Archive for February, 2009

Keychain Favors Make Great Little Thank You Gifts

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

   I had taken care of my wedding accessories and bridal needs, but I was still in the process of planning the rest of my wedding reception when a friend of my clued me in to a great place to get party supplies and wedding reception accessories. She said they had everything from decorations to wedding favors and she was right. I found so much to choose from that I wasn’t sure what I was going to get. After seeing all the themed wedding reception items they had, I was seriously considering changing my reception to a gorgeous fall theme. I couldn’t believe all the beautiful accessories and supplies they had for an autumn wedding and reception.

    If I would have known about all the lovely cake toppers and decorating ideas there were, for all kinds of themed weddings, I would never have gone with the traditional. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted my fall themed reception. So, I decided to break with tradition and have an autumn reception party. My ceremony would stay the same, there would be too much to change for that, but for the reception, it would work. I used chocolate brown table cloths on all my reception tables and had centerpieces with all the colors of autumn, reds, yellows and a beautiful burnt orange. I’m telling you, they had everything from decorations to adorable keychain favors.

   I really liked the selection of key chains, they had all kinds, there were even some for a 16 year old birthday party. I thought the poker ones were the cutest, but that wouldn’t go very well with my autumn theme, so I decided on the photo key chain wedding favors. I liked them because they not only served as key chains but you can carry your favorite little photo around with you. I thought that was really neat. I hoped my guests would appreciate them.

   Our cake topper was awesome, I chose the silver monogram cake topper with our initials covered in sparkling crystals. It really showed off our wedding cake and added to the décor of the rest of the bridal table. Our cake serving set had ribbons of green, brown and bronze, perfect for our autumn table setting, and along with the crystal champagne flutes and wedding candles our table was picture perfect.

   Everything was picture perfect for both our wedding ceremony and reception. Our friends and family had a fantastic time and thanked us for the lovely key chain favors they received as thank you gifts. Before I left for our honeymoon, I made sure I told my sister about the super party favors they had online. Since she is planning a birthday party for her 16 year old daughter, I thought she might want to check out all the favors they have available for kids her age. There were even keychains that had the number 16 on them for a sweet 16 birthday bash. There were lots of other favors available too, that would also work well for kids parties. There was even beach favors for a fun filled beach party if she wanted to go that route. Whatever she plans to do for her daughters birthday, she’ll find what she needs, if she shops where I shopped for all my wedding supplies.

   Well, our wedding and reception wasn’t the only thing that was a total success. We had two glorious weeks sunning ourselves in the Bahamas for our fabulous honeymoon. I can’t wait to show my sister all the pictures we took, and the special souvenir I brought back for her.

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There Were Some Unique Wedding Suggestions

Monday, February 9th, 2009

   Thank goodness for the computer age. You can find just about anything you’re looking for when you go on the internet. I found many unique wedding ideas to work with for my ceremony and reception.  There were suggestions for any type of wedding you’re planning on. They had ideas for themed weddings, like seasonal, country western, garden ceremonies and more. There were even some for destination weddings. I’d never even heard of a destination wedding until I went online. It sounds like a lot of fun, but we have way too many people that we’d have to leave off the guest list if we did that. So we will be sticking close to home. But I did like the storybook theme idea, every bride should feel like a princess on her wedding day, so why not make it more of a reality than a dream?

   And that’s what I did. We had the most fantastic fairytale wedding, like something you would read in a magazine. My fiance was a big help in getting things going. He found a real honest to goodness castle, right here in Ohio. It’s been turned into a bed and breakfast and he arranged to rent the B&B for our wedding and reception. Everything was just coming together perfectly.

   The dresses for the bridesmaids and flower girl were absolutely exquisite. The bridesmaids wore floor length peach colored satin dresses with sashes, and our little flower girl had on a beautiful little gown that came to her ankles with a lovely little flowered tiara. She was so adorable. My fiance took care of all the guy stuff, leaving me free to take care of my end of things. I found just about everything online, our unique wedding invitations that looked like that for a royal ball, our reception table supplies, and  some very lovely wedding favor suggestions. All in the fairy tale theme I had chosen.

   The castle we rented was just unbelievable. You couldn’t help but feel like a princess when you walked inside. Our ceremony was so romantic and he looked so handsome standing there beside me. After we said the vows we wrote for each other and the priest pronounced us man and wife we gracefully made our exit as everyone tossed confetti and yelled their congratulations.

   At the reception we had a very long bridal table with candelabras on each end and a wedding cake that would make any king and queen proud. I found the most adorable little castle cake topper for our wedding cake and gorgeous crystal champagne flutes with bride and groom printed on them. Everyone had champagne flutes and wine glasses on their tables and at each table setting were favor boxes in the shape of royal coaches with a thank you gift inside. Even the wedding favors came in the storybook theme.

  We danced and waltzed around the dance floor like Cinderella and Prince Charming at the ball. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and they were really impressed with the décor and the fact that we were having it in a real castle. They all complimented me on what a unique wedding this was and how authentic everything looked. The whole thing was just so unbelievable, and when we left the reception to begin our honeymoon, we left in a horse drawn carriage. Talk about your fairy tale coming true. If I hadn’t gone online looking for accessories, I probably never would have came up with this storybook idea. For our first anniversary we are going back to that lovely castle B&B and make it our second honeymoon.  

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You Can Find Wedding Decorations For Any Theme

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

   Planning your wedding, but, not sure which type of theme you want to have. Or maybe you have a particular theme in mind but not sure if you can find the accessories and supplies to pull it off? Well, you can have any themed wedding you desire and there are plenty of choices for wedding decorations to fit all of them. I couldn’t get over how many themes for weddings there actually are and that you can find decorations and accessories for everything from the bridal attire to the wedding favors.

   There are some exquisite asian themed items that would make any wedding from the orient come to life. Beautiful lanterns and exquisitely designed guest books, favor boxes and more. I was really impressed with all that was available. The beach themed accessories and decorations were fantastic too, from their floating candles to the beach novelty favors. Favors that would make wonderful keepsakes of the fantastic beach party reception for all the guests. There were also choices for lovely garden weddings, Celtic, country western and even military ceremonies, and for those that want that romantic traditional wedding, well, we all know they have those too. As for me, I’m more the down home type and so is my fiance, so of course, we chose to go with a country western theme, for everything from our invitations to the reception decorations and favors.

   I chose a simple, but elegant country styled dress and veil and all of my bridesmaids were dressed in long denim skirts and white blouses with puffy short sleeves, and all the men in the wedding party wore jeans and button down long sleeve shirts, including the groom. Of course as far as shoes go, we all wore cowboy boots. I almost forgot the most important part of the western ensemble, everyone except the bride wore cowboy hats as well. It may sound a little out there, but I’ll tell you it was a fantastic ceremony. I was able to find all the accessories and supplies I needed for my western wedding ceremony décor.

   The reception was pretty cool too, we even had a square dance in a barn. We had the tables set up right outside with lots of lights strung around everywhere. We had adorable little cowboy boot mugs to drink from and little metal watering cans filled with wild flowers for our centerpieces with western garland wrapped around it. There were also mini cowboy hats on the tables and I used them as place card holders, and at each table setting was the little western themed favor box I used to package their wedding favors in. My entire wedding décor dripped with a country western motif.

   There was lots of great country toe tapping music to dance to with lots of line dancing going on. Great barbecued ribs, chicken and steaks with all kinds of salads, from potato to a tossed green salad. Of course it wouldn’t be a country meal without plenty of corn on the cob and baked beans, I even ordered cornbread cakes to go with the rest of the meal. I tried to make everything as authentic as possible. Even the trip from the church to the reception was special. No limo or other automobiles, we had horse drawn buggies for everyone to ride in, except for those that were brave enough to saddle up.

   The barbecue / hoedown was still going strong when me and my new husband rode off into the sunset, in our bride and groom cowboy hats, to begin our honeymoon. All I can say is themed weddings are great. Happy trails!

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My Collection Of Wedding Garters

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

     People all over the world have been collecting items for centuries. It is a personal thing and enjoyable to the collector. Whatever the collection may be it has true meaning to the collector. Some collections are valuable and worth a lot of money and some collections have no value and just have meaning to the collector.  Most collectors want to share their collection with others. They can display their collection or put their collectibles in a museum. Each item has their own story. Some people will not appreciate what the collector is collecting. Collecting items are a part of history and have meaning to them. My collection is wedding garters and is my personal pleasure. They also have a history behind it. To me wedding garters show unity, commitment and most of all love. That is one of the reasons I love about them.

     To me collecting is a hobby and not for financial gain. It is fun and can be interacting. It is also a stress reduction. That is why I collect wedding garters. I know wedding garters are intended for the bride, but I knew this was my passion. Garters for a wedding have been around for centuries.  They fill people’s lives with fun and excitement and that is what they do for me.

     My collection of wedding garters started in my teens. The first time I saw a wedding garter, I fell in love with them. I was at a wedding and caught the bouquet. The guy who caught the wedding garter put it on my leg. I thought how elegant and sexy looking they were. The guy who caught the wedding garter also let me keep the garter. That is when my collection started. I was so fascinated by them that I could not stop buying them. I would have to say that this is an obsession with me. Over the years my collection has grown. Today I have over 200 wedding garters that I have collected. Each wedding garter has its own personality. I have different sizes and colors. Some of my wedding garters even have little trinkets on them.  When I receive my wedding garter my first impulse is to try it on. So every wedding garter I have purchased and received, I have tried on because they are so sexy and elegant looking.

     I started shopping in stores to purchase them. Then my greatest past time was looking on the web. I was amazed how many were out there. I even found a few at some garage sales. My collection consists of seasonal garters, themed garters and unique garters. I even had some of my garters personalized and some homemade ones. I get them as gifts also from family and friends. They are displayed all over my bedroom. My friends and family are so amazed at how I have them displayed in my bedroom. Some are spread on my dresser and some are in glass cabinets. I even put some on my bed and also put some in frames.  

      I know I will never stop with my obsession with wedding garters. When I look back over the years and see my collection, it makes me feel good. They will always be a part of my life. I started this collection when I was very young and it is still going strong today. My daughter loves them also and in time I will pass down the collection to her and hopefully she will keep it going. If you collect things and that is your passion, whatever it may be, I hope you have as much fun and excitement as I do in collecting wedding garters.

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Bridesmaid Gifts That Really Helped Us Out

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

   As I was checking off the things on our wedding accessories list, I was beginning to worry about the cost of our ceremony and reception. I started thinking that maybe we should just elope to one of those wedding chapels you hear so much about. You know, like the Chapel of the Deeply In Debt.  But I really wanted a big wedding and everyone, including our parents was looking forward to being there.  I just wasn’t sure if we would be able to afford it.  Our parents all helped with what they could, but none of us was really in the position to pay for everything.  We both have large families, and of course, everyone wanted to be there. After the invitations came pouring in, we were all surprised that everyone’s RSVP was a definite yes.  We thought that surely out of 318 people that a few were not be able to make it. But everyone had confirmed they would be there.

   After what seemed like endless shopping we had most of the wedding and reception plans taken care of. All the bridesmaid, flower girl, groomsmen and ring boy were taken care of as far as attire.  My gown and his tux were ready too. In fact all everything for the ceremony, including unity candle and décor were done with.  But I still had the reception to plan for, and pick out gifts for our wedding party. He took care of his groomsmen gifts and ring boy and I was handling the flower girl and bridesmaid gifts. Our wedding cake we picked out together. After tasting all those cake samples I didn’t care if I ever had cake again. But there were some very gorgeous cake designs and decorations. We decided on a white cake with a buttercream whipped frosting decorated in a floral pattern around each layer. It really was quite beautiful.

   Next I picked out the table settings, centerpieces, silver and glassware. There were so many styles of champagne flutes to check out. I never knew they came in so many designs. I chose a special bride and groom set for our wedding table and lovely plain crystal flutes for our guests. Next I went through every wedding favor selection I could find and that was a hard choice.  There were items I wanted to buy just for me. Adorable little picture frames, flower vases, lovely candle holders and candles, and that was just a few of the choices. Wedding receptions have really come a long way. There are some wonderfully unique options for wedding favors these days.

   Now my last assignment was the gifts for bridesmaids, and flower girl. I bought my little niece a lovely locket as her gift, and had an inscription added to let her know how much I appreciated her. For my girls, I found the most fantastic scarves and had their initials put on each and every one of them.  It wasn’t exactly cheap bridesmaids gifts, but they weren’t as expensive as I thought they would be.  I was really surprised at the low cost, because they look quite expensive. Even my fiance was relieved when I told him what we had paid for them.  I know the girls will love them and they will look so gorgeous in them.

   Well, everything is now ready for the big day.  All the shopping is done and the great part is we aren’t going to be broke.  The honeymoon plans are still on, and we saved so much money on this wedding and reception that we were able to buy very nice gifts for our parents too.  I’m glad I ran across this selection of affordable wedding items.

 

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