To follow up my recent post about Valentines I thought I’d add a few more goodies I found. The Girl Next Door and Guy Next Door at Mens Health and Womens Health, respectively, both published their views on the day.
What Men Think of Valentines Day
from Women’s Health
and
from Men’s Health
Super cute.
A.k.a. The (dreaded?) Valentine’s Day.
First of all, I can’t believe it’s already February! Yikes! With February comes what is essentially the last holiday of holiday season (you know, following Turkey Day and Christmas and New Years) and all that jazz. It’s one of those days that I feel you either love it or you hate it – personally I think i’m on the fence. Either way, I stumbled upon this post about the situation on one of the many blogs I read and I quite liked it. This particular topic (post marriage) is a bit out of my realm but I thought it was worth a share anyway. Listen up boys!
(all text copied from original blog found here, I just wanted to make it easier to find/read)
Valentine’s Day Survival Guide
(written by Katie at Marriage Confessions)
Today we are going to talk about something real. Something serious. Something looming. We are talking Valentines Day. The big V. V-Day, one of the most critical days of the year. One of the few days of the year that lets you sleep in the bed, or on the couch.
(FYI Ladies- This would be the part when you would call your man to come and read…)
There are two types of Valentiners. Ones that absolutely go over the moon for it, and ones that despise it. I happen to be somewhere in between those two. The day does not completely annoy me, however I’m not much for the random holiday thing. I not here to tell you which one you are. That is your business. But I will say regardless of which one you are. This year do something nice for your lady. She deserves it. Here is you guide:
Valentines Day does not have to be all-fancy-like with roses and dinner and makin’ babies. You don’t have to get all dressed up and go dancing. Don’t get me wrong all of that is fantastic and a wonderful evening. But to me, that is not what Valentines Day is about. Valentines Day is like Mother’s Day, without church. It is a time for you to tell your lady that you love her. It is her day. And it can be simple, and it can be romantic, and it can be knock your socks off fun all at the same time. Just be sure to make it your own. Don’t be typical.
You know your significant other better than anyone. Get her something that she really wants. Get her something that makes her feel pretty. Get her something that takes care of her. Get her something that tells her you appreciate everything she does. Get her something to tell her that she is perfect.
I’m sure you get her red flowers EVERY year, right? Well this year change it up. If you always give her red long-stem roses that you got on the side of the road for five dollars, change it up and get her white, pink, and red tulips. If you always give them to her when you come home from work, it will always seem like a last minute thought. Change it up this year and have them waiting in the bathroom for when she wakes up that morning instead. If you always have them in the morning, change it up this year, and send them to her office and surprise her there with flowers. That will make her feel good all day.
If you typically give her chocolates, change it up this year and bring home chocolates, a bottle of wine and make fondue.
If you typically give her jewelry, change it up this year and find a piece of jewelry that is different. It does not have to be diamonds, or anything expensive. Get her something that fits her style, something that when you see it in a store you can picture her wearing it.
If lingerie is in your repertoire each year, this year change it up and get her something different. Regardless of what you may or may not think, women do not want to wear that sexy stuff all the time. This year go for a practical gift like underwear or a nice bra. It will make your lady feel good about herself everyday she wears it. This year don’t buy something that she will wear once in a blue moon, go practical and get her something she can wear once or twice a week.
Now, do we need to talk about buying underwear and lingerie? Shame on you if you have never bought your lady something nice from Victoria’s Secret. Listen, if you are not man enough to go in there and pick out something nice, then your girl needs to move on. Go in. It’s not scary. It’s not confusing. And most of the time, there are attractive sales women everywhere! Go in there and ask, “What is the most popular bra right now? I need an everyday bra that my beautiful wife/fiancé/girlfriend/partner will love.” That will not only make you feel good about doing the right thing, but it will also make the attractive sales women give a you a nice smile and then take really good care of you. And in a last resort, if you just can’t bring yourself to do it, then the online store will have to do. Then you can browse as long as you need to.
If you are a dinner and movie at home kinda guy, change it up this year and YOU cook a nice dinner, or order take-out, or pick something up from her favorite restaurant and bring it home. If you like going out to dinner, take her to her favorite spot. Don’t take her to the sports bar, even if she wants to go. Take her somewhere nice. Get her to put on lipstick and a cute dress and go out to dinner and movie. Don’t take her to something dark or intense or scary (unless that turns her on…) take her to something girly and fun, a romantic comedy or something light-hearted.
Lastly, don’t get her something from the neighborhood drug store. Pay attention, man. Put some thought into her this year. It’s not hard. It’s not expensive. But it’s going to take some thought, and maybe some planning. But take the time to do it. Your girl is worth it. And it’s your responsibility to tell her that. Don’t mess it up this year. Surprise her. Make her smile. Make her laugh. Make her cry. Make her happy. Make her feel pretty. Tell her you love her.
So there it is. I’m a fan!
Let’s be honest…every girl loves a good excuse to dress up every now and then right? With the exception of a few up-do’s and friend of a family make up jobs for proms I’ve never had my hair and makeup “professionally” done. In fact, I was usually the one doing my friends’ make up. So, needless to say when a recent opportunity arose for me to get a professional “make over” I jumped at the chance!
My office was home to a photo shoot for one of our wedding planners earlier this week and I had the pleasure of participating. Essentially, we turned our client consultation room into an office/wedding haven with tables and vases draping with linen samples, flowers and pictures galore. My job was to act as the bride-to-be and pretend to be in the middle of a consultation with the planner. It was pretty fun. But I digress…my lack of acting skills and brief stint as a bride are not the point of this post.
To make sure I was camera ready (side note – it’s quite strange being on that side of the camera) our wedding planner brought in a make up artist to make me over. Amy does TV and special events – i.e. weddings – jobs all over the South Florida Area so I was in good hands. Let me tell you – it was quite fun!
I was a little nervous because this would be my first experience with air brushed makeup. (In case you don’t know what that is, it’s when the makeup is literally applied to your face with an airbrush machine – similar to a mini spray tan machine) Airbrushing is really popular with weddings because A. it doesn’t sweat off and B. it doesn’t wipe off (depending on the brands of course). Also, it looks extremely natural as it goes on quite thin. I am officially a fan! It was so light and barely felt like I was wearing anything. Amy also went all out applying false eyelashes and full eye makeup etc. Not only did I enjoy not having to lift a hand to get ready for this, but it was nice to see how good I could look (HA!) because I typically stick with just slight smokey eye, liner, blush and chapstick. So classy 
Anyway, I am officially an airbrush convert. I can certainly see why it is so widely used for the big day and it will be a my must do list for all my clients from here on out! Now, I know it’s totally wrong to tease with all this information and not show the finished product but alas, I only have some pretty awful iPhone pictures.
Oh who care’s …. full disclosure right…. (ignore the crazy faces). For comparison factor, there’s a pretty rough before on my About page.
I’ll add a few sneaks from the shoot once I get those.
We’ve all seen the Shit _ Say’s videos circling the inter webs recently. Some of them are funny, some of them are a stretch, but they were all pretty clever at first. I was just about sick of them until I saw this one and I just had to share courtesy of the people at Wedding Channel.com:
I always feel guilty pulling things off of other blogs to talk about on here, but I just couldn’t let this one pass up. Snippet and Ink, one of my favorite wedding blogs, just posted this San Francisco wedding, photographed by Nirav Patel. I love everything about the quirky details that I just had to share!
The couple made a large display invitation with a light-brite inspired look. I love the fact that it is printed on wood!
The bride added a bit of a modern twist to her bouquet by adding air plant accents. I also love the mixture of satin and burlap on her shoes!
I love, love, love the ribbon backdrop for the ceremony. I’ve seen this all over the web recently and just can’t help but smile every time I see it. Another detail that fit in so well with the wedding was the use of their name/logo/pseudo monogram (if you chose to look at it that way). The “handwritten” look adds such a personal feel to the event.
This is by far my absolute most favorite thing about this wedding! Instead of the traditional caterer the couple opted for a combination of food trucks (dessert included) to provide the eats. How amazing!!! I especially love what appears to be deviled eggs with some bacon on the side. YUM! I’ve officially made myself hungry.
Please be sure to take a look at the whole feature here – the question and answer is uber cute. Also, if you are easily addicted to wedding blogs like me, Snippet and Ink is not one to miss!
Given the look of my current projected calendar, it appears that 2012 will be the year of the wedding. This projection not only includes the weddings I have contracted as work, but also the weddings I will be attending to benefit my social calendar. I am really looking forward to being a guest at a handful of events this year because:
A. It will be nice to be on the other side of the party for a change (I’ll also get to dress up fancy in all those old semi-formal dresses hanging neglected in my closet)
2. It will provide me with an excuse for a little bit of travelling and vacation time and
C. I will be celebrating a very important moment in the lives of a lot of very important people in my life!
This is exciting. One of the most exciting parts about some of these upcoming weddings is that I will also be in a few of them. The downside to having so many events on the upcoming calendar….the financial burden.
I’m sure everyone has felt the strain of wedding finances at some point, whether it be questioning how to afford a simple gift for a recently married friend right out of school, finding the funds to travel to an out of town wedding for friends or family, or even having to buy that new dress to wear to said event. It can be tough. What’s shocking to me is how much the average person spends on weddings these days (as a bride/groom and as a guest), especially if acting as a member of the bridal party.
I recently stumbled upon this article and info graphic combo from the financial site Mint.com via Wedding Channel.com and they put the expenses of a bridesmaid into an interesting perspective:
(you can also check it out here or read the full article here) Now, obviously this is just the average and there are plenty of brides who keep costs down for their party members, but it’s true (and crazy!) that expenses can get exorbitant these days. I think that Mint provided a lot of great suggestions on how to save some pennies and I think some of these can apply to the guests as well such as sharing hotel rooms with others you know are travelling and getting creative with the gifts, even pooling with other guests for a larger item. Sometimes the sentimental gifts, i.e. homemade, gifts can be the most thoughtful.
Thankfully, I have some great, budget conscious friends in my circle so I’m heading into this year of weddings with a positive outlook, eager to celebrate!
I found this gem from LB Photography blog (here) via pinterest- bridal party morning after (or morning of) photos. This is such a clever idea – why have I never seen this before!
