Eco & Budget Friendly Weddings

More and more brides today are looking for environmentally friendly as well as budget friendly  options for their wedding decor.  There are so many ways to be eco friendly for your wedding.

1- Serve organic food

2- Wear a gown made from natural fabrics

3- Send invitations printed on recycled paper

Even though you’re going green, your wedding can still be ultra chic.  Just cutting down on the number of flowers you use can help.

Using branches with some flowers and crystals can fill in a room with a tall ceiling or an outdoor event while limited the amount of flowers needed.

Branch Centerpiece - Photo Courtesy of On Occasions Of Atlanta

Hydrangeas are a wonderful flower because they have so much volume. Be creative with DIY centerpieces. Pick flowers from your garden. I once had a bride with a very limited budget for decorating. Fortunately her wedding was in a month when everyone’s hydrangeas were in full bloom. We found a neighborhood bursting with hydrangeas in the front yards. Three of us split up and with clippers in hand, knocked on doors , explained why we needed them, and all the neighbors were so willing to let us clip a few hydrangeas from their bushes. Many said “take as many as you want”. I was able to make centerpieces from “free” flowers for all the tables and it was beautiful.

Photo Courtesy of: On Occasions Of Atlanta

A lovely flower inspired favor for your wedding could be a Cherry Blossom Candle.

Prepare Yourself For Your Wedding Day

Every bride wants perfection on her wedding day.  After all, it’s what she has dreamed about since she saw her first “At Last I Found My Prince” movie.  However, there are some things you need to know  so you will be prepared for the unexpected, which I can almost guarantee will happen.

1- To save yourself a lot of grief,  recognize  there will be mishaps – don’t expect perfection, it will only lead to frustration.  Your cake might have something happen in delivery – perhaps it’s leaning.  Know that it’s your wedding day and you’re going to have a great time!  Even the most seasoned wedding planner might encounter last minute hitches in your wedding.

2- When thinking about your Limo  think about the season of your wedding.  If your wedding is in the high wedding season or holidays, you’ll have to book it way in advance.  As soon as you set your wedding date, book your transportation.  You might get a discount for booking early or take advantage of special packages they offer.  If you wait until 2 months before the wedding, you may be paying next year’s prices.

3- Expect the unexpected!  If you’re having an outdoor wedding, make sure you have a plan B.  Always choose decor that can be used indoor or out so if things have to be moved inside it will look as good inside as it does outside.  Think about having a tent for your outdoor reception to protect your decor from the elements in case of rain.

4- Think about insurance.  You have a lot of money invested in this day.  Since it’s one of the biggest expenses you’ll have in your life, it gives you peace of mind knowing you have insurance in case of any financial loss.

5- When choosing a wedding planner, be sure you feel comfortable with them, you’re trusting them with the most important day of your life.  Interview more than one planner and  find somebody that gets your vision, understands what you are doing and relates to you on every level.

Since I mentioned “At Last I Found My Prince” at the beginning of this post, I thought you’d enjoy seeing  some  popular fairytale favors.

Your Wedding Day Menu

Remember that incredible meal you had at your favorite restaurant or while on vacation?  This is why selecting your menu can be a major task.   You want to get it right because  your guests will remember  if the food was great at your reception or disappointing.

Your food as husband and wife should reflect your taste but always be mindful of others. Some things to consider are:

1- There may be vegetarians amongst your guests. (Having the caterer prepare a cheese ravioli dish, was the perfect solution at an event I did recently).  Using place cards helps the servers know who gets the vegetarian dinner.

2- If you’ve invited people who have  food allergies you need to take that into consideration.

3- As you’re planning, have a variety of dishes if you are doing a buffet, or choices if you’re having a sit down dinner.

4- The season also plays a roll in what you will want to serve.  In the Fall, you may want to carve out mini pumpkins or squash and use them for soup bowls.

soup in "pumpkin bowls"

5- In the summer, fresh fruit abounds.  Serve a nice assortment and keep the meal on the lighter side, and use fresh fruit in your decor.  There are so many fruits that can be used this way, simply coordinate it with your color scheme.

Fruit Decor

6- If you have a morning wedding, a brunch type meal would be lovely.  For drinks offer Bloody Mary’s or Mimosas so they are more in tune with an earlier event.

7- Traditionally you will want to offer a soup or salad, an entree then dessert.

8- Make sure to do a taste test with the caterer or banquet facility (or your friends and family).

9- If you’re having a DIY reception, make sure all the offers are cohesive. Decide on a theme for the food, i.e., Italian, Mexican, Beef, Chicken, and don’t offer a combination of all these selections.  You don’t want it to feel like a picnic, but a lovely, thought out delicious and harmonious meal.

10- For variety,  you can offer a few different chicken dishes if you’re going with chicken.  The same with beef, etc.

Rice Krispie treats make a wonderful addition to your Dessert Buffet for any season.

$200.00 Free Favor Offer

Favors By Serendipity is offering a $200.00 Shopping Spree towards anything on their site – including Cake Jewelry, Bridesmaids Gifts, Bridal Shower Favors, Wedding and Party Favors, Candy Buffet Packaging and more…..just for giving your opinion.

With Winter approaching, they want to know if you will be using winter theme favors or what your favorite favor is and would love to win.  Visit Favors By Serendipity and then post a comment here and be entered into the drawing.

Giveaway ends November 20 at midnight PST.

Winner is chosen randomly and will be notified Monday, November 21st  and announced here as soon as they accept the prize.

Tie The Knot On A Cruise Ship

Looking for something original and unique?  Having your destination wedding on a gorgeous cruise ship is the perfect solution.

I would be apologizing for not posting for the past three weeks, however, I was on the Ruby Princess doing research for you on what it would be like to have a wedding on a cruise ship – oh well, someone’s got to do it, might as well be me …….

Frankly, it doesn’t get much better than this.

• The ships are just gorgeous and very elegant in themselves.
• I can vouch for the delicious food and beautiful presentation with every choice.
• What is more beautiful than a blue sky with billowy clouds and the ocean beneath you and as far as your eye can see?  Serenity at it’s best. Or,  a stop at a gorgeous location for your ceremony.
• Your wedding, reception and honeymoon would all be included to create an unforgettable event.
• There are experienced wedding coordinators that will design your wedding so that it’s extraordinary and it doesn’t matter if you have a small event or a grand,  large one.

There are different packages available.

• You can choose to get married at sea by the ship’s Captain.
• Have your ceremony on the ship harbor-side,  so even if some of your guests will not be sailing with you, they can still attend the wedding.
• You can get married ashore at one of the exotic locations.

All the details are spelled out for you on a down loadable brochure.  To find the information for a Princess Cruise wedding:

1 - Princess Cruises

2 – Click on “Learn about our cruise”

3 - Click on “On-board Experiences”

4 – Click on “Special Services”

Or, you can contact the “Tie the Knot” staff at (866) 444-8820 and speak with a wedding coordinator who will be happy to share their expertise, answer questions and offer helpful suggestions during your planning stage.

To coordinate with your cruise wedding, there are save the date magnets and wedding favors.

DIY Eco Friendly Moss Ring Pillow

Being green is easier these days (sorry, Kermit), with so many helpful ideas and tips being shared on wedding blogs.  I came across a wonderful project for a “natural” ring bearer pillow today on the blog of one of my favorite wedding planners Simply Natural Events and knew you’d love this idea.  I can see this same idea being used for centerpieces down a long table  in a garden wedding without the bow and inserting  votive candles in the four center squares and sprinkling some flower petals for color on the table.  The perfect wedding favors would be Eco friendly ones as well.

What You’ll Need: A 5″ x 5″ X 2″ piece of Styrofoam, 2 feet of ribbon (2″ wide),  3 yards of ribbon (1/4″ wide),  a 6″ x 6″ scrap of fabric, a handful of sphagnum moss, straight pins Round-headed corsage pins and a pair of scissors.

Instructions

1. Center your fabric face up on the Styrofoam square Fold the fabric
edges over sides of the Styrofoam and secure with straight pins. Wrap
the corners neatly and pin. (see figure 1)

2. Turn your Styrofoam over so the fabric side is down. Take your
sphagnum moss and stretch it out across the top of the Styrofoam. Be sure
that the moss completely covers the surface. (see figure 2)

3. Cut a length of the skinnier ribbon and run it diagonally across the
mossed surface. Attach both ends of the ribbons on the sides of the
Styrofoam using straight pins. Repeat this process to create a diagonal
grid of ribbon on the top of the pillow.

4. Take your corsage pins and stick them into the points where the
ribbons intersect on the pillow top. (see figure 4)

5. Turn the pillow on it’s side and pin the end of the wider ribbon in
the center of the side, using your straight pins. (see figure 5)

6. Wrap the ribbon around all four sides, concealing the fabric edges and
skinny ribbon tails. Pull it tightly as you go and keep the ribbon edges
lined up with the edges of the pillow. (see figure 5)

7. When you pass your starting point, fold under the ribbon tail and pin
it down using your corsage pins. (see figure 6)

8. Trim off any loose moss bits.

9. Cut a 12″ length of the skinnier ribbon and tie it to the corsage pin
in the center of the pillow. Attach your rings by tying a bow. (see
figure 7)

What it costs:
Styrofoam square $.90
Ribbon $3.00
Corsage Pins $2.00
Small bag of moss $1.80
Total = $7.70

Project created by Laurie Cinotto,

Save The Date Magnets – A Must For Your Wedding

Personalize your wedding from the start with Save The Dates.  For just .95 each you can find a style to suit your theme.   Whether your wedding is local or in a tropical paradise, you will want to send Save The Dates because they  allow your  guests to have enough time to make plans for your wedding and get them excited for your big day (especially knowing how busy everyone is these days).

Using a Save The Date Magnet makes it a convenient reminder, and can easily be placed on the refrigerator or a filing cabinet.

1- Choose a design that will set the tone for your wedding and express your personalities.

2- Make sure you send one to everyone on your guest list as soon as you set the date.

3- Your Save The Date can reflect the style of the invitation to come, but don’t be afraid to mix and match styles of the Save The Date and your invitation.  For example, you can send a fun, trendy Save The Date and follow it up with a formal invitation.

Your Save The Date can be sent out a year or so before your wedding.  Your invitation should be sent out 8 weeks before. If you have a personal wedding website, include your URL on the Save The Date so your guests can be informed about getting accommodations, etc. especially  if you get a block of rooms.

Now for your inspiration:

Aisle Style – Decorating Ideas For Your Wedding

The first thing your guests will see as they arrive is where they will sit, the decorations on the arbor, and your aisle.  Whether it’s traditional or exceptional, this is the first time your guests will witness your wedding day style.

View your aisle as your runway and when you walk down it all eyes will be focused on you so it should look fabulous.  Here are some ideas:

1- Decorate the chairs down the aisle.

2- Typically rose petals are used and sprinkled down the aisle.  Why not be creative and instead of sprinkling them straight down the aisle, how about doing something more creative?  Could a diamond shape of petals be created every few feet?  A wavy “S” design of petals?   For something unique, if you’re having your wedding at a home or where there’s a lawn, consider mowing a design into the grass.

3- If you’re wedding is on a beach, sprinkle flowers to give the sand some color.

4- If you’re wedding is in a garden, you can use potted flowering plants creating a colorful visual landscape down the aisle alongside the chairs.

5- Monogrammed  aisle runners are also a growing trend.

Make sure you check with your venue to make sure it doesn’t have restrictions regarding an aisle runner or decorations on the chairs.  Safety is always a concern and they want to make sure you, your bridal party or your guests don’t slip on something.  Taping or weighing  the aisle runner down will avoid a lot of problems.

Image: Wedding Jeanie

Aisle Planters: Frank Events

Chairs With Orchids & Starfish Wedding Jeannie

Image: Enchanted Florist

Martha Stewart Fall Wreaths for Chairs

Falling in Love With A Fall Themed Wedding

There was a time when all brides thought the summer was the perfect time for their wedding.  However, Fall has become a very popular time of year and for many good reasons.

If you’re guests will be traveling to your wedding, the Fall season will be less expensive since, as we all know, the airlines and gas prices always go up in the summer.  Also, hotels and reception sites will be more readily available.  Since most tourists head home after the summer, hotels will welcome your business and this can be reflected in their banquet facilities as well as the rooms for your guests.

I love the Fall because of the beautiful colors of that season.  Think of your wedding pictures with the beautiful, rich fall colors as a backdrop.  If you’re doing the wedding yourself, decorating can be so much fun using gourds, fall leaves, pumpkins, apples, etc. and the warm glow of candles inserted into these items as candle holders are wonderful for your banquet table or centerpieces.

To make candle holders from apples, tiny pumpkins or gourds, simply make an indentation in the fruit deep enough to hold your votive, taper or battery operated candle.  Also, you can cut out pumpkins and gourds and use them for serving dips, soup, dessert, etc.

I hope you’ll enjoy these inspirations:

Fall Bouquet

Image La Partie Events

Image Jennifer Wahlquist

Image: Tapestry Flowers

Image: Skye-Blu-Photography

There are Fall Theme Save The Dates and lots of wonderful Fall Theme Favors that will tie in beautifully with your wedding.

Wedding Place Cards Do You Need Them?

Ever wonder what the difference is between a Place Card and an Escort Card?  An Escort card tells your guests what table they are assigned to.  A Place Card has the guests name on it and is placed on the table so your guests know which seat is theirs.  This is very helpful to the servers if your invitation included menu cards with different meals offered and your guests got to choose which meal they prefer.  The Place Card can have the meal choice printed on it so the waiters don’t have to interrupt the flow of conversation to ask the guests what meal they are having.

Escort Cards  serve an important function at your reception.  Most brides  have family members or friends you know will want to sit with each other.  Even though your invitation states what time the festivities begin, people arrive at varying times, and it’s possible others will fill in the tables that would otherwise be used for those who want to sit with each other.  This is where Escort cards become a very useful tool. It helps things to be organized and convenient for your guests and should definitely be used if your wedding has 100 guests or more and if it’s a formal affair.

True, it does take a lot of planning, organizing and then re-shifting as you learn some guests won’t be attending, but it’s worth the trouble.

The Escort Table is the first thing your guests will see when they enter the reception hall or before they enter the hall, so why not  make your Escort Cards and Table “Numbers” fabulous as well as functional.

1- Figure out how many guests you are inviting and whether you will be using a table that seats 8 or 10.  Sometimes the table sizes will vary, depending on your guest list.  There are programs that are designed to help you do your seating chart, however, I simply made a large drawing of the reception room with circles representing the tables and used little post-it notes with the guests name printed on them.  This made it easy to rearrange the tables as I learned some guests weren’t coming, or Aunt Sue is no longer talking to Cousin Jill, which I didn’t know when I originally made the seating chart.

2- To help make your seating arrangement “fabulous” think outside the box for your table “numbers”.  Choose a theme that reflects both of your personalities.  Examples can be places you’ve visited together, artists you especially love, movies you love, flowers that are your favorites, names of sea shells or beaches if you’re having a beach theme wedding and either use postcards as your “table numbers” or create your theme from pictures or on the computer.  Coordinate your escort cards to match your “table numbers”.

2- Put your escort cards in alphabetical order on the table so your guests can find them easily.

3- Putting your escort cards into picture frames or place card holders serves as a favor as well and your guests can use them for a wallet size photo afterwards, a helpful tip for those on a budget.  Frames and Place Card Holders come in a wide variety of themes and styles from sophisticated to whimsical, so you’re sure to find exactly what will work with your reception decor.

Work of Art Antique-Finish Photo Frame

Beautifully Beaded Photo Frame and Placeholder

Shell Design Place Card Holders

Autumn-Inspired Candle Favors

4- If you’re having a DIY reception, you can purchase Table Number Holders or use any tall Place Card Holder.

Thought you’d like to see some imaginative “Table Numbers” to inspire you:

Image: Brittany Photography

Honeymoon Destination

Favorite Cities

Number with Picture Image: The Flower Alley