Wedding Ideas & Tips, Wedding Blog

30 Jan

Traveler’s Joy

categories Sponsored Post

Truth is, your family and friends would rather pitch in and buy you a gift that goes towards your honeymoon: a night’s stay in Bora Bora, a Vespa ride in Italy, or a camera to capture all your sweet lovey moments in Belgium. They’re gifts that mean something and don’t just take up space on your kitchen counter (yes, a blender is nice too). That’s why we’re smitten over Traveler’s Joy. It’s the best of both worlds: your guests can easily give you a special wedding gift and you receive what you really want – the honeymoon of your dreams.

Traveler’s Joy has become popular among couples registering for ‘physical items’ related to their honeymoon. Travel guidebooks, camera, video-cameras, luggage, snorkeling gear – really, anything you can dream of. Their registry system makes it easy to divide those high-ticket items into manageable gifts so a camera that may cost $500 is actually spit up into 4 gift of $125. Oh, the possibilities…

Get a glimpse into some of the locations and items couples are registering for on Traveler’s Joy Real Member Stories page. It’s the best way to get you brainstorming honeymoon ideas. Then start making your registry!

Check ‘em out! travelersjoy.com

This post was sponsored by Traveler's Joy.

3 comments

27 Jan

Dear ESB: Can I tell my cousin-to-be to CHOOSE ANOTHER DATE?

categories Wedding Etiquette

Eeek. Sticky situation, best handled by our resident drama/etiquette expert East Side Bride.

Dear ESB,

I’ve been engaged for about a year. We set a date about, I think, 8 or so months ago and have been saving every penny to pay for our wedding. To our delight, every dating couple in my fiance’s family seemed to hurriedly up their marital plans during the time of our engagement. I know that it’s not “all about us,” and have happily bought plane tickets, shower gifts, wedding gifts, bridesmaids dresses, shoes, alterations, and, to the best of my ability, been happy and excited for them.

My question is this….

A close cousin to the groom got engaged to his short-term gf immediately after one of the siblings’ weddings. After a few jokes were made about actually taking our wedding date, she chose to have her wedding the weekend before.

The cousin spoke to my in-laws asking them if we minded (they said that it sounded like an inconsiderate idea), and then the cousin called us. Their reasons were that the bride wants a fall wedding, doesn’t want to be associated with Halloween, and wants to go to home football games. We politely asked them to chose any other date.

A month later the cousin called again asking if we minded. More forcefully, we urged him not to pick the date. The cousin knows he’s stepping on toes, but when he tells the bride she “cries as if I told her her dog died.” I’d like to talk directly to the bride, but she won’t call us back.

Am I being a bridezilla? What would you do in this situation?

Thanks,
Tired of his family

*****

You said your piece. Now you have to STFU.

Betcha the bride will cry even harder when family members who received your save-the-date first decline the invitation to her wedding.

(Photo by Emma Summerton for W Magazine via Fashion Gone Rogue.)

31 comments

27 Jan

Intimate Arizona wedding: Jackie + Brandon

categories Real Weddings

Jackie is a gorgeous bride with a healthy obsession for paper pinwheels. She’s also a DIY extraordinaire with an amazing trick on how to save for the biggest party you’re ever going to throw and have all the stuff you want. You know – the small things that end up adding up to hundreds of dollars. Strict spending habits aside, Jackie was able to win over $1000 worth of items for her wedding! She’s obviously amazing.

intimate arizona wedding

These adorable pinwheel bouquets are just a few of the many DIY projects Jackie made. She also made the pinwheel boutonnières, pinwheel wreath (above their arch), table numbers, tissue paper poms, chalkboard drink menu, wine bottle centerpieces, wooden chalkboard program, and lemon aisle décor. Whew!

intimate arizona wedding

Music: She walked down the aisle to “Heaven” by Brandi Carlile, exited to “What I Got” by Sublime, and had their first dance to “Let it Be Me” by Ray LaMontagne.

intimate arizona wedding

The secret:

There were many items that I so coveted but simply couldn’t afford – so I set out to win some via entering giveaways. My technique? Constantly visualizing my name being announced as the winner was my way of putting the energy out there. I had NO IDEA how well this would work. Hundreds of giveaway entries later, I ended up with over $1,000 worth of items: invitations by Paper & Thread, a ring bearer bowl and custom hangers by Paloma’s Nest, a veil & feather hair fascinator, and my Mother’s dress to name a few. What a blessing!

Jackie has us inspired to enter giveaways now! Congratulations Jackie + Brandon!

Photography: Sloan Photographers / Videography: NoBox Films / Venue: Val Vista Lakes / Flowers: Jennifer Wood of Mignonne Handmade / Catering: Nando’s Mexican Cafe / Day of coordinator: Swanky Cue / Desserts: Liberty Market / Plantable placecards: Pulp Art / Bride’s dress: Allure Couture / Shoes: Miss L Fire / Bowties: Wickham House

12 comments

26 Jan

California ranch wedding: Holly + Jon

categories Real Weddings

What you may notice after just a few images of Holly + Jon’s wedding, is there’s no defined “theme”. This wasn’t because of any lack on their part, it was because Holly decided to let go of the whole “wedding colors” topic in the beginning stages of planning. Instead of pining over two colors that went good together, she focused on a palette of several hues (that just so happen to go perfectly with our blog’s design). Start with a palette of soft, dreamy, earth tones and a venue with two beautiful plantation style homes, peach trees, a farm – all at the base of Mt. Diablo and you’ve got a romantic, no-fuss, comfortable California wedding!

minted wedding invitation

They ordered their super cute blush rose invitations from Minted.

Blush wedding dress

California ranch wedding

Holly’s bouquet had English Garden roses, Dusty Miller, Jasmine, Dahlias and mini Daisies.

California ranch wedding

The music: The boys walked in to Sleepwalk by Santo & Johnny, the girls walked to Perpetuum Mobile by Penguin Café Orchestra and Holly walked to Canon in D. Their recessional song was a great classic 80s jam - Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears. Later, they entered their reception to Renegade by Styx and had their first dance to Let It Be Me by Ray LaMontagne.

California ranch wedding

Vintage brown bottles were a must and Holly was determined to have them everywhere. 2011 was the year of collecting vintage brown bottles at flea markets, antique fairs and thrift stores.

California ranch wedding

For the escort cards they purchased arrow pins from Miniature Rhino and attached them to kraft paper and stamped the table number on them. Easy and cute. Plus, they got to see everyone wearing their pin throughout the night.

California ranch wedding

Advice from the bride… A note about vendors. Don’t rush when selecting your vendors. Obviously their aesthetic and quality of work is number 1, but chose them how you would chose a friend. Do they respond to you in a reasonable amount of time? Are their responses thoughtful? Meet vendors in person and see if you click with them. If you don’t, move on and keep searching. This will make the whole planning process more enjoyable and those days leading up to the big day you won’t be second guessing anything. And if you can, hire Kate Harrison and Enjoy Events Co.!

Photography: Kate Harrison Photography / Day of coordination: Enjoy Events Co. / Florist: Anne Mendenhall Flowers / Catering: Trumpetvine Catering / Cake: Le Gâteau Élégant / Invitations: Minted / Venue: Mt. Diablo Ranch 925-899-8752 / Makeup: Trish Ward / Bride’s dress: Aire Barcelona by Rosa Clara/ Shoes: Franco Sarto found at a discount shoe store for $40 / Ring: Rivka Friedman blue quartzite ring from Gilt / Earrings + bracelet: Sister in law’s / Groom: J.Crew / Bridesmaids dresses: Alice + Olivia, Madewell, Modcloth, Just Cavalli and vintage

16 comments

26 Jan

Macy’s Wedding Registry

categories Registry, Sponsored Post, Vendor Spotlight

There’s a floor in every Macy’s that you can walk into with your soon-to-be hubby and scan your future household appliances, and other pretty obsessions away! Or you can do it from the comfort of your home. It’s amazing. From dinnerware to a juicer, to Jonathan Adler, Kate Spade (we could go on) product under the sun – they seriously have it all.

Plus they make it so easy to add anything you can dream of having in your new little home (online, via your phone, or in the store). Bonus: They give you gifts just for getting gifts. Every gift you get from your registry gives you 5% of that purchase price back in your pocket. So that KitchenAid Mixer you’ve been pining for? It retails for $399. Your mom buys it for you and you get 5% of that purchase in your Star Awards account. That’s like getting $20 bucks! Um, yes and thank you.

macy's wedding registry

The perks to registering with Macy’s: Ever try to return a wedding gift to a superstore? Not fun at all. Superstores make it hard to make returns if they go a month after the date of purchase. Macy’s makes it easy peasy. You can return on-line and in-store up to a year after your wedding date (enough time for you to settle into your new abode and figure out what needs to go back), as long as the item is on your registry. And you get back the actual price of the item when it was purchased, not the subsequent sales prices. Love that!

Those beauties above are some of our favorite picks. If you’re loving them and want to add them to your registry asap, head to Macy’s Registry to get started! Happy shopping, Cakelets!

{from left: Acacia Wood Cheese Board Set, Jonathan Adler salt + pepper shaker, Kitchen Aid, Arteriors Table Lamp, kate spade new york Dinnerware, Le Creuset French Oven, Core Bamboo Modern Mortar and Pestle, Mikasa Barware}

*not valid on any beauty/fragrance purchase. Nor do you get 10% back from furniture if it’s self-purchased. So while you cannot register for furniture at Macy’s, you can use your rewards gift card to purchase that sofa or Karastan rug of your dreams.