Makeup Tips for LDS Brides

For Latter-day Saint brides, the most economical choice is to do their own makeup at home. But many choose to visit a salon or spa to have their wedding makeup done professionally, and for good reason.

Some LDS brides don’t feel confident in their ability to create a look that will last and look great all day, especially under pressure. Some simply like the feeling of becoming Cinderella for a day and being made up by someone else. Others realize that a professional has tools and expertise that they don’t. After all, professionals are best equipped to handle emergencies like breakouts, blemishes, and undereye circles that appear on stressed-out, sleep-deprived brides in the final days before their weddings.

No matter what you decide, remember…read more

Bridal Hairstyles

On your wedding day, what kind of hairstyle do you envision having? Your wedding will be the most photographed formal event of your life, which means that you’ve only got one chance to pick the hairstyle you’ll be seeing in pictures forever.

Do you want a natural and sweeping hairdo with loose strands framing your face, or something that is tightly pulled back and structured without one hair out of place? On your wedding, you can experiment with color or highlights, bangs, a part, straight hair, or curls (either tight spirals or loose waves), as well as a hundred different styling products and hair accessories.

Though there’s no law that says brides must wear their hair up on their wedding day, most choose…read more

Color casts a spell…

and sets the tone for your entire wedding day! The use of color can and will convey meanings to you and your guests as none of us are immune to its power. Color will affect the atmosphere of a room and the mood of a moment. Do you want your wedding to be tranquil and calming? Have you always dreamed of an elegant black-tie affair? Perhaps you’ve always wanted a wedding that is refreshing, happy, and bright? All the details from the wedding invitations to the dresses, neckties, vests, shoes and ribbons, and the wedding reception decorations, table linens, wedding flowers, and candles are vehicles for color. The colors chosen for these items should…read more

LDS TEMPLE WEDDINGS: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ♥ AN OVERVIEW:
Weddings are busy and emotional times. On top of the stress of planning and coordinating flowers, dresses, photographers, and caterers, there are two families’ worth of traditions, beliefs, desires and expectations to address. If you are getting sealed in an LDS temple and have family members who will not be able to attend the sealing, it can become a point of misunderstanding and conflict, clouding what should be a joyous occasion. President Boyd K. Packer counseled, “The young couple must understand that their parents may have looked forward to the wedding day during the entire lives of the bride and groom. Their desire to attend the wedding, and their resentment when they cannot, is a sign of parental attachment. It is not to be resented by the young couple. It is to be understood and planned for carefully as a part of the wedding” (The Holy Temple, 66-67).

Remember that the family is the basic unit of the gospel. Your families, the one to which you were born and the one you’re starting…read more

A Real LDS Wedding

Elizabeth Smart was just married today, February 18th to Matthew Gilmour in Hawaii in a private ceremony in the Laie LDS Temple. They were surrounded by close friends and family. Congratulation you two!

Setting a Wedding Budget

Now that you’re engaged, you’ve probably got a flurry of plans racing through your head. A wedding requires purchasing big-ticket items like modest wedding dresses all the way down to small details like the wedding reception table centerpieces. With so many things all clamoring for your hard-earned money, it’s easy to quickly get in over your head and spend way more than you can afford. A detailed wedding budget helps couples planning their big day to keep things realistic.

LDS Prophets and Apostles have long encouraged Latter-day Saints to live within their means and stay out of debt:

• President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible” (General Conference, October 1998.)
• Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin: “Remember this: debt is a form of bondage. It is a…read more
  

Planning a wedding is stressful and overwhelming for anyone, but the LDS Bride getting married in the temple find themselves in a particularly difficult situation. Of course you don’t need to worry about the expense of the wedding venue (getting married in an LDS Temple is free!) but the fact that the wedding will take place in an LDS temple will affect every part of your planning, from the gown to the pictures to the get-away-transportation.

There are really two components to LDS temple wedding planning…read more

How to Plan an LDS Bridal Shower

The bridal shower is an age-old tradition of “showering” the bride-to-be with gifts that will get her started in her new home and new life. Some things haven’t changed very much in the last few decades, while others have evolved significantly.

Here’s everything you need to know about planning and throwing a Mormon bridal shower in the 21st century.

Traditionally, the maid of honor plans, hosts, and pays for the bridal shower. Other members of the wedding party or the bride’s family (particularly the mother of the bride) may want to help.

It used to be that bridal showers were held at the home of the maid of honor. While that is still commonly done, more and more bridal showers are…read more

Hairstyles and Updos for the Bridesmaids

Being a bridesmaid in an LDS wedding is a lot of fun: you’ll be able to dress up and enjoy yourself as a part of a beautiful wedding day that you didn’t have to painstakingly plan yourself! Aside from helping the bride with whatever she asks you to, your main concern as far as the wedding goes is just to look your best. Have you given thought yet to what you’ll be doing with your hair?

First thing is first: communicate with the bride. Obviously the bride chooses matching dresses and in most cases matching shoes for her entourage, but how she wants to handle bridesmaids’ hairstyles is...read more

Bridesmaids Nails

The average Mormon wedding has between 2 and 6 bridesmaids, and the surest way to stick out is to have your nails different from the other girls in length, shape, or color. That’s why communication with the bride and the other bridesmaids is so critical to looking the part on the wedding day.

Nails of the wedding party don’t have to be identical in length, but they should be in the same ballpark area just for conformity’s sake.

There is no cut and dry rule for how long a bridesmaid’s nails should be. Wedding nail length usually depends on…read more