How to Incorporate Your Culture at Your Bridal Shower

Having a themed bridal shower is always fun.  To make the most of your bridal shower theme, use this pre-wedding event to Celebrate Your Culture.  This is also a good way to incorporate your fiancée’s culture as well if it happens to be different from yours. 

• Serve traditional foods from your culture, your fiance's culture or you can have a mix of both.  Place cute signs next to each item so your guests that don’t know what the special dish is can get familiar.   As a favor, you can give the recipes to your family’s traditional cuisines that were served.

Mexican Themed Cookies

• Have your guests dress the part by wearing traditional clothing from your culture.  Have small accessories ready for your guests to play a little dress up when they arrive. You can take it a step further and actually show them how traditional garments should be worn. 

Your Guests can dress up in traditional clothing.  

• Many cultures don’t traditionally have bridal showers but they do have pre-wedding events.  Instead of having a “bridal shower”, host one of your pre-wedding events that everyone can enjoy.

Fun temporary henna tattoos

• Show your guests fun activities from your culture that are interactive and a learning experience for those that are not familiar with it.  This can take the place of traditional bridal shower games.

Do you need some help Celebrating Your Culture? Send me an  at DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will help you with some creative tips!!

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

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718.938.4713

What's the Right Way To Ask Your Girls to be Your Bridesmaid

So you are ready to select your bridesmaids and this can be an easy choice as to who it should be. These are women that know and love and they are so excited you are getting married.  Of course they will happily accept your invitation.   However did you stop and think about all the details?  Do you know how much it will cost to be a bridesmaid?  What you want them to be responsible for?  Are they paying for their own hair and makeup? Do you want them to plan your bridal shower? Before your bridesmaids say yes to you they should know exactly what they are saying yes to.  Giving your bridesmaids all the information up front will save you and your bridesmaids’ headaches, aggravation, and sticker shock later down the line.  Here’s what they should know:

1) The Dress

The dress will be the most expensive purchase your bridesmaids make.  You should start a preliminary dress search to see which styles and designers you may like.  Once you made a few choices, see what price range they fall in.  This ball park figure will be helpful especially if the dress you love is on the pricey side. 

2    2) The Accessories

Not only do your bridesmaids’ need dresses but they will need shoes and jewelry usually the bridesmaids are responsible for paying for their own shoes.  If you are picking the shoes and you want them to wear the same shoe, pick a price point and let your bridesmaids know which direction you are leaning towards.  If they can buy their own shoe, just give them the criteria and this way the budget is their choice.  Many brides gift the wedding day jewelry to their bridesmaids as a thank you for being a part of their wedding party.  If you are not taking this route, you should let them know in advance.

      3) Hair and Makeup

This is always a touchy subject for brides.  The expense of wedding day hair and makeup onsite can start about $75.00 per bridesmaid.  If you have a large bridal party, this can get costly.  If you can’t afford to pay for the complete package, you may want to consider paying for half or just the makeup portion.  More than likely, your bridesmaids already have a trusted hair stylist and they won’t let anyone else touch their hair not even for your wedding. 

      4) Pre Wedding Activities

These days’ brides are having bridal showers, bachelorette parties and sometimes bachelorette getaways.  Traditionally, the bridal shower should be thrown by the maid of honor and the bridesmaids.  The bachelorette party or getaway is paid for by your bridal party and they may cover your expenses as well. 

Once you have a general idea of what you want for all four of these items, you should be prepared to let your tentative bridesmaids know shortly after you ask them to be a part of your bridal party.  You should also be considerate of everyone’s financial situation.  These are your friends and family; for the most part you know what’s going on in their lives and what they can afford.  You should not have to give up you anything you want but be prepared to cover some the expense in order to have it.  You may want to give your friends a chance to opt out of being a bridesmaid.  This may save you from uncomfortable conversations and will also save your friendships.  Your friends want to be a part of your wedding and they may feel pressured into doing so even if they can’t afford it.  Take the pressure off and give them a chance to decline the invitation to be a bridesmaids but I’m sure they will gladly be a guest at your wedding. 

TIP: Start a wedding club.  This is the same concept of as a Christmas club but it is for the wedding expenses.  Put your maid of honor in charge and everyone can put in a small amount once a week or whatever works best.  For example, if all the expenses will total $1,000.00 divide this by 36 weeks and that’s about $27.00 a week.  That’s much easier to swallow than a couple of $100.00 here or there. 

Do you have a bridal party dilemma you need help solving?  Send me your question at DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will help you  and your bridesmaids come to a resolution! 

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com

718.938.4713

Summer Wedding Inspiration Board - Coral & Khaki

Today’s inspiration board is inspired by summertime! I love the summer and coral is a great color for a summer wedding.  Coral can easily be paired with many colors in the spectrum. Coral and Aqua is a very popular color combo for summer weddings and destination weddings.  This inspiration board is a combination of Coral and Khaki for the easy, breezy summer wedding.

Photo Credits: 1) Pinterest 2) Lover.ly 3) Lover.ly
4) Baysidebride.com 5) Lover.ly 6)  Highheelsandmoccasin.com 

 Do you need some help getting inspired for your wedding? Send me your wedding colors and theme at DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will create an inspiration board just for you!! 

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com

718.938.4713

Want to Attend a Bridal Show in New York City?

I will be attending the Great BridalExtravaganza on June 11, 2012 at the 3 West Club!! Now this will not be just me standing at my booth handing you my business card. I will be hosting a Q & A panel to answer all your wedding planning questions and giving you solutions to your wedding planning dilemmas.  There is no question of limits so come ready to get your questions answered.  

I am also giving a way my latest floral bouquet design to one lucky bride and trust me you are going to want this bouquet for your wedding.  Register to get your tickets and you will automatically be entered to win a 8 day 7 night vacation to the Caribbean!! So get ready to a fun night out and get all the wedding planning information you need to plan your special day.  

Feeling shy? Just send me your question at info@weddedluxe.com and I will answer it anonymously at during the panel! 

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

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718.938.4713

How to Use Pinterest to Plan Your Wedding

I finally joined the rest of the world and joined Pinterest.  If you haven’t heard of Pinterest yet, (this is highly unlikely) then let me tell you all about it.  Pinterest is the newest social media craze to hit the web.  You can make pinboards (collages) of pretty little things you find on the web.  At first, I didn’t want to join.  I couldn’t take yet another social media item to keep up with. Then one day I was on twitter and someone I followed showed this cool picture that they added to their board.  I took the bait and signed up.  I loved it from day one and quickly realize what everyone else has been buzzing about. 

The reason I like Pinterest is I’m constantly looking for inspiration and when I find it I would copy and paste the picture, email it to myself and then go back to it later.  Pinterest gives me my instant gratification that I need. I see it, I like it, I pin it! I can move on to the next cool thing and come back to my Pinboards for inspiration at another time.  I also like it because I can find inspiration for my personal interest without even working at it.  I love to travel, I’m semi into fashion and I love beautifully decorated homes but I don’t buy any of these magazines.  With Pinterest the inspiration now comes to me.  Like this gorgeous military jacket that I would have never found on my own.  

I also don't have the time to surf every wedding website for inspiration.  With Pinterest, I don't have to because the people I follow are doing some of the searching for me.  Look at these cute pancake appetizers! Perfect for a brunch wedding.  

I highly recommend brides to sign up on Pinterest to get inspiration for their wedding.  You can create your boards and when you go visit your potential vendors, you can show them your inspiration instantly.  If you already have a wedding planner, designer, florist, etc, they can follow your pins for your wedding inspiration.  No more emailing 100’s of pictures to them, just Pin It!!  

You can follow me here on Pinterest and see what I’m Pinning about!  

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

Celebrate Your Culture with Your Wedding Cocktail Hour

Adding your favorite food to your cocktail hour is a great way to Celebrate Your Culture on your wedding day.  Let your guests enjoy some of the culinary delights from your culture or both cultures if you’re blending two families together. 

Fish Cakes

One of my favorite appetizer that I have at almost every family occasion are fish cakes.  Fish Cakes are made with salted cod fish or commonly called "bacalao" in Spanish speaking Caribbean islands.  It’s like a crab cake but with salted cod fish and it’s delicious! That’s just a little cooking lesson for those who don’t know what it is.  For those brides out there that know and love fish cakes , this is a subtle way to Celebrate Your Culture at your wedding during the cocktail hour.  It’s also a culinary delight that everyone will love no matter where they are from.  Many different cultures have their own variation of a fish cake.  So where ever you are from and however you prepare it, don’t be afraid to add this to your Wedding Cocktail Hour! People enjoy familiar, comfort foods at weddings.  

Are you trying to Celebrate Your Culture for your wedding? I would love to hear all about it. Send me your ideas DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will feature it on the blog?

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com

718.938.4713  

Inspiration Board - New Year's Eve Wedding

If I’m going to pass around New Year’s Eve wedding planning advice then it is only right that we have some New Year’s Eve inspiration to go with it.  I love New Year’s Eve and a wedding on the biggest night of the year is amazing to me.  For one, I love to get dressed up and people always dress up for weddings.  A New Year’s Eve wedding will only inspire the best dressed.  For me, a New Year’s Eve wedding is black tie required.  Here’s my New Year’s Eve Inspiration board!

Photo Credit: 1) TheKnot, 2) Instyle Weddings 3) TheKnot, 4) TheKnot,
5) Project Weddings 6) Oh Lovely Day, 7) TheKot

Tip: Black Tie does not mean Black and White attire is required.  It simply means women wear long gowns and men wear black or dark tuxedos or suites with a tie.  I just love a Black & White Wedding and I think New Year's Eve is the best opportunity to get your guests to wear it without much complaints. 

Bonus: Want to guide your wedding guests on what black tie means? Put an explanation on your wedding website.  When you send your Save The Dates, simply add your wedding website.  On the site you can add a section letting your guests know your wedding will be black tie required and what that means.  

Do you need some help getting inspired for your wedding? Send me your wedding colors and theme at DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will create an inspiration board just for you!! 

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

How To Plan A New Year's Eve Wedding

Summer is just around the corner but we are a little over 6 months away from New Year's Eve.  In real life this means nothing other than you have 6 more months to work on that resolution you made.  In the wedding world, this means you need to move fast to start or finish up your wedding plans on the biggest night of the year.  To successfully pull of a New Year's Eve Wedding here are some helpful wedding planning tips to help you out.














1) Send Save The Dates - It doesn't matter what day of the week New Year's Eve is, you must send your guests save the dates because people always make plans.  Even if those plans mean staying in, people usually have a tradition or some kind of ritual on how they bring in the New Year so give them at least 6 months heads up that this year you would like them to spend their New Year with you.






2) Book Your Vendors ASAP - New Years Eve is a very popular day to get married. There are 52 Saturday nights but there is only one New Year's Eve.  Your favorite venue may be taken before you know it. Your vendors may also book fast or  they may not even work on New Year's Eve. You want to know as early as possible what your options are so look fast and book as soon as you find the right vendors for you.






3) Increase Your Budget - Plan to spend a little more than you expected for a New Year's Eve Wedding.  Many venues and vendors charge a little more for holiday weddings.  You are probably thinking why but think of them just like other employees.  Most people

that work on a holiday will get paid time and half, it's the same concept. 






4) Ceremony Location - Your ceremony will probably not be able to happen in your house of worship.  There are usually special services to bring in the New Year.  So if this is an important factor for you may want to reconsider having a New Year's Eve
Wedding. Find out if they are willing to perform your ceremony earlier in the day before the New Year's Eve services begin.  I highly suggest having your ceremony in the same location as your reception.  This will avoid you and your guests getting stuck in traffic.  Choose an officiant early to guarantee availability.  





5) Make It Worth Wild - You don't want to invite your guests to just another wedding.  You want to make it worth ditching their usually New Year's Eve plans.  Make the night full of unexpected surprises and like no other wedding they have ever been to.  Make your menu interesting, have band and a DJ or give them a view of the fireworks they never get to see.  Whatever it is, you want to make it memorable.  





 
Bonus!
Now if you are getting married New Year's Eve 2012 I hope you have

already done the first 3 tips.  There is still time for tip number 4.  If you are getting married New Year's Eve 2013, then now is a good time to start planning because it falls on a Thursday and Thursdays are now becoming a very popular day to get married





Do you need tips on how to wow your wedding guests for your New Year's Eve wedding? Send me an email at
DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will help you get started.














Live.Laugh.Love…..Luxuriate!









Deniesha  Joseph


Wedded Luxe


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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com


www.weddedluxe.com

718.938.4713




Celebrate Your Culture - How To Hire The Right Wedding DJ

Have you ever been to a wedding and the DJ played the one or two cliche songs that are suppose to represent your culture that everyone in your family hates because it's cliche to play that song? We've all been there at some point.  The DJ that promised to cater to all types of music really only knows the songs they hear on the radio. They don't really know the music that your family and friends know and love.  I never hire DJ's that cannot name their specialty.  I'm sorry but everyone has one and they should know what it is.  I have a specialty. I plan and design weddings for couples that wish to celebrate their culture and their personal style as well.  Yes, there are DJ's that know all types of music and have a great selection but that doesn't mean they are the expert wedding DJ for your culture.

You want to hire the expert wedding DJ.  Choosing the right DJ that will properly represent your culture can be tricky.  Most DJ's say they can play anything and if you have any songs you want to hear at your wedding you can simply give them the list and they will make it happen.  Well that's not what you want for your wedding.  You want a DJ that is familiar with your culture's style of music, knows which songs are a hit and can execute with out a hitch.  The DJ that will make this happen is the DJ that specializes in the genre of music you are looking for as well as know the top 40 hits that everyone loves.  How do you find the perfect DJ? Here are three tips:

DJ Kaos - Great club DJ and Weddings!! Check him out! 

1) The DJ at your favorite bar or night club probably DJ's weddings as well.  Don't hesitate to ask them for their contact information and reach out to them.  Just make sure they have wedding experience as well.


2) If you had really good time at your friend's or family's wedding, ask them for a referral.  Previous brides are usually a good source for vendors. 


3) Most vendors advertise in their niche market.  Check blogs, online resources and magazines that cater to you culture for the DJ or entertainment companies that advertise there. 

Do you need help on how to hire the best vendors for to fit your wedding?  Send me an email at DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will give you some tips!!

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

How To Take Your Wedding Ideas to Wedding Reality

I recently read an article on TheKnot "30 Ways To Wow Your Wedding Guests" with some great tips on how to make sure your wedding is not another cookie cutter wedding.  There were some good ones I must say but they didn't give you the logistics behind how to make some of these wow factors work.  So like any good wedding planner would, I'm going to give you the behind the scene action you didn't get from the article so you will know how to make it happen for your wedding.

One of my favorite tips was instead of using traditional escort cards, TheKnot suggested having Reception Ushers to show your guests to their tables.  I love this idea, I'm always about the wow factor.  To make this work you need a couple of key ingredients: 

1) A hostess to greet your guests and let them know someone will take them to their table shortly. They can direct the traffic and let the ushers know which table to escort your guests to. You don't want the ushers walking around with papers looking for names.  

2) For every 20 guests you need at least 1 usher. So if you have 200 guests, you should have 10 ushers.  This will keep the your guests moving into the dinner smoothly. Everyone should be seated within 10 to 15 minutes.  

3) If you are having your wedding reception at a traditional banquet or hotel, you should run your idea past your maitre D or banquet manager.  They can help you execute but they may charge you for the extra staffing.

4) If you are getting married in non-traditional setting (loft style) then I hope you hired a wedding planner and they will help execute as well.  They may also have to hire extra staffing to execute flawlessly. 

There are many great wedding planning tips and ideas out there but you have to remember, the key to a great idea is the execution.  Bring your wedding idea to a wedding professional, whether it is your wedding planner or banquet manager and fill them in on your wedding ideas.  They will give you great tips on how to make sure your idea turns out exactly how you envisioned it.  

Do you have a wedding planning idea that you want to wow your guests? Send me an email at  DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will give you some wedding planning advice on how to make it work!! 

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

Inspiration Board - Navy & Fuschsia

Fuchsia and Navy is my one of my favorite wedding color trends.  Fuchsia is always a crowd favorite but the unexpected combination of navy is an excellent compliment to the bold color like fuchsia.  Don't be a afraid to go against the norm.  Navy is your new Black!! 

Photo Credits: All Courtesy of TheKnot

Do you need some help getting inspired for your wedding? Send me your wedding colors and theme at DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  and I will create an inspiration board just for you!! 

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

The Bridal Party Gift

One question that comes up with all my clients is the bridal party gifts. This seems to puzzle couples all the time and I think it is because the word “wedding" is attached to it. It makes couples confused for some reason, but I say take the wedding or bridal party out of it and think of a gift your friends and/or family would appreciate.  For example, if you were buying grab bag gifts for everyone in your bridal party, what would you get them?  Take that approach and see what you come up with.

Photo Credit: Essence Bridal Bliss

Here are some gifts I think will make your bridal party very happy!! 

Everyone loves to smell good, why not get them a bottle of perfume or cologne.

I think everyone has an iPod or some kind of apple gadget.  An iTunes gift card will come in handy for everyone.

Share your favorite restaurant with your friends with a gift card they can use to relax and relive some funny wedding planning stories once the wedding planning is over.

Going to the movies has become a costly night out, help your friends out with movie tickets.

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

Celebrate Your Culture Through Fashion

Fashion plays a part in every culture.  You can take cues from your culture's sense of style and make it a part of your wedding day style as well.  You can add small touches like accessories for the bridesmaids or ties for the groomsmen.    



Photo Credit: Etsy Noah's Crew 





Photo Credit: Etsy Noah's Crew 



You can also go all out and make it the whole ensemble.  What ever you choose, don't be afraid to show your cultural fashion style at your wedding.

Are you trying to find ways to Celebrate Your Culture? Are you Celebrating more than one culture?  Send me an email I let me help you add some special touches for your wedding at  DJoseph@weddedluxe.com  

Live.Laugh.Love….. Luxuriate!

Deniesha  Joseph

Wedded Luxe

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DJoseph@weddedluxe.com

www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713