Luxe Linen Collection

We are beyond excited to announce that our friends at Designer Specialty Linens have a fabulous new name and look. Drum roll please… Welcome Luxe Linen! We are so happy for this gorgeous linen company who never lets us down when it comes to trendy, gorgeous, and incredible table top accessories. We are in love with the new website and all the fantastic features. One of our favorite features is how you can choose the color and collection to sort through. So it makes it easy to design and create the perfect look for a wedding or any event! New logo, New look,  new year! We are loving what 2015 has delivered so far, and we look forward to what is to come. We can not wait to see what Luxe Linen will reveal this year.  We are literally jumping up and down, and can not hold in our excitement. Cheers to 2015!

Here are two of the four collections, but take a moment to check out the rest of their killer collections here.

We are having a total swoon moment. We can not stop staring at each and every one of these beautiful tabletop designs. Congratulations to Luxe Linen!

Luxe Collection:

Journey-Aquamarine

Journey-Fruity-2

Nantucket-Lemon

Bohemian-Gold

 

Standard Collection:
french buckets talega-58
Pintuck-Navy-2
Crinkle Taffeta-3
View More: http://leahmariephotography.pass.us/gershonbauchus
Everythings Coming up Roses-1
Crinkle Taffeta-1
From owner, Dahlia of Luxe Linen...
We believe the new name and logo best communicate the quality and scope of our product offering. As we move forward, we will expand our collection of unique and upscale fabrics. In March 2015 the LUXE II collection will be released. It  includes a variety of luxurious fabrics for the bridal, corporate social and personal social markets. We invite you to visit our new website at www.luxelinen.org. It provides you with full access to our standard collection and the 2014 LUXE Collection of fabrics. We trust you will enjoy how easy the new website is to navigate and how gorgeous the photos are.
 
 

Five Fun Wedding Detail DIY Projects

Let’s face facts- weddings are expensive. You may want a Mercedes Benz wedding, but be on a Honda budget. That’s totally fine, you just have to know where you can save and where you should spend. If you’re doing your dream wedding on a budget, we can help you save a few dollars here and there. These five DIY projects for your wedding will help you save some cash and still make the big day special.

Custom Stationery

One big expense that can rack up faster than you realize? Stationery and mail-related products. There’s a quick way to get around the high costs of printing out certain things. You can download free templates online and create your own return labels or guest address labels. It’s quite cheap to get label stickers from any sort of customized label you’ll need. Return address labels and guest address labels are probably the easiest thing to make at home. They can be quite costly to custom print, so just do it at home!

Bridesmaid Bouquets

You may want to spring for an arrangement for your bouquet, but for your bridesmaids it’s easy to actually do at home. Do some research on pinterest or flower blogs and go downtown to buy some loose flowers the day before or the morning of. It’s best to task this to one of your bridesmaids. It may feel a bit tedious, but it can seriously save you some money. If you want to get super fancy, you can do boutonnieres for the groomsmen too!

Have Your Friends Marry You

It can be a surprise cost to hire someone to marry you- you may not realize it but there can be a cost associated with almost everything. It can save you some money and make it much more meaningful to have a friend or family member do the ceremony. It can be sweet to ask whoever set you up or aided in you two meeting, or whoever has known you two as a couple the longest. It can be pretty cheap to get certified to officiate weddings, so you can save a few dollars here.

Lower the Lights

Renting or buying big extravagant candles can be seriously pricey. Candles are so beautiful and romantic, so it’s kind of hard to skimp on them. One easy way to get around the cost of something too extravagant is to take the same concept and shrink it- literally. Skimp the huge pricey candles and buy a few packs of tealight candles. You can get a ton of these for seriously cheap. Arrange the tealights on different levels to create depth and a sense of flow or drop them in water to have floating candlelight. It’s super romantic, creates gorgeous lighting, and is cheaper than springing for huge candles.

Stencil Yourselves

A quick way to ‘brand’ your wedding favors is to create a stencil and paint it over blank favors such as cards and small gifts. If you’re thinking of doing a little favor such as a tote bag, a candle, a selfie stick, any sort of favor for your guests- it will almost always cost a little more to put your name and/or date on it. You can actually get discounts or better rates on items to get items that are blank or not marked yet. You can make your own stencil using cardstock and some creativity and brand everything at home. It’s a fun art project that can save you money!

 

Top Five Ways to Pull Off Your ‘Something Old’

You’ve heard the old saying- “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”. It’s a little superstition that a bride should wear one of each (old, new, borrowed, blue) to ensure a successful and happy marriage. The tradition is cute, and if you’re one of the many brides following it we’ve got some ideas for your ‘something old’.

Family Jewels

If you want to pay homage to your family as you embark on starting a new one, this is a great way to do it! Ask your mother, grandmother, sister, or whoever you’re close to if they have any jewelry you could wear for the big day. The older the better! Ask for anything that has been passed down generation to generation. It may not be a trendy or modern piece, but the meaning will make it incredibly meaningful.

Vintage Veils

Check out old antique stores for vintage silk and lace for your veil. Veils in and of themselves are also a superstition, so it’s nice to pair the two up. Using vintage lace or silk makes the whole piece that much more romantic and detailed. The more delicate, the more graceful and poised you will look. You can try asking around to borrow one from someone else for real authenticity.

Love Letters

Remember when Mr. Big wrote Carrie all those love letters to win her back? Yeah, we love that kind of stuff. If you’re writing in your vows, you can opt to saying your ‘something old’ rather than carry it around. Look up old love letters from great writers for guidance in your vows! Or, if you or your partner happen to be romantics, you can use lines from your own old love letters. It adds an extra creative layer to your vows, plus it’ll become that much more intimate.

Classic Spray

Look for the most vintage, beautiful bottle of perfume you can and have at it! Think about scents that you remember from your first date or the first time you kissed. Maybe you have a favorite scent that’s been around forever- that works too! The sense of smell triggers the most memories, might as well make them good ones!

Family Cookbook

Before you lock in everything with the caterers, consider dusting off a few family recipes from both of your families. By paying homage to your family’s recipes, you’re letting everyone take part in traditions and sharing them with your friends and family. If you pass off some favorite recipes to your caterer, they may even be able to do it for you!

 

Top Five Tips for Brides Needing ‘Me’ Time

Your wedding is going to be the biggest party you’ll ever throw, so it’s totally normal if it you start to feel overwhelmed. You’ll be coordinating with a ton of people both professionally (vendors, your wedding coordinator, etc.) and personally (friends, family, coworkers, etc.) and it’ll be harder and harder to take some time to yourself. You know you’ll need some ‘me’ time- everyone does and it’ll keep you balanced! Weddings can make it seem like you’ll never get ‘me’ time ever again, but you will- and we’re here to help you get some.

Send Out the Bridesmaids

You have a small army of girlfriends for this reason- to support you. You asked them to be bridesmaids because you love them, they said yes because they love you! If you’re feeling overwhelmed, ask them for help in tasks you can delegate out. Have them gather addresses by assigning a few to each bridesmaid. Have them help out by picking up vendor samples or do mail runs for you. Let your girls take care of things for you so you can sleep in that extra hour- you’ll thank them and yourself later!

Take a Day Off

The closer you get to the wedding date, the more each day will be eaten up with wedding tasks and errands. You’ll look down at your planner and see that it’s full of to-dos and meet and greets which can feel totally overwhelming. Our biggest tip for making some ‘me’ time in this scenario? Reschedule so you have a day off. Don’t schedule any wedding errands or meetings on Tuesdays for example so you can catch up on the rest of your life. We don’t suggest putting your day off on the weekend, since that’s when you’ll probably have enough time to knock out the most wedding action items.

No Phones at the Table

An easy way to enjoy some serious ‘me’ time? Enjoy a meal without any distractions (not even Instagram!). Nothing crazy will happen in the half hour you may take to enjoy a meal, plus you’ll actually be able to enjoy your food that much more. If eating alone isn’t your idea of fun, take along your fiance and agree to a no-wedding-talk meal so you can both destress from the craziness. Just be sure to turn your phone back on when you’re ready to be back on the grid.

Schedule Beauty Time

Your wedding is coming up so you will probably need to get a mani/pedi- you might as well take advantage of that! Splurge on yourself and get that extra pampering package and enjoy yourself. Put aside extra time to get pampered and while you’re at it, splurge for the extra few minutes of massage or even a facial. It may feel a little frivolous (especially if you’re on a budget), but it’ll make you feel fantastic and buy you some serious ‘me’ time.

Start With Yourself

When you wake up in the morning before you turn on your phone, start checking emails, or even get to showering and really waking up, watch an episode of something you’ve fallen behind in. Catch up with everything else after you’ve taken some time to yourself to de-stress and be ready for the day. You don’t always have to hit the ground running, you can lead up to it and then finish strong later in the day.

 

Top Five Ways to Get Help for your Wedding

If you’ve got a wedding coming up, chances are you’ve been knee deep in wedding craziness for what feels like forever. It’s totally fine to feel a little overwhelmed and want to get some help. That can be hard to ask of others, but we totally get where you’re coming from, and we want to help you!

Get Professional Help

If you have some time before the wedding, do the right thing and get someone who knows what they’re doing. Our very own Bridal Hot List Editor-in-Chief Niloufar Gibson is a serious rock star wedding planner (check out her work here!), and can make your big day a million times easier. If you’re not in the area, check yelp first to find wedding planners that are loved in your area. It can make a world of difference and make your whole experience that much smoother.

Recruit the Girls

You have a bridal party for a reason- to support you! Your maid of honor is your right-hand girl- she’s there to help with everything and anything. From there, your whole bridal party is also there for you, so go ahead and ask for help! Bridal parties are great for doing projects like decorating, putting together goodie bags, and stuffing envelopes. Think of projects you could use an extra set of hands for, invite your bridal party over, grab some snacks and make a night of it! Just keep it fun so it doesn’t feel like work and you’ve got yourself a whole troop of wedding assistants.

Aim for Free

You don’t have to already be friends with someone to get wedding help- you can cross your fingers and hope someone will help you out just because! If you’re renting anything like linens, chairs, anything at all, try to get package deals to keep costs down. If you’re ordering items to give away, ask if the company will send you samples for free. Take the extra time (or assign a savings-savvy bridesmaid) to reach out to vendors to work out package deals. Get help where you can get it!

Assign POCs

‘POC’ stands for ‘points of contact’, and it can save you the headache of your phone blowing up the week leading up to your wedding. Assign someone to help people with directions and identify that person in a piece of communication that you send out. Ask a local in the wedding party to be available to help with any out-of-town guests who may get lost, and put their phone number or email address in the invitation. Aim random dress code questions to a bridesmaid, and have someone gather information on food allergies and communicate that to the caterer. Spread the love by giving out jobs to those who can help. All you’ll have to do at the end is write thank you’s to all those people!

Take your Time

If you need help with something, sometimes the best thing you can do is slow down. Any task is harder when you’re stressed out or anxious or feeling pressured. If you don’t want to ask for a favor, you can always do yourself a favor and take some time to destress. Refocusing can make everything look a lot more doable. Take a step back and look at your problem and identify where you need help, what you need specifically, and who you can talk to to make it happen.

 

Top Five Single Girl Survival Tips for Weddings

So your best friend is getting married- that’s awesome! But if you’re not coupled up, it can be scary to go to go to a friend’s wedding. There’s a certain stigma associated with weddings and couples that can totally be intimidating. Bridal Hot List can be your wingman at your next wedding (we love brides and someday-brides alike!), and we’ll get you through it!

Focus on Other People’s Love Lives

Why are you going to a wedding in the first place? Oh right, two people loved each other so much they decided to throw a party and make it official! That’s plenty of reason alone to not focus on what’s going on in your love life and instead focus on someone else’s. If you’re a romantic, go ahead and appreciate the romance!

Bring a Buddy

It’s dangerous to go alone- take a friend with you! Check out who’s invited and see if you can buddy up with another friend who’s going stag. If you can’t find anyone else who’s heading out to the wedding, ask around to see who’s not coupled up. It’s okay- you’re not the only one looking for a wedding buddy! You also run the chance of being paired up with a wedding buddy who’s really cute, and that’s always worth the risk.

Get Involved

If you can’t find someone to buddy up with and you’re not a romantic, go ahead and make yourself useful! Be an awesome friend and offer to help out as much as you can and just stay busy. Weddings are a huge event, there will always be a way that you can help out! Offer to help out with the guest book, watch any kids, keep an eye on any randomly invited ex’s to keep them separated, or anything else that may come up! Do something good and help out. Who knows- that karma may come back around and you could find yourself getting extra help at your next event!

Ask Questions

Talking to strangers can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be! If you’re hitting the wall looking for someone to talk to, just start asking questions. People love to feel like their opinion is valued, why don’t you indulge someone and find out more about whoever’s sitting next to you? Ask them who they know, where they’re from, go ahead and swap stories! You could be sitting next to your new best friend.

Take Pictures

Looking for an icebreaker? Offer to snap some shots! Now more than ever, people have access to great cameras and knowledge on photography. Bring a point and shoot at the very least and go around taking some candids! It can be a great way to start talking to new friends and an even better way to remember the party later.

 

Top Five Tips for Faking a Bridal Glow

Having a bridal glow is a total must, but there is a lot of risk to tanning. Not only is it damaging to your skin, but you risk burning as well (and you do NOT want to be peeling during your wedding). We don’t want you to be a flaky bride, so we’ve got some great tips to give you a glow the healthy way.

Fake It

One of the easiest ways to get an even, all over glow is to do a spray tan. Spray tanning airbrushes pigment all over you that eventually washes off. It’s very common to find spray tan locations at tanning salons and beauty salons. If you want to try it out on the cheap, keep an eye out for groupon or living social deals. You also may be able to talk a salon into giving you a first-time deal. You’re going to want to fake tan a few days before the wedding so that the pigment has time to settle and doesn’t wipe off on your clothes

Bronzing Lotion

Want to try a fake tan at home? No worries, bronzing lotion is also a viable option. Drugstores as well as specialty beauty stores carry bronzing lotions that essentially let you put on your own fake tan at home. It’s good to do a test run a few weeks in advance so you know how your skin reacts to the lotion, and to see how easy it is for you to apply (for some hard to reach places, you may need a friend to help you out!). Be sure to read the instructions carefully and wear gloves (or you’ll end up with orange palms- yikes!).

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Press for a Bronze Glow

Doing a bronze glow yourself is a quicker way to get a nice bronze glow on your wedding day. Since you’ll probably be wearing white, you need to plan ahead for any sort of bronzer fallout. The best way to do a powder bronzer is to do a pressed powder bronzer. Loose powders are much more likely to move around and fallout, and the last thing you’d want is smeared brown powder all over you! If you want to do an even glow, use a big wide brush with looser bristles to sweep an all-over bronze on your face and shoulders.

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Try a Creamy Glow

If you don’t want to do a powder bronzer, try a creamy highlighter that has a golden tint. Any sort of rose gold cream highlighter could work to give a very subtle glow. Apply the highlighter on the apples of your cheeks and lightly to frame your face. The dewy texture of the highlighter will make the glow look angelic and romantic.

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Seal the Deal

If you do any sort of same-day bronzing technique, be sure to seal in the color with a sealing spray. Putting a finishing powder may not be enough to hold your color in place on your neck or chest, so it’s best to use a spray. Find a spray sealant that you like that works in the heat so you don’t sweat any color off. If you skip this step, you risk your bridal glow getting all over your veil!

Top Five Do’s & Don’ts of Throwing a Geeky Wedding

Themed weddings are have become more and more popular over the last few years, and we totally get it- it’s fun! Giving your wedding some flavor for your passions is fantastic. If that passion is video games, sci-fi, wizardry, or whatever, go for it! Weddings are all about love, why not incorporate you other loves into your celebration of love? We’ve got the best tips to help you throw a wedding to make any geek go gaga.

Do Pay Attention to Detail

Details always matter. Always. Be meticulous about every bit of communication that goes out and look for areas of opportunity to incorporate your theme. Look out for places you can put puns, images, and references to what you love. Work your fandom into your color palette and menu. Doing specialty drinks during your reception is a fun, creative way to incorporate your passion as well.

Don’t Buy Out of a Box

While it may be easier to go and find some official merch from your fandom, try to avoid it at all costs! Official logos and anything you can pick up at a store may make your wedding look more like a gift shop rather than an homage. For example, if you’re having a Harry Potter wedding tryo to incorporate the Gryffindor logo rather than images of Daniel Radcliffe. Try to recreate a theme, feel, or sense rather than just showing off merch from your fandom.

Do DIY as Much as Possible

In the vein of avoiding standard merchandise, do try to go homemade as much as possible! Nothing shows off passion in your passion like a homemade piece. Websites like Pinterest are great for finding crafts to line up with your theme. If you’re not the crafty type, check out Etsy for fan-made goodness that you can use. Wherever there is a fanbase, there is a group that is willing to create awesome goodies. If you dig enough on the internet, you can find basically anything. If you see something that is almost perfect, message the seller and see if you can customize an item. More often than not, fans are willing to help other fans. Reach out and see what you can get done!

Don’t Pressure Anyone

While you of course love whatever theme you’re going with, try to keep in mind that not everyone may love it too. If you’re doing a theme wedding, don’t pressure anyone else into dressing or acting a certain way. If you’re doing a renaissance wedding it can be in bad taste to, say, force your guests into speaking with an accent and dressing in full renaissance wear. With a theme wedding, keep it a little more loose for your guests. Give them the opportunity to participate in the theme, but try to be understanding if they’re not as die-hard of a fan as you are.

Do Keep it Fun

Weddings can be stressful- but if you’re doing a theme wedding just remember that it’s fun! When you’re stressed out or nervous about the big day try to take a step back and realize how much more awesome your wedding is going to be. Geeky weddings are that much more memorable and all your hard work will pay off infinitely. Keep a smile on your face, and just remember- never give up, never surrender!

 

Top Three Tips for Un-Inviting a Wedding Guest

So you’ve got too many rsvp’s- yikes! If you’ve only got the budget or space for a certain number of people and too many say they’ll be there it can come down to a harsh reality- you’ll have to un-invite some guests. This is absolutely no fun, but it does happen. We’re here to help you get through it.

Be Honest

If there’s no way of sugar coating it- don’t. There’s nothing wrong with being honest. In fact, it’s the best way to handle any situation- tough or otherwise. There can be a better way to approach it, but your subject matter should always be rooted in honesty. Think about why you have to cut the headcount- is it money? is it the space? Whatever it is, work out the best way to phrase it. Ask your fiance to help you out and back you up. Try having the conversation with each other to make it easier. Just be honest and don’t change your mind. Once someone’s cut, they’re cut!

Offer an Alternative

While you can’t have them at the official wedding or reception, ask for a dinner or brunch. Say that you want to celebrate privately in place of the large ceremony and plan on a different sort of get together. While you’re explaining why you have to un-invite that guest, you can follow up with scheduling a different time to celebrate. This can also help you while you’re explaining- you can mention that you’d prefer a more private time to celebrate and share this moment in your life with this guest. For the most part, your friends and family want to go to your wedding because they want to support you and they’re happy for you. Remember that and work out another time to celebrate and share.

Follow Up with a Thank You

After the conversation about un-inviting, it can be good to follow up with them to ensure it wasn’t out of bad blood. After you un-invite someone, it is just good manners to extend some sort of love their way. It can be tacky to send them a wedding thank you card (definitely DON’T send them pictures from the wedding they were un-invited to), but send a short handwritten card just thanking them for understanding. No need for frills or anything crazy, but show that you do appreciate their flexibility and that they are still meaningful in their life. Be gracious and kind, it always pays off in the end.

 

Top Five Tips for Saving on Your Wedding Dress

The dress you get married in is the most important dress you’ll ever buy. It’s worth taking the time to find! Unfortunately, it can also be quite costly. We understand that more people are on a budget now, so we’ve got some tips that’ll help you save on your dress.

Raid Closets

This one’s sure to make you feel nostalgic- go to your mom, grandma, or anyone else who’s been married in your family and still has their dress. There are some cultures that pass down wedding dresses from mother to daughter, why not give it a shot? If you’re able to recycle a family dress, the only expense you can expect is a good dry clean and some slight alterations. It’s a great way to save money, get some extra use out of another dress, and to honor the women in your life.

Go Big

You may already go shopping at H&M and Target- why not check out their wedding collection? More and more big brands like H&M and Target are releasing wedding lines for the more financially savvy bride, and they’re not bad! Frugal fashion is one great thing to come of the recent recession, why not take advantage? If an H&M or Target wedding dress doesn’t feel special enough, take it in to get some alterations to be more fitted or add some lace or beading for a special touch.

Try New-To-You

Go cruising at consignment stores for wedding dresses, just be sure to check them for stains first! Most people will only wear their wedding dress once, why not give it a new life? Don’t believe the hype or superstition that you can’t wear someone else’s wedding dress. If you wear it to your wedding, that makes it your wedding dress! Its’ history doesn’t matter as long as it looks good on you. If you can find the right dress and the right price, you can’t get hung up on where it originally came from. Just be sure to dry clean it no matter what, and seriously go over every inch of it for any tears, stains, or frays.

Go Short Term

Wedding dress rental businesses have been booming- why not try it out? There are tons of websites to check out in addition to actual brick and mortar stores. If the groomsmen are going to rent their tuxes just for the day, why not rent your dress? If you feel like you’re not going to wear it again after your wedding (and let’s face it- are you realistically going to wear your wedding dress again?), consider renting. Simply search ‘wedding dress rental’ and your zip code and presto! Wedding dresses by the day near you.

Try a “Non-Wedding” Wedding Dress

Are you married to the idea of the white dress? What matters most is that you feel as beautiful as possible. If that’s not in a white dress, don’t feel pressured into it! If you want to do something closer to a cocktail dress, check out the cocktail dresses! Not everyone feels comfortable in formal wear, and if that’s you it’s ok! Instead of shopping for the wedding shop for the bride (you!). Wedding dresses tend to be marked up, so if you find a dress that you love and isn’t a ‘traditional’ wedding dress, you may be able to save some money.