Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal – a perfect time for the new adventure that a marriage brings. Yet in the race for most popular time of year to get married, spring is a distant third place behind summer and autumn. This is good news if you’re planning a spring wedding, as more top-notch vendors will be available, and you may be able to get discounted rates, especially on sites and travel.

If you’re considering a spring wedding, start off by thinking about your favorite parts of the season. Is it crocuses poking up through snow? Perhaps you’ll want to have a wedding early in the season, and offer the respite of floral abundance and warmth when guests come in from the cold. If it’s the emerging sunshine, choose bright colors and May weather. Here are some ideas to get you started on planning your spring wedding:

When to Have a Spring Wedding:
If you’re getting married in a church, talk to them about their Easter decorations.

You may be able to save money by using theirs. Vendors and sites may be more available in the spring than in the summer, but remember prom; you may need to book limousines and tuxedos extra early.

Spring Wedding Dresses:
Most wedding dresses seem made for a spring wedding. Wedding magazines are full of large skirts that may be too warm for the summer, and sleeveless tops that may be too cold for winter. Look for a versatile dress that can be paired with a wrap if you’re chilly, yet is still light and airy.

Many more brides these days are opting for a hint of color in their wedding dresses – be it a baby blue sash, an allover hint of pink, or light colorful embroidery. These touches will look perfect at a spring wedding.

Attire for the Wedding Party:
When dressing for a spring wedding, keep in mind that the weather can be dodgy. You may have 70 degrees and sunshine, or you may end up with a damp, chilly day. Choose dresses with sleeves on them, give your bridesmaids wraps to wear as their bridesmaid gift, or go for a vintage look with cardigan sweaters.

Spring weddings are full of the classic (and sometimes dreaded) pastel bridesmaid dress. Make things easier on your bridesmaids by allowing them to choose the color or cut of their dress, and you’ll hear far fewer complaints. Or go in a different direction with turquoise or lime green dresses, accompanied by pink bouquets. For a daytime wedding, men look dapper in tan suits, a colored shirts and coordinating ties.

Because of April showers, avoid putting your wedding party in satin shoes, and consider buying them matching large umbrellas, just in case. Don’t worry if it rains; there’s something so romantic about a bride and groom under a big black umbrella, shining and smiling in love.

Spring Wedding Menu Ideas:
Celebrate spring in your menu with fresh young vegetables such as baby carrots, baby asparagus (or regular asparagus), new potatoes, sugar snap peas, and haricots verts. Gently evoke Easter with a chocolate cake with coconut icing. You could also opt for carrot cake with a cream cheese icing. Strawberries, rhubarb, and apricots are delicious at this time of year, and mangos and pomegranates may work as well. Try phyllo dough cups with mousse or custard topped with strawberries.

Decorations:
The preppy pink and green color combination couldn’t be more spring-like, and is perfect for a beautiful, fresh spring wedding. Accent your tables with polka-dot or gingham fabrics and ribbons, and use alternating pink and green chair colors. For a more elegant look, combine celadon green with white, using silver as an accent color. If you’re having an outdoor wedding and a fair amount of children, a may pole does double duty as entertainment and elegant decoration. Instead of rice, consider asking your guests to throw rose petals, or release butterflies.

Spring Wedding Flowers:
Flowers in season include roses, tulips, hyacinth, lilies and Gerber daisies. Multi-colored calla lilies are very popular and look beautiful in a spring arrangement. Combine a dozen with lemon leaf or maiden hair, or create a simple hand tied nosegay.

For centerpieces, subtly evoke the Easter season by using white baskets filled with oasis floral form and an abundance of spring flowers. An inexpensive centerpiece for a garden wedding is a terracotta pot with a spring-moss or ivy covered Styrofoam ball affixed to it. Add small candles around it and/or some rose petals.

Consider tying your bouquet with polka-dot or striped ribbon in a bright or pastel color, adding a bit of unexpected pattern and freshness.

Spring Wedding Favors:
Give favors of seed packets or bulbs, with thanks for supporting the growth of your love. Consider giving birdhouses – you can usually find these inexpensively at a dollar store or craft store. Around Easter, send your guests home with a chocolate Easter bunny, a ceramic Easter egg, or a birds nests (either from the craft store or made from chocolate and/or coconut) filled with robin’s egg candies.

From Nina Callaway

In the movies, everyone seems to get married in June. But a winter wedding can be terribly glamorous, cinematic and magical. With the right elements, your winter wedding will be a wonderland.

Attire for Your Winter Wedding
Think about you and your sweetie in the elegant look of old Hollywood; the groom in tails, and the bride in a white long silk dress with a white fur or faux fur wrap. Evoke the season with “ice” –diamond or diamond-like jewelry. 90% of wedding dresses are strapless or sleeveless, but that’s not so practical for a bride who wants to take pictures outside, or needs to walk any distance. Look for wraps, shrugs, and capes, or dramatic coats. I’ve always loved the look of a bride in a white dress and a large red shawl, huddled against her groom who has a red boutonnière.

And don’t forget your bridesmaids! An attractive wrap to wear on the day of your wedding and beyond makes a great bridesmaid present.

Where to Have a Winter Wedding
Look for an inn with a fireplace for an intimate winter wedding. For a larger affair, you may be able to use a historic mansion or private club that will still have intimate warmth. Unless you’re getting married in a state that will have guaranteed snow during your wedding date, avoid a room that has a large picture window. You may imagine drifts of beautiful snow, and end up with a grey rainy day. Be sure to ask what seasonal decorations they use – you’ll save money as many sites are already heavily decorated. Also, check to make sure your site will be adequately heated during the winter months; old churches can be especially drafty.

Planning the Menu
You can have all of your favorite food but add some winter touches like a squash dish, or warm pumpkin soup. Consider serving eggnog, spiced wine, or hot chocolate (alcoholic or non-) as special treats. Look for an all-white cake, decorated with snowflake patterns, silver embellishments, or sugar sculptures. Ask your caterer about using a decorative snow globe as a cake topper

Winter Wedding Flowers
Decide whether you want to go for a silver and white elegant look, or celebrate the season with reds and greens. For those who like silver, look for dusty miller, silver-dollar eucalyptus, and baby blue eucalyptus, mixed with white flowers such as roses, football mums, crocus, lilies and stephanotis. If you’re looking for a brighter bouquet, consider red roses with holly and pine-tree greenery. In season flowers such as tulips, roses, and ornamental berries generally will be less expensive choices. (Talk to your florist, as your region may have different availability)

The Décor for Your Winter Wedding
Decorate your tables with simple and inexpensive white poinsettias, or fill the room with light by arranging pillar candles on a bed of pine branches At the after-Christmas sales, stock up on strands of small white lights, then string them decoratively around doorways, over tables and on archways. Bright red cranberries in a bowl surrounding floating candles make an easy and inexpensive centerpiece. Look at this article for other simple holiday centerpieces.. Or, decorate a pre-made gingerbread house for each table, and center it on a bed of greenery with candles around it.

Favors
If you and most of your guests celebrate Christmas, an ornament makes a perfect favor. An inexpensive homemade favor is a pretty tin of spiced hot chocolate mix or hot cocoa mix with marshmallows. Also consider a snow globe, with a bride and groom inside, or a holiday cookie cutter with a cookie recipe attached that says your names, wedding date, and “truly cut out for each other”.

Special touches

• Have the bride and groom travel by horse and carriage to the reception, complete with a fur throw to keep them warm of course!
• Decorate the reception with miniature and life-size Christmas trees.
• Commission an ice sculpture to decorate the reception hall
• Use a crystal bouquet for that extra wintery feel. As a bonus, you’ll get to keep your your bouquet forever.
• Greet your guests with warm coffee or hot chocolate as soon as they come in the ceremony or reception site.

From Nina Callaway

The latest trends in wedding favors are those that create an experience for your guests long after the wedding is over. Unique wedding favors are more than just a souvenir. The most unique wedding favors will engage the senses of your guests and recreate the festivities of your special day. Here we’ll take at five of the hottest wedding favor ideas:

Personalized Cosmopolitan and Margarita Cocktail Mixes
What better way to reward your guests than with a delicious, single serving cosmopolitan or margarita cocktail mix that is sure to put a smile on their face. These unique wedding favors come in glossy foil packets that can be personalized to fit the theme and style of your wedding. Personalized mixed drinks are a top choice for entertainment savvy couples.

Display Tip:

Package these unique wedding favors with an elegant martini glass ornamented with a sheer fabric bow.

Personalized Chocolate Candy Bars
It’s rare to find anyone who doesn’t savor the taste of a smooth, milky chocolate bar. For a unique wedding favor that is sure to please everyone and be truly unique, a chocolate candy bar with a personalized wrapper is great solution. Choose either mini candy bars or full sized candy bars then pick an image and font that fits your style. Full size chocolate bars offer lots of room for customization. Add your names, wedding date, event time, city and state for a highly personalized and beautiful memento.

Display Tip:

Arrange full size chocolate favors on the guest’s plate or fill glass bowls with mini chocolate bars for guests to help themselves.

Personalized Tea Favors
Invigorate your guests with the promise of a cup of aromatic tea, representative of the warmth and comfort of your new marriage. Each tea bag comes sealed in a gorgeous white foil pouch that can be customized with your names, wedding date, and choice of message. With a vast selection of beautiful fonts and images, this inexpensive wedding favor is a smart and delicious choice.

Display Tip:

Place one or more personalized tea bags into an elegant teacup and embellish with an ornate ribbon.

Personalized Coffee Favors
Coffee packets are a gift that everyone can enjoy. These unique wedding favors are packaged in attractive glossy foil and can be customized with your names, wedding date, and choice of wedding message. Choose an image and font that represents your style and you’ve got a fantastic wedding favor that looks and tastes great. Once your guests enjoy the hot cup of delicious coffee, they can hold onto the beautiful packaging as a memento fit for a scrapbook or photo album.

Display Tip:

Insert the personalized coffee favor packet into a personalized coffee mug or packaged in a basket with raffia, hot chocolate, and personalized tea packets.

It is the company of friends and family that make a wedding memorable. Rewarding those who come to share your special day with a thoughtful favor gift is a wonderful way to show your appreciation. Choosing wedding favors that excite the senses give your guests a chance to relive the pleasure of your wedding day.

By:Christine Harrell

When planning a destination wedding, a lot of ambiance is communicated through the selection of favors. Later, these same mementos serve to remind the guests of the fun and splendor of the reception. Favors can do more than just communicate gratitude – in many ways, they are the souvenir of the reception, the reminder given to guests to commemorate their time at your festivities. As such, the favor assumes a special importance, and should be selected with consideration and care by the bride and wedding planner alike.

But that’s not to say the favors can’t be fun, either. Recently, I attended a reception in which the happy couple gave away coffee and tea as favors, as part of their Victorian-themed wedding. The beverages were tastefully packaged in small boxes and tied with ribbon, equivalent to the kind found in the best luxury hotels. The message they wanted to convey with the favor was simple, the groom told me later: we thank you for your time tonight, he said. Tomorrow morning, please allow the moment of good taste and relaxation found with these English-influenced beverages to bring you a moment of sophistication before starting your journey home. The gift was simple, elegant, and not at all expensive per unit, he explained, but the enjoyment afforded was momentous.

Similarly, some couples headed for tropical honeymoons have given small pouches of cocktail mixes as favors. These single-serving mixers offered the basic ingredients for margaritas, cosmopolitans, and pina coladas to each guest, to evoke the couples’ destination. In a way, the bride said, the guests could join them for a drink at their getaway, at least “in spirit.” While the pouches did not include alcohol, they still brought to mind the excitement and romance of leisurely cocktails sipped in exotic destinations.

Finally, destination wedding favors can also reinforce the design motif. When holding an Asian-themed wedding, for example, having tiny mint tins or tea bags personalized for each guest gives a touch of Eastern hospitality while accenting the reception’s central theme. They, too, are inexpensive and can be purchased in bulk quantities to reduce cost.

My Wedding Favors.com has a complete selection of the items described above, with personalization available on some items. Their complete list of products can be found on their website.

I am amazed at how often I am asked about this topic. Most brides are lost when trying to select the perfect favor to give guests. Why? Well, I believe that it has to do with the current changes in the industry. Weddings are becoming less “stick to the formal etiquette” and more personal. Brides and Grooms are older, more established and more fiscally responsible for their own events.

Favors were originally designed to share in the joyous occasion and pass along good luck to guests. They have since evolved to thanking guests for sharing in their event and to provide a memento of the day. So, how do you choose the perfect one? Well, first of all, let’s go over the types of favors generally given to guests and the pro’s/con’s of each.

Types of Favors

Food or Beverages – everything from candy to fruit and from coffee to wine.
Pro’s – This category is filled with thousands of options to choose from. Most items can be easily personalized, through selected packaging and is fairly inexpensive. Most guests are delighted to receive an extra tasty treat to be shared on the ride home or back in their hotel room.
Con’s - Just remember that food and beverage items are perishable, so considerations of weather and storage should be accounted for. As well as, how long before the event these items should be ordered.

Gifts – you can choose to provide guest picture frames, bookmarks, glasses, candles and so much more.
Pro’s – This category is filled with so many options in a variety of styles, colors, shapes and sizes. The gift you select can easily be of a personal nature or have it easily customized to reflect you and your spouse.
Con’s – Sometimes the selection is overwhelming. Many couples want to choose gift that is sex-neutral and useful. Most of the time, gifts will be more expensive than traditional candy. So, watch your budget here!

Donations – this is a great new trend that allows the wedding couple to forgo the favor in lieu of making a donation to their favorite charity and sharing this news with their guests.
Pro’s – most guest are happy to leave the material memento to the wayside in efforts to help others in need. This also saves you time and effort in selecting, manufacturing and staging the favor.
Con’s – this favor selection has no con’s.

Well, now that you know what types of favors are available and their positive and negative attributes, let’s discuss how to present them to your guests.

Ways to Present Favors

At Each Place Setting – They may be placed directly on the plate or near the plate. By doing so, will add additional color to the place setting. This presentation also allows guests to receive your gift before the reception festivities begin and will provide an ice-breaker for conversation.

At An Exit Station – setting up a favor station to provide a small gift as your guests leave adds a little element of surprise. These stations are typically, set-up after dinner while guests are dancing. One thing to remember is to have your MCEE inform guests to take a gift, otherwise you may be left with extras.

At the Place Card Table – using a favor in conjunction with a place card is a great way to save some money, without sacrificing one or the other. The favor is arranged on the entrance table in alphabetical order (so guests can find their name and their seat). By choosing this method, give guests a sneak preview of what to expect from the reception. This method also ensures guests will pick-up their favor. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that they will remember to take it at the end of the night.

As for selecting the “right” favor, that’s up to you. You may want to consider an item that represents you and your spouse, or perhaps your budget will be a deciding factor. Just remember when you are selecting a favor to summarize the expense. The item may seem inexpensive on an individual basis, but when you multiple it by your guest list, that number may be more than you were anticipating to spend. And don’t forget, some favors require additional packaging, so those numbers count too.

Written by Kristi Richardson – www.bloomedtolast.com