Entries from April 2008 ↓

As it turns out 8/8/08 has turned out to be quite the mystical date to get married. Evidently in some traditions around the world the number 8 has some symbolism much like last year’s 7/7/07 did. Not to mention the number 8 is the infinity symbol on its side symbolizing the lifelong commitment of marriage.

Sandals, recognizing the importance of the day, will be unveiling the Eight Steps of Love and the 8/8/08 Infinity Wedding Packages on August 8, 2008. I couldn’t find anything about them on their website but I did see it in their press release.

Here’s the details about the 8/8/08 Infinity Wedding Packages:

Beginning with a Preston Bailey Signature WeddingMoons(R) ceremony at sunset, the 8/8/08 Infinity Wedding package features all-new fresh floral decor designed by wedding planner to the stars Preston Bailey, an eight course gourmet dinner, and a two-tiered wedding cake designed by cake maestro Sylvia Weinstock. Priced at $4,888, this experience also includes the following, exquisite amenities:

– Personal Wedding Consultant
  — Spa Pedicure for the Bride
  — Half Hour Massage for the Groom
  — Solo Musician for Wedding Ceremony
  — The new Preston Bailey Caribbean Sunset Collection Decor for ceremony and reception, featuring fresh flowers including hot pink roses, gerbera daisies, gold lilies & birds of paradise draped in snapdragons and pale purple orchids, plus an organza overlay of bright oranges and warm pinks accented by fresh blossom napkin ties and jewel tone votives
  — Eight Course Reception for Bride, Groom and Six Guests
  — Chilled sparkling wine in Keepsake Beverly Clark Toasting Flutes
  — Two-tiered Wedding Cake by Sylvia Weinstock
  — Sandals Resorts’ Wedding Photography Package by Professionally Trained Photographer and Videographer Inclusive of:
  - Twelve - 5 x 7 Color Photographs in an Elegantly Appointed Album
  - Professional videography of Ceremony and Reception with Accompanying DVD
  — Rose Petal Turndown Service
  — Scented Bath for Two
  — Romantic Breakfast in Bed

And if you’re not quite ready to get married and just want to take part in the romance of 8/8/08, then here’s the details of the Eight Steps of Love.

The Eight Steps of Love package is priced at $888 per couple and includes the following divine amenities:

– Indulgent Breakfast in Bed with a Personalized Love Note for Your Special Someone
  — One Hour Morning Sail
  — Delicious Gourmet Picnic Basket Lunch
  — Romantic Couples Massage at the Exclusive Red Lane Spa(R)
  — Photo Session with One of Sandals Resorts’ Professional Photographers,  Plus A Memory Scrapbook Keepsake
  — Sparkling Wine and Chocolate Covered Fruit Delivered to the Guests’ Room or Suite
  — Candlelight Dinner on the Beach with a Private Waiter and Specialized Menus
  — Romantic Turn-Down Service with Eight Flickering Candles

Anybody getting married on 8/8/08? What are your plans and what does the day mean to you?

Don’t forget about the postage increase if you are sending out your wedding invitations soon. Your response cards need the right postage if your RSVP deadline is after 12 May!

Raschelle Parker, Marketing Manager for New York City Post Offices came out with some advice to help couples when mailing out their wedding invitations. She says it’s a good idea to consult with the post office about the shape and design of their wedding invitations.

Here’s some wedding invitation mailing tips that came from a recent press release from the US Postal Service.

“By following 10 simple tips, you are sure to get the wedding invitation and associated save-the-date cards, response cards and thank-you notes delivered on time with all the flair of a red-carpet opening,” says Parker. Parker’s tips are:

1. Consider the shape, weight and rigidity of your wedding invitation.

2. “Accessorize” your wedding invitations by using Wedding stamps.

3. Design your own stamp. (Find more information about customized postage at http://www.usps.com/postagesolutions/customizedpostage.htm.)

4. Order stamps online at http://www.usps.com, view and purchase related postal products, look up ZIP Codes instantly, learn about mailing options and calculate postage.

5. Mail your wedding invitations four to six weeks before the wedding.

6. Provide a complete address, including apartment number.

7. Affix your stamps securely.

8. Prepare your wedding invitations online at http://www.usps.com/createmail.

9. Tell family and friends who can’t make the big day about CardStore at http://www.usps.com/cardstore. From the convenience of their computer, they can send greetings and a gift card from a wide choice of popular national retailers.

10. Very important: With the May 12th price change, be sure to include the proper postage on your response cards if you are mailing your wedding invitations prior to May 12th.

While at “A Soolip Wedding”  wedding show in Los Angeles last weekend I ran across something a little different.  The first table I saw when entering the vendor area was a wedding astrologer.  My first thought was this would be a good topic for the blog, but more as entertainment than anything really serious.  When it comes to astrology, I’ve definitely been a skeptic!  So my husband and I went to talk to the man at the table to see what this was all about.  The astrologer’s name was Jeff Harman.  He told us about all the people he’s worked with including Hollywood producers, directors, actors, and some examples of readings he’s done.  So just for fun, we asked him about our marriage.  Gave him the date, time, and location and thankfully he said that was a really good time and things are looking good.  But then, he began to pinpoint issues that occured in our lives during the last 9 years that were uncanny.  Lets just say things that I wouldn’t think he could guess including timeframes, subject matter, etc.  It gave me goosebumps!  So, am I convinced?  I’m closer than I was before.  But, I must confess, I spent the rest of the day thinking what important decisions I have coming up that I should ask Jeff to look into.   After all, astrology has been used by many kings, Presidents, and other very powerful people over the years.  Anyway, I’m glad I met Jeff Harman and now I’m lucky enough to have Jeff Harman’s wife Camille, guest blog with us today!  She gives her perspective on the use of astology for her wedding and what it can do for you.  So here’s Camille (this picture is of Jeff, Camille, and their son Aidon)…

In many parts of the world, couples wouldn’t think of getting married without consulting an astrologer. I am married to Jeff Harman, a professional astrologer who consults with clients all over the world, helping them with a myriad of personal and business concerns. He uses many types of astrology, including Vedic, Traditional, Kabbalistic, and Astro-location.

Jeff offers a bouquet of services for couples, most importantly, advice on the selection of the date and time for the wedding ceremony. This is called Electional Astrology. Believe it or not, the time at which you say your vows is like a birth time for your entire marriage. Jeff has amazed many a skeptic by showing why marriages and businesses have failed because of their time of commencement. A friend once challenged Jeff to tell him why his marriage had failed. Jeff typed in the ceremony time and place and was able to reveal the whole sad story, including that the guy’s wife was gay.

Jeff and I said our vows on a Wednesday morning at 10:35 am–and we actually had a lot of guests! But don’t worry, if you want your wedding to be on a Saturday afternoon, or within some other time constraint, he will work with you to choose the best possible moment for your vows.

Choosing a time is not a simple process. It involves analyzing the bride and groom’s birth charts and their current individual energies as well as the energies available for the ceremony time. Jeff works with you to look at several choices offering various compromises and advantages. You then select the date.

But lets back up a bit. Before you say, “I do,” perhaps you should check compatibility and see if marriage is in your best interest. Compatibility analysis using the ancient astrology is superior to the modern “love, light and clueless” astrology we read in various books and magazines that only use sun sign astrology.

Let’s say you have a burning question in your mind such as, “Is it in my best interest to marry X?” Using ancient Horary Astrology, Jeff will cast a chart for the moment you ask him the question. The answer will be surprisingly specific.

Diamonds are beautiful, but are they the best gems for you? For thousands of years in Kabbalah and Indian traditions, gems have been astrologically prescribed for individuals desiring to correct or strengthen planetary influences. Jeff offers natural, untreated gems and the protocols that allow you to create powerful wedding rings.

Astro-location Astrology lets you look at your personal geographic energies. It can help you decide where to live, where to honeymoon, and where to travel in the future.

After you’ve made it through the wedding and are thinking about creating a family, Jeff can tell you when your best child conception cycles occur and help you to consciously conceive your children on good dates. You can even choose the sex! It worked for us!

Jeff is available worldwide by phone or in person.

Jeff Harman
Member AFA, CVA, NCGR, ISBA
(310) 385-8459
(520) 743-1054
jeff [at] jeffharman.com
www.jeffharman.com

It’s that time again!  Here are the Top-5 Wedding Blog Posts of the Week!  We had a great line-up this week!  Hope you enjoy!

1.       Do you take your wedding vendors for granted?  I hope not!   Saundra over at planning…forever is running a great series this week called “Love Your Wedding Vendors.”  Find out what wedding vendors do week-in and week- out to make your wedding special and find out some behind the scenes info over at planner…forever!

2.      Assigning seats is always a tough topic but I’m not sure if this post really helps.  But, it is at least entertaining and might give you some things to think about!  Some of the ideas are pretty good.  It’s worth a watch.  Checkout  Assigned Seats over at Earth Friendly Weddings.

3.      Trying to choose a font for your wedding invitations? diybride came through for you this week!  Checkout her post “Ten Free Fonts that’ll Rock Your Invites”  They were chosen on several factors that will ensure your invitations will rock!

4.      On a similar topic do you want calligraphy on your envelopes?  Why bother hiring a calligrapher when you can just have your computer print the calligraphy for you?  Well, checkout this great article, “The Charm of Hand Lettered Calligraphy,” from Lucky Orchid Wedding.

5.      Want to see what a good wedding planner can do for you?  If you are debating whether to hire a wedding planner check out “Even a Landslide Won’t Stop This Wedding” over at Life Design Events.  I found this post via Affairs with Elegance.

Check back in next week for some great posts.  I have a unique guest blogger lined up!  I’m also going to pass on some interesting info from A Soolip Wedding!

Here’s some additional information destination wedding information I received from the folks at Romance Travel Concierge  beyond what I wrote yesterday in my post “Not Your Average Destination Wedding.”  I wanted to include the text of an email I sent to them and their response just incase you had the same question and to give you an idea of the level of service provided whether you are a wedding planner or the bride & groom.

First here’s my question:

With your destination wedding packages, do you include/offer any advisory services or onsite assistance for the couple without a wedding planner? I believe when we talked you said you often work with the wedding planners rather than the couple.

Romance Travel Concierge’s response:

We work very closely with our partners (the hotels/resorts) who provide us with special wedding planning services, in advance + onsite. We also have our own inhouse wedding planners who will be on site if required/requested. For instance, you want a destination wedding in Africa - we can be there with you. We are 24/7, full service. Bar none.

Another example, one of our partners, a top tier hotel with a Swiss hotelier running the show as GM, personally buried an engagement ring in the ocean for a gal to find when snorkelling with her boyfriend, who was proposing that afternoon. We only work with professionals, inhouse + externally who provide an amazing level of service + detail.

So. onsite supervision, planning + coordination are certainly a large part of our product line-up! Having said all that, we are very much proactive in partnering with wedding planners. They have clients, we know how to put together all the travel aspects. A great partnership. We extend the same courtesies to wedding professionals as we do to our travel professional partners. Please know that we do business B2B (Wedding/Travel professionals) + B2C (brides/couples).

Hope this clarifies how we work with people + clients! Please do come back to me with any further questions! Many thanks, Rhonda!

Planning a destination wedding is hard! There are all the issues you would normally have in a local wedding plus the coordination of all the travel for you and your guests, event planning from a distance, plus you may have to deal with a different country’s laws and procedures all with no experience! Then there are all the things you didn’t even know to think about until it’s too late!

Wouldn’t it be great if you can just pay one price for the entire destination wedding package and have all the details covered? An amazing romantic experience, the food, the ceremony, the hotel, an amazing ceremony location already scoped out, plus pre-arranged pampering to top it off? I’m not talking about a Sandal’s pre-packaged wedding, this is something truly special!

Romance Travel Concierge is a service I found at A Soolip Wedding last weekend. They work with wedding planners or directly with couples to provide amazing prepackage destination wedding packages. Here’s some information they provided about their African Destination Wedding to Go package. It sounds amazing!

If you have a client or you’re a bride wishing to escape from a traditional wedding with a truly unique destination wedding, consider our Africa Destination Wedding To Go™. We include business class airfare from Los Angeles to Johannesburg for the bride + groom, platinum class domestic airfare within Africa, private round trip airport transfers for the bride + groom, 6 days/5nights in a luxury villa for the bride + groom, 6 days/5nights accommodations for eight (8) guests, daily breakfast, lunch + dinner for everyone, bottled waters and beverages in all rooms, plus spa treatments for the bride + groom.

And that’s just for starters. For the ceremony we provide a secluded beach for a barefoot, romantic wedding. The bride + groom each arrive on horseback with a guide horse as escort. The ceremony officiant + amazing local floral decor are included. Once the couple have said I do, it’s time for a Dhow cruise for the newlyweds + all of their guests around the bay with champagne toasts. After the cruise we gather the wedding party for a coconut tree planting ceremony in honor of the bride + groom, complete with a handcrafted commemorative plaque with the couple’s initials + wedding date. Then it’s onto the lavish BBQ seafood dinner reception on the beach, complete with wedding cake.

All of this is offered for one remarkable all inclusive price. Call us to learn more about our Africa Destination Wedding To Go™.

If you are interested in findingout more about Romance Travel Concierge checkout their website or contact them at (866) 459-6069.

I was that time again to go out on assignment. Ahh, the drudgery! All the cupcakes (thanks to the great Vanilla Bake Shop) and the free gourmet appetizers, it was almost torturous! Not to mention all the wedding information and top of the line Los Angeles area wedding professionals. As you can tell by the title, I had the pleasure of attending A Soolip Wedding this past weekend. I would put A Soolip Wedding easily in the top-5 LA area wedding shows. Everything was first class and professionally done. This year’s event was quite a bit smaller than last year’s and was a better fit for the venue. Last year things seemed a lot more crowded and harder to maneuver.   They held A Soolip Wedding in Vibiana a beautiful old church in downtown LA (checkout the picture above).  Also in the picture a couple of views of some cute cakes on a candelabra, a pretty cool idea!

The “Conversations with Experts” this year was a little scaled back with two of the presentations being basically the same as last years, which is fine for the audience of mostly brides that will change from year to year. My husband and I caught two great presentations.

1. Eric Stromer the host of HGTV’s “Over Your Head” talked about the Modern Bride’s Guide to Home Improvement. This guy is entertaining! What a personality. He talked about the basic set of tools that every bride needs to tackle minor projects around the house. You don’t have to leave it all to your new husband and he probably would love you taking an interest in home improvement!

2. Rene Delacueva from R. Jack Balthazar had a great presentation about a couple of beautiful weddings they put together. He passed on some unique ideas on how to add some creative elements to your event. I’m going to pass on some of his ideas this week.

I got to talk to some great vendors that provide some distinctive services. I’m going to pass on some information about them this week and next so make sure to check back.