Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Destination Weddings

Destination wedding planner, Tiffany Cook, of Dream Design Weddings, plans a Miami Beach destination wedding.

What bride doesn't get excited at the prospect of going somewhere gorgeous and unique to exchange vows with their groom? It’s a great way to break tradition and also have a more intimate affair, which is why destination weddings have been on the rise recently.

The beauty of having a destination wedding is that they're set in romantic getaways, perfect for you to stay post-ceremony and honeymoon with your new husband and they may even allow for a little island-hopping.

What’s even better is that no matter what your style or budget is, there's a destination for every couple! From tropical islands in the Caribbean to scenic peaks in Italy even to whimsical Disney, there is a location stateside or abroad that will bring your dream wedding to life.

But remember, when planning a destination wedding a wedding planner is a must especially so you can enjoy being a bride! We can handle with everything from organizing flight information and transportation to finding the right florist and making sure everything is delivered even on island time.

Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Why You Need a Wedding Planner

Tiffany Cook of Dream Design Weddings leads the bride and groom NFL TE Jared Cook and his wife Lana into their reception room reveal.

To us, having a wedding planner is a given. Most brides (and grooms,) though, think ‘why would I hire someone to do something that I could do myself?’

Well, your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, and you should be able to enjoy being a bride not stressing over if the cake has arrived yet--that’s our job.

There are other countless decisions to make and monitor, and they're all the more daunting for a bride and groom. We all know wedding planning is often one of the first things to go in order to save on costs so brides and grooms end up "doing it themselves.” Did you know that a seasoned wedding planner can actually SAVE YOU MONEY, yes that's right, I said save you money. Often times off setting her fees once or twice over. There is so much more that goes into planning than just over seeing vendors, a seasoned planner is like an orchestra leader, everyone follows the leader, that ensures the execution of the song is flawless, a wedding planner ensures every aspect of your wedding is flawless.
A planner like Tiffany Cook also designs and executes every aspect of the decor with and for the bride in order to provide her clients with a custom one of a kind wedding experience.

A wedding planner is indispensable. We not only cherish our relationships with our clients—you hired us as your planner—but we will keep you organized and sane, handle the budget, save you time, money and tears, and we can’t say it enough, we allow you to actually enjoy being a bride! After all your wedding day goes by so quickly you should be able to enjoy every second of it!

Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Sit-Down Dinner or Stations?

In any wedding, food plays a major part, it is also a great way to include the couples cultural backgrounds along with the couples personal taste and style . The first big choice you'll make as you plan your dinner is how to serve your guests: a plated dinner or stations (more commonly known as the B word), which usually includes several salad, vegetable, starch & entrée options. The choice between the two comes down to formality, personal preference, and often cost. 

A plated dinner is considered the more formal option, as each guest is individually served. Stations on the other hand in the past were considered less formal however there are super cool ways to offer interactive stations that can fun stylish and equally as formal. Tiffany has even designed station reveals as a decor aspect and opened the stations as courses.  

Despite their differences both allow you to personalize what your guests eat whether you decide for them or offer them to choose themselves. The sky is the limit so get creative and have fun with your menu, your guests will love you for it! 

Wedding Talk: Engagement Photo Sessions

Atlanta Falcons WR Harry Douglas and his fiancee Kierra Anderson take to the field for their engagement session before their wedding planned and designed by NFL wedding planner Tiffany Cook of Dream Design Weddings.

While some couples skip having an engagement session, we highly recommend it to all of our couples!

If you think about it, you're going to spend more time with your wedding photographer than anyone else on your big day. So it's a great way to get to know your photographer and his shooting style instead of having to worry about it the day of your wedding. Also, it allows you to get comfortable and relax with the idea of a camera being there 24/7 on the day of your wedding, which definitely allows you to be yourself and not so self-conscious. 

The best part of e-sessions? The chance to personalize them! Not only should your photos reflect who you are as a couple, but also appear natural. Are you high school sweethearts? Why not roam the halls of your old high school? Or do you and your fiance love cooking together? Why not have the session in your kitchen? Whatever you and your fiance choose to do remember to have fun and relax! 

NFL WR Harry Douglas & his wifey Kierra Douglas

Photos courtesy of Derek Wintermute Photography

Wedding Talk: Seating Guests

Dream Design Weddings offers advice on how to seat your guests

So, you’ve chosen the venue, finalized your floorplan, and received all of your RSVPs. There's only one major to-do for you: decide how you're going to seat everyone. 

The seating plan is the last major hurdle in the wedding planning process, and don’t let it get you down! You’ve survived the majority of your wedding planning and this is the last to-do before you say "I do."

You may think you don't need a seating plan but you definitely do.

Yes, it can get tricky, but a seating plan allows guests to easily navigate their way to tables. You don't need to assign specific seats just allocate tables. Don't be afraid to mix it up a little with your seating plan and don’t worry about your guests being surprised! Simply group family and friends and then split a table--the easiest way to tackle a seating plan. 

The biggest piece of advice we can give is give yourself time to do it. Traditionally, RSVPs can be mailed in two weeks prior to the wedding, however, we tell our brides to have a cut-off at one month prior. It gives you a week to call any stragglers and then allows you to get to work on your seating plan. 

At the end of the day, your wedding guests will be delighted to be part of your wedding, so if they’re not sitting next to their BFFs or stuck with Uncle Doug, they’ll just make the most of the occasion because after all it's your big day and they're there to celebrate.

Seating your guests doesn’t seem quite so daunting now-or at least we hope not!  

Photo courtesy Unique Design Studios 

Wedding Talk: Wedding Dress Change

Dress change advice from Dream Design Weddings

This bride had a convertible wedding dress for her reception dress change. 

Sometimes known as the reception dress or simply a dress change, more and more brides are opting to say yes to the dress twice. While we say it's a definite "do," knowing when to change your dress is a must. Brides may want to make an entrance at their reception in their second dress, however, it's just too soon. For the first dance and your father-daughter dance, we suggest our brides keep their original more traditional dress on then make a quick dress change into the second dress for the party-like atmosphere of the reception.

Photos courtesy of Casey Mackie Photography and Unique Design Studios

Tiffany Cook's Wedding Talk: Picking Your Wedding Shoes

Stunning wedding shoes from Dream Design Weddings by Tiffany Cook bride Jackie Long's wedding

Your wedding dress may be the most talked about statement on your wedding day, but your wedding shoes aren't far behind. Whether you go ultra glam with lots of sparkle or keep it tradition with colored pumps, be sure to let your personality shine through. It helps to pick a pair that's comfortable but Tiffany also suggests that you choose something that you love enough to wear again. After all think of how great putting on your stunning wedding shoes for a special event or date night out, it makes those occasions even more special and momentarily brings you back to your big day! Here are some of our favorite shoe shots from some of our stunning brides.

Wedding shoe shots from Lana Colston's wedding to Jared Cook & Dominique Lee-Fongs wedding to Dawan Landry two of Dream Design Weddings by Tiffany Cook's brides

Wedding shoes worn by Porsha Stewart another Dream Design Weddings by Tiffany Cook bride

2nd pair of Wedding shoes for the after-party worn by Dominique Landry a
Dream Design Weddings by Tiffany Cook bride.

So regardless if you are thinking Valentino, Adriano Diamante, Jimmy Choo, Gucci, Louboutin, Giuseppe Zanotti or anything in between choose something that makes you feel sexy and gorgeous! After all it is one of the few days you can indulge in this guilty pleasure minus the guilt, in fact it is expected!


For more amazing wedding shoes visit:
www.adrianodiamante.com
www.dreamdesignweddings.com
www.tiffanycookevents.com
www.pinterest.com/TiffanyCookDDW/boards/

Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Photo Must Have's

A must-have photo on this Tiffany Cook Events bride's list was of her daughter and her wedding dress.

One of the most important things about your wedding may just be your wedding photos. So this wedding talk may be one of the most important ones: make a list of photos you want to have--we call it the "photo must have list." 

You may think, 'No, my photographer will get what I need. They know what they're doing" but then they don't get that photo of you in the gorgeous window or your stunning sparkler grand exit and you're kicking yourself when you finally get the photos. 

So whether you choose to go on Pinterest, The Knot, or a wedding blog, be sure to make a list (and include those gorgeous photos) and sent it to your photographer AND planner to make sure that by the end of the day, every item on your list will be there in your proofs.  

To get you going, here is a list of some "forgotten" moments of a wedding:

1. Wedding day details – the venue, detail shots of centerpieces, any signage you have
2. Your (and his) accessories- cuff links, jewels, bridesmaid's dresses, garter 
3. Vows (if applicable) 
4. Shoe shots
5. Wedding rings
6. Invite close-ups
7. Maybe you and your husband standing in traffic at Times Square
8. Photos involving the family pets
9. Your DIYS-hey, you spent a lot of time making that mirror program!
10. Anything out of the ordinary that you may have seen or envisioned
11. Last but extremely important - a list of parents and bridal party by title and name. This will enable your photog can call peoples names and titles out during formal photos and will ensure this takes much less time to get done. No one wants to be taking formal shots for an hour 

In the end, your photographer is a professional but they can't read your mind, it’s better to be prepared than not, and just think, it’s one more thing off your list.

Photo courtesy Casey Mackie Photography

Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Planning Your Wedding from Afar

Because a majority of our brides aren't local and end up planning their weddings with Tiffany from afar, here is a little perspective on what it takes to be plan a destination wedding if you can't have a planner. 

First and foremost, don’t let your expectations get you down. Because you end up planning from across the country or the other side of the globe, planning isn't exactly like what you've seen on TV or in the movies. By throwing out your expectations, you get to really focus on what planning is and enjoy being a bride. Look into Skyping with your family for the tough conversations like budget or to show off your latest DIY triumph. And when you are in town at your wedding location, you get to have jam-packed weekends and do what Tiffany likes to call "power planning." 

Speaking of power planning... Be prepared! Come with lists of what you want/need to get accomplished that way you can get as much out of those visits as possible. These power plannign trips will become something you look forward to, and a fond memory to look back on.

This one's a tough one for many brides, but learn to let go. Your bridal party and family are going to ask 'what can they do' and you’re not going to want to relinquish things but for your sanity (and theirs) learn to let go of some of the little details – it will be hard but in the end you're going to be so happy you didn't have to worry about picking up welcome bag items or your brother's tux. (Trust me, we've been there before.)

Most importantly, remember that you’re not alone. There are so many brides and grooms who do the cross country/destination wedding planning, and you just have to brace yourself for it!  The more you can do to let go, the better your sanity will be. You won’t be missing out on anything you don’t set yourself up to miss.

How to Survive Bridal Expo Season by Dream Design Weddings

It's expo season and to help you survive here are a few tips to make the most of your day:

 What should I bring to the show?

Bring pre-printed address labels! Nearly every vendor will ask for your name or invite you to enter their drawings for special prizes. And don’t forget your date book and a big bag. You may find one or more vendors that you would like to schedule a personalized consultation following the show, and you’ll also need a place to store all the vendor info you’ll receive.

How much time should I spend at a bridal expo?

You will want to allocate between 2 and 4 hours of your time, so that you visit with as many wedding vendors as possible between noon and 4 p.m.

Who should I bring with me to the show?

You will probably want to invite your entire bridal party including the groom* to the event. They can help you cover twice as much ground and help share in the planning process by offering their opinions and thoughts. 

Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Wedding DIYs

A simple wedding DIY NFL wedding planner Tiffany Cook gave St. Louis Rams' TE Jared Cook's bride, Lana Colston, an OK for.

We know how tempting it is to DIY it all (thanks, Pinterest) so one question we get from our brides a lot is 'should I make that?' and sometimes the answer is no. We have brides who want to attempt to make 300 invitations while they're in the middle of moving and we have to remind them about what's going on in their lives..

You may feel the pressure to do it all yourself or find it hard to let others help you but please know that it’s ok to ditch the DIY sometimes. The easy route may be the less expensive alternative but think about your peace of mind and just be a bride! 

Tiffany Cook Wedding Talk: Hair & Make Up Trials

Dream Design Weddings by Tiffany Cook  bride getting her wedding make-up trial done

Today’s Wedding Talk tip is simple – if you don’t like it at your trial try, try again! You want to look your best on your wedding day so don’t be afraid to tell your stylist or make-up artist that you don’t like what you see. Even if you don't like confrontation, this is one of those times when you need to speak up! 

Easier said than done, but trust us on this one. You may need a few trials before you find "the look,"and in the end, you’ll feel even more comfortable and confident on your wedding day when you’re happy with how you look!

Photo courtesy Unique Design Studios