The Wonders of Engagement Season

If your Facebook news feed looks something like this, then it's probably because it's engagement season. Helped by the marketing for De Beer diamonds, "engagement season" grew more popular because of the span between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. Filled with family focused, gift giving holidays, the winter season is prime time for proposals. While some aspects of engagement season are just corny, some are practical.

The corny is everyone getting engaged at the same time. Single people can feel overwhelmed at the amount of "I said yes!" and "We're engaged!" on their news feed and in their social networks. Proposals by the Christmas tree are still sweet, as all proposals are, but are becoming more and more cliche especially when you have flash mobs and all kinds of things hitting the Internet. 

Now it's not to say that all engagement season proposals are a bad idea. Actually it can prove practical for a couple's timeline. It also can be a great way to celebrate an engagement with family. The holidays bring families together that may only see each other once a year. It's a big family event and should be celebrated!

Just be prepared to share the joy with a lot of other couples in your social circle. It's almost guaranteed you won't be the only one getting a shiny ring over the holidays. Congratulate everyone and share in the excitement. Chat about your proposals with other newly engaged ladies. Just don't bombard your single friends too much. They'll get a bit tired of talking about wedding dresses and the color of the year a bit quicker than others that will also be soon planning their nuptials. 

Issues with Maids

There's a couple issues with bridesmaids that seem to come up consistently. Whether it be a disconnected maid, dealing with an underage maid and a bachelorette, or choosing too early, it's tough to navigate maids or matrons or junior maids.

Q: What do I do if one of my maids is just not interested in the wedding and won't help?

You pick your bridesmaids not because you want them as your personal slaves. Your maids are chosen to stand up next to you and show their support. There's a difference in a maid not showing their support and encouragement for your upcoming marriage and not wanting to sit assembling DIY favors all weekend. As a bride, you also need to keep in mind your bridesmaids' lives. Maybe one of them just lost a family member or has a huge work deadline coming up a few months before your wedding. Consider their feelings and at the very least, talk to them concerning the issues.

Q: I really want my younger sister to be part of my wedding, but she'll only be 18. Does that mean I can't have the kind of fun we want during the bachelorette?

Just because a maid is under the legal drinking age doesn't mean you all can't have fun. Maybe split your bachelorette. Do one night that's a crazy drinking night at a bar and another that's a calm, spa day or a nice dinner with some kind of activity after that you can all enjoy. You can also consider going to a place that serves alcohol, but doesn't card everyone in your party. Think smart, but also think of your maid and how she may feel about it.

Q: I just got engaged and am so excited to pick my maids! But I know I'm going to have a long engagement (1+ years). What do I do?

It's going to be the hardest thing to do, but wait. You really shouldn't pick your maids until at the most 11 months before the wedding. Relationships are going to change. Depending on the length of your engagement, it could be awhile until your wedding. Your best friend now may move across the country and not be as close in a few months. I know it's very difficult not to jump the gun, but breathe, enjoy the just engaged phase and don't worry about it!

If you have any wedding questions that you would like answered, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Utilize your social media

When it comes to planning and enjoying a wedding, have fun with your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Pinterest. You name it, it's out there. Some brides love a good, old fashioned glossy bridal magazine in their hands. I'll admit, I'm addicted to them just as much as any other girl. However, websites like The Knot and websites for the bridal magazines themselves offer a lot of their content on their sites. It's not the same as ripping pages out and putting them into a binder for future planning, but you can learn a lot about etiquette, planning and timelines that can help.

Sites like Pinterest are never ending sources of ideas and inspiration. From DIY projects to bridesmaid dresses and color palettes, tons of good can come from scrolling through some pages and pinning the ideas to a board or two. Organize away and make a few boards. It'll help once it comes time to hire vendors and pick your dresses with your girls!

The sources and information don't stop once the wedding day is here. Don't be afraid to make a Twitter/Instagram hashtag for your wedding. Put it on your invites or on a sign when guests walk in. Guests love to take photos and with the social media and smartphone era, they take a lot of them. However, without a hashtag, it can be difficult to corral all the photos in one place. Many times, smartphone photos are taking over for the disposable camera idea. Use the hashtag so after the honeymoon, you can have them collected in an easy way and be able to enjoy or scrapbook them.

Also during the wedding, utilize Vine to have guests take quick, easy videos of their crazy dancing or the cake cutting or even guests just enjoying the party! What photos can't show, videos can.

Last but not least, use Facebook openly. With the upcoming ability on Facebook to collaborate on photo albums, you can again get all the photos easy in one place to keep track of for the future.

Set priorities

You can't have it all in your wedding. Your budget (well except if maybe you're a millionaire) cannot cover a beautiful $10,000 designer dress, a fantastic venue, mouth savoring food, exotic flowers and the best of the best bands. It comes down to deciding what the most important things are in your wedding.

Some people are going to spend more money on their attire or their focus will be the food. Maybe they splurged for a drop dead venue or a vintage Rolls Royce? Before even beginning the planning craziness, sit down with your fiance and discuss what the most important things are to you. Maybe you want to take it a step back on the invitations or maybe you aren't so picky about what flowers you have as long as they're in the right color. Make some budget compromises. In the end, it will be a wonderful day because your loved one and you are getting hitched!

All the weddings!

There comes a time in your life when all of your friends are also getting engaged and/or married around the same time as you. You may start bumping into date conflicts, arguing over vendors, playing tug of war with wedding dresses...just stop. None of that is necessary.

We are not a sequel of "Bride Wars." We won't all have a June wedding at the Plaza. Actually, it's quite the opposite. You may get lucky like I might when your friends are looking at different lengths of engagements. I know for a fact if my boy proposed, we would have a long engagement to make sure we were financially comfortable enough to throw the wedding we want. I know another friend looking at a short engagement so that the friends they have now can be there.

It comes down to communication. Talk with your other serious relationship, engaged or almost married friends. Discuss timing of weddings, bachelorettes, bridal showers and engagement parties before setting dates. If you really want another friend there and she's important, work together to make sure everyone can make the big bash. You don't have to end up walking down the aisle to a video of spring break or having your hair dyed blue. It can actually be a painless process with a little planning.

Wait...Mom can't hold the shower?

It's been a long time etiquette rule that's been followed closely. Mom can't host the bridal shower. It must be the bridesmaids. However, in recent years this rule has shifted. Bridesmaids are so busy planning the bachelorette, buying dresses and paying for other expenses of being in the bridal party that also hosting another party can seem like a lot.

That's why it's ok for Mom to host the shower. Also many times, moms don't feel included enough. They just want something to do that will help benefit everyone. Mom hosting the shower can actually be one of the best decisions a bridal mom and the bridesmaids can make. It takes the pressure off the bridesmaids and also gives Mom a way to contribute that helps everyone. Hey, who doesn't love throwing a party?

The difference of talking about the future and demanding the future

When you're in a relationship, you're told to talk about things. You're encouraged to have open communication and to address the future whether it be kids or a home on the beach or getting married. However, some people miss the point and don't understand what the difference is between a timeline and an ultimatum.

There's a very fine line between discussing approximately when your significant other and you feel ready for marriage and demanding marriage of your significant other. You may agree "Well, let's wait until we're financially stable enough to afford the wedding by ourselves" or you may say "let's wait until x amount of years until we feel ready to take on a marriage." Those kinds of discussions are very different than demanding that "we need to get married in a year or I'm through!"

Relationships, and marriages, are partnerships. You have to work together to determine the best for both of you. Sometimes one person isn't ready at the same time as the other to take on such a huge step like marriage. If you force such a big decision, you'll be more likely to divorce because you did just that, force it. People know when, or if, they want to get married. It's not something you can simply demand of someone because all your friends are getting married or an ex is engaged or you just can't stand waiting anymore.

Think about how you've thought about it whether it be in your head or a discussion with a significant other. Are you a timeline or an ultimatum person? Determine that and then figure out how you want to move forward to work within your relationship, not pushing against your significant other.

I may not be plus sized, but...

This is simply not acceptable. In no way should a woman have to go through what she did. That bridal salon humiliated her! The even thought that putting a dress up to a woman and then wrapping her in an elastic band so it was held up is okay to do is so wrong.

When a woman goes shopping for her wedding dress, it should be a wonderful experience, not a s*** show that makes you feel horrible about yourself. That's exactly what they managed to do. I'm so glad that she was able to overcome what they did and not let it bother her too much. Kudos to you girl!

Introduction

I've always been a bit of a bridal nerd. The day TLC's Say Yes to the Dress came out, it was pure joy as girl after girl chose her pretty white dress for her big day. However, I was little. The show's first episode aired in 2007, making me only a teen. Not many people took my love of bridal very seriously. To them, I was too young or they claimed I would get bored of wedding things before my own big day.

I'm proud to say I've proven them wrong.

Since I started watching Say Yes to the Dress, my wedding bug evolved. It turned into Four Weddings and Bridezillas. It was fed by bridal magazines, including Brides and The Connecticut Bride. Pinterest and Tumblr fueled the fire along the The Knot. Okay, maybe The Knot was responsible for a lot because let's face it, it's one amazing site filled with tons of wedding things.

Then in September 2012, my older sister got engaged. She looked to me for some help since I knew my way around parts of the bridal industry. I could browse the Knot's Lookbook app more effectively than most people know Twitter. As her sister, it made sense that I would become a bridesmaid.

The only downfall was the fact that we were states apart. It's difficult to plan an event so big with a person hours away. However I've looked up to her as she's about to walk down the aisle in Manhattan at the end of this month.

While being her bridesmaid and having my wedding bug, I really hope that I'm ready when it comes time for my own wedding. I am so grateful that I have an amazing boyfriend who understands the bug.