How to choose the perfect wedding dress

Many brides begin dreaming about the perfect wedding dress long before they are even engaged. Choosing the perfect wedding dress is critical because it is the one day that all eyes will be on you. A dress that is beautiful without being too ostentatious and is also flattering to your figure will ensure that you are looking your best on your wedding day. With so many style, color and fabric options available, choosing the perfect wedding dress can be a difficult task but fortunately most brides simply know when they have found the perfect wedding dress. From the moment they put on the dress, their gut instinct tells them that this is the perfect wedding dress for them.

The most important piece of advice for shopping for the perfect wedding dress is to begin shopping for your dress at least six months before your wedding date. Finding the perfect dress can take quite a bit of time and once you find the dress, it may take up to four months for the dress to be ordered and shipped to the store. Then once the dress arrives in the store you may require several fittings to ensure that the dress fits you perfectly. You will want to take your time and enjoy shopping for your wedding dress so it is important to begin the process early so that you avoid feeling rushed and overwhelmed.

Another worthwhile piece of advice for finding the perfect wedding dress is to try on many different styles of dresses. Even though you may be convinced that you want a particular style you may find that the style that looks so appealing in magazines does not suit your body type. You may also find that a style that you would have never chosen can be flattering to your figure. For this reason it is important to try on a wide variety of styles before ruling out any particular style. The old saying, “you won’t know unless you try it,” holds true for wedding dresses. There have been countless brides who have found that their perfect wedding dress turned out to be significantly different from the one that they had pictured in their mind.

Although it may sound counterintuitive, the color of the wedding dress is an important consideration in choosing the perfect wedding dress. Many people think that the only acceptable color for a wedding dress is a pure white but if you are open to other options, you may find yourself in a wedding dress that is far more flattering to your skin tone than a pure white dress. Wedding dresses come in a multitude of colors including ivory, cream and even subtle beiges. If you are willing to consider these options it is important to try on dresses in these colors to see how they work with your complexion.

Choosing the perfect wedding dress sometimes requires reinforcements. Having a few trusted friends or family members come dress shopping with you can help you find the dress of your dreams. They can offer opinions on each dress that you try on and can also scour the countless racks of dresses available and choose dresses for you to try on. Many brides instantly know that they have chosen the perfect wedding dress the moment they put on the dress but having trusted friends and family members along can confirm this feeling. The moment you step out of the dressing room and reveal the dress you are wearing you may see instant confirmation that this is the perfect dress. The reactions of your assistants will indicate that you have found the perfect dress.

When you have found the perfect wedding dress, you will know it so now is also the time to buy the dress. Nothing is more important than your gut feeling and the reactions of your shopping partners so if you know you have the perfect dress in your hands, don’t risk losing the dress by opting to think about it for a few days before you make your purchase. There is always the chance that the last available dress will be sold or that the company will discontinue the dress so do not allow yourself to miss out on buying the perfect wedding dress by not buying it the moment you realize it is the dress for you.

The wedding dress is a critical element in a wedding. It is what makes a bride truly stand out and it is important for the bride to ensure that she has chosen the perfect wedding dress. The minute a future bride steps into a wedding dress she will know instantly whether or not it is the perfect dress. It’s important to trust this gut reaction and act accordingly in choosing the perfect wedding dress.

Choosing wedding flowers

Choosing wedding flowers is such an important part of the wedding. There are some things to be aware of when you are ready to decide on your wedding flowers.

Since your flowers are an essential part of the wedding you should begin by preparing a budget. When you have a budget in place you will have a very good idea what the flowers are going to cost. If you don’t have a budget you could easily end up spending far more money than you had planned.

If you haven’t already decided on a florist you may want to ask the advice of family and friends. Pay close attention to the recommendations of those who have recently been married. The newly married will be able to offer you good advice. You can also talk to the people who are in charge of the ceremony and reception sites. These folks often have great ideas for the best florists.

You may want to make a few visits to the florists that you are considering. When you are actually in the business you will see how the customers are treated and if the shop is clean and organized. Take a good look at the flower bouquets and arrangements and notice the design and freshness of the flowers.

Figure out how many arrangements, bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages that you will need. Take this information with you any time you talk to a florist about the wedding flowers.

Before you decide on your wedding flowers, talk to more than one florist. You might want to bring pictures of bouquets and arrangements that you like. Also bring pictures of your dress and the bridesmaid’s dresses. All these things will be instrumental in assuring the most beautiful wedding flowers possible.

Make sure you have samples of the colors you plan to use in the wedding. This will be very helpful in choosing the colors of the flowers.

You might want to ask the florist for some photos of wedding flowers they have designed. Many florists keep a book of wedding flower photos exactly for this purpose.

Talk to your florist about using flowers that match the style of your wedding. If you are having a casual wedding you may want to use different flowers than if you are planning a traditional wedding.

You also might want to consider using wedding flowers that are specific to your region and to the season in which you are getting married. This will not only keep the cost down but you will not have to worry about the flowers being available.

Choose your wedding flowers carefully and they will be a wonderful part of your wedding.

Can t we discuss stereotypes

Stereotypes. As soon as this word is uttered or seen in print or the idea is implied, almost 100% of the politically correct crowd’s hackles go up and they are ready for a fight. This word is not just overused but also massively misunderstood. Anything that smacks of stereotypes, or even an allegation of a stereotype, is met with harsh criticism, and in some circles, vicious name-calling.

“Stereotypes are ideas held about members of particular groups, based solely on membership in that group. They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviors. More benignly, they may express sometimes-accurate folk wisdom about social reality.” (en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Stereotype)

I may be wrong but this simplified definition seems to indicate that stereotyping might not be an entirely negative thing. It is when it is used prejudicially to judge the whole based on a few that you begin to get into trouble. When one bases acts of discrimination upon a belief that might or might not be true, then one ventures into the mucky waters of bigotry.

I have a friend who is in his late 60’s and is not particularly educated. He lives in Texas and holds some of the most bizzare ideas about Mexicans. Yet, I have seen him go out of his way to aid and assist Mexicans in his Texas town. I’ve also witnessed him going to a small town in Mexico and working with a mission group to build schools for Mexican children in villages that could not afford to do so. He holds these strange and sometimes disgusting stereotypes, but he will not allow them to push him into acts of discrimination against Mexicans.

This friend, in my view, has the greatest chance of having his views about Mexicans changed because of his altruistic involvement with this group.

Therefore, it is not the discussion, the believing, or the appropriate verbalizations of a specifically-held stereotype that is wrong. I mean, just how will someone deal with a negative stereotype of a group of people, like Mexicans, for example, if there is not an appropriate forum in which to discuss the issues?

It is wrong when you engage and justify acts of bigotry toward a group or an individual because of a falsely-held belief about that group, is it not?

Then, there are the benignly-held stereotypes that may actually express something accurate about a group of people. As the definition I quoted says, “More benignly, they may express sometimes-accurate folk wisdom about social reality.”

Something I’ve discovered, and which may be considered a stereotype of sorts, is that in both the American gringo population in the Mexican town in which I live, Guanajuato, and the Mexican population I encounter online, both resent, most vehemently, any sort of discussion of anything that remotely resembles stereotyping either group.

The American gringos, who (and here goes a stereotype) hole up in residential enclaves, who have only bilingual Mexican friends because of their lack of linguistic skills, and who really cannot interact with the local Mexican community, resent any discussion of anything that might be negative about the Mexican town in which they are living.

An example is the series of articles in my column with The American Chronicle in which I point out issues like getting shoved off of sidewalks, getting shoved out of the way at meat counters, being told we should walk on the outside of sidewalks because we are gringos. These are all events that have happened to us as well as to others we know. These gringos take offense when we mention these events.

Nonsensically, these are gringos who drive everywhere, walk nowhere, shop at the large American-style supermarkets where they reach into a refrigerated bin to get their wrapped meats. Just how would they know about the events I write about? They do not interact with the local Mexicans in the local community, so just how do they know whether I am reporting accurately or not?

The truth is that in Guanajuato, there are things within the culture that could be expressed as on-going daily behaviors that characterize a social reality about the citizens of Guanajuato as a whole.

If one has an intermediate to high fluency in Spanish, all one has to do is ask a Guanajuato Mexican, “Why do women shove you out of the way at the carcineria (meat market) and shout their orders over yours when the butcher was obviously waiting on you first?”

Here is the point of all those columns I’ve been writing: No one, and I mean not a soul, who writes expatriation guides about Mexico mentions anything remotely close to these cultural affectations. And I want to know, just why not? These are issues that will throw the American gringo into a culture shock tailspin faster than anything I can imagine.

Is this negative stereotyping? Or is it is the reporting of issues within the culture that could be said to characterize the culture as a whole, a social reality? Most of the issues about which I’ve written have been Guanajuato-specific stereotypes.

Rather than report my assumptions of what I’ve witnessed, rather than make an interpretation through my gringo filters, I have asked Mexicans about these things which have thrown me for a loop before I wrote about them. The issues which I’ve reported in my writing, those things to which the gringos in my town have taken umbrage, I did not write until I got confirmation from other Mexicans living in Guanajuato.

Here’s the thing about getting shoved off the sidewalk. They do this to one another. I’ve talked with Mexicans who have been shoved off the sidewalks, too. We’ve caught and prevented old Mexican ladies from falling who have been shoved off the sidewalks and had been at risk of receiving horrid injuries.

We’ve talked to Guanajuatenses and Mexicans from other regions of the country who now live here about this issue. There are those who have an explanation for this horrible behavior and there are those Mexican who dismiss the citizens of Guanajuato as “antisocial.”

There was a time, I believe, when political correctness did not possess the minds of Americans like a demon needing exorcising. There was a time when a writer could write without the fear of having to make disclaimers concerning his subject matter.

An example of this is when Princess Diana died. Most every television news commentator which I watched said something along the line, “All of London has shown up on the streets of the funeral procession to bid farewell to the Princess.”

Now, let me ask you: Did these television commentators mean literally that “every person without exception was on the London streets to say good-bye to Princess Diana?” What about the old and infirm, the babies just born, the mentally ill or retarded—what about those? Did the commentators mean they were there, too? Or, was the use of a hyperbolic device employed in the commentary to convey an idea?

The statement, if one examined it critically and with a modicum of logic, meant that “a great deal of people, maybe even the majority, of the good people of London, lined the streets in a show of respect toward their beloved Princess Diana.”

There was a time when this would have been understood. But, it would seem, Americans have lost the ability to think. Is that a stereotype? Maybe. But if the fan mail I receive is any indication of how the American gringo population in Mexico thinks in my town of Guanajuato, and the town of San Miguel de Allende, then there is something seriously wrong.

If in my rhetoric I said, “I think every Mexican, without exception, in Guanajuato is such-and-such…” then I would be guilty of false stereotyping.

I’ve not done that.

Those readers who write with their vitriolic and childish schoolyard name-calling ways should have been able to figure out that I do not mean “everyone without exception is _______.” They should be able to discern, without the use of disclaimers, that I mean, “A great deal of the Guanajuatenses I see doing ______.”

They should be able to figure that out.

Flame resistant jeans

Jeans have always been considered to be the most rugged and at the same time, most comfortable, of all kinds of workwear. We all know that the wearer of a pair of jeans gets an undeniable macho look, and that makes them look stronger and more capable of accomplishing the work at hand. Now you can combine safety with machismo. Some manufacturers of workwear have come out with flame resistant jeans, and they are creating big waves in the workwear market. With these flame resistant jeans, you can look sexy and still protect yourself from fire-related workplace hazards.

The flame resistant jeans are made flame resistant by using a trademark fire-resistant material known as INDURA Ultra Soft. This material is made by blending 88% of cotton with 12% of high tenacity nylon. The INDURA Ultra Soft material that is used in making the flame resistant jeans is guaranteed to be fire retardant for the whole life of the garment. It can protect the wearer from flames caused due to flash fires, accidental splashing of molten metals and exposures of flames during welding.

At the same time, the flame resistant jeans are perfectly wearable. Despite the material used for special flame resistant properties, the weight of these jeans is only about 14.75 ounces, which is equal to that of normal jeans. The fabric feels soft to the wear, and does not scratch the skin or produce rashes like some cheap jeans materials can do. That is the reason why they are perfectly well suited for workwear.

Sizes are available from 30 to 54, which cover all the possible ranges required for working men and women. Above that, the flame resistant jeans have a looser seat so that there is more freedom of movement during working for long hours. The thighs are also kept at a loose fit for this reason. The legs of the jeans open out at seventeen inches, which might be a bit more than the tight fitting jeans teenagers normally use, but this design is maintained so that the flame resistant jeans can nicely fit over the work boots and not stretch at those areas.

Then, safety is crafted into the jeans in other ways. Instead of a button which would be sewn in with threads (not suitable for flame resistance), the waist is provided with a snap closing button made of flame resistant material. This protects the buttons from burning in case of accidental fire. Similarly, the zipper is made of brass, and taped onto the fly with the flame resistant material known as Nomex. That ensures complete protection for the wearer in every part of the jeans. Moreover, the flame resistant jeans are cheap and can be easily washed at home with normal detergents. That makes them convenient too.

If you are looking to clothe your workers in flame resistant jeans, then Carhartt is a good brand you can invest in. It is among the leading manufacturers of the world in this regard. Online retailers have good stock of Carhartt and other brands of flame resistant jeans, and can even personalize the workwear to your set by embroidering your company logo on them. For more information, please visit embroidered-uniforms-corporate-apparel. com/work-apparel-uniforms-flame-resistant-workwear-c-26_25.html.

Wedding countdown

Planning a successful wedding requires careful planning. We have created timeline for some of the most important elements of your wedding planning process.

1 year before your wedding day (or anytime after your engagement)

· Announce your engagement

· Determine the wedding date

· The bride and groom should introduce the parents, if they haven't already met

· Set your budget

· Hire the wedding planner

· Research possible reception sites

· Make a rough draft of the guest list

· Join a fitness club if you aren't already a member at one. Planning and going through your wedding is going to be a lot of fun, but you will need to be in good shape to handle the demands of the wedding planning process.

· Research your bridal shower favors and wedding favors

6-9 months before

· Decide on your caterer

· Hunt for your wedding gown

· Select your wedding party

· Book a DJ or a band

· Sign up with a bridal gift registry

· Shop for the bridal attendants' dresses

· Choose a florist

· Hire a photographer and a videographer

4-6 months before

· Finalize your wedding guest list

· Search for a hotel for your out of town guests

· Order your wedding invitations

· Purchase your wedding gown

· Call the bakeries or cake decorators in your area to check for date availability.

· Make travel arrangements for your honeymoon

2-4 months before

· Order your wedding favors

· Shop for your wedding bands

· Find out about your state's marriage license procedures

· Reserve or purchase the tuxedos for the groom and groomsmen

· If required by your state, get a blood test

· Finalize your wedding reception menu with your caterer

· Order you wedding cake

· Contact your ceremony site about your ceremony music

· Make arrangements about your reception music (DJ or band)

· Organize the rehearsal dinner

· Reserve tables and other necessary items with a party rental company

1-2 months before

· Run a complete test of your wedding makeup and hairdo. Invite some friends with you.

· Mail or deliver the wedding invitations

1-3 weeks before

· Complete the final seating chart for the wedding reception

· Contact photographer with the details of the ceremony and reception sites

· Provide your reception venue with a final head count based on the RSVPs received

· If necessary, make final adjustments to your wedding gown

· Facials should be booked for the bride, groom and bridesmaids

· Get your luggage ready for the honeymoon

· Your bridesmaid or a reliable friend should make sure the following items are promptly delivered: Toasting glasses, Band-Aids, Nail clippers, Cake knife, Emergency sewing kit

Last minute

· Most importantly, relax. This is supposed to be a fun experience.

· You are about to experience one of the best days of your life.

· Welcome your out-of-town guests

· To help you relax, do some light physical exercise

· Have your hairstylist and makeup artist do their magic on you

· Keep smiling, it's your special day!

Maid of honor speech - simple tips you can use right now

One of the, if not the most important duties of the maid of honor is to give the maid of honor speech. This speech is a big part of the wedding ceremony and usually happens within the first half of the wedding reception before people leave, so you will no doubt have a full crowd when giving your speech.

While the best man's speech is equally important, he will focus more on the groom then on the bride, so it's your job to keep the bride happy and entertain her with your speech. There are a few tips when it comes to giving a maid of honor speech that will almost guarantee it to be a big success and that's what I'm going to show you in this article today.

The best speeches are usually the funny one's where every one in the crowd is laughing not just the bride. Telling stories about growing up together and funny things that happened to you is a great way to get your speech going. A lot of maid of honors when giving a speech like to wing it and not write anything down on paper and just hope for the best. I think on such a big day, the least you can do is make an effort and write down a few prepared remarks.

We all know that the majority of people don't like to speak in front of other people, we tend to get very nervous when we know we have to make a speech and having prepared notes makes life a lot easier on that front as well.

Here are some of the things you can talk about in your speech. If you and the bride grew up together, you could talk about all the silly things you did as kids. You should talk about how you and the bride met each other and how you became friends. This is quite a popular way to start a speech, by letting the audience know who you are and how you know the bride. I feel it sets the right tone for the rest of the speech. You can talk about what the bride use to tell you about the groom when they first started dating and make a funny story out of that.

Then if you want to get into a more substantial part of your speech, start talking about how great the bride and groom look together, make a spiritual comment or something meaningful from you to the bride and groom and of course you cannot forget to give them some marital advice then wish them luck on their journey.

Hopefully these tips will give you some idea on what to say when giving a maid of honor speech.