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If you’re looking for a great gift idea for your bridesmaids, then check out “The Bina,” an ingenious new take on the standard pashmina. It’s a fantastic, versatile “shawl” that you can wear in more than a dozen ways! I recently met with the designer, Bina Brianca, who demonstrated how to wear her creation. Within seconds, she could wrap, snap, and style The Bina into a number of chic looks.

Of course, when left to my own devices, I forgot how to turn The Bina into a blouse. But fear not: With each purchase, you receive a booklet describing how to create each look. I love the way the soft jersey material drapes, and when the AC gets a big frigid in the office, it’s the perfect cover-up. Here’s a sampling of just a few looks:

Now that our wedding date has dropped to a two-digit countdown (YAY!), I thought I might share with you what this has meant to us in numbers and dollar signs. I also decided it would be good to give you lovely ladies an honest look at why we chose the things we chose, why we didn’t choose the things we left out and which vendors we thought were worth spending the big bucks on!

1. Ceremony location: $2,500
As soon as we decided to get married in Vegas, we knew we didn’t want a chapel wedding. (Exhibit A: That scene in The Hangover when dentist Stu weds a stripper in a gaudy chapel overflowing with fabric flowers. Exhibit B: Britney Spears—enough said.) Besides, despite The Man and I not being The World’s Most Outdoorsy Couple, we’ve always wanted to be married in the sunshine, out in the open. We picked The Valley of The Falls (pictured above) after we realized that our first-choice, Mandalay Bay, didn't offer their Cabana Wedding Ceremony between September and February. 

2. Reception venue + Catering: $4,000
For our 3-course meal, we will be serving salad, steak, and wedding cake at The Excalibur Hotel, costing us just over $50 per person. We also purchased a 4-hour alcohol package including our signature drink, "The Singapore Sling," (to represent, ya’ll!) for $40 per person. (Editor's Note: This cocktail was invented in 1915 by a bartender and contains gin, cherry heering (liqueur), benedictine DOM, cointreau, grenadine, lemon juice, a dash of angostura bitters and fresh pineapple). Total cost per person: Just under $100.

What we know: Kim is wearing Vera Wang. She had 3 different Vera dresses designed for her (for as much as $25,000 a pop), according to Us Weekly. And her bridesmaids are not wearing green.

But the big question is, will Kim wear white?

Kim and Kris have requested that all guests wear black or white. So we can't help but wonder, will Kim be wearing a colorful gown to stand out among the sea of black and white on Saturday?

Here at BG, we're torn. I could see Kim wearing a soft pink shade, like Reese Witherspoon did earlier this year. Pink was a huge trend on the runways, according to our fashion editor, Naima DiFranco. I could also see Kim in a champagne hue. But I highly doubt she'll go completely nontraditional and wear a bold shade, like red or blue. If she does opt for color, it'll be subtle.

Kim and Kris are reportedly set to marry at this beautiful Spanish-style estate in Montecito, California, owned by Google exec Eric Schmidt, according to Us Weekly. Fun fact: Ellen Degeneres previously owned the home, which she sold for a reported $20 million in 2007.

       Aerial images from Bing.com

We're in love with the beautiful grounds, and we're hoping Kim will be able to utilize them for her photos—according to CNN, there will likely be tents set up around the entire estate to prevent paparazzi pics, since People has exclusive rights to the wedding photos.

—Kristen O'Gorman Klein

This past Saturday, Shawn Lippert of Ontario, Canada, surprised his long-term girlfriend, Colleen, by getting down on one knee and proposing. And then he surprised her with the entire wedding.

The couple had been living together for seven years and had discussed plans to elope to Las Vegas next month, so Colleen had already picked out a dress. Shawn managed to get everything in place for the wedding in secret by sneakily asking Colleen questions over the past year to collect all the details of her dream wedding. "I asked her, you know, what kind of cake would you like at your wedding? She said, 'I want a cherry chip cake.' Centerpieces? 'I want this,'" Shawn has said.

On Saturday, Colleen thought she was arriving at the Beach Bar and Grill for a retirement party, but when she got there, Shawn was waiting with a ring and red carpet. He proposed then informed her that their wedding would take place that day. Colleen was then whisked to a private room in the restaurant where Shawn had set up her entire bedroom for her to get ready along with the wedding dress she had chosen for her big day. Over 200 guests attended the surprise wedding.

"I complain all the time about him not being romantic and apparently he is," Colleen has said. "Nothing else will ever compare to this. It was just perfect."

So what do you think, BG brides? Is the stunt Shawn pulled super romantic? Or would you be upset to find out that you had been excluded from planning your own wedding? Tell us!

—Kelsie Allen

Renee Armstrong wasn't able to make the trip from Virginia to Colorado for her best friend's wedding this past Saturday, but she was still able to be a bridesmaid on the big day—thanks to the iPad's FaceTime app.

“She got to see the whole ceremony. She got to meet everybody and be here for the reception,” the bride, Jamie Alberico, told ABC News.

A groomsman even walked Renee down the aisle by carrying the tablet device, and the bridal party held up the device to include Renee in the wedding photos.

“Renee called dibs to be my bridesmaid many, many moons ago and, unfortunately, she couldn’t really make it out here,” Alberico said. “But thank you technology, here is Renee.”

A few months ago, another couple was married via Skype when the groom came down with a lung infection prior to the wedding. And more recently, a military couple was married over the phone while he was deployed.

We love seeing how technology is changing the wedding world. What do you think of these tech-savvy weddings?

—Kristen O'Gorman Klein

In the latest episode of Four Weddings, Jaclyn's offbeat wedding in a zoo ranked highest and earned her and her new husband a free honeymoon to Bali. The highlight of Jaclyn's wedding, according to the other brides: The choreographed dance involving not just the bride and groom but the entire bridal party—with props!

Choreographed first dances are nothing new, but involving the entire bridal party is an unexpected twist. Jaclyn is a professional choreographer, so creating a dance for her bridal party added a nice personal touch to her wedding day. We love how the bridal party really got into it and looked like they were having a blast!

Take a look at the video below:

What do you think—is involving your bridal party in a choreographed dance a do or a don't?

—Kristen O'Gorman Klein

I have a major budget crush on Kimberly Foley—once you see her whimsical, yet elegant Real Wedding to husband Raymond Sanicki, I guarantee you will too. She saved thousands of dollars on decor, thanks to the creative DIY projects that she tackled with her mega-talented mama. Everything from her dress (which she scored for only $500, marked down from $3,000 at Running of the Brides) to her stamped guest book (one of our all-time editors' favorites) is steal-worthy. However, there's one detail that I thought was particularly applicable to Budget Guru readers, which is her one-of-a-kind brooch bouquet. Kim is right on-trend: country singer Miranda Lambert carried one down the aisle from The Ritzy Rose at her May wedding.

Kimberly stumbled across a brooch bouquet online, and immediately fell in love. However, she realized she couldn't swing the $600 price tag, so she showed her mother a photo, who said "No problem!" (Gotta love that.) "I loved everything about my bouquet! I am eternally grateful to my mom, because my bouquet will never wilt or die—I will have it forever. It will always have a special place in my house and my heart!" said Foley.

Here are step-by-step instructions for making your own brooch bouquet:

Earlier this week, we had some fun around the BG office making sample video entries for our Kohl's contest. If you haven't entered yet, be sure to check it out! All you need to do is make a quick video (or write a 200-word essay and include photos) telling us which item on your registry you want most (and why), and start a registry at Kohl's. You could win a ton of great prizes from Kohl's, plus a 7-night luxury honeymoon to any Now Resort & Spa in Riviera Cancun, including airfare on JetBlue!

Need some inspiration? Check out our fun samples!