Hair Today, Fall Tomorrow

Some of the top trends for Fall '10 hair are blessedly DIY-friendly, a boon for any trend-spotting bride or bridesmaid on a budget.

Take this curly bob. It's a simple style for straight or curly-haired ladies who love a little casual ease to their style.

For curly-haired ladies:

- Wash and either air-dry your hair or use a diffuser, scrunching upwards underneath the top layer to dry it to completion. A leave-in mousse-gel combo will smooth frizzies and flyaways without weighing down the hair too much. Ouidad makes specifically curly-hair-friendly products that work wonders.

- Use a round brush to smooth the top of your hair, if you like the smooth roots look that these models are sporting. Note: If you do smooth the roots, make sure you tease underneath the smooth area though to create volume. Otherwise, you may wind up with something that looks like bad hat hair.

- Use a hot flat-iron to flatten the ends of your hair. It's okay to leave some ends fully curled. The idea is to give it a lived-in look.

- If your hair is still laying a bit close to your head, tease the under-layers to create more volume around the head.

For straight-haired ladies, the folks on becomegorgeous.com do a fabulous job of explaining the details of this style for you. You can also find other fall hair trends on their site.

* As with any event hair, make sure you practice before the big day to ensure you can do it and it looks good.

Mason Jar Decor

Whether planning a garden party-themed summer wedding, a rustic fall wedding or an elegant glass-centered winter wonderland wedding, mason jars can be a budget-friendly way to create warm lighting, charming decor and memorable favors.

I'm sure you're familiar with the classic and beautiful flowers-in-mason-jar centerpiece. Both wildflowers arranged by the wedding party or family or professionally arranged flowers look fantastic in mason jars and give a homey welcome to the event.

They can also be used as table lighting with a little bit of sand (colored or natural), stones or shells as a base for votive candles. This inviting lighting allows for a protected open flame at the table and less (potentially more costly) lighting elsewhere.

Another option for lighting is hanging lanterns. This involves slightly more DIY-work on your part, but are a great option if you're going with an outdoor wedding. P. Allen Smith has a great how-to on their website: www.pallensmith.com

And never underestimate the charm of using them for guest favors. Use your imagination to showcase the wedding locale or your personalities through a small mason jar full of items like:

- local jam (ex: huckleberry jam in Montana)
- a favorite candy (or candies in the color of the wedding)
- soil & a planted seed (for a green-themed wedding)
- local flowers petals (to evolve into potpourri; also involves a bit more DIY)

The options are endless!

Justifying Tradition

Never one to accept and perform a tradition simply for the fact that it's a tradition, I absolutely love Jennifer Grabenstetter's blog post on the real history of several wedding traditions: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15969

It may give you that extra ammo you need to convince your mother that wearing red is actually perfectly acceptable as a wedding dress.

DIY Hair: 1930's finger waves

Who doesn't love saving some cash and still coming up with a gorgeous and special hairdo, whether you're a bride, a bridesmaid or a stylish guest?

This is actually a pretty clear tutorial on doing finger waves (a look that requires a few run-throughs but can look great on any kind or length of hair):

Scenic vs Practical

Yet another reason to really think through the placement of your ceremony and weigh out the beauty vs practicality of the location.

Upgrading Awesomeness

One of the best things about getting married is that most people get super excited for you and want to give you free stuff. Yep. FREE!

Never underestimate the power of mentioning "we're getting married this weekend," or "this is actually for my wedding," or "we are so excited to be spending our honeymoon here." You can get everything from free upgrades (check out the suite with 2 bathrooms!!! that we got upgraded to over our wedding weekend) to freebie additions (free eyebrow threading with a bikini wax) to just plain freebies (a bagful of airline snacks & mini liquor bottles from a stewardess) just by mentioning the "wedding" or "honeymoon" words.

Especially if you're on a budget, you have nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. Just make sure that you're super sweet, sincere in your excitement and don't expect anything - people can sense it when you're trying to get something out of them. But drop it into casual conversation - you never know where it will take you. (Penthouse, anyone??)

What's in a Name?

If you haven't already started getting the "are you changing your name" question yet - don't worry, it will come. Friends, family, neighbors, hair stylists, bankers, grocery store cashiers - anyone who notices your engagement ring will probably eventually ask you "So, are you taking his name or keeping yours?"

For some people, this is an easy decision. ("Of course, I'm keeping my name. No girl named Izzie is taking the last name Gaye.") For others, it may be a bit of a struggle. There is a desire to feel truly connected to your partner, to feel like you're moving forward as one. There is also sometimes the desire to feel like you're not losing your identity or perhaps to avoid the logistical hassle of changing your name, especially if your career revolves around the name you currently have.

Regardless, make sure to discuss the name change - or lack thereof - with your partner. A surprising number of couples have no idea where the other partner stands on this topic - even when the ceremony is closing in on them! You want to make sure this discussion is fully decided before having awkward conversations in front of guests asking this question (and they will) at your reception.

Whatever decision you make, inform your family and wedding party. They will be able to help spread the word to guests - to avoid your having to answer the same question again and again, as well as avoiding receiving gift checks with the wrong name on the "to" line. (Even if you do get checks with the incorrect names on the "to" line, don't worry - if you take your marriage certificate to the bank, your banker will be able to figure out a way for you to deposit those checks.)