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Daytime weddings usually call for dress that’s a little less formal, but you should always go with the recommendation on the invitation. Some people have formal daytime weddings, so you should be prepared to rent a tux or find an elegant dress if your friends are having a fancy wedding in the middle of the day.

Formality is largely based on length, and daytime dresses tend to be shorter, whereas evening gowns are always floor length. One of the prettiest looks for a daytime wedding gown is the ballerina-length tea gown. These dresses usually have a belled skirt: in the summer they tend to be sleeveless, and the whole look is slightly retro and very charming. Guests will also wear shorter dresses, but probably not as fluffy. Look for a sheath that ends around the knee: this may be an ideal occasion for your favorite Little Black Dress and a pair of medium-heeled pumps.

Jewelry is toned down in the daytime, and gloves may be worn, but they will probably be wrist-length. Tiara-type hair ornaments are definitely out, unless you’re the bride, and lots of sequins or beads, which may look classy in starlight, can look tacky in the bright light of day. Go simpler, and let the fabrics do the talking. Skip satin in favor of silk, which has less shine but more luster. If the weather is nice, a linen dress can be the epitome of understated elegance.
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We all know there are plenty of wedding songs to choose from and chances are you have a close friend who used a song that you had ear-marked to be your wedding song. So while to tussle with the idea of copying your friend, other people are making their own wedding song. Enter TailoredMusic.com. Here is a company that lets you customize the lyrics of a song and they’ll record it for you. It’s an interesting concept for creating your own wedding day song that no one else will have. If you know what you want to say, great. If you need their help, they’ll work with you. They let you take mainstream songs and “Tailor” the lyrics to you and your special someone.

When it comes to custom-designed wedding cakes, simple doesn’t mean plain, and over-the-top doesn’t mean gaudy. When a bride sits down with a cake designer and says she wants something with clean lines, she still may want delicately designed sugar flowers, edible pearl trim or lacework that matches her grandmother’s antique veil. In the world of designer cakes, it all makes sense.

Today, brides are limited only by their imaginations and the designer’s talent.

The most popular wedding cakes are those with intricate designs, lace and scrollwork and cascades of sugar flowers. Brides also can choose from flavorful icings, luscious fillings, exotic flavors and even all-natural, organic or vegan ingredients. And, if you can’t narrow your choice down to one cake, no problem. How about a bridal shower cake, a groom’s cake or even cupcakes to complement the wedding cake? Colors also are hot on the wedding cake circuit.

“Nobody wants a stark white cake anymore,” said Mona Sokhi of Mona’s Confections in Melville. “They might want ivory, or pale pink or even pale blue, but not white.”

Vibrant accent colors in the sugar work also are popular, Sokhi said.

When the budget allows, a second custom-designed cake for the bridal shower gets the nod. Sokhi said these aren’t as formal as the wedding cake and usually are more colorful, often matching the bride’s wedding colors. Cupcakes are another way the bride can put an edible signature on the festivities — either as part of a dessert plate or as a take-home favor.

Grooms’ cakes also are popular, says Corey Messina, co-owner of La Bonne Boulangerie, which has locations in Port Jefferson, East Norwich and Levittown. The groom’s cake is a secondary, usually more whimsical cake, often themed around the groom’s interests, he adds. In the South, it traditionally was chocolate or red velvet, cake designers say. In the movie “Steel Magnolias,” the red velvet groom’s cake was shaped like an armadillo.

Jay Ellis, owner of Cakes by Jay in Glen Cove, said he is seeing more sugar detailing and fresh flowers topping wedding cakes. Brides also are shelling out $300 to $400 for porcelain figures that sit next to the cake instead of on top of it, he says.

Cakes, which usually are priced per slice, range from an inexpensive $4 a slice to the average, $7 to $10 a slice, Ellis says. Details, such as cascading sugar florals and hand-molded and hand-painted decorations, can add from $1,000 to $5,000 to the price, he says. And, top-name designers easily charge $10,000 or more for an elaborately decorated cake.

Just as brides have likes and dislikes, Ellis and Sokhi have strong feelings about what works and what doesn’t.

“I’m so glad the basket-weave cake is out,” Ellis says. “It was so ’90s. Any sort of plastic topper is out. Shortening in the icing is out. Cakes that look like they’re falling over are out. The tiered cakes where you see through the layers are out, out, out!”

Sokhi, who makes all of her fillings, dislikes plastic columns that go between layers. “They’re ugly; they make the cake unstable,” she says, adding that some cake makers use them to make the cake appear bigger, so they can charge more for it.

Wedding cakes should taste delicious, says Messina. But sometimes they don’t, because cake designers skimp on the quality of their ingredients, apply too much fondant or take several days to create the cake, he says.

“Make sure everything is fresh to order,” says Messina, “and that the cake is made that day.”

By SYLVIA KING-COHEN, Newsday

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LOOKING FOR CREATIVE WEDDING CAKE IDEAS? Check out Wildflower’s Wedding Cakes for cool photos.

Finding unbiased answers today is not easy to do, especially when someone has a vested interest. However, I can across this site for picking wedding photographers by wedding photographers and I must say it’s good information. There is a fairly complete set of FAQ’s and even sample contracts; information that is great to have when starting out in your search for a photographer.

Here is the link to the site. Check it out and leave comments about what you think back here!

http://www.wedfog.com

Green is becoming the new white — at least when it comes to weddings.

As people continue to seek “greener” alternatives in everything from their food to transportation, more engaged couples are taking the plunge into conservation efforts for their wedding day, too.

Tim Reese, a farm supervisor for the Three Rivers Park District in……

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