BigCityBride Blog

Honey, I Don’t Want to Watch The Kids!

When making your guest list, it’s very common to come across a
couple
who has children you also want to invite to the wedding. They could
either be your relatives or a close friend’s newborn whom they simply
cannot leave at home! While this may propose a problem to the flow and
fun of your wedding day (we agree, we wouldn’t want crying babies
during our reception either!) there are many ways to keep these
children occupied so that your wedding day is enjoyable for all!
Make kid-friendly gift bags! Make a bag or decorative box full of
things that will entertain young children. These small goodie bag
items include crayons, a small coloring book, glow sticks, colored
bracelets, figurines, small beanie animals, etc. Remember that these
bags don’t have to be extravagant or cost a lot of money, they just
need to keep the children at your wedding busy.
Hire babysitters! This option may seem obvious, but bringing
babysitters to your wedding could save not only you, but the parents
of the children as well. Instead of having to call and check up on the
kids constantly, the parents and come and go as they please to a
special kids room that you would set up. That way, the children will
be close enough to their parents without having to bother the rest of
the guests.
Your wedding day will be one of the most memorable days of your
life.
It’s imperative to have as many family members and friends there as
possible, both physically and mentally! Take the time to keep the
children at your wedding busy, and it will more than pay off!

Get Your Sneakers On! Filene’s Basement, Here We Come!

We’ve all see the shows on TV where brides jump through hoops to win a wedding dress. Alright, maybe they don’t necessarily jump through hoops, but they do participate in mentally and physically exhausting contests, standing and holding on to a wedding dress so long they collapse to the ground. This may sound a bit crazy, but the one left standing wins a BRAND! NEW! WEDDING DRESS!

Should all brides be willing to go to such great lengths to have a free or extremely inexpensive wedding gown? Well, we say, what do you have to lose? Wedding dress shopping is typically done with family members and friends, so why not spice it up a bit? This year, spend some of your time wedding dress shopping at Filene’s Basement’s 2010 Running of The Brides!

This year, the Running of the Brides is taking place on July 23^rd from 8AM to 9PM. It is a one-day event ladies, so don’t miss out! There will be over 1,700 gowns available for purchase, and the price tags are simply to die for. Gowns will be priced anywhere from $699 to as low as $249! It’ll blow your mind as you sort through dresses whose original price tags were $900 to $9,000 and higher.

Future brides, this is not an event you want to miss! Come to the Filene’s Basement location at 1 North State Street in downtown Chicago. We’re sure that walkie-talkies and whistles are allowed, Courtney Cox style.

Big City Bride is happy to announce our groom-to-be NASCAR great Kyle Busch is up for an award at the 2010 ESPY Awards tonight!  Kyle is being nominated for the Best Driver of 2010/  We wish him the best of luck and can’t wait to see the results.  For those of you who want to follow along with us tonight, the awards will be on ESPN at 8:00pm.

As every season allows for weddings to have different themes, summer is no different. Summer weddings have the ability to bring the surroundings to life and can create a feel that is warm, relaxed, and personal. There are many ways to theme your wedding, all you need to do is think about your honeymoon, things you have in common with your fiancé, and being green!

Keep your honeymoon in mind! It’s often a great idea to incorporate aspects of your honeymoon into your wedding. If the destination is a tropical place like Tahiti or Barbados, add some native flowers or music to your special day. If there are a few staple food items that you can incorporate as well, do it! Not only will you be able to create a theme to your wedding, it also will create a more relaxed and unique aspect of your wedding.

Is there a special movie, sports team, or place that is near and dear to you and your fiancé’s heart? Use it in your wedding! Let’s say that you two met at a Chicago Cubs game. There are many ways that you can incorporate different aspects of the Cubs in your wedding. Have some of your food be staple Chicago snacks. Late night snacks could be hot dogs or pizza. Design a groom’s cake that is decorated in Cubs colors. Another idea is to theme your welcome gift bags to tell the history of Chicago and the products that the city has become well known for. The possibilities are endless!

Summer is the season that shows a great deal of growth and color in flowers and greenery. Think green! Give your guests seeds to your favorite flower or vegetable in a recycled jar with a decorative ribbon on it. Another option is to plant a tree in their name or add extra greenery into your decorations. Lastly, make a donation to your favorite charity in their name.

There are many ways to theme your summer wedding. Remember that these themes can bring a lot of life and fun into your wedding. They have the ability to bring more of your personality into your wedding, and can make the guests feel as though they are more involved in your relationship with your future spouse. Be creative! Fun and unique ideas are what will make your wedding memorable.

Excitement effortlessly followed the second he slipped that diamond on your ring finger. In the following weeks your mind started racing in thought of everything from whom you are going to invite to how many tiers you should have on your wedding cake. Of course your hubbie-to-be is excited for the big day but you may be getting down about how uninterested he appears about all the wedding day details. You are not alone! A lot of men know and realize how much their bride loves to get into the nitty gritty details of planning the wedding and think they are doing you a favor by handing you the reigns. There are others who see the wedding day as just another stepping stone they have to reach in order to spend the rest of their life with you; isn’t that the most important part anyways? Instead of getting down about your gloomy groom, try to be proactive and make the experience interesting for him. I know how easy it is to get carried away with your girlfriends, but try to include him in the decision making process so he feels more hands on. You can also give him a heads up when meetings with your planner will be consist of decisions he may not care about, like floral arrangements. On the flip side make sure to give him responsibilities for things that interest him, the music selection or band perhaps. Taking the time to understand how involved your groom wants to be in the planning process and realizing that Weddingland is foreign to him and he is probably struggling, is key. Chin-up and realize that your groom wants a lifelong marriage with you, and that’s the most any woman could ask for. Just because he’s not as into the linen or invitation decision as you, doesn’t change the fact that he wants a marriage, not just a wedding.

You’ve been to fun weddings. You’ve been to beautifully decorated weddings. But have you been to weddings that have been both fun and beautifully decorated? It’s often hard to picture what your wedding will look like until the day it comes. Sure, you can pick out the floral arrangements, the color scheme, and you will more than likely pick out how the entire table setting will look. But it’s small touches that will set your wedding over the top, something to make it both fun and beautifully decorated. A wedding day is a day to make memories for you and your fiancé, but it’s also rewarding to make the day memorable for your guests. One of the best ways to do this is to add color anywhere you can!

Your color scheme for the day is simply the foundation for your decorations. However, just a few colors have the ability to make a loud statement at your wedding! This is best done by using a neutral color like a grey, black, or white, and adding accent colors that make it pop like hot pink, lime green, royal blue, etc. That way, you can use neutrals in the ceremony or cocktail hour without overwhelming or distracting guests, and using a small amount of louder colors to bring the day to life.

Add bright colors to things that you wouldn’t normally think about! Have bridesmaids use colored umbrellas on a sunny day or wear brightly colored sandals when feet get tired. Instead of having a plain white ribbon wrap around your bouquet, add something that makes it pop or accents the arrangement! Add color to your place card table by draping an accented colored ribbon throughout the place cards. Lastly, use picture frames on the tables at the reception that coordinate with your color scheme.

There are many ways to add color to your wedding day. It’s important to be creative and choose colors that you love and will make your special day come to life. However, it’s important to not make your decorations too loud! Use color with caution, but make sure to think about small details that could make your wedding day more special.

From barrettes to flowers to headbands, there are many different options when finding the perfect hairpiece for your flower girl. However, it’s also extremely important not only to think of the different options, but more importantly what options will work best with the age of your flower girl. We won’t help you calm temper tantrums, but we are here to help prevent them with finding cute, comfortable hairpiece ideas!

Headbands, barrettes, and clips are a great option for all ages. They stay on snug and often cause little to zero discomfort for little ones. They are also easy to put back on if they are taken off. Another great aspect to these accessories is that they can easily be decorated or dressed up depending on the age of the girl wearing it! Flowers, feathers, and ribbons can be added to make a simple hair accessory something that makes a flower girl’s outfit complete.

Though not always suited for a younger crowd, metallic colors and rhinestones are the modern look of hair accessories. For flower girls that are a bit older, around the age of six, this may be a great hair accessory to have. It adds a bit of flare to an otherwise traditional and simple hairstyle.

Another option for hairpieces is a bun wrap or wreath. This style should also be for girls older than six. If used for a younger child, they might try to pull and grab at the hair pieces until there is no time to redo the hair! Try a bun wrap that has flowers that are the same as the color scheme, or a simple white or pearl color that can go with any theme. It could quite possibly be the “something blue” at your wedding if you so choose!

The possibilities are endless when thinking of what hairpieces to use for the children in your wedding. While there are many options, it’s important to also consider the age of your flower girl and what will make her comfortable! Practicality will prevent temper tantrums, and (hopefully) produce a pleasant flower girl on your wedding day.