PREEEEEESENTS!

The holiday shopping season is upon us! And it is the perfect time to get your registry list out to your family—or to get buying for that special couple!

Think about it. Weddings are highly concentrated in the summer, when there are no real holidays and only the occasional deal. Let's face it, many of us buy their gift maybe a month or two before the wedding. But, if the couple were to crank out their registry list early in November and let everyone know early, their family could score some killer deals on the things the couple wants.. You will have to hang onto the goods for a little while, but I think the saved money will more than make up for it.

Wedding gifts are important, not because they are objects to put around their new house, but because they are an opportunity to “love on” your new favorite couple.

When my husband and I were on our honeymoon not twenty minutes away from our house, we could hardly stand that there were so many unwrapped goodies just sitting there!

So what did we do? We pressed pause on everything and drove over to open our presents like a couple of kids on Christmas morning. Yeah, we're dorks. (Hubby edit: awesome dorks) But we had so much fun seeing what our family got us---we found so many funny notes and little gag gifts lurking among our presents. It was so special to open them up together.

Now with that little nugget of knowledge rolling around, here are a few tips for the givers and the receivers to help make this process painless and personal.

For those of you giving to the bride and groom, here is a tip and a few ideas to help make your gift a little more special:

1. Stick to the brands and colors that the bride and groom chose. They made those choices with their living style in mind. My husband and I have a hot-rod red n' chrome kitchen, and a green toaster would make every meal into Christmas. Yikes!
2. Offer to help the bride and the groom pay for some aspect of the wedding! Does the bride have her a special dress in mind that is out of her budget? Is the flower bill breaking the bank? Taking some of the weight off of the bride and groom's shoulders during this stressful, but wonderful time in their life could be the best gift of all.
3. With that said, try to get personal! I know that they have a list of things that they want on their registry, but it was so special to find a little note with well wishes attached to the bag or a burned CD of dorky songs from their best friend.
4. Did the bride and groom run out of ideas? Use your knowledge of your bride and groom to give them something to do when they go home! If they like cooking, maybe pick up a recipe book, a couple aprons, and some ingredients to get them started. Or if cooking is not their thing, get them all set up for the movies with a big ol' blanket, some popcorn, and a series on DVD that they have been meaning to catch up on.

And for the brides and grooms out there, I have a few registry-making tips as well. If you are anything like my husband and I, we live pretty simply and do not like to clutter our pad. On top of that, we have been living at college for four years, so we have accumulated pretty much everything we needed to live. Coming up with a long list of wants was surprisingly tough!

We dutifully visited Target with scanner in hand,. Here are some ideas and tips to get you going.

1. Give the gift of diversity—in prices, that is. A lot of your friends and family will rely on your gift registry, and not all of them can afford a $300 blender. Instead, make sure you sprinkle in some gifts that are $10, $20, and $30 gifts as well. Think of a favorite movie you and your fiancee have shared or a board game you both enjoy and throw that on the list too!
2. Consider asking your family to donate to a charity that you and your fiancee both like. Instead of cluttering your house with things you don't want, you would be helping someone else who has a real need!
3. Be sure to write Thank You letters and have them out before your two month anniversary. It's just good to be prompt and you don't want those guys sitting around forever on your to-do list. Make it a race between you and your new spouse or do them in between the commercials of your favorite show!
   That's all I have for you today, guys and gals! Now it's your turn, for all you couples out there: What was the best gift you got from your wedding and why? Or what was the worst?     

Daughters, be good to your Fathers

Seeing your child get married can be a bit...strenuous. You, the daughter, are going off with the man of your dreams to meet a new half of the family, and you're planning up a storm with all of your best friends and mom....in all of this, dad may feel a little left out. Even my dad, the guy who jokingly told my husband to “take her off my hands, please!” wrung his hands during the planning process of the wedding. Not a Sunday phone call went by when my mom chatted my ear off about how dad was driving her nuts with little details about the wedding that were taking far too long to accomplish. “What are you serving for drinks?” “Have you figured out decorations yet?” “What am I wearing?” It drove us both up the wall.

For some fathers, letting them get involved in the day can be really meaningful for them (and save some sanity for all parties involved). But what is out there for them to do, really? In Western weddings, the main traditions are that the father gives away the daughter during the ceremony and then the father daughter dance during the reception. Not the greatest send off, but what is a guy to do? Seems like all they have to do is show up, but we can do better than that!

I think there is a brainstorm a'brewin in the distance...

One thing that comes to mind is to see if your dad is interested in helping choose your wedding dress. At Vue Design the other day, a bride and her parents came in to try on her muslin copy of her dress, and it was so touching to see the look on his face when he saw his daughter in her practice dress for the wedding. Sure, he was not into it 100% like she and her mother were, but he was there, and I bet he felt happy to be included in the little details.

Here's another: give the man something to do! Let him check out that place where you are looking to have your reception dinner. See if he can set up some sort of deal with the caterer. Play off of his strengths and giving him tasks that are accessible for him.

And also, try to spend some time with your dad! This is a big step for the both of you—enjoy it! If it is your thing, take some dance lessons together, or throw a basketball around, or plan the budget with him. Whatever floats you and your dad's boat!

So here is to being good to your father as you prepare to embark on a new chapter in your life, and to creating new memories with both parents.

Can you think of any other new traditions to do with dear dad? Are there any father/daughter traditions that you have in your family that you plan to do during the process of planning the wedding or during the wedding? Let's hear your thoughts!

Ciao for now, readers!

Planning the Modern Wedding: A Woman's Guide to Grooms

My husband proposed to me on a blustery January afternoon and we were married later that year on August 6^th. Within that seven month period of planning and finishing up my final year at college, I had the most stressful months of my life. There was laughter, there was angst, there was arguing, and there was crying. I am proud to say that the planning experience only reduced me to tears three times (because for me, all stress is directly filtered to my tear ducts).

Throughout that entire experience, my husband was a-mazing and helped me plan the majority of the wedding! .

Now some of you ladies are probably all like: How the Dickens did she get that to happen? I can barely get my man to look at color schemes with me! It's like he doesn't care!

News Flash: He doesn't.

Now don't translate this statement into “He doesn't care about me.” He obviously loves you, if he agreed to marry you! I am merely suggesting, dear reader, is that he just could care less about whether the bridesmaids and groomsmen wore periwinkle or plum. Kudos if he knows what color periwinkle is.

The day itself is much more important to you than it is to them. Women in American culture are expected (and I would argue trained, through the media) to plan this huge event with everyone you ever knew and loved in attendance and it is going to be beautiful and wonderful and clearly the best day of both of you and your fiancee's lives (both to my utter excitement and complete horror). Wedding magazines and websites are aimed directly at us, not at our men, to help us make the day perfect. Just look at TheKnot or any Bridal magazine out there. It is even in the name: BRIDAL—not GROOM-AL.

Men are simply not brought up to dream of their wedding, even though they are the other half of the shindig. Instead, they are taught to dread planning for such a time in their lives. With horror stories of their woman trans-morphing into the destructive control hungry bride-zilla running rampant in their imagination, they just want to solve problems they are presented with, be super easy to please, and do anything in their power to not be in the way of the carnage.

So, to bridge this gap in understanding, I have a handful of tips that my husband and I came up with to ease the stress of planning a wedding.

1. Let your man know what you expect of him. Give him a list of concrete tasks he can do, like a list of venues to investigate, or places to call for cake prices—because even though you do not think you have any idea of how to plan a wedding, he probably knows even less.

2. Find out what gets him excited! I know I could get myself excited about every aspect of the wedding, but looking at flower arrangements for hours on end may not be his cuppa joe. Instead, let him do something he likes, like checking out the DJ or finding a bakery for wedding treats!
   
   
3. Compliment and encourage him when he does well (or even when he did not do all that well! Even though he may not look stressed out with helping, he's probably putting on a strong face for you—make sure you love on your guy!
   
   
4. Take a weekly break from planning the wedding. It is a topic that can consume all of your brain space—I am not kidding—and it will drive you and your guy CRAZY with all of the stress and high expectations! Don't let it eat your life (remember, you like other things: biking, dating, movies, games). Make a “no wedding Wednesday” day! Heck, go on a date! It will keep you both happy.
   
   
5. Finally, remember at the end of your wedding day, you will be husband and wife, and that is the whole point of this day! And also remember, everyone you invited to the wedding probably knows one or both of you on a scale of pretty to really well. Don't fake it and try to be Jennifer Lopez on her wedding day! Be you, because that is who your family and your new family love!
   
   
   Ciao for now readers! See you next week!
   
   
   Oh, by the way:
   
   

   

   ^ This is periwinkle!

   

   ^ This is plum!

   pictures are courtesy of Google images 

A Burning Question

Creating the overall tone of a wedding can be done in a lot of different ways, but color, above all else, is my favorite. For my own wedding, we used jewel tones in the décor, bouquets, and, most importantly, the bridal party's clothing. It was a very formal affair, so I had my ladies wear deep blue dresses with classy peacock hair pins while my husband's men wore peacock boutonnieres and blue ties. Now, I did not do this with my own dress (as some of you might remember. I shared my dress in “Something Borrowed....”,) but would you go as far as adding that shot of bold color in your wedding dress? What about a green wedding gown? Would your family approve of it? If so, check out some gowns from Vera Wang's 2012 bridal line.

Obviously, she uses a lot of color in her wedding gowns. And le gasp! There is even a charcoal gray dress!

Because of the rapid spread and marriage of different cultures throughout the world, the rules and traditions our parents and grandparents were held to for their own weddings are a lot easier to bend and even break today. Traditionally in Eastern cultures for example, the primary color for the bride's wedding dress is red with tones of gold, pink, and orange to compliment, but today they can also get away with having a traditional Western wedding if they wish. And in Western culture, the current trend bends in the direction of if-it-reflects-who-you-are-or-your-personality-as-a-couple-then-go-for-it sort of mentality.

We are a trailblazing generation, ladies and gentlemen—which means that if you can convince the oldest of your family (or at least the oldest of those who are footing the bill) of your ideas for your wedding, you can do basically anything you want.

Like some of Wang's dresses, Vue Design also shies away from the traditional wedding gowns. We hope to move away from the dresses that you would normally see in a bridal shop, in terms of shape, design, fabric, and of course defying traditional colorings of a gown. A good example of one of our own dresses is the Gia dress.

Now here is the burning question for you ladies and gentlereaders: What do you think of colorful wedding gowns? Would you try out a colorful wedding dress for your own nuptials or is it a short lived trend that will be over in another fifty years?

Send us a comment! We would love to hear what you think!  

First three pictures courtesy of verawang.com 

Gia dress picture courtesy of JenPhotography

A Story with Sole

Almost every lady I know has a pair, they come in all sizes (but the taller, the better in some circles), colors, and have a long history reaching as far as ancient Egypt and took root as a fashion statement in the 16^th century Europe.

Yep, high heels. They look so dang cute in the store, colored bright like candy, but wear those puppies for more than a few hours and those poor feet of yours are howling by the end of the night. And men, they have no idea what we go through for that extra two inches.

Or do they?

Well, maybe your best guy friend does not know what it is like to get a nasty blister on the side of their squished toes, but maybe their great, great, great, great, great.....great-great-great grandpa would! One of the most famous heel wearing men of the 1770's was King Louis XIV aka The Sun King, and that man sure had some bossy boots with a side of high fashion. That peacock of a man went so far as to make a royal decree that only people of noble blood could wear red high heels! I am sure all the peasants were green with jealousy. Check out this portrait of the man himself in his treasured heels.

The high heels he wore became the peek of high court fashion and were known only as Louis heels after the king himself. I couldn't find a good picture, but I am told that they had little paintings on the heel depicting stories of great battles. Even kings wanted to draw on their shoes!

He wore them for basically the same reasons women do, I am sure. I am, let's be honest, Louie was a short king and being taller made him look bigger and it follows that he must be powerful as well (or so says the animal kingdom). Plus, look at what those heels did for his calves! Work it, Louis, work it.

He made high heeled shoes a mark of status (the same as when a lady shows off some designer shoes), so when he had them, all the noblemen and ladies had to join in the trend. People want gaga for these shoes.

Speaking of people going gaga, a professor mentioned something to me once that made me scratch my head. He said that in a few generations (not today's twenty-somethings, but maybe their grandchildren), men will probably be back to wearing high heels and tights again. Make-up has already made a come back (think of Goth or Punk subcultures), why not the shoes too?

I am not sure if I would necessarily like that idea, but I think about how easily I had accepted men wearing eye liner...it is but a small leap to go to “women's” clothing too.

What do you think? Will guys go back to frills, lace, and heels—aspects of what is now considered for woman only?

For a more in depth history breakdown of the high heel, check out this source. They go through a more thorough history and have lots of pictures to look at too!

http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/036heels.html

A super secret. Tell the world.

Hey readers. I am going to be straight with you. I have thought of a million different ways to say this thing I am going to say to you (many of them sound incredibly dorky and slightly lame. I will spare you :P), but none of them quite capture the joy and excitement that I feel when I think about sharing this special announcement with ya'll. So instead of flailing around for the most perfect and clever phrasing, I am just going to go right out and say it.

Vue Design has a storefront home! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Isn't she beautiful?

Look! Dresses in the front window! And you can even see the sign!

Aaaaand the view from inside the store...

We set up and opened on Friday, October 7 at MoDiv in downtown Grand Rapids. We are still in the process of putting it together just so...We want to hang a few doctored up windows against the glass windows and also hang a bunch of framed quotes and art around the shop to dress up and personalize the space. There is also the urgent need for desk space to sit with customers and work. It will all come together over the course of these few days. Soooooooo exciting!

Another tantalizing tidbit for you! We made a few sales this weekend and there is a lot of curious people walking by! I think we might be sentimental goofs and frame our first dollar that we earned!   

Anyhoozle, drop in and see the shop in person! Come talk to Shannon or one of her interns; We are quite the chatty bunch, especially when you get us started on fashion, or coffee, or the day, or dogs...we like to keep it real. There are lots of other clothing stores, novelty stores, and coffee shops to wander in within the area as well. It is a really fun downtown experience for a lunch break or a weekend trip! 

We are at 40 Monroe Center, Grand Rapids MI. Hope to see you soon!

Ciao for now!

It's a nice day for a...white wedding

There is so much thought that needs to be put into finding the wedding dress for you. You need to think about what cut looks best on your body type (A-line, mermaid, sheath, tea length...), what sort of embellishments that look great and emphasize your assets (lace, beading, wrapped), accessories that will add to, not distract from, your overall look (a big bold necklace, simple pearl earrings), and color. Yes color. Shouldn't that be the easy part? Egh....

The color white is a fickle mistress.

Often when women try on their first wedding dresses, they choose a beautiful pure white dress that is the correct size and style—in fact, it could be the dress—but once they put it on, they look...weird. Instead of glowing, they look sick and washed out. The problem, my dear, is the color of the dress and looking at your skin tone will lead you to the answer you seek.

Study the colors in your skin. You can probably nail down the top shade of your skin—white, olive, black, or somewhere in between—but look at the undertones. What other color do you see? It is usually blue, red, or yellow. We are quite colorful, are we not? All of the colors that you find will help you decide what color dress you will look best in. And, no worries. I have a little guide that will help you out. There are always exceptions to the guide, so allow some wiggle room :)

Those of us who have dark skin or are really tan with red or blue undertones can pull of just about any shade of white. Lucky ducks. The darkness is a beautiful contrast against the white.

Lovely, no?

Keep in mind though that if you have an olive tone with your dark skin, try to steer clear of the white dresses with gold tones, because you will probably match the gold in the dress.

Just like women with dark skin and yellow undertones, olive or yellow skin tones want to stay away from white dresses with golden tones in them. Instead, try a pinky white or “cool white”. It will mellow your yellow and compliment you too!

If you happen to be of the palest of pale, like yours truly, and nicknamed Caspar as a child, a pure white dress is not the best choice. The pure white dress will emphasize the undertones of your skin pop out, making you look overly pink, blue, or yellow, depending on you. Go for an ivory dress or a dress with golder tones to it. Your skin will positively glow!

Above all, don't get miffed if you can't pull off that pure white dress you were dreaming of. You will be the only one in a white (ish) dress. Since no one will be standing next to you in a pure white dress, people will likely not even notice. Instead, focus on looking your best in the best shade of white for you. Happy dress hunting!

Images courtesy of David's Bridal

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

I have a problem. You see, I bought this very expensive and very fancy dress that I adore. I put aside a good amount of money so that I could have this dress, more than I have ever spent on a single article of clothing. I cleaned and pressed it, had alterations done so that it fit me perfectly, and bought the perfect accessories to go with it.

I love this dress. I feel absolutely stunning in it and everyone who saw me the day of and in my pictures agree. But the problem is this:

I can only wear it once.

I mean, it is not like I can get married again (I sure hope not) and I certainly would not use the same dress if I did. I also can't think of a single instance when wearing my wedding dress like this would appear to be appropriate, because let's face it: It looks like a wedding dress. I could save it for a daughter that I might have one day, but who is to say she will be sentimental enough to WANT to wear an out of date dress that probably is now sort of yellow-y instead of white. Oh, I bet she would love that. Maybe. Who knows what is in style by the time I have a daughter? What I have might look pretty awesome, but twenty, thirty years down the road?

So, instead of letting it sit in a box for years and years, I have been looking at a few options to see what I could possibly do for this dress that I love so much.

I could have trashed it for my wedding photos. I suppose I could have jumped into the small lake with the koi or rolled down a giant hill.  Or dove from a plane and dropped myself into the nearest jungle with my love to play Survivor: BRIDAL STYLE or I could have thrown myself and my new husband into a shark pool and pet the fishies. Lots of super fun options to choose from!

I speak for myself when I say that that ship has already sailed off into the sunset and I am happy I forgot my ticket. I am a practical sort of girl and don't have it in me to destroy my favorite and most expensive dress anyway. Besides, I could already see my parent's glaring red beams of death at me for even proposing such a wasteful act. Yeah, not flying, at least for me.

I could resell it, I suppose. That was my parent's first option they suggested to me. That I should give it to someone who may not be able to afford a wedding dress. This seems like a good option, but I don't really know of any online or real business who dedicates themselves to that sort of thing...Ebay, maybe. Selling it usually means it is half price now (less than half for me). The price has dropped to the more than half off since I bought it.  Selling it hardly seems worth it, Do you know of any good bridal resale or donation places?

The option that is the most exciting to me is to remake my dress into something that I could wear again. I love the idea of taking a piece and giving it new life. Take a peek at my dress again. I was considering cutting off the floofy part on the bottom so that the dress sits a little higher than my knee and then hemming the dress so it looks clean. Then, I want to dye it a sort of antique pink or maybe green. Or grey. The top half would make a fabulous cocktail dress. I am excited to do it myself! I will keep you updated with any new details on my wedding dress remake!

Do any of you want to remake your wedding dress? If so, what are your plans? Are you going to do it yourself? Or have a professional designer do it for you?

Picture courtesy of DavidsBridal.com

Shut the front door, mom!

Ahhh...The American Dream. What was it again? Right, a white picket fence, a nice house, 2.5 kids, and a dog barking in the back yard at the squirrel who has taken up residency in the 50 year old oak. Oh, and don't forget a husband working all day at the office while the wife stays home with the kids who are busy twisting oreos apart and licking off the frosting...mmm...oreos.

Sorry, but they ARE good! Back to the thought I was working toward: What does the American dream look like in terms of fashion?

In 1950 America, women usually had eight or nine great pieces in their closet that were meant to last for eight years and then some. It was a classic piece that could be changed ever so slightly to fit the current trend. A chameleon, if you will. Just add a new scarf or broach....maybe sew on a decorative button or add a cuff. Whatever makes your skirt fly up.

Now, in the naughts, it doesn't take a lot of observing to see that we have been trained to buy new clothes every season. Just check out any Target or shop you can find at the mall. If you look at them closely along with your own experience, you know that not too many of of their clothing lasts long. I know I bought a skirt last summer for somewhere in the ballpark of $20 and I have already had to mend it a few times.

On a quest for higher quality in my clothing, I began to seek pricier pieces at higher end boutiques and whatnot. I won't drop any names, but it seems to me like the clothing I see are merely replicas of something I have seen for $30, jacked up to double or triple the price. Really, I just can't justify buying a $120 jacket that is made of thin fabric and is not lined.

So I have had to change tactics once again, and I think this one has more merit than my first. Instead, when I look at a garment, I try to assess how long it is going to last me based off of the quality and the bones of the fabric, how often I expect to wear it, and how it works with the rest of my wardrobe. Some call me cheap or picky, but I am just trying to find something I love and has a quality that matches the price (and to be perfectly honest, if you don't love it in the store, then you won't love it in your closet).

Now that may have sounded intense, but don't give up on me yet. It is a lot easier than how I wrote it. This is called “cost per wear” in some circles and it sounds exactly how it is. You just take the overall price and divide it by the days you wear it.

For example, I have this pricey-ish shirt from The Limited (around $40).

I decided that I loved this thing and I must have it. It looks good on me and flatters my figure substantially--Fab. It would be a good addition to my business wear collection and it will also easily go with anything I own. Okay, then I look at the fabric and it's build. It is fairly thin, but I often wear sweaters or jackets over my shirts, so it would be great for layering. It is made of satin on the front (ugh, water and deodorant stains beware...) and cotton on the back. Although I have beef with the type fabric, I think I can manage it. I expect to wear this maybe once a week or every other week year round. If I were to keep to that goal, the shirt should have paid for itself in six months or so.

Here is the math if you are interested (I didn't believe my math teacher when he said it, but word problems CAN apply to real life if you try hard enough!): It cost me $40.00 for the shirt and if I wear it 3 times a month (so 40/3). You can divide it 6 times until the numbers go in the .00's.

40/3/3/3/3/3/3= .05...

Just reading this, it may be hard to think about all that math while you are shopping, or maybe you already do and you just haven't noticed it, but in either case, it really keeps from wasting money on something you will never wear or something that simply is so flimsy that it does not last.

Here is a challenge for ya'll. Next time you go shopping, try and check out the inside of a shirt to look for a sturdy lining and compare shirts and prices. Or look at the clothes you already have and see if they are worth the cash you spent on them.

Happy trails, ladies and gents!

"Schmucked! Now that's a fashion term for you!"

Bolero party in the studio!

Many of you may not know this article clothing by its name, but I bet you would know it when you see it. If you want to investigate more on your own, Google search "bolero clothing", because when you just search "bolero", you get "BOLERO-RAVEL" (which is apparently a one-movement musical piece composed by a guy named Ravel), Bolero (as a type of slow tempo Latin music, not related to Ravel's Bolero), or Bolero (a 1984 movie directed by John Derek). Good try, Google. You did your best. 

Here is a (really) brief visual history lesson on the bolero for you. When you think of a bolero, think of this guy's jacket:

Now that you have that image in your head, picture it lacier, frillier, and just down right cuter on a woman, specifically on her wedding day. Like this:

Yes, men wear boleros even today, although not so commonly outside of traditional dressings. It is certainly a more common dress for women thanks to forward thinking fashionistas like Coco Chanel. It's not the only thing women borrowed from men's fashion, either. Really, women have been borrowing from men's fashion for years. See also: makeup, tights, high heels, pants, suits, haircuts, hats...More on that another day :) 

Anyway, back to the party. With the help of our homemade frou frou coffee, we have been working tirelessly on this seasons fall line of wedding boleros. As I type, Shannon and Katie are busy creating frills, flowers, and trying not to schmuck up ruffles to adorn these lovely jackets. Take a look at what we are churning out today!

**Mantador and bride images do not belong to us! Courtesy of 7GoldSpanish.wikispaces.com and wedding-wardrobe.com