Weddingbee Blog

A very important part of the invitation set is the direction or map card. I am having map cards custom made with the invites, but I researched quite a few sites in the process that I thought I’d share:

Snappy Map: Maps custom designed and printed. They can make both formal maps and “fun” maps with cute icons. Prices start at $150 for 100 one-sided cards.

Inkspun: A lot of girls on the knot use Inkspun for computer “calligraphy” for their invite envelopes. The reviews are generally good and the prices are dirt cheap! 39¢ for the outer envelope. Inkspun also does direction cards for 39¢ for one-sided cards (49¢ for double-sided). You have to provide the content/layout.

Kristen Sanchez Designs: Map and direction card designs starting from $45. You have to print them yourself.

Click thumbnail for printable 20% off coupon online and in stores. Plus receive free shipping on orders over $100.

I realized that I never did a vendor review after my wedding. For the most part I didn’t have any major problems with any of my vendors. I could nitpick at little things that went wrong, but honestly in the big picture it didn’t really matter that much. Overall I was very happy with how our wedding day turned out.

These were the vendors we used:

Venue - Westside Loft
Rehearsal Dinner - Danal
Hair/Makeup - Kakaboka (on 32nd street in Koreatown)
Caterer - James Catering
Alcohol - K&D Wines & Spirits
Honeymoon - Spain: Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, & Marbella
Dress/Veil - Anne Barge from Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier
Dress Cleaning & Preservation - J. Scheer
Bridesmaids Dresses - Here Comes the Bridesmaid
Groom’s Suit - Rothmans
Groomsmen’s Suits - Eisenberg & Eisenberg
Wedding Coordinators - Leslie Price & Eyal Tessler of In Any Event
Floral Designer - Belle Fleur
Photographer - Cappy Hotchkiss
Band/DJ/Ceremony Musicians - Ronnie Gesser Music & Entertainment
Officiant - Judge William Corbett
Favors - Honey Jars from ebeehoney
Limo - Limo New York
Paebaek - Rose Handicraft (in Flushing)
Invitations - Dauphine Press, Kate’s Paperie
Computer Calligraphy - Cambridge Calligraphy
Programs, Menus, Table Cards, Placecards - Custom Programs
Seating Chart & Guestbook Scroll - Bcreative
Wedding Night Hotel - Ritz Carlton Battery Park
Disposable Cameras - Wedding Cameras
Wedding Bands - Wedding Ring Originals

I think the only thing I’m forgetting is where we got the linens. (Sorry I don’t know the name of the place because I went with my planners.)

Other Sources: Michaels, Paper-Source, Kate’s Paperie, Target.

I loved working with most of my vendors - especially my florist and my indispensable wedding planners. There were however some vendors I had issues with:

• Our limo driver. He was over an hour late! I was late anyway (due to a hair and make-up debacle) so it ended up not mattering but that doesn’t make it right. (Their website isn’t working so maybe they went out of business.)
• Kakaboka Salon. The owner was soooo nice, but honestly the hair and makeup was not good.
• Disposable wedding cameras. Read about my nightmare experience here.
• Although we didn’t purchase my engagement ring at Wedding Ring Originals, we took it there to be resized (so I could wear it on my right hand). They charged me a lot more than the initial estimate. We were told we would be refunded the difference…. but we’re still waiting.

I’m told the food, music, and paebaek were all really good but honestly I hardly remember a minute of it. The day just goes by so fast.

I think vendor reviews can be really helpful for other brides-to-bee so if you have any specific questions about any of the vendors we used, please feel free to ask!

mrsmeldave - Beautiful vibrant orange and fuschia themed Philadelphia wedding. The bride made this chuppah herself!

twostepper32 - Pink and brown themed, candles galore Chicago wedding.

Amalfiwedding2 - Gorgeous Italian wedding.

This is just a sneak peak till I finish the rest. Friggin burned my finger yo! I lost count how many times but the finished result was so worth it!

I finally ordered my flower girl dresses today for 3 year old Hannah and 2 year old Josie.

Pegeen
Ivory silk dress with a chocolate sash. It includes a crinoline underskirt to give the skirt a little poof.

I want to tie the back of the sash into a cute lil bow and stick silk flowers in it. Kinda like what I saw on the Katina Katoo site. Their dresses are pricey but SO CUTE! They’re gonna look so cute!

With my invitation design almost completed (I promise to share the pdf’s later this week), I’ve been checking out possible designs for the ceremony programs, menu cards and other “peripherals.”

I came across Margie at Mine-by-Design, who makes great programs for $1.85 each. Once I factor in the cost of the paper, paper cutter, the color ink cartridges I’d likely go through, the custom fonts I’d have to buy and my blood, sweat and tears… this is a very good price.

Did you order/make a program for every guest or each couple?

Pictureal is a new service that allows you to submit your wedding videos and photos and have them professionally edited, digitized, and set to music.

You can then customize the video online through a password protected site. Editing options include:

• adding names and captions
• changing the sequence, music, titles or style
• ordering full-length DVD copies
• personalizing the DVD cover
• selecting short clips - (exchange of vows, first dance, best man toast) - to be shared by email, blog, cell phone or iPod.

Pictureal accepts video in any format including VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C, MiniDV, Hi8, Digital8, MicroMV, DVCAM, Beta and DVD. Pricing for tapes shipped begins at $29 per hour of video sent, with prepaid packages ranging from $99 (3 hours of video and one DVD) to $299 (12 hours of video and three DVDs). DVDs can also be purchased a la carte at $39 each.

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We didn’t have a videographer at our wedding (because I’m horribly unvideogenic) and it just wasn’t a top priority. In retrospect having some kind of video would have been nice and this sounds like an easy, affordable option to a professional videographer.

Brooklyn artist Elaine Li makes these cool wedding cake glass sculptures.

(Source Gothamist)

Planet Gordon was a popular wedding blog that chronicled all the wedding planning goodness from a groom’s perspective. The blog’s author recently published a book based on his wedding planning experiences titled The Engaged Groom and is having a release party here in New York tomorrow.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 22nd, 7 PM to whenever

WHERE: Magician Bar, 118 Rivington Street (between Norfolk & Essex)

WHY: To celebrate the release of The Engaged Groom with friends and family

WHAT: Special drink prices early in the evening, cupcakes from Sweet Sugar Sunshine as long as they last

So far the book is getting good reviews. Perhaps this would make a great gift for your groom to be!

This bride had an interesting post on her blog about brides on theknot’s messageboards “knot” being too friendly.

When I got engaged, the first online resource I turned to was the knot - it’s the one stop resource for all things wedding (until weddingbee came along but I may be biased ).

I wanted to start by setting a budget but had no idea where to begin, so I posted a question on the knot’s local messageboards. Brides either bragged about how much they were able to do with a tiny budget, or bashed me for estimating a budget that was more than “average.” They were not very nice. But hey, money can be a touchy subject. I posted other questions about things like venue suggestions and received very nice and helpful comments as well.

I can’t say I’ve spent enough time on the knot’s messageboards to formulate a definitive opinion. I actually spent a lot more time on the liweddings messageboards (the brides on there were always very friendly and helpful).

What has your experience been like with the knot’s messageboards? LIwedding’s messageboards? Wedding messageboards in general?

This company adorns your wedding shoes with Swarovski crystals. Get blue crystals and they can be your “something in blue!”

• Now this is love. This guy sold his warcraft account to help pay for his wedding and make his fiance happy.
• Three friends create a very cute “love story” movie as a wedding gift.
• MTV is looking for young engaged couples getting married in the next three months for a new wedding documentary series.
• Bride keeps wedding but changes groom!
• India - Land of Extravagant Weddings. Case in point - the Big Fat Indian Wedding of a Manhattan millionaire.
• Wedding insurance does not cover cold feet.
• Fake Korean subway wedding is revealed.
• Ebay has a bridal hub.
• Kylie Minogue to wed fiance Olivier Martinez (of Unfaithful fame) in April.
• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie rumors are everywhere. From where they’re getting married to who the chef will be.
• Lisa Marie Presley marries guitarist and music producer Michael Lockwood in her fourth marriage.

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Do you have a wedding related picture, link, or story you’d like to share? Send them to stories@weddingbee.com! Please include your name and website address (if applicable) so we can give you credit.

My mom and I are on the hunt for favors - both for the wedding and bridal shower. Here are some that we’ve researched:

Aunt Nalani’s Cookies: Cookies from Hawaii with either a seashell or orchid. They’re $7.00 each including shipping; which is a bit pricey for the wedding (for 150 guests), but might be perfect for the shower.

I’ve ordered a sample with a peach flower and sage ribbon and will report back when I get it next week. The cookies come in lots of flavors but I’ve ordered samples of chocolate chip and vanilla (the only flavors which do not include macadamia nuts… you never know if your guests have allergies!)

At each place setting or hanging off the chair backs:

One Girl Cookies: Cookie sleeves either wrapped with a decorative paper band or monogrammed with your name starting at $5.50. We’ll need to do a trip to Brooklyn to check these out.

Crate and Barrel has some great bargains on the outlet portion of the website. For the shower, I thought it might look nice to roll up a colorful towel ($1.95) and dishcloth (6 for $7.95) and put them through one of these cute flower napkin rings (on sale for 75 cents each!!!). I tried it - two towels won’t fit! Each favor would cost around $4.00.

Another (and much cheaper!) option for the shower would be large iced sugar cookies! Mrs. Bee found some great wedding cake-shaped cookies for just $2.50 each (including shipping!) on Ebay. I have also discovered Diane’s Cakes & More with these gorgeous cookies for $2.75 each (plus shipping). You can either get wedding cake shaped cookies or an assortment of wedding related shapes in the same color.

White Aisle has some great favor ideas. My favorites are these candy favors wrapped with personalized paper ($2.75 each). The minimum order is 25 boxes, so I may order half with large lettering (names/date/place) and half with small lettering (wedding vows? words to wedding song?).

They also have lots of other great wrapping papers to chose from. The only problem is that the candy they put inside isn’t great - Lindt chocolate is the fanciest they offer - so I may look into providing them with different chocolate and just have them wrap the boxes.

If my mom goes with Aunt Nalani’s cookies for the shower, I think we’ll go with White Aisle for the wedding …. unless, of course, I discover something new.

Wanna be on a wedding podcast? Check this out…

The Wedding Podcast Network¢â‚¬Å¾¢ is looking to interview brides who are in the planning process as well as newlywed brides.

We would love the opportunity to interview you about your wedding for an upcoming podcast. The Wedding Podcast Network¢â‚¬Å¾¢ is the only place on the web to listen to advice on wedding planning, and who knows more about wedding planning than the bride?

The interviews can be conducted on the phone. If you are in the New York City area we will be at The Bridal Event at The Pierre Hotel on Saturday February 25th recording live from the show. If you can make it stop by our booth.

We have had a great reponse so far to our podcasts and here is your chance to share what you have learned from your own experience.

If you are interested in participating send us an email at thewpn@gmail.com

Thank you
Robert Allen
Executive Producer
The Wedding Podcast Network¢â‚¬Å¾¢