Wedding Planner to the stars, Mindy Weiss, is hard at work to bring you “The Most Ridiculous Wedding Event Ever!” Join Mindy and her fellow wedding professionals for a special event how-to like none other.

Be sure to check Mindy’s blog for more information!

Here is Part II of Perfumer Neil Morris’ guest post: Finding your individual fragrance

Coco Chanel called fragrance “the ultimate fashion accessory.” Choosing the right fragrance is a quest to find a scent that brings you joy and reflects the inner you. Everyone is unique: we have our own look, our own style and own life experiences that influence what scents we embrace. Choosing your own scent can be difficult, especially if you are unsure of what stimulates your senses. Even in a department store, it’s difficult to determine which fragrance smells good with the whiff of so many brands blending in the air. Most consumers also don’t provide enough time to allow the heart and base notes to develop beyond a first impression.

When purchasing a fragrance off the shelf here are some tips:

1. Do not smell the bottle sprayer. Spray the fragrance on smelling strip and if you like it, spray it on your skin. How many times have you smelled a fragrance on someone else and loved it, but when you tried it, the fragrance smelled completely different. That’s because our body chemistry affects the way the fragrance reacts on our skin.

2. Wear the fragrance for a while to see how it changes on your skin. Fragrances have three phases: the top notes are the introduction that usually lasts for a minute or more. Then comes the middle or heart notes. This is the main theme of the perfume and lasts a half hour or more. Finally there are the base notes or dry down, which supports the composition and can last anywhere from and hour to several hours.

Some people appreciate having a fragrance that is exclusively their own. As a custom perfumer, I create custom fragrances for individual clients that connect people to their positive memories. Many of my clients are brides that desire something special for their wedding day or during their engagement period. Some of the questions I ask during an interview are: “What is your favorite season? What is your happiest childhood memory?” With brides I will add, “What scents do you associate with your fiancé? Where and how did your fiancé propose?” These questions provide me a “scent direction” for building a fragrance from my library of 700 essential and fragrance oils. A perfume for a wedding can do more too. It can be given to bridesmaids or given as favors. More information can be found at (www.neilmorrisfragrances.com).

Another way to wear perfume is to honor someone. On your wedding day, in addition to wearing something old, something new, something borrowed, and blue, how about a fragrance that reminds you of someone important in your life? To do that, simply visit a store that sells the fragrance and ask for a sample of a perfume that your loved one wore. Spritz a little fragrance on a handkerchief and keep it with you, that way you can bring them to your event.

If you have further questions about fragrances, contact me at Neil@neilmorrisfragrances.com. I’ll try my best to answer.

A special thank you to Mr. Morris for this great advice!

From time to time, we like to bring you expert knowledge from leaders in their fields. We have asked Neil Morris, of Neil Morris Fragrances, to offer his best advice for finding and applying your wedding day fragrance. Take notes!

Congratulations on your engagement! Our sense of smell is one of our strongest senses and is a catalyst that instantly connects us to memories and emotions. Fragrances can evoke a bounty of pleasant and loving memories including your first love, walks along the ocean, playing on a fresh cut lawn, delicious dinners and even Thanksgiving apple pie. We choose fragrances to define us and create our personal signatures.

For starters let’s talk about how to apply a fragrance. Here are a few pointers:

1. Do NOT spray the air in front of you and walk through it! It doesn’t work and all you’re doing is paying top dollar for a room spray!

2. Do not apply your perfume two minutes before you go out the door! You’ll knock everybody out on the elevator! 10 – 15 minutes before leaving the house would be best.

3. Apply fragrance to pulse points on the wrist, elbows, behind the ears AND behind your knees. Spray lightly on your collarbone. Fragrance rises so you’ll be able to smell it longer. Also, lift your hair up (if it’s long) and spray the hairline at the nape of your neck. The fragrance will stick to the hair and will waft around you when the wind blows. And when someone gives you a hug they’ll immediately enjoy your fragrance.

4. Don’t think that just because you can no longer smell your perfume that it’s not there. We quickly become anosmic (a fancy word meaning loss of our sense of smell) to our personal scent so we can tune into the other scents around us. But it’s still there and others will be aware of it.

If you have further questions about fragrances, contact me at Neil@neilmorrisfragrances.com. I’ll try my best to answer.

Check back tomorrow for Part II of Mr. Morris’ guest post!

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart Weddings

Talley Sue Hohlfeld, Etiquette Expert, has a great post on The Bride’s Guide today about flower girls. I have always loved the idea of having children involved with the wedding. They seem to add an air of innocence to the day. However, for many brides, the flower girls can also be a source of anxiety! Will she make it down the aisle? Will she drop the petals?

Well, a new book, One Little Flower Girl by Jennifer Dussling, could be the perfect gift (and instruction manual) for your flower girl! 

The book even comes with practice flower petals!

Are you doing anything special for your flower girl?

Anna Post, great-great-granddaughter of renowned etiquette expert Emily Post, has authored a new book answering your most commonly asked questions about weddings. To promote the launch of Do I Have to Wear White, she has teamed up with Williams-Sonoma to hold events at select stores around the country to offer her own great advice and answer your questions in person!

Space is limited, so call one of the Williams-Sonoma store locations below to reserve your spot!

Anna Post at Williams-Sonoma Stores

Highland Park
January 14, starting at 6:00 pm
51 Highland Park Village, Dallas, TX
(214) 219-1753

Lenox Square
January 15, starting at 6:30 pm
3393 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta GA
(404) 812-1703

Oakbrook Center
January 18, starting at 10:00 am
142 Oakbrook Center, Oakbrook IL
(630) 571-2702

Columbus Circle
January 22, starting at 6:00 pm
10 Columbus Circle, New York NY
(212) 823-9750

Union Square
January 25, starting at 10:00 am
340 Post St., San Francisco, CA
(415) 362-9450

Photo Credit: Bryant Dog Photography

With so many newly engaged couples this holiday season, I thought I would go back to the basics and offer a few bits of advice on where to start after he pops the question:

1. Figure out your wedding budget (yikes!) – Before you choose a venue, a theme, or a dress, you need to determine how much money you can spend on each facet of the wedding and who will be paying for what. 

WeddingWire’s Budget Tool allows you to enter a total budget number, allocate funds to each category and also keep track of payments. So easy!

2. Choose your wedding date – Take a look at the calendar and figure out the best time of year for your wedding. Once you have a date, you are ready to find a location! However, for those who already have a location in mind, the venue’s availability calendar may dictate your wedding date. Keep in mind that most people plan vacations around holiday weekends, so if you are planning a memorial day or labor day weekend wedding, send the save-the-dates out to your guests early!

3. Select your team of experts – Choosing wedding vendors can be a bit overwhelming, but WeddingWire is here to help! The Vendor Search Tool will help you find vendors in your local area and can even match you to vendors based on your preferences. You will also want to read reviews of these vendors written by past clients. 

If you have friends who have recently been married, ask them for recommendations on vendors they have used or heard about.

4. Compile your wedding guest list – Sit down with your fiancé and parents to determine who will be on the A List or the B List. Your budget will definitely be a factor in the number of invited guests. Begin to collect addresses of invited guests now as this may take a while if you haven’t kept good records! 

Keep track of names, addresses, lists, and other wedding-related events with WeddingWire’s My Guests Tool.

5. Get inspiration – Wedding blogs are such a great resource for inspiration and advice. Check out BridalBuds.com to follow brides as they go through their own wedding planning process!

Good luck!

Brian and I recently had the pleasure of disussing WeddingWire’s rating and review system with Robert Allen and Holli Ehrlich of the Wedding Podcast Network. Click here to listen to our conversation! Wedding Podcast Network is so helpful to engaged couples because it gives them the opportunity to listen to first-hand advice from newlyweds and wedding professionals. Visit their website to access this great collection of wedding industry information!