Your Engagement Ring Can Be Any Style YOU Want It To Be

A friend got engaged a few weeks ago.  Her fiance bough her an antique ring they came across while vacationing upstate.  She loves it.  It's very deco and unique and when she took it to her local jeweler for sizing he told her that it was not an engagement ring.  Her sister said the same thing.

Your engagement ring can be anything you want it to be.  It can be a colored stone instead of a diamond.  I even know two women that chose rings that are more in the style of an eternity band than a traditional diamond engagement ring.  And you know what, their rings are lovely and what's more important is that they love them.

You are the person that has to wear the ring daily and it's a gift from your future husband, so pick a style that reflects your personal style and tastes.  It doesn't matter if others do or don't like your engagement ring as long as you do.

Love What You Do

This really isn't a wedding post but a lot has been going on with friends so I wanted to put this out there.

Love what you do!

I can't tell you how much I love going to work everyday!  And tonight I'm still here at 8pm and I miss the days that I would stay at the office till the craziest hours and the time just flew by.

It makes such a difference in your life when you love what you do.  If you're not enjoying your job then look for another one in the same or a different field.  Or go back to school and learn new skills.  It's never too late!

I promise you that the happier you are at work the happier you will be in general.

Now that doesn't mean you should just quit your job first thing Monday morning -- never quit a job until you have another one lined up -- but keep your eyes open, talk to friends and colleagues, sign up for a LinkedIn account and start going to networking events.

Life's too short!

The Name Game

Are you planning on changing your last name to your husband's after the wedding?  There are number of companies and government agencies you'll need to reach out to - social security, department of motor vehicles, credit cards.

But since you won't be filing the paper work until after your wedding and probably after you returned from your honeymoon make sure you book your flight and hotel reservations in the name that appears on your current ID cards - passport, driver's license - and that would be your maiden name.

You can still let the airline and hotel that the reason for your trip is your honeymoon and enjoy any perks like free champagne on your arrival.

The Kids' Menu

Kids of all ages love the kids' menu.  I remember my cousin's bat mitzvah party 10 years ago where there were two cocktail hours.  One for the adults with a quartet and fancy hors d'oeuvres (crab cakes, mini lamb chops, cheese bar - it wasn't kosher) and the kid cocktail hour with a DJ and kid-friendly hors d'oeuvres (pigs in a blanket, sliders and mac n cheese).


I remember that a lot of the adults were in the kids room and my aunt was annoyed because she was spending all this money on fancy food and all everyone wanted was kid-friendly fare.


You may want to consider adding some childhood favorites to your wedding's cocktail hour because it really is food that everyone will enjoy.  And if you and your fiance are fans of something specific don't be afraid to add it to the menu.


You know I love pigs in a blanket but there are a lot of other fun finger foods that you can serve:  sliders, fries, mac n cheese, chicken fingers and mini-pizzas are just a few ideas.  Talk to your caterer about different menu options and ask your parents and close friends what their favorite cocktail hour foods are too.

Photos of Your Wedding Dress at the Bridal Salon

If you've started shopping for your wedding dress you will have learned that bridal salons frown on brides snapping photos of you in your dress unless you've bought it.  The reason for this, I'm assuming, is that the salon doesn't want you taking the picture to other salons and buy it somewhere else.  That's also why a number of bridal salons will remove tags and style numbers from dresses and create their own style number system.

With digital cameras and cameras on phones it's easy to snap photos when the sales consultant leaves the room.  I'm not advocating breaking any store's rules but once you decide to purchase a wedding dress here are some tips:

1. Make sure to snap photos in good light - maybe out of the dressing room and in the main salon area - of you in the wedding dress.
2. Get pictures of you in the wedding dress from several angles:  front, back and both sides.  You may also want the consultant to create a bustle so you know what you'll look like at both the ceremony and reception.
3. Ask for a swatch of the dress so you always know the color of your gown.  But remember the swatch you get at this point may not be the exact shade of your dress because the dye lot will be different, but it'll be very close.  You'll need to ask for another swatch at your first fitting. 

Celebrating Milestones: My 700th Post

Wow I can't believe it!  And this doesn't count the hiatus to iVillage Weddings for a year.

Dave and I had a 22 month engagement so to keep the excitement of planning going - more for him than for me of course - on the 22nd day of each month leading up to the wedding (we were married on the 22nd of June) I wrote a short four line poem and gave him a token gift.  The gift had to be in the quantity of the number of months to go.  I remember for 19 months I gave him 19 Hershey Kisses and I think for 10 I gave him a MetroCard with 10 subway rides on it.

After we were married we celebrated the 22nd of every month for the first year.  And after June 22, 2004 we just celebrate our wedding anniversary with a card.

It's important that you don't just focus on the wedding day itself after you're engaged.  Remember that after the wedding you are married to this person for better or worse till death do you part - or if you decide to divorce, which we don't hope for when we decide to marry someone, right?

Keep the spark alive throughout your engagement and your marriage by doing little things for each other.  You don't have to spend a lot or any money.  Leave a post-it on the bathroom mirror or front door that reads "I love you" or surprise him with reservations to his favorite restaurant even thought you hate it.

I went on vacation in September 2008 with my mom and sister and when I left I put a post-it on the inside of the front door that read "I love you. Have a good __day  __night *check one that applies."  The note is still on our door - post-its really do stick - and every day we both see it when we leave the house and lock up at night and it makes me smile and I know it warms his heart too.  And that little post-it didn't cost anything and to us, 2+ years later, it's priceless.

Win $5K for Your Wedding and a Fabulous Pair of Shoes

WE tv's new wedding shows all the time network Wedding Central is hosting a contest in New York in early November where 30 brides will compete for $5,000 cash, a pair of designer wedding shoes and a $5,000 prize package from their team of experts - some of them are personal friends of mine so I can honestly say it will be an awesome package.

Anyway, they reserved 5 spots for aisledash.com readers and if you want to enter the contest all you have to do is comment on the post I wrote on the contest earlier this week.  Here's the link!

There are 5 spots available so post soon and you can read all the contest details on the post or via the links to the contest page on weddingcentral.com

Good luck!

The Temperature of a Plate

I hate it when I'm served salad on a hot plate - one that probably just came out of a dishwasher.  At a meeting this afternoon I ordered cake a la mode for dessert and the plate it was served on was chilled.  I don't recall ever getting a chilled plate but it was the perfect detail b/c the ice cream didn't melt as quickly.

I don't know how much control you have over this for your wedding, though you can bring up the subject at a meeting with your caterer, but it's something to think about when serving food at home.

Vera Wang's 20th Anniversary

In honor of Vera Wang's 20th anniversary Vera's blog editors asked a few editors to write what they think of Vera's impact on the bridal industry.  You can read my post at verawang.com/veraunveiled.  There's a photo of me and Dave on our wedding day - my mom's comment was that Dave looks so young, but I look the same - thanks mom!

The editors also pulled together a gallery of images of a variety of Vera Wang wedding dress designs over the years.

Today was the Fall 2011 Vera Wang bridal show - the pics are live on aisledash.com - but here's a link to a  post on the Vera blog on the hairstyles in the show.

It's crazy to imagine having the limited option of wedding dress designs before Vera Wang hit the market in 1990.  I'm just glad that while designers have been inspired by past fashion trends they have all neglected to include the 1980s in their collections.

Bridal Market Coverage

Sorry for the missing posts but Bridal Market has taken over my life!  On aisledash.com there are almost 100 posts on the shows including galleries of the runway, reviews and trend reports.  There's still more to come and until market and coverage is completed next week I may miss a post or two or more.

Sorry.

xo