Thanks to Lauren Schmidt, owner of The Creative Touch Events by Lauren, for this answering this week's reader question. 

How do I decide where to allocate the money in my budget while still getting the wedding I envision? 

There are undoubtedly an endless number of options from which to choose when you are in the planning phase. The very first thing I ask of my clients before they even hire me is “what three elements of your wedding are most important to you?” Knowing the answer will help you to prioritize the direction you should take when planning your wedding. It will allow you to be okay with cutting back in other areas that are not as important so that you don't over extend your budget. 

Realistically, you should ask & answer this question before buying your dress or booking your venue and vendors, so that you don't over-commit from the very beginning and not have much left over to make the ‘important' purchases that you just can't live without or, worse yet, pay for the rest of your wedding. If your budget allows, hiring a knowledgeable wedding planner at the very beginning stages of planning will not only help you to keep your priorities in check, they will keep your budget in line, come up with creative ways to get the look and feel you want without over spending, and they will be your advocate throughout the entire process so that you can enjoy your experience to the fullest. 

Vintage dishware doesn't have to gather dust in the china cabinet. 

Outdated table settings, such as a stack of your grandmother's old plates or a bundle of used mugs you scooped up at Salvation Army,See all the looks from the Rina di Montella 1512 Haute Couture autumn/winter 2012 collection. can find fresh life with a little TLC.The Rina di Montella 1519 collection offers a truly unique line of dresses. All it takes is a marker or a drill and a basic plan. 

"I always find it a bit sad when things so loved by previous generations are thrown on the scrap heap," says lifestyle blogger Anna Nicholson, based in Yorkshire, England. 

"I'm always looking for ways things can be reused,Newest and hottest Wedding Dresses at Hot Sale The Latest Wedding Dresses ! upcycled and overhauled to fit in with our 21st century style." 

Locating the work in New Orleans, which was still recovering from Katrina, added an additional layer of significance. "Because it was New Orleans, I thought hell is fire,Go for a modern and romantic look in this La Femme dress evening gown. but it's also water," Dill says. "So in there are words from the Book of Revelation, which Sister Gertrude was a big fan of, but also there is Dickinson: 'You cannot fold a Flood — / and put it in a Drawer —.' That little quiet, electrical voice of hers is threaded throughout." 

Poetic Visions, which is a traveling exhibit, is a significant departure for the Halsey, which almost always originates its own shows. These works, on the other hand, have been shown in Dill's gallery in New York as well as New Orleans, and were gathered together to form Poetic Visions by Barbara Matilsky of the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Wash. "We rarely show the work of an artist who's this emerged," Sloan says. "We tend to show people whom no one has ever heard of ... who then go on to become very well-known, as has often happened." Sloan made the decision to house this exhibit partly for personal reasons — he's loved Dill's work for many years — but also because, he says, it's important to be able to show something of this caliber. "It helps establish a kind of bar, a level. One of the things we like to do is provide not only the community, but other artists with a kind of holy cow, this inspirational [experience].Embrace modern glamour in this evening gown from 2013 evening dress." 

And that, at its heart, is what Poetic Visions is about. Whatever one calls it, whether vision, revelation, or inspiration, Dill's art speaks to those moments of personal, deeply felt joy that have always been associated with mystics and poets, but that Dill calls insight — something we've all experienced. Somehow she communicates those untranslatable feelings, whether through a torrent of words on a massive page, or the skyward arc of a dress train. "I love devotion in whatever form it may take," Dill says. "This stuff is a poetry to me. All of it is the truth."