Carrie Underwood has to feel like she is leading a charmed life. She is the winner of American Idol and has since launched an extremely successful country music career. Even her look has changed. If you were to compare a picture of Carrie in her American Idol days to a recent photo, it is almost like night and day. She changed her hair, lost weight, and even looks happier then she ever has before if that is even possible. Carrie Underwood would contribute the last part to the man in her life, her new husband, Mike Fisher. She and Mike exchanged vows on July 10th. The wedding was held in a tent at the Ritz Carlton Reynolds Plantation Resort in Atlanta, Georgia.

The $500,000 wedding and reception was huge with over 250 close friends and family attending. Carrie looked stunning in her Chantilly lace and silk Organza Monique Lhuillier gown by Swarovski but wasted no time changing into a strapless Lhuillier cocktail dress so she could dance. “She said she wanted to get her boogie on,” says a source. Her pup, a miniature pincher wore a pink, crystal encrusted tuxedo (also by Swarovski) and looked absolutely dapper as he accompanied Carrie down the aisle.

When planning your wedding reception menu, you may want to take into account the seasonal treasures that are offered at a lower cost than those that are out of season and harder for grocers and wholesalers to get into their stores. Most people do not realize that meats are seasonal items as well, for instance, Lamb is freshest in the spring and summer. Certain fruits and vegetables come in late in the fall while others–early to mid-summer is the perfect time to purchase. You have made sure that your wedding favors are unique wedding favors. Now make your wedding menu unique as well. Here are some tips to help you make your fruit and vegetable wedding menu unusual and just in time!

In the Good Old Summertime Summer is the time of plums and pluots. The pluot is an extremely sweet and overly juicy plum developed in the U.S. by Floyd Zaiger. This adventurous soul crossed the plum with the apricot to produce a tasty fruit that is absolutely addictive. Serving these delectable fruits is one way to ensure your wedding menu is a huge success. Another fruit that combines flavors is the nectarine, which you can only find in the summer time. For vegetable that are at their peak flavor in the summer, go with squash and zucchini. This gourd like veggie can be prepared in numerous styles of recipes and are always a hit.

Almost everyone gets cold feet to some degree or another. The thing is that most people are strong enough to resist it or in love enough to ignore it. However, there are people who seem to be afflicted much more than others. These unfortunate people are the ones who barely make it through the ceremony without bolting. They sweat profusely and their eyes are constantly darting about, looking for avenues of escape. If you suspect your immanent spouse to be one of these poor souls but you are not sure what to look for, here are some of the tell tale signs and how to spot them.

The first thing you can do if you want the down and dirty info on your spouse and you want it on the down low, which is slang for if you want to know how he or she is reacting but you don’t want them to know that you know, is to use spies. This is very easily done with bridesmaid gifts or maid of honor gifts that are overly expensive. You basically hire the person to be your spy and pay them out in the open to avoid blowing their cover with an unusually expensive yet expected gift. However, you will want to watch your camp and make sure your groomsmen are not suddenly wearing Rolexes or that your groomsman is not sporting around town in a new car that you know he can’t afford. These are telltale signs that the enemy, or in this case, your betrothed is watching you closer than you think.

After a year of planning details, hiring caterers and interviewing bands, disc jockeys, and surveying wedding halls and churches, you are going to be either completely exhausted or totally focused. In either case, the last day of your wait, which is the day before your wedding, you have 24 hours to wrap up the details and take care of a few commitments. However, the biggest challenge you now face is getting some rest, you are going to need it.

The last day before your wedding is usually reserved for beauty treatments such as hair and make-up prep, nails and for final rehearsals. With any luck, you have worn and broken in those shoes you are going to be standing in for eight to ten hours tomorrow. If not, today is your last chance to get them worn so you know what to expect from them. You have a long day tomorrow, which means you have a lot to do today.

Many people are still under the impression that once a woman gets married, she has to change her name. While it is true that this is common, the fact is that there are many options available to couples and all should be explored. Here are some other options that are available to couples in the 21st century.

It’s a Guy Thing Most people do not know that it is just as feasible for the man to change his last name to that of the bride’s family. This is rarely done as men tend to think of carrying on their family name and feel a sense of pride when they provide their fathers with a new generation in their lineage. Why is this so important? It is a guy thing. The fact of the matter is, in families who have only one daughter who is marrying into a family with more than one son, using the bride’s family name just makes more sense. Unfortunately, until recent times it has been a predominantly man’s world.

Planning a wedding can be a very time consuming and difficult task, especially if you work for a living. Having to juggle work and the details that go into planning a wedding is just about enough to drive anyone crazy. By the time the big day comes along, you are drained, often physically and mentally. That is why the honeymoon is so important. Here are a few honeymoon tips to help you get it started right.

Sometimes, waiting can be hard to do, especially when you have worked really hard towards a goal for a long time. All the caterers and decisions like wedding favors and unique wedding favors, all the people you have just conversed with, and all the hard work you have done and supervised is behind you now. After planning a wedding for a year, it feels like miller time with a capital “M.” However, you may want to consider waiting a few days before you venture into the great unknown for things to settle back down. It would be much better on you emotionally and physically to actually get some much-needed rest before traveling for any length or distance.

Don’t Forget to Breathe The big day is coming faster than you can prepare for it and you are so stressed out you could light a match…just by looking at it. Pre-wedding stress can be a royal pain in the wallet as well as the heart and there is no worry worse than one that involves money. You have planned a wonderful wedding and reception but more things have seemingly gone wrong than right. You have heard that wedding planning is supposed to be fun but by now, that is just a vague rumor and you know the truth. If this sounds familiar and you are still planning your wedding…, STOP! Do not forget to breathe.

Choosing Your State of Mind Wedding stress is natural and is sometimes hard to deal with. It is also fun and a wonderful experience. Which one of these you get the most out of is completely up to you. If you are in a frenzied, ready to pull your hair out and then start on someone else, very stressed out mode and you are just weeks from the big day it is time for a breather because this kind of state is the last frame of mind that you want to be in going into your wedding day. It is okay to let someone else take the reins for a little bit while you gain your composure. Pass smaller but important tasks, like choosing wedding favors, especially unique wedding favors, on to someone you trust. You do not have to do everything yourself.

Celebrating the most important day of your life in an outdoor wedding and reception affords you with opportunities an indoor wedding cannot, especially if you have a beautiful garden. With a little hard work and some help from Mother Nature, your wedding can be as beautiful as the one in your dreams. Here are a few tips to make it even more so and help you on you way to an unforgettable event.

One option is to have your wedding ceremony in the evening so your guests can enjoy the beauty a garden flower affords and with the reception held in the oncoming dusk, you have an opportunity to show off your favorite parts of the flower garden with lighting. Strings of white lights hung in smaller trees and shrubbery add luster to the affair and solar panel stake lights can light the way down pathways to help you navigate your guests to food or dance areas. Have ushers in attendance to help older guests to the bathroom and back to their seats.

Getting married is a huge step in a life that does not allow for mistakes without consequences. If you have set a date and are ready to get married, chances are, you have thought it through and are ready to take the plunge. You have thought of every detail (you hope) right down to whether to have beach wedding favors or summer wedding favors and that is great– now, focus. The following is a list of the things that many couples forget to discuss with their photographer and then regret later. Hindsight is always in 20/20 vision. Foresight is always fuzzy. For this reason, a little creative vision is needed to get that foresight up and running properly.

One of the biggest regrets a young married couple will have after the fact is their choice of photographers. You want the biggest and just about the most important day of your life to be captured in big as life color so you can cherish it forever. Most people remember to hire a photographer but stop there. If you can afford it, hire two. Sit down with both and discuss exactly what you expect and be blunt. Leave nothing to chance when it comes to your wedding day. Make sure that your photographers understand what you want, what you expect, and most importantly, what you will pay for.

Special Parting Gifts

Weddings impart a good feeling to anyone attending these celebratory events. If you’re a guest at one of these occasions, you’ll be sure to come home with a memento from the happy couple that will be unique as well as memorable. If you’re in the process of planning a wedding yourself, it’s important to choose your wedding favors for your guests and order them early as you’ll have a lot of other arrangements to make as well.

Where it All Began

Take a look online and you’ll be amazed at the number of offerings. It makes one wonder where the tradition of offering a wedding favor to guests started. Well, to obtain your answer, you’d have to travel back in time a few centuries to France and Italy. At that time, the aristocrats in those countries offered small presents, known as bonbonnieres (in France) or bombonieres (in Italy) to the guests at weddings. Such gifts were also presented to guests at other happy occasions as well, such as birthday parties.

A Gift of Influence