Poll: What are doing with your gown after the wedding?

Posted by Khris in Wedding Planning

Fab Fonts Finds: LD Cursive, Fontleroy Brown, DT Flowers

Posted by Khris in Invitations, Programs, + Stationery

It sounds cliche but your choice of font can make or break your stationery design. With the hundreds of thousands of fonts available, finding the right one can be daunting. Don’t fret, pretty people! DIY Bride will bring you a weekly dose of the best free and commercial fonts.

FontleroyBrown – Free

LDCursive – $3.00

Note: Lettering Delights is offering free product when you sign up for an account right now. Click on image  [affiliate] to learn more.

DT Flowers- Free

Introducing DIY Bride Vignettes

Posted by Khris in DIY Projects & Tutorials

We get it; sometimes a diy project can be a bit abstract on its own. You find a card/favor/whatever that looks great but you can’t quite put it into the big picture of your day.  Time and again we hear from you guys that you’d like more projects and more inspiration but you want help on how to incorporate the ideas.

Our remedy is to present monthly vignettes, small groups of projects that bring together a central idea or theme – like what you’d see in a magazine photo shoot – but we keep it real. The DIY Bride version provides you with instructions and resources (how long it’ll take, how much it’ll cost, where to buy products) for each project.

Our first vignette, set to post on May 01, is a rose-themed bridal shower buffet (also perfect for upcoming Mother’s Day). Sneak a peek:

New Tool: Credit Card Debt Calculator

Posted by Khris in Budget Talk

I like to talk a lot about wedding finances, specifically about how getting into debt for your wedding is serious business. Starting off your marriage with thousands of dollars in credit card (or other) debt is a crappy way to begin a marriage. I know this from experience and it’s a journey that I hope none of you ever experience.

I know a lot of you are using plastic to finance your big day. It’s easy. It’s convenient. You can make small-ish monthly payments. No biggie, right? Wrong. A small loan can morph into a ridiculously long and expensive ordeal if you’re not careful.

To help you understand what you’re committing to with a credit card wedding, I’ve launched this handy little calculator that shows the number of years and the total cost (loan + interest) of a paying with your card. You can find it under Tools in the navigation menu or by clicking here.

Here’re some sobering numbers:

If you charge $10,000 at the current average credit card rate of 16.8%, it will take you 46 months to pay off the debt with a minimum of $300/month payments.

Industry Buzz: Wedding Apparel

Posted by Khris in DIYBride News

The internets and social medias are abuzz with recent news about:

Swoon-worthy Anthropologie is releasing a bridal line in Spring 2011. Well, not Anthropologie itself but its parent company, Urban Outfitters, Inc. The new bridal will be its own brand but it’s said to be developed the design team behind Anthropologie and will have a similar aesthetic. Bridal gowns will retail in the $$750 to $5,000 range and there will be bridesmaids dress (starting at $200), jewelry, shoes, invitations, and decorations.

Vera Wang has partnered with David’s Bridal to produce a line of gowns. Slated for a Spring 2011 release, the new line  will debut with 20 gowns priced from $600-$1500. Size range is reported 0 – 30.

White House Black Market is jumping into the bridal biz, too. They’ve released a new limited-edition collection with a lovely ivory satin gown with a fitted bodice and asymmetrical skirt that rings up at just $498. Shoes and accessories are also available.

Another favorite in the house of DIY Bride, Cynthia Rowley, has teamed up with Dessy to create a line of bridesmaid dresses. Inspired by her ready-to-wear line, Rowley’s 20-piece bridesmaid collection will debut in bridal salons this June. Prices $175-$220.

High-end retailer, Net-A-Porter, expanded with an online bridal boutique. If you’re in the market for luxury gowns and accessories, this is the spot to find unique and hard-to-obtain items. While it’s not a bargain hot spot there are some splurge-worthy gowns and accessories that are reasonably priced.

DIY Bride would like to mention that she’s available for gown and accessory design work…