| February 7, 2006 - Florida Destination Weddings
We're back. After a week or so of travelling, airports, hotels, and all that goes with it we're glad to be back here again. No, we weren't vacationing - just doing lots of work. Anyway, we were just reminded that giving yourself enough time and keeping a good attitude are the keys to enjoying travel these days.
Flights are full and when they cancel or are delayed there is a huge ripple effect that tends to make your delays even longer. After all, the later flights are full and you have to "stand by" for empty seats on those if your flight cancels. So leave as early in the morning as you can stand to because, if your flight is delayed or cancelled, you've got a day's worth of other flights to help you get to your destination.
If you're having a destination wedding on a Caribbean island, usually, you'll have to be in the country for a couple of days before they'll marry you anyway, so give yourself some leeway. This is yet another reason why Florida is such an attractive place for a destination wedding. It's easy to get to by plane, train, car, or whatever it is that you use to go places. There are lots of alternatives available if your travel plans get interrupted for whatever reason.
And if you've been to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean as well, you know that there are places in the Keys that feel as remote as any island, yet offer much more in convenience. We'll get around to that and more as we cover more about Florida destination wedding spots. On the website as well, we'll be introducing a Florida wedding guide section that will tell you about places that you probably didn't even know about, even if you live in Florida. Even if you don't get married there, these spots are fantastic for honeymoons or romantic vacations as well. So keep watching for that.
Don't forget to check out the latest in Beach Theme Wedding and Reception Decorations via the link at the bottom of this entry. There are lots of new beach wedding favors that will be available to ship in just one more week. But you can take a look at them now. We'll be back in a day or so with more on Florida. Stay warm, happy, and upbeat in the meantime. Spring is just around the corner!
February 9, 2006 - Florida Destination Weddings
There's a side of Florida that most visitors never have time to see.
It's a place under the canopy of pine trees and oaks that wave in the wind with moss covered branches that seem to fan your cares away to the breeze. It's a place along gentle rivers and estuaries that provide safe harbor for spawning sea life, nursing baby fish in brackish waters that empty into the sea. It's a place where sunset is an event celebrated together, a time when flocks of birds fly up the river and people inexplicably follow with no purpose other than to watch the sun melt into the horizon of the sea. The lack of surrounding lights awakens you to the existence of stars you never knew existed and the only sounds you hear are the sounds you make.
Nestled in this setting is a quiet village of tin roof, Key West styled houses, a beautiful wedding chapel, and you, your family, and friends. Our family has travelled to this beautiful place for many years for rest and relaxation and it just so happens that we got engaged there.
This unique side of Florida is along the Steinhatchee River just slightly north of Cross City, Florida. It's out of the way, for sure, and the drive into town will have you constantly wondering if you are in the right place. But once you're there, it's worth it. In fact, the beauty of it is that it is remote. That's why it's peaceful and quiet.
For a wedding, it would work something like this. Drive in or fly to Tampa, Orlando, or Jacksonville and drive a few hours from there. Gainesville (where the University of Florida is), would be the closest airport but doesn't have the same level of air service. Then you and your family and friends can pick from rental houses that range from honeymoon cottages for two to multilevel houses with huge porches, docks, and multiple bedrooms.
You get married in a picture perfect country wedding chapel and spend time together. There is canoeing, fishing, tennis courts, basketball courts, and lots more to do. But the chief activity here is enjoying nature and enjoying each other.
We'll talk more about this in our upcoming Florida wedding section, but for now, check it out at the link provided. We'll be back soon with more. Only one more day until the weekend. Hang in there.
February 13, 2006 - True Customization for Wedding Favors, Decorations, and More.
We can tell that a lot of you were snowed in today. Sundays are usually a little slower for us. People are out and about and not looking at a computer as much. But I'll bet a lot of you were looking for ways to dream about your upcoming spring or summer wedding because things were busy here for a Sunday. We heard of at least one bridal shower that got postponed until next week because of the weather. We're in Florida and it was pretty cold here, too. Not quite the same, though.
Here, you just had to dress a little warmer on the golf course. There, you probably couldn't even find the golf course for the snow. Actually, we were supposed to be miserable with you. Our flight to New York was cancelled just ahead of the big snow storm and we were okay with that. No sense in fighting a blizzard.
Anyway, we're always making a point of saying that you can make a big difference with the small details and you're about to hear it again. Why? Because, a major shift is going on around here. One of the things we feel is lacking in the world of weddings is affordable customization. Here's what we mean.
Everyone wants to have unique wedding favor ideas, unique wedding decorations, invitations, and so on. And there are more options at your fingertips out there than ever before. And there are tons of ways to personalize all of those things. Often though, you have only one of two options.
The first, and less expensive option, is to use coordinated favor tags, labels, or something like that to put your names and wedding date in a standard format on whatever it is you're using - favors, cake servers, guest books, etc. These things actually lend themselves well to this type of personalization, but there are times when you want something different.
The next option gets expensive quick. You can get all the customization in the world, for a price.
The new option, and what is spawning the shift around here has to do with affordable customization. This trend started with custom monogram cake toppers. Couples wanted an alternative to the traditional bride and groom. When we got married, the trend was to not have a topper at all if you didn't have the figurines, so we had floral decorations as a cake topper.
But once the monogram entered the scene, lots of possibilities started popping up. All of a sudden, you could create your own custom design in terms of fonts and creative combinations of letters. For less than many traditional toppers, you were making a big difference with a small detail - a topper designed for you by you.
But why not extend that custom design into other things? We saw that there were lots of options where you could pick from certain standard templates or designs and insert your own names or letters. But this wasn't true customization either. So that's where we're going.
Today we put out the first in that line of products, true customization for votive candles. You create your own design with our partner graphic design company and we put it into the wax. These are not sticker labels on candles, they're "melted" into the wax through a simple artistic process. The design is truly yours from start to finish - all your creation. And it can be carried across anything you wish.
We'll be rolling out at least one new option a day for a while. You can use it on save the date cards/magnets, invitations, stationery, your personal wedding website, wedding favors, favor labels, napkins, and so on. And most important of all, we're keeping it affordable, so that your custom design won't cost much more, if any more at all, than a non customized design. So take a look and keep checking back for a few days as we roll out more great wedding ideas. Until then, stay warm and don't go to work if you don't have to. It's too cold out there anyway.
February 18, 2006 - Wedding Event Ideas - Nontraditional is IN.
Nontraditional is IN. The big stuff is still there - ceremonies, receptions, honeymoons - but there is a lot of freedom these days to customize those elements. Destination weddings are bigger than ever and honeymoons are getting more unique all the time. There is so much variety in wedding cakes, cake toppers, wedding favors, reception decorations, and more that wedding planning is more fun and more customizeable than ever.
Now, this break from the old ways of thinking is making the events surrounding weddings more fun than ever, too. Instead of participating in an alcohol fueled race to the bottom of the human behavior ladder, more brides and grooms are choosing to spend their bachelorette and bachelor parties doing things they truly enjoy rather than things they'll regret.
Instead of infantile behavior with friends that have no respect for marriage, grooms are going on hunting, fishing, and golfing expeditions with true friends, brothers, and fathers. We just heard from a bride to be who just finished an afternoon of sailing with female family members and friends for her bachelorette party. Instead of taunting her, embarrassing her, and dishonoring marriage with a sleazy stripper, her family and friends encouraged her, supported her, had wine and desserts while sailing the Gulf of Mexico, playing games, and telling funny stories about life under a picture perfect sky. Fantastic!
No longer do you have to feel pressured by Hollywood and the lowest common denominator of your social circle to have the traditional bachelor or bachelorette party. Having real fun doing things you really enjoy is in. Doing things you don't really want to do and will regret later all for the sake of peer pressure is out.
That's one great thing about this current generation of brides and grooms. For whatever reason, you guys are independent thinkers and it's great to see. This world will be a better place because of you.
This "nontraditional" trend goes beyond bachelor and bachelorette parties, though. Here's why. Weddings are times when lots of people that don't get together very often come together, usually for just a weekend. Naturally, everyone wants to visit as much as possible. But this gets really expensive really quick.
So, families are holding more informal gatherings surrounding the wedding. From rehearsal dinners to Sunday brunches, families are taking care of the important part - getting together - without drowning themselves in debt to do it.
The moral of the story is this. If you have the money to have rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, and brunches in fancy places and you want to do it - by all means do it. But if you're considering skipping perfectly good occasions with family and friends in the name of finances, then forget about what everyone, including a snobby advice columnist, has to say.
This little event in your life - your wedding - is too important to spend a single minute of it worrying about what anyone else thinks. In fact, the person that would criticize your food or location for any get together doesn't care enough about you to merit inclusion of their opinion. Disregard them, love your family and friends, have a great time together, and think only about the things that matter. Think about good things, disregard the bad, and we'll do the same until we talk to you again, right here, in a day or two.
|
