Eva Longoria & Tony Parker: A Fabulous French Wedding – Part 2

Bridal Gifts

For bridal party gifts, Eva's bridesmaids were given Rafe Swarovski clutches that matched their dresses at a cost of nearly $400 each. As for wedding favors for the guests, each woman attending was given a lipstick in a color that had been custom created for the wedding (it was called Pink Romance) by L'Oreal Paris and an 18 carat gold bracelet from Van Cleef & Arpel decorated with a clover made from mother of pearl.

After the beauty of the ceremony, it was only natural to head to another fairy tale location for the reception and what could possibly be more fairy tale than a 17^th century castle such as the Chateau of Vaux le Vicomte on the outskirts of Paris? The sky above the castle was completely lit up by fireworks as a way of sharing their celebration with everyone in the area as well as their more immediate guests. Besides a very romantic first dance to Peter Gabriel's version of “Book of Love” by the couple, another high point of the event was a portrait painted on the spot of Eva by a French artist. Most of the guests were absolutely amazed at how fast he worked and how beautiful the painting turned out to be.

So What Can You Copy?

While your wedding budget may not be as large as Eva and Tony's, you can still find ways to incorporate some of their ideas into your event. Let's start with location. The couple picked France because it was where Tony was from and had special meaning for him. It probably didn't hurt that Paris is known for being a city of romance. Of course you don't have to go to Paris, but you can choose a location for your wedding that is meaningful for both of you. Don't just assume your only option is the church down the street. Even if you're on a tight budget, you can have a wedding in another location, although it definitely helps to have a wedding planner in that area making the arrangements on your behalf.

Also, if you are having a destination wedding, even in another state, make sure you know the guidelines for weddings in that location. Different states and different countries have different rules about how long you have to wait for the marriage license and whether a church ceremony is sufficient. Without that information, you could end up encountering plenty of problems for your wedding.

Welcoming More Friends

Eva and Tony also realized that some parts of their wedding should be for close friends and family while others could be open to a larger circle of acquaintances. That's something you should keep in mind when planning your wedding, too. If your budget doesn't allow you to invite 300 people to your reception, then invite those 300 people to your wedding and have a low-key reception for just your inner circle the next day. Or if you're having a destination wedding and can't afford to help pay the travel costs of 100 guests, just invite a handful of your nearest and dearest then throw a wonderful reception for everyone else when you get back. Remember sometimes the key to a great wedding is making concessions.

And definitely keep in mind the fabulous gifts Eva gave to her bridesmaids and to the female guests attending the wedding. An ordinary person probably can't afford those expensive gifts or even have lipstick custom made by a major cosmetic company. However, some online companies do offer custom-blended lipstick. BeYourselfBeauty.com will create a lipstick color for you based on a color sample for $25 per tube. That might be too pricey for a wedding favor, but it might make a nice gift for your bridesmaids. For bridal party gifts, you can give a present that will be useful at the wedding, such as earrings, a matching purse, or even custom lipstick – there's nothing wrong with that.

More Ideas….

For the wedding favors, consider having your own customized candy created. M & M's, for example, can be customized to match your wedding colors and to include special messages for your guests, plus they can be placed in decorative packaging and shipped to you so all you have to add is the tag and you're done. Pricing varies from nearly $4 per bag to well over $11 depending on the packaging you choose.

The bottom line is that you may not be followed by the paparazzi during your wedding like Eva and Tony were and you may not have any celebrity guests sitting in the back of your church, but you can still have a magical, fairy tale wedding that makes a great impression on your guests and that you'll love remembering for years to come.