Wedding Planning|Wedding Planning & Wedding Advice

In September, Get Married invited engaged couples across the country to enter to win an all-expense paid New Year’s Eve wedding in Times Square–the world’s stage – making history, as this is the first-ever wedding to take place on NYE in Times Square. Now, three month’s later, the couple has been chosen and Get Married’s online audience has voted for key details of the wedding night, from the David’s Bridal wedding gown to the Waterford Tableware. All is ready to go for the big night, and you can be part of all the action!

Whether your heading to New York City this New Year’s or not, you can be a virtual guest at the world’s biggest wedding in Times Square!  Simply “Check In ” to Party On! On Get Married.com to see all the photos and videos from the biggest night of the year as it’s happening!

From your own wedding to a fun night out, Party On is the new way to live it, relive it, share it, even download and print it. With Party On, the party’s always on. Share the news and “Check in” today on Get Married.com!

On the Prowl For a Cute Bachelorette Theme?

We’ve featured a lot of great themes, so if this Kitty theme isn’t up your alley, check out your sweet Gummy Bear theme, Crafty theme, or 1950′s theme. Check out the tabs on the right for great ideas for Jack and Jill parties, bridal showers, and stags, too.

This Kitty theme is an example of how you can get inspired by one key decoration, like these napkins from partymakerdiscountsuperstore.com. You can come up with your own unique party theme by browsing around until you find one color, design, or one decoration piece that inspires you – then develop the whole party from there.

Smitten Kitten

Dress the bride-to-be up in this purrfectly cute kitty costume from costumecraze.com.

Cat Crew

The main kitty’s entourage can wear these cute hot pink ear/tail sets so everyone knows you are a group (also available from costumecraze.com).

Drink Pink

Design a pink cocktail in honor of your party and give it a suitable name. Or, use one of the many recipes already out there- just make sure your drink is hot pink!

Fun and Games

Serve a kitty litter cake (perfect if your group of friends are ‘potty-mouths’). Here is an example from wendychao.com (visit the website for her recipe).

Bring along a cat paw stamp and a hot pink ink pad and give it to the guest of honor- anyone caught being “catty” gets stamped! (Pictured below: stamp from stampmillaz.com.)

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• How to pick your perfect wedding dress (myweddingideas.net)
• 7 things you should *never* do at a bachelorette party (timesunion.com)

Lots and Lots of Gummy Bears

Of course, the most important part of a Gummy Bear themed party will be gummy bears of all sizes…Candywarehouse.com has what you need.

Tipsy Gummy Bears

The Gummy Bear Margarita

Photo: Voodoo Tiki Tequila. Recipe: cocktails.about.com as reported by Colleen Graham.

The Gummy Bear Martini

Photo and recipe from grinandbakeit.com. Also check out their instructions for infusing the bears with vodka, for a candy dish with some kick!

Gummi Bear Decorations

Artist YaYa Chou has exploited the luminosity of gummy bears – using them to make candles and chandeliers. You can create decorations by stringing gummy bears together. A beaded gummy curtain? Gummy braclets for guests? Share your ideas with us in the comments section!

Also, leave gummy bears in glass dishes around the party: use different shapes or sort the bears by color.

Buy tablecloths, plates, and napkins in the classic gummy colors: red, green, orange, yellow…

These gummy bear lamps from itsugar.com would also light up your venue.

Gummy Bear Snacks

Don’t forget to decorate all of the other goodies at the party with Gummy Bears, too. Check out these delicious looking rice crispie snacks from crispiesweets.com.

Gummy Bear Soundtrack

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• Sexy and Silly Stagette Costumes (mybigfatengagement.com)

Happy AND Healthy?

A health-conscious party can still be a lot of fun!

If you are organizing a pre-wedding  party for a bride who is either extremely health-consious, is dieting for her big day, or has eating restrictions due to an allergy or condition – you might consider catering your celebration to meet her needs so that she can enjoy herself.

Some of this is obvious: don’t throw a pig roast bachelor party for your friend if he’s a member of PETA or a vegetarian (or both). However, sometimes it’s not that clear. For most of us, fattening baked goods and fatty appetizers are so closely associated with parties that you wouldn’t even consider changing the menu for a friend. This won’t be appropriate for everyone, you will know if this is what your friend would prefer (and if you’re not sure, it is always wise to check). The last thing you want to do is offend the bride or groom.

Activities

Party activities should be exactly that: active. Include activities so that guests aren’t standing around eating the whole time and they are less likely to notice that the menu is a bit different. Make the stag party a hike instead of a pub crawl, if that’s what the guest of honor would prefer! Or, if the bride loves adventure – plan for a group of you to go skydiving.

Community Events

There are so many charity runs, walks, and cycling events out there you might consider honoring your guest of honor with an event that is appropriate to their achievements. Create a team and invite everyone to participate instead of the bridal shower, bachelor party, or bachelorette. Participants can donate money to the cause rather than purchasing a gift. Make t-shirts for everyone and have fun! Spread out a buffet at your house for after wards, or pack a picnic for everyone and meet at a nearby park. Family members who are unable to participate can cheer from the sidelines or might volunteer to help with the snacks after wards.

Fresh Ideas

If your party includes physical activity, make sure you provide lots of hydrating drinks. Water is always the best choice (but not that exciting). Glam it up by using fancy pitchers, like this one from thekitchenoutlet.com. You can make water more exciting by adding flavors.

Large fruit and vegetable platters are always a good idea. Salsas and hummus are healthier dip choices,  or look for healthy versions of your favorites such as this no mayo spinach dip posted at Recipezaar.com.

Get Crafty!

Add some activities to a bridal shower to make it more fun. If you give everyone something to do with their hands you’ll have less awkward small talk and more fun overall – particularly if your guest list is made up of a bunch of people who won’t know each other very well. These ideas could work at a bachelorette party too, depending on the tone of the event.

Ring Fling

Provide an assortment of materials and let guests craft their own engagement ring. Offer prizes for the most outrageous, most realistic, etc. Raid your craft supplies – if you’re not a big craft nerd like me, you can also go to a dollar store or craft store and pick up: metallic-colored pipe cleaners, large beads, ribbons, glitter glue, and whatever else you see that will work.

Check out this impressive looking ring from craftbits.com (visit the site for a tutorial).

Garter Fun

Everyone makes their own garter and then make all the guests wear it out on the stagette, if you like! Or everyone could make one and then the bride picks which one she will actually wear at the wedding.There’s a tutorial at applebride.com. Another option, buy simple and inexpensive garters for every guest and then ask them to decorate them instead. This is a quick and easy activity that could start off a fun evening. Garters should include the guests name or role in the wedding and the decorations will serve as an icebreaker when everyone is mingling at the party. It’s also a cheeky way to identify everyone in the group if you are heading downtown for the second half of the evening.

A plain white garter at koyalwholesale.com is only $2.99 (while on sale). Ideas for decorations: feathers, flowers, felt hearts (or other shapes), beads, gems, lace, ribbons, charms, etc. Also consider buying some fabric pens or self-applicating paint.

The garter pictured below is from mypromstyle.com.

Tampon Brides

Each guest makes a bride from a tampon for a fun craft activity that promotes lots of laughter and female bonding. Provide the following materials: tampons, glue gun, paint, pipe cleaners, yarn, embroidery thread, cardboard, glitter glue, beads, etc. This craft was inspired by the infamous Tampon Angel – I was pleasantly suprised to find a whole website dedicated to tampon crafts (tamponcrafts.com- their angel is pictured below).