Like you need an excuse to buy a bridal magazine!

I know you don't need one, but I'll give you one anyway - buy those bridal magazines! They are packed full of ideas for decor, flowers, favors, invitations and all sorts of neat and fun ideas. The best magazines I find are the Martha Stewart Weddings, In Style Weddings, Grace Ormande Wedding Style and The Knot magazines - seems to me that many of the others (Modern Bride, Bride, etc) are full of ads - TONS of ads. The content seems to get lost in the thousands of dress pictures and the back 1/2 of advertising pages.

Anyway, cut, rip and mark things that appeal to you - I cannot tell you how helpful it is to me as a wedding planner and particularly the other wedding professionals, like florists, to see what you are envisioning. Even something like this but pink or this but in tulips is a really big help to ensure your wedding dreams are realized.

Another hint - always get a picture of the dress - even if you have to print it from the website on the internet - the florist always wants to see your dress to make sure your bouquet will fit and compliment your dress.

It's fairly common sense advice to a bunch of gals who are cutting, ripping and marking anyway, but take another step and bring it with you to our meetings! And if you haven't found what you're looking for, you can look at my idea books - I also buy tons of bridal magazines and cut and paste different ideas in my wedding idea books - many things you may not have seen (four editions ago or what have you) and would be perfect for your wedding. Sometimes all we need is a bit of inspiration to prime the imagination pump!

Happy Planning!

-Melissa

www.MoonriverWeddings.com