Wedding Invitations Who Makes The A-List

Who makes the invitation list is a question that most brides have to answer up front. Determining the length of the invitation list plays a big role in everything from the size of the wedding and reception venues to the size of the wedding cake. Brides-to-be need to come up with a rough estimate of their guest list before booking a venue and confirming the wedding date.

With such high stakes and with the economy in the tank, many brides are taking a new look at the guest list. In the past, larger weddings were in vogue. Restaurants are replacing banquet halls, off-the-rack dresses are replacing designer gowns, and brides-to-be are scouring the Internet for deals that will lower the cost of the event significantly. Today, small is the new big. Brides are planning intimate weddings, and the fewer the guests, the better.

One area in which brides can save is on wedding invitations. Kardella has a complete line of pre-printed, do-it-yourself and custom designed wedding invitations. These beautiful packages will fit any budget and can be ordered on the Internet to save even more. If you’re stuck on which invitation to choose, you can purchase a sample pack with all of your potential choices for a nominal fee, and Kardella offers free shipping to any Australian address via the postal service.

Kardella can help you plan any wedding – big or small – with our beautiful invitations, announcement and wedding favours. Visit our Web site today and look at our extensive catalogue of the most beautiful invitations around.

Keywords: Wedding Invitations, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Wisconsin Couple Saves Seats At Their Wedding For Hudson River Heroes

Wisconsin residents Stephanie King and Andrew Gray would like to issue a very special invitation to their wedding to the pilot and co-pilot of US Airways flight 1549, which splash-landed in New York’s icy Hudson River on January 16. The couple, who are in the middle of planning their wedding, were aboard the doomed jet when it took off from La Guardia Airport. Just moments after the airliner took flight, it met a flock of birds which struck the plane, causing both engines to fail simultaneously just 3200 feet above New York City.

The pilots assessed the grim situation and determined that a water landing was their only hope of survival. The captain informed the passengers of the mishap and told them to brace themselves for impact. King and Gray kissed and said “I love you.” Shortly afterward, the pilots made a miraculous soft landing on the river’s surface. King, Gray and 153 other passengers and crew aboard the plane survived the impact amd escaped to the plane’s wings, where they were plucked out of the water by nearby ferries and Coast Guard rescue boats. Shortly after the last passengers were rescued, the plane sank.

The couple said that they would like to invite the pilot and co-pilot to their wedding as a way to thank the heroic pair.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Runaway Horse Ditches British Bride On The Way To The Wedding

A British bride says she is lucky to be alive after a horse drawing the carriage she was riding in bolted after being frightened by oncoming traffic. Sophie Clarke and her father were riding in the carriage on the way to St. Leonard’s Church in Bretforton, when the horse was spooked.

The driver and his assistant were both thrown to the ground, leaving Clarke and her father to fend for themselves. The hapless horse carried the pair for another mile and a half, onto a railway track. At that point, Bob Clarke pushed his daughter out of the carriage and then jumped as well. The groom was called to the scene and arrived to find his fiancée being attended to by paramedics.

The bride suffered cuts, bruises and a concussion and was taken to nearby Worcester Hospital for evaluation. She was released later that day. The ceremony was cancelled, but the couple have rescheduled the wedding for a date in January. The second attempt will be a quiet affair, attended only by the couple’s immediate family and close friends.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Madonna Prevails In Court Over Stolen Wedding Photos

A London High Court judge sided with Madonna in the singer’s suit against the Mail on Sunday tabloid, which published stolen photographs of the singer’s wedding to director Guy Ritchie. The tabloid published an 11-page spread of photographs allegedly lifted from the singer’s Beverly Hills, California home by an interior decorator, who was paid about USD$7,500. The spread appeared as Madonna and Ritchie were in the midst of separating.

Madonna had no idea that the photos had been swiped until they appeared in print and claimed that the publication was a gross violation of the singer’s privacy. Prior to the spread, no photos of the singer’s 2000 wedding had been published. The court agreed that the publication of the stolen images constituted an invasion of privacy, and will determine the damage award at a separate hearing in early 2009.

Madonna is seeking USD$7.5 million in damages, but the court has not yet determined the actual amount of the award. The paper is contesting the damage request, saying that the photos are not worth what Madonna is seeking. Meanwhile, Madonna and Ritchie concluded their divorce settlement privately in November.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Groom Gets iPhone Cake For His Wedding Day

Bobby Casey loves his iPhone. He also loves his new wife. On the couple’s wedding day, the new Mrs. Casey presented her husband with an iPhone shaped groom’s cake as a wedding gift. The full sheet cake was decorated to look like an iPhone, complete with brightly coloured iPhone application icons in the black frosting. According to Casey, the cake took 18 hours to make and decorate. He reports that he didn’t want to eat the cake, but did so anyway, and it was “delicious.”

A groom’s cake is a traditional part of a southern US wedding, and is a gift from the bride to the groom. Unlike the wedding cake, a groom’s cake is often humourous in nature, non-traditional in flavour or shape, dark or soaked in liquor, and is decorated to reflect the groom’s personality, interests, hobbies, or personal tastes. Traditional wedding colours and bridal frou-frou are strictly avoided.

The groom’s cake may be set up at a different table than the wedding cake itself and served to the wedding guests, or may be served the evening prior to the wedding at a rehearsal dinner or a groom’s dinner. According to southern folklore, an unmarried woman who sleeps with a piece of the groom’s cake under her pillow will dream of the man she’ll marry.

Keywords: Wedding Cakes, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Wanted: Decent Wedding Guests

A Ukrainian woman who is marrying her man in London, England has posted a classified ad in search of 30 guests for her wedding. The groom’s family and friends make up the bulk of the couple’s guest list, but only the bride’s parents – who still live in the Ukraine – will share the bride’s special day. The bride would like to find guests who are willing to make her special day – well, special.

Prospective wedding guests must send a picture and a note about themselves, and in return, will receive an invitation to sit on the bride’s side of the church and celebrate afterwards at the reception.. Some volunteer guests will be pressed into service as bridesmaids, groomsmen and ushers.

The bride and groom expect to entertain about 150 guests at the nuptials. While many people dread attending weddings, they do provide an opportunity to meet some new and interesting people.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Move Over, Las Vegas! New York Is Aiming To Be US Marriage Capital

NSW Premier Nathan Rees and his new bride Stacey Haines may be just the first of what New York City wants to see more of: couples traveling to the city to get married. Haines’ sister lives in New York City and took part in the ceremony, which Rees and his bride had hoped to keep a private affair. The couple honeymooned in New York City for a few days before returning to Australia, but New York City has high expectations for its budding romance business. The city has just completed an extensive USD$12 million renovation of the Manhattan Marriage Bureau, and hopes to attract couples from all over the world as a way to boost tourism in the city.

Last year, the City of New York issued 66,000 marriage licenses. Considering that the New York metropolitan area is home to more than 8 million people, the city certainly thinks it can do better. Clark County, Nevada, (home to Las Vegas), is the United States’ undisputed heavyweight marriage license champion, having issued nearly 109,000 licenses last year. Couples can obtain a marriage license in New York City by paying a US$35 fee and waiting for 24 hours after filing their application.

The newly remodeled Marriage Bureau features dressing rooms for the bride and groom, an enlarged wedding chapel, and scenic backdrops that couples can use for photographs, In addition, the office will play the music of the couple’s choice during the ceremony. While New York City has not yet built any 24-hour drive through wedding chapels, the Big Apple is hoping to attract love-struck couples – during regular business hours.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Atheist Takes On Nevada For The Right To Perform Marriages

Michael Jacobson is an avowed atheist who wants to officiate at weddings in Las Vegas. There’s a small hitch in Jacobson’s plans – Nevada state law forbids non-religious officiants from performing weddings. Judges and civil officials are exempt from the requirement, but Jacobson’s application to perform weddings was rejected by officials who say that state law requires that licensed officiants have some connection to a religious congregation.

The American Humanist Association and the Center for Inquiry are leading the effort to persuade the state legislature to modify state law requiring a religious connection for applicants who want to perform marriages. If Plan A fails, the organizations plan to sue the state on the grounds that wedding officiants are agents of the state, and the state is prohibited from mandating any type of religious connection.

Jacobson says his name will be on the suit, but suing wouldn’t be his first preference. The state law at issue has been on the books since the 1960’s and was adopted to prevent “freelance ministers” who had no other congregational duties, from performing marriages. Clark County, in which Las Vegas is located, issues more than 100,000 marriage licenses each year. Wedding chapels there operate 24-hours a day in what has become a cutthroat business.

The American Humanist Association and the Center for Inquiry say they hope that Nevada will allow notaries – who can administer oaths and act as official witnesses – to perform wedding duties. Only three other states in the US allow notaries to seal a wedding deal.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria Marries

Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria married Count Rodolphe of Limburg Stirum on December 6 in Mechelen, Belgium. The couple were wed in a civil ceremony prior to a religious ceremony at St. Rumbolds Cathedral. Marie-Christine is the great-granddaughter of Emperor Karl and Empress Zita. Her new husband, Count Rodolphe, is the son of Count Christian and Countess Colienne d’Oultremont.

The bride wore a full length white dress designed by Yves Dooms, and a veil made of heirloom lace accompanied by a Luxembourg family tiara. The groom wore a black and grey tuxedo.The 23-year-old bride was given in marriage by her father, Archduke Carl Christian.

Marie-Christine is descended from the Hapsburg dynasty and Rodolphe traces his royal lineage back to the ninth century. The couple were married in front of royalty from Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, Yugoslavia, Liechtenstein, and Austria. The couple announced their engagement in June. This is the first marriage for both.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Hawaiian Wedding Industry In Tatters As Economy Takes A Hit

The signs have been coming for more than a year. Officials in Hawaii, a wedding destination extraordinaire, noted earlier this year that the number of Japanese tourists visiting Hawaii to wed had decreased noticeably in the past year. The wedding industry in the Aloha State has taken another hit, as wedding parties from other places – most noticeably in the US – aren’t hitting the beaches like they did at one time.

Event coordinators are saying that the number of wedding events they’re planning is decreasing, and for the first time in memory, one company says that it is organising more baptisms than weddings in the month of December. Overall, according to Penei Aller, owner of Beach Weddings Hawaii, their wedding business is off by 50 percent over last year.

Part of the downturn in business isn’t directly related to the economy. Two major airlines that served the island state have shut down operations, making it more difficult to get tourists in and out of the area. Air travel to Hawaii is off by more than 15 percent since 2007, and things don’t look to be improving. In addition, the State of Hawaii is now actively enforcing regulations that require couples who want to wed on the beach to obtain a special permit.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources is enforcing a law meant to regulate private parties on public beaches in Hawaii. Before this year, the law had not been applied to weddings, but the state has changed its policies in an effort to protect the shoreline. Permits are required for any event that includes professional service providers of any type, including ministers. In addition, state regulations limit beach weddings to no more than two hours, and no chairs may be brought onto the beach, with exemptions for elderly and disabled guests. Decorations are also strictly limited. Permits cost $0.10 per square foot and have a $20 minimum.

Other wedding-related businesses, like catering, photography and planning services are reporting drops in business of between 20%-50%. The events are growing smaller, too. Several professionals note that brides are often looking for personal services, like hairstyling and manicures, by themselves where two years ago, bridesmaids would have been included.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Fergie and Josh Duhamel Wedding Date

Singer Stacy Ann Ferguson – better known as Fergie – of the Black Eyed Peas, will reportedly marry her long-time fiancé and actor Josh Duhamel in early January. Access Hollywood reports that the ceremony will take place on January 10 in Southern California.

The couple have been dating since 2004 and became engaged in December 2007. Fergie will star in the soon-to-be-released adaptation of the musical Nine, along with Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Dame Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard and Daniel Day Lewis., many of whom have been invited to attend the wedding.

Duhamel, who is best known for his role in the Steven Spielberg film The Transformers Movie, recently completed filming of a romantic comedy titled When In Rome. Prior to his engagement to Ms. Ferguson, Duhamel was engaged to fashion model Kristy Pierce. This will be the first marriage for both.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

UK Couple Celebrates 74th Wedding Anniversary On Christmas Day

Richard Needs, a former builder, married his wife Lilian on Christmas Day, 1934 because that was the only day he could get off from work. The pair married in a church in Newport and were serenaded by guests singing Christmas carols.

Needs first saw his wife in a park in Newport, and after seeing her walk through the park at the same time each day for a week, he finally spoke to her. The couple married and had three children. Needs says that the Christmas Day nuptials weren’t that unusual for the time, but spending 74 years together with his wife is certainly an unusual accomplishment.

Asked about the secret of their long marriage, Needs credits not having too many disagreements with his wife. Daughter Pat agreed. According to her, the Needs’ are the most devoted couple she knows. She says her memories of her parents together were always happy. Her father played in a band and her mother would watch. She also said that her parents spent time dancing together and having fun.

The Needs’ did spend four years apart during World War II, while Mr. Needs served in the army. Surprisingly, the Needs aren’t the UK’s longest-married couple. That honour belongs to Frank and Anita Milford, who celebrated their 80th anniversary in May.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Military Brides Get Free Wedding Dresses

In honour of Veterans’ Day, a group of military brides-to-be received designer wedding dresses free of charge. The giveaway was sponsored by the Azteca Wedding Plaza and took place on 11 November. A few of the brides-to-be were enlisted themselves, but most of the recipients are engaged to men who are serving in the US military.

The giveaway was part of a national campaign called Brides Across America, which was organised to donate wedding dresses to military couples. At the Azteca Wedding Plaza, the first 41 women to respond received free wedding gowns. The shop owner, Royna Rosell, said that she was inspired to give away the dresses because it was the right thing to do, and because her family has a history of military service.

The dresses being donated ranged in price from $600 to $2,000 and brides could choose any dress they liked. The dresses were donated by the shop, as well as by manufacturers and vendors. The shop made an exception for one bride, who could not be at the store on 11 November to select her dress. She’s stationed in Iraq and will not be home on leave until mid-December. She does not expect to be home again until August 2009 for her wedding.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Couple Weds In New York Cave

A couple from Corinth, New York in the US made it official when they wed 156 feet below ground in Howes Caverns. The celebration marked the 600th time in more than 150 years that couples wed among the cave’s limestone caverns. The unusual location has hosted some unusual weddings. The one that stands out the most in caretaker Bob Holt’s mind happened about ten years ago, when the entire wedding party and all of the guests came dressed as clowns.

The groom, Dennis Dowen, visited the cave as a child and witnessed a wedding there. The cave made quite an impression, and he suggested it as a location for his wedding to Karen Rowland. This is the second wedding for each, and between them, they have five adult children.

The wedding was officiated by a justice of the peace. After the ceremony, the guests toured the cave, then retired to a local restaurant for a wedding feast. The bride and groom wore matching Oxford shirts and jeans to keep warm. The cave has a constant temperature of just 11°C.

Most of the cave weddings have taken place in recent times, but the first wedding in Howes Cave took place in 1854, with Harriet Howes – the proprietor’s daughter – being the first Howes Cave bride. She and her husband, Hiram Dewey, married within the cave as a publicity stunt to draw attention to her father’s business, which also included a hotel at the entrance to the cave.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Chinese Gymnast Takes Flak For Extravagant Wedding

Yang Wei, who won two gold and one silver medal in men’s gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics married his long-time fiancée, former Olympic women’s gymnast Yang Yun. In the process, he created a controversy that has yet to die down in China. Wei accepted corporate sponsorships to underwrite the cost of the wedding, which was extremely lavish by local standards.

Reportedly, the bride – who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics – wore a golden wedding dress provided by a Japanese designer that was rumoured to cost AUD$6.7 million. The wedding was sponsored by several different companies and included celebrities and government officials. Wei called the corporate gifts “expressions of love” for the couple from friends and companies.

Wei defended the wedding, saying that he had promised his bride a romantic wedding because she had supported him and encouraged him during his Olympic training. The wedding, which took place on the island resort of Hainan, is just one of several opulent weddings in China that have drawn fire from critics recently.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Wedding Party Surprises Groom With Visit From UCLA Cheerleaders

A newly married man was surprised by his new wife and members of the wedding party who pitched in to rent the University of California at Los Angeles cheerleading squad and the school’s mascot for an appearance at the couple’s wedding reception. The cheerleaders livened up the wedding reception by performing acrobatic stunts for the wedding party and guests.

The groom and guests, who were unaware of the planned entertainment for the evening, enjoyed about an hour with the cheerleading squad as they performed their sideline stunts and danced with wedding guests. The cheerleading squad rents itself out for $100 per cheerleader for special occasions as a way to help fund their travel and activities. This was the first time the group performed for a wedding.

The group appeared in their UCLA cheer outfits alongside “Joe Bruin,” the school’s mascot, to the delight of the guests who were presumably UCLA fans.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Wedding Services To Engaged Couples

About 30 businesses on and around Union Street in San Francisco have banded together to offer wedding services to engaged couples. The business group calls itself the Union Street Wedding Ring and includes hair salons, studios, jewellery designers, florists, dress designers and men’s formal wear shops, photographers, calligraphers, vintners, wedding and event planners, and other hospitality providers.

The group hopes to strike a balance between luxury and convenience. The stores are located within a six-block area of the city and hopes to capture business from some of the 45,000 weddings that take place in San Francisco each year. The business owners in the area realized that engaged couples were coming to the area to work with one or two businesses, but were unaware that many other wedding-related businesses were within walking distance.

A spokesperson for the group says that couples can plan an entire wedding using the businesses in the Union Street Wedding Ring. Don’t look for discount wedding services, however. The stores are in an upscale area of San Francisco and cater to higher-income couples.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

UK Couple Takes A Wedding Plunge

A couple in the UK exchanged wedding vows atop a specially built platform. After they said their “I do’s” they kissed and plunged nearly 150 feet over the side of the platform. They became the first couple to seal their wedding vows with a bungee jump. The pair were joined (on the ground) by 10 friends and family members who celebrated with the couple at a reception.

The jump cost the pair about £7,000, and are the first of what Marriage In The Sky spokesman David Ghysels hopes will be a steady stream of couples who want to take this particular kind of plunge. The wedding service is an off-shoot of Meeting In the Sky, a Belgian company that hosts corporate meetings and presentations on a suspended platform with airplane-like accommodations.

Using the same style of platform, the couple can be joined by as many as 10 guests. The company hopes to establish wedding sites at marquee wedding spots like the Grand Canyon in the US or the Tower Bridge in London.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Winter Weather Doesn’t Demolish Couple’s Christmas Eve Wedding Plan

Brent Harris, 24, is indeed a lucky man. He and his fiancée, Sherry Johnson of Springfield, Illinois in the US, were planning a Christmas Eve wedding in Springfield. At 6:00 AM on Tuesday, December 23, Harris called Johnson from Seattle, Washington to tell his fiancée that he had overslept and was in serious danger of missing his Chicago-bound flight. Rebooking a flight at the height of the holiday travel season was going to be tricky, at best.

While Johnson and her father scurried to find alternate flight plans for Harris, he rushed to the airport. With just five minutes to spare, he made his original flight and was on his way to the wedding. Shortly before Harris’ plane was scheduled to land in Chicago, and with his fiancée already en route to meet him at the airport, a massive winter storm hit the area and Harris’ flight was diverted to St. Louis, Missouri, 300 miles away.

Johnson called her father, who was on the way to her wedding by car. Dad turned around and drove to St. Louis to pick up his future son-in-law. The pair traveled together through a snow- and ice storm, arriving in Springfield that evening.

Johnson and Harris married on Christmas Eve morning in a civil ceremony at the Sangamon County Courthouse. The couple, who have been dating for just over a year, wanted to get married sooner rather than later. Harris recently enlisted in the US Army and has spent the last five months in basic training and at his first assignment in Washington State. He is scheduled to deploy overseas in 2009. The couple wanted to spend as much time as possible together before he ships out. Harris is awaiting approval from the US Army for housing that will accommodate his new wife. He will return to Washington – minus his wife – on December 31.

Keywords: Wedding News, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to:

Mothers Establish A Cookie Tradition For Weddings

A group of thirteen mothers has established a tradition of baking cookies for their children’s weddings, and the approach has added a touch of laughter and friendship to each wedding event.

For a typical family wedding, the group bakes between 800 and 1,000 cookies, which are arranged on a table at the wedding reception. The mothers group met nearly twenty years ago when their children were in high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the US.

The tradition of the cookie table was established twelve years ago, when the prospective son-in-law of one of the mothers asked if his own mother and friends could bring home baked cookies to the couple’s wedding. The cookies were such a hit that the group decided to carry on the tradition at subsequent weddings.

The group uses family recipes, along with a few experiments and trials, along with the bride and grooms favourite cookies to assemble an eye-popping assortment of cookies. The women make enough cookies to cover three times the guest count, and come wedding time, the group goes to work.

The designated “mother-in-charge” is the mother of the bride or bridegroom at the most recent wedding. She is responsible for dividing the work and making dinner for the other women during a baking session, which also includes decorating the cookies. The women have also learned about the logistics of transporting cookies from the baking site to the wedding site, including how to negotiate airports with the goodies in tow. As part of the gift, the women also provide goodie bags for the guests to fill with cookies at the end of the reception.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

Add to: