Category Archives: planning tips

{Styling Tips} What to Wear For Your Engagement Photos: Some DOs & DON’Ts

By Chandra Fredrick | Mar 5

I remember planning my wardrobe choices for my own engagement photos. We took them in February and I remember having a hard time finding what I wanted in stores. In the end I went with two wardrobe choices: a cute dress for some more formal photos, and a super casual jeans & tee for some fun and playful ones on the beach. I’ve learned a lot since then about what makes a good engagement photo outfit, and wanted to share with you today. Here are some DOs & DON’Ts:

{DO wear a pop of color}

Nothing looks better in a photo than a pop of color. Whether it is in your wardrobe, props, or location, color will add a bit of life and fun. I love the idea of throwing on a colorful scarf that you can take on and off.

{DON’T wear anything TOO trendy}

While you want to wear something cute and fun and current, you DON’T want to look dated when you look back on your photos. You want your photos to be timeless. You want to enjoy looking at them for years to come rather than looking back in five years and saying, “what was I thinking with all of that neon!?” Find a balance between wearing something you love that is current and timeless as well, like the choices above.

{DO wear something that is flattering}

If you buy something new, make sure it fits well and flatters you from all angles. You’ll be moving around and getting photographed from all angles. Keep in mind that flowy tops often billow out with movement and wind and may not look flattering in photographs (take a clip or hair claw to pinch back excess fabric for more formal photos just in case!)

{DON’T wear anything too revealing}

This is probably pretty obvious, but keep it classy. You can be sexy without being too revealing. Remember, your family members will see these photos. Your KIDS will someday see these photos. No side boob, no super mini skirts, no extremely low cut tops. And remember to make sure your outfit isn’t too revealing when you’re standing, sitting, jumping around, or whatever you want to do in your photos. Which brings me to…

{DO wear something you can play in}

You want to have some playful photos that show your fun side. Choose one outfit that you can play in and one outfit that is a little dressier for formal portraits.

{DON’T wear anything that isn’t YOU}

You want your engagement photos to represent who you are, so wear what you usually wear. If you’ve never worn a hat in your life, don’t wear a hat in your photos. If your fiancé has never worn a suit, don’t make him wear one for your photos. Surround yourself in both the photo setting and your wardrobe in things that represent your life and who you are.

{DO remember the little things}

Don’t forget to pay attention to your shoes, jewelry, hands & feet, and of course, your engagement ring. That means wear cute and clean shoes, add a statement necklace or cute accessory, get a manicure & pedicure, clean your ring so it really sparkles, and don’t forget to wear it – you’ll want it featured in some photos!

In the coming weeks I’ll have a post for you about how to achieve great engagement photos (for me, that includes a cocktail!). But wardrobe styling is a very important step in that process, so start here and choose your outfits (I would pick two!) and then come back soon for more tips.

Do you have any addtional DO’s and DON’Ts for engagement styling to share? For more ideas of what to wear, check out our engagement pinterest board (and FYI, if you click through on any photos and get a “suspicious link” warning, it is just because our new url redirects to the unhyphenated ohlovelyday.com, which Pinterest flags as suspicious. But any Oh Lovely Day links on Pinterest are totally safe!)

{photo credits} matt clayton via inspired by this | Grace & Kenneth | Colleen & Kris | Brittany & Rob | Lindsay & Andrew | Chandra & Jonathan| Elizabeth & Michael | Olivia & Brennan

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{Planning Tips} Tips for Finding Your Wedding Venue + 10 Questions to Ask (and a cautionary tale)

By Chandra Fredrick | Feb 7

Since engagement season is upon us, I thought revisiting some of my planning tips posts would be helpful to you knewly engaged out there. Recently I talked about the five things you should do first when you get engaged. I also told you that finding your venue can be one of the most important, and hardest, parts of planning. So today I’m going to revisit some tips to finding your wedding venue. My first two quick pieces of advice: there is no perfect venue and being open to any date will give you have more options.

Some questions you need to ask yourself when looking for a venue:

1. Do you want to get married in a church or religious location? (because this automatically means to need two locations)

2. Do you want your ceremony and reception to be in one location? (this is often more affordable and convenient)

3. How many guests will you be having?

4. What time of year or season will you be getting married?

5. What geographical location will you be getting married in?

Once you have decided as a couple that you want a summer wedding, or an outdoor wedding, or a church wedding, or a destination wedding, you have a better idea of how to narrow down your venue search!

Once you know what you’re looking for, you need to find some locations to visit. Some great resources for finding venues:

1. Ask married friends who have gotten married in the same geographical area or part of the country. They may have done a venue search and can recommend some places or tell you places to avoid.

2. Look online. You can go a google search for your area, look on sites like The Knot or Wedding Wire, and check out vendor guides on wedding blogs for ideas.

3. If you’re in a larger area buy a wedding magazine specific to that area, like The Knot Southern California, which has ads and listings for local venues.

4. Search the wedding blogs for weddings in your area and check out the venues featured in the real weddings. I’ve had lots of brides email asking me about the venues featured on Oh Lovely Day, and I’m always happy to help them find what they’re looking for.

Once you find a few venues you want to visit, here are some questions that you might not think of that are VERY important to ask:

1. Do you have a cut off time or a time limit? Lots of places make you cut off the music by 10 pm or give you 4 hours for your reeption, and if you want to party to the wee hours this is important to you.

2. Do you cater on site, have rentals, etc. or do we have to bring everything on site ourselves?

3. What is the parking like for your guests?

4. What are the bathrooms like for your guests? (this is important! you don’t want porto-potties for your guests right?)

5. Can I bring my own alcohol on site? (this is a gem and can save you a lot of money)

6. Where will the guests eat, dance, have cocktail hour, sit for the reception (if applicable)? You want to be sure there is room for the number of guests you have in mind at each location.

7. Can we use any vendors we want? Do you have any vendor requirements or restrictions?

8. What are the extra fees or hidden costs? Sometimes ceremonies cost extra. There is a fee if you go over a certain number of people.

9. Do you have a minimum cost that we must meet? Many venues do, and while they are usually easy to meet, if the minimum is $20,000 and that is more than your budget, that is not the venue for you.

10. What other restrictions do you have, if any? Some of these could be a noise restriction (could prevent you from having the band or DJ you want), decoration restrictions, etc.

These ten questions will help you narrow down your venue choices to find the right one for you. When I was venue hunting, I found one I loved, but they made you shut the music off by 10 pm, and for the kind of party we wanted to throw that just wasn’t going to work.

And now, a quick cautionary tale: When my husband and I were looking for our Southern California wedding venue we visited a place in Malibu that we had heard great things about and where a friend had actually held their wedding. We visited the property, loved the reception area, and thought it might be perfect. Then we asked to see the possible ceremony sites, the most popular taking place under a big tree. But when we walked over ourselves in person, we quickly realized there was a sewer or water drain off to the ocean nearby, and the whole area smelled horribly! Like, bog of eternal stench smelly! The thought of saying my vows under the stench of poo turned me off immediately, and we crossed that venue off our list. Can you imagine? So the lesson here is walk around the whole property where you or your guests will be. And if possible, do it at the time of year (if you are marrying a year later) because somethings aren’t a problem in the fall but are a major problem in the summer (like the smell of poo!).

I hope these tips will help you to find your wedding venue. And remember, no venue is perfect! But there is one out there that will feel right for you. You’ll find it, I promise!

Have other tips for finding your wedding venue? Leave them in the comments!

photo credits: photo 1 | photo 2 | photo 3 | photo 4

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{Planning Tips} How to Brand Your Wedding to Make it Personal and Unique

By Chandra Fredrick | Jan 21

I say it a lot, and it is basically the whole point of my starting this blog, but I think the best way to make your wedding special is to make it personal. To make it YOU. Don’t choose the the cliche’ song to dance to during your first dance and don’t say the traditional vows if they don’t feel special to you. You can personalize your ceremony, your invitation suite, your favors, the music you play…basically everything you can think of. That is not to say you should personalize every single element of your day, because that can be overwhelming and overkill. But if you start simple with a basic idea or element that you like, and find ways to include that idea in different aspects of your day, that is personalizing. And if you can throw some DIY projects in along the way, even better!

One way to personalize different aspects of your wedding cohesively is to use the same element in different places or ways. A good way of doing that is through a monogram, wedding “logo”, or something similar. Here are examples of how to use the same bit of design on different items to basically create a personalized “brand” for your wedding. You start with the design itself (in my case a monogram) and then incorporate it on something early on like your save-the-dates or wedding website. That way it will be recognizable already once people see it at your wedding. Ideas for using branding in your wedding:

Incorporate it into ceremony details like your programs.

And also into reception elements like cupcake flags and drink stirs:

You can even incorporate your brand on things like out-of-town bags:

{I put it on our itinerary, the “hangover helpers” we made for the bags, and on the tote I DIY’d to hold all of the goodies}

See how taking one element and making it your wedding “brand” can help you easily tie all of your details together? And if the photos looked familiar, these photos were from my wedding, and the monogram was my own wedding branding.

Program, cupcake, and drink photos taken by Jennifer Roper, all other photos taken by me, and products designed by Tilde Designs.

What did you use, or are you planning to use, for your personal wedding brand?

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{Planning Tips} 10 Websites to Help With Your Wedding Planning

By Chandra Fredrick | Jan 15

10 Websites to Help You Plan Your Wedding from Oh Lovely Day

Today’s post is another one for the newly engaged (or anyone planning a wedding). You get engaged and then you are either: a) inundated with information from every person you’ve ever met, like ever, OR, b) you have no idea where to start, aside from on the computer… There are tons of websites, blogs, books, and other resources to help you along the way but the sheer number of them can be overwhelming. So these are my picks for the websites that will help get you started, and help you make your wedding YOU!

1. Etsy. When I discovered etsy while planning my wedding I thought I discovered gold. And I did! You can find so many unique handmade things for your wedding from decor, details, bridal accessories, and gifts.

10 Websites to Help You Plan Your Wedding from Oh Lovely Day: Etsy

2. Pinterest. By now you have probably all heard of pinterest. I can’t even imagine what an amazing tool it is to use for wedding planning, but it can also be an overwhelming one. Make a pinboard for each area of your wedding to gather inspiration and share them with your wedding vendors. But my best piece of advice for Pinterest planning? Find the blogs/bloggers you love and follow them, and use that feed for your wedding inspiration, NOT the general ‘wedding’ category, which can be filled with a lot of cheesy and generic ideas.

10 Websites to Help You Plan Your Wedding from Oh Lovely Day: Pinterest

3. Lover.ly. Lover.ly is like Pinterest, but just for wedding-related content, so you don’t get distracted and bogged down by all that other stuff you can find on Pinterest. Plus if you see something you like, you can often shop directly from the site and you can always track it down because Lover.ly ensures proper sourcing and photo crediting (unlike Pinterest). Bundle till your heart’s content!

10 Websites to Help You Plan Your Wedding from Oh Lovely Day: Lover.ly

4. Wedding Gawker. If you don’t have time to go to all of your favorite wedding blogs one day, just peruse the homepage of wedding gawker, which gives you peeks at all of the latest blog posts and lets you click through to see more. The only downside is each blog has to submit their posts individually, so if they don’t submit a post (like I often get behind on doing myself) then you won’t see it on wedding gawker. And that means you could miss out on something great. So, on a busy day use wedding gawker and when you have time catch up on your blog reading directly on each site.

10 Websites to Help You Plan Your Wedding from Oh Lovely Day: weddinggawker

5. Blogger & Google Docs. This may sound strange, especially if you aren’t a blogger, but you should sign up for a blogger account (you can do it through your google, gmail, etc. account) and start a blog reading list. You can also do it through Google Reader, but I like the smaller snippets you get from Blogger Reading L better. You just copy the link of the blog you want to follow, paste it and click ‘add to list’ and you’re good to go. Then instead of having to go to each blog directly, you can see the titles, beginning, and a couple of photos from each post from each blog you follow. Then you can decide if you want to see more from that post. You can skim through your reader quickly and go back to the blogs that have a real wedding or great DIY that you want to check out. Oh, and while you’re signed up for google, use google docs to keep track of your guests’ addresses, gifts received, thank you cards sent, etc.

6. Simple Registry. A registry where you can register for anything from anywhere? Genius. Why register at one or two department stores when you can register at one place and put gifts from lots of stores, etsy, anywhere you can think of? I would have LOVED this when I got married because I could have registered for stuff that I really wanted for my home from Anthropologie, but I didn’t want to do a whole registry there.

7. Honeymoon Pixie. While we’re talking registries, I think that these days if you’re going on a honeymoon you should have a honeymoon registry! I did one, and my husband and I loved it, and so did our guests. When you have one or two showers and then your wedding, some people get tired of buying you stuff, but they love getting to treat you to dinner while you’re on your honeymoon.

8. Your Own Wedding Website. You need a wedding website. Did you hear that? You NEED a wedding website. There are lots out there: some are free, some are really customizable. I used Wedding Window for my wedding website 4 years ago, and I still love it. There is a small fee, but it is very customizable, you get a personalized url, and you can get the whole thing on a disk after to have as a momento. Plus there are great planning tools too, like checklists, budget trackers, etc. Pick the wedding website that is right for you and fits your needs, but make sure you get one!

9. Emily Post. You’ll have a lot of etiquette questions when planning your wedding. You can look to the blogs, google search, ask your favorite former-bride. Or you can go to the expert on all things etiquette. This is a great site to bookmark so you have a place to find answers when you find yourself asking “how do I word my wedding invitation envelopes if I’m not doing an inner envelope?” or “how do I let my guests know we aren’t inviting kids to the wedding?”

10. Wedding Blogs. You know them. You love them. You love LOTS of them. There are wedding planning blogs and wedding inspiration blogs, and some that do a little of both, like Oh Lovely Day! There are also sites like Weddingbee and Wed Over Heels that have blogs, but are also communities where you can post, ask questions, and talk things out with other brides. But there may be some out there you don’t know about that you would really love. So I would love for you to list your favorite wedding blogs in the comments. You might mention one another bride doesn’t know. So share and spread the word – what are your favorite wedding blogs? And if I missed another website you think is great for wedding planning, share that too!

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{Planning Tips} The 5 Things To Do After You Get Engaged

By Chandra Fredrick | Jan 9

{photo by Chris Emeott}

I know quite a few of you got engaged over the holidays (and a few more of you probably will soon with Valentine’s Day on the horizon) so first…. yay! congrats! happy dance! *throws confetti* wahoo!!!

and secondly, from someone who has been engaged, who has planned a wedding, and who learned some hard lessons, here are THE five things you need to do FIRST.

{one} set a budget

After you call your parents and friends to share the news and celebrate your newly engaged bliss, the first thing you need to do is set a budget. You don’t have to do this right away, but you do have to do it before you start planning, and definitely before you start buying stuff. This will determine everything else you do, decide on, and choose. Are you paying for the wedding yourselves or will your parents contribute? How much will be contributed? The best thing you can do is figure this out before anything else, and then stick to your budget. Did you hear that? STICK TO YOUR BUDGET.

{two} make a guest list

You and your fiancé should make a list of who you would like to invite, and you may want to let each of your parents do the same (especially if they are footing the bill.) Then you’ll have an anxiety attack when you add them all up to 500 people! Trust me when I say that this will not be your real guest list. You will cut cut cut CUT until you reach a more realistic number. This can be hard when you include everyone’s friends, family members, work colleagues, and your mother-in-law’s second cousin twice removed. So set rules: no extended family (meaning parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and first cousins only), no people from work, no kids: these are a few ways to cut the list if you are comfortable with it (make your own rules – those are just suggestions). And this is just a starting point to give you a good idea. You can always add or subtract as needed. REMEMBER – THE MORE PEOPLE YOU HAVE, THE MORE MONEY YOUR WEDDING WILL COST. This is why step one is so important!

{three} find a venue

Warning: for me, this was the hardest and most stressful part of wedding planning. Finding a venue that meets your budget, finding a venue that fits your guest list, finding a venue that doesn’t make you cut off the music at a ridiculously early hour, finding a venue that isn’t booked for two years… these are just a few of many frustrating parts of your venue search. My husband and I also really wanted to get married on a particular date, and this made our search hard as well. Once we let that go, the possibilites opened up for us. That’s why I didn’t say “pick a date.” It is much better to be open to any date in the month or two you prefer to be married. Once you find a venue you love in a location you love that works with your budget and guest count, the hardest part of your wedding planning is behind you!

{four} think about your wedding style

Let me repeat, THINK about your wedding style. Don’t decide on ANYTHING. You will change your mind 500 times. Also, repeat after me: I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING YET. You will change your mind, and have wasted your money (learn from my mistake!) Just start looking at some wedding blogs, pick up the latest Martha Stewart Weddings, look around your home (because your wedding style should reflect YOU and what YOU love), bundle things on lover.ly, create a pinterest board, and start thinking. Don’t go dress shopping, don’t pick a color for your bridesmaids’ dresses, just start thinking…

{five} take a breath and relax

Once you have gotten the big things out of the way, stop planning for a little bit (depending on how far away your wedding date is). Getting wrapped up in the planning can get you frustrated, scare and confuse your soon-to-be groom, and get overwhelming really quick. Having a budget, an idea of your guest list, a venue (and therefore a wedding date), and thinking about your style is enough for now. Although every city and location is different and demand for other wedding vendors is higher in some places than others, everyone should have a little breather before you move on to the rest of your planning. Enjoy being engaged. Celebrate. Go on a date and don’t talk about the wedding. It is refreshing!

While these are the first 5 things you should do, you may also want to start looking at vendors you like when you are perusing the wedding blogs. Many of us (me included) have vendor guides to help you. Plus, at the end of every wedding feature all of the vendors are listed, so if the feature is in your area and you like the photographs or florals from that wedding, you may want to consider those vendors.

So tell me, who out there is planning a wedding right now? Are you just starting or well into the planning? Do any of you disagree with these tips or have others you think should come first? Do you have any questions you need answered or areas you would like to hear tips for? Let me know! And have fun, engaged girls! xx

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{Planning Tips} Writing your Thank You Notes: 5 Tips + Advice

By Chandra Fredrick | Nov 29

On top of all of your other wedding planning, one of the most important things to remember is sending thank you notes to your guests and gift-givers. Imbue You I Do is sharing 5 tips for tackling the thank you’s.

After a romantic wedding and blissful honeymoon, having to write a stack of thank you notes can just seem like a splash of cold water. But you have to thank the family and friends whose gifts will make your new married life special. Luckily, a few simple steps can keep this from feeling overwhelming.

1. Keep that List. Dust off your wedding invitation address list, you know the one that took forever to pull together. And simply add a column for gift and a place for a check mark. Here you’ll write down or type in the details of the gift.

2. Make a Space. Do yourself a favor and keep a dedicated space for this task. A desk or corner of the kitchen table will do. The important thing is to keep everything within arms reach.

So, if you’re right handed, I suggest keeping:

your list on the left
thank you cards in the middle where you sit with envelopes next to them on the right
pens where your right hand is
stamps on the top left or right depending on how it’s easiest for you to grab them to place on your envelope
a clear place next to you, to put your completed stamped notes

This will become your thank you card assembly line…and it will make your note writing lightning fast.

3. Give It a Rest. Seriously, don’t try to do it all in one go, or in one wild thank you writing weekend. Aim to do 4 to 6 notes at a time. And then walk away. Not only will you feel better, you’ll make fewer mistakes…and who wants to do these twice?

4. Divide and Conquer. You should both work on thank you notes, since you’re aiming to send all your notes within 6 weeks of your wedding. One simple way to do this is for you to take your family and friends, and for your spouse to do the same. Agree ahead of time, and split the list so there’s no confusion, or double notes.

5. Write and Repeat. Yes, thank you notes should be personal and heartfelt. But that doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel each time you write one.

So come up with a few thank you note templates ahead of time. Proof and spell check these thoroughly. Feel free to add a more personal sentence or two for dear friends and close family.

No one compares thank you notes, so your guests will never know. And you’ll be done faster.

{photo credits} All note cards handmade by Imbue You