And you can dance for inspiration...

The world is full of inspirations. And if the world is full of them, the world wide web is overflowing. 

Inspiration boards can be anything from 4x6 pieces of paper to giant poster boards full of images and words that all revolve around one main theme. They can be made to help you advertise a product, decorate a room in your house, or, in the case of the ones I will be discussing, collect your wedding thoughts on dresses, colors, etc. Inspiration board made by other people (sometimes other brides, sometimes photographers, sometimes wedding planners) are also available by searching the web and can help jump start your planning or give you ideas on the aforementioned items.

Doing an inspiration board by hand, with real pictures, real paper, glue, etc., can be a really fun project. Spend some time collecting photos you like from magazines, online, etc., then sit down at a table or desk and piece it all together. To reach the ultimate level of inspiration, your photos should be organized or at least follow a structure that will make sense to you when you view it at a later time. 

If you don't have the time or the want to create a hard-copy inspiration board, you can always utilize an online tool. The crudest tool available would be Google Images and a Word Document. Search things you like via Google, then format them in a Word document. However, with more advanced, more specialized tools available through wedding websites, this seems unnecessary. 

Wedding Wire - Wedding Wire's inspiration board software allows you to search images from their collection, narrowing down to something as specific as a "Fall Wedding Purple One Strap Bridesmaid Dress" (This returned 150 results, P.S.). You can select the photo from the menu and then drag and drop into your desired spot on the board. You are also able to select the orientation of the "photo spots" on the board, as well as the size and where they are located. It is very easily personalized and gives you a chance to play around with making a board without much hassle, but plus a lot of creative flexibility! WW also allows you to e-mail and share your inspiration boards on Facebook/Twitter/Blogs.

Dessy- Dessy allows you to use actual PANTONE colors in their style boards and across the rest of their site. This can be helpful once you decide what your color scheme will be because PANTONE colors are recognized across the board. You can bring your PANTONE color to either David's Bridal or Alfred Angelo and they will point you in the right direction of Bridesmaid dresses or accessories that will closest match that color. At a recent bridal show, a Chair Cover vendor even had the PANTONE Fan laid out to show off her available colors. All in all though,  Dessy's "Style Board" tools are not as tuned or accessible as Wedding Wire's and while they allow you to upload your own photos to add to the board, their selection of pre-loaded photos leaves something to be desired.

The Knot - Personally, I'm not a fan of The Knot. Their $ system is inaccurate and cloudy, their "checklist" system and budget tools are difficult to use and overwhelming (red ink, on paper or on screen, is not fun to see), and in my opinion, they just don't offer the same services or options as Wedding Wire (my wedding website of choice). But, when it comes to Inspiration Boards, their formats are similar, and their amount of pre-loaded photos is a bit greater than WW's. 

One of my boards from Wedding Wire- CUPCAKES! 

Photos by:

BellaCakes, Cakes by Karol Key West, Cambridge Cupcake Co., Cupcake Love, Jeseca Creations, LuxSugar Bakery, Maxine's Catering/Bittersweet Bakers, Simply Dahlicious Custom Catering and Confections, Swank Events and Weddings, Sweet Ecstasy Bakery, Sweets by Natalie Kay, The Divine Cupcake

Consult This!

Recently, a friend shared that her significant other didn't like it when invitations from her friends or family came addressed to "& Guest." At first, I thought this was simply wedding etiquette. If the person you are inviting lives with someone or is seriously dating someone (or if you have unlimited funds and can let all your single friends bring guests), then you address it to her "& Guest". If you know their significant other and he or she would be invited to the wedding with or without their partner, then that is when names are to be used.

However, while doing my homework last night, I came across this tid-bit.

"Using the words "and guest" on an invitation is improper. Because a wedding isn't an ordinary party, all of those invited are considered special guests. If the bride or groom doesn't know their names, they're not very special! Therefore, if a couple intends to invite unmarried guests to bring dates and friends with them to the wedding, they must find out the name of these dates and friends."

Confused, I double checked this Wediquette with Madame Emily (http://www.emilypost.com/etipedia) and to my surprise, she said the same.

Since it's awkward and impersonal to address the outer envelope as "Mr. James Smith and Guest," the two envelope system works well. Address the outer envelope to "Mr. James Smith" and the inner envelope to "Mr. James Smith and Guest." If you're only using one envelope, include a short note with your invitation: "Dear James, You're welcome to bring a guest to the wedding. Please let me know. Best, Laura." If there's time and James supplies the information, you can send his guest an invitation, too.

While I am a bit surprised based on the invitations I have seen in the past as well as recently, I am happy to see this. In the age of the text message, Google and Facebook, there isn't much of an excuse for not knowing your wedding guest's names, even if they are just someone's date. Hopefully, Brides (and those lucky Grooms that get roped into addressing invites too) brush up on their wediquette before addressing invites to get the most up-to-date rules. I don't agree that weddings should be 100% by the book, but when it comes to saving face and feelings, I think any little extra step is worth it! (And your guests will too!)

To kitsch or not to kitsch....

Do you ever wish you had the balls to do something? Or that you were creative enough, even just for a second, to pull off a look or a style that you know you totally can't?

This is how I feel about outrageously themed engagement shoots. Not just "we went to school here, so let's take pictures here" or "we love books, let's take a picture with one," I'm talking about full fledged themes. I love them. Can't get enough of them. But I just am unsure that Manfriend and I couldn't pull one off. I think my biggest concern is that it's just not our style and it wouldn't be true to our relationship. Maybe that's why it works for the people in the pictures that I don't know. I have no idea what their relationship is like, so I can just assume it fits the theme of the pictures. 

Don't get me wrong, we're a pretty fun duo (haha), and we both have discussed we want that to be reflected in our E-Pics (among other things). I know that we will without a doubt love our photos and have a great time taking them (have you checked out OUR AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHER yet?) but, there is definitely a small part of me that wants to take it up a notch.

Am I crazy?

Not sure what I'm talking about? Check these out.

Make Love Not War Engagement Session

UP! Engagement Session

Carnival Themed Engagement Session

Alice in Wonderland Engagement Session

 Food and Cooking Themed Engagement Session

Bonnie and Clyde Themed Engagement Session

Camping Themed Engagement Session

Breakfast at Tiffany's Engagement Session

Travel Themed Engagement Session



New York City Themed Engagement Pics



Buddha Buddha Buddha Buddha Rockin’ Everywhere

Buddhists have no real wedding ceremony. In fact, no figurehead in the Buddhist community has the authority to officially conduct a wedding or sign a marriage certificate. All a Buddhist monk or priest can do is bless the couple’s union.  However, if the Buddhist priest or monk were a notary republic or a justice of the peace, then the marriage could be sealed.

In Jewish wedding ceremonies, the groom must place a plain gold band on the bride’s right ring finger, not past her knuckle (as it is believed to lead to her soul). This ring is called a “Chuppah” ring (that part of the fact was not learned from my text but from last night’s “Rich Bride, Poor Bride”) and it must be a piece of the groom’s property. This means if the couple purchases a diamond or platinum band for the bride’s wedding ring, they must also purchase a gold band. For the budget conscious couple, grooms are allowed to “buy” a gold wedding band from a male family member. Currency must exchange hands, even if it is just a dollar, but the groom may sell the ring back to the family member after the ceremony is conducted.

G-O-O-G-L-E... what does that spell?

Amazing

G-O-O-G-L-E spells amazing. I have always loved Google. It never fails me.


Where do we want to eat tonight? Google knows.


What has that guy in this TV show been in before? Google knows.


Oh my gosh, look at that dog, what kind of dog is that?! Google knows.


And now? Well now, Google knows Weddings. Launched today, Google has banned together four of it's top tools (Google Sites, Google Docs, Picasa and Picnik) to "simplify" the wedding planning process for all of it's loyal engaged users.

Google, Will You Marry Me?

And while they were at it, they said, "What do brides like more than anything?" Yup. Winning stuff.

And in case you don't believe that Google is committed, just Ask Leslie.

Anti-Flower Bride

I am an anti-flower bride. This doesn't mean I don't like flowers. Love them. They're beautiful. It just means that I don't see them (and the price tag they carry) as a necessary addition to our wedding. That being said, I still want my bridesmaids to have bouquets and I am definitely a pro-decor bride. So while I don't intend on going to a florist for the big day, I have a lot of things I want to try out in the "flower alternative" category. Thanks to some awesome people and a few cool internet finds, I have a folder full of "D-I-Y-W Trials" sitting on my desk at home. That's where this post comes in.


Persuing the dollar store the other night, I saw that they had a pretty big selection of crafty items. When I found the floral tape and foam, I knew I had to try something! For the low low price of $4.28, I took home two fake flower bouquets, a pair of floral foam half circles and a set of styrofoam balls. Both types of foam were on the smaller side and not necessarily what I would be using, but, for the sake of shaking off a little creative sparkle, they worked just great!


First, I took all the little flowers off of the big stems. Since they were cheap fake flowers, this was easy. I venture to guess that more expensive bouquets would take a bit more effort to "de-flower".


Then, I offered the de-flowered stems to Pete so he would be occupied while chewing them and leave me alone while I was working. Success.


I started working with the styrofoam ball first to make a mini-pomander ("Kissing Ball"). I started at one end of the ball and worked my way around, making sure to stick the flowers in, overlapping, so that none of the styrofoam showed. At times, the styrofoam got flaky and was a bit tricky to work with, but, if you pressed the flowers in hard enough, they ended up sticking. This took me 2/3 of the way through my DVR'd episode of Glee. At the end of it all, I was very pleased with the finished product, and happy at my accomplishment!


But I'm a junkie and I needed more. So I whipped out one of the half circles of Floral Foam. WOW was there a difference! The flowers stuck in the floral foam easier, and stayed without any trouble. I barely got through 1/2 of Tosh.0 before being done with that. Though it looked very similar to the round kissing ball, the half moon shape let it sit on a ledge-type surface. I liked that. I wrote it down in my journal to remember. "Half-Moon Good."


A great experience all in all. This weekend, I am going to try to make ones with fabric, to see which I like better. Then, perhaps in the near future, I will upgrade to realistically sized balls. (tee hee)

Bouquet and Styrofoam Ball

Kissing Ball - In Progress

Finished Product

Floral Foam Dome - Work in Progress

Floral Foam Dome Complete!

Now what to do with them ...

Simply Inviting

If you are getting engaged soon, newly engaged, saving the date or looking at wedding invitations, today's GROUPON may be for you! 

MixBook Groupon - Invitations!  

www.mixbook.com 

They have a great selection of reasonably priced announcements and invitations (a lot include photos! Yay!), but they also have Photobook options. It's $15 for $50, which is unbeatable, especially if you're looking at invitation-y things. 

If you prefer a more "Traditional" invitation, I also looked around on Friday for Invitation sites that offer reasonable prices AND free invitation samples. Invitation samples give you an idea of different types of paper, styles of invites, what the colors look like in person and what design will work best for you and your wedding style. Invitations should reflect the formality of the wedding, but, there's a lot of options out there for both formal, semi-formal and casual events. It's good to look around and get a feel for what you like and don't like. Samples are also great for inspiration and guidance for those brides looking to D-I-Y!

I may have around 50 invitation samples heading to my mailbox, but, it's for research (for this blog and also for my D-I-Y-I hopes and dreams).

The American Wedding (also includes some favor sample offerings!) - Up to 5 Samples

RexCraft - Up to 3 Samples

Invitations by Dawn - Up to 3 Samples

Invite Site  - Send one type of invitation collection, also able to send swatches for ceremony programs

Invitations Galore  - Different Sample rules apply to different products. Read restrictions carefully.

123 Print  - Up to 3 Samples

Ann's Bridal Bargains  - Up to 5 Samples

Exclusively Weddings  - Up to 5 Samples

Jean M  - Up to 3 available by E-mail Request Only

David's Bridal  - Up to 3 Samples

Invitation samples are, of course, not personalized with your information, but, once you receive your samples, if you find something that you like, it is usually between $2 and $3 to request a personalized sample. Not too shabby!

Consult This!

Interesting Invite Information!

No punctuation is used on the invitation.

For a double wedding, the elder bride's name is listed first on the invitation.

Only proper nouns are to be capitalized on the invitation.

The title, "Mister" is abbreviated Mr. but the title, "Doctor" must be spelled out. A bride, traditionally, should not include any title she may have on the invitation. (??)

The abbreviations A.M. and P.M. are never to be used. Always use "in the morning," "in the afternoon," or "in the evening."

A guest's reply to an invitation should be handwritten and match the formality of the invitation they received.