We’re busy getting ready for another wonderful wedding at TPC Sawgrass this weekend, and bride Lauren had a question that I thought might good to share.

Lauren and her fiance Jeff are making a donation to a charity, rather than giving their guests favors at the wedding.  So how is it best to let the guests know that they just didn’t overlook the favors?

We considered a few options:

• 2 small cards placed on each table around the centerpiece
• a note tucked into each napkin (they were not having a sit-down dinner so we didn’t have menu cards to compete with)
• a small sign near the guest book
• a note in the ceremony programs

We finally made the decision to go with the small sign near the guest book, with a few small cards (business-card sized) scattered around the sign for the guests to pick up in case they wanted to visit the charity’s website for more information about this special cause.

Do you have other ideas you’d like to share?

Have you always been the kind of girl that has dreamed about a traditional wedding? Maybe you’ve never pictured anything but a modern theme on your wedding day. At either end of the spectrum, it’s yours, and you make it what you want. You should never, at any moment, worry about what your guests think. Your wedding should be about you and your future spouse and who the two of you join together to be.

Let’s take a look at one of the most common wedding phrases…

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

Primarily, “something old” represents tradition. This is often a signification of your mom, grandmother, aunt, sister, etc. “Something old” stands for tradition and memories of the past, and traditions that you are continuing to carry on that will possibly be included in your granddaughter’s wedding.

“Something new” is typically the style of the bride. It is what she wants to include in her wedding day that defines more of who she is and her sense of fashion.

A bride can sometimes receive a gift or item from a happily married friend or family member, alas “something borrowed.” This may signify good fortune from one bride to another.

As far as “something blue” goes, the color and weddings have gone hand in hand for centuries. Brides in ancient Rome wore blue to symbolize many noble traits, while purity has been associated with the color because of Christianity’s dressing the Virgin Mary in the color.

Whatever the theme, whatever the colors, whatever the traditions or lack thereof, your wedding is yours. Maybe your something blue should be something hot pink!

(pink flower photo courtesy of Tibby Dozier Steedly)

I just got an interesting email from fellow ABC member Lauren Saul about her product, the Kedai Photo Kiosk.  This a new take on the photo booth, incorporating your guests photos into one slideshow and online gallery.

Your guests simply take their memory cards out of their cameras, insert them into the special kiosk, and then choose the photos to add.  Each guest gets their own gallery on the website, and all the photos are compiled into an instant slideswhow.

Check out the website for great step-by-step videos!

I saw these gorgeous creations on the Something Old, Something New blog yesterday and just had to share them!  As a true Southern girl I love pearls, but these are really something special.  They have a classic and vintage feel while adding the little more glitz.

Be sure to check out the complete collection from PenelliBelle on Etsy!

Fabulous wedding blog Style Me Pretty has been featuring great DIY projects, and I saw one that I just had to share.

I simply love this idea.  We are always looking for new and fun ways to handle sparklers, since so many brides and grooms love to have this departure shot in their wedding albums.  And this is so simple:  basically, it is a design printed onto card stock, with two little holes cut out for the sparklers to slide through.  Genius!

Be sure to check out the post over at Style Me Pretty for the supply list and instructions. There are two posts, actually, one for the sparklers and one for the match books.

• http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/10/28/diy-project-custom-sparklers/
• http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/10/28/diy-project-custom-matchbooks/

Our team (especially Danielle!) has been working hard on developing a great new service for our clients, and I’m proud to announce that we are ready for the big reveal!

We are introducing Planning Websites for all of our brides and grooms to interact with their coordinator.  It’s a great way to share documents, photos, to-do lists, ideas and more!

We’re still in the process of creating individual websites for our current clients, but we are busy uploading files!  You’ll receive an email when your website is up and running.

But don’t be worried – these sites are only accessible to people that are invited, so the entire world won’t know how much you’re spending on your flowers or what your dress looks like!

In case you didn’t see it, Martha Stewart’s wedding goddess Darcy Miller highlighted candy station ideas on the “Martha” show recently.  Darcy was nice enough to post a list of some favorite suppliers for the yummy treats they love, which you can find here:  http://www.marthastewart.com/article/favorite-candy-vendors.

Of course, we can help you find lots of great local vendors that provide unique treats as well!  And are you wondering where to get all those cute containers?  We can help with that too!

Is there an idea you have seen or used that you would like to share?  Post a comment!