Your Wedding Advice - StrictlyWeddings.com Blog

Chicago Wedding Planners: Hope Weis Consulting

We’re often asked how we can know if someone ranks as one of our “top three.” StrictlyWeddings.com looks at the work, listens to what experiences people have had and gets to know the company/person. With Hope Weis, we knew we had found another partner that understood the luxury wedding market and her work definitely spoke of quality and style.

Hope Weis is an accomplished event consultant with more than twenty years experience in the industry. She founded HWW Consulting in 1993 following a twelve-year career with elite Chicago hotels including The Ritz Carlton, Hotel Nikko and the Knickerbocker Hotel. Hope has been instrumental in many of the city’s most beautiful and well executed weddings and events. HWW Consulting is known for exquisite care, personal service and flexibility to handle any facet of event planning. With valuable long-standing relationships with the best resources the city has to offer, from florists, entertainment and locations to photographers, videographers and design services, Hope is able to orchestrate any event beyond compare. In addition to many client accolades, Hope Weis’ work has been featured in the magnificent Chicago Social Brides magazine.

You’ll find more examples of Hope’s work under Wedding Planners / Chicago.

Are You a Groom Planning the Honeymoon?

Many couples plan the honeymoon together, yet the honeymoon was traditionally the groom’s responsibility to plan. Whether you (the groom) are planning it by yourself or with your bride, here are a few reminders.

• Plan early. The best resorts can fill up a year in advance. We generally recommend that you book about nine months in advance.
• What do you enjoy together? Think about your shared interests.Do you like to golf or snorkel together? Do you share a hobby like photography? Why not add some of these elements to your honeymoon to make it even more memorable?
• Good Food makes for Good Times. Food is an often overlooked element of the honeymoon. There is nothing worse than being in a resort that offers nothing that you enjoy eating.
• Surprises or extras win brownie points. Throw in something unexpected, like a cooking class or a couple’s massage.

(Photo from recent post on St. Lucia’s Ladera Resort)

Just a few friendly reminders from StrictlyWeddings.com! Check out our other tips and ideas for Grooms and Honeymoons.

Wedding Makeup – Dramatic, Hollywood Eyes

Looking for a sexier look with your make-up? Think about enhancing your eyes with the “cat-eye” makeup style used by several Hollywood stars.

Cat-eye makeup is when the lined upper lashes finished with a subtle “wing.” First used in ancient Egypt, our most famous being the fashionable Cleopatra, today you’ll find the style used by Lady Gaga, Angelina Jolie, and Kim Kardashian.

Cat-eyes have remained in vogue because the technique elongates round eyes and is a makeup artist trick for helping larger eyes to appear smaller. It offers a unique twist on everyday makeup and makes the eyes appear smokier and sexier.

Are you game to try it yourself? Here’s how to get the look yourself (or call one of our many StrictlyWeddings.com Beauty partners!):

You will need: Black liquid eyeliner or a freshly sharpened black eyeliner or kohl pencil.

• Step 1: Begin by placing the index finger of your non dominant hand a few centimeters from the outside crease of your eyelid.
• Step 2: Gently pull the eyelid up into a slight slant.
• Step 3: Use the applicator that comes with the liquid eyeliner or the eye pencil if that feels more stable. You can also look for alternate brushes to work with your liquid liner.
• Step 4: Starting at the crease, draw a thin line with the eyeliner until it meets your finger.
• Step 5: Close your eye and blend the line onto the top of your eyelid where the skin meets the eyelashes. If you desire a thicker line, place the pencil just under the outside crease of your eye, and blend it back up into the line.

To finish off the look, apply eyeliner to your lower eyelid behind the lashes. This look works well alone or in addition to light eyeshadow and a coat of mascara. Although this is a fairly neutral eye, remember that less is more with this particular look.

A smooth walk down the aisle: Non-slip fabric aisle runners by the Original Runner Company

We discovered this wonderful resource and think you’ll find their runners equally unique. The Original Runner Company makes the world’s first non-slip fabric aisle runners for weddings and special events.

According to Julie Goldman from Original Runners, “unlike the typical white paper aisle runners, Original Runners are real fabric and have an exclusive non-slip foam backing to keep it flat and secure. They are available in 20 colors/prints and can be custom hand painted with the couple’s monogram, floral design or event motif.  We’ve also gotten the attention from celebrity clients such as Kevin Jonas, Ashlee Simpson and ‘Real Housewife’ Bethenny Frankel.”

The Original Runner Company has expanded their product line to include custom made accessories too. (See photo of custom pillows below).

Wedding Colors – Ideas for color and more

For wedding color inspiration, we found dessy.com. Their Wedding Inspiration Styleboards is an enormous catalog of ideas for various color ideas and themes. You can keyword search by season or color. Great ideas for our brides. Here are just two of many. These two examples are for summer weddings.

Featured Wedding: The Orient Express

Our StrictlyWeddings.com partner DFW Events shared with us a wedding they did several years ago that is a wonderful example of incorporating a theme and creating a uniquely beautiful wedding experience using textures, colors, food and more. We were in awe when we saw these photos. “Lindsay Oliver and Andy Klump met and fell in love in China, so it was only fitting to incorporate Chinese elements into their wedding at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church at The Dallas Museum of Art. This one was so much fun to be a part of! The bride and groom were extremely creative and a blast to work with,” says DFW Events.

Summer Cotton – Feminine and romantic – mulmul

mulmul creates comfy-chic loungewear for style-inspired women.

The clothes and accessories are inspired by this whisper soft cotton muslin “mulmul,” once exclusive to Indian royalty. The collection epitomizes an ethereal femininity and is the brainchild of Creative Director Puja Chodha.

mulmul’s signature styling lies in a subtle balance of dualities; earthy yet ethereal, intricate yet minimal, vintage-inspired yet modern, it flows seamlessly between these realms and creates a subliminal harmony.

About “waking dream” spring/summer 2010

“Inspired by my lucid-dreams and memories of childhood fairytales, mulmul’s debut collection ‘waking dream’ was born,” says Puja. “I wanted to be able to create the romance of dressing up for bed at night and waking up to run quick errands without compromising on comfort and style.”

Perfect for our young brides looking for something feminine and sexy for their honeymoon or wedding night.

Visit the mulmul online store.

Douglas Hannant 2011 Bridal Collection at Stanley Korshak

Something old, something new, something borrowed…now try something BOLD AND BLUE!

What: Douglas Hannant Trunk Show
When: Friday June 18 and Saturday June 19th

Douglas Hannant’s 2011 bridal collection is anything but ordinary. This season is hot for color, so go ahead and break the barrier with this ‘cool’ collection.  To schedule your appointment with the Bridal Salon at Stanley Korshak call 214-871-3611.

Bridal Headpieces

How would our lovely brides have found all the wonderfully different wedding trends before the Internet? (Ah, the days where print ruled!). Your online wedding resource, StrictlyWeddings.com has found another talented designer. Lo Boheme specializes in one of a kind and custom accessories for weddings (and other special events).  Lo Boheme is the wife-husband team of Lauren (Lo) and Josh Christensen based out of a tiny 1920’s bungalow in San Diego, CA.

The Lo Boheme aesthetic is inspired by the details of eras past; whether it be French Bohemianism of the late 1800’s, the detailed lines of the Art Nouveau movement, or the glamor of Old Hollywood.  It is the delicate feminine sophistication from these times, coupled with Lo’s modern eye that produce unique yet wearable statement head pieces.

Lo Boheme sprung from Lo’s own wedding. In search of a unique personal gift for her nine bridesmaids, Lauren created one of a kind hairpieces made from vintage velvet flowers found in boarded up millinery warehouses in France and Germany. These types of creative personal touches flourished throughout Lo and Josh’s wedding. After rave reviews from guests and vendors, “Lo Boheme”  the company was born, although Lo, the little lady with a unique vision and Bohemian spirit had been designing and creating for years!

The Wedding Mask

Too much sun before the wedding? Don’t have the time to go to the spa, yet needing to sooth that “sunny” glow so you can achieve that wedding glow (like our lovely bride here)?

Look into a new product by Erno Laszlo – Hydra-Therapy Skin Vitality Treatment. Our faces are not as fresh and resilient as our young brides, but after a day in the heat watching baseball, we found it wonderfully soothing when we tried it.

Hydra-Therapy Skin Vitality Treatment is a re-hydrating mask that refreshes and recharges the skin. It’s a deep moisturizing mask that also works to soothe and cool sunburned skin. It’s ideal before special evenings out, or anytime dull, dehydrated skin needs a boost of hydration. The re-hydrating mask lowers the skin temperature (up to 15 degrees) and has allantoain and zinc oxide as two of its ingredients to sooth and calm the skin.

(If you must tan before your wedding, you might want to read these tips on tanning.)

Photo courtesy of Penny Sadler Makeup Studio