Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love ice cream.  I am not picky on flavors or toppings I just love the icy cold treat! While planning a wedding and choosing all of your favorite things, why would you not include this heavenly goodness?  Hosting an ice cream bar at your wedding is a fun way to give your guests a chance to create their own dessert!

If your heart is set on the traditional wedding cake, one suggestion would be to have your caterer begin to serve the ice cream bar towards 10:30 – 11:00 pm, or about an hour before the reception ends.  By this time your guests have hopefully danced away their dinner and are beginning to get hungry again.  Have this as your “late-night snack” for everyone still celebrating, as a farewell to a fabulous wedding. If you decide to wait to serve the ice cream bar until later in the evening, make sure to factor in the family and friends that will leave.  I would suggest ordering the ice cream bar for half as many people as you ordered your dinner for.

I would encourage you to keep it simple!  Stick to your basic vanilla and chocolate ice cream flavors, and go crazy with the toppings.  The more colors and textures, the better!  Talk with your caterer about what they can offer you and have fun matching serving dishes like the ones pictured above.  An ice cream bar isn’t just for kids- you will be surprised how big adult’s eyes get when they see this delicious display!  I encourage you to tempt your family and friends to dip into this ice cream delight!

By now, you may be imagining a sugar overload with both a traditional wedding cake AND an ice cream bar. Take a moment to consider mixing the two together…  I imagine artfully designed, individual ice cream servings displayed in the tiered shape of a cake.  Check out this fabulous cake I found at For the Love of Weddings!!

If you have a larger budget and you really want to take this ice cream bar a step further, you could look into personalizing your own ice cream flavor at ecreamery.  Did I say ice cream flavor? … you’d be able to personalize everything from your own packaging to the mix-ins and finalize the creation by giving it the perfect name for your wedding!

Finally, a fun favor idea to go along with your ice cream bar are these adorable ice cream scoops found at Wrap With Us.

Now that I finished this post…I think I will give in to my craving and grab a scoop of mint oreo ice cream to go!

This post is dedicated to the stressed-out bride, the bride who thinks she can do it all herself, and the bride who refuses to ask for HELP!

When you start planning your wedding, it’s seemingly simple: Pick a venue… Pick a caterer… Decide on a Florist… DJ… Bakery,..  Photographer.  Not too difficult.  Months into the planning, you realize you need to pick cake flavors and decorations, make lists of songs, and pick every ingredient of your menu down to the salad dressing! You might have forgotten about the seating charts, centerpieces, day-of coordination, bridal party gifts, and the rehearsal dinner. Finally, three weeks before the wedding you realize that half of your guests haven’t RSVP’d, your programs haven’t been finalized or printed, one of your bridesmaid’s flights was changed, and your dress alterations are going to take a week longer than planned.

In reality, there are a lot of details that go into a wedding. Trying to take on the entire load on yourself is a lot for anyone, especially if you are working full time.  A must for every bride out there is to ask for HELP!  Whether you decide to hire a wedding consultant or simply ask your aunt or best friend to assist with the day’s events, learning to delegate tasks will pay off in a huge way when the big day comes.

If your first reaction to hiring a wedding consultant is “I can’t afford it!”, I would urge you to reconsider.  Many wedding consultants have connections with local vendors or have learned tricks of the trade to help creatively decrease the cost of your wedding.  They have experience in knowing the simplest way to accomplish each task, and usually know the right questions for each vendor to get the bottom line!

If a wedding planner still isn’t in your future, I encourage you to find someone you trust (ideally a highly organized friend or family member) that is not already filling a role in your wedding and appoint them as your main point of contact for all your wedding vendors.  As the wedding day draws near, have all questions go through this contact person. Put trust in them to make little decisions on their own.  If you are bothered with every little detailed question, or informed every time there is a minor issue at hand, your stress level will only continue to rise.

The way to a stress-free wedding is not only asking for help, but accepting the fact that something will go wrong- someone will show up late or bring an extra guest, the weather might not be perfect, any of a host of things.  At the end of the day, despite all of the mishaps, you are going to be married to your best friend, the man (or woman) of your dreams!  Always remember that this is the whole reason you started planning the day in the first place!

9 ways to keep your sanity while planning your wedding:

1. Sleep! – Get lots of sleep, more than you think you need! A tired bride is not a happy bride!

2. Have a date night once a week with your fiancé – Focus on your relationship, talk about things bedsies the upcoming wedding. You need to be reminded why you both decided to get married, amidst all the hustle and bustle.

3. Plan the wedding together - You will both be more stressed if the planning falls on just one person. Share your ideas and plans for your big day.

4. Figure out your vision for the day – Make a clear vision and stick to it!  Everyone will have opinions, but yours are the only ones that matter. You are the only one that will have regrets if things don’t go your way, so make your vision known!

5. Turn your cell phone off! -  Or give it to a designated person and have them screen your calls. The last thing you need is a ringing telephone in your ear all day.

6. Plan ahead - The more you check off your list in the first few months, the more you will be able to relax as the big day gets closer.

7. Trust your vendors – You hired them for a reason, step back and let them do the fantastic job they were hired to! If you have chosen your vendors well, you should not have a problem with this.

8. Stick to your workout schedule – Keeping in shape will help you release stress and avoid any question of looking fabulous in your dress.

9. Laugh – Have fun! Find every reason possible to smile!  And enjoy being engaged because this time flies by!

How were you able to save your sanity on your wedding day?

Guestbooks offer guests a chance to let you know they came to celebrate with you and leave messages of congratulations.  While it is nice to have a list of everyone that attended the wedding, why not find a piece of furniture or something that interests you and have your family and friends sign that instead.

My favorite idea for a guest book is to have either a photo booth or a Polaroid camera waiting for your guests when they first arrive. If you have room in your budget to rent a photo booth, your guests will enjoy stepping in—closing the curtain—and making funny faces to leave you with great memories of your wedding day! Once they take their picture have them sign the back and return it to you so you can create a scrapbook of them later.

Livermore Photography is offering a great new concept to create the photo booth look by compiling great expressions from family and friends!

If you are working within a tighter budget I would suggest creating your own photo booth.  Have someone designated to take pictures—pick out a fabric for a backdrop—supply unique dress up gear for your guests and let their creativity run wild!  After they take their picture have a book ready to put the picture in and sign it.  At the end of the wedding you have a ready-made scrapbook of everyone in attendance…full of attitude! Check out this photo session I saw on Style Me Pretty‘s Blog!

The other idea that I have loved seeing at weddings recently is when the bride and groom find a piece of furniture or something symbolic to them and have their guests sign that.  For Instance, this fabulous Adirondack chair that I saw on Weddings by Socialites is a great way to have a memorabilia from your wedding day that you can use for years after.  The guitars and surfboards shown below are fabulous examples of ways to personalize your guest book.

What did you do to create a non-traditional Guestbook?

While flowers are the traditional wedding decor, fruit is quickly becoming a common way to add color and style into your wedding day.  Fruit can be used in a variety of creative ways and can help you save on the cost of the wedding in the end.  The vibrant color of lemons and limes as a centerpiece contrasted against a black table cloth, will add a bright flash of color and keep a formal wedding feel. Adding an orange to the place setting, or giving guests an apple escort card as they walk in can be a fun way to keep the fruit theme alive.  Keep reading to find out how to fill your wedding day with fruit and fun!

Start your citrus-themed wedding with bright lime green colors mixed with a vibrant oranges and pinks.

After you exchange the rings—and your guests enter the reception—have them pick up a fruit escort card that leads them to their table.

Create centerpieces filled with fruit…keep them whole or slice them up to add texture.

Once your guests find their seats, have waiters pass hors d’oeuvre’s such as chocolate-dipped strawberries or lime mousse shooters.  Don’t forget about fruit-themed cocktails like apple martinis or mango mojitos to get the party started.

When it is time for the traditional cake cutting, add color to the cake with mouth-watering fruit decorations.  To add a twist to the traditional dessert, consider a fruit filling, fruit pies or dessert cups filled with fruit.

When the dancing and speeches are done, your guest will begin to leave and take their “perfect pear” favor or bride and groom caramel apples from Red Riding Hood Edibles!

DIY: Check out Sunflowers in my Kitchen who created her own fruit filled desserts!

This fruit filled post is a small example of the endless ideas that you as a bride can come up with! Have fun experimenting with the vast variety of fruit available and email me your creations and decorations when you are done!!

Sources:  Bridesmaids Dresses. Pink and Green Flower Centerpiece.  Escort lemons and limes.  Rings.  Flower Centerpiece.  Lime Centerpiece. Lime Mousse Shooter. Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.  Fruit Filled Shells.  Fruit Cake.  Pear Favors.

You just got engaged to the man of your dreams, your best friend. What would be a better way to remember this time than professional pictures!  Engagement portraits are a fun way to celebrate your future together, while becoming comfortable with your photographer before the big day.

As always, I encourage you to be creative with these pictures! My favorite idea is to make a guestbook with the album!  This way after your wedding you aren’t left with simply a list of names,  you have a great scrapbook of your engagement pictures along with fun messages from your guests!

Other ideas: Use them with your table names, Save the Date cards, or part of the reception decorations:

Here are some fabulous engagment photo examples from SB Childs Photography!

Make sure to check with your photographer, because many are mixing these engagement sessions into their wedding packages.  Also, come prepared to the engagement photography session!  Send your photographer examples of pictures that you love to give him or her an example of what you have in mind.

What are some creative engagement portrait ideas you have? How do you plan to use yours? Feel free to send me some of your favorites for me to feature here!

Sources:
lilduckduck.com
SB Childs Photography
Rich Miller Photography