Wedding Wednesday: Ring Pillow Tutorials and Inspiration

Ah, wedding season is almost upon us!  My bestie Jessica is getting married in a month and I am making her ring pillow!  stay tuned!  Today I am sharing my favorite DIY ring pillow tutorials and inspirations.  P.S. Make sure to check out my rad giveaway!

Yarn Heart Ring Pillow via Style Me Pretty

Silk Flower Ring Pillow via Martha Stewart

DIY Tufted Moss Ring Pillow Tutorial by Laurie Cinotto via Once Wed

DIY Ring Pillow Tutorial via elephantine

Calendar Ring Pillow Template And How To via Martha Stewart

DIY Birds Nest Ring Pillow Tutorial via Ruffled

DIY Chevron Ring Pillow Tutorial by Hank and Hunt via The Sweetest Occasion

DIY Wedding: Candles

Looking to add a little jazz to your candles?  Here are some fabulous tutorials to make your own candle, embellish a store bought candle, or create stunning votive holders!   xo, Ashley

DIY Painted Votive Candle Holders via Once Wed

Lace Vellum Luminarias via Martha Stewart

Candle Making Tutorial via Mister G and Me

 DIY Upcycled Lanterns Vases via Ruffled Blog

DIY Candle Chandeliers via Martha Stewart

Stamped Candles by A Little Sparkle On the Side via Wedloft 

The link is not working-- but you stamp from left to right and roll your wrist to curve the stamp around the candle.  It would be so pretty with a dark candle and white ink!  

Remember the DIY Wedding: Perfect Match post?  

Personalized matches + Gorgeous handmade candles = Perfection!  

More Candle Tutorials:

DIY Rustic Votives via Bayside Bride

Ice Candles via Intimate Weddings

Island Destination Wedding Tips

Ever dream of having a destination wedding?  John and I got married in St John's, USVI.  It was such an amazing experience!  We spent a week vacationing on the island with our families before the wedding and then took a ferry by ourselves to St. Thomas for our honeymoon.  There are definitely a few things that I wish I knew going into an island wedding.  I'm going to share my tips with you today.1.  Bring Spanks.  I thought, "I'm a casual bride... I'm getting married on an island... I don't need to wear Spanks!"  Huge mistake.  The heat from the sun and the sticky humidity created quite the situation under my dress.  I had major heat rash/leg chafing which resulted in having to wear leggings for my whole honeymoon!  When brides ask me for advice about upcoming island weddings, this is the first pearl of wisdom that comes to mind.  And quite possibly the most important.2.  Hire a wedding planner.  My experience planning a wedding was fairly easy because 1. John helped a LOT and 2. our wedding planner took care of almost everything!  There were still some things we had to take care of like filing for our wedding license, choosing a wedding site, giving our planner a good idea of what we like, menu planning, etc.  Our lady sent over all sorts of things that we had to fill out to customize our wedding.  We were a little worried about how everything would turn out because after we did our part there was little we could control from thousands of miles away-- but our planner did a beautiful job and our wedding was perfect.3.  Stay on top of your sunscreen / bug repellant.  I got a nasty sunburn snorkeling the day before my wedding and zipping up my dress was pretty painful.  I also had a million bug bites that basically look like measles or zits in most of my wedding photos.4.  Choose an alternate wedding location that you love. There's a good chance it could rain if you're getting married during the summer months.  The villa we were staying at had a gorgeous covered gazebo which was perfect for a back-up wedding location.  I wasn't stressed out at all-- rain or shine I was going to have a beautiful wedding.  5.  Consider your hair/makeup carefully.  You might think that a tropical island filled with fancy hotels would have top hairstylists and makeup artists.  St. John's is a small island and only has 2 big hotels.  The girl who did our nails was awful and the spa at the Westin had the ambiance of an old dentist's office.  If you really want your hair and makeup to dazzle, you might consider bringing your hair and makeup superstars with you.  That way you can practice at home and know you'll like how you look on your big day.  If you're doing your hair DIY style, it's important to consider how the humidity will affect your hair.  Try different products ahead of time to keep your hair beautiful all day.  Click here for 10 gorgeous DIY wedding hair tutorials.6.  Consider the time of your wedding.  The time of your wedding can affect your wedding pictures as well as how "private" your wedding will be.  The sun is really bright in the morning and early afternoon and can cause you to squint in your wedding photos.  However, a sunset wedding could invite extra beach "guests".  If you get married at a resort you will have more control over who is on the beach during your ceremony.  

If you have any tips for island weddings, please share them in the comments or on Mister G's Facebook page.  xo, Ashley

The Way To Avoid Wedding Stress

Weddings and the accompanying engagement parties and showers can get stressful and out of hand for many reasons. Here are the top reasons why planning weddings may not be as fun as you hope-and some wedding tips about what you can do about managing this wedding stress now.

1. You need to feel loved by your parents.
In my research, many women who wanted elaborate weddings and other related celebrations hoped that the even would make them finally feel love from their parents. The celebrations became the woman's way of finally "getting something" from unhappy childhoods of divorced, neglectful, negative, abusive or absent parents. Many brides-to-be who were not the "favorite child" especially longed for "spectacle" parties where the glare of being in the spotlight for even a few hours or days might overcome their feelings of being unloved. Some brides felt a "gotcha" effect-they finally were able to squeeze some effort, money and attention from their parents and family. After all, the brides silently reasoned, how could my family deny me "my day?"


Yet, putting all your unhatched love-eggs in the one basket of wedding related celebrations usually only leaves you with rotten eggs. Don't expect these events to make up for anything. One stress-busting wedding tip to test whether you are looking for love in all the wrong places is to pretend that, in addition to the wedding, you are having only one other related celebration such as an engagement party or bridal shower and that your wedding is small, warm, tasteful but no way near "over-the-top" either in expense or in image.

In addition, you agree to give up or greatly modify your "dream wedding" of being married on an island, mountain top or at the latest "in place." Can you live with these limitations? Or, do you suddenly feel a big dip of disappointment, despair and depression?

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, how would you rate the lack of love you feel from your parents? Now examine all your reactions and see what you've learned. Remember, weddings can't make up for past hurts. Events are too short-lived to make up for anything-only a positive change in the long-term interactions between you and your family can do that.


Finally, pay attention to the amount of friction you feel and the number of squabbles you experience with your parents. Wedding plans often accentuate or re-ignite submerged and unresolved childhood feelings. But don't think that a wedding can resolve these problems. Instead, see these heated disagreements as a sign that you have some personal issues that you need to address within yourself and your family over time. Seek pre-marital counseling and vow to continue working on these areas after you are married. Happy couples are able to understand, manage and change their family relationships and not re-enact them in the marriage.

2. You want your wedding planning to show others from your childhood how far you've come in life.

The more outrageously expensive and exclusive (the WOW! Factor) of the event, the more the woman hoped it would erase and redo any previous, unwanted images of herself from others. "Putting on the Ritz" serves the same emotional purpose of the unpopular, ugly duckling who makes it big, turns into a swan and then goes to her high school reunion. These inflated celebrations are the equivalent of sticking out your tongue and going "Nyah, nyah."

But this "going overboard wedding plan" is just a flash-in-the-pan shortcut to feeling valued, special and attractive. The general rule of thumb is that the more lavish and over-planned the event, the more negative the self-talk is inside the head of the bride. If you felt ugly, misunderstood or overlooked, then a big deal feels like the best medicine. But the real medicine is how you live your life.

To test whether you are asking your wedding to make up for the past, try this wedding stress tip. Make a list of how many times you've said or thought "if only Heather, Samantha, Tiffany or whoever could see me." Also, keeping a journal can uncover feelings about yourself and your past hurts. Finally, chart your "disappointments" when your plans don't match your fantasy. No wedding is perfect-and no event can ever fill the hole in your soul. Smart brides don't add more stress to their weddings by expecting a wedding to heal the past.

3. You and your family want your wedding plan to show the world how far you've come in life-or
how much you now "belong" in the upper class. Shame about former socio-economic status and class can also put pressure on a bride and her family to have an over-the-top event. If your family's country-club or business set has seen wedding parties of twelve bridesmaids, then it feels like a "lesser" celebration not to at least match the event. When your wedding has to "prove something," you add more stress.

A smart bride decides NOT to compete with these "others." Understated events always win. Keep it simple and warm. The WOW factor in weddings is not necessarily based on big bands with poor imitations of original songs, elaborate table settings, gowns and banquet halls. Guests want to come away feeling happy, joyful and included. Think back on weddings you've attended where the band was too loud to hear the person sitting next to you, where the food was served with too formal and cold an air, where you felt "stuck" at your table and where the awesomeness of the event made you feel diminished and left out rather than part of the celebration.

One of my smart bride clients who came from an upper class family decided to avoid "keeping up with the Joneses." On her wedding gift registry she listed favorite charities for her guests to donate to instead. Her centerpieces consisted of a wreath of silk flowers where each guest could pluck one to wear. In addition, she placed a small picture frame for each couple to take home. The buffet consisted of both fancy food and childhood comfort foods. One part of the buffet featured game meat and shellfish, and various stations offered pasta, pizza, meatloaf, turkey, cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. Guess which food the people liked the best?

Smart brides know that no one event can make up for past hurts. These smart brides recognize that wedding stress and family issues go hand-in-hand. Smart brides acknowledge these issues and work hard to face them and manage them over time. They recognize that family relations, especially, usually include unresolved feelings. These brides, with the support of their new husbands, work together to improve and heal past family issues. Smart families of the bride also spend less on the wedding and put more money aside for buying a home or making investments-and leave a little bit for a uniquely personal (but not over-the-top) honeymoon.

By Dr. LeslieBeth (LB) Wish, Ed.D

Best Ways To Silky Smooth Straight Hair

When you are working with your hair and specifically straightening there are some simple advice and tips that you can follow. In this article an outline of each of the hair straightening tips will be given with a brief overview.

Always protect your hair when you are initially washing your hair it is important to protect your hair from damage, to do this always use a good shampoo and conditioner. The benefits of this will be that the hair will become protected and will be less prone to damage during the straightening process. Use a good quality hair dryer that has an attachment to precisely direct the airflow to the desired area of the hair.

Invest in a Good Hair Iron If you want lasting results. On the market today there are many good quality hair irons that have flat ceramic plates and have an adjustable temperature gauge that can heat up to 400 degrees. The majority of the new irons will also be able to add shine and effectively eliminate fizz as well as straightening your hair. Some of the top manufactures of hair irons include Karmin, GHD and Chi, the price of a hair iron can range dramatically from just 80 to over 250 dollars. Make sure you read the specification of each iron before you buy and choose one that meets your requirements.

There are treatments that could be considered if you are looking for an alternative method. One such method is to use a relaxing agent; this is a chemical straightening process that is widely used by African-American women for years. The process involves modifying the actual structure of the hair follicle. This process is not recommended to be done in the home; qualified salon professionals will do this for you. There are different forms of the relaxant depending on the type of hair you have and this will need to be analyzed before starting the process. The treatment will usually cost between 200 and 400 dollars and takes a couple of hours to complete.

If you are looking for a more long term treatment then you would be more interested in Japanese thermal reconditioning. Again this is a salon only treatment and will take several hours to complete, however the results are truly amazing and your hair will remain straight regardless of the weather, washing or any other factor. Any new hair that grows will still grow curly so you need to go back to have enhancements. The process is however on the expensive side and can range in price from 800 to 1500 dollars depending on your hair type. When having this process make sure the stylist is qualified, the procedure is technical and training in this form of straightening is essential.

There are many hair straightening tips and depending on what you require will depend on which technique you would choose. Hair straightening can be done at home or in the salon and you can get great results for the short or long term, follow some of the basic hair care advice to ensure there is not any long term damage to your hair.

By: Kristy Klien

Dressing, the Mother-of-the-Bride

So you are getting married. You are so excited infact your whole family is so excited! What do you want as a present? What will your hair be like? Are you really going to wear that color of dress? All questions that may be fired at you during the course of the next few months. But one question can strike fear and trepidation into the strongest of brides. What is your mother going to wear?

The mother-of-the-bride outfit is probably the most talked about outfit other than what the bride is wearing. Not even the grooms choice of morning suit, kilt or sneakers and jeans will be talked about as much as what the mother-of-the-bride will be wearing.

Even if bride and mother-of-the-bride have a fantastic relationship outside of wedding planning, when it comes to what your mother is going to wear on your wedding day things can go horribly wrong!

She will have dreamt about this day from the moment you first opened your eyes and stared into hers. She will have planned and re-planned her outfit several times, over each decade that has passed, hopefully moving with the times!

She will have a definate idea of the image she wishes to project and how she wants to look on this wonderous day and hopefully that will coincide with your own ideas.

If you are lucky she will co-ordinate with the rest of the bridal party and your photographs will be a riot of harmonious color. If you fall into the not so lucky catergory then the photographer may experience diffculty placing her beside someone she doesnt clash with or horror of horrors the mother-of-the-groom turns up in the same dress!!!

If your parents have divorced and re-married then this situation can actually get worse. You only have one mother and she carries the mother-of-the-bride mantle but people, and its just human nature, will be looking at your fathers second wife's oufit almost as closely as the mother-of-the-bride's.

I did hear a story where a bride in this situation suddenly realised that the two women in question had indeed bought the same dress. Approaching her mother tactfully she mentioned that it might be an idea to take back the dress as she would have no other appropriate celebration to wear it to. Her mother smiled and replied that of course she would get another dress for her daughters big day but would be wearing the original dress to the wedding rehearsal dinner!

When is comes down to it the main thing is that everyone is happy and it would be foolish to let a disagreement over a mother-of-the-bride dress get in the way of your wedding. Always remember girls one day you may be the mother-of-the-bride!

by: Lorna Mclaren