Since diamonds are the focus of the engagement ring and wedding band, pearl rings are a stunning choice for a timeless piece of jewelry that goes with anything.  Accented with diamonds, a bold pearl ring for the bride can be worn for the wedding day and every day thereafter. By sticking with a gem as neutral as a pearl, the bridal right hand ring is sure to go with whatever style gown she has chosen. Gifting the bride a ring is actually even safer than giving her a pair of earrings or necklace to wear on the wedding day since the style of a dress usually dictates which style and size earrings or necklace should be worn to compliment it. Rings, on the other hand (no pun intended!), can be worn with a much greater variety of dress  styles without clashing.

Three breathtaking pearl and diamond bridal rings we love hail from Apples of Gold.  Their online store has just expanded its selection of pearls to include the highest quality Tahitian and South Sea pearls, making them an even more special bridal gift.  Here are our top picks, and the type of bride they would be perfect for:

South Sea Pearl & Diamond Summer Ring

The South Sea pearl and diamond ring (at top left) is ideal for the traditional bride who values the inherent style of simplicity.  The whopping ten millimeter South Sea white pearl is of superior quality with a very thick nacre and deep luster.

Tahitian Pearl & Diamond Eternity Ring

The Tahitian pearl and diamond eternity ring (shown at upper right) is a stylish stroke of genius in design.  Three delicate diamond encrusted bands merge together to form a cradle for a gorgeous Tahitian black pearl. The eternity design is perfect for style savvy brides who love fashion and accessories.

South Sea Pearl & Diamond Blossom Ring

Girly girls who love all things floral and sweet will fall head over heels for the South Sea pearl and diamond blossom ring, shown at left. The design is exquisitely feminine with delicate diamond encrusted, stylized petals and a diamond covered solid white gold band.

If you want to incorporate some type of dessert favor into your wedding, consider creating a cookie bar. Cookies have such warm, nostalgic connotations that a freshly baked batch immediately puts people in a happy mood.  Childhood memories of twisting apart Oreos, dunking a chocolate chip cookie into a tall glass of milk and licking the unbaked batter off a spoon are all part of our innate love of cookies. By creating an old fashioned bakery-style cookie spread, guests will be taken back to a simpler time when life was savored and calories were left uncounted. It’s such a sweet way to end an evening and is sure to make your wedding favor one of their favorites.

Creating the Cookie Bar  

To create an old fashioned bakery setup, begin with a long 8 foot table. You can either have it covered in linens that correspond to your color scheme or purchase a few yards of patterned fabric at the local fabric store to add color and character to the table.  Next, you’ll need a selection of cake platters, dessert stands, large glass jars and long serving trays to mimic the look of a traditional bakery.

Play around with the cake stands and platters to create the perfect layout at home, and take a picture of the final placement of all the items to ensure quick, accurate setup on the day of the event. If you have hired a wedding planner or coordinator, be sure to give her a large printout of the layout picture so she can set it up correctly.  Finally, order a wide selection of cookies, and order enough that each guest can taste four to five cookies (unless they are very large cookies, in which case you will probably only need about two to three per person).

If you’re feeling very ambitious (read: masochistic), or have a large family of talented bakers, we strongly recommend buying the cookies for your cookie bar.  Baking batch after batch of cookies in the days leading up to your wedding is a recipe for a super stressed out bride.  Either choose a local bakery that you know has a wide selection of yummy cookies, or order from a national bakery online.

One of our favorite cookie bakeries, Mrs. Beasley’s, delivers their unbelievably tasty cookies across the U.S.  If we were crafting a cookie bar for 100 guests, here’s what would be on our order list:

• 2 Orders of Mrs. Beasley’s 100-mini cookie assorted mix – $132
• 2 Orders of Mrs. Beasley’s dessert bar box (36 large bars; cut into fourths to make bite sized) – $76
• 1 Order of Mrs. Beasley’s brownie crate (24 large brownies; cut into fourths to make bite sized) – $75

Grand Total for Cookie Bar Favors: $283 for 100 guests; $2.83 per favor per person.

Write the names of each type cookie on a tented place card so guests know what they’re eating, order glassine bakery bags in bulk from an online gift wrapping store. Add mini shot glasses filled with milk to wash down the cookies and you’re all set. A beautiful bakery setup that will add charm and character to your wedding, and a delicious, useful favor that guests will adore.

*Top image via Martha Stewart

One theme that would work well for a casual, laid back wedding is an Americana theme.  An Americana theme wedding exudes a warm, welcoming vibe that makes guests feel right at home. Here’s how to pull it off without breaking your budget:

Venue

Choose an All-American, outdoorsy venue that is naturally pretty and provides a great blank slate for setup.  To make it budget-friendly, see if you can find a location that already provides tables and chairs to cut on rental costs.

Food

Classic American comfort food is loved by all and fits the Americana theme to a tee.  Mini burgers, a french fry bar (regular, spicy waffle fries, sweet potato fries, garlic fries, etc.), mac and cheese, fried chicken, peas, green beans, collard greens, cobb salad, and mini grilled cheese  sandwiches with tomato bisque.

Drinks

Three words: Coca-Cola Classic. The most iconic and beloved beverage in the world can serve as the official non-alcoholic signature drink. Purchase the old-fashioned glass Coke bottles and place them in large crates with ice, or a galvanized tin tubs.  Utilize the Coke theme to maximum effect by
purchasing small Coca-Cola accessories that can be used during the reception.  Hang a vintage Coke sign like the one at right (a steal at only $6.99) above the drinks area, attach a Coke wall-mount bottle opener onto the side of the crate holding the bottles, and have a vintage straw holder with straws nearby so guests can effortlessly sip down their refreshing drinks.

Aside from the vintage Coke setup, incorporate fruity iced teas with berries served from large punch bowls, and alcoholic berry infusions in pretty infusion jars. Allowing guests to self-serve their beverages will save on the cost of hiring bartenders, and is perfect for a casual wedding.

Americana Decor

Choose a classic red, white and blue color scheme for the event, but select hues like french blue and poppy that are fresher than the traditional shades. All white flowers like roses, hydrangea and mums are cost-effective and look lovely in vases of varying heights. Bunched together multiple stems of the same flower within one vase, and multiple stems of another kind in a vase next to the first arrangement. Grouping multiple stems of the same flower makes each arrangement look lush and is the easiest to assemble for DIY florals.

One of the best ways to create a truly unique wedding day look is to express your personal style.  There’s nothing more unfortunate than a beautiful bride whose hair, makeup, dress and accessories don’t reflect who she is.  With the pressures of moms, aunts, friends, grandmas, and the wedding industry in general, it’s hard to lose your own vision of how you want to look as a bride.

When you are feeling the pressure, the most important thing to remember is that your wedding day look should reflect you – only a little “better.”  And by better, we mean that you’ll probably get your hair and makeup professionally done, will be wearing a beautiful dress that is completely you, and will be rocking the perfect accessories to compliment the rest of your look.

Two of our favorite ways for brides to truly personalize their wedding day look are with fun shoes and a clutch.  We’ve dedicated plenty of posts to shoes, but here are some stylish clutches that are chock-full of personality, ready to be rocked by the right bride:

Leah Quilted Patent Miniaudiere

Matching your clutch to your favorite color (or wedding colors) is a snap with the Leah Quilted Patent miniaudiere. The vibrant little clutch comes in a fuschia, scarlet red or deep bronze.  We love the pretty rose detail, which gives the bag a feminine bridal touch.

Rockefeller Sophie Long Flap Clutch

Rafe is known for making great clutches, and this stylish little gem (pictured at top) is no exception. This clutch is crafted from genuine snakeskin in a rockstar metallic pewter, and the flap is embellished with diamond shaped gemstones and studs.  Make no mistake, this bag is for seriously stylish brides who want to make a statement on their wedding day.

Black Leah Lizard Miniaudiere

For brides who want to channel their inner Audrey Hepburn on their wedding, a little black lizard clutch like this one is perfect.  It’s timelessly elegant with a nod to vintage, and looks just like something Ms. Hepburn would have picked out herself.

Wedding invitation design is an important part of a cohesive wedding scheme.  Since the invitations are the first thing your guests will see for your wedding, the impression they make sets the tone for the wedding day itself.  A properly executed wedding invitation can communicate a lot about the actual event – the formality, the tone, the ambiance and the expectation. The wedding invitation should also get guests excited about your wedding, and should coordinate with the overall event so guests get a hint at the festivities to come when they open their invite.

Gorgeous letterpress wedding invitations are coveted by many, but chosen by few. The beautiful old-fashioned letterpress printing style makes an impression in the thick card stock that is undeniably elegant.  Brides who love stationary often cut back on other parts of their wedding budget simple to afford the luxurious letterpress invitations, while others give up on the idea altogether when they see the hefty price tag.

One online company, however, is offering gorgeous letterpress wedding invitations at an extremely affordable price. eInvite, online stationary retailer, has partnered with premium stationary design firm Hello! Lucky and the letterpress printing gurus at Manifesto to offer an affordable letterpress option at a super attractive price. Take, for example, the gorgeous Peony & Dots letterpress invitation above. 100 invitations and envelopes will only set you back $500 – a virtual steal for the expensive, time intensive letterpress printing process and the thick, luxurious card stock.

The best part is that the site also offers an instant preview. Change the ink color and fonts, and a new mock up of your desired letterpress invitation appears in a second. No more waiting for proofs, guessing or paying a fee to have a proof emailed a few days later – you can tweak your fonts and colors as much as you like without shelling out or waiting for days. It’s practically a perfectionist bride’s dream, all at an equally dreamy price.

Pearl jewelry is undoubtedly timeless and sophisticated, but it sometimes gets a bad rep for being outdated. We’d like to debunk that myth by saying that pearls are always classic, and if you are wearing a classic wedding gown they will always compliment it beautifully. Additionally, pearls are the type of jewelry that a bride will never regret wearing ten years from now when she looks back on her wedding day accessories.  Of all the wedding fads that come and go, beautiful pearl and diamond jewelry looks lovely year round, year after year, decade after decade.

The type of pearl jewelry a bride wears on her wedding day should be dictated by the style of her dress, although classic pearl earrings will go with just about anything. For a stunning selection of pearl jewelry, we suggest heading over to Apples of Gold’s online jewelry store. They just added a plethora of top-quality Tahitian and South Sea pearl jewelry that is simply breathtaking, and is priced much lower than regular retail – perfect for the stylish bride who wants to save money.

Three pieces perfect for a timeless bride are their South Sea pearl and diamond Julia earrings, the double strand Akoya pearl and diamond clasp necklace and the South Sea pearl and diamond drop pendant. All are absolutely lovely, and all would go fabulously with a strapless sweetheart neckline wedding gown.  Also, be sure to check out Apples of Gold’s site for more pretty pearl jewelry and gold jewelry perfect for the wedding day.

Adding a piece of pink gemstone jewelry to the bride’s wedding day ensemble is a fun way to play up the wedding color and add richness to her look.  If you are on the fence about pink gemstone jewelry on your wedding day, take a peek at these gorgeous Pink Topaz drop earrings by Brian Danielle.

Crafted from 14K solid rose gold, the drop earrings are set with a round cut, sparkling pink topaz. Surrounding the pink center stone is a halo of pave diamonds that pop against the warm rose gold metal. In three words? Sheer, utter perfection.  These earrings are the perfect pick for a romantic bride who wants her wedding day filled with peonies, muted pastels, and flirty feminine details.

If you love the style of these earrings but pink just isn’t your thing, check out these beautiful alternative center stones, both set in white gold in lieu of rose gold:

Brian Danielle Prasiolite Drop Earrings - Prasiolite is a beautiful bluish-green stone that looks stunning set in this darling earring design.

Brian Danielle Blue Topaz Drop Earrings - Brides looking for their something blue will love the blue topaz center stone in this design. Besides, the sparkling blue gemstone makes both  blue and brown eyes pop.

Day Spring is a Christian retailer that sells many religious cards, art, jewelry and home decor. We particularly like their Christian home decor offerings that includes crosses, signs, plaques, candles and garden decor. The wide range of items vary from subtly religious to very overt, so gift givers can match the right level of religious expression with the engaged couple’s lifestyle.

Here are some of our favorite Day Spring picks for Christian wedding gifts:

Wooden Welcome Sign

Every home should have a welcome sign, and this version (shown at top) is as lovely as they come.  Below the ‘Welcome’ lettering reads ‘The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. PSALM 121:8 NIV’.  It’s perfect for making the newlywed’s guests feel right at home.

White Table Top Cross

The table top cross gift idea is an oldie but goodie. If the couple getting married is the type to display crosses in their home, this pretty white one is a perfect pick. The design is a mix of both contemporary and traditional, allowing it to seamlessly blend in with most home decorating styles. Oh, and did we mention it’s currently a steal at 50% off?

Metal Ichthys Fish Wall Hanging

The metal Ichthys wall hanging is the best option for Christian couples who enjoy a subtle tribute to their faith. The beautiful metalwork design is fairly abstract, and makes a great statement piece for any Christian home.  The great thing about the wall hanging is that it can be hung both indoors and outdoors to liven up almost any space.

For adorable, stylish bridal shower and bachelorette party invitations, look no further than stationary designer Bonnie Marcus & Co.  Carried at online stationer extraordinaire Invitation Consultants, Bonnie Marcus’ designs are hip, sassy and fashion-forward. Her invitation line features impeccably dressed, stylish and put-together women with cocktail in hand a la Sex and the City. These irresistibly chic silhouettes and watercolor city girls are ready to paint the town red, just like your guests will be when they receive such a cute invitation to celebrate the bride.

Here are three of our favorite Bonnie Marcus & Co. invitation designs that would make lovely Bachelorette Party invitations, or invitations for a bridal shower with cocktails – perhaps a sassy lingerie shower?
Cocktail Girl Bachelorette Party Invitation

This invitation features a stylish blonde dressed in a black  ruffled party dress with pink cocktail in hand.  It’s perfect for a Bachelorette Party celebration that includes a dressed up girls night out on the town.

Polka Dot Girl Bachelorette Party or Bridal Shower Invitation

The polka dot girl (at top left) is decidedly tamer than cocktail girl, but remains impeccably chic. Her pink strappy slingbacks and low ponytail with loose curls is so of-the-moment, and her outfit can go for a day or nighttime shower.

Summer Soiree Girl Bachelorette Party Invitation

For mini weekend away bachelorette parties by the beach or pool, this invitation is deliciously perfect. Her oversized black sunglasses, sundress and pink flip flops set a stylish tone for a fun, relaxing bachelorette weekend spent with the girls.

Strapless Wedding Gowns

With a strapless gown, brides can pull off a gorgeous pair of chandelier earrings. Even if the dress has beading, a sparkling pair of  chandelier or dangle earrings is high enough above the neckline to compliment instead of clash.

Bateau (Boatneck) Neckline Wedding Gowns

The vintage bateau neckline looks lovely with a small pair of pearl studs or diamond earrings.

Halter & Sweetheart Neckline Wedding Gown


Necklaces with delicate pendants are a great choice for a halter or sweetheart neckline gown. Since the straps are near the neck, avoid any overly large earrings, and try to avoid wearing both earrings and a necklace with a halter gown.