Strut Bridal

6 Great Questions to Ask a Wedding Hair Stylist

For the last installment in our wedding hair series, we want to give you six important questions to ask anyone you'd like to do your wedding day hair.

1. Do they have experience doing wedding hair? Additionally, if yes, how much? This might seem like a silly question, but ladies, wedding day hair brings additional challenges that not every stylist has tackled. And if you want an up do, keep in mind that not every stylist even likes doing them!

2. Do you go on site or do I come to the salon? Additionally, do you charge extra to travel to a location? This is a great question if you have a tight wedding day time line. If your wedding is in a more rural location, you might not have time to travel to a salon. If you have multiple girls getting their hair done, it might also be easier to have the stylist travel to your wedding location (or wherever you're getting ready).

3. Does your price include a hair trial? You'll want to do a hair trial a couple of weeks in advance. You'll want to test the hairstyle for durability and style, to see if it's flattering, and to see how it works with the headpieces you've picked out.

4. Can I see photos of past clients? And do you have references or reviews? You want to make sure the stylist can do the type of hairstyle you're requesting.

5. Do you book more than one wedding on a day, or do I have you exclusively? This is a great question if you're getting ready later in the day, as a previous engagement might run long and leave you behind schedule.

6. What's your back up plan in case you have an emergency on the day of my wedding? Since life can be unpredictable, you want to know that your stylist has a Plan B in case they can't make it. 

As with all wedding vendors, we recommend securing a contract and day-of schedule.

Help for Short Hair

Our wedding hair series continues with some helpful information for brides with short hair.

First, if you have  a long engagement, you may be able to grow out your hair because, on average, hair grows 1/2" to 1" a MONTH, and even faster during the summer!

Second, if you want super long hair and don't have time to grow it out, consider extensions! Clip in extensions typically cost less and can be removed easily. Others get sewn into your hair, and you may want to get them added about ten days before your wedding so that you can get used to the weight. You'll also want to do a hair trial with your extensions in.

Finally, if you just want to rock your short hair, here are three ways to jazz it up:

• Try a strong side part. Styling most of your hair to one side will make it look fuller. A large hair accessory, such as a sparkly comb or flowers, on the other side will help balance the look.
• Add bling. Try a statement piece like an asymmetrical headband or a large comb to add pizazz to your hairstyle. Just don't add too much!
• Top it off with a bird cage veil, a fascinator of feathers or flowers, or even a pillbox hat!

Check out hairstyle boards on Pinterest or the image galleries on TheKnot.com to find some wedding hairstyles you might like. Another great place to look is in magazines featuring celebrities after major award shows. You can find inspiration in their red-carpet looks!

Wedding Hair 101

Get ready for our multi-part series on how to get great wedding hair. It'll have everything from your 12-month count-down to our favorite wedding day hair styles, like this one:

We love the braid because it adds just a touch of texture. But the gentle waves would go great with everything from a flowy, beach style wedding dress to a fitted vintage-style lace wedding gown. If you're doing a more traditional satin ball gown, that's ok too--just pop in a veil and a sparkly hair comb, and you've glammed it up.

As for our first tip, it's this: don't wash your hair the day off your wedding; wash it the day before. Hairstyles actually hold better with a little texture (you could also call it dirt, but let's not...). And if you have more oily hair, that's ok, too, because today's dry shampoos will soak it right up and leave you feeling squeaky clean!

Awesome Details for Your Vintage Wedding

Vintage-inspired weddings are all the rage right now, but finding the perfect vintage-inspired wedding dress can be tough, as dress makers are slow to catch up with trends. And sometimes, that all-lace fitted gown or the fluffy tea length wedding dress might not work best for your body type. But don't dispair--we tell our brides that dresses can be blank slates that you can dress up or dress down, or make vintage-looking, just with the accessories you wear and the details you plan for your wedding.

Here are some fun ideas for your vintage inspired wedding:

1. Wear a headpiece that works with lace:

2. Look for an engagement ring that can work with vintagey details, like these settings from DeBeer (the top one is our favorite!):

3. Have fun with your cake! This one, covered in small pearl-like balls, looks delicately retro. We also love the layered ombre cake:

Work with your wedding planner for more ideas for great details that can really make your wedding amazing. You can also check Pinterest for inspiration and Esty for awesome home-made products!

Knock-Off Chinese Wedding Dresses

We love Etsy, but lately we've noticed that counterfeit wedding dresses are even popping up on a site known for original, handmade goods. In upcoming wedding magazines you'll likely see some ads by national retailers cautioning brides against buying wedding dresses directly from Chinese manufacturers. 

We've heard the horror stories from desperate brides who either don't ever get their wedding dress, or receive a terrible version of the original. Thanks to the Facebook page Brides Aware, we've found some awesome (by awesome we mean sad and terrible) photos of Chinese knockoff wedding gowns to share with all of you.

The original:

The knockoff version:

And finally, the most horrific:

If you plan to buy a knock off wedding dress, be sure to order VERY early in case you're not happy with the product. You'll want to have enough time to replace it. And be sure to Google reviews of the website you plan to buy from. But please know that these factories are working off photos of the gowns, and they don't have the same quality materials or even the patterns to work from.

9 Great Reasons to Choose a Destination Wedding

Although the weather in Arizona is great for about eight months of the year, we still dream of dipping our toes in the ocean and sipping exotic drinks after saying our "I dos". 

Image from http://www.costaricaluxurywedding.com/index.html

Here are nine great reasons to choose a destination wedding:

1. You can introduce people to your passion: Whether you're picking a vineyard or mountain top ski resort, the place you two pick can say a lot about the things you love and can amp up the emotion everyone feels on your special day. 
2. Free wedding planning help: Many destination wedding sites have wedding coordinators that help with the details for your big day. This can be a big savings, both financially and for your emotional state!
3. Fewer vendors to coordinate: Again, many destination wedding sites create packages to help you cut down the stress and difficulty of picking a florist a photographer from sometimes thousands of miles away. You can usually customize a bit within their packages. But you'll have fewer decisions to make and fewer vendors to coordinate.
4. Fewer guests and lower costs: Because not everyone will be able to travel to your wedding, you'll be able to keep some costs lower by having fewer guests. Which leads us to #5...
5. More time with the people you love: Fewer guests means you'll have more time to spend with each person. Many times couples throwing destination weddings will plan additional events, such as a welcome dinner or casual cocktail night on the beach, so you'll be able to connect with more folks.
6. Vacation time! Your friends may be able to turn your wedding trip into a vacation. This means more fun for everyone.
7. A honeymoon built in: Many beach-bound couples stay several days after their nuptials and turn their trip into a wedding and honeymoon all in one. This can result in savings if you were planning to take a separate trip.
8. Less family drama: With nobody on "home turf", and everyone in vacation mode, there's often less family drama for destination weddings.
9. Amazing photos: Can you really top a snow-covered mountain top, a lush waterfall, or sunset on the beach? Destination weddings can provide amazing wedding photos!

We always recommend working with a travel professional who can help you plan a destination wedding. They'll put together great packages and help coordinate travel for your friends from all of their different points of origin!

 

FAQ: What's the Difference Between a Fit and Flare, Trumpet and Mermaid Wedding Dress?

We get this question a lot from brides who wonder which wedding dress style will look best on them. Recently Brides magazine answered this question with a great visual showing the difference between a fit and flare, trumpet, and mermaid wedding gown:

You can see that the difference between them is basically where it flares out from your body, either just past the hips, mid thigh, or around the knee. We tell our brides that mermaid wedding gowns place the most emphasis on the hips because they come back in at knee, so you'll be showing off the full curve of your hips in this style. Brides that want to de-emphasize their hips will want to chose one of the other silhouettes.

We also often say that mermaid wedding gowns are the sexiest style because they show off your shape the most. As the article noted, they do restrict movement. So if you're looking for comfort over style, you might want to chose a trumpet or fit and flare. 

Lately we've noticed an increase in requests for mermaid gowns, and we're thrilled that our Arizona brides are exploring these options. We'll be looking for more mermaid gowns at the upcoming bridal market next month!

Girl Talk: Do You Need Help Finding a Bra?

We're always talking to our Strut Brides about finding the perfect bra. After all, a good-fitting bra can help with posture, alleviate back and shoulder pain, and make you appear 10 pounds thinner. But most women think they are cup size C, D, or DD, because those are the sizes they see in stores. The fact is, though, that many of us curvy girls need a non-traditional size that's bigger than a DD. 

Many times we'll send our ladies to CC's Lingerie because they have the largest selection of non-traditional bras in the state. But then we met the lovely ladies from Belle Lacet Lingerie in Chandler and wanted to introduce you to them, too!

We love the girls at Belle Lacet because they know what it's like to have a hard time finding a bra. Sometimes you're broader in the back but need a smaller cup size, and these ladies can get you that 48B. Or maybe you have a small ribcage but large chest and need a bra up to a size K, and Belle Lacet can get it for you. In fact, the average size they sell is a 38G. G as in gorgeous, ladies!

Here are some signs you're not wearing the right size bra:

• The straps fall down or dig in
• The band rides up
• The cups are sagging
• There's breast tissue overflowing from the cup or over the band
• The under wire doesn't chest your breastbone between your breasts.

We tell our brides that buying a bra is like buying a wedding dress--you buy on fit and flatter, not the size. That means it's OK to go larger in the cup (seriously--ask your significant other if they mind you having an F-cup!). So go say hi to Karla and Liz at Belle Lacet. They are certified bra fitters and can order you the perfect bra. The prices were reasonable, and they have some of the most beautiful bra and panty sets (perfect for that special holiday coming up!) as well as plus size lingerie.

Get Inspired on Pinterest!

In the olden days brides would bring us a stack of magazine photos of wedding dresses they liked when they came gown shopping. Now, though, our Arizona brides are starting to send us links to their inspiration boards on Pinterest, and we think that's great! Not only do we get an idea of your personal style, but we can check out other details you're planning for your wedding.  

If you haven't yet joined Pinterest, it's super easy. You create an account, and then, as you poke around Etsy (ok, the whole internet, really), you push the "Pin It" button and it will post a pic to your inspiration board. And you can have separate boards for all your wedding faves, like, dresses, flowers, centerpieces, etc.

So far we've done just a few boards for some of our favorite wedding gowns (and this season's hottest wedding dress trends), so feel free to follow us (StrutBridal) and we'll happily follow you back! 

Important Points to Include in Your Wedding Florist Contract

Our final article in our series on wedding flowers concludes with some key points on things to include in your contract with your wedding florist.

1. Contact information (name, addess, phone number) of the delivery location. Be sure to include any backup venues, too.
2. Detailed description of every type (head table, bar, pews, etc.) of floral arrangement, including possible flowers that might be substituted (there are sometimes supply issues). Also include the total cost, amount of deposit paid and balance due.
3. Time the florist is to arrive at your site (be sure to include whether or not they need to go to more than one place, such as where you're getting ready to bring your bouquet, the wedding site, and the reception venue).
4. Name of the key contact or floral designer working on your project.
5. A detailed list of services provided, such as set up, delivery (including any additional costs for delivery), and breakdown.
6. Information regarding their cancellation policy, including whether or not your deposit is refundable.
7. The cutoff date for making changes to your order.
8. A list of items rented (such as vases or containers) and who is responsible for returning them.
9. A list of flowers needed to decorate the wedding cake, if needed.