Post Planning Pretty Post

If you missed the Planning Pretty party, you missed a whole lot of fun! From the ridiculously delicious desserts from Sugar Mama (I seriously think I ate about six cake pops) and the yummy savory snacks by Fresh Company to the gorgeous floral arrangements from Engaging Floral Designs and the seemingly endless array of handmade raffle prizes, it was a bride’s dream!

There were so many fantastic ideas to take in and lots of vendors to get acquainted with. Luckily for you, I’ve put together a little recap of all of the helpful information you may have missed (or that you can’t remember exactly because you don’t attend parties with notebooks like I did!).

When we first got there, we wandered around Meredith’s adorable house, which had been transformed with floral arrangements by NY Engagement’s Sarah Lusardi (who, for the record, is a total sweetheart!). There seemed to be wedding-related goodies in every nook and cranny! Meredith, Monica and Melissa worked hard to transform the place. From Antique Honey’s Bee Booth and all of the raffle prizes upstairs to tables of gorgeous jewelry by A Little Simple and LML Designs, invitations from Perfectly Personal, by Jen, and Mrs. Why Knot’s cute bracelets downstairs, guests were never at a loss for something to examine.

While we were checking everything out, Monica from Antique Honey and Jen from Jen Cassaro Productions were milling about taking photos and video of the event while David Nazario from A Perfect Blend Entertainment made sure there was a constant flow of music.

Next up were a few presentations that were chock full of great tips and advice.

Meredith did a makeup demonstration with a bride-to-be in the audience. She made over half of the bride’s face, letting the bride do the other half to demonstrate to all of us how easy it is. In the process, she gave some great tips, including these:

• When putting on foundation, use a brush because it settles as opposed to sinking in when you use your finger.
• Use blush in the crease of your eyelid for a bright pop of color.
• When applying bronzer, put it on in the order the sun hits your face: forehead, nose, cheeks, chin (I’ve been doing this ever since!).
• When filling in your eyebrows, use a shade or two lighter than your natural color.

After Meredith, Melissa Scrofani pulled one of her former brides out of the audience to show us all how simple it is to put in extensions. Here are her tips:

• Pull your hair up.
• Tease a small section of hair at the nape of your neck.
• Clip in an extension.
• Keep moving up in small sections doing the same thing.
• Place the longest piece right above your ears.

Next up was Sarah Lusardi from NY Engagements. As a wedding planner, she’s right in the thick of the most stressful parts of the wedding planning process on a regular basis. It was really helpful to hear some of her tips on reducing stress:

• Order your invitations and thank you cards together and address envelopes in advance or do them on the plane on the way to your honeymoon.
• Have a wedding emergency kit.
• Remember that you can’t plan everything.
• Store your vows and any speeches online in case someone forgets them.
• Relax on the day of and delegate responsibilities to other people like your bridesmaids.
• If you stain your dress have a brooch or ribbon available to try and cover it. Don’t use stain remover (it can make it worse!).
• Do your escort cards at the last minute in case of changes.

Last but not least was Jason Scrofani, who gave us some distressing tips from a personal trainer’s perspective. First, he showed us how to take deep breaths from our core (you know, for those times when your fiancé is being a little less than helpful!). He also showed us some simple exercises, my favorite of which he calls a “nightly commercial workout.” For every commercial break during one of your guilty pleasures, do quick squats or shadow boxing for the duration of every other commercial. He promises it’s a good workout and—better yet—it makes sure you have no excuse to skip exercising!

As you can imagine, I couldn't possibly begin to cover all of the helpful information that was floating around this party. This post is just a start... which means you'll have to join us next time so that you don't miss out!

 

Jen Garry is co-founder of Bijou, a new online bridal magazine and blog.