Entries from October 2007 ↓

Since It’s Holloween, I haven’t had much time to put together a post but I thought this was a pretty cool site if you are looking for disposable cameras.  Having disposable cameras on the table isn’t anything new and it’s a cheap way to get your guests involved in your reception.  Not to mention you get to have a bunch of pictures to remember your reception!

Most of the disposable cameras I’ve seen are the plain black ones with a cardboard cover.  These on the other hand look pretty nice!  Checkout the huge selection at Weddingscenter.com!

You may have seen it on Forbes.com, Yahoo Finance, or even on this Chinese News Site!   Our Wedding Plus is running a military special!

It’s no secret that many of our military couples are going through a rough time with the extended deployments and time away from family.  Imagine planning your wedding while your fiancé is half-way around the world for the entire year leading up to your ceremony.  Your budget is small and communication is limited to the occasional email.  Additionally, both your family and your fiancé’s family are from different parts of the country.  This problem is faced everyday by young military couples stationed around the world.  How do you coordinate plans with your fiancé?  How do you spread the word about wedding details to guests located around the country?

That’s why we decided to run a special for our military and their fiancés at Our Wedding Plus.  If you or your fiancé are active duty, Reserve, or Guard in the US Military we are providing you free premium wedding websites. 

Wedding websites are the ultimate communication tool for couples when planning their wedding.  Our Wedding Plus wedding websites also allow secure online RSVP and you can build and organize your guest list online.  This gives you the ability to broadcast email notices to guests and use the automated email reminders to guests to help expedite the RSVP process.

So if you or your fiancé are qualified, go to Our Wedding Plus and click on the military special button for details and see how to get started!  This offer is good until the end of February 2008. 

You may think this is absolutely ridiculous or you may think this is a great thing!  I, being a little more on the side of the former, was surprised to see Brides.com put such an investment into their new astrology section of their website.

From the press release they sent out today…

Brides.com’s new Astrology Guide advises brides-to-be on their relationship romance, wedding planning and more, cosmically! The feature on http://www.brides.com/astrology allows visitors to match up their zodiac signs for insight into their star alignment and customize a weekly updated Brideoscope to be sent to their personal email addresses. Brides-to-be can also consult the Cosmic Wedding Planner for complete astrological guidance from engagement to honeymoon and find out why it works, what to work on and a recommended song in Brides.com’s Mate Matcher section.

The Cosmic Wedding Planner on Brides.com provides astrological advice on everything from what kind of wedding dress to buy to where you should go on your honeymoon based on your astrological sign.

One of the resident astrologists on Brides.com also has her own blog. 

Do you think this has any merit?  How influential is astrology in your wedding planning? Is it something you would base your plans on?  Just find it mildly interesting?  Or, do you think it is a waste of time?

Rhonda

Can’t afford a Monique Lhuillier or a Vera Wang dress but still want to look good?  Checkout these beautiful wedding gowns and check out the great prices!

Here’s a couple from Target designed by Isaac Mizrahi.  The one on the left is the Retro currently at $129.99 and the strapless is currently $89.99.

Here’s a couple from JCPenney.  I saw the strapless one is currently on sale for $69! Marked down from $200.  The other one is a 2-piece wedding dress and it comes with a shawl.  Priced at $119.99 marked down from $150.

Even J.Crew has wedding dresses,  the Sophia (left) is currently priced at $225 on sale, regular price $295.  The strapless Sabine is currently priced at $695.

And a little more expensive is the Elizabeth from Ann Taylor, currently priced at $600.

It’s time once again for the Top-5 Wedding Blog Posts of the Week!   Found a bunch of good posts this week so get comfortable and enjoy the top-5!

1.        Although the wedding day is all about you and your new husband, you also have a bunch of guests you want to keep happy too!  Here’s some help from an article I found on this week’s Weddingbee Weekly Roundup.  Check out Make Guests Feel Special on your Big Day!

2.       I loved reading this one from Style Me Pretty!  Abby ran a contest where readers wrote in about how the internet, especially blogs, have changed the way you approach you’re wedding.  Read the winning entry, it was very well said!

3.       The New York Daily News ran an article about how fall is the new June for weddings.  Great article especially since it also has tips from my favorite party planner Preston Bailey!  I found this article through a great blog called WEDDEX.  Check it out!

4.       Here’s a unique idea from Lynn at The Handcrafted Wedding!   Here’s a way you can dress up your reception hall without ruining the place.  Checkout Tagging Your Wedding!

5.       And finally, as soon as your wedding is done guess what everyone is going to ask you.  So, when are you having kids?  Well don’t wait to prepare yourself with an answer to that question.  Checkout When to Have Kids at another great blog called BrauchTalk!

So that’s it for this week!  Let me know if you have any comments on the Top-5 or if you found some other posts you want to share. 

Finally if you watched Oprah on Monday you saw the inspiring story of Kris Carr’s battle against cancer and her amazing attitude throughout.  We can all learn something from her.  Here you can see a clip of her DVD scheduled to come out in December 07.

 Have a great weekend!

The ongoing fires in Southern California bring to mind the need for Wedding Insurance.

Wedding Insurance should be something that you should at least consider.  It is relatively cheap considering the average cost of a wedding is around $28,000. 

So what does it cover?  Different wedding insurance providers have different levels of coverage but here are some issues that may be addressed I found on Wedsafe.com, a wedding insurer.

Weather - If the policy is purchased more than 14 days before the wedding and adverse weather prevents the celebration from taking place or a majority of your guests from attending, the costs of rescheduling the event are covered. Be aware that dark skies and light rainfall alone won’t qualify as reason enough to cancel your wedding.

Key People - If people crucial to the wedding are unable to attend due to illness or injury, the cost of postponing the event is covered. This also holds true if the officiant fails to appear on your wedding day.

Military - If the wedding must be postponed due to the bride or groom in the military having their leave withdrawn.

Photographs & Video - If your photographer fails to show, if the film used for your photos is defective, or if the negatives are lost, destroyed, or improperly developed, this coverage allows you to reunite the wedding party for a re-shoot to capture your wedding memories.

Special Event Gifts - This coverage is designed to protect you against the theft, damage or loss of your special event gifts.

Special Attire - If your special event attire or one of your attendants is lost or damaged, this coverage will provide for repair or replacement.

Special jewelry - This coverage is designed to replace special event jewelry that is lost or stolen prior to your wedding day.

Loss of Deposits - If one of your vendors goes bankrupt or ceases doing business, this coverage will respond to reimburse you for any deposits you may lose as a result.

* Please note that coverage is subject to specific conditions, exclusions, limits and restrictions

How much does it cost?  Of course it varies but somewhere around $200-$500 depending on the amount of coverage would be pretty close.  It really is a small investment considering the cost of a wedding. 

So if you are having your wedding in the Southeast during hurricane season or the Northeast during the winter or the Southwest when there are wildfire threats you might want to get insurance.  But for that extra piece of mind wherever you are it might be also worthwhile.

Martha hasn’t started to promote this publically yet, I don’t think.  But luckily I follow Martha’s mySpace page!  

Well you may already know that Darcy Miller, Martha Stewart’s Weddings Editorial Director, has her own blog.

Some of you may also know that Martha has a myspace blog which she personally updates regularly.

And finally Martha just started her own real blog on Marthastewart.com!  You can now follow the behind the scenes action going on in Martha’s life from photo shoots to details of her hip replacement!  And, you can leave comments too!

Check it out!

Rhonda

I had the pleasure of having Peggy Lambert comment on one of my posts last week.  Peggy is the senior designer and co-owner of Erickson Design a very unique and eco-conscious invitation company.  I’m so glad she shared some information about her company with me!   Now I’m going to share it with you!

Here’s some information Peggy sent me about her invitations…

The embroidered paper in this wedding invitation comes from India and was done by artisans that do this for their trade.

We just launched our Affiliate Program!

Are you are a wedding professional and do you have a wedding related website, blog, etc?

If so you can earn 20% commission automatically from any wedding website or keepsake CD sales that result from your referrals!

All you have to do is sign-up by clicking the Affiliate Program link at the bottom of the OurWeddingPlus.com homepage or just click here!

If accepted as an affiliate we will send you instructions and special links to put on your website so you can start making money!

Here’s an example: if you refer someone and they purchase a 12-month wedding website subscription regularly priced at $72 you will earn $14.40!

So sign up today!

Rhonda

Well it’s Friday!  That means you get to kick back, relax with a cup of coffee and read the Top-5 Wedding Blog Posts of the Week!!

1.       There are a lot of you out there who are getting married for at least the second time.  That means there are a lot of you who have the additional challenge of blending two families.   Things usually work out like the Brady Bunch so you might want to check out this article on AisleDash, take a look at Eight Tips of Blending Families!

2.       Here’s another relationship type post that I found interesting.  Anybody out there have a strange dynamic in your relationship where it seems like you are taking the mother role with your fiancé?  You might want to check out this post on Bridalwave called Smug Married: Mother Issues.  I’m curious to hear how widespread this issue is, don’t be shy let us know!

3.       Still trying to figure out what your wedding colors are for your spring wedding?  Well why not recruit the help of the world renown color authority…Pantone?  Pantone came out with their Spring 2008 Color Fashion Report!   Find out all about it on Matrimony, Inc.  Checkout Pantone Spring 2008 Color Fashion Report!

4.       You probably have seen a lot of Green Wedding posts this week since Monday was Blog Action Day.  Anyway, if you want to see a great post that gives a great example of how Nelle Johnston, a Green Wedding Planner and owner of Zahzoom Weddings and Parties puts together a Green Wedding from end-to-end.  Then checkout An Example of a Green Wedding!

5.       And finally, I wanted to recognize Thryn over at Wedlog!  She posted some of her wedding photos and they are wonderful!  She looks so cute!  Anyway, Thryn is one of my first blogger friends from back when we first started this blog back in March.  I had the pleasure to follow her through the last 6 months of her planning process on her blog.  She also put together a fabulous Green Wedding from end-to-end.  You can go through the archives of her  blog to see the amazing process and time she put into doing it right!  In the mean time checkout her wedding photos at her recent post Official Wedding Photos!

Have a great weekend!  And if you see any great wedding blogs you want to mention go for it!

Rhonda