Thursday, June 7, 2012

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 fiancĂ©e’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
www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

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
718.938.4713

Thursday, May 31, 2012

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
718.938.4713

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

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
718.938.4713





Thursday, May 24, 2012

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
www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

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
718.938.4713  

Thursday, May 17, 2012

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
www.weddedluxe.com
718.938.4713


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