Going Green-One of the Hottest Trends in Weddings

It's no surprise that one of the hottest wedding trends the past couples years has been going green, not just in the color palette, but from everything from using sustainable local fair trade and organic products to reusable linens and china to wearing a rented or used wedding gown.

If you are interested in hopping on the green band wagon, whether it be your every day lifestyle, or you just feel like its the kind of statement you would love to make at your upcoming nuptials, here are six tips that you may find helpful:

1. Make sure you choose a great caterer! Catering plays a huge aspect in your wedding from making sure you use re-usable linens, silverware, china, glassware etc. Also, talk to your catering company to make sure they use local, fair trade sustainable products. You can even take the trend deeper to make sure they are doing their part in the office. For example, Green Apple Catering of Kirkland, WA teams up with Puget Sound Energy to install energy efficient, high performance, reduced wattage lighting & fixtures throughout their offices, tasting room and kitchen. They also recycle their old fixtures & bulbs as outlined by the Federal Energy Consortium, as well as their used vegetable oil by giving it to a BIO-DIESEL home-brewer.

2. Organize carpools for your guests, especially using hybrid vehicles. Or if the location is far for guests to drive or if you have a lot of out of town guests who will be with out a vehicle, arrange an economical shuttle. Even book your wedding night limo with companies that reduce their carbon footprint such as Seattle Green Limo.

3. When printing out any papers that have to do with your wedding such as itineraries, copies of contracts and even your programs- opt for recycled paper. Many couples these days are completely skipping out on programs feeling the paper is a waste, even skipping out on favors as well- or at least the kind that come in all the little paper bags or boxes--

4. Instead of giving out over 100 little paper boxes filled with candy to your guests as favor, try going green in a different way. Give out little plants, herbs, or even seeds as guest favors. These can all be put right back into the the environment and guests can use them later on and having something to remember the day by. You can even use herbs or plants as your centerpieces and opt to have guests take them home at the end of the evening.

5. Going green is not only a concept that can be good for the environment, but as you may have noticed, it can be good on your pocket book as well. One way is to purchase a used, yes used bridal gown. Blue Sky Bridal, in the Phinney/Greenwood Neighborhood of Seattle offers recycled and reconstructed wedding gowns, organic wedding dresses, and green wedding accessories.

6. Lastly, invitations...takes up a lot of paper-and can be costly if you want them to look nice! However a new local company, Greenvelope, created by Seattle founder Sam Franklin has put a new spin on on-line invitations and the going green aspect. Greenvelopes invites can be customed designed or you can use one of their templates, making invites that look just as alluring as the paper ones. As the guest receives the e-mailed invitation the envelope actually opens up and presents itself to you like opening an invite and allows you to RSVP now or later. You can even keep track of your guest RSVP's on the Greenvelope site.

Keeping Count and Keeping Cool-Handling Your Guests with Grace

Complication #1: You can’t get a final headcount.

It’s getting close to your cut-off date and you still haven’t heard from everyone. You can’t work on seating, your caterer is getting antsy, and you don’t know how much champagne to order. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to start checking in with your guests. Try to give them a short amount of time to pull together their answer, and keep your message simple: “Hi Aunt Sara, it’s Natalie. We need to give our numbers to the caterers by Friday, and I haven’t received a reply from you, so I’m calling to see if you and Uncle Jason will be attending the wedding. We hope you can still make it!”

If you need to, you can have your fiancé, your parents, or even your attendants help you to make the calls. If a guest replies after the cut-off date, it’s up to you whether you can still accommodate them, though I recommend making it happen whenever possible. A little extra effort with the seating arrangements or a call to the caterer now will be much appreciated in the long run.

Complication #2: Guests want to bring guests of their own.

After much negotiating, crunching of numbers, appeasing of parents, and searching of venues, you finally locked in your final guest list. Then a loved one (or two, or 10) replies for themselves and a guest when no “and guest” was invited. Awkward as it may feel to have pressed for a reply, it’s nothing compared to the agony some brides face when people assume they can bring dates. Wedding invitations are not negotiations; the inner envelope is the final word on who exactly is being invited, and the names listed there are the only guests included in the invitation. (The one exception is when the phrase “and family” or “and children” appears, implying that any and all family members residing under the same roof are included.) If you run into this problem, it’s completely acceptable to contact the overzealous respondents and explain that the size of your venue (or spending limit) won’t allow you to add extra people to the guest list. It’s not okay for guests to ask you to make exceptions, so it won’t be rude in the least to stand by your guest list.

Now, you might wonder if there are times when a guest should in fact have a plus one. Brides and grooms should be aware that spouses, fiancé(e)s and live-in romantic partners (no matter the sex) must be invited with your guests; boyfriends and girlfriends who don’t reside together don’t need to be. This goes for anyone invited to the rehearsal dinner, too.

Complication #3: Guests assume they can bring their kids.

Remember the hard-won guest list you just had to protect from people who want to bring dates? Now you need to defend it from people who RSVP’d for themselves and their children, when in fact their little cherubs weren’t invited. Some parents do this in error, and others decide that you couldn’t possibly have meant to exclude their offspring. Either way, you’ll need to call to correct the situation. “Lisa, we are so happy that you and Alex are able to attend, but we’ve decided not to have kids at the wedding. We hope you both can still make it.”

Stick to your guns -- making exceptions for one couple is insulting to other guests who respected your decision. If there are couples you suspect may get upset or have trouble finding a sitter, call them as soon as you know that children won’t be invited -- even before the invitations have been sent -- to alert them. By doing this you leave no room for doubt when their invitation arrives, and you also give them as much time as possible to make arrangements.

Complication #4: Extra guests show up at the reception.

And just when you thought you had cleared all the hurdles, you turn, white gown billowing around you, to see familiar faces whose names aren’t on the seating chart. At this point, the best thing to do is ask your caterer or wedding planner to find extra seats and arrange plates of food; then take a deep breath and welcome your new guests. And while you may be tempted, don’t read them a lecture on the finer points of invitation etiquette. This restraint will keep you calm, and shows the most gracious side of etiquette: the willingness to accept someone despite their lapse of manners.

Source: emilypost.com

written by: Anna Post

Spring Wedding Inspiration

The wedding color of the year for 2011 announced by Pantone (a fashion & home website) is honeysuckle pink! And what a beautiful and rich wedding color it is! If you’re wondering what wedding color scheme to go for or looking for wedding color ideas, why not try the most fashionable wedding color of 2011?! Try accenting it with other bright spring colors like beeswax yellow and a fiery orange. Or tone it down, with champagnes & beiges!

Whether you are looking for summer wedding colors, spring wedding colors or a color for your bridesmaid’s dresses, honeysuckle will bring a vibrant elegance to your big day.

What was 2010's color of the year? Try and guess...OK we'll tell you! Turquoise...so if you want to try and stay away from "old trends", steer clear of this color :)

RING in the New Year Special!

Are you one of the many who got engaged over the popular holiday season and are ready to get started with your wedding plans NOW? Or maybe you got engaged over the summer, or even closer to last holiday season, and you are tired of putting off your wedding planning; your new years resolution is to get this planning going!

So, if you have a Ring this New Year, get your planning started by taking advantage of our huge savings! We are offering 20% off for all bookings in January for any package!

Please see our website for package descriptions and details, here.

Check us out on Facebook

Wine Tasting...Local, Easy & Fun!

For many brides, one of the tasks that comes with planning is picking out the wines for your big day. But what kind do you choose? Syrah? Merlot? A mixture? A nice sweet Riesling? If you are a wine connoisseur or have done your fair share of working in an Italian restaurant like my best friend, you might have no problem at all doing this. You may give your fiancé a list you already have pre-selected and send him off to Costco or your favorite wine cellar. But for the novice like me, who often finds the taste of red wine vinegary and lip puckering, you might find this task somewhat overwhelming.
How can you find wines that you’d like to be at your wedding instead of just randomly picking or having brands that your mother suggested or picked out for you? One way to do that is to go to wine tastings, and the great thing about that is where we are located, near a great Mecca of Wine Country in Woodinville.
According to the website www.woodinvillewinecountry.com, Woodinville is home to over 70 wineries! Woodinville, which is less the 30 minutes from downtown Seattle, is regarded as a unique haven for exceptional winemakers. It is home to the well known brands and historic grounds of Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia Winery to even the smallest and unique boutiques such as Convergence Zone Cellars or Pomum Cellars.
Visit one or several of the wineries in one day, you can easily plan your route with the map provided on the website or wander around the warehouse district and see what strikes you. Many of the wineries have what are called “tasting rooms,” located in a warehouse district of Woodinville off of Woodinville-Redmond road. These rooms usually offer up to 5 tastes of their featured wine for $5-10. But the great part about it is, if you like a wine you sampled, they will give you your tasting fee back-toward a bottle of wine to purchase. Some places will even offer this on multiple bottles.
This is why it works great if you are buying for a wedding. For example, I went into one winery that was offering their special that day of a clearance white wine at $7.99 a bottle, take away my $5 tasting fee and each bottle was then $2.99! Buy a few cases of those and you are set for your white selection!
So no, don’t pay those ridiculous bar fees or even grocery store prices! Grab a group of your friends, make plans and head to Woodinville. Many places will suggest reservations for groups over 6-8 however. But go ahead, make a day of it, try something new, something local, and check something off of your to-do list as well.

This Month: Appearance by Randy Fenoli of "Say Yes to the Dress" and Other Events!

Randy Fenoli from TLC's Say Yes to the Dress will appear at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 16 and 17, in a very special event to benefit the "Open Your Heart...Make a Forest Ridge Education Possible" matching campaign for endowed scholarships.

Fenoli will present two shows - including an opening night VIP reception limited to 100 - about his experiences as the star of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress and Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss. Fenoli, Fashion Director at the Kleinfeld Bridal store, is seen by millions of viewers and works with nearly 15,000 brides a year.

He'll share his experiences in a pair of presentations to the Forest Ridge and greater community: Tuesday, November 16, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. and an after-school event on Wednesday, November 17, from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Tickets are: $150 for the VIP reception and performance on Tuesday, November 16; general admission tickets for both days are $30 for students, $40 for adults if purchased in advance; $50 on the day of performance. Click HERE to purchase tickets.

Also, on November 7th, 2010 from Noon - 5:00pm, You're Invited to an Open House Tasting! Hosted by Simply Seasoned Catering

Location: A Manor of Wine
610 1st St
Snohomish, WA 98290

If you are planning a wedding, holiday party or corporate event than please join Simply Seasoned Catering for a special afternoon filled with tastes of the season, sweets, music, wedding and party attire, wine tasting and photo shoots.

Seven event professionals will dazzle your senses so you can relax and get the items on your To Do List checked off all in one enjoyable Sunday afternoon.

From The Gown Up

Laura Marchbanks Photography

Simply Seasoned Catering

Taylor'd Events By Jennifer

The Cake Walk Shop

The Petal and Stem

Wave Link Music

RSVP HERE

Get Married is hosting a unique wedding on New Years Eve in Times Square! Bethany and Geoffrey are Marine reservists who met in Iraq. And now they'll say I do in front of millions in the biggest wedding in the world on the biggest night of the year!

Get Married is asking you to help pick every aspect of their wedding from the favors to the rings even to the gown!

VOTE HERE

Check back every week for new votes on what the lucky couple will wear and share when Get Married hosts the first-ever wedding in Times Square this New Year's eve!