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A very important decision when planning a wedding is deciding the date. Many couples find that February 14th is a very special day to celebrate such an occasion. Why not enhance this special day by incorporating a Valentines Day theme in to your wedding? Here are some ideas for decorating an exciting Valentines Day wedding.

Cake is the centerpiece of a wedding and a very memorable feature of the special day. If you have not already set your mind on a design for your cake, consider giving it a Valentines Day theme. Perhaps a heart shaped cake with red and white frosting is to your liking. Adding red rose petals, hearts, and pink or red writing can really bring out the romantic vibe. You can also have a solid white cake with a red velvet surprise on the inside. Try checking out some bakerys for ideas; many of them have large catalogs and binders full of holiday themed cakes for you to browse.

Let’s not forget the flowers! No Valentines Day wedding would be complete without big red, white, or pink flowers. You can go beyond red roses and try lillies or lotuses. If you’re going for a black and red color scheme instead of white and red, then black lotuses or black roses can look gorgeous, especially at an outdoor wedding. You may also consider red ribbon or streamers as decoration to add a little more color to the atmosphere. Try talking with local flourists and see what kind of recommendations they can provide.

Overall, the decor is going to set the atmosphere of your wedding. The colors and decorations are what is going to make you really feel the Valentines Day spirit. Having an outdoor wedding on a sunny day will also greatly enhance the mood and theme of your wedding. Some decorations to consider are table cloths and seat covers. If you’re on a budget, simple red table cloths or seat coveres will add lots of color to your reception area. A good alternative is solid white table cloths with red rose pedals sprinkled over the top. Look around! The best wedding ideas can be taken from other weddings.

If you want to go all out for your Valentines Day theme, there is no better way than with the dress. Consider a red dress or a white dress with red accessories. If the bride must have a solid white dress, then you can also consider having the bride’s maids wear red dresses and have the groom or groom’s men wear red boutineers or ties. The smallest touches can make the most impact.

The most exciting part of a wedding is the planning. Do lots of research and take a look at other weddings that have done similar things to get ideas for your own wedding. You don’t need a lot of extra money to have a themed wedding, most of the ideas come by simply changing the colors of existing ideas and decoration. Change your cake, flowers, clothing, and other decor to create a colorful and memorable wedding day and Valentines Day that nobody will ever forget!

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If you are planning a 2012 wedding, you may want to consider incorporating Pantone’s color of the year, Tangerine Tango. The energetic reddish orange brings boldness to fashion and décor, and its place as the year’s top color will influence everything from bridesmaids’ garb to floral arrangements as it filters into 2012 wedding trends. There are many exciting ways to work this beautiful hue into your big day.

Fashion

Bridal fashion has come a long way from the pastels of days gone by. Bold colors are featured in the wardrobes of bridesmaids in all seasons, and while orange tones may not be what you pictured, when it’s referred to as tangerine, it brings a sense of the exotic to bear. Bridesmaids’ dresses and shoes in the deep hue are a potential use, but if you aren’t sold out on a full-fledged orange wedding, then consider contrasting pinks, yellows, or teals with Tangerine Tango accents. Ribbons, sashes and flowers are perfect sources of color, and that subtle use of just a little bit of bright color will speak volumes.

Floral

There are many flowers that boast hues that work into the Tangerine Tango theme. They don’t need to exactly match the color swatch, but light colored flowers can be dyed to match. Consider the Tangerine Tango Inca Lily, an exotic bloom which accents Pantone’s hue with shades of red, orange and yellow that capture the theme. Another outstanding flower to consider is the Mambo spray rose, available in shades of deep reddish orange. Incorporated into floral designs, consider actual use of tangerines, as 2012 trends in weddings include a return to a natural look. Centerpieces and bouquets will amaze, when tangerines are present in the design. For a simple splash of Tangerine Tango, pure white flowers tied with bold ribbon are stunning.

Stationary

Tangerine Tango fits perfectly into any invitation scheme, whether it is used lightly or liberally. Brides and grooms are trending toward more unique, self-made invitations in 2012, and the couple that wants to use the trendy hue of the year in the event can boldly create invitations on tangerine colored paper, or opt for tangerine lined envelopes.

Favors

Tangerine as an influence on favors can only be limited by the creativity of the bride and groom. Materials will be available in abundance, as will paints and accents. Tangerine candles, soaps, and bath and body products can be worked into a fragrant gift set for each wedding guest. Tangerine colored tins or boxes will hold any sort of edible treat, but what better way to keep with the theme than to use tangerine flavored jelly beans? This is one of the easiest elements of the wedding for fitting Tangerine Tango into the scheme and décor.

Cake

The vibrant use of Tangerine Tango can range from the icing atop the cake to the filling inside. An exotic tangerine filling will amaze guests. The more striking use of tangerine in cake décor is to accent a solid white color scheme with well-placed, lush ribbon. With the boldness of the tangerine scheme, less is more.

Food and Drink

Tangerine will easily work into the food and drink offered at your reception. Fruit salad, fruit fondue, or sweet and sour chicken with a tangerine twist will bring the color into the realm of taste. Fruity drinks are easily worked into the beverage selection. The possibilities are endless.

The most important thing to remember, if you want to consider using the color of the year in your 2012 wedding is that you can use as much or as little as you want. In keeping with many of the exciting wedding trends of the year, your wedding will be as unique as you want it to be, and you have the freedom to go against the grain, using interesting materials, colors and accents to make the big day everything you envision.

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It is 2012, and already some of the hottest ideas for wedding themes are already out. From dresses, to flowers to cake toppers it is going to be a great year to get married. The new dresses have already hit the runway and color combinations for this year are already being dreamed up. Hew are some of the themes that are going to be hot this year.

Victorian Weddings
One of the most popular themes for this year is an old theme that is making a major comeback. These weddings are elaborate and ornate focusing on the smallest details. A major detail about these weddings is the invitations. The Victorian era modeled polite society, so having invitations that show this is key. As far a venues go, outdoors is the most Victorian, since gardens were so important in the Victorian age. We must not forget about the dress. A long elaborate white dress with a long train will highlight your Victorian styling for a perfect wedding.

Beach Weddings
This year beach weddings are still a popular theme. These weddings feel fresh and spontaneous, even though months of planning go into them. Beach weddings can be simple or elaborate depending on what the bride wants. Invitations will have a fresh and sunny feel to them. The one thing that beach wedding should have in common is the wedding dress should be a shorter length. No matter if a walk-way is put down or not a shorter dress will work the best for a beach setting. Receptions are usually held at the host hotel instead of the beach. Many hotels offer wedding packages to make planning much easier.

Garden Weddings
While this theme has something in common with Victorian weddings, it can be vastly different. Garden weddings can be the most simple and breathtaking weddings of them all. Garden weddings should invoke feelings of spring freshness for everyone involved. Many brides are planning on doing simple dresses. Another popular style in this theme is brides are letting their hair down and putting flowers in it. Some brides even go barefoot for a Garden wedding. The other extreme of this is to give the Garden wedding the feel of a Garden tea. Where the Bride has is styled in all the glamour and the garden is simply a backdrop to her.

Winter Wonderland Weddings
Where once winter and snows were something brides wanted to avoid, now winter is embraced by brides. This theme incorporates the beauty and magic of the snow and turns the bride into a winter queen. Silvers and dark blues are colors that work well with in this theme. Sparkling snowflakes decorate the setting, and instead of rose petals lining the aisle soft fake snow might be what the beautiful bride glides over. These theme are already being used this year, and while they will take a break, they will be back for those special December weddings.

This perhaps is the most fun theme this year. This wedding celebrates the everlasting love of the bride and groom by comparing it to diamonds. Everything about this wedding sparkles. The invitations should have some type of diamond glitz. The flowers even sparkle. Florists are starting to put crystals on their flowers for the bouquets. Even if the bride does not want sparkling flowers the ribbon that holds them together can easily sparkle. As for the bride herself, she can cover herself in diamonds, or crystals. Some of the hottest dresses this year embrace the sparkling diamonds theme. Even the guest enjoy the theme as all the table decorations sparkle like diamonds.

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Believe it or not spring and summer are not the only seasons popular for weddings. Winter weddings can be fun and exciting, and brides have some interesting choices in wedding cakes. Winter wedding cakes have the hint of snowflakes, frost and wintry foliage.

There are many dazzling designed and delicious wedding cake ideas for winter weddings. The winter bride should think of three things when deciding on a wedding cake for winter: the cake’s flavor, the cake’s color, and the cake’s adornments.

Some flavors reflecting winter are rich chocolates, tangy cranberry, and peppermints. White cakes are traditional and popular and can represent the pristine whiteness of snow, but other choices can be a tasty caramel spice cake with a butter cream frosting. Other options for taste can be an orange chocolate cake with dark chocolate filling with flecks of orange. The white cake can have a cranberry butter cream frosting and filling.

The palette of winter are whites, icy blues, and reds. However greens with rusty hints of color mixed with brown can add some richer tones.

Some adornments can be snowflakes, pinecones, twigs, and roses made from chocolate, sugar or gum paste.

Some unique Winter Wedding Cake themes are: a Snowflake Wedding Cake with marzipan snowflakes, a Pine Trees in the Snow Wedding Cake decorated with tiny pine cones and foliage made out of icing, and sprinkled with coconut to represent fallen snow, a Snow Globe Wedding Cake topper with the bride and groom inside, and a Penguin Wedding Cake decorated with little penguins with coconut flakes as snow.

I was looking at Martha Stewart Weddings and came across this Peppermint Fantasy Cake. It is a great choice for a wedding scheduled around the holidays. This cake is made with colors of red, white, and pink, and looks very much like a fantasy cake that would dazzle any bride. It’s a five tier whimsical wonderland of white icing, peppermint candy, and Italian Meringue. It looks stunning, wintry, and very elegant.

Also some other ideas are to make a brown and white cake with strawberries circling the cake, or red roses cascading down a white cake, or Calla Lilies clustered on a white cake, and finally a classic white cake with an icing bow.

For a perfect winter wedding cake try the three tier white coconut cake dripping with orange fondant bows, small pine cones, green foliage, and coconut flakes sprinkled all over.

Winter brides who would like to match their cakes with their bridal bouquets should look at these delicious cakes. For an elegant and very tasty cake, try the three tier cake with white butter cream made to look like snow, strands of cascading pearls, and topped off with a flower bouquet to match the bridal bouquet. For an even more wintry wedding cake try a winter snowflake wedding cake. This one is sprinkled with chunks of coconut to look like snow, and then topped off with burnt orange red roses to match the bridal bouquet. Then there’s a tasty white marshmallow butter cream frosting cake with a rich chocolate mud cake for its center. It’s decorated with exotic purple flowers and on the top to match the brides bouquet.

If you are having your winter wedding at a ski chalet or winter retreat try for a more exotic touch with a rich winter chocolate cake that melts in your mouth served with hot coffee, cocoa and tea.

I hope this has given you some interesting and unique ideas on the kind of winter cake you would like to have for your wedding. As you can see winter weddings can be fun and exciting with so many ideas!

If you also want some cake topper ideas, check out here!

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Every woman about to get married wants her special day to be a memorable one. When choosing the date of her wedding day, a bride-to-be might pick New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day to get married. Both days are sure to create opportunities to celebrate two events in one, and they have special meaning to host a marriage during this festive time of season.

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are becoming extremely popular as days for getting married. Because both days symbolize a new beginning, many couples wish to embark on a life of marriage and the rest of their lives on such a day. They can also celebrate these two special occasions in one every year on their anniversary.

When planning and hosting a New Year’s Eve wedding, the best time to begin the festivities and celebration is around eight o’clock in the evening. Guests can begin the night with drinks and dinner, and dance and mingle until right before the New Year begins. The best time to exchange vows and make the marriage official would be at midnight. This would be an incredibly romantic and festive start to the New Year. Guests can make champagne toasts to both the newly married couple and the New Year.

New Year’s Day is another wonderful day to get married and start the year off in the best possible way. A New Year’s Day brunch would be an ideal start to a wedding on this holiday. Mimosa toasts can complement the brunch, and the official ceremony could start in the early afternoon. The first day of the rest of the lives of the couple as well as the beginning of a brand new year can both be celebrated.

When choosing decorations for a wedding on either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, elegant yet simple is the best way to go. Gold ribbons and light, airy pastel decorations create beautiful, romantic and festive effects. Centerpieces can include white and champagne-colored roses for a clean, modern look. Plenty of candles will make the atmosphere romantic and warm.

A possible setback of hosting a wedding on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day is the fact that many people go out of town and already have festivities planned in advance during these two days. Be sure to send invitations out extra early so that guests can plan accordingly. Ask for RSVPs as soon as possible so that the guest count will be accurate.

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Planning a wedding involves an assortment of decisions which need to be made to create the perfect day to suit your style and personal taste. You can create a them for your wedding simply by choosing just the right combination of colors for your special day. For winter weddings occurring between November and February, you can choose unique color schemes to create a distinctively unique wedding.
November weddings will most likely use combinations of fall colors to create a celebration of autumn foliage.  However, especially for y’all up north, some winter schemes can transition everyone into the winter season due to early snowfalls & dropping temperatures.  Deep green, burnt orange and dark red can be used throughout to highlight the changing of the leaves. One alternate option is to use the colors of fall mums as an inspiration for color pairing. Teaming deep red, dark purple, gold and bronze is a unique mixture of colors, all which complement one another.

December, typically centered around the holiday season, can be the basis of a wedding color scheme which is different and eye catching. One option is to pair a white bridal gown with jet black bridesmaid dresses and use bright red for accents such as flowers, boutonnieres, bow ties, sashes and pew decorations for a formal and modern style wedding. Alternately, pairing dark purple, lavender, silver and grey can create a lavish color scheme which is suitable for winter as the shades of purple are reminiscent of sugarplums.

January, when the New Year is being honored, can focus on icicle inspired colors for a truly winter theme wedding. Pairing dark blue, pale ice blue and white will create a winter wonderland theme for your special day. To make a winter wedding a bit out of the ordinary, and to move the color theme to the opposite end of the spectrum, pairing bright pink, sunny yellow, grass green and cool turquoise can give your winter wedding a bit of summer flair and levity.

February, which hosts one of the most romantic holidays of the year, can use Valentine’s Day as a theme. Bright red, pale pink and white work well together. You can also combine Plum, lavender, copper and camel to create a subtle color scheme which hints at the upcoming spring.

Regardless of the color combination used for your wedding, opt to add dashes of complimentary colors throughout the venue to create a look which is eye catching and completely distinctive when compared to traditional wedding color schemes. One of the best ways to find the right color theme for you is to pick your favorite color or hue and start seeing which variations match up well. Keep in mind to think outside of the box, and don’t discount any color as a good pairing until you have visually assessed how the colors work together. You may be surprised what works and what does not.

So, what makes a masquerade wedding? Here are a few tips.

-Color
Masquerade colors are intense and alive. They could be lapis lazuli blues, crimson red, rich dark jewel tones, majestic purple or emerald green. Usually gold and silver are used as complementing colors. No neutral or pale colors are allowed. It’s all about deep, vivacious, passionate shades.

-Where does the white dress fit in?
Wedding gowns with spatters of rich colors are excellent for masquerade-themed weddings. A white wedding gown with a burgundy rich color accents on the bodice will set the tone for the entire ceremony. A bridal bouquet decorated nicely in the same hues similar to the gown will certainly make a splash as the bride-to-be walks down the isle.

-Wedding guest costumes
Guest certainly aren’t left out of the masquerade wedding theme. To make it easier for them, inexpensive Mardis Gras styled mask that cover the eyes, would be more than appropriate. These can be given to guest as they come into the reception area, or they can be tastefully placed on a conveniently set table as wedding favors. Masquerade or half masks, can be found and bought in quantity from most party planning outlets or craft supply stores.

-Location
If a venue with rococo pillars and cathedral ceilings can be located, this would be the “icing on the cake” so to speak. However, this kind of surrounding can be recreated. If the masquerade wedding will be held outdoors, especially on a summer night, with or without a tent, there’s plenty of ways to decorate lawns, bushes, trees and porches to create the idea setting of fun and fantasy.

-Décor

A festive masquerade wedding could include black-tie and flamboyant ball gowns with masks. The venue may be decorated with candelabras and various other candles graciously scattered along the table. Add glittering decorations, and voilà, you have a replica of a masquerade ball, imitating as a wedding. Huge, richly colored ostrich feathers would complement the guests’ masquerade mask. Or consider a room full of balloons for the reception. Balloons create a carnival type of atmosphere, producing the fun and excitement of a genuine masquerade party. Ribbons, beads, balloons, masks, feathers all contribute to a highly memorable masquerade wedding and reception, along with all the fun and enthusiasm that comes with it.

-The wedding cake
The ideas are endless for a masquerade themed wedding cake. What’s most important are the colors of the cake. The cake should keep in step with the theme of the day. Perhaps a cake with feathers, or decorated in pink and black baroque decorations, or maybe, glittering with gold and silver eatables with strands of beads. There are a plethora of creative ways to produce the perfect cake for the perfect masquerade wedding.

Masquerade themed weddings are becoming more fashionable than ever. They’re fun, colorful and unforgettable.

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The peacock design is becoming a very trendy design for an outdoor wedding. The essential colors found in this design, sage green and navy blue, are perfect for outdoor events and compliments the everyday elements of the outdoor environment. Other brilliant colors found in the design is turquoise, purple, gold, burnt orange and sometimes a hint of very light beige. There are several ways to incorporate the design into a wedding and several reasons to do so. Some use this design for the beautiful colors, some cherish birds and wildlife and some are just into very edgy, contemporary ideas. No matter what the reason, the peacock design will be great to accent a bride on her special day.

There are so many ways to factor in the peacock design whether it being in the invitations, bridal attire or the decorations. When choosing an invitation you can choose stock cards with a color from the design as the base color to for foundation like the navy blue color. Once you have a colored stock card, you can choose an accent color for the lettering like gold, turquoise or the light beige. Another option would be to have plain white stock cards with an actual peacock attached for a classic look with a little contemporary style.

When incorporating the peacock design into the bridal apparel there are many creative directions to go. For the bridesmaids, a suggestion would be to have all the bridesmaids dresses be the colors of the peacock feather. Have them all in one color or let them all wear a different color to make sure all the colors are displayed. The groom and groomsmen’s ties, cummerbunds and handkerchiefs can all bear a color from the design or even have the peacock design itself. For the really bold bride, a suggestion for the groomsmen’s tuxedos would be that they can even be a color of from the design as well. A navy blue suit to accent the gorgeous blue from the peacock’s feather would be daring move. The peacock design has become such a hip trend that there are peacock inspired wedding dress like dress premiered in 2010 made completely of peacock feathers. For brides wishing to keep the their dresses traditional, choose hair accessories, jewelry and shoes to display the color of the peacock’s feathers. Putting feathers in the bride’s hair is a fearless and fashionable route to take. The bridals party’s bouquets and corsages can include feathers.

The decorations department is where you can be as bold and courageous as you would like to be. Everything from the linen to the tulle can display the peacock design and its vibrant colors. The center pieces can include navy blue flowers, green filler flowers and even have the peacock feather sporadically throughout them. Tablecloths can display the design entirely. Traditional white china place settings can be dressed up with gold, burnt orange or peacock designed napkins. The silverware and cake cutter or server can have handles with the colors of the design. Clusters of feathers can be bind together and tied to chairs, podiums and benches to dress up the scenery in the ceremonial or reception area. Choose favor boxes of the gold, turquoise or even light beige color and then use ribbon of the more direct colors like the navy blue or sage green.

Designing the wedding cake gives endless possibilities. Choose any of the colors if not all and layer them throughout the cake. The cake can bear the design of the feather itself. When using such a valiant, vibrant, vivacious design go bold or go home.

If you want to go the more traditional route for your wedding, keeping your wedding colors orange and black can help keep your guests from feeling like they have walked into a crypt. Brides can wear traditional white wedding dresses and grooms can still wear black tuxedos while bridesmaids and groomsmen wear orange accents. White wedding dresses are not the only colors that are available to brides these days, there are actually black and even red wedding dresses that beautifully gothic. Bouquets and boutonnières can be fall or Halloween colors as well, decorations like pumpkins can also be a great addition to a Halloween themed wedding and the wedding cake can have elements of Halloween added to it as well, like a Frankenstein and bride of Frankenstein wedding cake topper.

For the bridal party that wants to go with a scary theme, costumes are not completely out of the question and asking guests to come dressed in their favorite costume is a great way to make sure that everyone gets in on the fun. When looking for flowers for the wedding, black roses are beautifully cryptic, if you cannot find black roses ask your florist if there is any way that your flowers can take a darker tone either through paint or dye. The wedding reception can allow you to go wild with your theme; everything from dry ice to fog machines can be made for a scary entrance for the wedding party. If you are going to have a DJ at the party ask them to play Halloween related songs such as the Monster Mash or even the theme from the movie Halloween. You can easily rename some of your wedding receptions food, if you are going to have chicken fingers, call them witches fingers; Buffalo wings can become bat wings. The wedding cake can have a Halloween theme all of its own as well. Gothic candelabras would be both scary and beautiful on the tables and even carved jack o’lanterns can help guide guests to their tables.

When planning a Halloween themed wedding the sky is the limit, there is nothing that you cannot do, you can make it as dark or as light hearted as you want it to be, it is after all your special day!

For more ideas, check out our previous posts!