Favor The Moment's Top Wedding Trends for 2011

As 2010 comes to a close, we must say good-bye to the ruffles, the traditions, and the extravagance of a wedding. Yes, 2011 is the year to focus on vibrant colors and creativity with a touch of elegance and personalization.  With that in mind, here are our top wedding trends for the new year.

Personalization - From wedding favors to the wedding venue, the new year is not about the lavish expensive wedding, but about the wedding that speaks from the hearts of the special couple. More couples are focusing on sending a message of who they are and what they share together rather than a lavish affair that speaks dollar signs. Although this may partially be a reflection of the economy, it is projected that this a trend that will be around for quite a while.  Personalized favors like this pink favor box with personalized label can be found at Favor The Moment Boutique

Birds Nest Place Card Holder at Favors by Lisa

Rustic Themes - Definitely a sign of breaking from tradition is the up and coming trend of rustic wedding themes. These nature, nautical, or even beach-like accents can surely warm up an atmosphere and create a more laid back  and intimate setting that is far from being traditional, but still can be elegant.  Visit Favors by Lisa for more examples and products with this theme.








More intimate weddings - The 2011 couples are now looking to more intimate wedding and reception venues where the environments are anywhere from historic, to vintage, to one that celebrates their ethnic backgrounds.  Again, this may be more of a financial catalyst.  However, intimate weddings and smaller weddings are known to bind families together with memories to last a lifetime. There are many favor and decor designs that can transform a backyard or even a home into an elegant and dreamy wedding.   Consider the use of hanging candle lanterns on branches in a backyard or garden coupled with candle centerpieces to create a warm glow to the atmosphere. Even the addition of white Christmas lights can add a touch of romance to an evening garden wedding or floating candles in a pool, where applicable.

Pastel and Brown Cake by Graceful Cake Creations

Color & Pattern Combinations - Gone are the days of just white, cream, gold or silver.  The 2011 trend is color, color and more color.  In all aspects of decor and dress, consider a bold color pallet or deep reds, fuchsia, bright greens and oranges. My personal favorite is a Tiffany blue and chocolate brown theme for wedding favors. For patterns and textures - who said polka dots and stripes didn't match? Oh yes they do when it comes to bridal decor and even non-traditional wedding cakes like this cake from Graceful Cake Creations in Mesa, AZ.  Nice pastel colors with bold brown makes a wonderful addition to a spring wedding. 

Tea Length Wedding Dress

Bridal Gowns - Even different textures and styles in wedding dresses are being added to the 2011 wedding trend. For the bride, the top designers are adding different bold colors to the mainstay whites and creams of yesterday.  Look for vintage cocktail and tea length gowns, gowns with rouching and draping to add accents or to cover figures where a bride is most conscious.  Needless to say, the trend is moving away from the A-Line gowns.  However, rest assured that the strapless, off the shoulder, and mermaid gowns are still in the running for 2011.  Visit Bridal Dress Boutique  for more information on the up and coming styles.

Wrap Dress by Two Birds Bridesmaid

And what about the bridesmaids? These
ladies can come in all shapes and sizes. In the past, one style dress (that probably can only be worn once) would be chosen for all the ladies. Well, that has now changed. Brides are now becoming more conscious of the comfortableness of the bridesmaids.  There is one dress in particular that I found on Oprah Magazine as well as WE's Wedding Sunday a few months ago.  This dress is the wrap dress by Two Birds Bridesmaid of New York. The uniqueness of this dress is that it caters to and flatters every shape and size and the same dress can be wrapped differently for each  and still look elegant in a wedding.  Best of all, you can be sure your bridesmaid will be able to use this dress again while she experiments with the many wrapping options this dress has to offer.


When the wedding occurs - Another break in tradition is the day and time weddings are occurring.  In the past, brides would try their hardest to get a venue on a Saturday morning at peak wedding season. I remember when I got married, we had to book the wedding a year in advance since June was peak season.  However, now with the influx of creativity and intimacy (and more impromptu weddings abound) brides are now scheduling their special day on a Sunday at various times during the day and even Friday evenings to make it a weekend long affair.  Winter weddings are also becoming a prime time for weddings with the new decor and venue options that are arising.

Wedding Cupcakes by Purple Wedding Flowers

Wedding cupcakes - One of the major focal points of the wedding reception is the wedding cake in all its artistry.  Yet even being a major addition to the picture perfect wedding, brides have found more versatility in having wedding cupcakes as an alternative. How about this wonderful bright colored cake from Purple Wedding Flowers, or even these bride and groom cupcakes featured on Cake Central.

Bride and Groom Cupcakes  by Cake Central

Candy Buffet TablesCustom Candy Buffet Bars for other tablescapes and candy arrangements.  If you are interested in making your own candy buffet table, click here.  This will surely be a hit at your wedding or even an upcoming special event.

Organizing The Seating Arrangement At Your Wedding

Doing the seating arrangement at your wedding or any event can be a trying experience, especially when you don't have a systematic method to creating one.  When you have different families and personalities with different interests, random placement can turn into complete chaos on a day that you probably want to be as calm and happy as can be.

Here are a few suggestions that I've come across as a wedding reception planner as well as from experience from my own wedding:

• Make more than one list utilizing Excel. If you know your way around Access, that's even better:
• List 1 - List everyone you have invited to your wedding from both sides of the family, including children as separate line items. Once you've done that, determine the CATEGORY for each guest - A = Groom, B = Bride, C = Child. Make another column RESPONSE for whether or not they are attending and enter Y or N once you begin to receive invitation responses.
• List 2 - Copy and paste List 1 into another spreadsheet (just add a tab to the same file). Sort the category column in ascending order, then by the Response column in descending order so that you have all the people attending on the top of the list.  At this time, add another column TABLE #. Once you have filled in a table number for each guest, then sort in ascending order so you can get all the guests names for each table together.

When determining seating arrangements, consider placing people together who have similar interests.  You may not want to put 2 people together who have a lot of drama and conflict with one another. However, keep in mind that you may want people to mingle with each other instead of staying within their own circles or cliques.  Generally, you may want to move elderly guests away from the dance floor or entertainment as they may not enjoy the loud music.  It is also recommended that there be one or two tables designated for children which is located away from any buffet tables.  Each table should hold anywhere from 8-10 guests, depending on the set-up options at the venue.

I have also come across similar methods of setting up a seating arrangement at weddings here.  Whatever your preference is in a method, the key is to be as organized as possible so that you can rest easy and enjoy your day. :-)

Bridal Chit Chat by Favor The Moment: Winter Wedding Wonderland Decor Ideas

Bridal Chit Chat by Favor The Moment: Winter Wedding Wonderland Decor Ideas: "I spent the day Monday at my son's school and while looking at the many decorations they had, I came across some wonderful snowflakes they ..."

Winter Wedding Wonderland Decor Ideas

I spent the day Monday at my son's school and while looking at the many decorations they had, I came across some wonderful snowflakes they were in the process of hanging up for the holidays.  They told me I can find the instructions to this nifty snowflake at www.marthastewart.com.  However, I have had bigger plans for this snowflake than just the holidays...what about for a winter wedding?

Now, I am scheduled to take another visit to his school to actually learn how to make these wonderful paper snow flake, which require some twisting and stapling, but turn out very beautiful as you can see:

However, I also came upon some other snowflake designs that are a bit more simple, yet just as beautiful from Martha Stewart with the complete instructions here.


Adding my own flavor to the process, I thought it would add just a touch more pizazz with some sparkle and color.  Just some Krylon low odor spray glue, a mix of light blue and white sparkles (or the wedding color of your choice) and some Aleene's Paper Glaze to make it more durable. This can add a sparkling and cool effect to any wedding and is very cost effective if you are planning a low budget wedding.  Both the Krylon Spray Glue and Aleene's Paper Glaze are available at your local Michael's or craft store for under $10 each.
Use these wonderful snowflakes as reception or ceremony decor. 

I also came across a Snowflake Punch by Martha Stewart that can be found on Overstock.com for about $10 each (comes in different snowflake shapes).  A great idea would be to punch these in light blue and cream colored paper, spray with Krylon, glitter with the color of your choice and spray with the hardening glaze as well. This will add a wonderful backdrop on place settings as well as on tree branch centerpieces as ornaments along with Swarovski crystal or rhinestone spray accents.

I plan to create and capture these ideas in the next few months and will post as I have completed them.

Determine Your Body Type for The Perfect Wedding Dress

After getting proposed to (and sometimes even before for brides who anticipate the great moment), the next exciting step to that special day is to choose the wedding dress. For some brides, this proves to be a very enjoyable part of the journey, especially when they have a shape that compliments almost any style dress on a rack.  However, let's face it, the majority of women have many different shapes and sizes, and hence turns the wedding dress selection process into a very stressful event.  We need to realize that no matter what our physical make-up, we can definitely look beautiful on our wedding day. With a bit of insight and education, it is my hope that these series of blogs can transform this task from being very stressful to very enjoyable.

Therefore, the first step into finding the right dress is to determine exactly what your body type is. Every woman strives to have an hourglass figure, where their waist is accented and shows proportion The key to dressing each body type is to result in an hourglass figure, even if you don't have one.  Whether you're full-figured, slim, short or tall, there are distributions of weight in every body type that are broken down as followed:

• Pear Shape: This means your hips measure larger than your bust, hence giving you a pear shape appearance. If this is your body shape, the most flattering type of dress would be an A-Line dress where the smaller part of your body is accented and then flows out to cover the fullness of your hips. This will definitely give the appearance of an hourglass figure.  The unique part about an A-Line dress is if your body type is an inverted pear - bust measures larger than hips - it will still enhance your body type and give an hourglass effect. Examples of customized A-Line dresses can be found at Light In The Box

•  Square or Round Shape (also called the Diamond Shape):  This means that all your measurements - hips, bust and waist - are pretty close to one another. In order to create a hourglass shape on this body type, the waist or bust area must accented. Choose a dress that has a concentration on or gathers at that area; for example, a dress with a ribbon around the waist or underneath the bust. Even dresses with a fuller skirt (not exactly an A-line) and a beaded bodice will help to accent the waist.  Fuller sleeves will create a fullness on the upper body by offsetting the waist and hips and giving off a more hourglass shape.   Here are some examples of such dresses found at Jorma Bridal.

• Hour Glass Shape: This means that your bust and hips are almost equal within an inch or so (i.e. 36-24-36), and your waist is smaller than the other two measurements, within 4 inches.  Brides who are blessed with an hourglass shape do have a wider choice range in the dress style.  However, the most appealing dress style to this shape is the mermaid type wedding dress. Here are some examples of such dresses found at David's Bridal.

 In a more general sense, a bustier bride will look best in open neck or off the shoulder gowns, full figured brides also look great in a v-neck gown.

I hope this information has proven to be very helpful.  Our next blog will be focusing on the bridal party and dress selections for them.