Update on Gilt Groupe’s Wedding Weekend

If you read The One! already, then you know from yesterday’s post that Gilt Groupe has collaborated with Martha Stewart weddings (my all-time favorites, working together!  yesssssss) to bring you an incredible sale this weekend- it’s called Wedding Weekend, and I think it’s a definite must-see for anyone who loves weddings!  But today I am extra excited because I have even more goodness for you.  Yes, it’s true, we scored PREVIEWS of some of the stunning gowns (and shoes!) you can find at the sale, straight from the source!  Thanks to the fine folks over at Gilt for sending these to us!!  Grab a tissue because you’re about to drool… and sign up for Gilt today, if you haven’t already, so you’ll be ready on March 12 when the sale starts!!

Gown by Carolina Herrera: Original Retail: $5790, Gilt: $1999

Carolina back view

Carolina overlay (sigh!)

Another perfect gown from Carolina Herrera: Original Retail: $4990, Gilt: $1599

Carolina back view

Carolina detail

From Thread Made To Order, Silk Faille Strapless Notched Bust Liddy Dress: Original Retail: $305, Gilt: $228.75

Thread back view

Thread detail

Vera Wang Lavender Label, Bias Satin Draped Neckline Gown: Original Retail: $655.50, Gilt: $196.65

Vera back view

Vera detail (how I love thee)

The icing on the cake! Sergio Rossi: Original Retail: $770, Gilt: $128

Sergio looks good coming or going

This shot makes me so psyched for summer shoes again!

What other cyber-sales have you visited for wedding deals?  Or non-wedding deals for that matter?  After all, a girl doesn’t have to wait for her wedding to get glam!

Sale Alert: Gilt Groupe Partners with Martha!

I have excellent news for you today if you are planning a wedding and have a “champagne taste but beer budget” problem (or just like a good bargain).  Gilt Groupe is partnering with Martha Stewart Weddings this weekend, March 12-14, starting at noon ET!  I have been a big fan of Gilt Groupe for a while now, because I always score great deals there.  But now, gowns by designers like Carolina Herrera and Alexander McQueen will also be for sale there… not to mention bridesmaids dresses from Amasale and Vera Wang Lavender!  If only I had known about this sale a year ago!  Ah well, my loss is your gain!  I would love to hear if any of you score a great find at this sale!  If you’re not a member of Gilt already, click here to sign up- even if you’re not looking for wedding duds, you’re likely to score some great deals!

Creative Approaches to The Breaking of the Glass

The breaking of the glass is an important tradition at Jewish wedding ceremonies.  Traditionally, the groom smashes a glass with his foot at the conclusion of the ceremony.  There are two main schools of thought about the meaning of this tradition.  One interpretation is that the broken glass symbolizes “forever” – that the marriage will last as long as the glass is broken.  Another interpretation is that Jews need to remember those who are suffering even during the most joyous occasions, and to remember the destruction of the second temple.  Rather than delve more into the background of this tradition, I would recommend The New Jewish Wedding by Anita Diamant to anyone who is interested.

The New Jewish Wedding by Anita Diamant

Regardless of its meaning, the breaking of the glass is certainly one of the more “popular” traditions at Jewish ceremonies.  I have heard many terrible stories about errors occurring during the execution of this tradition.  There are stories about the glass not breaking, leading to a lot of embarrassment for the groom and some rumors of bad luck.  There are stories about the glass tearing through the groom’s shoe, leading to a night at the Emergency Room.  The list goes on.  I wanted to avoid this at all costs.  Hence, I did a little research.

The best idea is to not rely on the catering facility to provide the glass.  While your caterer should be able to provide a drinking glass wrapped in a cloth napkin, the glass is often too thick, and not easily breakable.  The most common recommendation I received was to bring a light bulb for the groom to break instead.  Light bulbs break very easily, and make a great “popping” sound.  It’s an easy, low-cost idea.

But of course, I continued the search to find something a little more special.  I came across Shardz, a company that sells products at most Judaica stores.  Shardz sells “wedding glass” in every color, so you can coordinate the glass color to match your wedding. While their price is a little expensive for a thin glass (approximately $30), I thought it was worth it. 

Look at these great colors!

The glass that I ordered came in a lovely satin pouch.  The most wonderful part of using Shardz is that your broken wedding glass can be made into a wonderful memento of your wedding.  After your wedding, you mail the broken wedding glass (in a sealed, ziploc bag) back to the company.  Shardz will turn put your wedding glass into a mezzuzah, kiddush cup, candle sticks, picture frame or menorah.  I’m very pleased that I can incorporate the remnants of this Jewish wedding tradition into a Judaica item for my home.

Mezzuzah made from Shardz

I ordered my Shardz from www.galleryjudaica.com.  Shardz is not the only company that sells this.  www.Judaism.com sells “groom’s glass” from various artists.  I’m sure you can find even more options with a little web browsing.  What creative ideas do you have for this great tradition?

Win Free Wedding Photography from Unusually Fine!

Today I am super-extra excited to share with you a very cool contest- you can thank bridesmaid H.  for sending this goodness our way!  If you are getting married in NYC in 2010 or 2011, you definitely need to check this out: a full day of free wedding photography (including an album!  what?! yes!)  from the incredibly talented folks at Unusually Fine!  But make sure you enter soon- the deadline is March 12!  The photos featured in this post belong to them…

Is this not 100% totally adorable?

Here’s the scoop, from the source:

Attn: All lovers.

Unusually Fine is going to shoot one lucky couple’s New York wedding for FREE.  We’re new to the city and it’s our way of saying, “Hello, New York. Can I buy you a drink?”

Here’s the deal. Max and Margaret are suckers for a good love story.  Send yours our way by Friday, March 12th.  Tell us why your love is special and why you think Unusually Fine ought to shoot your wedding.   A team of highly-trained monkey judges will choose three finalists.  The top three entries will be posted to our blog and we’ll leave it to our fans to decide who wins.

That’s it.  The winner receives up to 8 hours of wedding day coverage, a gorgeous album, and the DVD of images.  There are no strings attached, no hidden costs, no taxes, no obligation to buy a single thing.  This is so free.  It’s 110% free.  So.  Send this link to your friends, family, coworkers, boss, or nominate them yourself, and make sure you do it before March 12th.

RULES:
1. You must be in love.
2. The wedding must take place in the great state of New York.
3. The wedding must be in 2010 or 2011.

HOW TO ENTER:
Send your love story to look@unusuallyfine.com in 1,000 words or fewer, along with a snapshot of the engaged couple.

And here’s the adorable blog:  http://unusuallyfine.blogspot.com/

Go sign up now!

Free Money For Shopping You Do Anyway…

I have seen other brides blog about this in the past, but I have no idea what took me so long to get on the bandwagon.  Well, I’m on it now.  I signed up for Ebates.  Ebates is this website that gives cash back for shopping, only you don’t have to pay for anything or get any email spam in order to participate.  Here’s how it works (1) go to Ebates, (2) look for the retailer you want and click on their name, (3) Ebates will reroute you to the retailer’s website where you make your purchase as usual, (4) four times a year they will send you a check.

For example, I just bought some custom postage for shower invitations at Zazzle, spent about $100, and since they give 10% cash back I’m getting about $10 for it.  I also buy online from Sephora pretty often, and they give 4% back. See how this could add up?  My personal rule is that I don’t use the service unless it is for something I need to buy anyway and the coupons make it all make sense- which has been more often than I expected.

I am also a big fan of Ebates because they have coupon codes on their website, which you can use for even more bargains.  And of course, once you have started shopping, there is nothing to prohibit you from using other coupon codes.  So my Zazzle purchase, for example, I used a code for 12% off, a code for $20 off, and a code for free shipping, so with the extra $10 from Ebates, my fancy postage became much more affordable.

My favorite stores on Ebates include:

The Apple Store (1%)

Ann Taylor and Loft (3%)

Barnes and Noble (8%)

Bliss Spa (4%)

Borders (4%)

Crate and Barrel (3%)

Gap (4%)

iTunes (3%)

JoAnn (5%)

Kate Spade (3.5%)

The Land of Nod (4%)

Nordstrom (3%)

Payless (3%)

PetFoodDirect (5%) – I use this one a LOT

Red Envelope (6%)

Target (3%)

Urban Outfitters (2.5%)

Vera Bradley (3%)

Victoria’s Secret (2%)

Vistaprint (5%) – HEY BRIDES, SEE THIS?!

White House Black Market (2%)

1-800-FLOWERS (5%)

And the list goes on.  It’s also a great place to book travel (car rental, hotels and airfare) for cash back too!  I will definitely be hooking this up for my next trip.

In the interest of full disclosure, I want you to know that if you sign up for Ebates by clicking on a link in this post, I get a referral credit- so signing up through this post would be very nice of you- but if you would prefer not to do so, you can navigate to Ebates directly in your browser, and I think in either case you will be happy you did!  I don’t really mind if you use my referral link or not- I just think this is an easy way to watch pennies- and I think this would have been extra handy when planning our wedding, since we bought SO much stuff online!

Free Fonts and Why I Love Them

I love me some free fonts.  They come in handy so often these days for various projects, from shower favors to thank you notes.  Adding an element of professional polish to even the most basic of labels, and making me look a lot more like a graphic designer than I am (which is not at all).  I have a pretty nice version of Microsoft Word at home, but my favorites were all downloaded from DaFont for FREE.   All you have to do is move your downloaded font into your computer’s “font” folder, and it will be available to you in Power Point, Word, and more for use on special projects.

What fonts do you love?  Do you have any good tips for how to find great free fonts?

Matching ‘Maids, Not Poor ‘Maids

For example, my dear friend R. recently chose shoes to go with our navy blue Jenny Yoo bridesmaids dresses.  The dresses are super swank, but the shoes are cheap n’ chic.  From none other than Lela Rose for Payless!!  I heart these shoes.  And I can vouch that they look even better in person, if that is possible! 

$29.99 (click for source)

But of course you don’t have to limit yourself to just Payless.  Check out these hot pink lovelies from, yes, Target! 

And don’t forget the junior’s stores.     Charlotte Russe, for example, carries this great shoe in teal, gray and black, and I am loving the bling!

$34.99

 And these peacock flats are to die for.  Am I right?

 Even Baker’s has some cute options (and I have’t shopped there since I was 14).

$29.99

 And don’t forget chains like DSW, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s either.  Just make sure you buy fast – they carry limited quantities- so your ladies aren’t left shoeless!

Old School Disposable Cameras

With the advent of the digital camera, it seems that fewer people are jumping on the disposable wedding camera bandwagon.  It’s like, soooo 1998.  But much like the year 1998 (the year of Savage Garden, K-Ci and Jo Jo, and also Backstreet Boys!) I have a hard time accepting that people don’t find them fun anymore.  In fact, in light of bridesmaid C.’s wildly successful experience with these for her 30th birthday party (a “Doble Quinceanera”) I think they could still be vogue- at least in the right context.  I know her party pals thought they were fantastic- and took awesome pictures to prove it!

It appears that we old school camera lovers are not alone.  I ran a google search and found that they’re still beloved by brides and party planners alike!  C. made hers by tracing the outline of the disposable camera’s sleeve onto vintage travel posters from Mexico- nice touch for a fiesta, don’t you think?  But this could easily be done using homemade papers, coordinating card stock, scrapbook or magazine finds, maybe even fabric.  Miss Cola over on Weddingbee even created a free template you can print out on your paper before you cut, if you want to make your life even easier.  Miss Cola is one crafty diva!

Miss Cola's final product (image from WB)

A view of Miss Cola's template (also from WB)

Of course, I’m partial to C.’s because I know all of the other touches that went into her big party… and look at them in action!  It would appear that Miss C. even made tri-fold table cards (remember when I made those for my Rehearsal Dinner menus?)  that she embossed for some extra spice in her theme color- blue.  Based solely on having seen this picture, I am absolutely, without a doubt, definitely planning to use this idea in some shape or form at one of the umpteen showers that are being planned this year.

Nice, right?!

Would you include old school disposable cameras as a part of your special event?

My Homemade Valentine

Happy President’s Day everyone!  I hope you all have a lovely Valentine’s day yesterday!  We definitely did!  I know I’ve mentioned before that this month we’re on a “financial fast” which meant no gifts for V-day this year.  Frankly, for me, I find Valentine’s gifts to be overpriced and overrated.  So rather than spin our wheels and spend our money, we aimed for the small and thoughtful this year… and for me, that meant making dinner (spinach salad, flank steak pinwheels, wild mushroom risotto and fresh, lemony asparagus- my own creation!) and yes, it was a really, really good dinner! 

J. is a big lover of chocolate so I didn’t want to skip dessert.  But at the same time, I’m going through a particularly busy time at work (and an equally busy personal life) so I had to figure out something that wouldn’t take too long.  The solution came to me last week during my daily blog review when I was reminded of Bakerella’s recipe for cake balls!  Besides having a hilarious name, this recipe looked cute and simple so I decided to try my own spin on it- only I renamed them “cake truffles” so as to be taken slightly more seriously.

Bakerella’s recipe calls for red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting which I ADORE- but J. loves chocolate.  So I did a devil’s food cake with German chocolate icing (see Bakerella’s link above for instructions).  I broke my cardinal rule and used cake mix and store-bought icing, because I was short on time (bad Sarah, bad!)… but I do think you could easily do this completely homemade.  Then I melted a good-quality semi-sweet chocolate for the coating, and added some sprinkles in red, while and gold (a bridal shower gift).  The result?  See for yourself!

mmmmm, yummy chocolatey cake goodness

Now, I’m a big believer that presentation is EVERYTHING so of course I also had to at least attempt some sort of V-day appropriate packaging.  Since I didn’t want to spend any money, I ended up taking an old, standard gift box and turning it into a heart-shape.  To give you an idea of my approach, the below image shows (I hope) how I cut the box bottom.  I left the sides of the box intact and then shaped them to match the bottom, taping them into place when the new shape looked good to me.

Try to pretend this rectangle is a gift box.

Once my box was in the right shape I covered it with red and white papers.  Not being able to spend money, I downloaded these and these freebie printable papers, originally intended for dollhouses but perfect for my project.  I admit that it looks a little bit like a kindergartner did it, but I like to think it is kind of charming!

The box, pre-truffles

Once my box was ready, I decided to line it with waxed paper, to keep it nice for as long as possible.  I simply cut the waxed paper into a heart shape approximately 1 inch larger on all sides than the box, so the paper would line the sides of the box.  To get the paper to fit around the curves, I cut verticle slits into the paper’s edge.  Easy peasy.

Lined with wax paper

Next, I glued some red ribbon onto the bottom of the box, for tying later.  And yes, the ribbon was recycled, I didn’t buy that either.

With the ribbon...

And finally I filled the box with my creations.  Voila!

Just add truffles!

Before tying the bow, I added another layer of heart-shaped waxed paper, and then that was it!  A cute, homemade Valentine using groceries and freebies, something that still felt special despite the absence of big spending.  J. loved them!

A little more waxed paper, a bow, and we're in business!

I think this would make such a cute thank you gift for someone throwing a shower- or maybe even a groom’s gift.  As for me, I’ll be incorporating them into my traditional repertoire of holiday baking from now on!

How did you celebrate Valentine’s day?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sunday will be my first Valentine’s day as a married woman.  And though some people think its just a holiday for presents, I like to treat it as an opportunity to get creative (do you like the double entendre there?)  J. and I are currently on a “financial fast” which means no discretionary spending, a la the proposed Obama budget, and it also means we can’t spend money on romantic gifts for one another.  The solution?  Make a valentine for your loved one!

The Wedding Chicks, for example, offer these adorable downloadable cards which would be useful for so many great projects!

hummingbird valentine

love postcard

Or these freebies from Samantha Hahn:

Adorable, no?

And don’t forget to check out downloadables like these from the Vintage Moth!

Victorian always wins me over...

Of course, if all else fails, you can also go the mix-tape route.  Who doesn’t love those?!  I don’t yet know what I’ll be doing, but I think I’ve got a good start!

Do you have any cheap or free tips for romantic valentines?