Last Love

Love at the closing of our days
is apprehensive and very tnder.
Glow brighter, brighter, farewell rays
of one last love in its evening splendor.

Blue shade takes half the world away:
through western clouds alone some light is slanted.
O tarry, O tarry, declining day,
enchantment, let me stay enchanted.

The blood runs thinner, yet the heart
remains as ever depp and tender.
O last belated love, thou art
a blend of joy and of hopeless surrender.  

Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-73)
translated from Russian by Vladimir Nabokov

Keywords: Wedding Vows and Sayings, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Keeping A Lid On The Wedding Budget

For a bride-to-be who is planning a first wedding, the number of choices can seem overwhelming. Common sense often goes out the window when decisions that affect the wedding’s bottom line must be made. How can you plan a wedding, stay on budget and still have what you want?

In most cases, wedding planning is a complex negotiation. If the bride and groom alone are paying for the wedding, decisions are simplified, because the bride and groom have no one to answer to, other than themselves. Couples are usually more aware of the limits on their finances, so making money-related decisions isn’t so hard.

One strategy aimed at keeping the bottom line intact is for the bride and groom to plan the wedding jointly. Most men aren’t interested in colours and cocktail napkins, but this can sometimes work in a couple’s favour. By keeping a perspective on the most important things, couples can better stick to the budget and learn some valuable lessons about negotiation.

Always determine a list of priorities for the wedding event. Put the power of competition to work for you. By knowing what the must-have expenses are, you’ll be less likely to come under the spell of a last-minute budget-buster. Focus on the most important things and make decisions accordingly. This is another area in which joint planning helps. By having to clear an added expense with the other party, or understanding that a new addition will come at the expense of a priority that’s already on the list, you retain your awareness of your ongoing expenses, and how much money the budget still contains.

As new expenses arise, you can also look for ways to lower the cost of existing or upcoming expenses, or plan for acceptable substitutes. In most cases, you’ll find that wedding planning isn’t an all-or-nothing deal. You may have to reduce the size, compromise on colour, location, or style, but you can often put together an event that you like and that your guests enjoy as long as you know what your budget is and where your priorities are.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Ivana Trump Marries Italian Actor

Ivana Trump, former model and ex-wife of billionaire Donald Trump, married Italian actor Rossano Rubicondi in front of 500 guests at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, on April 12, 2008. The bride and groom were married in a civil ceremony conducted by Judge Maryann Trump Barry, Donald Trump’s sister.

The former Mrs. Trump, 59, wore a pink full-length gown with lace-covered cap sleeves, designed by Zuhair Murad.. She also wore a 71.76 carat diamond necklace and 6.39 carat diamond earrings. The groom, 35, wore a white tuxedo. The wedding couple was reported to have more than 50 attendants.

The wedding and reception were attended by many of the couple’s family and friends, including Donald Trump and his wife Melania, and Donald, Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump, Donald and Ivana’s children. Celebrity guests included Neil Sedaka, who performed at the reception; George Hamilton; Brigitte Nielsen; hotel heirs Rick and Kathy Hilton; and Robin Leach. The wedding and reception reportedly cost USD$3 million.

After the wedding ceremony, guests were treated to a dinner of stone crab, lobster crepes, rack of lamb and Chilean sea bass, as well as a 12-foot chocolate wedding cake, flown in from Germany. The couple also enjoyed music by a 24-piece orchestra, and dancing with their guests. This is the fourth marriage for Ivana and the first for Rossano. The pair have been together for more than six years.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Connecting Your Wedding Theme With Wedding Favours

Brides often plan to provide their guests with small wedding favours as a token of thanks and appreciation. Providing guest favours can be difficult, however, often because no clear choices emerge! If you’re stuck on what to provide for your guests, try some of these ideas:

For a beach wedding, try something with shells, or small decorative bottles filled with layers of coloured sand. They’ll make a beautiful decoration for a shelf or corner.

For a garden wedding, try flower seeds or small potted plants decorated with ribbons or painted in the wedding colours. Flower seeds and plants are economical and ecologically friendly. Perennial flowers will return year after year.

For an evening wedding, scented candles or crystal figurines may make an elegant table favour. Flowering, fragrant plants also make a wonderful addition to the guest tables. They’re much less expensive than floral arrangements and the guests can take them home as a keepsake.

Kardella offers a full line of personalised wedding favours for guests that will compliment any wedding theme. Please browse the site for information on our wedding invitations and supplies. Also, don’t forget to request a sample pack of our invitations.

Keywords: Bomboniere Boxes, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Book Chronicles Love Affair With White Wedding

Author Katherine Jellison has recently penned “It’s Our Day: America’s Love Affair With The White Wedding.” In the book, Jellison examines the modern American wedding from 1945 to 2005. According to Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University, an elaborate wedding is a relative newcomer to the scene.

Most couples and their families did not have enough disposable income prior to World War II to have an elaborate wedding ceremony and reception. According to Jellison, the wedding has become a status symbol and couples who have grown up with the notion that weddings need to be extravagant may have a difficult time letting go of the iconic wedding ceremony.

Jellison says that some trends, like ecologically friendly weddings and a growing desire to be financially responsible, may help couples trim their appetites for expensive formal weddings.

The drive toward lavish weddings isn’t limited to the United States. Europeans, Australians, Middle Eastern and Indian families are all feeling the pinch of extravagance when it comes to “traditional” weddings. In some cultures, wedding celebrations last for several days, a territory that only a few celebrity weddings in the West are beginning to approach.

Jellison doesn’t give any advice to brides-to-be, but she does indicate that couples are now embracing ideas like “giveback” weddings, where guests are encouraged to donate to charities, rather than splurge on expensive gifts. Another observation: some couples are deliberately steering away from expensive events to avoid giving into what they view as consumerism in the wedding industry.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Keeping Your Wedding On Budget

Budgeting for a wedding is difficult because it involves so many tough choices. Most couples overshoot their budget, but a wedding doesn’t have to be unbearably expensive. The average Australian wedding is approaching AUD$40,000. If that doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for you, the best time to control your costs is early in the planning stages.

First, determine how much money you’ll have to spend on the wedding. If you’re a disciplined saver and can stand to wait for a year or more, you may be able to budget for a more expensive evening. If you’re on a short planning cycle, simpler is better.

After you’ve figured out how much money you’ll have to spend on the wedding, create a “cushion” to accommodate cost overages. If you have $15,000 to spend, aim for expenses around $13,500. Once you hit that 90% mark of your established budget, you’re in the spending “danger zone.” Your major expenses should be covered in full by this point. If not, you’ll need to make some hard decisions.

The reception is usually the most expensive element of a wedding, so this is most likely where you’ll lose your budget if you’re not careful. Plan out your guest list according to what your budget will bear. Limiting or eliminating alcohol is a great way to keep the budget in line.

The wedding dress is another budget buster. Designer wedding gowns can be expensive. If the truth be told, all brides look beautiful on their wedding day. A simpler gown or a designer knock-off can look just as fabulous for one-third the cost.

If the budget won’t take it, don’t get caught up in the trap of meeting all of the “standards” for a wedding. There are none! Unless you’re independently wealthy, you’re going to have to live with the consequences of over-spending. Prioritise the things that are important to you, then use your priorities to guide your wedding expenses.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Elizabeth Emanuel Designs Low Cost Wedding Wear Line

Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed the wedding dress worn by Princess Diana, has developed a line of moderately priced wedding gowns. Emanuel, whose designs usually retail in the thousands of pounds, has four new dresses that will sell for less than £500 each.

The line was created for BHS, a High Street department store. The collection, named the Art of Elegance, is available only at BHS’ Scotland stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh. All four dresses are made only in ivory because it better suits the complexion of most British brides. The dresses are currently available in sizes up to 16, but Emanuel says that future dresses will be available in larger sizes. The production of the dresses is being handled by BHS, which is partially why the line is so affordable.

Emanuel and her husband, David have designed celebrity gowns and formalwear since their work on Diana’s dress. David Emanuel released a line of clothing in 2007 sold at Bonmarche for older women.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Saying by Mother Teresa

The true way and the sure way to friendship is through humility -
being open to each other, accepting each other just as we are,
knowing each other.

Mother Teresa

Keywords: Wedding Vows and Sayings, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Bride Loses SUV Wedding Dress In One Day

A bride-to-be in Tucson, Arizona in the US appealed to the public for help in retrieving her wedding dress, which was in the back seat of her car when it was stolen from a Tucson shopping mall car park. Christina Xelowski-Burns had just picked up the dress after her final fitting and stored it in the car while she shopped for bridesmaids’ dresses with her girlfriends. While she was shopping, she either dropped her car keys or they were stolen from her bag.

Video surveillance footage of the mall parking lot shows a young man cruising the parking lot with her keys trying to locate the vehicle. When the vehicle responded to the remote entry, he made off with her car and dress. According to the police in Tucson, 45 vehicles were stolen from the mall’s parking lot in 2007. Most stolen vehicles end up across the border in Mexico for smuggling illegal drugs or people into the United States.

Xelowski-Burns is hoping to locate the dress before her 10 May wedding. She says she’s less concerned about recovering the car than she is about recovering the dress. As of this writing, neither the dress nor the vehicle has been recovered.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Wedding Venue Closes Leaving Couples Stranded

A wedding venue in Suffolk in the UK closed without notice, leaving several couples who had paid deposits without a place to hold their weddings. Although the deposits have been returned to each couple, couples involved must now locate new venues for their events.

Lewis Jones and Sarah Ratcliffe, of Ipswich, received a letter from the Westerfield House Hotel dated April 1 informing the couple that the hotel was closing. The letter cast their wedding plans in disarray, as the couple had already prepared their invitations and were ready to post them.

The letter explained that the hotel was unable to meet newly implemented fire code regulations for Grade Two buildings and was forced to close as a result. The new regulations went into effect last 1 July, but the hotel was given until 31 March to comply with the new requirements. Upon failing to do so, the hotel was closed.

Mr. Jones initially thought the letter was an April Fool’s Day joke, but quickly realized that the letter was true. Jones and Ratcliffe have since located a new venue in Bury St Edmunds and their wedding will go on as planned, despite the stress of having had their first choice of venue close unexpectedly.

Keywords: Reception Venues, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Toronto Couple Observes Earth Hour During Wedding Reception

A Toronto couple, Susan Forshaw and Andrea Gaudreau, observed Earth Hour as it rolled through their wedding reception. The couple married in front of a group of family and friends at the Beaver Creek Resort in Gilmour, Ontario, about two hours drive from Toronto, in a fireside wedding ceremony.

Following the ceremony, the guests were served hors d’oeuvres and champagne as they waited to observe Earth Hour. The couple’s guests were treated to a candlelight dinner beginning at 8:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time, as all electric lights were extinguished for the observation. The guests were also treated to a starlit sky during the local observation of the global event. To celebrate the event, fireworks were set off on the shore of Beaver Creek at the conclusion of Earth Hour.

In Ontario, the combined effect of all participants in the event reduced power consumption in the province by five percent. The couple, who are avid outdoor enthusiasts, reserved the entire resort, in a secluded wilderness, for the weekend.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

2008 Wedding Trends

Wedding planning Web site myweddings.com reports that the site is seeing an increase in the number of casual weddings, and weddings that are highly customised to suit the wedding couple’s tastes.

Ecologically friendly weddings are growing in popularity. Eight of ten couples who are using the site to plan their wedding report incorporating at least one eco-friendly element in their wedding plans. Ecologically friendly elements could include reductions in power consumption, reduction in the amount of garbage generated by the reception, or the use of recycled paper for invitations, decorations and napkins.

Couples are increasingly choosing to use a “wedding logo” and theme to tie together the elements of their wedding event. A customised wedding logo appears on the invitation and wedding stationery, as well as on napkins, reception decorations and gift boxes for the guests.

Couples are also planning “888″ weddings – events that take place on August 8, 2008. For the record, that’s a Friday. Friday events are less expensive than Saturday affairs. Couples who are looking to economise on their wedding expenses may find that the August 8 date suits their budget, in addition to being memorable.

Finally, wedding couples are on the hunt for wedding favours that are useful. Sought-after favours include potted plants, seeds and gourmet samplers that offer the guests a special post-event treat. Kardella offers a full line of wedding favours and personalised wedding supplies.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Couple Wins £25000 One Month Before Wedding

Stefan Peddie and his bride-to-be, Becky Johnson, have won a Postcode Lottery prize of £25,000 just one month before the pair plans to marry. The couple, who met years ago as students in Chicago, in the United States, have been planning a wedding for some time.

Ms. Johnson, 35, who is an American citizen, encountered visa problems, which forced her to return to the United States while they were sorted out. The unplanned trip forced the couple into debt and they had to postpone much-needed repairs to their home.

With the unexpected windfall, Mr. Peddie and Ms. Johnson, will happily refuse the financial assistance offered by Mr. Peddie’s parents to ensure that the wedding took place without delay. The couple are thrilled that the win will erase their debts and allow them to have the wedding they’d originally hoped for. It will also allow them to complete the repairs on their home and treat Mr. Peddie’s sons from a previous marriage to some special gifts. The couple plan to invite a small group of family and friends to celebrate the event, to be held in May at the Newcastle Civic Centre.

Stefan Peddie, also 35, is a former wrestler who now works as a stand-up comedian. He says that he entered the lottery because the proceeds support a number of local charities and never expected to win.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Strolling Wedding Receptions Emerge As New Trend

Strolling wedding receptions are emerging as a new trend. The strolling format, which provides guests with small samples of food in lieu of a traditional sit-down dinner, are gaining in popularity. Most of what happens at a wedding reception is mingling and eating, and the strolling reception provides support for both.

The cost of a strolling reception is often lower because the food costs are generally less than those at a sit-down dinner or a buffet. Depending upon the number of menu options however, food costs can vary significantly from reception to reception.

As an added benefit, food stations that offer unusual options are also popular at a strolling reception. A food station might include an ice cream buffet, tropical mixed drinks, or specialty desserts. Food stations can also be designed to offer a “mini-meal” of wraps, carved meats, or seafood with complementary sides. Guests can build their own meals, or have them prepared by the catering staff.

In a strolling reception, food is served in waves, and guests can choose among their favorites. Many strolling menus offer between three and seven food choices, depending upon the length of the reception, whether or not alcohol is being served, and the number of guests at the event.

Keywords: Reception Venues, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

After-Party Latest Wedding Trend

A new trend is emerging among couples who marry: the “happily-ever-after” party, which takes place after the reception or the day following the wedding. The after-party allows couples to spend more time with their guests, and family members with whom they may not have spent time during the reception. While many a couple’s wedding reception has continued after-hours - with or without the bride and groom - wedding couples are now putting more effort and energy into planning the after-party. It’s not unusual for a couple to hire a DJ and arrange for catering for the after-party.

The after-party is also a way for couples to personalize their event a bit more, especially if tradition has dictated the flow of events for the wedding and reception. The after-party is also a way for couples to connect with friends who were not at the reception for reasons of time, space or cost.

The additional planning and cost doesn’t seem to dissuade some couples, who are marrying for the first time later in life and have additional disposable income to fund the after-event.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Maternity Bridal Designers Head Straight For White

You’re pregnant, or have been married before, but you still want to wear white? No problem! According to MaternityBride.com, white is the most popular dress colour today for expecting brides. More designer are offering white maternity dresses and many brides are choosing them, breaking with what turns out to be a relatively modern tradition.

For the last 60 years or so, white has been the standard colour choice for brides who had never before married and weren’t pregnant. Second-time brides and those who were expecting were encouraged to choose colours like off-white or even shades of champagne. The standard line was that white symbolised the bride’s virginity, therefore previously married brides, or those who were expecting should not choose white. History tells a different story about the meaning of the white wedding dress, however, and its relatively new emergence on the wedding scene.

At one time, white was an unusual colour for a wedding dress, even in Western European marriages. Queen Victoria’s colour choice of a white dress for her wedding to Albert of Saxe-Coburg in 1840 was rare for the time. In her case, white symbolised wealth and made no statement about purity.

According to bridal industry surveys, nearly half of women who walk up the aisle today are expecting, and bridal designers are just keeping up with the times. If you’re expecting, or have been married before, and want a white wedding dress, go ahead and wear white.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Marriage Rate Down In UK Church Weddings Up

According to the Office for National Statistics in the UK, the number of weddings taking place is decreasing. In 2006, the number of marriages fell by four percent over those recorded in 2005. The figures are part of a longer-term trend observed in recent decades. 236,980 marriages were recorded in 2006, the lowest since 1895, when 228,204 couples tied the knot. If the rate of weddings taking place continues as it has, 2008 will see the lowest number of weddings in the UK since 1862.

One Roman Catholic diocese is bucking the trend, however. Officials in the Diocese of Hereford say that the number of marriages they’re performing has actually increased in recent years. In 2002, the Diocese recorded 540 church weddings. In 2004, the number of recorded marriages rose to 640, and in 2005 - the last year for which diocesan marriage statistics are available - 710 couples married in the Diocese.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Hereford says that church weddings are moving apace, even though other non-church venues are available. She attributes part of the increase to the large proportion of church buildings that are classified as Grade I or Grade II, and their long history as wedding venues.

As part of its effort to promote church weddings, the Diocese of Hereford recently staffed a booth at a local wedding show in the county of Herefordshire. The Diocese is considering the possibility of participating in future wedding expositions. The Church of England has also initiated a national effort to encourage couples to marry in the church. The National Wedding Project provides printed materials and brochures for churches that want to participate in wedding shows. The Church of England is also considering a proposal that would allow couples more flexibility in choosing the church in which they marry.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Wedding Invitations from Kardella

If you’re looking for wedding invitations, Kardella Kreations has a large selection of printed and blank invitations, DIY precut cards and personalised items that can help make your wedding memorable. Kardella Kreations offers the latest styles and colours, and the website contains invitation wording suggestions. We also offer a large selection of unique and custom wedding invitations you won’t find anywhere else.

In addition to wedding invitations, Kardella Kreations offers unique boxes and bags, engraved glass and custom confectionary items that will please your guests. We offer wedding supplies, like wedding bubbles, ribbons, table decorations and tins that will complement your wedding décor.

Our online ordering service is friendly, fast and reliable. We can ship non-personalised orders in 2 business days. All of our work is done in-house, which means that we retain complete control over your order, from the time you place it until the time it leaves our facility. Kardella Kreations is known for its high quality product and service. Please contact us and give your wedding the Kardella touch.

Keywords: Wedding Invitations, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to: