How to Personalize Your Wedding Ceremony - 10 Ideas

Hey – it’s all about you; take back your ceremony! It is a ritual – time honored and sacred – but that does not mean your wedding ceremony has to be like every other. Of course, some couples choose to be extremely original and opt for exchanging vows on a roller coaster, while bungee jumping or even dressed as trekies. Good for them for such uninhibited displays of originality. But even if you prefer a more traditional and “scream-free” wedding ceremony, you can still add a touch of personality. Consult these 10 unique ideas for wedding ceremonies to learn how. If you're looking for more ceremony advice, this complete wedding ceremony guide will walk you through the entire process.

Plan Your Wedding Flowers by Season

When it comes to wedding flowers - go with the season! Choose wedding flowers that bloom locally and naturally during the time of your wedding.

Although you can find most floral varieties all year, seasonal blooms are readily available, less expensive and often more durable. Select your wedding season from this flowers by season guide, and find out which flowers typically bloom during that time.

Once you have an idea of what blooms you would like to incorporate, this complete wedding flowers guide and photo gallery will walk you through the rest of the process with tons of inspiring ideas.

New Ring for New Years - Kick Start Your 2009 Wedding Plans Now!

If you’re among the nearly one million brides-to-be who received an engagement ring over the holidays, it’s time to ring in the new year by scratching the first few items off your wedding day “to do” countdown. Kick start your 2009 wedding plans now!

Unfortunately, for most newly engaged women – the excitement of finally finding “the one” is dampened by a hard dose of stress and anxiety. Sure, you’ll find about a gazillion wedding planning checklists out there, but they all tend to overwhelm more than they help, and all essentially fail to address the fundamental question: “Where do I begin?”

After you’ve announced the exciting news and taken some time to bask in your newly engaged glow, it’s time to get cracking. Here are the first three wedding planning tasks you absolutely must accomplish before anything else. Cross these items off your wedding checklist – and you’re on your way.

Stress Management Guide for Brides

As a bride-to-be, you’re bombarded with a growing pile of tasks demanding your attention, and the resulting stress can overpower what’s supposed to be a joyous time in your life. Instead, emerge from the pile of fabric swatches, font styles and contracts and ..…just….breathe. During your engagement, step away from wedding planning, and take time to enjoy yourself as a fabulous single woman.

Sure, kicking your heals up and relaxing as your task list expands exponentially may sound impossible. In reality, allowing yourself some time to rejuvenate will not only reduce wedding stress, it will ultimately make your wedding planning more efficient. Have you ever tried going for a morning run without a good night’s sleep the night before? The same applies to wedding planning.

This stress management guide for brides offers four methods to reduce wedding stress.

Fab Find - Bridal Headpieces that are actually stylish!

It may be your day to be a princess, but donning a rhinestone tiara is not required. Handcrafted headpieces from Jennifer Behr are glamorous alternatives featuring silk camellias, orchids, feathers, or diamonds that are more avant garde than cheesy. Since the headpieces have been spotted on the likes of Natalie Portman and featured in Gossip Girl, you can safely splurge on these wedding accessories knowing that you’ll likely sport the look again – which is more than you can say for the typical bridal crown.

Read more about Jennifer Behr Bridal Headpieces at the Unveiled Wedding Blog

Health and Beauty Guide Helps Brides Get in Shape for the Wedding!

Of course you want to look fabulous on your wedding day – who doesn’t? Unfortunately, a gorgeous gown and killer accessories can only take you so far. The true pathway to looking and feeling amazing is paved by a healthy fitness and nutrition routine.

Ugh..you know that tired piece of advice is easier said than done. But that’s where this bridal health and beauty guide comes in… It outlines all of the fitness and nutrition tips you need to get you started towards a healthier you.

Plan Your Wedding Accessories!

OK ladies, here’s music to your ears (and neck, and wrist)… Once you’ve got your wedding dress, it's time to accessorize it! There’s no doubt about it, the right veil, headpiece and baubles perfect your wedding day look. This complete guide to wedding accessories offers all the advice you need to accessorize like a pro.

Take Back Your Wedding Registry

Tired of registries filled with practical mainstays owned by every newlywed in town? Tailor your wish list to your personal style.

The Do Gooder
Do your heart some good by creating a wedding gift registry with a more altruistic bent.

Where to Find: featuring more than one million charities from which to choose, JustGive.org is a non-profit website that lets couples build a wedding registry directed to their favorite causes.

The Luxe Lover
Bedding is a registry staple, but this is your chance to sink those pedicured toes into the Mercedes of linens. Get sumptuous threads that feel delicious on your skin and last forever.

Where to Find: Down to Basics (downtobasics.com) offers a specialty registry for high-quality, high thread count linens from lines such as Ann Gish and Sferra. They also have a storefront on Newbury Street in Boston.

The Risk Taker
You met your fiancé while running a class V rapid and feel incomplete without your backpack. With such an affinity for the outdoors, why place house with your registry? Instead, ask for all those outdoor toys you’ve both been dreaming of.

Where to Find: Outdoor retailers such as REI (rei.com) offer gift registries conspicuously absent of china, linen and crystal.

Learn more about Alternative Stores for Your Gift Registry at the Unveiled wedding blog

Top Trends for Wedding Flowers in 2009

Today´s brides are following the old adages, "less is more" and "use your imagination" The sayings may be cliche – but the latest trends in wedding flowers are anything but…

Daring Colors:
Gone are the days of adhering to light pastels and muted shades in wedding decorations. Today´s brides are opting for bold and interesting pairings of colors in their wedding flowers and floral schemes. Not afraid of mixing purples and orange´s, the post-millennium color palette is expanding.

More than Just Flowers:
Mix it up a bit by incorporating produce. One of the hot trends in wedding flowers is arrangements featuring fruits, herbs and even veggies as a playful and fun approach. Their naturally vibrant colors coincide with the daring color trend. Many brides are also turning to the woods for inspiration. Green grasses add dimension and structure and can elicit a warm, summery feeling. This list of unique wedding decorations has even more blossom-free arrangement ideas.

Dynamic Tables:
Table arrangements are also becoming more dynamic. Instead of conforming to identical floral arrangements on each table, some brides are using different containers, varying the heights, or grouping an assortment of low centerpieces together.

Keep it Simple:
Gone are the days of overpowering floral arrangements adorned with excess filler flowers. Today´s brides opt for a more natural and tailored look to their wedding flowers. One bouquet style rising in popularity is the hand tied bouquet. The fresh bunch of flowers presents the look of simple elegance that brides desire.

Learn everything you need to know about wedding rings!

Shopping for wedding rings involves slightly more than picking out a strand of beads. This guide makes it easy by narrowing it down to five steps to choosing wedding rings you love. Here are the steps - you can read the full wedding rings guide here.

1) Choose Your Style - article offers some useful style tips
2) Pick Your Metals - the article lists the pros and cons of each option.
3) Examine Your Budget - the article breaks it down so you can understand exactly how much your ring will cost
4) Size it up - how to determine her ring size
5) Browse before you buy - shopping tips

Bridal Pampering - Spa Services Guide for Brides

No doubt about it – one of the best parts about being a bride-to-be is a bona fide excuse to indulge in a little pampering. Not only does a relaxing massage or facial better equip you to handle those pesky seating chart conundrums and nagging moms, a little self nurturing can also ensure you look your best on the big day.

But like a kid in a candy shop, the plethora of spa treatments available can be intoxicatingly exciting and a tad overwhelming. Use this guide of the most common bridal spa treatments to decide on the pampering package for you.

How to Choose Your Honeymoon Travel Accommodations

Before you start packing your bags, you will need to determine what accommodation style best suits your honeymoon desires.

Would you rather be in the company of other newlyweds, joined by families and other groups of vacationers, or shut off from the rest of society? Read on and discover the types of honeymoon travel accommodations that are out there…

All-Inclusive Honeymoon Resorts

As the term implies, an all-inclusive rate covers it all—from your overnight accommodations, meals, unlimited drinks, and entertainment, to tips, taxes, airport transfers, and a mile-long list of activities for one flat fee. Once a phrase that carried negative connotations, more and more resorts are beginning to offer all-inclusive packages. While resorts vary on what exactly is included, you will likely only need to carry cash if you plan to indulge in gift shop paraphernalia, off-site excursions, a rental car, or spa treatments. But aside from booking a flight to your destination, all of the essentials are included. Sounds good, huh? Make sure you consider all aspects before hopping on board. Read more about the pros and cons of all-inclusive honeymoon resorts:

Couples-Only Resorts

What better way to start your new life together than with other starry-eyed lovers? Couples-only resorts are limited to just that—exclusively twosomes. These love nests are havens for fine dining, dancing and live entertainment, and all things romantic to ignite your libido. Before marching two-by-two to the next adult getaway, be sure to take the good and the bad into consideration. Read more about the pros and cons of couples resorts

Honeymoon Cruises

Cruises have come a long way since the mainstream “mandatory-fun” voyages. Cruises now range from weekend excursions to week-long journeys with tropical stopovers. Before climbing aboard, be sure and understand all that comes along with the price of setting sail—otherwise you might find yourself in a scene from Boat Trip! Read more about honeymoon cruises

Now that you have an idea of the type of travel accommodations you're looking for, you can plan the rest of your honeymoon travel here

Coming Up Lemons

When the time for wedding toasts rolls around, consider swapping basic champagne for shots of chilled limoncello. The liqueur made from fermented Sorrento lemons was invented on the coast of southern Italy more than 100 years ago and is traditionally served chilled as an after-dinner digestive. The sweet, lemony beverage has gained recent popularity in America due to celebrity endorsements from the likes of Danny DeVito, George Clooney and Avril Lavigne. Restaurants this side of the Atlantic have recently begun offering it on cocktail and dessert menus because of its refreshing lemon flavor that lacks the bitterness of actual lemon juice.

Learn more about this lemony twist on the traditional wedding toast at the Unveiled Wedding Blog

Diamond Engagement Rings - How to Choose Your Diamond

Since 1/3 of all engagements take place over the winter holidays, I figured I'd continue on the proposal theme. If you're one of the million men (or women) planning on popping the question this December, than you've probably already started your search for "the ring." If you've been procrastinating - then you'll need to brush up on your knowledge STAT. The integral component here is clearly the diamond, so to get you started, this guide to diamond engagement rings has everything you need to know about selecting the right diamond.

10 Ways to Pop the Question this Holiday Season

December is here, and not only is it the most wonderful time of the year, it’s also the most popular time to pop the question. Almost one million couples will get engaged this holiday season. Need a creative proposal that will deck your sweetie’s halls? This list of romantic proposal ideas inspired by favorite seasonal tunes help you pop the question in true holiday style. Here are some of my faves from the list:

Silent Night-
Ah, the first snowfall…the sparkling white silence, the blanketed landscape catching the glow of the twinkling lights and stars above. The season’s natural landscape sets the perfect ambiance for a romantic marriage proposal. Take a moonlit stroll through the new fallen snow, and ask her to be your wife.

Jingle Bell Rock-
Arrange for the two of you to put up the holiday decorations together. Carefully attach a sparkling rock to her favorite ornament, and give it to her once all the rest have been placed on the tree.

And a Happy New Year-
Ringing in the New Year goes hand in hand with a glass (or two) of the bubbly. Make hers extra sweet by dropping a dazzling diamond in her glass, and present it to her at the stroke of midnight.

Let it Snow-
Ask her in a winter wonderland; write "Will You Marry Me" in fresh snow.

All She Wants for Christmas-
If you suspect she may be on alert for a marriage proposal this holiday season, throw her off track during your gift exchange. Give her a typical present, and when she starts to think that it's not happening this time, suddenly remember another gift – and surprise her with the ring.

Now that you're ready to pop the question, you'll need a ring! This complete guide to engagement rings has all the information you need to choose the right ring for her finger.