Wedding Blog

For me, it was when I discovered that Kleinfeld’s charges you $50 if you miss an appointment. You know the feeling…that sense of outrage (or exasperation) that comes from the realization that the wedding industrial complex is out to squeeze every last cent out of you that it can. Arrrrgh. So in my first real Weddingbee post, I thought I’d introduce a few web-based applications that I’ve found really helpful and [insert happy dance] are free.

1. Free fonts

If you’re like me and can wax poetic about the refined elegance of Garamond or the graceful beauty of Zapfino, you are going to heart dafont.com. Hundreds of easy-to-install and creative fonts- free for personal use. I’ve been completely obsessed with Jane Austen lately- perfect for penning snarky love/hate mail to your own Mr. Darcy. And I can’t get over the quirky, simple lines of Rough Typewriter, which would be a chic font for retro wedding or for a ransom note.

2. Free wedding planning tools

A number of Bees have already gushed about the awesomeness of the wedding-planning tools available via Google. Another free option is the new tools offered at MarthaStewart.com. Among the apps available is a budget worksheet, with pull-down menus and interactive charts (guaranteed to keep all of you accountants and consultants entertained for hours); a checklist (like the one that comes as an insert in issues of Martha Stewart Weddings); and a guest list app that not only lets you keep track of addresses, RSVPs, and gifts, but is also linked to a seating chart application. All are customizable, intuitive, and easy to use. And, as with all things Martha (except her wackadoodle scheme to spin her dog’s fur into yarn), the apps are useful and elegant. And did I mention free?!

3. Free color palettes

A pity party invitation: While all the other Bees are already creating gorgeous doodads for their weddings, poor little Miss Hot Cocoa is still deciding on her color palette. It’s like riding a tricycle while everyone around you is already on a two-wheeler. But I found two fabulous tools that- fingers crossed- are going to solve my color woes. Both web applications make it easy to create a color palette from any image that inspires you.

The first tool (and the easiest to use) is the Color Palette Generator. All you have to do is to paste the URL of a web-based image into it (I used a photo of jewel-colored dahlias from Jessamyn Harris), and it generates two palettes from that image — one “dull” and one “vibrant.”

The second tool is called COPASO. It requires a few more steps than the Color Palette Generator, but it also gives you more control over which parts of your image you want to use for your palette.

Once you register and get to the main COPASO desktop, do the following:

a) Click “attach” to upload the image of your choice. Here I used the Strawberry Sprite Chinois print from Paper Mojo.

b) Click “pixelate” to break the image down into its constituent pixels.

c) Zone in on a part of the image you like and click a pixel. That pixel’s color should then appear in the first square of the palette bar.

d) Click on the second square of the palette bar. Select another pixel. Its color should then appear in the second square of the bar.

e) Continue with the above until you fill up all five squares of the palette.

f) Voila! Your color palette is done. You can now save it, download it, or publish it.

* A tip: COPASO appears to only allow you to make a palette of five colors, so you’ll want to have the unpixelated image in front of you — probably in another window — so that you’ll be able to select pixels of the dominant colors in your image.

** I take no responsibility for how many hours of productivity you’ll lose breaking down various images into color palettes. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Muhahahaha!

I hope you enjoy this grab bag of free stuff.

Any other free online resources to recommend? Pay it forward and share!