As you are planing your wedding you will eventually need to plan your grand exit.  Many venues recently have restricted the use of rice and flower petals due to the extensive clean up after, or a possibility of harming animals!  Many couples have found creative ways to still have an exciting exit with birdseed, bubbles and sparklers, my favorite obviously being the sparklers!

At night these sparklers create such a dramatic effect leaving you with breathtaking pictures!  I suggest informing your photographer that you plan on using sparklers for your exit so they can come prepared with the proper night gear and flash that they need to get the best possible picture.  A great idea to help save money in your budget is to also use these as your favors!  I would suggest tying up five or so sparklers with a cute lighter and leaving it at each place setting.  After they use the one for your exit, they can take the rest home with the lighter!

Make sure you plan the exit in a large enough area to fit all of your guests comfortably with still leaving a wide enough aisle for you and your dress to make it safely through the sparks!  Although sparklers are simple fireworks you still have to be careful while celebrating that you aren’t waving the sparkler around when you are close to other guests!  These are still potentially dangerous so make sure kids are watched while using them and you keep them away from all flammable materials!  When your reception venue tells you they don’t allow rice or rose petals get creative…and consider using sparklers to celebrate you big day!!

Sources: The Knot, Dallas Brides, Sparkle

In celebration of the Oscars tonight, and all of the beautiful dresses that will walk down the red carpet, we are going to be inspired today by the incredible Oscar de la Renta!

His Spring 2009 line is fantastic, made up of a variety of styles and fabrics for everyone.  The dress pictured below is the one that caught my eye…Gorgeous!

Enjoy watching the Oscar’s tonight…Which movie are you voting to win Best Picture?

If your wedding has over 50 people and you don’t have room in your budget to hire a calligrapher, I would suggest purchasing a custom stamp to help your invitation process run smoothly! It adds a personal touch to your invitations instead of running them all through a printer, and takes seconds.  Not only is it a great thing to have for your invitations but you can reuse it for your thank you cards and as long as you don’t move, use for all of your mail!

This is one of the many styles found at Beau Coup, check out their website for their designs and colors!

These stamps are great to have even if you aren’t planning at 350 person wedding! But I do promise it will make the process much less painful if you are planning on addressing all of your own invitations!

Check out their Website: Beau-Coup

After the wedding is planned. your last invitation has been sent out, and the final program printed, your focus moves to the one thing that you can not change… the weather!!  There are so many superstitions told about rain on your wedding day: rain is lucky; the rainier the day, the more children you will have; the Italian saying “Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata“, which means that a wet bride is a lucky bride!  It might be lucky if it rains on your wedding day, but I think most brides will take their chances and pray for no rain!

My outlook on rain is that it is one of the few things you have no control over, so don’t let it stress you out.  I admit: I was one of the many brides who checked the weather once a day, every day, two weeks prior to the wedding (OK, so maybe it was three times a day).  But considering it stormed all morning on my wedding day and cleared up to be hot and humid for the ceremony- I learned my lesson well!

There are two things that can help prepare you for rain on your wedding day: an adorable umbrella and unique rainboots.  My opinion is, if it is going to rain, you might as well remember it with great pictures!! Here are a few examples of how brides kept a positive attitude on their rainy wedding day!!

The red umbrella creates a picture-perfect opportunity on a rainy day!

Why let the rain ruin your day? Just soak it up!!

Don’t let it figuratively rain on your day!  Always remember, when the day is over, you will be married and on your way to your honeymoon—hopefully somewhere sunny and warm!!!

To help you plan for rain, check out these two great sites:

I love the umbrellas at Bella Umbrella and the rain boots at What a Pair.

You have one day for your wedding…don’t let a little water make it anything less than unforgettable!!

Sources: Adrienne Maples Photography, Bride Net, Elizabeth Anne Designs

Introducing OneWed‘s Bridal Blog: Savvy Scoop, a destination to help brides find local vendors, begin their wedding planning and use tools such as free engagement and wedding websites!  I was given the great opportunity to be a weekly contributor along with other stand out wedding coordinators, vendors, and professionals!

Savvy Scoop will offer the most up to date ideas, tips and inspiration for your upcoming wedding.  Not only does it have the largest vendor directory, but detailed ratings and reviews from real brides!

Look for Bubbly Bride and many other expert wedding professionals such as: Always a Blogsmaid, The Man Registry, Hostess with the Mostess, It’s a Jamie Thing, Bride Chic and DIY Bride.

If you’ve made it here from Savvy Scoop, welcome! I’m currently in the middle of a series called “Weddings from A to Z.” You can read About Me or learn about the wedding coordinating and planning services I offer in the Chicago area. Thanks for stopping by!