Archive for 2007

Choosing the Right Wedding Favors

Dec

HELPFUL TIPS ON CHOOSING THE RIGHT WEDDING FAVORS FOR YOUR GUESTS

Since we were little girls, all of us dream of having a fairy tale wedding. We used to imagine what kind of gown we would want to wear at our wedding, what kind of theme we would want to have and many other things. When the day is actually coming closer, there are so many details to take care of and it could sometimes become rather overwhelming. Choosing where to hold the reception, shopping for the wedding gown, thinking about decorations and arranging food for the guests are just a few of many items that come along with this celebration of love. And of course, all of us want to make our wedding the most memorable wedding for ourselves, families, as well as for the rest of the guests.

Giving out wedding favors as a display of true appreciation is a long standing tradition. Everything that is seen at the wedding: from the reception place to the menu, will be certainly enjoyed on this special day. However, it is the wedding favor that will make the wedding to be remembered for a long time. So picking out the right favor is extremely important. But with a great number of options out there for these little tokens of love and appreciation, sometimes, it could cost a tremendous amount of time to decide which one to choose.

So, where do we start on deciding which wedding favors to choose? Here are some pointers to help us decide the right favors for our guests.

By determining the theme and personality of the wedding beforehand, picking the appropriate wedding favors should be as easy as an ABC.

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers! What is something that is most remembered about the wedding besides the brides’ gown and the food? Of course, flower arrangements – since they primarily define the theme of the wedding – Remember that different flowers represent various meanings of love. By choosing something like charming calla lily bouquet candles, calla lily photo frames or even calla lily design napkin holders as a favor can accent the symbols of beauty and exquisiteness of the wedding. A traditional yet timeless long stem rose crystal can enhance the elegance and romance of the magnificent wedding. Or if we want to intensify passion and exoticism, orchids gel candles or scented orchid-shape soap will be one of the most appropriate favors to share this special moment of your life.

If we are one of the practical types, we may want to start our wedding favors selection by thinking about practical items such as key chains, coasters, CD cases and many more. One good thing about choosing practical wedding favors is that the guests will be using them often, and thus, our wedding will be remembered every time they use the favors we handed out. But some of us may think that practical items may not be as lovely as other decorative favors. We could, for sure, scratch that idea since there are so many items with sophistication and perfection. Who can deny a cute sandal shaped notepad that can go with a beach theme or even a chic jewelry pouch; not to mention a sweet pair of silver pear shaped salt and pepper shaker that could definitely leave our guests in awe.

But wait. There are more to come. Some of us even want to go beyond the most common favors simply because we want to add more fun and attitude to the splendor of this ceremony. For instance, those who have passion for western theme could choose a shooter charm that enriches a personal touch of entertainment. Or perhaps choosing a unique ethnic theme such as a coaster painted with the word “love” in Chinese or Spanish will make the favors more exclusive and meaningful.

In short, most of us may think that choosing a wedding favor can be time consuming. But it does not have to be that much work once we have some tips on where to start. Always remember that it is the company of friends and family that make a wedding memorable. Rewarding those who come to share your special day with a thoughtful favor gift is a wonderful way to show your appreciation.

About the Author:

Blue Rainbow Design
Wedding Favors & Bridal Gift Ideas
www.BlueRainbowDesign.com

Info@BlueRainbowDesign.com

Posted in Favors | No Comments »

Winter Wedding Favors with Unique Ideas

Nov

Warm Up Your Wedding with Unique Ideas for Winter Wedding Favors
By – Allison Parker

Deciding on which gift to give guests has been racking the minds of millions of brides around the world since the dawn of the wedding ceremony. After all, there is a long standing tradition of giving gifts out to guests either during the ceremony or at the reception to show your appreciation for their attendance. No couple wants to present an overdone or boring favor to their family and friends. Your wedding day is an once-in-a-lifetime experience and your gifts should replicate that uniqueness. Fortunately, there are a plethora of unique winter wedding favors to coordinate with your decor and put a stop to the tedious search for that ever-so-right gift.

Winter wedding favors range from intricately detailed Mr. and Mrs. Snowman candle favors, perfect for placing at table settings for guests to light at the reception or take home to enjoy later, down to custom made cake slice favor boxes and personalized ribbon to tie around gift boxes. Personalize a 30-strike matchbook with a snowflake design and a special message for family and friends to place next to your snowmen candle favors.Â This festive combination is guaranteed to leave guests gushing over your perfectly coordinated winter wedding.

Other new and unique winter wedding ideas for favors include icy blue, snowflake gel candles and chrome snowflake design wine bottle stoppers. Winter theme place card holders and frosted snowflake glass wedding coasters also make unique and functional gifts for family and friends that will be used throughout the holiday season. One place card holder even includes a slot for inserting a photo of the bride and groom.

To add even more of a custom flair to your winter favors, personalize it. Some personalized winter favors include napkins for the cocktail bar and cake table, winter themed save the date magnets, and personalized favor bags and boxes.

Personalized Wedding Favor Bags will add a unique twist to traditional favors. Place festive candles, key rings, wine bottle stoppers, or snowflake wedding Christmas ornaments in one of these custom bags for an exceptional keepsake that is sure to be admired. Favor bags are available in an assortment of seasonal winter colors to compliment your winter motif. Picture a navy bag customized in white matte imprint color printed with a festive message that reads,Something special is in the air. Thank you for sharing this holiday affair. with the bride and groom’s names and wedding date placed below this adorable message. This is just one of many possible combinations you could use to create a one-of-a-kind keepsake for guests.

Personalized Wedding Favor Boxes are another unique gift giving idea. Favor boxes are used for treats like pillow mints, truffles, or Jordan almonds. They can even be used to box small gifts like votive candles or bookmarks. Both elegant and convenient, favor boxes can be customized with the bride and groom’s name, wedding date, and a seasonal design to accent your winter wedding theme. Your friends and family will adore receiving a custom memento of the big day.

With more choices of festive, winter wedding favors than ever before, you are sure to find favors that will compliment your winter themed reception. When choosing the right favor to give family and friends, feel free to take advantage of some of these unique ideas. Any of these gift suggestions are sure to have your guests gushing over how unique and coordinated your winter-themed wedding is.Â These were just a few suggestions to help make your reception a bit more festive, and whatever route you do decide to take your winter wedding decor in, you can rest easy knowing, your family and friends are sure to cherish every part of your big day.

Author Bio:

Allison is a customer service specialist and editor for My Wedding Reception Ideas.com. My Wedding Reception Ideas specializes in creative ideas, information and products to brides and grooms including personalized wedding favors, wedding accessories and wedding party gifts.

Posted in Favors | No Comments »

Indian Wedding Invitation Cards

Sep

Below is an article presented to me that I think will help in your wedding planning.

Indian Wedding Invitation Cards for Different Communities

Indian weddings are known to be ostentatious ceremonies with color and splendor marking a very special day in the lives of the couple. The Indian wedding preparations start with the invitation card and choosing an invitation card is not as easy considering the variety of cards that makers have in store.

Indian wedding cards can be simple and articulate cards in the form of greeting cards with gods adorning the first page followed by the marriage date and venue details. Indian wedding invitations are indicative of the style and the grandeur that can be expected of the wedding. A high quality decorative invitation card is replete with rhinestones and gold print are a sign of what you are most likely to expect during the wedding. Ostentatious weddings also ensure a gift along with every wedding invitation card for the invitee.

Dealers unwilling to lose both simple and high end marriages ensure a wide price range among wedding invitation cards such that they are able to tap both type of buyers. Price range can vary from Rs.10/ for a simple card to Rs.100/- and above for a costly card. The price varies depending upon the type of paper, quality of paper and the printed material.

The design and overall look and feel of the Indian wedding card also changes with the type of wedding i.e.: Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew or Sikh. Indian wedding cards are further categorized into South Indian and North Indian wedding cards to reflect the differing geographic tastes in color and design.

One also has the choice in terms of shopping for the invitation cards. There are specific areas that are marked in Indian bazaars that specialize in the sale of wedding cards or one can call the local dealer to check the options available with him. Online shopping is another easy alternative considering you can choose your invitation and also get approval instantly from others with regard to your choice despite distances.

Indian weddings have brought about the rise of an entire industry that works towards making the Indian wedding a glamorous affair. From historic venues, global menus, event management to celebrity performances the Indian weddings are now even sought after by other nationals. The Indian invitation card is therefore very much in the race to attract not only Indians but other nationals as well to send Indian color, decor and splendor laden invitations to their invitees.

About the Author
Nilesh Parekh is Owner and editor for Parekhcards, an online solution of Indian Wedding Invitations. Parekhcards cater to every community in India.

Posted in Invitations | No Comments »

I’ll Stand By You – Carrie Underwood

Sep

This song was featured on American Idol’s show American Idol Gives Back to raise money for charity. The song was featured on iTunes and was downloaded as the #2 most popular at one point.

Now, I cannot find where to buy it anywhere. I would like to add it to the wedding song lists but I am not going to offer a song that someone cannot purchase legally. What a bummer that big business just doesn’t “get it”.

If you want the original version by the Pretenders can be purchased on Amazon on this web page: Amazon

In other news, we are still updating all the headers and will be done by the end of the month.

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Life of a website webmaster

Sep

I just wanted to share with everyone what goes through the mind of a webmaster. For those of us who love it, it’s really not a job. However, there are 2 statistics to keep in mind. In my readings, 99% of all blogs make less than $100 per month. In addition, those websites that have Google ads on them make less than $20 per month. Owning a website is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Those who tell you so are lying. I have been doing this for 4 years now and have had the DIY mentality.

A good marketing firm to optimize a website to get visitors will usually start at $5000. The fact that you’re not making it from Google or other ads means it would have to come out of your pocket, get a loan or DIY. I have chosen the DIY.

After reading blogs, newsletters, etc, I have managed to get a respectable 28,000 unique visitors per month. According to Alexa.com, I am right now ranked at 991,000. However, the cream of the crop are the top 100,000! That’s my goal. Oh yeah, and have a great service that is able to make money. My focus has always been: create a great site and people will come. When you consider that there are over 100 million websites, pretty cool to be in the top million.

I just wanted to share that the webmasters who care are ALWAYS making changes to their site and learning. I just read a book by Steve Krug: Don’t Make Me Think. The book talks about the usibility of websites. This has given me lots of great ideas that will be put into affect shortly. For example, visitors need to be able to search for what they cannot find (we will be adding a search feature to most web pages). Visitors need to know where they are at (we will be adding “breadcrumbs” on web pages to help you know exactly where you are and how to get back).

The key is how do you get the word out? Press releases, adding links, creating a great site that people like and will link to, paid-per-clicks…. and so on. We will also be joining forces with a charity in the next year.

Therefore, owning and webmastering a website is an ongoing and never ending process for those of us who want to be the best.

Posted in WeddingMuseum.com | No Comments »

Brides Letting Bridesmaids Make Choices

May

Brides Letting Bridesmaids Make Their Own Choices

The days of the overbearing, control-freak bride are over! Everywhere, bridesmaids are rejoicing that they don’t have to wear a dress that’s been chosen for them (presumably after the bride has had a few drinks), they don’t have to wear their hair in a severe chignon that makes them look twenty years older, and they’re not going to be micromanaged anymore by a bride who needs someone to push around after her parents have pushed her around all day.

The new trend is to let bridesmaids make up their own minds about many aspects of their wedding participation.

I’ve been in weddings before, and the bride was a nightmare, says Sarah, a bride from New York City, who has been a bridesmaid six times for friends and relatives. So when my sister asked me to be a bridesmaid, I feared the worst. But my sister said that we could all choose the style of gown we wanted, she had no preference on how we wore our hair, and she had no preference on a bridal shower. Whatever we wanted to do was fine with her. I almost thought I was being Punk’d.

Sarah’s experience echoes what’s going on in wedding world right now. Dress designers are encouraging brides to let their bridesmaids pick out the most flattering tops and skirts for their own body shapes and comfort levels, which makes bridesmaids very happy. They can make their own style and budget choices, as long as they stick to the color and designer chosen by the bride. And even that is up for grabs these days. Sharon Naylor, author of The Bridesmaid Handbook and a PashWeddings.com resident wedding expert, is planning her own wedding right now. I just told my Matron of Honor that she can pick out any dress style she wants for herself and for the bridesmaids, as long as it’s full-length and formal. Our wedding colors are green and white, so I let Jill “ who is an artist “ decide between the moss, celery, hunter and every other variation of green on there. It’s not a decision I have to control. Jill chose three possibilities so far, and I love them all. She gets to pick the final design.

A bridesmaid who can choose her own dress is a happy bridesmaid, and will wear the dress again in the future. It’s even become a trend to have bridesmaids in coordinating shades of a color. Some brides with fairer skin might love a brighter color, while bridesmaids with darker skin might love a different shade. It still makes for lovely photos and personal presence when the bridesmaids are in a range of colors. Look at the shades of orange leaves in an autumn tree, for instance, says Sharon Naylor. They’re not exactly the same hue, but it works.”

The same applies to hairstyle. Today’s brides are no longer so controlling that they demand their bridesmaids get the exact same updo to make them a matching set. I just saw this on My Super Sweet Sixteen, where the birthday girl insisted on uniform French braids and threw a fit when the braids were not to her exact specifications. No bride wants to be like that anymore, says Naylor. Now, brides assure their bridesmaids that they can wear their hair any way they like. They might ask for an updo, but it’s the bridesmaids’ choices of updo. We’re far from the days when brides demanded that their bridesmaids order $200 hair extensions ˜to give the image I’m looking for.

And for shoes, brides may only go as far as saying, Wear silver heels with an open to give a uniformity in the wedding photos. They’re not choosing a designer, model number, price, and dye job order and sending their bridesmaids a˜you must buy this by Thursday’s e-mail”.

And then there is the bridal shower. We went through a period where they were not surprise parties, the bride virtually took over the plans and stuck her bridesmaids with the bill, and bridesmaids resented paying way above their budget level for a party that they considered tacky or too extravagant considering they still had to pay for their travel expenses to get to the wedding. Now, brides are saying what type of party they would like, such as afternoon brunch, provide an organized guest list with guests’ addresses or e-mails, and letting the group decide on everything from the menu to the games. It’s the bride’s party to enjoy, but not to plan.

Why is this trend on the rise? Why have brides stepped back and allowed their bridesmaids so much personal freedom in all of the wedding areas? It’s a combination of personal experience (the bride has been a bridesmaid several times and never liked being bossed around), seeing some truly offensive selfishness of brides on television, and the fact that brides are choosing only their closest friends as their bridal party members. In this age of personalized weddings, there’s no longer a push to include his sisters who you’ve never met or including those who had you in the bridal party long ago. Everyone wants to be The Nice Bride, and they have a lot of trust and faith that their bridesmaids will make great decisions on their own.

Consider it the Golden Rule coming into play, as more brides consider their relationships with their bridal party members. This is not a time to boss them around. They’re doing the bride a favor, and now “ with gratitude being a key ingredient to any bride’s mindset “ the brides are acting with kindness, consideration and an open mind towards their closest women. I love letting them make their own decisions, says Kim, a bride from San Francisco. â€œMy friends are all so stylish, I know they’ll choose something gorgeous. And they were so grateful that they weren’t being told what to wear. They said I was their favorite bride of all time!

Another category where the do your own thing approach is coming into play: allowing bridesmaids to decide which showers they’ll attend. In our global world, brides have multiple showers thrown for them. The first and main one is always by the bridesmaids, but then there are others thrown by friends and relatives. Traditional etiquette stated that the bridal party should attend all showers, but today’s bride allows her maids to pick and choose according to what works best for their schedule, budget and travel plans. So these extra invites are not a Must.

And finally, while the bride often gives the bridesmaids decision-making power over so many of their own plans for the wedding, there is one area where the bridesmaids still defer to the bride: the bachelorette party. The bridesmaids will plan a party to suit the bride’s style, not the other way around. So if she’s not a drinker, the bride isn’t forced to endure a pub crawl or a risque party with a male dancer. She may be a spa-going type of bride, so that’s what her bridesmaids knowing her so well will plan for her.

It’s a far more enjoyable thing to be chosen for a bridal party now that these new rules have come into play.

About The Author: Sharon Toris is a freelance writer and contributor to the top women’s and bridal magazines such as www.PashWeddings.com. She lives in Morristown, New Jersey. © 2007, Blue Grotto Media, Inc.

Posted in Bride | No Comments »

Should Wedding Invitations be Professionally Printed

Mar

Should Your Wedding Invitations be Professionally Printed?

Today’s brides seem more and more interested in printing their own wedding invitations using home computers to save on costs. Even though you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive some styles of professionally printed invitations really are, there’s so much more to the process than just the monetary cost.

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, so be sure your wedding invitations match the beauty of your special day! Your invitations will be giving your guests their first impression of your wedding.

The whole wedding invitation process starts with choosing your style. Professional printers are able to provide a great selection of different designs including quality papers, unique colors and trendy sizes. They commonly have a style to fit any theme, budget or colors you have in mind.

Professionally printed wedding invitations are typically created by using a process called thermography. This produces the beautiful raised lettering that makes wedding invitations look so elegant.

When it comes to choosing your font style and ink color, you will appreciate all the choices a professional printer has to offer. They can also print your return address on your outer envelopes and provide a color lining for your inner envelopes if you so choose.

Additional matching items such as response cards, maps, direction cards, reception cards, thank you notes and wedding programs can be easily printed at the same time you order your professionally printed wedding invitations.

There is no doubt that your time is at a premium as you are planning your wedding, and printing your own wedding invitations can be a tedious task. So consider saving precious time and possible frustration by letting the professionals handle your wedding invitation printing. Let them do what they do best – provide superior quality resulting in gorgeous wedding invitations.

Sara Haese owns http://www.PrintedCreationsWeddingStore.com where you’ll find a great selection of both elegant and inexpensive wedding invitations as well as save the dates. Visitors can also sign up to receive her FREE Wedding Invitation Guide.

Posted in Invitations | No Comments »