The Dubious Bride

Ready to register or totally overwhelmed? Former DB, Jess helps you keep it simple.

By Jessica Solloway

Getting to hand pick your presents is every bride's dream come true. But actually creating a registry can be overwhelming and stressful. How many places should you register? How many items? What if you change your mind? Do you really need a milk frother?

Those questions flooded my brain when my fiancé (now husband) and I were handed the "gun" for the first time. We were finally going to be able to get rid of our college-style kitchen gear and make some major upgrades, but we didn't know where to start! Well, now that I'm a married lady, I figured I would share some registry know-how I learned along the way with you brides-to-be!

Continue reading "The Right Way to Register?" »

Shopping for wedding-related clothing has become Jessa's guilty pleasure.

 

By Jessa Goodworth

 

I think that being a bride-to-be opens doors to new guilty pleasures.

 

Some of mine include watching The Bad Girls Club, cuddling in bed with my dog- Buster for an extra half-hour every morning... and my newest and favorite guilty pleasure is listening to Waking Up with Taylor on Cosmo Radio on my 15 minute ride to work.

 

Taylor, like me, is a bride-to-be. I especially love listening to her discuss wedding planning and relationship advice. A few weeks ago she discussed one of her guilty pleasures- shopping. She told a story about a trip that she took to Louis Vuitton with her mother. Long story short- Taylor fell in love with a pair of $1,500.00 pants and her mother made a comment like, "It's your wedding year... you should get them."

 

I feel like when you are a bride, every occasion is a new reason to look as fantastic s possible.  On more occasions, the bride is the center of attention... like showers, photo shoots, engagement parties, bachelorette parties, etc. At the events, more people are focusing on the bride and more photos are taken, therefore she wants to stand-out and look amazing.  

Continue reading " First Comes Love... then Comes Fashion " »

Jessa is having trouble deciding which dress code to choose for her wedding.

By Jessa Goodworth

For me, the past several weeks have been jammed-packed with family parties, work events and traveling. I returned from Florida on Wednesday just in time to attend an event hosted by Cleveland's CBC magazine.  It was a swanky, business-casual event that became celebratory when my company, Rock The House left the event with two awards. 

Then on Saturday I traveled 2 hours west to Toledo, Ohio to celebrate my cousin Sari's Bat Mitzvah.  The dress code for Sari's reception was "funky party attire", leaving the 20-30 something's clueless about what to wear... however, I pulled something funky together and had a blast. Then on Sunday Jason and I and several of our friends attended an event called, Road to the Red Carpet in celebration of the academy awards.

This event was labeled black tie, so Jason and our friend Josiah were happy to whip out their tuxes and the ladies were anticipating getting all dolled up. It is hard for me to look back and imagine how much time and energy, I, as a guest, spent deciding what to wear. Meanwhile, in anticipation of getting my invitations designed, Jason and I need to decide how to label our wedding dress code. 

Continue reading "How to Dress Your Guests" »

The dos and don'ts of wedding speeches and toasts.

By Jessa Goodworth

As many of you may know, the Northeast, for the past week, has fallen under a blanket of snow and ice.

Meanwhile, my fiancé, Jason, and I planned a trip to sunny southern Florida to celebrate his grandfather- Sammy's 90^th birthday. Jason's mother and brothers planned an incredible birthday dinner, which fed over 50 guests and gave Sammy the recognition that he deserved. I met what seemed like millions of Jason's relatives who, until yesterday, were just names on an overwhelmingly long guest-list. I felt like the newly engaged bride to be again; everyone was asking to see my ring and inquiring about all of the exciting wedding details.

One of the most exciting and thrilling things that transpired on Sammy's birthday was listening to Jason give a speech at the event. 

I have often been told the story of when 5-year-old Jason got up at his uncle's wedding, after being the ring bearer, and made a great one minute speech and then proceeded to fall asleep between two chairs for the remainder of the night. Never one to disappoint, Jason , 25 years later made another adorable speech that again garnered an honest round of applause.

I realized immediately that speeches have the ability to make or break an event...

Continue reading "How Not to Give a Wedding Speech" »

Jessa works on her wedding website.

By Jessa Goodworth

So, in my last blog I discussed the series of steps that brides and grooms must go through in order have fun sending out save-the-dates... a modern and fun way to inform your guests about your upcoming wedding.

I decided that along with the save-the-date itself, I am adding additional materials that detail hotel accommodations and also introduce my wedding website. 

Continue reading "Finding and Creating the Perfect Wedding Website " »

After getting her Save The Dates designed, Jessa struggles with actually sending them out!

I had my save-the-dates created about 4 months ago.  I knew I wanted something fun, playful and creative.  150 have been printed and have been sitting in a box on my desk since I eagerly picked them up from Party 411 ...120+ days ago.

I know it doesn't seem like that huge of a task... especially considering that I have an entire wedding to plan, but honestly,  there are so many steps that a bride and her family must take in order to send out these fun and friendly wedding reminders... 

Continue reading "From Setting the Date to Saving the Date " »

I had my engagement photos taken last Sunday. 
First, I have to say that I am extremely happy with the outcome of the photos.  I am now more obsessed than I thought I was with my one of a kind photographer- Rich Pappas.

I realized that engagement photos are kind of a new phenomenon as far as wedding-planning goes.  Many couples get them taken before they put their engagement announcement in local news papers. Since I already completed that task, I had no functional use for these images; however they were included in the photography package that I purchased several months ago. 

I thought, Jason and I could get dressed in our Sunday best and take some happy couple pictures outside like many other couples do... or we could do something really different.  And if you know anything about me, you know that I opted to be different.

Continue reading "My Themed Engagement Shoot" »

Jessa finds herself making decisions about bridal hair after being asked to shoot a before & after editorial for a local magazine.

By Jessa Goodworth

A few months ago, I was asked by editors at a local magazine called Jstyle, to do a Before & After photo shoot for an editorial that they were preparing for their upcoming Weddings issue.

It sounded like a awesome experience, especially because hair and make-up were two things that I hadn't really thought about up until this point in my planning process.

I mean, I love my hair! It's big and stylists tell me that it's fun to play with... but choosing how to wear it on my wedding day was not something I had prepped for yet.  It's comparable to choosing your dress, your décor, cake, invitations, etc.

Continue reading "Making Headlines" »

After several strait weeks of working her booty off- Jessa is ready to ask others to help with her wedding-planning.

By Jessa Goodworth

It has always seemed crazy to me that is takes people, on average, an entire year to plan a wedding.

Then, I started working in the wedding biz and realized how detail oriented wedding planning is.  Everything from the dress to the napkins need special attention careful consideration.  It is exhausting to go through the list off all of the different counterparts and plan how you want each entity to look, taste, smell, feel, etc.

Continue reading "I Need Help!- and I'm not afraid to ask for it. " »

Jessa discussed the up-and-coming trend in bridal shows -- and how she experiences them as a bride and a vendor.

By Jessa Goodworth

At Rock The House, (my day-job), January is known as Bridal Show Month. We have either exhibited, hosted or produced 5 shows in the last 2 weeks and have another coming up this weekend.  My fellow RTH staff members and I have been working longer hours and 7 days per week rather than the usual 6 in order stand out, impress and hope for success in the 2010 upcoming wedding season.  

Continue reading "Bridal Shows Go Digital!" »