Wedding Bouquet

Aside from your dress, your makeup and your veil, your guests' eyes will also be drawn to the item or the object you're carrying: your wedding bouquet. Your maid of honor and your bridesmaids will also be carrying their own bouquets, but there's no disputing that your bouquet has to be the most elegant bouquet out of the bunch.

An elegant and simple wedding bouquet is the best accessory to complement your radiant smile and your stylish gown. Remember, your bouquet does not have to be too ornate or over the top. In fact, you want to avoid having a flashy bouquet, as the last thing you need is an accessory that takes the attention away from your wedding dress and the rest of your gorgeous form.

Bouquet

Choosing your wedding bouquet is just as important as picking out your fabulous wedding shoes and your fashionable wedding dress. When picking out your wedding bouquet, you may end up a little confused by all the options that will be presented to you.

Fresh or Silk?

You might think that all wedding bouquets are made from fresh flowers, but you may be surprised to find that a number of modern brides opt for the synthetic alternative.

Silk wedding bouquets may not be as authentic as a real flower bouquet, but these synthetic flowers are perfect for brides who are allergic to the scent of actual flowers. These blooms are also incredibly realistic, making it almost impossible to tell that the flowers are fake from a distance.

Another advantage of the silk wedding bouquet is that they are available any time of the year. In short, you won't have to worry about your chosen flower being out of season or impossible to find. You can even keep these blooms on display for years and years, particularly because they won't wither and die. They're there to be passed on from one generation to another, provided of course that you take the time to wipe them clean.

Yet, despite the wonderful points of the silk wedding bouquet, it seems as if fresh flowers or real flower bouquets are still the main choice for most modern brides. To be fair to the genuine and fresh bouquet, real flowers have a unique texture, scent and feel that makes their expensive prices and seasonal growth almost insignificant for most brides.

If you want to preserve your withering blooms a day or two after the wedding, you can procure bridal bouquet preservation services, or you can create breathtakingly beautiful pressed flower arrangements with them.

Wedding Bouquet

Want to read more of this article? You can read more tips on Wedding Bouquet, plus other Bridal Tips only at http://fancyweddingattire.com/

Cupcake Bouquet - A Step-By-Step Guide

One of the cutest cupcake ideas around is the amazing life like cupcake bouquets. These yummy cupcake bouquets are so deceiving they look just like flowers. Cupcake bouquets can be used for any gift giving occasion or a centerpiece for a wedding to display unique wedding cupcake ideas.

Use this step-by-step guide to create your own cupcake bouquet idea surprise:

Bouquet

Supplies

1.    One Styrofoam Ball with a 5 inch diameter
2.    55 baked mini cupcakes in green cupcake liners
3.    55 toothpicks
4.    One large decorative bowl
5.    One large star tip
6.    Icing in the color of your favorite flower

Step 1: Place Styrofoam ball into the bowl. The bowl should only cover 1/3 of the Styrofoam ball.

Step 2: Place a toothpick in the Styrofoam ball near the bottom above the rim of the bowl.

Step 3: Place a mini cupcake on the toothpick in the middle. Half of the mini cupcake should be above the rim of the decorative bowl and the other half below the rim of the decorative bowl.

Step 4: Using another toothpick, place the next cupcake to the left of the cupcake, from step 3, so they are touching.

Step 5: Continue adding cupcakes to the left around the entire rim of the decorative bowl.

Step 6: Start the next row by placing a toothpick in the Styrofoam above the first row then add a mini cupcake so they are touching. Continue adding mini cupcakes row by row to the left, until the entire Styrofoam ball is covered.

Step 7: Make sure all the cupcakes are touching, there should not any space between the rows. You may adjust the cupcakes if necessary.

Step 8: Using the large star tip start in the middle and swirl your way out to the edge of the cupcake creating a rose pattern.

Tip: When using butter or butter cream icing beware of displaying your cupcake bouquet in a warm climate.  The warm temperature will cause the icing to slide off the cupcakes. As a substitute, solid vegetable shortening can be used however; you will sacrifice the rich buttery flavor.

Have fun!

Cupcake Bouquet - A Step-By-Step Guide

Tonya A.K.A T2 cupcakeideasforyou.com blogger
©2009 Cupcake Ideas For You

Cupcake Ideas For You has pictures of the BEST cupcake ideas from around the world! Cupcake Ideas For You is the #1 resource for all cupcake ideas with the world's largest cupcake bakery directory. We have discovered cupcake bakeries in over 15 (and counting) countries. For the lastest updates you should follow us on Twitter here -->@CupcakeIdeas.

A Bride's Guide to Reusing Her Bridal Gown, Bridal Jewelry, and Bouquet

If you are like most brides, you will invest a lot of time and money on finding the perfect wedding attire. Bridal jewelry, a wedding gown, shoes, and a bridal bouquet are all components of a bride's wedding attire. Every bride wants to look beautiful on her wedding day and sacrifices a lot of money to do so. After spending thousands of dollars on your wedding, how can you make the most of it after the wedding is over? There are many creative ways that you can repurpose your bridal jewelry, gown, and bouquet.

Reusing Your Bridal Jewelry and getting the most out of it:

Bouquet

o Wear your bridal jewelry when you celebrate your first anniversary.

o Wear your wedding jewelry to your child's wedding.

o Save your bridal jewelry for your daughter, niece, or granddaughter to wear on her wedding day. Note: Be sure to store your bridal jewelry properly. Swarovski bridal jewelry should be stored in a soft jewelry pouch or box. Be sure to keep it away from excessive heat.

o Allow your sister or best friend to borrow your bridal jewelry for her wedding.

o Save your wedding jewelry for your daughter's senior prom.

Reusing Your Bridal Gown to relive the moment:

o Have your wedding gown remade into a christening gown for your son or daughter.

o Save your bridal gown for your daughter, niece, or granddaughter. Note: Remember to have your gown properly preserved.

o Use your wedding gown to make a small decorative pillow or two.

o Cut a swatch of material from your bridal gown to use in a scrapbook or photo album.

o Purchase a special doll or teddy bear and use your bridal gown to make a doll sized version for it.

o Dye your wedding gown another color to wear to a formal event.

Reusing Your Bridal Bouquet for sentimental purposes:

o Preserve a portion of your bridal bouquet to place inside of a scrapbook.

o Preserve your wedding bouquet and display it in your home using a shadow box.

o Have your wedding bouquet professionally pressed and rearranged in a picture frame. Hang the frame in your home and keep as a family heirloom.

The bridal business is a multibillion-dollar industry. The average cost that couples spend on a wedding is nearly ,000. Repurposing your bridal attire makes the money spent well worth it. Creating tangible memories with your bridal jewelry, gown, and bouquet holds sentimental value. Whoever said that the bride's wedding attire is only for her wedding day?

Maria Romain is a writer for Silverland Jewelry and Gifts, a business that specializes in affordable bridal jewelry and gifts.

A Bride's Guide to Reusing Her Bridal Gown, Bridal Jewelry, and Bouquet

http://www.silverlandjewelry.com

Six Alternative Bridal Bouquet Toss Ideas

Is the traditional bridal bouquet toss not for you? Many modern gals are ditching
this traditional altogether, and looking for new variations and interpretations. Many
women see the bouquet toss as pressure, and hate the implication that single
women are chomping at the bit to be married.

Here are six alternatives to the traditional bridal bouquet toss that will make
everyone happy:

Bouquet

• Wish Come True Bouquet Toss -- Invite all the women onto the dance floor, married and single. Ask them all to make a wish right as the bouquet is tossed and whoever catches it will get their wish.
• Fortune Bouquet Toss -- Invite everyone onto the dance floor and have a bouquet that consists of several small bunches of flowers are simply held together in your hand. On each bunch, have a handwritten "fortune" attached to it that you made up. When you throw the flower bunches in the air, they break apart so several people will get a "fortune" bouquet. Before throwing a break apart bouquet make sure they are easily separated and not entwined together so they really do break apart in the air.
• Longest Married Bouquet Toss -- Invite all married couples onto the dance floor and have the DJ announce that everyone married less than 5 years to leave, then less than 10 years to leave and so on until the couple married the longest is left dancing and they are awarded with the bouquet. Keep in mind that this may not be the right bouquet toss for you, especially if you have a recently deceased grandparent that would have been married the longest if they were still living. This also focuses on married people and leaves out the single folks.
• Special Honors Bouquet Toss -- Split up the bouquet into halves and give one half to your mother and one to your mother-in-law. The bridal bouquet could also be presented to grandparents, split apart for all the women in the bridal party, presented to your maid of honor, your sisters, a friend who is engaged, etc. Think of someone you'd like to honor and give it to them as a "good luck" bouquet.
• Favors Toss -- Instead of tossing flowers, toss the wedding favors! Much like candy being tossed in a parade you can toss small or soft favors to the guests. Children can help in the fun, and everybody has a chance to get something. Candy, small stuffed animals, silly toys and gift cards are good choices.
• Gift Cards & Money Bouquet Toss -- Rather than have fortunes attached to a break away bouquet, why not attach gift cards (from coffee shops, record stores, etc) to your bridal bouquet! Rolled up - bills is also fun for everyone. You can invite everyone onto the dance floor, men and women alike. So rather than skip the bridal bouquet toss entirely, why not start your own tradition? Unusual tosses can be explained by your DJ, an appointed person or written in your program. Choose a bridal bouquet toss that is meaningful to you and don't be afraid to simply present it to someone you care about.

Six Alternative Bridal Bouquet Toss Ideas

Amber Dusick is the editor of The Do It Yourself Weddings Guide at http://www.do-it-yourself-weddings.com/ where you can get instructions for wedding crafts, do it yourself favors, centerpieces, make your own invites and programs and more! Learn to do most everything to do with weddings...yourself!

Basic Instructions on How to Make a Candy Bouquet

Candy bouquets make wonderful gifts for all sorts of occasions. Of course you can always order one over the internet. However, to make your gift more special and memorable, you can make one yourself. It's really not that difficult and you'll see that it won't cost as much as the commercial ones. If you are game on making your own candy bouquet gift, here are some basic instructions to help guide you.

PLANNING:

• What is the occasion? - You want the candy arrangement to suit the occasion and also reflect your feelings and thoughts. So, making a birthday candy bouquet will have a different look from a Valentine's candy bouquet. You can use a fun theme for the former and a more romantic theme for the latter. Choose an appropriate theme to guide your design.
• Who is it for? - Consider the recipients favorite candies. There are so many types of candy you can use. Will you be using hard candies, gummies, candy bars, lollipops, chocolates or even retro candies? You may even have to consider sugar-free candies for those that have certain health problems or are following a healthy lifestyle. Don't forget to check if they have any food allergies too.
• All candy bouquet or a floral candy bouquet? - Your bouquet can be made up entirely of candies or you can add some floral touches to it. If you decide to go floral, you can add silk flowers and leaves to your design. Another option is to be a bit crafty and make the candies look like flowers.
• What container are you going to use? - There is no hard and fast rule as to what you must use as a base for your candy bouquet. You can always use a glass vase or a small basket. Some people have used flower pots, coffee mugs and sundae glasses. You can use any container and decorate it to your whim and fancy. The important thing is to make sure your container is heavy enough so your candy bouquet don't topple over. You can weight it down by filling it up with candies.
• How are you going to make your candy bouquet dazzle? - Just poking sticks of candy into a floral foam will not create a big impression. Liven it up with curling ribbons, colored tissue, ribbons, garlands, little mementoes, shredded paper, sparkling tinsel or cellophane wrap.

PREPARING THE CANDY:

Bouquet

Basically, all you need are floral foam, wire, tape, scissors, wire cutters, low-temp hot glue gun with glue sticks and bamboo skewers.

If you are using candy bars, just use the hot glue gun to attach the skewer to the backside of the candy bar. Hold it down for a while to make sure it's secure. Make sure you first wrap the bamboo skewer with floral tape to give it a nicer look. Tie a small bow or curling ribbon to the base of the candy.

If you are using chocolates, you just poke the pointed end of the skewer into the chocolate. Then wrap the skewer with floral tape.

For wrapped hard candies, attach one end of the wrapper to the wire. Wrap wire around the base of each candy. Cover with floral tape.

ARRANGING YOUR CANDY FLOWERS:

When arranging your candy bouquet, you want to achieve a sense of symmetry and balance. How you arrange will also depend on the size of your candy. For example, if you just have lollipop flowers, you could pack them into an oval shape. For different size candies, you can vary the height by snipping the skewers or wires. Let your own creative inspiration be your guide. If you need ideas, you can draw upon basic floral arrangement shapes such as the fan, circular, triangular and vertical arrangement. Don't forget to add fillers or foliage to give your candy bouquet a more pleasant look. One more thing to note is that your candy arrangement should suit the type of container you're using. Once again, balance and symmetry is what you are aiming for.

Basic Instructions on How to Make a Candy Bouquet

If you want to make candy bouquets without thinking too hard, get these candy bouquet instruction books that you can download instantly. Step-by-step illustrations that will help you create professional looking candy bouquets even if you've never had any experience before. You might even decide to start a candy bouquet business to earn some extra bucks.