Red Wedding Planning 101

Planning a wedding isn't easy as it is, it's ten times harder for the bride that wishes to use color schemes that are a little off the beaten path. The red wedding has some key factors that may, or may not, be difficult to find. Most brides have very determined colors of their wedding, and while red is very popular, what if you want the dress to be red? That is a little easier today, but still not “easy” to find. There are lots of different themes for weddings as well, and most of them are with white, yellow or pastels. Sometimes it's downright difficult to find red invitation and shoes, let alone the dress.

This little guide is designed to discuss the different types of items you can find in styles to match a red wedding. Things like cakes, clothing, shoes, flowers, centerpieces and other parts. While I won't go into detail on items here, I will in other hubs. And you can always visit Lina's very comprehensive red wedding guide

Starting with the dress is essential because it's one of my favorite parts of the wedding. Well, if you ask me it is. I'm sure many brides agree. When I was shopping for the wedding, my husband was the naysayer during the time. He grumbled about money and I said to him “I don't care if we actually get married, the license or the vows, but if I don't get my walk down the aisle in my princess dress, I might have to kill you”. I'm not sure how many other brides feel like this, I imagine most though. It is, after all, one of the few days most women get to be a princess.

Buying a red wedding dress isn't as hard as it used to be. There are choices all over the Internet to buy them. In fact, on Lina's site there are tons of dresses you can browse through. If you're serious about wearing a red wedding gown you'll want to find the best deal possible, naturally, but you'll also want to find the best style and design. Remember that you don't have to have a dress that is completely red, you can have a dress with red beading or sashes. There are some gorgeous ones that even have just a little piping along the hem and neckline. One thing to avoid is the bride and bridesmaids wearing entirely red gowns. However, if the bride has a dress with just red accents, the bridesmaids will go nicely with red dresses.

Once your dress is chosen, and yes it's important to choose yours first, you can start looking at dresses that compliment, not only your bridesmaids' figures but your dress. If you're having a red theme, you'll want either your, or their dress to be red. It may be tough finding an exact match for your colors as well, so buying white dresses and having them dyed to match is a great option. Be sure to get a swatch of your color to present to all the dye companies you work with, shoe and dress styles.

One mistake that a lot of brides make is buying their dresses for bridesmaids at boutiques. This can be quite costly and the styles are pretty limited. While there isn't any reason to stay away from these shops, they offer some pretty dresses after all, it's in her (the bride) best interest to find other places like wholesalers and Ebay.

Red is a really hot dress color for prom, and it's a great place to find styles of dresses for bridesmaids (and the bride). It's crucial to keep in mind that not all shades of red go with every skin tone. If you have a gal that might look washed out in red, consider changing the color of the bridesmaid dresses and using red to accessorize.

Cakes come in all different forms and flavors. Certain looks may better suit your wedding, consult local vendors about what types of frosting to use with your cake. Be sure to have the venue handy along with the date of the wedding. An outdoor wedding and whipped cream frosting will be a disaster.

The different frosting types are fondant, butter cream, whipped cream, royal icing, Marzipan and Pastillage. Each has their place at certain wedding venues and can last through certain temperatures. You can read more about the cakes on Lina's blog, however, it's imperative to taste and see the frosting yourself. For instance, I hate Marzipan, I didn't realize that until my wedding was planned. There are certain frosting types which have glossy effects, and others that look, for lack of a better word, poofy, or maybe I mean fluffy. Anyway, the point is you need to taste and see the cake style before you order it. One last note, when ordering a red wedding cake, you'll do better with coloring using a fondant.

Red wedding invitations are much easier to find, especially online. There are literally thousands of printers that work exclusively with weddings and they have every style of invitations you might need. You can have them printed and all the envelopes made to match to your exact specifications. Different themes, styles, fonts and papers are always available and since these companies mass produce, the bride and groom will get a really great price. Prices often include shipping and handling or the prices for it are so low it won't matter.

If you want to make your own red invitations, you can find everything you need at local craft stores, but you'll pay a heckuva lot more. Buy your materials online through Ebay and you'll do much better. The prices are ridiculously good and you'll find designs and pictures to match your needs by doing an image search.

Flowers are one of those aesthetic parts that are used in every wedding. There are so many different styles and shades that narrowing down the search will be very difficult. Once again Lina's blog will help here narrowing down which red wedding flowers are a) available in that color and b) grown easily during certain periods (ie: what flowers work in winter).

Couple of things to note here:

1. You can do your own wedding flowers for much cheaper by buying flowers in bulk.

2. A good florist will work within your budget, instead of trying to get you to go outside it.

3. There are wholesale flower vendors at nearly every major city, you can find the flowers for your wedding there.

Red bouquets can be made really cool using chrysanthemum or carnations. There is this new style of “purse” flower bouquet that looks absolutely amazing. They can make it square or circular.

I already write enough about shoes on Hubpages.com, so I don't feel the need to go into any detail about them here. Suffice to say, take a look at my hubs and you'll find some awesome red shoes.