Simply Sweet Weddings Part 2, Summer

    This is the second part of my four part series on wedding tips and ideas based on the four glorious seasons! This time my focus is Summer, the most popular of all wedding seasons! The bright sunshine and wonderful weather makes it prime for outdoor weddings. Bold colors, lots of warmth, and fun themes add to your happy occassion!

Location:

    First you need to pick your venue. Again, make sure that it's available, that it will seat all of your guests, and is 100% something you are in love with. If you settle on anything for your wedding then you will be nagged by it everytime you think of your joyous occassion. So NEVER SETTLE! Have back up plans and make sure you love them just as much as your first pick!
    Popular settings for Summer weddings include beaches, vinyards, lakes, gardens, expansive lawns, and parks. Take advantage of the longer daylight hours by having an early afternoon wedding...or a late afternoon to early evening if you want to time your ceremony with sunset to add to the bold colors! A dear friend of mine got married at her parents' farm. Her father, brother, and future husband built an arbor specifically for the nuptials when they had first gotten engaged and her mother had planted purple wisteria around it. By the time the wedding rolled around not only were the lawns freshly manicured and the gardens full of summer color the wisteria had grown and vined all over the arbor. It was absolutely beautiful! And it made it more special because the arbor was a bonding experience for the boys and it's a special reminder of their extra special day.

Color Scheme:

    The colors of summer are bold and intense. You can see them in the sky, in the vivid flowers that bloom during the summer months, they are everywhere. Popular summer colors are sunflower yellows, fiery reds, spicy oranges, azure blues, jungle greens and hot pinks. Play your colors up with your wedding part and in your flower and table accessory choices. Lets say you chose jungle green and azure blue for your wedding party colors. Your bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dresses, groom, groomsmen, and ring bearers' ties and vests are all a jungle green color. The table cloths and drapery are the azure blue...if you are using an open air tent perhaps it too is the azure blue instead of the normal white. Also, instead of a white aisle runner perhaps you could go with the azure blue there too.
    Flowers are one of the most fun places to implement your colors. Some wonderful Summer flowers are roses, dahlias, red and yellow calla lillies, zinnias, sunflowers, gerber daisies, sunflowers, gladiolas, mums, and cosmos. For an airy Summer color scheme try mostly white or light colored flowers like white roses, white lillies, babies breath, white phlox, elegant white calla lillies, hydranga, snowball mums and Shasta daisies. If you are going with a bold color schemed bouquet and flower arrangements the try using punch colored gladiolas, purple hydrangas, orange cosmos, sunflowers, and varigated dahlias with baby's breath. For the airy color scheme try white roses, fresh lilac, snowball mums and maybe a few white day lillies. Wrap your bouquests with jungle green ribbon to match the wedding party.
    For your flower arrangements try setting sunflowers, zinnias, dahlias, and cosmos in metal pails tied with azure and jungle green ribbon. Another cute idea is to fill several wheel barrows with your floral arangements. Try adding purple phlox to the arrangements, their immense blooms fill in big spaces and allow for focal points in your flower arrangements, like the gladiolas, roses, dhalias, and sunflowers. Accent your hair and your bridal attendants' hair with flowers and/or ribbon to match your scheme. It gives a fun and youthful look to any wedding.

   Another option for your table arrangements is filling large glass vases with fresh lemons, oranges, or green apples. They are bright and bold just like the season. Little vases of bluebonnets, lavendar, and Shasta daisies will compliment the blue reception decor while the vases of fruit make pop!

THE Dress/Hair/Makeup:

    You've got your color scheme all picked out...now for the dress. Any bride getting married in the Summer months is lucky when it comes to picking out her perfect dress. Most companies cater to Summer brides. Roughly 75% of wedding dresses are strapless and made of thing, "flowy" material. So you are one lucky bride to have such a selection! If you are opting for a beach wedding try a slip dress or something that clings more to your body to show off your silhouette. For a garden wedding I recommend lace, again is a form hugging style. Think vintage and antique! If you are having a traditional wedding go ahead and go for that ball room gown. Be a princess, today is YOUR day afterall! And for the men's tuxedos try white or a very light gray to go along with the Summer motif. Unless you are opting for the traditional of course. You might even try having the wedding party go barefoot, it's extremely popular for beach and garden weddings!
    Once you've picked the dress make sure to pick the right accessories to go with it. Jewelry, the veil and/or cute hair accessories. Keep your jewelry simple with maybe one chunky, eye catching piece like a bracelet or big earrings. Try to keep the necklace simple if you have a dress with lots of embellishments, stitching, or "poofy" material. A long train is also eye grabbing, so if you have this, again, keep the jewelry simple.

   Next is hair. Are you going to wear it up or down, or in between? If you have straight hair the summer heat could make it limp, if you are like me with naturally curly or wavy hair then the heat could make it extra full giving you more of an afro over soft curls and gentle waves. Which makes up styles much more popular and easier to maintain during the summer months. Pair this with jewels or ribbons or pretty flowers in your hair for a simple look. If you've chosen a veil pick a pretty tiara or combs to hold it in place.

    When it comes to makeup it's okay to go dramatic on either the eyes or the lips but try not to do both or you might end up looking like a painted up, wicked city woman...the kind warned about on I Love Lucy! If the strong point of your face are your dramatic eyes then play them up. If you have full, bold lips then play them up. Either way, keep it simple and natural, the less makeup you wear then the fewer times you'll need to poweder your face or the less worry you'll have over sweating it off...those dreaded sweat streaks are awful and the camera is very unforgiving no matter how talented your photographer is.

Menu:

    Summer is a fun time full of barbeques and family get togethers, pool parties, beach parties, parties, Parties, PARTIES!!! Use this to your advantage. Keep the menu simple: Barbeque brisket, potato salad, fruit salad, sweet corn on the cob, watermelon, fresh berries, and blackberry or peach or apple coblers with french vanilla ice cream! Summer time is a good time for seafood too. Try shrimp cocktails and lobster for a more elegant menu, crab cakes, and oysters. If you live in the deep South another goodie is crawfish! Fresh sweet iced teas, lemonades, and sparkling punch are great beverage choices. If alcohol is on the menu try slushy margaritas, daquaris, sangrias, or mint mojitos! Something fun for the children on your guest list would be snow cones!

   Your cake is the centerpiece of your menu. Try a light butter flavored cake or a vanilla peach or even strawberry cake, something that won't sit quite as heavy as chocolate in the summer heat. Another alternative to the groom's cake are chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches...a long name for a big yumminess!

Favors:

    Some sweet party favors for your beloved guests would include sending them home with tiny personalized baskets of fruit, mason jars of lemonade or sweet tea from the reception, and for a beach wedding you could consider sand dollars and sea shells. You might even try wooden hand fans or simple little parasols for the ceremony that your guests can take home with them, fun and practical at the same time!

Entertainment:

Fireworks at the Sydney Opera House...I miss Australia!!!!

   Besides the dancing and possible karaoke you might be able to shoot fireworks. Some cities require a permit for fireworks shows so you might check into it with your local city hall just to be sure. It would definitely be the perfect way to end your perfect day!



   I hope you've enjoyed the second part to this series. Sorry if you had trouble loading the pictures, I've got a multitude of photos! I always found that show is often better than tell. If you have any ideas or added suggestions feel free to drop them in the comments section below! I'd love to hear them!