Bare shoulders are practically a bridal-gown essential these days. Strapless, spaghetti-strap, one-shoulder styles—these are the designs that dominate Houston’s bridal fashion scene (and the rest of the country’s!), and we are fans.

Still, it’s nice to have a little something stylish to throw over your shoulders when the ballroom AC revs, or a brisk breeze ruffles the country club lawn.

Link to this Houston Wedding Blog post for advice on bridal shrugs and boleros—two fine choices in understated bridal outerwear.

A beautiful—and refreshing—way to play upon your wedding palette is with a color-coordinated signature cocktail. One of our favorites is the bright, bubbly Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail, perfect for receptions that feature red in their color scheme.

A simple blend of pomegranate juice, champagne and turbinado sugar (check out Southern Living’s recipe at MyRecipes), this romantic refreshment can be served with a rock-candy stirrer for sweet, special-occasion touch.

A white-chocolate Eiffel Tower atop the groom’s cake recalled the engagement site of Rebekah Rae Baker and Noel Villarreal—native Texans who met in Europe and married at Houston’s opulent Corinthian.

For more details on the couple’s delightful pink-and-green summer wedding, orchestrated by such celebrated Houston wedding experts as Karen For Your Memories and Jackson & Co., click here.

Courtney Campbell, Owner
Campbell's Catering
With her background in restaurants and private-club catering, and her degree in hotel and restaurant management, launching her own independent catering operation was a natural—if courageous—step for Courtney Campbell.

Now six years old and going strong, Campbell’s Catering added its Wedding Belles coordinating service, helmed by wedding expert Raquel Taylor, in 2005. Campbell says she loves sitting down with clients to find out about "their favorite foods, their backgrounds, their passion," and then customizing their wedding menu to reflect their unique personal style.

Her favorite catering trend these days? "Edible favors," she says. "Toward the end of the wedding, we’ll pass stuffed French toast, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts in a little box—a little extra something for the road." Campbell adds that wedding clients can hire her company for catering or wedding coordinating, or for a package deal that includes both—and comes with a 10% discount on coordinating.

For more info, visit Campbell’s Catering or call 281.589.5555.

The bride is the star of any wedding, but a beautiful wedding cake comes in a close second. Sure, it’s a dessert, but today’s wedding cake is so much more: a reception design feature, a marvel of artistry and sculptural integrity, a photo-op, a fantasy.

Whether you prefer tiered and traditional or angular and unconventional, fondant or buttercream, fresh flowers or sugar paste, you want to make sure your wedding cake looks AND tastes absolutely amazing. Houston’s fantastically talented cake bakers and designers make sure you have the cake of wedding dreams (and enjoy eating it, too!)

Click here for a guide to the city’s best bake shops.

Weddings in Houston’s much-anticipated Before You Say..."I do!" annual bridal soiree will take place Sunday, January 24, 2010. If you only attend one wedding show, this is the one, so mark your calendar Houston brides and make it a date. Keep an eye out for your Weddings in Houston weekly Wedding Buzz Newsletter as we announce more details in the weeks ahead.

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