dapper set, then these fabric bird cake toppers will be just the ticket.

Here’s another fantastic DIY project: wedding programs that are also fans. Perfect for a summer wedding!

Overwhelmed by the seating plan? Consider this adorable alternative – no seating plan at all!

Wedding Music

by Colleen Toliver on Mar 29, 2012 (0) Comments

In need of a little help finding music for your wedding ceremony? Here are ten great websites that offer hundreds of suggestions for music.

1. About.com has a short post featuring the top ten love songs for weddings. The songs are all older, but most of them are classics.

2. 5 Star Disco, a DJ company based in Britain, features a list of the top songs the company plays at weddings. The list is huge, and there’s a link to an alternative list with even more music.

3. Top Wedding Sites features a few lists of music you can use for your wedding, but it’s more valuable for its list of best wedding music websites.

4. Wedding Central hosts a list of the top 100 wedding songs, organized into lists of twenty for your convenience.

5. If you’re hoping to put together a wedding music list in your itunes instead of hiring a DJ, WeddingAccessories.com has put together a helpful list of the most popular reception dance music. You can pick and choose as you like for your personal reception.

6. Li Weddings has put together multiple beautifully organized lists of music for your ceremony, cocktail hour, first dance, and more.

7. WeddingWire.com features a very similar list, but the musical suggestions are quite different. WeddingWire’s list may be better if you’re searching for some unique music not typically featured in weddings.

8. DiscJockeys.com hosts a broad list of music for your reception – but they also have created a list of tips for choosing a DJ for your wedding.

9. The Knot has collected all its articles on wedding music into one convenient location for your perusal – an invaluable resource if you have any questions about your musical selections!

10. Finally, PopCultureMadness has created a small but comprehensive list of music, listing popular choices for different points of your reception and wedding.

Wedding Round-Up: March 26, 2012

by Colleen Toliver on Mar 27, 2012 (0) Comments

No doubt you’ve gotten plenty of advice about how to plan your wedding – but have you gotten any solid advice about your marriage? Here’s some truly excellent – and very sweet – advice on how to keep your marriage romantic and happy years after the wedding day itself.

Thinking of hosting a woodsy wedding? Then you’ll definitely want to take a peek at this blog, which offers suggestions on how to plan a wedding in the woods. The photographs alone make this blog post worth your time – the weddings pictured look like something from a dreamy fairy tale!

Here’s an amazing and functional tool you didn’t know you needed: Skindinavia’s Bridal Make-up Finish. Designed specifically for brides, this spritz will keep your make-up looking flawless all day long. Better still: there’s enough in one bottle for your entire bridal party and beyond.

Need some suggestions for great wedding shots? This blog features some fantastic wedding photographs, and suggests some of the most iconic wedding moments that you may wish to have included in your collection.

Looking for some non-religious wedding readings – or just crazy about love in classic literature? Then this post by the Perpetual Page-Turner is for you. It features quotes from many classic books, all focused around love. Have a few quotes of your own? Share them here or on the Perpetual Page-Turner’s page!

Sometimes weddings can be a little monochrome. Not so for this wedding, which was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. What a cool place to be married and to celebrate that marriage!

If you’re still searching for that ever-elusive unique guest book, then you might want to consider this easy solution: use a calendar, and have each guest sign his/her name on his/her birthday. Simple, sweet, and practical, too!

How to Include a Lost Loved One in Your Wedding

by Colleen Toliver on Mar 20, 2012 (0) Comments

By the time many of you reach your wedding day, it’s likely that you will have lost a loved one – a grandmother, perhaps, or a father, sibling, or dear friend. This person is someone you would have wanted at your wedding – someone who would have been a central part of the proceedings, if only they could have been there.

Here are a few ways to make certain those people are still part of your wedding day, even if they couldn’t be there physically.

1. Place a memoriam in your wedding program. This could include a poem, a story about the person you’ve lost, or a song that reminds you of your loved one. The note can be as brief or as long as you like.

2. Have memorial candles burning at your reception. Some brides and grooms like to have a moment of silence while the candles are lit; others simply have the candles set up at a special table, perhaps with pictures. You can easily purchase candles with the names of your loved ones and any other information you would like to include printed on the glass candleholders.

3. Purchase photographic charms – available at PhotoJewelryMaking.com – and attach the charms to your bouquet, or wear them on a chain. That way, you’re carrying your loved one with you all throughout your special day.

4. Dedicate a song to your loved one at your reception. You may want to have dancing during the song, or you may ask that everyone be silent while the song plays.

5. Have a special photographic display present at your reception. These can be fairly easy to do, and are a beautiful way to remember your loved one. Depending on your reception, the display can be placed at a table or, if outside, hanging from a special fixture.

6. Wear something your lost loved one might have worn – a necklace, perhaps, or a family wedding ring. These special tokens allow you to remember your loved one in a more private way.

7. Visit the grave site on the way to your reception. This one may be controversial, but for some brides and grooms, visiting the graves of their loved ones gives them the sense that they’ve been with their loved one on this important day.

8. Incorporate a special prayer into the wedding ceremony. You can speak with your clergyman about this in advance, or, if you’d simply like to have a special reading at the ceremony, you can choose a friend or family member to lead the reading for you.

9. Sometimes food is one of the strongest reminders of those we’ve lost. If your loved one had a special recipe, you can include that recipe in your reception.

10. Toast to your loved one’s memory at the reception itself.

Wedding Round-Up: March 16, 2012

by Colleen Toliver on Mar 17, 2012 (0) Comments

Looking for a great DIY wedding invitation? Project Wedding, as always, has you covered with its gorgeous pocketfold invitation. You can include a separate map, RSVP, and save the date, and all will be held in a single pocket! It’s both handy and classy.

If you’ve been searching for a great wedding cake alternative, you’ve no doubt considered cake pops. These gorgeous pops are sure to convince you that cake pops are the way to go!

Having trouble deciding who to invite to your wedding? This handy invitation flow chart may help you make a decision about your particularly difficult guests.

Wanting a unique addition to your guests’ tables? These DIY paper flowers are sure to look stunning – and guests will be impressed with your paper crafting skills!

If you’re a maid/matron of honor, you’re likely going to be giving a speech at your bestie’s big day. Public speaking can be a daunting task, particularly at such an important function. No worries – Maid of Honor Toast is here to save the day with plenty of tips for how to write the best wedding toast.

Is your groom starting to seem flighty? Does he look increasingly nervous as the wedding day draws closer? Then you might want to make this sweet little groom’s survival kit for the wedding day, to make him laugh and put him at ease.

In need of a cool guest book alternative? Here are 20 fantastic guest book ideas to make your guest book extra-special.

We’re on Pinterest!

by Colleen Toliver on Mar 06, 2012 (0) Comments

At Savvy Cinderella, we’re always looking for new ways to connect with you. In order to strengthen our link with our brides and bridesmaids, and to gather many great ideas in one place, we’ve started a Pinterest!

For those of you not familiar with Pinterest, it’s a social networking site unlike any other you’ve visited. It’s based on the idea of a simple bulletin board. You can think of Pinterest as your own personal bulletin board – a place where you can pin any photo, list, or idea that you discover online.

Savvy Cinderella’s Pinterest will serve as a great additional resource and inspiration to you as you plan your wedding. We’ve created several different pin boards, where we’re collecting the latest and best in wedding design. Some of our pin boards include photos of wedding venues, links to DIY projects, and budget wedding ideas, among many others.

Our presence on Pinterest will continue to grow and strengthen over time, and we’d love for you to join us there. To give you a little taste of the wonderful things you’ll get from our Pinterest boards, here are three of our latest pins:

Here’s a great shot of a ‘Smores bar. What a wonderful and unique idea for a dessert bar at your reception!
This is a wonderful idea for commemorating loved ones who can’t be at your wedding – hanging small pictures on your bouquet.
Looking for a cute table number idea? Use pictures of the bride and groom as kids.

Be sure to stop by and follow us on Pinterest! You can find us here.

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