Break-Dancers at a Wedding?

What a great idea to have break-dancers perform at your wedding!!!

Well that is just what LaSherra and Brandon did at their Hip-Hop wedding.

I found this great post on OffBeat Bride, which I would definitely recommend checking out, especially if you the typical bride and are not into the normal, traditional things.

In the post, Lasherra talks about her wedding day and the things that she did to make it different and unique. As well as giving a couple of helpful tips along the way, that she figured out at the last minute. (I think those are always the best and most helpful of them all!!!)


Check out her post and see all the great pictures.

Hip Hop Wedding

Would you ever have anything like this at your wedding?


Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Get Married is launching a new magazine

So I know we all watch Colin Cowie and his wonderful wedding style on the Lifetime hit show Get Married but now they are starting a wedding magazine.

And we have the exclusive pictures of the cover and the logo.

"Get Married magazine rounds out our truly integrated approach to wedding planning, and will continue to capture the excitement of brides who watch, surf and read their way through designing every moment of their wedding celebration,” said Stacie Francombe, founder and president of Get Married and GetMarried.com. "Get Married magazine will reinterpret the rules and translate the latest wedding trends, while offering a new perspective in an uplifting, edgy voice for creatively-innovative and inspirationally-driven brides."

The Get Married Magazine hits stands in October.

So definitely look for these as giveaways on the blog!!!


What do you think of the cover?



Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Write your Vows and Personalize your wedding.

Everyone is always looking for ways to personalize your wedding. What better way than to write your own vows.

I know, I know. You ask, "What do I say? How do I get started? Here are a couple of little tips to help you along the way, courtesy of our friends at Elegala.

You first want to make sure that you are able to write your own vows. Some churches and officiants won't marry you if you write your own vows. Seems crazy, I know but you never know.

Set a time limit.

You don't want to seem like you are rabbling on and on so set a time limit and stick to it.

Make sure and read them in front of someone.

This will help to ease your nervousness and to make sure that the vows sound OK.

Consult your past

Time for a trip down memory lane. Start jotting down the details of special firsts in your relationship—first meeting, first date, first kiss, first “I love you,” etc. What qualities made you fall in love in the first place? Are there special milestones in your relationship that that have helped bring you here today?

Envision the Future

What challenges and achievements to you foresee in the future, and how do you expect to meet those things together?

You Complete Me

Sure, it’s a line from a movie—but there’s a reason for its now cliche status. What characteristics does he/she bring out in you? How does he/she make you a better person?

Use the right words

Compile your notes, memories and reflections, and begin turning words into sentences, and finally sentences into wedding vows. Consult your thesaurus for the perfect expressions to reflect your thoughts. Some words to get you started: love, trust, support, strength, encourage, respect, cherish, admire, value, commit, pledge and promise.

Did you write your own vows and if you didn't would you?

Good Luck and Happy Planning,

Shafonne

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Tips to Cut your Wedding Budget: Part I

So we are definitely into wedding season and I am seeing so many couples planning their wedding and coming to crunch time, and feeling that they need to cut and conserve their money.

There are so many ways to do this so I went in search of some of the greatest tips to cut your wedding budget.

Following are some great ones that I found on Wedding Channel. Look for more to come next week.

Nix, Save the Dates
These are great pieces of the wedding planning process, and I know my friends at Truly Engaging, are going to hate me for it but I have to say it. This is something that is not a necessity. There are sites, like Wedding Channel that have free ones that you can make and print out, which is a great alternative.

Ditch the Wedding Invitation Inserts
I know, everyone is cringing at this one. I too was one of the millions of people that had several inserts in my invitation to my wedding. You have the invitation and then the reply card, the reception card and then the insert with hotel information and directions.

I now know that all of those inserts can get very expensive. You can save so much money by just having a single invitation and then putting all of the other information on a wedding website (Look for an up coming post on wedding websites) This is also a great suggestion of you want to help the environment and have a green wedding.

Who needs chair covers?
I just had this conversation with one of my brides. Chair covers are so expensive to rent and especially if you have a large number of wedding guests. A great alternative is to use sashes. It still gives a fabulous effect but it doesn't hurt the wallet as much.
Here's a great post on Wedding Bee that shows you how to tie the sash in all the nice styles.
http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/10/23/chair-sashes/


More tips to come next week.

Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Trends in Wedding Cakes

I know it is funny to think about trends in wedding cakes but just as there are trends in dresses and invitations, there have definitely evolved a trend for wedding cakes.

I did some investigating and found 7 of the top wedding cake trends from my friends over at Elegala

Back to Buttercream

Buttercream was once the traditional frosting for wedding cakes, but sleek cakes came into favor, and rolled fondant became the frosting of choice. Not any more - thanks to advanced tools and techniques that allow buttercream to look as smooth as fondant, cakes iced in buttercream are again the norm. We love this trend, since buttercream frosting tastes better, has natural ingredients, and costs less than fondant. Now you can literally have your stylishly sleek cake – and eat it too.

I have to definitely agree with this this trend. Buttercream is way better.

Chocolate Face

Brides have bucked the traditional white wedding cake for the last few years, but today’s brides are no longer hiding decadent chocolate behind a shield of white frosting for appearances sake. Dark chocolate is now front and center on the face of the cake, as chocolate wedding cakes are appropriately decked in chocolate mousse or whipped chocolate frosting. The result is a full blown chocolate dessert that tastes as good as it looks.

Blue Rules

Shades of blue dominate the 2009 wedding décor palette, and your wedding cake is a perfect canvas to incorporate this hot shade. Consider a cake saturated in turquoise, periwinkle, or even navy, and embellish it with complimenting colors like silver, white, grey, lavender, or yellow. Square Mini CakesCupcake towers in lieu of wedding cakes have been around for awhile, but brides are making cupcakes interesting again by playing with shape and size. Brides are stacking square shaped mini-cakes (slightly larger than cupcakes) adorned with flowers or dressed as presents for a completely different take on the cupcake frenzy.

Check out this fabulous blue wedding cake

Think Pink

Pink – the perpetual hot color for weddings – had begun to fall out of favor as brides experimented with more non-traditional hues like browns, grays, orange, and even black. But pink is back in a big way, and brides are incorporating the hue into their wedding cakes. Pink instantly freshens-up classic white: Tone down an all pink cake with white floral or lace details, or dress up a white cake with pink embellishments.

Scripted Text

Wedding cakes adorned with calligraphy-style motifs and writing is one of the year’s hottest trends. Create an antiqued look with black writing on a white or ivory cake, and get creative with the text. Some options? Write a favorite poem or verse, your wedding vows, or words representative of your wedding theme - such as names of flowers for a garden wedding or types of shells at a beach wedding.

Groom’s Cakes

The old Southern tradition of the groom’s cake is shedding its regional trappings and growing in popularity throughout the nation. And no, it doesn’t have to be the iconic red velvet armadillo from “Steel Magnolias.” Today’s grooms cakes, now just as elaborate as the wedding cake itself, often reflect the groom’s interest in a dramatic and whimsical expression; a deer grooms cake for an avid hunter, shaped like a race car for an diehard Nascar fan, or decked with his favorite sports team logo.

Are you using any of these trends for your wedding cake?

Happy Planning,

Shafonne

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Identity Theft and planning your Wedding

Most people don't think about it but identity theft can happen at anytime to anyone, even while planning your wedding.

So I found some great tips from Identity Truth to help make sure that your identity is not stolen during your wedding planning experience.

• Definitively make the decision to either keep your maiden name or assume your spouse’s name – using both leaves room for error, as it would be difficult to keep track of where you’re using one versus the other.
  
• Keep marriage license and other personal documents locked in a safe and secure place.
  
• Make sure your SSN does not appear on the marriage license,
  · Do not give out your social security number when planning a wedding, unless you’re securing a government document, e.g. passport, social security card. Give only the “minimum” amount of personal information to vendors.
  
• When applying for a new driver’s license request that something other than your SSN be used as a unique identifier.
  
  
• When changing the address on existing credit cards, speak with the credit card issuer, as some will presume this is fraud and automatically cancel the card.
  
• Closely monitor your credit report for new incidents/events perpetrated by somebody using your maiden name.
  
• Fill out a National Change of Address Form (NCOA) to have your mail forwarded to your new address.
  
• Decide how you will filling for taxes (jointly or separately) and file early with the correct name
  
• Be proactive and sign-up for an identity protection service.

Happy Planning,

Shafonne

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Win a Dream Wedding from Us Weekly and The Wedding Channel

Yes, you can win a dream wedding from Us Weekly and The Wedding Channel. This is their second year giving away a dream wedding to one lucky couple.

The happy couple will be treated as an A-Lister as well as having all of the famous wedding professionals at your beacon call, and yes this is all free.

Here are last years winners.
































For Forpictures from their entire stay visit Inside the Dream Wedding

Last year they had over 4000 couples register so apply fast!!!

Register to win here

Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Tips to planning a wedding on a budget

I orginially did this post in December 2007 but I thought that it would be perfect for what so many of the couples planning weddings now are going through.

Planning a Wedding or an Event can be the most stessful thing to do.
From choosing the reception site, to the church, to the dress, to the music, to the cake, to who is going to be in the wedding party. But the very first thing that you HAVE to do is: PLAN A BUDGET.

This is going to determine how much you can spend on the reception, dress, music, cake and ultimately the member sof your wedding party.

I see so many people come into my office and have all of these elaborate ideas and then we sit down and start talking about MONEY, and they soon realize that they can't afford that huge reception with open bar, top shelf liquour and top of the line food for 300 people. They realize that they HAVE to scale back tremendously.

Everyone has a different idea of a dream wedding. Some want a huge lavish wedding with all the bells and whistles. Some people want a small intimate wedding in a backyard or garden. Whichever wedding is for you, be sure to make it a wedding that you want and are happy with. You have to be happy with the wedding or event to truly enjoy it.

When planning an event you want to take into consideration what is important to you. Is it your dress, the cake, the reception, the ceremony or the food.

Most people will spend the most money on what is the most important aspect of the wedding. If it is the dress then you might validate spending a large amount on it because that is the most important part of the wedding. The same for the cake, the music or anything esle.

I will offer these key pieces of advise,
Make sure that you:
1. PLAN A BUDGET
2. Make it realistic
3. Stick to your Budget
4. Determine what is important to you.

Do you have any tips to offer couples planning a wedding on a budget?


Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Great Spring Inspiration from Preston Bailey

Check out this great table design by Preston Bailey that is sure to get in the mood for spring.

The centerpieces are created with yellow daffodils and the placemats are created by placing a clear glass plate and napkin on a bed of beautiful green leaves.










Would you want a table design like this for your next dinner party?





Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Stamps go up on Monday

Yes, stamps are going up on Monday so all you brides and grooms out there that will be mailing out invitations make sure that you get stamps that are at the higher price so that your invitions get mailed and don't get sent back to you.

Or you can get the liberty bell stamps because these will always change with the current price.

Check out these cute wedding stamps that are available at USPS
















You could also get personalized stamps made with your own picture on them, great for sending invitations, save the dates or bridesmaids/ groomsmen cards and thank you notes.

Just make sure that you get them at the appropriate rate to cover the correct weight.






These are all available at Stamps.com

Would you every use any of these stamps on your invitation?

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Social Networks and Save the Dates

OMG, I was checking out Magnet Streets Blog, Truly Engaging and I came across this GREAT post about incorporating your love for your favorite social networking sites into your wedding planning with Save the Dates.

I am truly in love

Would you ever use any of these?


Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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How to get your guy involved in Planning?

So as usual I was on Twitter searching around and i found a great post about an article to help guys get involved in planning.

I read it and it was wonderful.

There was even a mention of an actually website designed especially for men wanting to find ways to help in the wedding planning process.

I trully never realized how "women centered" wedding planning was until I got involved with the business.

I encourage everyone, male or female to check out this great article from The New York Times

A Wedding Plan for Men

Is your fiance as involved as you want them to be?

Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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Wedding Tiaras are getting a Make-over

Yes, you heard it right. The plain old tiaras are gone and now enter the embellished headbands and tiaras: from feathers to jewels.

Check out some that I found.

Renee Rivera





Veil U Bridal

Which do you like, the feathers or jewels?

Happy Planning,

Shafonne

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Real Weddings: Rachel and Geoff: Part I

I had the shear pleasure of doing Rachel and Geoff's wedding at The Manor House at Kings Charter. The venue was wonderful as well as all of the decorations. Rachel wanted to create a beach inspired weddings so we incorporated seashells and more seashells for the perfect blending of wedding and beach.

And my great friend David with Dave Abel Photography took wonderful pictures, as always.

So sit back and enjoy the first in our two part series of Rachel and Geoff's wedding.











Let me know what you think!!!

Stay tuned for Part 2

Happy Planning,
Shafonne

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