Welcome to Wishpot Wedding Blog - The latest ideas for your wedding and wedding registry!
Would you like to add $1,000 to your wedding budget? Our friends at GigMasters, Storymix and The Man Registry want you to pin and win your way to an amazing wedding prize package!
The Prize Package:
• Five Star Wedding Entertainment courtesy of GigMasters.com ($300 credit toward any GigMasters entertainer).
• A $400 WeddingMix package. Includes use of 3 HD video cameras plus iPhone app to capture footage. Storymix will edit a custom, professional quality video to be enjoyed on DVD.
• Six Chalkboard Beer Mugs from TheManRegistry.com, perfect for bridal party gifts ($120 value).
• 50 Personalized Thank You Notes courtesy of Wedding Paper Divas ($90 value)
• A custom designed Caricature (print and digital) of you and your beloved to use on your Save the Dates, Invitations, or wherever else you might want, courtesy of Judy T. ($90 Value)
Total Prize Package is worth approximately $1,000.
Sound good? Look good?
Here’s How to Enter
Create a Pinterest Board full of great ideas for your wedding. Title it “Pin & Win Wedding.”
Follow one of the boards below (follow all 3 for additional entries)
GigMasters Pin & Win Board Storymix Pin & Win Board The Man Registry Pin & Win Board
3. Repin the contest logo from any of the above boards.
4. Repin at least one pin that you love from each of the Sponsors’ Pinterest Boards.
GigMasters Pinterest Boards
Storymix Pinterest Boards
The Man Registry Pinterest Boards
5. Include the hashtag #pinandwinwedding on all of your pins!
There, you’re entered!
Want more chances to win?
The winner will be chosen at random, so the more entries you have the better your chances. Here are some ways to get extra entries:
• Tell your friends! For each friend who follows your board, you get an additional entry!
• Let us help you! Visit each of the sponsors (GigMasters, Storymix, and The Man Registry) and find up to 5 inspirational photos from each sponsor that fit your idea of a dream wedding. For each item you pin with the hashtag #pinandwinwedding you’ll get an additional entry (up to 5 per sponsor, so 15 extra entries total)
The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, July 20th at noon Eastern time, and notified over the weekend. The more entries you have the greater your chance of winning!
Have questions? Let our friends at GigMasters know and they’ll be happy to answer them!
Wishpot expert, Sharon Naylor is offering FIVE of our Wishpot brides the chance to win a signed copy of her book The Smart Guide to Wedding Weekend Events!
Just leave a comment here with the reason you’d like to win a copy of Sharon’s book — you have a lot of out-of-town guests and want to show them a great time, you want to plan a unique rehearsal dinner, you’d like to plan a girls’ night out, you want to give this book as a gift, etc.
Sharon will pick our five winners by July 2nd! Good luck!
http://www.sharonnaylor.net/smartguide_events.htm
Need a few last minute touches for your wedding? Or how about those designer accessories you’ve been dreaming about? Well have we got a treat for you. For one day only you can check out the host of deals available on Facebook.
5 Ways Your Wedding Vendors Can Save You Money
When you’re planning your wedding on a budget, you might take one look at those lofty vendor fees for floral design, catering, photography, and videography and think, “If I do these myself, I’ll save a ton of money!” But that’s one of the biggest wedding money disasters possible. After all, vendors are experienced, they know how to schedule when things need to be done (like heating up the cocktail party food so that it’s hot when guests are ready to eat,) and they’re worth every dime in creating your gorgeous wedding details at a fraction of the price it would cost Inexperienced You.
So here are the top 5 ways that wedding vendors can actually save you money…and perhaps even hook you up with some freebies:
1. They have things in their storerooms. So many of the ‘creatives,’ like floral designers, order votive candle holders, fabric, lace and other supplies in bulk for the big weddings they plan, and when that wedding is done, they usually have a nice, big pile of high quality leftovers that wind up in their storage areas. My own floral designer showed me gorgeous wrought iron candelabras and metal hook stands holding metal hurricane lamps, plus dozens of square glass centerpiece vases that she had left over from a big wedding a few months ago, and she offered them all to me for…get this…$100. It would have cost her hundreds of dollars to return them, and frankly, she just wanted to get that stuff out of her workshop so that she could make room for incoming orders. I said yes and saved over $900 on my wedding décor. Ask your floral designer and wedding coordinator to show you their ‘dead stock’ or leftover wedding supplies to see if you too can snap them up for a song, and big savings.
2. They know all the best-priced vendors in town. Wedding vendors know each other very well, and they also know the vendors in town who overcharge, are unscrupulous, and won’t make you happy. So ask your floral designer to refer you to a great wedding invitations designer and a photographer you’d be happy with, and she might just be able to call her friends in the industry and wrangle you a big discount.
3. They’re fountains of information. Your caterer will help you make the most of your budget by telling you which seafood and meats will be better-priced during the season of your wedding, or that you should wait a few weeks to make your actual menu…because the lobster prices are looking like they’re going to drop. Your floral designer can show you all the less-expensive, dramatic, non-bridal blooms you can consider for half-price centerpieces, and your invitations specialist will show you a range of more affordable types of imported papers, teach you about letterpress printing, and show you pretty fonts from her no-extra-charge list.
4. They keep you on budget. Forget about those tales about wedding coordinators inflating wedding expenses so that they get a greater percentage of what you spend. Quality wedding coordinators who are accredited and belong to professional associations get more out of keeping you on budget, and they have top-tech spreadsheets to help you do that. When your wedding comes in under budget, you’ll tell all your friends about her, she books their weddings, and everyone’s happy…especially you.
5. They’ll throw in add-ons. Many wedding vendors tell me that when they like a wedding couple – you’re polite, you show up for appointments on time, you pay on time, you’re pleasant to work with – they’ll throw in some additional items for free. You might get an extra station at your cocktail party (a $500 value) or an upgrade in your centerpiece design, some extra floral arrangements to beautify your reception room, extra thank-you notes, extra photo albums, special effect lighting…all things that have dollar values on the market but are given to you for free.
If you were to try to design your own florals, you’d probably overspend, thinking you have to jam a ton of flowers into each centerpiece to make an impression…and since your flower source won’t offer the freshest flowers like the pros’ sources do, you might wind up with wilted flowers and have to buy more on the morning of the wedding. Which will send your stress levels through the roof.
Kindness and partnership are the key factors to building a relationship with vendors, and it’s important to tell them you’re on a budget! Don’t be embarrassed! Just about every wedding couple out there is on a budget, and the ones who don’t say so wind up spending more.
And be open-minded. If you insist on gardenias for your bouquet without a deep sentimental attachment to them, just because you want it your way, you’ll spend more than if you go to your floral meeting with an open mind, showing the designer what you like, but asking him to show you additional ideas that his trained eye knows would be perfect for your style and your budget.
Vendors want to help you make your wedding details look like you spent triple the money, and since they’re so experienced and so good at what they do, so ‘in’ with the best suppliers in the world, they’ll do just that.
Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 wedding books, including 1001 Ways to Save Money and Still Have a Dazzling Wedding and Bridesmaid on a Budget, www.sharonnaylor.net
WindWishes are the result of 50 years of loving craft by Calligrapher Kajira Wyn Berry and they are now available at, Wind Wishes They are for anyone that wants to capture the essence of their event or ceremony in a few elegant and simple words.
If you could hold a wish in your hand…what would it look like? Think gorgeous paper with intricate hand-penned wording, trimmed with delicate ribbon and beading.
Table Signs
Table signs are one of my favorite parts of table decor. The place setting and centerpieces have their own perks, but I love how creative you can get with table signs. Before we get started, I want to lay a few ground rules.
Rule #1: It must be easily visible. I recently saw a wedding where the table numbers were on spoons. Adorable, but I guess a lot of people had a hard time finding their tables.
Rule #2: It must be easily breakable. This goes for centerpieces as well. You don’t want a stray bump of the table to leave a mess of shattered glass.
Rule #3: I think the hallmark of a good table sign is that it’s multifunctional. For example, it is the centerpiece or neatly incorporated within it.
1. 3D
This ensures that your numbers are visible from multiple angles, not just from head on. While I’ve seen a lot of paper mache and wooden numbers, I really adore the pop-up book effect of this table number from Etsy.
2. The Floral Aspect
OnceWed recently featured a wedding where tin cans had been multipurposed as table numbers. While they had a nice bunch of flowers besides the can, I think they would have looked equally lovely in it. Just be sure that the number is high enough that it won’t be blocked by chairs, cups, or glasses. You can also have the number etched onto the pot.
3. Needle Arts
If you’re savvy with a needle, you can embroider your numbers onto small embroidery hoops. However, even if you’re not so good with needle and thread, you can always purchase iron ons for a whimsical and rustic effect.
4. Illumination
Candles are one of my favorite types of centerpieces. Not only is candle light romantic, warm, and simple, but it’s also flattering. You can either encase your candles in a numbered glass lantern or draw or glue the numbers onto the actual wax.
5. Beverage Service
I think signs that are part of or on top of wine bottles or pitchers as a great table number idea. Chalkboard paint is another great way to go!
About the Author:
Natalie Tsang is a freelance writer and editor of SimplyBridal’s blog. She was born and raised in California and is a hopeless romantic. She dreams of a rustic, whimsical wedding.
Photo Credit (in numbered order).
1. Etsy
2. OnceWed via Pinterest
3. embroidered numbers from etsy
4. Vermont Vows
5. Style Me Pretty
Is the Diamond on your Finger Conflict Free?
Ever since the movie Blood Diamond came out featuring the dreamy Leonardo DiCaprio, the term has been somewhat of a buzzword. However, many think the problem has been curbed – as now there are processes in place to ensure diamond mining isn’t funding war in developing countries.
However, these processes are not the end all be all to corruption revolving around diamonds. In fact, some of these processes aren’t doing enough – which means blood diamonds are still ending up in stores.
Recent events highlight this fact. In late 2011, Zimbabwe’s Marange mines were readmitted into the Kimberley Process. What is the Kimberley Process? It’s a checks-and-balances system put into place by the UN that mandates a mine is conflict free. So if Zimbabwe was just readmitted, it must mean that its diamonds are ethical, right?
Wrong. The actions taken by the Kimberley Process resulted in somewhat of an uprising. Global Witness – an organization dedicated to the ethical mining of resources – pulled out of the Kimberley Process program, accusing the group for “conspiring.”
So why the extreme reaction? The devil is in the details. The Kimberley Process’ definition of “conflict diamonds” only encompasses diamond mining that directly aids military rebels in warring countries. It does not count diamond mining that aids corruption and violence against a countries own people. Because of these wording, Zimbabwe was readmitted despite evidence that there is unrest in the region.
Below is a graphic that presents the evidence against Zimbabwe’s Marange mines. What does this mean for you? That even those government processes are not the final say in ethical diamonds. If you are on the market to “put a ring on it,” make sure that your jeweler can tell you exactly where the diamond came from, with certifications above and beyond the Kimberley Process. If ever in doubt, do research about the mine where the jeweler came from and make sure its work flow is up to par with your ethical standards.
(via Ingle & Rhode Ethical Diamonds).
Adria Saracino is a marketer and fashion blogger. When not consulting on content strategy, you can find her writing about style on her personal fashion blog, The Emerald Closet.
Engagement shoots now come with many wedding packages. While some couples are full of modeling-mojo, others may need some guidance. Since the hours are going to be long, it’s fun and exciting to go some place or do something that you two enjoy. Here are five things that make for awesome engagement shoots. It’s great to get down all your best poses now so you’ll be a pro in your wedding dress.
1. Find a View
There’s a reason why so many romantic movies are against backgrounds that are bigger than life. Sunsets and oceans are the most obvious, but cityscapes and natural landscapes are also beautiful.
2. Once Upon a Time
Everyone has a love story. While your love story might not fit into a single day, you can retell your courtship by visiting familiar places or making one up. It might be true or complete fiction, as dramatic as a life or death scenario, or as intimate as reaching for the same box of cereal.
3. Doing Something You Love
There must be things that you and your fiancé love to do together, and have done again and again as your relationship grew. Take full advantage and showcase your love for each other in the context of something you both share.
4. Bring a Pet
If you have a pet, chances are they feature pretty prominently in your life. Why not bring them along and make them part of your shoot?
5. A Place with History
In every relationship there are moments and places that carry some emotional significance - the place where you first kissed, the park where he proposed, where the two of you met… Doing your engagement shoot in a place that matters to the both of you will add an intimate feel to your photos.
Ok so we can’t know for sure but it sure is fun to speculate. What do you think of this dress for the Queen of Jersey shore?
Trying to decide what to get your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day? Tired of flowers and chocolate? Why not go with something sweet AND practical? Give the gift of comfort and style with these 2-Tone Yoga Pant in black/blush. These stylish, stretchy pants are great for hitting the gym, or lounging around the house. The pink accented waistband is a fun way to keep with the holiday theme, without giving a boring bouquet.
Does your Valentine love to cook? Here’s a great gift option for the girl who loves cooking, but also wants to feel special on February 14th. This beautiful set of Heart Shaped Measuring Spoons makes an awesome, and creative gift for the mom, wife, or friend whose always adding to her kitchen collection. 
Looking for a more traditional gift with a bit more personality? How about a set of 9 Double Dipped Chocolate Covered Oreos? This beautiful box of chocolate dipped cookies is reasonably priced at under $40, and is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth. 
