Blogs

This was a good week for me! I worked out at the gym Tuesday through Friday. All week, I continued my Atkins shakes in the morning and my bars for lunch with some light snacks. My favorite dinner this week was another recipe from skinnytaste.com (I’m clearly obsessed!) — Grilled Chicken with Spinach and Melted Mozzarella. We added quinoa and roasted cauliflower on the side, and it was the perfect meal

Last Saturday night was my girlfriend Roseann's engagement party, and it was a great time! She is one of my bridesmaids, and I am one of hers, too. It’s nice having someone to plan and share ideas with.

She did a fall theme, so everything was orange, red and brown, and it looked awesome. She also did a lot of DIY projects, like the centerpieces and the favors, which made it so personal (and, of course, saved her some money). A DIY project for engagement parties, showers and even your wedding is a great way to add a personal touch of your style while sticking to the budget.

Her centerpieces consisted of a fish bowl from the dollar store which she spray painted with gold glitter spray. She made the flowers herself with colored tissue paper and added a small pumpkin. She also added the table numbers which completed the centerpiece. They were super creative and looked beautiful with the theme of the room.

Photo Credit: Instagram

On June 7th, 2013, Amanda Roman experienced three milestones in just a few hours: Ryan Leak, her boyfriend of five years, said "I love you" for the first time; then, they got engaged in front of 100 loved ones, and later on, the couple tied the knot in a wedding filled with all of her favorite things.

Miraculously, she was unaware that any of these events were about to occur, thanks to Leak's dogged determination to surprise her. The plan was hatched two years prior, when the 27-year-old Dallas native overheard Roman, 25, telling a friend that her dream was to get engaged and married on the same day.

When it came time to propose to his future wife, he always knew he wanted to "do something extravagant" — but he never expected that would mean organizing an entire wedding from start to finish on his own. "I don't know any guy who wakes up and actually wants to plan a wedding," Leak says in a video about the couple's story, which has now gone viral.

Every rose has its thorn. Spikes paired with soft romantic petals creates an utterly whimsical bridal look. This style is perfect for the unconventional fashion-forward bride who wants to bring some of her individual style into her big-day look.

Credits left to right: 1. Flower spiked headband from Topshop.com. 2. Crystal cage cuff by Baublebar.com. 3. Metallic leather sandals by Charlotte Olympia. 4. Pura Lopez gold studded high heel sandals at IntermixOnline.com. 5. Oscar de la Renta Embroidered tulle gown. 6. Glory 3D flower clutch by Alexander McQueen. 7. Christian Louboutin spiked metallic leather clutch. 8. Giuseppe Zanotti Crystal Spike Sandals. 9. Oscar de la Renta Gold-plated leaf necklace.

—Naima DiFranco

Loverly is the heart of weddings: a visual inspiration search engine designed to help brides discover ideas, people to hire, and things to buy. Loverly makes finding beautiful wedding inspiration easier than ever! Their images are powered by the best wedding publishers and wedding shopping partners on the web. Find Bridal Guide on Loverly >>

Forget "chicken or fish?" —wedding food no longer has to be boring. Flavor and presentation are equal players on these plates, even if the budget doesn’t allow for a celebrity chef. We eat with our eyes first, and serving a piece of crispy, buttery halibut on a paper plate just won’t cut it. Go a step further with your passed hors d'oeuvres and offer small bites in a soup spoon or an antipasto platter on wooden plank carving boards. Here are 10 of our favorite inspiration images of delicious food and stunning presentations.

1. Start off the evening with passed hors d'oeuvres that pack as much style as flavor. Ever thought of serving soup in a single-bite (or, slurp) spoon?

When planning your wedding theme and colors, your bridesmaids’ fashion choices can play an important role in creating a cohesive look for your big day. After all, you wouldn’t wear a cowboy hat to an elegant ballroom affair and you don’t want stilettos anywhere near a rustic barn. Here are some ideas on how your 'maids can accessorize their dress to not only match, but enhance the feel of your wedding.

Farm Wedding

Let the natural beauty of the countryside set the tone for your rustic-chic look. A neutral dress with flirty ruffles by Bari Jay is far from boring when paired with olive green accents and a lip that pops ($200). Swipe on some smoldering shadow, slip into classic cowboy boots and grab a colorful wildflower bouquet — you're ready to hoedown!

Over the past three months, Jennifer Crow has been blogging about her wedding weight-loss journey for us (catch up from the beginning!). Here, she shares the most important lessons she's learned so far.

You can always pick back up where you left off.

I’m not going to lie — this month was not a good one for me. I only lost about three pounds total. I did see a drastic change in inches (which is pretty awesome), but all in all, I did not do my best. I cheated on my diet almost every weekend, drank alcohol more than necessary (even if it was only a glass of wine here and there), and did not make it to the gym as often as I would have liked. I did better than I was doing six months ago, but I just know I could do better.

Sunday night, I thought about all the mistakes I made this past month and realized I had to make a change. If I want to lose more weight before it’s time to go dress shopping, I need to buckle down. So, starting Monday, I vowed to myself to work harder at the gym, eat better throughout the week, and really focus on being good on the weekends. The weekends seem to be my downfall, as I’m sure it is with most of you. Luckily for me, I still have time to pick back up the pieces and keep it going!

While it may seem like Breaking Bad has nothing to do with weddings, they share some central themes: love, family, and money.

1. It’s not about the money.

Sometimes, when the dollar signs start flying by, it can be easy to lose track of what it is really all about. While Walter says that everything he does is for his family, when is enough really ‘enough’? Don’t let the expense of the wedding day overshadow what it is really all about — and, on the flip side, don’t think that throwing money at problems will make them go away.

2. You can’t do it all alone.

Even Heisenberg needed distribution. A wedding can be a very complex event with lots of logistics. Your bridal party, your family, and your vendors are there to help you, so let them! But that doesn’t give you a license to crack the whip (or throw pizza). People are more likely to help you if you’re nice to them!

3. There are some things that are outside your control.

It's no surprise that planning a wedding can make you break out the tissues from time to time, but one thing I didn't realize as a bride is that there are distinct emotional phases you may go through before getting married. Just like Kübler-Ross' "Five Stages of Grief" theory, you can experience these stages in any order and every person's experience is just as unique as their wedding.

Thinking of wedding planning within this framework explains how it's possible to go from being giddy one moment to anxious or disinterested the next. Here, I share my experience, but I'd love to hear which stages, if any, you'd add to my list!

Stage 1: Pure Joy

Pop the champagne corks: This is really happening! Getting engaged to my husband Jason was a surreal experience, even though I had a feeling that bended-knee moment was coming. I was initiated into the incredibly wonderful (and wacky) world of weddings. I nostalgically look back on all of my wedding experiences now that my proofs are back, my beautiful wedding dress is dangling from a closet door, waiting to be preserved, and I'm transitioning into my role as a wife.

But the truth is that the source of my happiness was deeper than all of that. The Most Epic Party of Our Lives would just be the first of many adventures together: buying a house, traveling the world and hopefully having a baby someday. Professing our commitment added another dimension to our relationship, no matter how cliché it sounds.

The winning dress! I added the custom straps shown at right.