Want to get away on someone else’s dime? Introducing Jetset Extra (www.jetsetextra.com), a brand-new travel website connecting you to cool people in cool places around the world. Jetset Extra is running a contest now through April 15th, just in time for Tax Day—or your wedding. They’re offering free round-trip tickets to San Juan, Puerto Rico and a 4-night stay in a luxury hotel, plus dinner with Food Network celebrity chef Roberto Trevino at his chic restaurant, Budatai.
To enter to win, join Jetset Extra’s Community and connect with friends online (And strangers for that matter…it’s a free honeymoon, right?). The member with the most friend connections in the Jetset Extra community by April 15th wins! Check out the video here to learn more about this fabulous getaway.
Make your honeymoon twice as nice when you win it for free!!
I am sure many of you have your stories of how you met your fiancés parents, as do I. However this is not going to be about me meeting the parents, it is about my parents meeting his.
Let me give you a little background information first. I was born and raised in California by a couple of very liberal parents. Where as my fiancés side of the family comes from Palestine and is on the more conservative side.
So naturally both my fiancé and I were nervous for our parents to get together to meet. We laughed it off saying it was going to be like the movie Meet the Fockers. Where the straight edge parents meet the classic hippy parents. Well our situation isn’t quite to that extreme but we came close to it.
My fiancés parents invited my parents over for some evening tea and desert. My parents happily accepted the invitation and were excited but nervous to meet them. Since this meeting had been much anticipated because my fiancé and I had dated for five years and our parents had never met. My parents also know that my fiancé will be the first in his family to marry an American woman, so they wanted to make a good impression.
The evening began with my mother getting ready with the help from my niece and sister. My mom wanted everything to be perfect so she enlisted help. My parents met us at our house and we went from there. My parents asked us millions of questions about Sam’s parents on the drive over. To try to get a sense of what kind of people future in-laws are like.
We arrived and walked up to the house, rang the doorbell and the parent’s all politely met each other. They invited us in to sit down and then the night officially began.
The night was filled with small talk about gardening, cooking, and us getting married. Most of the time I could hardly believe that my parents were sitting in their living room. It seemed like just yesterday that I was the one who had just met them and had to wait till we were engaged to do so. And now we were all sitting there chatting away like one big happy family.
It all went very smoothly, especially for two very different types of families, one conservative and the other not. Then I got to thinking if a Muslim family could come together with a Christian hippy one happily then maybe we could inspire others to make it work. After all it is about co-exiting isn’t it?
I think I’ve finally found the perfect wedding-day gift for husbands everywhere. I can’t imagine what they’d like more – cufflinks just aren’t going to cut it. Technically, it’s also a gift to yourself: an experience with Lolo’s Boudoir sounds pretty amazing.
Danish-American photographer Lone Morch believes that her boudoir photo sessions are about seeing you. She believes that your life is a work of art, and you are both the artist and the artwork. Why, thank you, Lone. She states that her goal is to “leave you feeling liberated, beautiful, and full of self-acceptance.” On my wedding day? Yes, please.
What sets Lolo’s Boudoir apart from other boudoir-style photo studios (besides their accessible price point) is Lone’s fine-art approach to photography. Also, she uses actual film (gasp!) and digital, believing in capturing beauty and printing photos on fine paper the old-fashioned way is still worth the time and effort.
Lone is flexible and artistic, original and sweet. She is open to working with people on customizing packages, but the “Taste of Luxury” photo session, which includes a 2-hour photo session with up to six outfit changes and some chocolate and champagne to get you in the mood, is a reasonable $795. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but some of the other photographers that I’ve researched are $2000+ to start. Check her out.
Search “Lone Morch” on YouTube to see the beautiful video that she created for the San Francisco event “Madly in Love with ME.”
Swoon! My former colleague, Bethany, is getting hitched and she and her fiance are working with one of my favorite photographers, Jerry Yoon, for their wedding. Both Jerry and Bethany were kind enough to let me share their engagement shoot with you all. Congrats, Bethany and Bryan!
Everyone is a winner with Bay Area Bride Guide, and today we are happy to announce the beginning of our fantastic giveaway! When you become a fan on Facebook you are automatically entered to win.
As a fan of Bay Area Bride Guide you have access to:
Local vendor reviews
DIY tips
Advice from brides-to-be and vendors
Real Wedding Features
News about Bay Area wedding happenings
If you become a Facebook fan throughout April and May, you will be entered to win these fantastic prizes:
Grand Prize – A night out in San Francisco at the Hotel Griffon and a $50 gift card to McCormick & Kuleto’s.
McCormick & Kuleto's
Hotel Griffon
The Hotel Griffon is a gorgeous hotel located along the San Francisco Bay on the Embarcadero. Each room comes with complimentary wireless internet access, a flat screen television, eco-friendly bath amenities, and much more. Its proximity to local attractions such as AT&T Park, the SFMOMA, and the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts makes it easy to enjoy San Francisco while you are in town.
After spending the day exploring San Francisco you have the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic meal at McCormick & Kuleto’s in Ghirardelli Square. Their fantastic seafood combined with beautiful bay views make this one of the best restaurants in San Francisco.
First Prize – A Canon PowerShot SX200 IS
This great digital camera is all you need to take photographs like a professional. Its small size means it will easily fit in a purse or pocket,and with 12.1 Mega Pixels and a 12x optical zoom this camera is equipped to take great photos.
Check out our Facebook fan page to become a fan and enjoy all that Bay Area Bride Guide has to offer!
Gaming companies have caught onto the fact that women make up a large percentage of the gaming community, especially when it comes to casual games. And, what a better way to appeal to women online than to focus on the wedding experience.
Dream Day Weddings has a series of wedding computer games that submerge you into the romantic side of planning weddings. Their latest adventure takes you to Italy. Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia is the 6th in the series of Dream Day Weddings, each game taking you an an adventure as the “wedding planner” to different destinations including New York and Las Vegas.
The game is very much like Where’s Waldo with you searching for hidden pieces amongst a clutter of items. There is a time penalty and specific items to search for mixed within the story line of helping your wedding clients to plan the perfect wedding in Italy.
Dream Day Weddings has a loyal following as shown by the release of this 6th Dream Day Wedding Game. If you need a break from planning your own wedding, want to reminisce about a past wedding, or just want to try it out, go to this link here or watch the video to learn more.
Photos sourced from http://www.iwin.com
Video sourced from http://gamezebo.com
As vendor bids come in and your wedding budget gets more and more difficult to balance, I’m willing to bet you’ll think to yourself “I could make that for less!” I wholeheartedly applaud a DIY wedding, but let me be the first to tell you—kid, it ain’t easy. When my husband and I wed last October, we funded the wedding ourselves on a very limited budget. It was DIY from top to bottom, including the ceremony, decor, even the food! One of the places I was able to save a ton of cash was on flowers, and here’s how I did it:
1)Shop where the florists shop: Search online or get friendly with a local florist to find out where they source their flowers from. If you’re a Bay Area Bride it’s the San Francisco Flower Mart. Go several months before your wedding to start building a relationship with a vendor whose flowers you like. Your vendor will be more honest and accommodating if you’re a familiar customer. After a few practice bouquets or centerpieces, and a little calculation, get a quote on what the flowers will cost and schedule a pick-up date and time.
2)Keep it simple: For your centerpieces pick one or two colors and florals for your blooms then add a little greenery. Buying direct from a floral supplier means you can get more flowers for your money, as you are providing the labor yourself. Use clear floral tape to construct a grid over the top of your vases, especially wide-mouthed vases. The grid will give your arrangement added structure and stability.
3) Throw a party: Enlist the help of as many friend as you can comfortably fit in your work area. Put some to work de-thorning and trimming flowers while others make grids and start arranging. Provide mimosas, snacks, and a little music to make the afternoon more fun.
5) It’s all in the details: Narrowing blossoms to two types of flowers and colors leaves you room to add special details without making the final look too busy. This could mean incorporating table numbers into your floral arrangement in a unique way, or adding a touch of ribbon. Here I used wide ribbon around the edges of pots that were all the same size and color, but had different raised patterns. The ribbon covered any bits of tape that overlapped from my grids and really brought the look together.
6) Get Your Timing Right: Even with help, this process will take you longer than you think. Time yourself from start to finish on a sample arrangement, including cleaning and trimming, then multiply it by the total number you want. Give yourself a cushion on top of that to avoid stress.
7) Cool Off: Keep the flowers well-watered in a cool place until they are ready for their big moment! Make sure in advance that you have boxes for transporting your arrangements. On your wedding day, enjoy! All of those compliments about how beautiful things look? They’re the reward for all of your hard work.
This weekend one of my bridesmaids is throwing a Bridesmaid “Meet & Greet” cocktail party for me. Because I have seven bridesmaids that are from different times of my life as well as from different circles of friends. This is why we thought it would be a good idea to get everyone together to officially meet, in this case over cocktails, music and food.
This party is an important step to the beginning of all the bridesmaid festivities i.e. the bachelorette party, the bridal shower and dress fittings. After all I am going to need to rely on them for help with the wedding as well as for them to be able to work as a team. And I can’t say I mind having this help. I enjoy the idea of having my friends kindly help me without even flinching, and this seems to be the normal reaction so far. To me it appears that bridesmaids in this day and age are more often used than not within a wedding. Which got me thinking, how did this tradition start?
The history of bridesmaids dates back to Roman times when an army of similarly dressed bridesmaids would accompany the bride to the new husband’s locale or village. In essence, these guards would protect the bride from robbers and bandits. So cool, but I don’t think I will need any protection in that way in 2010.
Later on the Romans made it a law to have 10 witnesses present at a wedding in order to ward off evil, magical spirits that were determined to destroy the marriage’s successful conception and progress. These attendants, both bridesmaids and groomsmen, dressed in identical clothes to the groom and bride, thus supposedly confusing the evil spirits that wished harm on the couple-to-be. Which is how we got the matching bridesmaid dress tradition for today’s weddings.
Today bridesmaids are the faithful, caring attendants of the bride at weddings. Usually, they are women that have some relational association to the upcoming bride, either a close friend or relative. They attend to the bride before and after a wedding ceremony. They’re usually the ones in the movies that keep the bride afloat, listen to her fears, cheer her on, help her with preparations, and pass on the collective excitement. The maid of honor is the most esteemed bridesmaid, and she plays a principal part. There is no fixed bridesmaid quantity because the decision has historically been left to the bride. The size of the bridesmaid group is sometimes associated, as a reflection, with wealth, success, or, obviously, how popular the bride is.
I am happy to have such wonderful friends and look forward to our experiences together as we prepare for my wedding in fall of 2010. I plan to update you more on my bridesmaids. But for now, I hope the party is all sorts of fun and that it will be the official kick off to my wedding.
First comes the dress, and then the shoes. For some brides, they’re an afterthought. But as anyone who has looked through a wedding album and seen the obligatory photo of the bride’s shoes before she puts them on, they’re pretty important. I’ve been going through the shoe search myself, and it’s been quite a battle between the practical side of me and the side that loves fabulous shoes. The Carrie Bradshaw side of me already impulse bought one pair that was absolutely perfect – with a 3 1/4″ heel – and the Miranda side of me sent them back. Why are all the cute heels so high? I could survive a painful night on the town, but my wedding day? My sore feet are the last thing I want to be thinking about. I thought I’d share a little of my research.
Hey Lady Shoes
Created by twin sisters Emily and Jessica Leung, these designs claim to be the “anti-dyeable, actually-danceable wedding shoe.” Their designs are super cute, and their shoe-science seems solid. All of their designs use a special insole made of high-impact, NASA-developed memory foam to increase comfort and “dance endurance.” Full arch support helps with ball-of-foot numbness. Each design is offered in 3″ and 4″ heel versions – but the 4″ version has a 1″ platform, so the angle of the foot is the same on both. I have yet to personally try these shoes on (check their website for retail listings) but they sound pretty promising…
Scarpasa
This company’s motto is “Lower your heels, not your expectations.” The collection, made up of the some of the best European designers using only the highest-quality materials, focuses on heels that are 2″ or less. The company is definitely not geared toward bridal wear, but their mission has an emphasis on stylish-yet-comfortable, for women who need their shoes to actually take them places. Like down the aisle…?
Then, finally, there’s the old standby – zappos. I have to mention them because they have such a sophisticated search engine – you can search in the women’s section by size, color, and heel height. None of the other shoe websites I’ve used have such a helpful search function – no more finding a great shoe you like to learn that it doesn’t come in your size or that it’s a 5″ heel.
Happy shoe hunting! Leave a comment if you have any tips…
If you are looking for a wedding reception site that is conveniently located but feels completely isolated, then Cinnabar Hills Golf Club is the location you have been searching for. Cinnabar Hills Golf Club is in San Jose approximately 10 minutes off Highway 101. Once you arrive at Cinnabar Hills, it is nearly impossible to see any of the nearby households or hear any typical city sounds, making you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.
In addition to its wonderful location and scenery, Cinnabar Hills provides you with everything necessary to plan a fabulous ceremony and reception. I met with their wedding coordinator, Brittany Dawes, to get the scoop on the facilities. If you choose to have your ceremony at Cinnabar Hills there is a gorgeous flower-filled arch on an outdoor patio where couples can tie the knot. The large club house is great for receptions and can hold up to 250 guests. If you have not yet begun your planning, Brittany even has a list of vendors to help you get started. The catering is all done in-house, and everything on the extensive menu tastes fantastic, leaving you with the tough job of narrowing down your appetizer and entrée choices. Unlike a lot of places, Cinnabar Hills gives you access to the room for the entire day, allowing for ample time to set-up. In addition, Brittany is there to help coordinate with all of your vendors to make sure that the day runs without a hitch, giving you extra time to relax and focus on more important things.
Cinnabar Hills offers a number of different package options, with Sunday packages starting at $6000. The greatest part is that everything is done á-la-carte, making every package flexible which means that you are not going to be stuck paying for options you do not want. After my tour of the golf course, I was not surprised to hear that you need to book about a year in advance to get your ideal wedding date. After helping coordinate weddings for over twelve years, the staff at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club knows just what it takes to make your day special.
For more information about Cinnabar Hills Golf Club check out the website: www.cinnabarhills.com/weddings.html
Or, you can e-mail Brittany Dawes – events@cinnabarhills.com
making you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.
Unlike a lot of places, Cinnabar Hills gives you access to the room for the entire day, allowing for ample time to set-up. In addition, Brittany is there to help coordinate with all of your vendors to make sure that the day runs without a hitch, giving you extra time to relax and focus on more important things.
