Perfect gowns for petite brides

We’ve got one more guest post for you all today. Bayside Bride is talking about the difficulties of wedding-dress shopping for petite brides, including tips on what types of gowns work best on your smaller frame!

One of the most discouraging parts of planning my own wedding was finding a dress that fit. At five-foot-one, my small frame and I were completely overwhelmed by just about every dress I tried on, and I found myself swimming in layers of ruffles, tulle, and silk. I quickly learned that the elegant ball gown I had always dreamed of wearing wasn’t going to look right on my petite body.

When it comes to wedding dresses, smaller brides should stick with simple cuts and minimal details. Straight sheath dresses are very much in style this season, and they’re fantastic for elongating, rather than shortening, the body. Classic cuts like A-lines also work well on smaller frames because they accentuate the natural waist. Empire-waist and mermaid cuts tend to make smaller bodies feel disproportionate; petite women should also avoid large ball gowns, excessive ruffles, long trains, and heavy beading. Even though petite brides may not have quite as many options as our taller counterparts, this year’s spring and summer lines are filled with choices for the smaller bride.

This A-line Watters dress has subtle yet beautiful details that enhance a small frame.*

Petite brides should look for sheath dresses like this one from Watters.*

The simple shape of this Elie Saab dress keeps it from overwhelming small frames—even with the the detailed lace.

Even though this J. Crew dress has large ruffles, the overall simplicity keeps it from being too overwhelming.

This adorable dress from J. Crew would also be perfect for petite brides.

If you’re looking for a lace dress, opt for simple, slimming cuts like this one from Ian Stewart.*

A beautiful dress from Claire Pettibone

Just because a dress is simple doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Details along the bottom and the straps of this Claire Pettibone dress add interest to a simple cut.*

Rustic Santa Barbara Wedding

This wedding sent to us by Jen Rodriguez is a true labor of love by the bride, her husband, and their friends. Nearly every detail was executed as a DIY project. We were beaming with glee to learn that Camryn and Brian took lots of inspiration from Ruffled, right down to the DIY string chandeliers we posted a while back. The bridal party used an actual school bus as their transportation, in a fitting nod to the couple’s respective careers as schoolteachers!

From the photographer, Jen Rodriguez: Camryn and Brian are both teachers so when they decided to tie the knot it only seemed fitting that they not only included her love for all things soft, vintage and beautiful but that there was also a nod to their teaching backgrounds. Camryn and her buddies turned their garage into wedding central creating every last detail of the wedding (with the only exception being the wooden numbers for the centerpieces) by hand. Even the wooden boxes were hand made by the bride!

Finding the perfect wedding present

Finding the perfect wedding present is hard. And sometimes they don’t have a registry to guide you, or Aunt Thelma and Co. got to it first, and all that is left is one really sad gravy boat. Etsy can be a great place to find cool, original gifts that suit the couple’s interests and personalities perfectly. Take this bread and oil plate (above). It’s gorgeous and perfect for the foodies in your life. Or just people who like bread. And if you are friends with people who don’t like bread, I would suggest reconsidering that relationship. Seriously. Because that is just not right.

Introverted friends who love a game or movie night? Buy them a little basket of treats like these Scrabble coasters, some fun mugs, and hot cocoa.

I’m partial to quilts. Especially if you can make them yourself. But chances are that you do not have the time or resources to Martha Stewart them up a blanket. Quilters on Etsy can often personalize the quilts for you–incorporating the couple’s favorite colors or style into the project. And, these things pretty much last forever.

share some of my favorite parts of the big day

I showed you all the shower details last week, but I wanted to take a few minutes to share some of my favorite parts of the day.

As I said earlier, I came early to help set up so I was there to greet guests as they came in. My bridesmaids were under strict instructions to greet everyone and take their gifts to the gift table, but I found myself saying, “Hi, how are you? Thank you so much for coming. It’s so good to see you again…ohmigosh, let me take that huge gift off your hands!” And so I schlepped a lot of my own gifts to the gift table (and was scolded a few times for doing so). What can I say? I was just trying to help!

It actually worked out perfectly because I was able to chat with everyone and really feel like I got to spend time with all of my guests. Especially my nonna, who lives three hours away and originally wasn’t going to be able to attend. At the last minute she was able to come and I was so happy to see her again:

After a few minutes, I was chatting to…somebody—I don’t even remember who—when the coordinator turned the lights off. It was a bright shiny day, and with the light streaming in through the windows it actually didn’t make that much of a difference, but I did think it strange that the coordinator would just shut the lights off completely. I looked up at the ceiling and made a joke about it being time to sit down (you know, like when they dim the lights in a theater…OK, maybe not so funny—whatever), but after a few seconds a different set of lights came on. I cracked another bad joke about making sure I looked good in this lighting. Apparently I make really awkward jokes when I’m the center of attention.

Turns out our venue had a full blown power outage and the second set of lights had been kicked on by their generator. It was super windy that day, so my only guess is that a tree knocked down a power line somewhere because we later found out that the whole vicinity lost power!

The coordinator ran out to tell me that everything was fine and that the food was done cooking (thank goodness!), but we’d have to serve it a little earlier so it didn’t get cold. Fine by me! Honestly, the power outage was just a little reminder that no matter how well you plan for the day things WILL go wrong. It reminded that I can’t control everything, so the best thing to do is just enjoy yourself and embrace the chaos.

Five minutes later the food was out and we got to eating! I don’t have photos of the food, but we had a great buffet with roasted chicken, cavatelli, eggplant parm, potatoes, veggies, salad, rolls—oh my it was delicious! Directly after lunch we served the cake: