By Rob Toledo
As summer wedding season continues, it’s possible that your own marriage has been on your mind. There are a lot of stressful decisions to make before you say “I do,” but you shouldn’t feel intimidated. There’s no better way to design a unique, stylish wedding than to look to those style-makers. Here are some top tips for using the style of celebrity couples to create your own memorable wedding:
Related: What to Wear to a Summer Wedding
1. Find your personal estate: From Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel to Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford, estate weddings are very popular among celebrities. Luscious green lawns with perfectly pruned roses and long, elegant white tables can make any ceremony memorable.Sure,you might not be able to rent out Downton Abbey, but you still can turn almost any big backyard into an elegant property. Find a landscaping firm that will let you line the yard with your favorite flowers. Consider swapping expensive bouquets for colorful fruit bowls with a country elegance look. Wedding planning can be the perfect reason to start a backyard fix-me-up project, so get your yard in shape with floral gardens or a stone pathway that you’ll be able to enjoy year after year.
2. Celebrate in good conscience: When Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied got married, they did it with their morals on display, doing things like buying recycled platinum and conflict-free diamonds. These same ethics are easy to apply to your own wedding. Take a cue from Alicia Silverstone and print your invitations and programs on recycled paper embedded with seeds so guests can plant their own gardens at home.Trybooking a sustainable venue such as a wilderness retreat or with a self-sustainable resort like the one where Kristi Yamaguchi got married. Have compost and recycling options readily available throughout the ceremony and use only locally grown food for an all-around low footprint wedding.
3. ‘Smush smush’ down the aisle: Okay, so Jersey Shore star Snooki has yet to marry her sweetheart Jionni LaValle, but we have a feeling that the vows will be exchanged in pure Jersey style. If you want a wedding like hers, start by getting the biggest rock you can find. The bride’s dress should be form-fitting, and there should definitely be a tiara and six-inch heels involved. Men should dress in fully unbuttoned shirts to show off their blindingly bronzed pectorals. For the wedding reception, make sure to rent several hot tubs and place them by a pumping dance floor to continue your hot, Jersey style late into the night.
4. Bring your furry friends along: Are you the type of person who can’t be without your four-legged companion? Be like Jennifer Hudson and invite your dogs up to the stage. Better yet, have guests to bring their own dogs as well and serve dog biscuits right beside that wedding cake. Your canine friends will be sure to keep things fun and playful, and they’ll give you a good pick-me-up lick if your energy starts to drop. Just make sure their paws stay away from that white dress!
Related: Five Celebrity Couples Who Had a Low Profile Wedding
5. Paparazzi it up: Want to feel like a celebrity? Encourage your friends and families to bring cameras. Put little disposable cameras at the entrance table and encourage lots of photography. Get everyone snapping pictures: the more flash the better. This is a great way to get hundreds of unique photos of your wedding. Ask your photographer to focus on mostly candid shots so you can have a celebrity-style photo album. If you run a red carpet down the aisle, those flash bulbs will go wild.
Celebrities are bursting with unique wedding ideas. Use them as a model and plan a big special day of your own!
Rob Toledo is planning his own wedding in the Pacific Northwest this summer. He probably won’t use the Jersey Shore idea himself, but thinks you should and share lots of pictures. He is working alongside Embrace pet insurance to create fun guides to animal ownership and encourages considering dog insurance for your four legged canines.
