 iStockphoto I keep wondering to myself, as I spend late nights looking up decorative treat bags for our favors and local items to include in our hotel guest bags: Do the little things really make a difference?
After a year and five months of engagement, I’m ready to get married already! Slaving over carefully selecting details has me losing sleep at night. So someone, if you can, please assure me that the little things do make a big difference.
I think this comes pretty standard in life situations. I think back to my parents’ “words of wisdom” post I wrote in October when they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary, and one of their pieces of advice was, “Surprise them with simple things.” Well I’m realizing that a lot of simple things start to add up! So I started vetting through the details list to see what we could do on our own, what we should purchase, and what should be eliminated. And of course, some key factors played a role in our decision-making: time, money, and importance.
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 Flora crinkle fans, BHLDN.com. So this is a fun little thing coming atcha from BHLDN and Sur La Table: It’s a Pinterest contest for brides! Win it, and you could be shopping at each of these places to the tune of $500 each.
It’s the easiest thing ever, too, especially if you’re one of the many Pinterest-happy brides out there. Here’s what you do:
- Fill out this entry form on Facebook, and that’s it: you’re registered.
- Follow @BHLDN and @SurLaTable on Pinterest.
- If you pin at least one image from each brand, you are qualified to win the prize, BUT …
- The more you repin images from the brands’ “Summer Soiree” board, and the more inspired ways you find to combine them, of course, the higher your chances are of winning, because they are looking for creativity, here, in their winner. So, you don’t have to create a new board or anything, but that might not be a bad idea.
- You have until Friday, May 31st to get your stuff together, and then the winner will be chosen based on the creativity of their repinning on June 1st.
- Win, and you get a $500 gift card to BHLDN and a $500 gift card to Sur La Table!
So get pinning! And hey, maybe then you can get shopping.
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 iStockphoto It used to be that only couples who were doing out-of-town weddings would set up a wedding website (or “wedsite,” if we’re being cute), but these days, pretty much everyone does it. And with good reason. It’s a good way to put all of the information for your wedding guests in one place where they can access it any time they have a question without sending you texts in the middle of your workday, and, you know, that cute thing again. It’s just fun to do.
That said, sometimes, it’s kind of hard to know where to start or what all, exactly, should go on there—and we recently saw a piece that breaks down pretty well all that information for you.
I agree with pretty much everything it’s got to say—especially the thing about not posting 47 albums of you and your groom on vacation; I mean, sorry, not relevant—except for the part about guests not needing to know how you met or how you got engaged. Sure, don’t go on for 10 scrollable pages or anything, but this is your wedding! The site is meant to be informative and cover logistics, yes, but even the guests who know those stories front and back will get a smile out of reading them in your words, and many guests probably won’t have heard one or either before. It might not end up looking like this, or anything—but totally go ahead with that.
How did you and your groom decide what info you’d put on your wedsite? Did you go the bare minimum for pure functionality’s sake, or go all out?
RELATED: This Couple Has the Best Wedding Website Ever
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A lot can happen in a year.
 Sean and Carly on their engagement day. A year and five days ago, Sean asked me a question that changed my life: “Will you marry me?”
And while there are some obvious changes that will come along with the wedding (new marital status, new last name, new ring!) there have been a lot of unexpected things that have happened since last May 12th. I guess what I’m trying to say is: a lot can happen in a year!
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With product recs from a local makeup artist!
 iStockphoto I think it’s safe to say that every girl has got her little list of items that can always, always, always be found in her purse, no matter where she’s heading. That list might include blotting papers or lip gloss or a hair tie—and when you rummage around in your bag for one of them and come up empty, panic ensues. You do not want this to happen on your wedding day.
No, on your wedding day, you want to have put some actual time and thought into what supplies will be in your presence—not in your beautiful little vintage clutch, of course, but rather, in some handy tote stashed somewhere out of the way but where you can always get to it, and in the charge of one of your bridesmaids.
This topic happened to come up this week when a friend asked me what she should be bringing along by way of a bridal emergency kit like this for her sister’s wedding. To help her out, I dug up something I wrote several issues ago that put together a pretty comprehensive list, which I’m going to share with you, now, too. (Though I have, since the below was written, added band-aids and Advil, after the lovely experience of toppling out of the trolley and onto my knees when the bridal party I was in stopped at the Museum of Art for pictures before my friend’s wedding. Ouch. And blood.)
Here it is. Go forth and be prepared.
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 Stockbyte I get approximately 4 million texts a week—especially now that the warm-weather season is (kinda) upon us—asking me what in the heck the text sender is supposed to wear to whatever upcoming wedding(s) they’ve got on their docket. Whether they are inquiring because the dress-code announcement on the invitation has confused them or because there was no dress-code announcement on the invitation seems to make no matter; both equally seem to boggle the mind of many a wedding guest.
And I get it. When it comes to things of this nature in the world of weddings that don’t exactly have any hard-and-fast etiquette rules—and where people are basically left to do their own interpretations—it can be tricky. That’s why I thought this breakdown of the various wedding dress codes was so great—from white tie to the reminder that, no, you still shouldn’t wear white to a wedding, it covers it all.
My own little addendum for brides: Please don’t do ‘black tie preferred or requested.’ Just do ‘black tie’ or ‘black tie optional.’ Because really, what you’re saying with preferred is that sure, doing the black-tie thing at our wedding is technically optional, ladies and gentlemen, but that we’re not really into you taking us up on that option. Either decree it or truly give your people the option.
My own little addendum for guests: I disagree about the note that says you should steer clear of pink and beige as well as white, since some brides are opting for that. (Well, I mean, unless you know for sure the bride is wearing one of those shades—then it’s just common courtesy and decency to steer clear of them.) Otherwise, let’s not just keep expanding the range of not-allowed shades for wedding guests just because more and more brides are opting away from white. It’s fine. Weddings are tricky enough as is.
Are you and your groom going to declare a dress code for your wedding, or will you just let your guests go by the season, venue and time of day when deciding on their party ensembles?
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 Stockbyte WHO: Chauncy Hotel and Conference Center
WHAT: The Princeton Bridal Showcase and Gown Sale
WHEN: Sunday May 19, 12-3:30 pm
WHERE: 660 Rosedale Road, Princeton
WHY: You’ll be able to check out the Chauncey Hotel at this Sunday-afternoon event, while sampling their light fare and wedding cake (there will also be champagne and mimosas). There will be live entertainment by Best of Both Worlds, and oodles of local vendors to chat with, including wedding planner Randi Martin of Always Fabulous Events, officiant Jill Magerman of Meaningful Milestones, as well as stationers, bakers, and more. Also keep an eye out for goodie bags and prizes.
COST: $10 at the door; $5 online.
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Also, don't feel bad: Nearly every bride is guilty of at least a few of these.
 Hemera Well, I’m not sure I could have hopped up on my wedding soapbox any better myself: Saw this great post today on 12 wedding-planning mistakes that nearly every bride makes and liked it so much, I’m passing it along that you might only make between one and three of them, instead of a rather large handful.
From budget stuff and bridezilla stuff to procrastination, weight loss and over-serving your guests, it pretty much covers the gamut of wedding-planning pitfalls that are so easy to make—it’s why so many people do!—but also, honestly, so easy to avoid. Check ‘em out, and be an A+ bride.
What other “mistakes” have you heard about from friends who have gone before you that you are determined to avoid on your Big Day?
RELATED: What Recent Brides Would Have Done Differently With Their Weddings: An Infographic
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We live in the same house and sleep in the same bed. So when did it become so hard to find time to see my husband?
 Fuse A few weeks ago I found myself sitting across from J., trying to schedule a date night. He was frowning at the calendar on his phone and I was furiously rifling through my planner.
“How about the last weekend in April?” I said.
“I have a tennis tournament and then we have that party. What about the weekend of the fourth?” he said.
“Nope. We have dinner plans on Friday night. You have that match on Saturday and I’ve got that party, and then I’m in Connecticut for a baby shower on Sunday. What about the following weekend? I have an event Friday night, but I’m free Saturday.”
“Well, that’s Mother’s Day weekend, but maybe we can fit in both of our moms on Sunday and the two of us can go to dinner together on Saturday…”
Neither of us actually admitted it out loud, but we were both doing it: literally penciling each other in. Date night tonight? Check with mom re: Sunday brunch. NOTE: Shave legs; wear matching bra and underwear. We were one dangerous step away from scheduling sex.
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 Comstock Q: We’re planning to block hotel rooms for our guests and provide the information on our invitations—but how do we figure out how many rooms to reserve without our final guest count?
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