Makeup that lasts all day!

While I firmly believe in having a professional do your hair and make-up for your wedding day, I do understand that some of you, my beautiful brides, may want to do it yourself or simply don't have the money.

I recently came across a product that you might want to try. It's Illuminare Cosmetics' Ultimate All Day Foundation. Providing a matte, but not drying finish, the foundation will not rub off on your beautiful wedding dress or when you're hugging and kissing all of your guests on your wedding day!

Illuminare is actually a local company — headquartered in El Dorado Hills — and they're making quite a name for themselves in the beauty industry with their wonderful line of cosmetics.

If you're hesitant to buy a full size product, they do offer trial size versions through their Web site: www.illuminarecosmetics.com.

If you'd like to try their products in person, they're carried locally throughout the Sacramento Area -- check out their Retailer Outlet section of their Web site:

Retailer Locations.

We've Been Blogged...Again!

I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Merry last night at an AFWPi event -- what a nice guy!

We featured Peter's book The Best Wedding Reception...Ever! in our Winter/Spring 2009 issue in our For Your Review section.

Well, when I saw Peter last night he showed me his blog and voila, there we were! Check it out!

Click here to see Peter's Blog!

Thanks for the nice coverage Peter!

Style Files — Inspirational Photos

Ok, so I'm sitting here trying to load a bunch of photos to our online Style Files — our online wedding planning resource guide from Sacramento to the Sierra. And I gotta tell you, there are some pretty talented people out there.

In fact, in our current issue, we worked with three amazingly creative local floral designers: Ambience Floral Design (www.ambiencefloraldesign.com), Camino Flower Shop (www.caminoflowershop.net) and Flourish (www.flourishdesigns.com).

We challenged them to come up with designs to complement the gowns and the looks we were striving for and boy did these wonderful ladies rise to that challenge.

Check out our current issue to see more of their handiwork but to pique your interest, here are a few favorites from these dynamos!

Above: From Flourish (www.flourishdesigns.com)
Photo by Sarah Maren Photography (www.sarahmaren.com)

Above: From Ambience Floral Design (www.ambiencefloraldesign.com)
Photo by Sarah Maren Photography (www.sarahmaren.com)

Above: Camino Flower Shop (www.caminoflowershop.net)
Photo by Sarah Maren Photography (www.sarahmaren.com)

And, be sure to check out these vendors' Web sites; and for more inspirational photos, check out our Style Files (being updated now!) at Real Weddings Magazine/Style Files.

More blogging soon, I promise!

We've Been Blogged

How cool is this?!

Kate & Kenneth Miller's Wedding post on Weddingbee

We love it!

Thanks Kate! And we're excited to see your business grow!

The New Issue Arrives TODAY!

Okay ladies -- I'm so sorry that I haven't been blogging lately. It's because I've been putting the finishing touches on our next issue, and if I may brag just a little bit, it's one of our best yet!

This past March, we had an amazing photo shoot with our gorgeous cover model finalists, Autumn, Amelia and Emily. These real brides are stunning and what spectacular models they were!

We scoured the Sacramento area for unique and interesting gowns — in fact we had more than 50 gowns at our shoot. Of course we didn't use every one of them, but we came close! This issue, the beautiful gowns came from The Bridal Box (www.thebridalbox.net), Diamond Bridal Gallery (www.diamondbridalgallery.com), Dreamnette Bridal (www.dreamnette.com), Miosa Bride (www.miosabride.com) and Always Elegant Bridal Boutique (www.alwayselegantbridal.net).

While we had great gowns, we also really wanted to add some color and whimsy by pairing the gowns with some fabulous hats, headpieces, veils and headbands — some that you might not necessarily think of as "wedding." Can I just tell you how fun these pieces were? They were a huge hit! The pieces came from Advantage Bridal (www.advantagebridal.com), Alice Hart Couture Millinery (www.alicehart.com), Granville Millinery Company (www.granvillemillinerycompany.com), Hair Comes the Bride (www.haircomesthebride.com), Tina Kite Millinery Company (www.tinakite.com) and Jazzy Jewelz by Nancy (www.jazzyjewelzbynancy.com).

Each finalist had their very own professional hair and make-up team for the day. I always say, "Never underestimate the power of great hair and make-up." If I can stress one thing to brides, always get your hair and make-up professionally done for your wedding day! These professionals are trained to highlight your natural beauty, and it ALWAYS shines through in the photos. Autumn's team: Rhianna Baldwin, Maye Le and Ghazaleah Parsa from SOFIE! SOFIE! Salon & Spa (www.sofiesofie.com). Ameilia's team: Image Provocateur and VIP-CAT Academy (www.imageprov.com). Emily's team: Andrea Newberry Jones and Stacy Humbird from Elements Hair Salon (530-626-6430).

It wouldn't be a wedding photo shoot without the flowers. Once again, our floral designers stepped up to the plate and created some of the most unique, creative and beautiful bouquets I've ever seen! Our floral designers for the shoot: Ambience Floral Design (www.ambiencefloral.com), Camino Flower Shop (www.caminoflowershop.net) and Flourish (www.flourishdesigns.com).

Now for the bling...oh yeah, we love sparkly things. Hey, we're girls! The more bling the better, wouldn't you agree? Bling was provided by Jazzy Jewelz by Nancy (www.jazzyjewelzbynancy.com) and Michael Greene & Co. (www.michaelgreene.com).

Location, location, location! What a cool location for our shoot. One of the challenges for our photo shoot is that we want to have so many little nooks and crannies available so that with each different look for our finalist, we can shoot her in a different location within the shoot location. We were definitely able to achieve that at Carvalho Family Winery at Old Sugar Mill (www.carvalhowines.com), wouldn't you agree?

And of course, what would the shoot be with out the photography? The exceptionally talented team at Sarah Maren Photography (www.sarahmaren.com) did the honors with this issue and the results are nothing short of spectacular (I really have to go find my thesaurus so that I can come up with more superlatives as they are all warranted here!). I couldn't be more thrilled!

But wait, there's more! That's right — this issue is packed with sooooo much more! Honeymoon ideas, tips and trends, 25 inspirational real weddings (not to mention the six appearing on our Web site that I'm uploading NOW!) and of course our Style Files Wedding Planning Resource Guide. We packed our Style Files with some pretty cool flowers, yummy cakes, elegant invitations — all from local wedding planning professionals! — and so much more, including our local wedding vendor lists! Phew, I'm exhausted!

Anyway, we really hope you like this issue! One of the best compliments we can get regarding our magazine is when we hear back from you, telling us how helpful you found our magazine in helping you plan your dream wedding day!

Enjoy!

Fab Lashes for your Wedding Day!

Okay girls -- have you ever wanted really fabulous long, thick and full lashes that don't immediately wash off (or come off when you get a little teary eyed)? You know, results that you just cannot get out of a mascara tube?

Well, I've found some pretty fantastic lash extensions, and I was lucky enough to try them firsthand -- talk about about a gorgeous doe-eyed look!

The extensions are applied over and are perfectly blended with your regular lashes, so the look is incredibly natural. The extensions will not harm your natural lashes. They're quite comfortable, and I have to admit that they're pretty darned cool to wear! Your eyes immediately become the focus and enhance your natural beauty that much more. (Is it vain of me to admit that when I had them, I constantly wanted to catch glances of my lashes whenever I had an opportunity to peek at them -- driving in the car, walking past a mirror. Yeah, it's true.)

You have to check them out for yourself just to see how fantastic they truly are.

They last about two months with a retouch needed about every three weeks, and the initial price is $150.00 for a full set and retouch is $75.00.

They're available at TTE Skin Care in Folsom.

TTE Skin Care
8016 Folsom-Auburn Rd.
Folsom, CA 95630
916-988-4973
www.tigerseyeskincare.com

Expert Advice from DJs!

Ok, so your reception is truly a party to celebrate your big day! So you have to make it unique, fun and most of all, it should reflect your personal style.

We recently asked some of our extremely talented DJ friends (who are truly your personal entertainment directors for the event!) some tips on how to make your reception creative and fun. Here's what they had to say:

Tip #1: Add some spice with a custom introduction!
A customized introduction of your wedding party is a sure way to get the party started. Ask you entertainer to work with you on collecting information about the members of the wedding party so that he or she can present them to your guests. Don't be afraid to include a funny story, nicknames, or how you met them. Feel free to add in custom music requests for each person that fits what is being said but keep it up-beat. If you're not sure what to play, ask your entertainer to give you suggestions on what would fit the introduction. How you start your perfect wedding reception is going to tell the guests what they will be in store for later, so make it the best you can.

--Michael Anderson
Wedding Entertainment Director

Creative Memories Entertainment (http://www.creativememoriesdj.com/)

Tip #2: Involve your wedding guests!

Find a way for your DJ and emcee to involve your wedding guests in the celebration. Guests may become bored if only the bride and groom are the focus of all the attention. At Behind the Scene Sounds we celebrate marriage. By doing this married guest can relive their wedding day. Our current way in which we celebrate marriage is our Kissing Game. We ask the bride and groom to pick six fun married couples, and we assign a kiss to each couple. To let everyone know a kiss is about to happen, we play the song "Kiss" by Prince. This idea has been incredibly successful. Some of the kisses we pick are, The First Date Kiss, The Morning Breath Kiss and The Passionate Kiss. Each participant receives a customized Love Song CD. The kissing couples almost always ham it up or make a romantic statement about their love.

-- Derwin & Elizabeth Terry

Behind the Scene Sounds (http://www.btssound.com/)

Tip #3: Consider the biggest regrets from couples planning their wedding (top five)
-"I wish I had hired a videographer"
-"I wish I would have hired a professional DJ/emcee"
-"Having friends and family 'work' the wedding may turn out to be more 'work' for you"
-"I wish I would have hired an event planner/designer so I could have enjoyed myself"
-"Spend your time wisely and pick and choose your battles/efforts. Be realistic. Be optimistic but be flexible when things don't go according to plan. Have a plan b (and c)."

-- Matt Brys

Extreme Productions Entertainment (http://www.extremeprodjs.com/)

The Bottom Line: Utilize the pros to help you get the very best reception for your special day.