Wedding Stuff

Wedding Workout Tips

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So your wedding day is readily approaching and you're aiming to be a cool and confident princess on the big day. But how can you build up your confidence and feel comfortable in your gorgeous wedding dress? By following these 7 wedding workout tips of course!

Getting fit in time for your wedding offers multiple benefits. Not only does it ensure you'll look great in your dress, it also means you will be confident in yourself throughout the day. There's so much more to your wedding than how you look, but understandably, many brides feel the benefit of feeling comfortable in their own skin. Plus, you'll also feel like a confident beach babe on your honeymoon too!

So, if you want to build your confidence up for the most special occasion of your life, these wedding workout tips for your wedding day are sure to help.

Wedding Workout Tips

To get fit in preparation for your wedding day, experts recommend starting training around 12 weeks before the big day. (That's right, it doesn't take that long!) If you take your exercise regime seriously in the 3 months leading up to the wedding you can ensure you feel 100% comfortable in yourself before the day.

Chest presses and lat pull downs are great for working the upper body, whereas hip thrusters, squats and lunges are best for the lower half.

Try to do a mixture of all muscles in your routine, rather than one group per session. Not only can it get tiring just working out one muscle group, this method will ensure your full body is fully energised during your workout sessions.

HIIT workouts are recommended as a great way to burn calories and they don't take up too much time. HIIT workouts have been proven as one of the most effective ways to burn fat during a fitness regime.

Try doing muscle workouts for around 50 seconds with 20-second intervals. This will give your muscles a chance to rest between sets.

Boxercise is also another great method of working out in preparation for your wedding day. Not only is it high intensity, it also allows you to get rid of any stress you may be harbouring from planning the wedding.

A fitness tip for your hen do, is to not work your legs too hard the day or night before the party as you're going to need them for dancing all night! Dancing is an efficient way of burning calories, and it's super fun too! To help you dance the night away, take a look at these great hen do essentials for your night out.

We hope these tips help you on your wedding workout journey! For more wedding and hen do tips, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Symbolic Wedding Flower Meanings

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Wedding Flower Meanings

When it comes to the big day, every detail needs to be perfect; even down to the meaning of your wedding flower choice. It may seem like a small aspect of the day but from all the way back to the Victorian days, different flowers have had symbolic meanings. This is why when it comes to personal touches, the meaning of your wedding flowers is a beautiful way to provide that extra something special.

To help you make the right decision, we're going to take a look at the symbolic wedding flower meanings for some of the most common bouquet choices.

Wedding Flower Meanings

Calla Lily

Wedding Flower Meaning: Magnificent Beauty

Origin: Africa

Season: Summer

Fact: The roots and the acid contained by Calla Lilies are poisonous so be careful to not ingest any part of this plant

Camellia

Wedding Flower Meaning: Admiration, Perfection, Good Luck Gift for a Man, Gratitude

Origin: Eastern and Southern Asia

Season: From Autumn to Winter

Fact: Camellia's are very rarely killed by the cold

Carnation

Wedding Flower Meaning: Fascination, Devoted Love

Origin: Carnations are now grown worldwide

Season: Spring and Summer

Fact: The most popular time of year to buy carnations is Mother's day and Valentines day

Daisies

Daisy

Wedding Flower Meaning: Innocence, Loyal Love, Purity, Beauty

Origin: North and Central Europe

Season: Early Spring until Autumn

Fact: Daisies can be found everywhere on earth except Antarctica

Lilac

Wedding Flower Meaning: Beauty, pride and love's first emotions

Origin: Southeastern Europe to Eastern Asia

Season: Late May

Fact: The tree lilac can grow up to 25 feet tall

Red Roses

Wedding Flower Meaning: I love you, beauty, respect

Pink Roses

Wedding Flower Meaning: Perfect happiness, grace & sweetness

Origin: Northern Hemisphere

Season: Spring and Autumn

Fact: According to archeologists the Rose is around 35 million years old

We hope this look at the symbolic wedding flower meanings will help you make the best choice on your wedding day! The Victorians really did know a thing or two about flowers. For more hints and tips preparing for the big day, you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

12 Tools and Tricks for the Tech-Savvy Bride

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Don't get me wrong, when it comes to weddings, some things just have to be done the old fashioned way. We're not saying that you should send out your invites via Facebook, or ditch the wedding photographer for your selfie stick, but there are lots of ways that you can use today's tech to make sure everything goes smoothly on the big day. Whether it's to refine your budget or make life easier for your guests, here are 12 tech tools and tricks to help you pull off the wedding of your dreams!

Be Your Own DJ

Let's be real here, how many of us have been to a wedding with a truly terrible DJ? While this cringey character has been seen as something of an essential at wedding receptions for many years, these days, more and more couples are opting out of the obligatory DJ hire in favour of their own playlist! Thanks to tools like Spotify, you can create your own party playlist with no trouble at all, the only thing you have to do is make sure you've got an adequate sound system to belt those tunes out of!

*Top Tip: Ask your guests to send you song requests via invite responses, or simply ask on social media. That way, everyone will get a chance to hear a song they love, and you should be able to get everyone singing and dancing at some point in the night.

Make an Online Gift List

As the years progress, the traditional wedding gift system seems to get more and more out-of-date. Most couples will already have their own home together by the time they tie the knot, which means that fruit bowls and tumbler sets aren't really the best option for guests looking to congratulate the couple. Thankfully, even this somewhat redundant wedding tradition has received a modern update, thanks to sites like Prezola. With both a free and paid version available, couples can put together a list of items, which guests can then log-on and purchase for them - simple! It doesn't just stop at physical gifts either, guests can contribute to the couple's honeymoon fund or even donate to a charity close to the pair's heart!

Create a Wedding Hashtag

Want to extend your wedding event to social media? Why not create your very own wedding hashtag! That way you can see all the posts from your guests in one place, and even look back on the excitement surrounding your day in years to come. Need some help coming up with ideas? Check out these wedding hashtag tips from Style me Pretty.

Share Your Photobooth Snaps on Facebook

Photobooths have to be one of the biggest wedding trends of recent years, as a growing love for film nostalgia combines with our compulsion for selfies. Giving your guests a chance to get-together and take some snaps with silly props in a limited time frame was always going to be fun, but it's also proven to be a fantastic way to provide keepsakes to help people remember the day. It's also linked perfectly with Facebook 'tagging' culture, as many of the companies who offer this service also allow the photographs to be directly uploaded onto the social network.

Create an Online Seating Plan - For Free

Having trouble envisioning your venue filled with guests? No problem, All Seated is here to help! Allowing you to be your own wedding planner, this amazingly useful tool allows you to arrange your event and floor plan from start to finish, even giving you a 3D view of the room. You have the ability to fine-tune the details to suit your exact room and table dimensions, giving you an incredibly accurate impression of how your event will look on the day. You can even import data from Excel and contact lists, so you don't have to worry about starting all-over again if you've already got a leg-up on your planning. Did we mention it's FREE?

Planning Woes? There's an App for That

From mindfulness to booking a taxi, there seems to be an app for just about everything these days! If you're a bride on the go who likes to have all the details in the palm of her hand, then WeddingHappy is definitely the tool for you! Available to download from the itunes store, this clever app allows you to organise your tasks and budget side-by-side, so you can access everything that needs to be sorted with total ease! There's even a handy countdown and task tracker, so you can see how much you've completed, and by when - perfect for those who love the satisfying feeling of ticking things off their to-do list!

Get Pinning!

This one is something of an obvious choice, but it's earned a valuable place on our list nonetheless! Pinterest has to be one of the most useful, free online tools for wedding planning, particularly in the early stages! At the beginning of your planning process, you may be overwhelmed by all the ideas heading your way, or even have completely no idea what you want! That's where Pinterest is great, as it allows you to browse thousands of wedding images all in one place, as well as helping you keep track of inspiration you've found on other sites! You can also neatly divide each board by theme, item, or any other attribute you can think of, for easy browsing when you head back to your page. Check out the HenStuff Pinterest page here.

Keep all Your Guest Memories in one Place

We've got another useful app for you, but this one includes your guests, and extends to the actual day of your wedding! In a similar way to our point about hashtags, the Wedding Party app allows you and your guests to keep all of your wedding news and photos in one place, with the advantage of being a little more private than Twitter and Instagram!

In the lead up to the wedding, you can organize your guestlist, and keep people who've downloaded the app up-to-date with all the important details. For on the day, it has lots of fun activities and tools to keep your guests occupied, providing a fantastic visual record for you to look back on. If you don't have the budget to splash out on a photobooth, this app also has its very own 'phonobooth' function, which allows you and your guests to create photostrips, and even make funny wedding GIFs! It's available from both the itunes and Android stores.

Use Tech to get Your Bridal Bod

Before we get onto this point, we think it's important to note that we are not in any way suggesting that you have to lose weight for your wedding. How you look and feel in your dress is completely down to the individual, and of course it's important to feel like the best version of yourself at your wedding, not someone else. That being said, it's undeniable that many brides choose to get in shape for their big day, which isn't really surprising when so much attention is centred on the dress! Luckily, these days you don't have to fork out a fortune on gym memberships and PTs to shape up, thanks to the multitude of fitness videos, apps and wearable technology available to help you along your fitness journey!

Add a QR Code

Ever used your phone to scan a sweet pack or magazine add? Well, why not use this easily available technology to pull off a more tech-savvy wedding? You can use this tool to perform a variety of functions by generating your unique code for free, which, when scanned, will send your guests to your desired online destination. From linking your guests to a Google map to help them find your location, to allowing your guests to RSVP online, the possibilities with this nifty piece of phone technology are truly endless!

Use Free Online Graphics for Your Invites

Thrifty culture has truly thrived in the online era, thanks to crafty blogs and tutorials on sites like Youtube and Pinterest. This means that you can save money on getting your invites professionally designed and made, wither by making them yourself, or by downloading affordable/free template online, choosing your own font and graphics. We lose these above designs from Wedding Chicks which you can also use for place settings, signs and more, so your wedding will be completely coordinated in every way!

Last Minute for Weddings?

This tip certainly isn't for everyone, but if you're committed to keeping the costs down, or if you need to plan your wedding in a strict time frame, then this could be a great option for you. Canceled Weddings provides a service for couples from all over the world to buy and sell weddings, which means that you could save a considerable amount on the cost of your venue, if you take-on the booking from a couple who've cancelled. They also offer a range of last minute deals for specific dates, which include the venues themselves, as well as entertainment providers, photographers and more. Like we said, this won't be for everyone, but it's certainly worth knowing about if you're looking to nab a bargain!

For more wedding and hen party tips, follow on Facebook and Twitter!

Our Favourite Wedding Films

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If you're looking to relieve some of the stress from planning your own wedding, why not take a second to sit back, relax, and watch a classic wedding movie? Let's face it, there isn't a single wedding film where everything runs smoothly from start to finish, so the plot and barmy characters should make you feel a little better about your own planning worries. If you're not sure what to pick, we can guarantee that one of these picks should fit the bill rather nicely:

Four Weddings and a Funeral

This classic, British rom-com is probably the most famous wedding movie in existence, which makes is a great place to start if you're organising a wedding movie marathon. It's a typical 'will-they-won't-they' story, but with a fantastic cast and script that will keep you laughing and crying in equal measures right until the very end.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

This feel-good film is easy to watch, and is almost certain to put a smile on your face. A story of love acceptance, and tradition, it explores the difficulty of navigating the path between the expectations of others, and what you truly want. Let's face it, this is feeling that almost all brides will have been able to relate to at some point or another, and it will also leave you feeling somewhat relieved that your family are not quite as difficult as you originally thought.

The Wedding Signer

If you're a fan of your 80's tunes, then this is most certainly the wedding film for you! It has a sweet and well-executed story with likeable characters and a fun soundtrack, which is all you could really want from a great wedding romance. It may also make you reaaaally want to book a wedding band for your evening festivities... just saying.

Wedding Crashers

This comedy is a hilarious alternative to your typical wedding film, with lead actors Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn teaming up to play a not-so-romantic pair of protagonists. From moments of drink-spitting laughter to heart-warming declarations of love that will make you go 'awww', this film is guaranteed to leave you in a great mood. You'll also feel pretty fortunate that your own family, despite their faults, are a 100% more normal than this crazy bunch...

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Yes it's profoundly sexist and hella cheesy, but we can forgive it (I mean it's a 1950's film set in 1800's America right?). If you're looking for some colourful, sing-along fun that will keep you entertained and engaged from start to finish, then there really aren't many films that pull it off as successfully as this iconic musical.

Bridesmaids

This is one for you and the girls - perfect for a night in with a bottle of wine. If you're looking to lighten up an evening of hen party planning or wedding invitation writing, this film is sure to give you a good ol' giggle throughout. You should also feel a lot better about dress fittings after watching this film, as there is no way that yours could be as bad as the famous scene in this film...

American Pie 3 - The Wedding

We sat through two cringe-filled films waiting for Jason Biggs to get the girl, so it's great to see his efforts finally pay off in the third instalment of the series. As we all know, however, nothing ever goes smoothly and hitch-free in an American Pie film, so there's also good dose of sick humour and laugh-out-loud moments to keep you entertained throughout.

Mamma Mia

This film is full to the brim with sing-along opportunities and funny moments, making it the perfect choice to enjoy with your family and friends. There aren't many people in existance who don't love at least one Abba song, and this film will have you all humming the classics for days after you've sat down watched it.

The Father of the Bride

This wedding film is so good, they made it twice! Whether you're a fan of the 1950's original, the 90's remake, or both, you're sure to enjoy sitting down on a lazy afternoon in front of this heart-warming family tale. Not only is it entertaining and funny, but it's also very honest, in the way that it deals with the dilemmas of a father presented with the prospect of giving away his daughter.

The Corpse Bride

If you're looking for a completely different kind-of wedding film, then this is it! Tim Burton's creepy, melancholy tale of love and betrayal has a cast of quirky characters that will keep you coming back to watch it again and again, no matter how old you are! While it may not be the most heart-warming of our list, it's a thoroughly entertaining film with an interesting plot and great art design.

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Wedding Workout Tips

Wedding Workout Tips

Symbolic Wedding Flower Meanings

Wedding Flower Meanings

Calla Lily

Camellia

Carnation

Daisy

Lilac

Red Roses