Blog | Mojuba Wedding

Get Wedding Ready – Toned Arms and Shoulders

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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Here at Mojuba, we are committed to picture perfect wedding days- our survival kits do this by preparing brides for all things disastrous. Earlier, we convinced fitness expert Jennifer McGowan to give our readers some tips for tight and toned arms.

Whether your wedding gown is spaghetti-strapped, strapless, or off the shoulder, nothing is more stunning than beautiful, toned arms and strong, sleek shoulders. If your arms and shoulders need some work after hiding under sweaters all winter, don’t despair, there’s

still time to have them looking fabulous in no time for your summer wedding. A two-pronged attack of adding muscle definition while burning fat is easier than you may think. Research has shown that short bursts of intense exercise are much more effective than traditional long aerobic workouts when it comes to burning fat and retaining/building muscle. Workouts that take as little as 15 minutes can really be

effective. This is great news when it comes to finding time to fit a workout into your busy schedule. Here are a few ideas for 15 minute workouts designed to create a lean, sculpted arms and shoulders.

Alternate upper body dumbbell exercises with body weight exercise (jumping jacks, mountain climbers, burpees, etc.). Pick four different exercises and perform these in a circuit. Rest only as needed. See how many rounds you can get in 15 minutes.

Perform a 5 rung press ladder with either a kettlebell or a dumbell (press ladderis 1 rep right, 1 rep left; then 2 reps right, 2 reps left; 3 reps right, 3 reps left, and so on up to 5 reps). After each 5 rung press ladder do 30 seconds of jumpingjacks. Rest as needed after each set of jumping jacks. See how many rounds ofpress ladders and jumping jacks you can do in 15 minutes.

Push-up Matrix. Do two push-ups, do two tuck jumps (for tuck jumps, jump highenough to pull your knees up to hold with your arms – like you’re doing acannonball into a pool), then do four of each, six of each, eight of each. Rest 1 minute. Reverse: start with eight of each and work down to two.

Jennifer’s grandmother used to say “women over 40 shouldn’t shake the salt in a strapless dress”. Well, with Jennifer’s tips, your arms will be toned and you can freely season your food at any age.

Mojuba Wedding – love, life, and the unexpected

Wedding Trend: A Garden of Style

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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Flowers are blooming in a big way this year! We’ve pulled together some of our favorite florals for all things wedding.

We recently attended a fashion show at Bella Bridesmaid, and were excited to see floral bridesmaid dresses starting to make their way down the aisle this season! Whether you choose a solid or a floral dress, we suggest having different styles to flatter each of your bridemaids’ figure. By selecting a dress that each of your besties feels good in gaurantees that the dress will have a life after the wedding instead of being donated to the Salvation Army! (Watters; Dusty Rose Design via Etsy)

A great way for the guys to rock the floral without making them uncomfortable is with ties and pocket squares. If you decide floral is the way to go we suggest you skip the tux and opt for a khaki suit. (HGranz, $28; ShopDeweyDell, $20)

Play a little peek-a-boo with flowers. Printed shoes underneath your wedding dress adds a pop of color and are a fun alternative to a standard white shoe. (Nicholas Kirkwood, $720; Moschino Cheap & Chic, $475; Aldo ‘Shurkus’ Pump, $89.95)

Gift your bridesmaids some flower power. We found a great way to say thanks to all the ladies who helped make your wedding spectacular. As an added bonus, the Tom’s are perfect to wear while getting ready on the big day. (ASOS, $50.13 (Orig. $62.67); Toms, $54; ASOS, $21.49)

Tell us how you would incorporate floral prints into your wedding?

Mojuba Wedding – love, life, and the unexpected

Wedding Favors: Thanking the Guests

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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The wedding favor is that perfect little something guests take home as a thank you for joining in your celebration. The tradition of a favor began in Victorian times when brides sewed different color ribbons (called favors) onto their dresses for luck. Guests would rip off the ribbons to take home a bit of luck. When the dresses started tearing, bridesmaids and MOBs began bringing unattached ribbons to give guests as a parting gift.

The most traditional favor today is the Jordan Almond, usually wrapped in tulle. Known in France as dragées, in Italy as confetti, and in Greece as koufetta, the Jordan almond represents the bitter and sweet in life. In Italy, five almonds are given to represent health, wealth, happiness, fertility, and longevity. Then they are wrapped in tulle to represent bride’s veil. But let’s be honest, this favor is a little tired.

At Mojuba, we love the idea of creating a personal favor for the guests to take home. Do you love to bake? Fill a mason jar with the dry ingredients of your favorite cookie and tie with a cute, personalized recipe tag. Maybe you and your fiance are into music? Create a personalized CD or flash drive with your favorite songs.

We also love, love, love delicious takeaways. A cake pop or hot chocolate and s’mores are a fun way to send your guests off with the wish of sweet dreams. So much tastier than a stale Jordan almond.

We searched high and low online to find out some of the top wedding favor trends, here are some of our favorites: Personalization is KEY!
- Donate the money you would spend to a charity you enjoy, at the end of the night, give out small Thank You cards to guests with the charity information
- Private or Personalized label beer or wine bottles
- Potted Plants
- A Photo Booth

Check out our Wedding Favors Board on Pinterest!

Mojuba Wedding – love, life, and the unexpected

The Art of the Wedding Registry: You Sure Know How to Pick ‘Em

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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Wedding gifts are as old a tradition as the wedding itself. Early on, food was the gift du jour for the happy newlyweds. Today, basic house needs are a go-to choice for wedding guests to gift and get you on the road to marital bliss. The registry pulls together the needs and wants of you, the soon-to-be married couple, for the ease of your guests. Whether it’s a new set of china or margarita glasses or even help on a downpayment, there’s a registry for everything nowadays.

How many registries is too many? You don’t want to seem greedy, but you want to give the guests enough options based on the number of guests you are inviting. The magic number seems to be three – a department store, a chain that plays to your interests and tastes, and a favorite boutique. If you and your man aren’t fans of the same places, two could be geared to your separate loves.

One bit of advice – If you’re china pattern is $300, look for settings in which pieces can be purchased separately. For instance, being able to purchase a cup and saucer or just the bread and butter plate, gives guests a more affordable option. Then, you can fill in the rest at the end.

Traditional Registries:
1. Department Stores: From Neiman’s and Bloomie’s to Target and Kohl’s, most department or big box stores have their own registry with special perks. Whatever your price point or taste level, you can definitely find all of your post-wedding needs from these stores.
2. Crate & Barrel or Williams-Sonoma: If entertaining and cooking is your thing, check out the products here. Crate & Barrel even has monthly registry events with free food and drinks to celebrate. They’ve got some of the best wares to entertain your friends and family every day of the week!
3. Bed, Bath and Beyond: This is definitely a traditional, but totally affordable place for any housewares you might need to register for.

Alternative Registries:
1. Foodie Registry: If you’re a foodie in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, or Denver, the Foodie Registry is your new favorite place. (It’s ours too!) Here you can sign up and pick out your favorite restaurants and your friends and family, in turn purchase gift certificates to the restos you picked out!
2. Honeymoon Registry: Guests can donate to your honeymoon fund via several honeymoon registry sites. Honeyfund and Traveler’s Joy are just a few of the sites out there that will help you get to your dream honeymoon.
3. Home Registry: Another unique idea is putting together a registry for a down payment. Sites such as Downpayment Dreams allow couples to receive monetary gifts to put towards their first home.
4. Charity Registry: Are you the couple who has everything they could possibly want? A charity registry gives guests the option of donating to various charities of your choice instead of a traditional wedding gift. The I Do Foundation allows you to pick a charity

and raise money through guests’ donations.
5. Online – Are your favorite boutiques online? With sites such as Gift Registry 360 and My Registry, you can gather items from all your favorite online stores in one place for your guests to find. Now Aunt Margie doesn’t have to cross state lines just to find your registered stores, she can do it from her own home. Don’t forget to add a Mojuba Bride and Groom Emergency Kit to your list!

Happy Registering!

Mojuba Wedding – Love, life, and the unexpected.

Happy St. Pattys Day: Have Your Cake And Drink It Too

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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Hoping to celebrate St. Patty’s day without having to pay for it the next day? Or do you need a reason to show off to your hubby/fiance just how lucky he really is? We came across the perfect cake that will cover all your bases, and maybe his new favorite cake! You can find the original recipe here, but we tweaked it a bit to suit our tastes. Plus, we got to make it a few more times .

Chances are you’ve done your fair share of Irish Car Bombs, so you know how wonderful they are. Imagine putting whiskey, Guinness®, and Bailey’s into a cake. It might take a little longer than the Irish Car Bomb you are used to, but we can all agree that this one definitely takes the cake.

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package French vanilla cake mix
12 1/2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup Irish whiskey, divided
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup of Guinness® beer
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of Baileys Irish cream liqueur

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease both 9-inch cake pans.
Place the mix into a mixing bowl. Pour 12 1/2 tablespoons of water into a 2-cup measure, add enough whiskey until the liquids reach the 1 1/3 line on the cup. Reserve remaining whiskey for the whisky glaze. Beat the eggs, cake mix,vegtable oil, whiskey and water, with an electric mixer for two minutes on low speed and then increase the speed to
medium. Beat until the batter is smooth. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
Bake the cakes in the oven for 25 minutes or until they are golden brown.
While the cakes are baking, start the carmel sauce. Mix the cup of Guinness® with 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer the mixture until it has thickened, about 35 minutes. Transfer it onto the the bottom layer of the cake before the carmel sets. If it starts to thicken, turn off the heat to prevent from burning the sauce. We had to try the sauce two different times because the Mojuba girls are not Guinness girls. If you are a big fan of Guinness try a whole can instead of a cup!
Once the cakes have been in the oven for 18 minutes, begin making the whiskey glaze. Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of whiskey into a saucepan, and stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of butter. Bring the mixture to a boil on medium low while stirring constantly, it will take about five minutes until it is slightly thickened and sugar has dissolved.
When the cakes have baked for 25 minutes take them out of the oven and poke holes all over the cake (use a chopstick or end of a round ended fork) and drizzle the whiskey glaze on top of both cakes. Return the cakes back to the oven, and bake for another 5 minutes.
Remove cakes from oven, allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes, before placing the carmel on the bottom layer cake. When applying the carmel sauce let it drip down the sides of the bottom layer cake. Make sure you apply the carmel sauce before it has time to set!
To make the frosting, beat 1 cup of softened butter in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium until it is smooth. Gradually beat in a 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar at a time. Add in the salt before adding 1/4 cup of Baileys. Continue beating until the frosting is fluffy.
Once the icing is done place the 2nd cake on top, and decorate it with the frosting. No need to frost the sides of the cake, leave it bare so the carmel is exposed on the bottom cake.

Drink Up! Eat Up!

Save some green this St. Patty’s Day! Use the code LUCK on when you buy a Bride or Groom Wedding Day Emergency Kit for $25 dollars off and free shipping!

Mojuba Wedding- life, love, and the unexpected.

You’re Engaged! Let’s Party!

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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You’re engaged! Congrats! But now what? Isn’t there supposed to be a party? Do you throw it? Who do you invite? Do you get presents?! The excitement of getting engaged is a great time for all the family members and friends of both parties to meet and an engagement party does just that. It also is a great place to announce the engagement to family members or friends you do not see on a daily basis. But really, what’s the proper etiquette for the centuries old engagement party? Have no fear, we’ve pulled together the proper info, so you can do everything just right!

When should the party starter of all party starters take place? Unless you’re taking a note from Emily Blunt and Jason Segel in The 5 Year Engagement, it should take place two to six months after the question is popped. If you are getting married quickly, an engagement party is not always necessary. The next day, send out a Thank You note and gift to the host of the party. (If it’s a parent, send a note, but you don’t need to send a gift.)

Who should host it? Firstly, no one is obligated to host an engagement party. Traditionally, the bride’s parents host it, but if they do not live near, the groom’s parents, a close friend, or other family member can offer to host it. The only time a bride and groom should host the party is if they are surprising the guests with the announcement of their engagement. It’s a superstition thing.

Now that the party is on, who do you invite? And should they bring a gift? Anyone you are not going to invite to the wedding, should not be invited to the engagement party. If you cannot afford to invite everyone you love to the wedding, hold a get together after the wedding to celebrate the nuptials. Again, it is not obligatory for guests to bring gifts, but someone might. So, please, do not open your gifts until after the wedding and be sure to send those Thank You notes as soon as you open them, (no later than two weeks is proper etiquette). Since gifts aren’t required, there is no need to register just yet.

Toasts! Everyone loves a good toast. The engagement party is the Father of the Bride’s evening. If he is unavailable, another close family member of the bride or groom will do. As the toast honoree, it is not customary to raise your glass or take a sip when the toast is done. However, no one will turn their nose if you do. After the toast, the bride and groom should stand and thank the toaster and say a few words about their excitement. No long drawn out speeches are necessary, save those for the rehearsal dinner or wedding day.

OK. Now that those formalities are out of the way, here are some ideas to make your engagement party fun and exciting for all. Since there are not many formalities regarding the engagement party, it can happen anywhere. If you want it in a restaurant – brunch, cocktail hour or even a sit down lunch or dinner would work perfectly. Someone can also host it in their home for a more low key get together. This is a great time for a buffet table for guests to congregate around; giving them tons of time to interact and get to know each other. Name tags with the name of the guest and relation to the couple also introduces conversation. How well do you know the couple games are the perfect way to get people talking. Make a crossword about the happy couple or play the Fiance Game to see how much guests know about the newly engaged. Play the Who’s Who game to learn quirky facts about your guests! This list has many games, including the ones we mentioned, so check it out!

Mojuba Wedding – love, life, and the unexpected.

Cupcakes, Cocktails and Couture at Bella Bridesmaid

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Mojuba Wedding

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A few weeks ago, we were invited to check out the newest Spring trends at Bella Bridesmaid at their first annual Cupcakes, Cocktails and Couture show. The event took place at their huge new space at 1 E. Delaware. For brides and bridesmaids to be, this was the chance to check out all the new trends for upcoming nuptials. Bella Bridesmaid pulled together a great show that interpreted the trends in a variety of ways.

Nico & Lala, a new custom invitation and event branding company in Chicago, was there showing off their gorgeous invitations. The girls picked up and moved from Tennessee to Chicago to start the company. Their invitations are utilize bright colors and bold shapes to create chic invites for all events.

Before and after the show, Princess Nail Lounge was offering complimentary polish changes with the newest OPI and Essie colors! Their two-story space allows for BYOB bridal showers or bachelorette parties or even a pre-wedding ceremony preparation sesh!

1. Fabric – Charmeuse & Jersey: Flowing fabrics and floor-length styles are not new in the world of the bridesmaid dress, but picking a dress with charmeuse or jersey brings a unique take to the crinkle chiffon norm. Featured Dresses: Amsale (Style #G688H and G633J) and Swoon (Martinique)

2. Fabric – Faille: Structured dresses are the pick du jour, but sometimes silk shantung and satin can leave your wallets a little lighter than you wanted. Faille is an innovative fabric with a faintly ribbed texture and a great alternative to the pricier structured fabric. Featured Dresses: LulaKate (Margaret) and Coren Moore (Rose)

3. Style – Peplum: Runway trends translate into bridesmaid dresses that can be worn long after the wedding day is over. Peplums are a flattering and chic trend for bridesmaids this season. Featured Dresses: Coren Moore (Lauren) and 57 Grand (Charlton)

4. Style – Contemporary Chic: Say so long, farewell to the themed bridesmaid dress. Indie brides and their bridesmaids will love the re-wearability factor of these dresses. Featured Dresses: Two Birds (Rosettes), Joanna August (8th Avenue Long) and Ivy & Aster (Monet)

5. Color – Ombre Neutrals: Neutrals are always in style, grading the neutral shades throughout your wedding party will create a unique and stylish look for your big day. Featured Dresses: Amsale (#G586C) , Monique Lhullier (#450031) and Joanna August (State Street in Ivory Lace)

6. Color – Pantone’s Tangerine Tango: You can’t have a fashionable wedding without the color of the year. Bella Bridesmaid tastefully incorporated this year’s bold color via cardigans paired with neutrals and in the bouquets designed by Rachel O. Featured Dresses: Love Lane (Kate) and LulaKate (Elle)

7. Color – Little White Dresses: The all white wedding has been a trend for many brides, but these little white dresses are also great for all the bride’s party occasions – the shower, rehearsal dinner, or even post-ceremony. Featured Dresses: LulaKate (Zoe with Party Skirt), Coren Moore (Anna), LulaKate (Molly with Full Skirt), Mamie and James (Belle), and Kirribilla (Caroline)