Happy Halloween from DIY Divas!  Now, on to the fun.

This week we are featuring DIY Hair pieces, which can cost upwards of $200 if you purchase them from a retailer.  Rachel, our ever-crafty coworker, has found a way to completely bypass the bridal boutique and instead make gorgeous, chic hairpieces that are perfect for a bridesmaid or even a bride!

Step 1: Head to your nearest craft store and peruse the faux flowers section.  You’ll be surprised at how realistic and beautiful many of them are.  Once you’ve found the perfect flower, you’ll also need a hot glue gun, a small square of felt cut into a circle with a hole in it, and a little clip (also available at any craft store).  You can also purchase any sort of adornments to add to your flower, such as feathers, lace or jewels.

Step 2:  Open the clip and slide it through the hole in the felt.  This will be the back of the hair piece where you’ll attach it to your hair.

Step 3:  Place a dollop of hot glue on the back of the felt between the clip and the felt.  This assures that the clip will stay on and not detach in the middle of your wedding!

Step 4: Take the hot glue gun and use it to attach your flower as well as any additional accessories you’ve purchased to your felt backing.

Step 5:  Finally!  You have a beautiful hair piece worthy of a princess.  I love the look of this one with the exotic feathers.  It’s very vintage and modern at the same time.

As all of the Wedding Paper Divas staffers stand around in their pirate, princess and pumpkin costumes, the conversation inevitably turns to our plans for tonight. Half of us are headed out on the town or to parties to celebrate monster mashes and graveyard bashes, but the other half are planning a quiet evening at home—except for the endless knocking of trick-or-treaters!

This debate has us wondering at what point as a married couple do you decide to spend a leisurely Halloween at home instead of running out to parties, haunted houses and other spooky events? What are your plans this year? Will you be renting classic horror movies or horrifying your friends when you win “Scariest Costume” at a local club? Does the idea of staying in on Halloween make you want to rant or rave?

Maybe the man in your life wimped out on your “Bacon and Eggs” costume, or maybe he’s too devoted to emulating Christian Bale’s rendition of Batman this year for a themed couple’s costume to work—either way, you’re stuck for a costume idea and Halloween is tomorrow (eek!).

Fear not! Visit one of your favorite (and most affordable) neighborhood stores to whip up one of these fab costumes in no time:

• Pick up a preppy blazer, a ridiculous headband and some killer heels from Forever 21 to turn yourself into one of the stars of “Gossip Girl”

• Run to Target for one of Isaac Mizrahi’s glamorous little black dresses to transform yourself into Audrey Hepburn

• American Apparel offers a fantastic array of DIY costumes, so be sure to check out the website before you stop in at the store to turn yourself into a laundry basket, 80’s workout star or skunk!

• Dash in to Barnes & Noble to pick up a book by your favorite author, and then dress up like a literary celeb as suggested in this great Los Angeles Times‘ blog post!

I love flipping through magazines like US Weekly and People to see the latest in red carpet fashion.  Often the dresses on the red carpet are a great way to get ideas for your bridesmaids or any upcoming wedding that you have to attend.

Below are a few designer gowns seen on the Red Carpet throughout 2008 that are sweet on the eyes…

Photos from E! Online

Still looking for the perfect Halloween costume for this weekend? If so, check out The Nest’s list of 33 wacky costumes that are perfect for couples.

A few of our favorites include:

• Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes
• He-man & She-ra
• Pam & Jim from “The Office”
• Heidi & Spencer from “The Hills”
• Ketchup & Mustard

For more ideas, click here.

You’ve gathered together your guest list, picked the date and time and word of your impending nuptials has begun to spread.  Suddenly, the questions are pouring in.  What is the dress code? How did you meet?  What will you be serving?  Where are you registered?

Instead of handling all of these requests one by one, why not obtain your very own, personalized wedding website to share with your guests?  Most sites allow you to add photos, music, your own theme, and even offer a guest book for people to sign.  To help you find the perfect placement, we’ve compiled a list of the best sites offer wedding websites.

-Nearlyweds! offers a variety of templates and a unique website address, all for only $49 for two years.  You can try the site free for two weeks with no risk.  Best of all, choose from a variety of Wedding Paper Divas templates to match your invitations!

-Wedding Wire offers their own variety of wedding website, and best of all, they’re free!  With an Online RSVP tool, unlimited number of pages and up to 200MB of storage, you can’t go wrong.

-MyWedding.com offers all of the features you’re looking for, also for free!  As an added bonus, you’ll find Wedding Paper Divas templates with matching invitations offered through their site.  Enjoy a guest book, a unique online registry through Wishpot, Online RSVP and more.

-For only $70 a year, WedORama offers extravagent Flash websites with your own www.com address.  With the ability to have a professional looking site including video, music, interactive quizzes, a wedding day countdown and more, you get a ton of cool features for your money!

-eWedding.com also offers free websites that have been featured on ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal and more.  Get all your basic tools plus beautiful templates and unlimited support and photos.

Regardless of which wedding website you choose, your guests will be thrilled to have a one stop shop for all your wedding information.  Have fun with your site and make it a unique place to showcase all of your wedding info!

Today’s real wedding features the wedding of Rhina & Dennis.  Rhina & Dennis were married in Northern California this past summer and they selected the Canna Wedding Invitation Suite to announce their big event.

Rhina & Dennis

July 2008

To submit a wedding for the Real Weddings feature, send photos and an event description to blog@weddingpaperdivas.com.

Most people think of the white wedding gown as being one of the oldest traditions in the book.  When I was looking for my wedding gown, the thought never entered my mind to step outside of the white/off-white color realm.

However, trends have emerged pointing to a more nontraditional approach to the wedding gown.  A day doesn’t go by that I don’t stumble across some sort of colored wedding dress while thumbing through a bridal magazine.  Just recently, Diva Dialogue blogger Lea shared a photo of a gray dress with me:

Contrary to what you may think, colored wedding dresses are nothing new.  As a matter of fact, white dresses didn’t become popular amongst all class levels until the late 18th century.  In the case of the gray dress, this was traditionally worn by the lower class in the 18th century.

Step back in time even further and you’ll find that traditional wedding dresses in Medieval times were rarely white when planning an extravagant wedding.  Instead, they focused on jewel tones such as ruby, sapphire and emerald, and were often worn by princesses and the upper class.  Today, these choices still exist, such as this red Fiorenza dress from Maggie Sottero:

…And another example straight off the runway in emerald green…

So you tell us!  What do you think?  Do you like the colored wedding dress trend, or do you prefer to stick to the traditional varying shades of white?

With the first day of November looming at the end of the week, our staff here at Wedding Paper Divas has been gearing up for Thanksgiving with fabulous new ideas for decorations, posh fall parties and charming photo cards. We recently polled the Wedding Paper Divas staffers to find out their favorite Thanksgiving card designs from our parent site, Tiny Prints. Here’s what we think are the best Thanksgiving cards for couples, newlyweds and young families:

Looking for a way to liven up a traditional fall greeting card? Our staff thinks this design is the perfect way to give your autumn style a modern update. Beautiful, bold and full of bright blooms, this Tropical Autumn Photo Thanksgiving Card earned an impressive 44.4% of the vote.

Have an elegant holiday with this sophisticated Autumn Breeze Thanksgiving Photo Card! More than 38% of Wedding Paper Divas employees adore this card as a fabulous way to express your gratitude for all your friends and loved ones.

If you can’t find the perfect family photo for your holiday cards, send this chic Fall Forest Thanksgiving greeting card instead! Roughly 22% of our staffers thought these cute little trees offered the perfect taste of sweet fall style.

A key element to any event is the mood and ambiance, which is often set by a combination of lighting, decor and music.  While I can’t help you with the music in this post, I can offer some great ideas for centerpieces and lighting that were sent to me by one of our very own staff members!

Rachel, a talented designer here at Wedding Paper Divas, found this gorgeous photo of candle centerpieces that were made simply by wrapping lace around various sized votive candles.  Placed atop a mirror to reflect light and surrounded by small details like these decorative rocks, this make a stunning centerpiece.

Inspired, Rachel adapted this idea into her very own outdoor lighting.  Using scalloped scissors, lacy doilies, and some tea lights, she turned these ordinary white paper bags into gorgeous lighting accessories.  You can also use flameless battery-operated tea lights to avoid any fire danger.

Here are her creations in action, lining the walkway up to the airy gazebo.

If you’re feeling even more crafty, follow in the footsteps of one of Rachel’s friends and etch your very own glass votive candle holders.  Although a much more intricate process, the end result is dazzling!