Wedding Advice – Here Comes the Blog

Author Archive

Another great alternative to the traditional guest book is a photo mat where your guests leave their well wishes (be sure to check out my post about wishing trees for more ideas).  Inscribable Signature Metal Mat & Frame Kit like the one shown in the photo from the Weddingstar catalog are available with the couples’ names and the wedding date inscribed.   The great thing about metal mats is that the signatures won’t fade over time like they sometimes can with the cardboard mats (if the mat and ink used weren’t archive safe).  This particular mat is available in 3 sizes and arrives with an easy-to-use engraving scribe.  Guests simply sign the mat and then the happy couple can proudly display it in their home along with your wedding photograph.  This is one keepsake that you’ll cherish forever… the well wishes of friends and family surrounding a beautiful photo of you on your wedding day!

See how great a metal photo mat can be when it is used as a wedding “guest book” on this Youtube video.   The mat can then be framed along with a photo of the bride and groom.  Display it in the home by either hanging it on the wall or on a lovely easel.

Here is a cute and “clean” favor idea for the guests at the bachelorette/stagette party.  Simply buy some large organza gift bags and fill them with things that any girl would love.  In the photo, the white bags have been filled with a tube of pink lip gloss, a heart-shaped compact mirror, and white conversation hearts with love sayings.  The package is finished off with a supersized pink (for the girls) or clear (for the bride) light-up engagement ring and a personalized hang tag that has the name of the  bride-to-be along with the party date.  The bling rings even light up so they are great when the girls are going out to a nightclub to dance the evening away.  Super cute and fun!

Just remember that bachelorette party favors don’t have to be expensive.  Things like inexpensive glow necklaces or bracelets, personalized chocolate candy bars and mint tins are great ideas for the girls too.  Of course you should consider the group when choosing your favors, penis-shaped lollipops or straws are a fun idea for wild bachelorette parties, but if the party includes mom or grandma, more conservative wedding favors (like the one shown in the photo from Weddingstar's catalog) would be more appropriate.

More bachelorette party ideas:

Roles of Bridal Party Members

Booking Bride/Bridesmaid Spa Weekend Packages

Going green on your wedding can be easier than you think.  When it comes to keeping things eco-friendly at your wedding, just think about longevity and the idea of reusing and recycling when choosing accessories for your big day.  Things like the cake topper, champagne flutes, and serving sets should be selected with the future in mind….choose something that you can not only use on your wedding day, but also in your home for years to come.

For the wedding flowers, consider growing your own or ask your friends and family members that have a green thumb to contribute some blooms from their own personal backyard gardens.  For spring time weddings, lilacs are a fragrant and lovely choice.  In the summer, many gardeners have extra large hydrangea blooms that make perfect centerpieces for the reception area. At a minimum, consider using a local garden center or florist that grows their own flowers locally.

When it comes to eco-friendly wedding favors, choose items constructed from bamboo or give grow-able items such as wildflower seed favor kits, herbs (like the rosemary shown in the photo) or small trees that the guest can take home and plant in their own yard.

Create invitations, wedding programs, table number and place cards from recycled paper.  And finally if you are going green, then by all means go organic too.  Finding locally grown organic beef or chicken and vegetable selections has gotten much easier.  Just consult with your caterer and request an organic meal for your reception.

Even if you only incorporate a few of these ideas, you are taking a step in the right direction!

Photo courtesy of the 2009 Weddingstar Catalog.

More Eco-Friendly Wedding Ideas:

• Eco-Friendly Wedding Tips and Ideas
• Eco-Friendly Green Wedding Favor Ideas
• Garden Themed Wedding - Setting The Stage
• Eco-Friendly Wedding Favors

In this economy, everyone is trying to save a buck anywhere that they can so in this post, I thought I'd share some of my favorite resources for bridal shower games.  If you are looking for fun, printable games that are totally free, check out these bridal shower games that you can just print and play.  They have 8 free games including Who Knows The Bride Best, the Purse Games, Bridal Shower Grid Game (like Scattergories), Bridal Shower Bingo and more.  You don't have to purchase anything in their store and you can print the games and share them with friends as often as you'd like.

This cheap bridal shower games lens at Squidoo gives instructions for several bridal shower games including Don't Say Wedding, Wear The Teddy and several more.  These games aren't printable, but the instructions appear to be clear and easy to follow.  There are also detailed instructions for one of my favorite games - the Candy Bar Memory Game (kind of like wedding themed concentration).   Another site that gives instructions to tons of different games is Abbee.  The have four free game lists along with detailed instructions to each of the games on the lists.  They include sample trivia questions when necessary.

Finally if you are running short on time or want something quick and easy.  Consider buying some cheap printable games from Bridal Shower Games A to Z.   They have over 75 different bridal shower games that you can just print and play.  Games cost about $7 each or you can buy an unlimited number of game downloads (prints) for around $20.  Obviously if you are hosting several showers or you are planning to try 3 or 4 games, the unlimited games purchase is a much better value. And don't forget the unique bridal shower favors for all the winners to take home.

More Bridal Shower Games:

Free Bridal Shower Game Ideas - http://hubpages.com/hub/Free-Bridal-Shower-Game-Ideas

Cheap Bridal Shower Games - http://www.squidoo.com/cheap-free-bridal-shower-games

Taking a simple 2" x 2" x 2" white or ivory favor box and adding your own special touch enables you to create unique one-of-a-kind favors for your guests.  In the photo below (from the Wedding Star catalog), you can see four ways to transform a simple ivory favor box into something truly special.  These ideas are great for butterfly, Spring, green and destination weddings.

The top left favor was created by taking a white floral embossed gift box and embellishing it with a white hydrangea bloom and hand-painted butterflies.  This delicate and beautiful favor will look amazing on your garden party or spring/summer wedding reception tables.

Simple green bear grass is tied in a unique pattern around a cubed gift box to create the favor on the top right corner of the photo.  It takes a bit of practice to get a grass pattern that you like, but it is well worth the effort.  What a great favor idea for the guests at green or garden weddings.

Bring some urban sophistication to a modern wedding with the sculptural ribbon design like the one shown in the lower left hand corner.  A simple white favor box is first wrapped with double-sided brown/green ribbon and then the ribbon is cut and starched to create the center portion (which is pinned to the box).   Modern. Fresh. Unique.

Travel stamps are used to create the "return to sender" favor in the lower right corner of the photo.  You can find small travel stamps at your local craft store.  Stamp your honeymoon, wedding ceremony or destination wedding location all over the gift box.  Tie with simple package ribbon or yarn for a whimsical touch.  We recommend using plain favor boxes (non-embossed) so that you can get good contact with the ink stamp.

More DIY Favor Box Ideas:

• Do It Yourself (DIY) Fall Wedding Favors
• Think Outside The Chest - Modern Favor Ideas
• Treasure Chest Favor Ideas
• Think Outside The Box - DIY Wedding Favor Ideas

Buying standard 2" x 2" x 2" cube favor boxes and adding embellishments is a great way to incorporate your style, theme, and color scheme into your guest party favors.  Below you can see three examples of how to take a blank canvas and turn it into a one-of-a-kind favor for your guests to enjoy (photo courtesy of the 2009 Wedding Star catalog).

The example in the upper right corner shows how you can mix and match favor boxes to create an elegant and unique look that ties in perfectly with your color scheme.  Best of all, this favor is affordable. The black and white favor boxes are embellished further with wedding words ribbon (faith, hope, joy, love and cherish) along with clear heart-shaped dazzler confetti pieces.  Simply use a hot glue gun to secure the embellishments in place after you've filled the boxes with your favorite edible candy or other small gift for your guests.

The second DIY favor example in the lower left corner of the photograph shows a classic floral patterned favor box that is topped with the initials of the bride and groom.  You can create the initials by purchasing textured paper at your local craft store and using letter templates and an knife tool to cut out the letters.  Simply glue them to the favor box lid.  Be sure to take the favor boxes to the store with you when looking for matching textured paper.  Add a small piece of ribbon and heart dazzler for a bit of sparkle.

Add a Moroccan flair to your favors by dressing them up with some beading and gold roping that you purchase at a local craft store.  The rich jewel tones add an elegant touch to the simple floral pattern favor box as shown in the bottom right corner of the photo.  Jewels like the ones shown can be somewhat expensive so look for craft store sales and coupons to save some money.

More on Favor Boxes:

• Quick and Easy DIY Wedding Favor Ideas
• Do-It-Yourself Bridal Shower Favors
• Affordable DIY Favor Box Ideas

Many modern couples are choosing to do a sand ceremony at their wedding rather than lighting a traditional unity candle.  The sand ceremony creates a lasting keepsake that the couple can display in their home for years to come.   Like the traditional unity candle ceremony, the sand ceremony symbolizes the union of two becoming one.  During the actual pouring of the sand, the wedding officiant or pastor will have a customized reading that explains the symbolism and directs the bride/groom and others participating in the ceremony when and where to pour their sand.

Wedding Favors Unlimited sells the popular heart-shaped sand ceremony kit (shown in the photo) that can be engraved with the couples monogram and wedding date to make it extra special.

How It Works:

Below you can see a diagram representing the steps in a sand ceremony.  In this example, the vases are pre-filled (before the wedding ceremony) with 3 colors of sand.  Blue for the Bride, Green for the Groom, and regular white sand for the "symbol" vase.  Depending on the wedding participants and circumstances, some couples choose to fill the third vase with sand for the officiant or their children to pour during the sand ceremony.

1) Before the wedding ceremony or at the beginning of the actual sand ceremony have the officiant, children or other designated person pour the sand from the third vase into the central vase.

2) Have the groom pour a portion (or all) of his green sand in the central vase.  We suggest having him pour 1/3 of his blue sand in the central vase.

3) Have the bride pour a portion (or all) of her blue sand into the central vase.

4) Repeat the process if you are layering the sand, having the groom pour some of his and then the bride pour some of hers.  For the last 1/3 of sand in each container, we suggest that you pour both colors of sand simultaneously as the co-mingling of sand represents the union of the bride and groom.

5) Place the bottle stopper in the central vase to secure the sand.  The 3 smaller heart-shaped vases can be used to display flowers or as keepsakes for the bride and groom.

More Unity Sand & Candle Ideas:

The Wedding Sand Ceremony Trend

Personalized Wedding Ceremony Accessories

Having a green wedding or want to break from the traditional guest book? Consider a wishing tree...one of the hottest alternatives to guest books. Wishing trees a great way to add a unique touch to your wedding. The basic principle is for guests to leave their well-wishes for the couple on small hang tags that they fill out and then hang on the "tree". The hang tags can be square or shaped (e.g. leaf-shaped for fall weddings). Normally the tree itself consists of some branches that are adorned with flowers, crystal garlands or whatever embellishments you want to use to tie in with your theme. If you are fortunate enough to get married in the Spring, you could simply buy magnolia branches with beautiful pink or white saucer cup flowers or branches covered in cherry blossoms. Other times of the year, simply use glass vases filled with colored marbles to hold branches in place (paint them any color you would like) and then attach silk or real flowers that coordinate with your color scheme.

This Wishing Tree photo (from the Wedding Star catalog) shows willow branches that are adorned with orchid flowers. The couple bought square floral place card tags and added simple pink ribbons and a crystal heart confetti to add some sparkle. They placed the hang tags along with a pen on a lovely tray and then set up a tent card asking their guests to "Please Leave Your Wishes on the Tree"....the tent card also thanked the guests for sharing in their special day. Placing a gorgeous decorated wishing tree near the entrance of the reception will get oohs and aahs from your guests. After the wedding, you can create a lovely scrapbook using the cards that guests left on the tree.

TIP - Be sure to do all of the wishing tag assembly prior to the big day. It can take a bit of time to punch gift tags, add ribbon, and add other embellishments. Also at the reception, be sure to have a good place to set-up the wishing tree because once it is set-up and the guests start hanging on their wish tags, the tree can not be moved easily.