Take A Break From Wedding Planning And Have Some Fun This Weekend!

Have you ever noticed that the city you live in is the one city you hardly know? In other words, when you go on a vacation to another place you find out what the main attractions are and plan sightseeing tours or trips to go see them. But in the own city you live in you often get caught up in your day-to-day agenda and neglect its own attractions and so-called "touristy" activities.

With a three-day weekend coming up, here's your chance to get re-acquainted with your city. For those of you who live in the Seattle area, here are the top six tourist attractions according to About.com to get out there and explore! And if you are a bride planning a wedding, remember to take some time for yourself this weekend. Planning a wedding can be an exciting but often stressful time, and Labor Day comes around for the one purpose to take your mind off of anything stressful and just relax...

1. An afternoon on Broadway in Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill is the most densely and diversely populated neighborhood in Seattle. Broadway, the main thoroughfare, has the most active sidewalk scene, day or night, in the city. It is a bustling area that is home to the entire cross-section of Seattle’s population. A trip down Broadway will basically introduce you to everyone you share the city with. It also has many diverse shops and restaurants worth visiting. Spend an afternoon shopping on Broadway and grab an inexpensive lunch.

2. Starbucks at the Space Needle
When is the last time you took the 41-second ride to the top of the Space Needle? Do you even remember how beautiful Mt. Rainier looks from there? If not, its time to pull out the $17 (yeah its still a little pricey) and make the trip up the Seattle icon. Once you're at the top, make sure to enjoy a local favorite Starbuck's cup-a-joe.

3. Washington State Ferries (WSF)
WSF offers an inexpensive way to see Seattle from the water. You can catch the ferry to Bremerton at Pier 52 for $6.50 round-trip as a passenger. It will cost an extra $7.60 each way to take your car. The ride is 60 minutes each way with a 20-minute stop in Bremerton. It offers excellent views of Blake Island, the naval shipyard in Bremerton, and downtown Seattle from the water upon your return. Pack a lunch and enjoy a better time than you would have had on an expensive Elliott Bay Cruise. If you live in the northend, you could also try the Edmonds Ferry or the Mukilteo/Clinton Ferry. The rides are much shorter, but offer the same beautiful sights and fun places to explore on the other side.

4. Pike Place Public Market
You know we had to add it to the list. Pike Place Market is still one of the most famous Seattle hot-spots and for good reason. Adults love it. Kids love it. Dogs love it. What is not to love. Pick up a local bouquet of fresh flowers. Watch fish flying through the air. Shop around the local craft stands. Sit and people watch. The Pike Place Market is rite of passage for any true Seattle native or adoptee and is truly the place that defines the city.

5. Pioneer Square and Underground Tour
In 1853, Seattle was founded in the area now known as Pioneer Square. An area of about ten square blocks serves as both the center of Seattle's nightlife and history. You can see and learn a lot without covering much ground by taking a Walking Tour of Pioneer Square. Go on Bill Speidel's Underground Tour first. The 90-minute, $11 guided-tour will help you get your bearings and allow you to experience things in chronological order. It is the best activity in Seattle that nobody knows about.

6. Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is of course not a permanent fixture in Seattle, but it is certainly one of the main attractions during Labor Day weekend. Venture to Seattle Center, the 74-acre park located in the heart of the Pacific Northwest to find a festival that has it all. Bumbershoot, as the name implies, umbrellas a number of artists from different genres representing the best in music, film, comedy, theater, spoken word, dance, visual, performance and literary arts.

Jewelry For Your Cake?

This week we featured a variety of different rhinestone crowns to use as a cake topper. After that post, we got a hot tip from one of our readers about Paris Tiaras. Paris Tiaras carries an entire line of "cake jewelry" featuring crests, pendants, pins, tiaras and crowns...all for your cake!

Paris cake jewelry has been used by many celebrities in their own weddings, including most recently Holly Marie Combs from the CW show "Charmed."

Paris Tiaras is the brainchild of Debra Moreland. Debra Moreland's claim to fame is designing metal millinery an cultivating this look into its own art form. Of course Ms. Moreland's designs are not just for cakes. She also has a beautiful line of bridal accessories including jewelry and hair combs, pins, crowns and tiaras.

Garter Your Leg, Not Your Heart

One of our favorite places to shop around is Etsy.com. Etsy offers so many beautifully hand-crafted designs we could literally spend hours at a time just surfing around. Etsy is the perfect place to find those simple details for your wedding that will truly add a unique charm to your design and mood especially when it comes to bridal accessories.

We recently did a vast search for the handmade garters and boy did we find some beauties. From classic and traditional to couture and frisky, the garters are all unique and stylish.

Each of these below garters come from Designs By Peterene and she literally has hundreds to choose from. Most of her garters are made-to-order so customization is not a problem.

Above: Sublime Bridal Garter Set, $23

Above: Simply Dotty Garter, $14


Above: Lizette a Peterene silk and satin boudoir, $18


Above: Black n White a Peterene garter set, $25


Above: French Vintage Style Boudoir garter, $20


Above: Roxanne a Peterene garter, $30

We Think You'll Love...

We think you'll love these elegant and regal cake toppers from Decorating Studio. Each cake topper is designed in a circular shape to sit perfectly on top of your tiered cake. These toppers are made from silver plated metal with rhinestone accents.

Wedding cake jewelry is the newest thing in wedding cake decoration. These beautiful rhinestone and jeweled wedding cake crown toppers will make your wedding cake unique and beautiful. These toppers work best for evening weddings surrounded by twinkling lights and candles to make them sparkle even more. The cake toppers are also an excellent keepsake for you to store and treasure. They also help dress up a simple cake without paying a ton for extra decorations and designs made from the cake designer.

The toppers range in price from $24-$122. Also, check out the Decorating Studio for other decorative items including beads, fabrics, embellishments, and more.


Decorating Cake Studio

A New Kind Of Radio

Have you heard about Pandora? It's the best new way to listen to music while you work. All you do is go to www.pandora.com, enter your favorite artist and a playlist will begin starting with a song from the artist of your choice. Then the next songs that play will be customized to predict the kind of music you like to listen to. Once a song begins to play, you can give it the "thumbs up" or the "thumbs down" and the more you rate music, the more Pandora knows what you like. Think of Pandora as a TiVo for music.


Pandora came from the Music Genome Project. Since they started back in 2000, they have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together their team of fifty musician-analysts have been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! Pandora continues this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

The best part about Pandora, is its all free and you can make as many playlists as you'd like.

You can also download Pandora to select phones available through AT&T and Sprint including the apple iPhone.

Pandora is a great way to be introduced to new music in a genre that you like, and who knows....you may even find a great song for your wedding! Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Decorating A Fall Wedding

With schools starting in just a couple weeks, days getting just a tad bit shorter, and temperatures starting to fall, that means only one thing....Fall is just around the corner. For many of you, Fall is your favorite time of year anyway, with the beautiful changing leaves and the golden glow in the sky. And for many brides, Fall is the perfect choice for their wedding date.

When decorating for a Fall wedding, we really encourage you to search outside the box and find accent pieces that can help dress up a room, table or entryway. For an abundance of Fall decorative items check out Ballard Designs. Ballard Designs carries stunning furniture and other home accent pieces and their new additions for Fall are no exception. We especially love the white pumpkins that would be perfect sitting on your guestbook table.

Also, now through September 15 everything is 25% off since Ballard Designs is celebrating their 25th anniversary. Take advantage of this offer and also be sure to check out their many items to complete your home in the form of tableware, linens, art, and other various accent pieces.

Sweet Lullabies: Father - Daughter Dances

We have done a couple of posts about song choices for your wedding and we recently got a request from one of our devoted readers to compile a list of the best "Father-Daughter" dance songs. Now, as you know, it is not our style to just give you list of typical wedding dance songs that anyone could find with the simple search on the internet. Rather, we like to do our homework and find the best possible options for you that you have probably never thought of before.

So while we were searching for the best "Father-Daughter" dance songs out there, we were surprised to find that our inspiration came from a very unlikely source, a Nickelodeon produced album for children called Sleepytime Lullabies.


There is something sweet and endearing about the idea of playing a familiar, but updated version of an old lullaby for your "Father-Daughter" dance that gives us the warm fuzzies. After all, your father has been with you since you were an itty-bitty-little-thing and in his eyes, you never really grew out of that stage, so playing a sweet lullaby for your shining moment just seems fitting. Call us sappy, idealistic, or just plain nuts, but don't discount us until you give the tunes on this album a try. To listen to little snippets, click here.

Now most of the songs on this album are merely acoustical, which means you may have to do your homework to find versions with words, but to help you get started we've already compiled a list of our favorites for your listening pleasure...

1. One Magic Kiss by Brandi Carlile
One Magic Kiss is the only song on this album featuring a vocal. Brandi Carlile is definitely an up-and-coming artist. You may have heard her recent hit "The Story" played on Grey's Anatomy and even a recent GM commercial played during the Olympics. (By the way, this particular song would also make a great slide-show song). This sweet tune is a modern take on a gentle lullaby that will melt even the coldest of hearts.

2. Sweet Baby James by James Taylor
We haven't forgotten about the "Mother-Son" dance either. This song was written by James Taylor when his nephew was born, although you may be surprised that it was written for a baby at all from the lyrics. But the story told in the lyrics will make you smile as you remember how quickly time passes.

3. You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker
"You're everything I hoped for, you're everything I need..." What a beautiful way to describe just how a father feels about his beloved daughter. Most people think of this song as a love song, but forget that a love song can be about many different types of relationships including that of a father and daughter.

4. Moon River by Louis Armstrong
Audrey Hepburn sang this song at the end of the famous movie Breakfast At Tiffany's just as she begins to let herself fall madly, and hopelessly in love with her perfect match. And how fitting than to dance a sort of "farewell" love song to the first man in your life as you begin your new journey as "two drifters off to see the world" just like the song says?

5. Dream A Little Dream Of Me by The Mamas & The Papas
While every father is happy to see his daughter so happy, there still comes a pang of heartbreak as he releases her to the protection and care of another man. All he can hope for is that she remembers where she came from and how much he loves her. Dream A Little Dream Of Me shares in these sentiments.

Give A Blessing

We recently came across these great gift ideas that we wanted to share with you. The idea behind these charming "house blessings" is to provide little reminders that the gift-giver wishes love, laughter, encouragement and growth into the life of the receiver. Each house blessing charm comes with a card message and a blessing. These House Blessings come from Dogeared Jewels & Gifts.

Below, is the Bride and Groom House Blessing. The included card reads:
Make a wish together and hang this blessing in your home! Fill each room with laughter, love, creation, encouragement, and new memories!


If you like the Bride and Groom House Blessing, check out the many other options for just about every occasion and special person in your life. We also think these would make excellent bridal party gifts. Click here to see all of the options:

Let's Play 20 Questions, Shall We?

When you are in love and the birds are singing and the sky is blue, its sometimes easy to forget to talk about the difficult questions that you really need to ask each other BEFORE you actually tie the knot. To help you get the ball rolling, we've outlined some important topics that should come up in your pre-wedding preparations. And remember, pre-marriage counseling is a really good idea when it comes to hashing out these topics. Your counselor/mediator will act a third party to guide you through the toughest questions. Be sure to check out banquetevent.com's counseling section to find a pre-marriage counselor for you.

Financial Questions:

1. What percentage of our income are we prepared to put toward a home (including utilities), food, entertainment, health, insurance, travel, and miscellaneous?

2. What are our long-term financial goals? What will we make in five years? 10 years? 15 years? 30 years?

3. How much time will we be spending working? Does one of us work extra hours or does our job require us to work in the evenings? How will we balance work with our "together" time?

4. If one of us was to lose our job or decide to quit, what would be our next step?

5. Are we comfortable with each other's level of ambition? Do we expect our partner to "move-up" in his/her company and increase income?

Family Questions:

1. What place does the other's family play in our family life? How often do we visit or socialize together? If we have out-of-town relatives, will we ask them to visit us for extended periods? How often?

2. Will we have children and if we will, how many? How important is it for us to have children and when?

3. Will one of us be a stay-at-home parent or will we both go back to work after a certain period?

4. What type of parents will we be? What discipline methods will we use?

5. How will having a child change the way we live now? How will it affect our relationship?

Household Questions:

1. Who will be responsible for the chores around the house including, cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, yard work, fix-its, etc? Will the work be shared or will we have certain jobs?

2. Who will be responsible for paying the bills?

3. Will we require outside help with the maintenance of our home? Will we have a housekeeper or a landscaper?

4. Will we be adding any pets to our family? If so what kind and how many? Who will be responsible for training, feeding, walking, bathing etc.?

Social Life:

1. Are we satisfied with the quality and quantity of friends we currently have? Would we like to be more involved socially? Are we overwhelmed socially and need to cut back on such commitments?

2. What are my partner's needs for cultivating or maintaining friendships outside our relationship? Is it easy for me to support those needs, or do they bother me in any way?

Private Life:

1. Do we share a religion? Do we belong to a church, synagogue, mosque or temple? More than one? If not, would our relationship benefit from such an affiliation?

2. Is each of us happy with the other's approach to health? Does one have habits or tendencies that concern the other (e.g., smoking, excessive dieting, poor diet)?

3. Is there something that one of us would like to change in the other?

4. What makes for a good marriage? Love, passion, money, family life, compatibility, sex, respect, or something else?

Building Your New Life Together

One of the most fun parts about planning a wedding is registering for gifts. Who doesn't love to grab that "registry gun" and select items that will help you build your new life together? It feels like Christmas morning.

Here are some simple guidelines to remember when registering.

Why you should register: By registering, you let your family and friends know the gifts you would most like to receive, and will ensure that what you get suits both your tastes and styles. Even if you and your fiance can't imagine using fine china, stemware, and flatware in the near future, someday you will wish you had registered for them. It is very expensive to go out and invest in formal china down the road. Family and guests enjoy giving nice gifts that they know will be treasured and eventually passed on to future generations. By registering, it also makes it easier for you, after the wedding, in case you have items to return.

Unique shops for registry: There are many wonderful stores where you can register. The china, glassware, flatware, and special accessories you select will be with you the rest of your lives. Look at different registry stores, and remember you can register at more than one.

Mixing and matching: Many shops allow you to mix and match your patterns to design your own dishware theme. Ask about ideas they may have. Most important, have fun selecting items that you and your fiance will enjoy using.

When to register: Soon after you become engaged is the best time to register. If your friends want to send engagement gifts, you can tell them where you are registered. Or for showers, your guests can select from a variety of items that you have on your "wish list."

Make sure the items you register for cover the range of affordable to expensive so your family and friends can select something you want in a price range they can afford.

Check with your registry: It is a good idea to check your registry list periodically and keep it up to date with items you have received. Some gift givers will be making purchases in your behalf from other stores or will forget to let the store you are registered at know whom they are buying the gift for. It's nice for your guests to know what items you have or haven't received so they may plan their purchases accordingly.

Damaged items: No business can be responsible for gifts that get broken after they leave their store. If gifts are damaged or broken, it usually happens in shipping. Packages are carefully packed and under normal handling will reach you in perfect condition. However, if you find breakage upon unpacking, please call your delivery carrier (Postal Service or UPS) for an inspection and claim. NOTE: Most shippers require that all packing, boxes, and wrappings be retained for inspection, so be sure to keep everything!

Thank-you notes: It is important and proper etiquette to send thank-you notes immediately after receiving a gift. This way you let the gift giver know that the gift was received. And you can keep up with the many thank-you notes you will need to write rather than waiting until after the honeymoon.

This Little Light Of Mine

There are some things that we come across that just crack us up and this is definitely one of them. Meet zeralights, the creators of fiber optic fashion accessories. That's right, just like their website says, zeralights brings sparkle to fashion accessories.




Zeralights is the creative inspiration of Barbara Sears Nelson, a Colorado native who currently lives in Denver. After multitude attempts, the day finally dawned allowing her to market her own creations combining sparkle design with products made from Luminex fiber optic fabric.

Now, while the actual fashion accessories are a bit "out there" we do however like the options zeralights offers for events. Check out the below table and chair linens and wine glass accessory.

Its Your Wedding And You Can Wine If You Want To

If you are serving any type of alcohol at your wedding, and according to our research, most of you are, here is a website you should check out to educate yourself on serving liquor.

Check out My Wedding My Wine. Not only does My Wedding My Wine teach you about pairing the right food with the right drink, but you can also receive free, personalized wine labels, favor tags, wedding programs and wine tasting party mats. All of these tips and trends come from Beaulieu Vineyard in Sonoma, California.

By teaching you how to pair wine with food, you can create the perfect marriage of flavors for your reception. Select a wine to complement each food course at your event and give your guests a truly memorable experience. Whether you've chosen a traditional menu or the adventurous flavors of world cuisine, the right wine can enhance the flavor of each bite. Regardless of your menu choices, it's always a good idea to have both red and white wines available. And remember to consider serving temperature: reds are best at room temperature; whites should be well chilled. Thankfully, the days of "only white wine with chicken" and "only red wine with beef" are in the past. It's your day, so serve the wines you like!

Bullet Proof Nails

Don't you just hate it when you spend all that money at the nail salon for a beautiful manicure and then ten minutes out the door your nail polish cracks or scratches? It's a pet-peeve of ours so we went on the hunt for the strongest, longest lasting and most durable nail polish on the planet. And the winner is....NARS!


NARS claims that their nail polish contains an exclusive formula with technology designed to improve flexibility, durability, wear and gloss properties. This new longwearing formula provides a tough, durable chip-resistant finish and also has added UV protection to prevent polish discoloration. And you know what? They aren't lying.

NARS nail polish retails for $16 which we realize is much more expensive than the average bottle of polish, but for your wedding day, isn't the reassurance of a long-lasting manicure worth a few extra bucks?

Give a try and see for yourself.

Also available at Nordstrom.

Black-Out

Brides have been wearing white for a long time. But who exactly determined white would be the only color for wedding gowns? Some women feel uncomfortable in white. Remember the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding? When the bride looked at herself in the mirror she declared that she looked like a snow beast. In the last few years, we've noticed a trend in wedding gown designers adding touches of color to their designs. Yet, one color we never saw was black. That is, until now.

It is a common known fact that European fashions are typically ahead of U.S. fashions, and the styles we see on French and Italian runways are good indications of what we'll see in U.S. fashion and bridal magazines shortly thereafter. One common trend we are noticing is how European designers are integrating black and white together to make truly fabulous and yet ultra feminine gowns.

Below are some samples from Max Chaoul. If you are not familiar with this French designer, we urge you to get acquainted. His designs are incredibly inspired and different from what you'll typically see, but they are also romantic and whimsical.


Below is another example of an all black gown by French designer Creations Bochet.

Finally, French designer Cymbeline offers gowns with black accents from the most dramatic to the most subtle.



How do you feel about this new trend? Would you consider wearing a black wedding dress? Weigh in below.

What Is A Bride's Worst Fear? You May Be Surprised...

Over the weekend we were listening to the John Tesh show (cheesy, yes, but we don't really care) and he made note of something that really took us by surprise. He said, that according to a recent Modern Bride poll, the thing that brides fear most about their wedding is the best man's speech. They are worried that the best man will reveal some embarrassing story or private information that will humiliate the couple. Now this really shocked us, until I remembered attending a wedding of a college roommate a few years back and witnessing a best man's speech that was so demeaning and horrific the bride ran off in tears. The best man used every cliche' phrase available on the internet, right down to "A marriage is a three ring circus. The first is the engagement ring, the second is the wedding ring, and the third is suffering." The worst part is that the groom just stood there with a smile on his face all the while his bride, the woman he just vowed to love and protect, was in the bathroom surrounded by her bridesmaids balling her eyes out. Needless to say, their marriage didn't last too long.

So what is a girl to do if she's worried the best man, her groom's most devoted sidekick will ruin the day with some unflattering words? Here are some tips to keep your best man censored...

1. Ask your maid of honor and your best man to work together on a joint speech. Your maid of honor knows you like the back of her hand, and she would never allow a crazy best man to ruin your day. So stick her in charge of keeping the speech tamed and under control.

2. Talk to your wedding coordinator about whipping the best man into shape. Share your concerns with your wedding coordinator and let him or her be in charge of the best man. Your coordinator can ask for a rough draft of the speech and offer pointers on what he should edit.

3. Ask your groom to step up to the plate and sit down with the best man ahead of time. Chances are if they are really that good of friends, any requests made by the groom will be honored by the best man.

Have more ideas? Share them with us.

Elsewares Handcrafted Jewelry

We're big fans of handcrafted jewelry. There is just something wonderful about wearing a necklace, earrings, or ring that was skillfully crafted with care by a talented jewelry artist. We recently found a website called Elsewares, where hundreds of handcrafted jewelry pieces are available at reasonable rates for purchase.

We found the following pieces to particularly intriguing and are thrilled to share them with you.

Below are just a sample of available pieces handcrafted by Jade Gedeon's line We Dream In Colour. Jade Gedeon's influences range around the world. Owing much to her family's nomadic lifestyle, Jade enjoyed extensive exposure to a myriad of nations and cultures growing up. Born in the United States, raised in Trinidad and now living and working in Essex Massachusetts, she had most recently made her home in Australia. A graduate of the Pratt Institute, she decided to put her art background to work in 2002, and has been making wonderful jewelry ever since. Jade Gedeon's line ranges from $22-$95.

Anne Kiel lives in Austin, Texas and creates jewelry out of her home studio. She developed an interest in jewelry design after taking art history and metal arts classes as well as traveling in Europe and West Africa. She enjoys incorporating mixed-media into her design which is evident in her current "Curios" collection of vintage inspired illustrations and photographs set in sterling silver. Prices range from $80-$83.

New York City based GK Designs creates custom sterling silver jewelry. The personal messages adorning her designs make them even more beautiful and unique. Prices range from $60-65.


Melissa Borrell has been designing and fabricating jewelry since 1996. She studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in Boston and Paris and has a graduate degree in Jewelry and Metals from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She currently is based in Houston, TX and works constantly at questioning the boundaries of what jewelry can be.