Books to Watch - Stylish Men

There are several guides for men on the shelf including Nordstrom's Guide to Men's Style and Esquire's The Handbook of Style. And, because we luv all things stylish, we suggest these books as either gifts or style guides. Not sure what your guy should wear to engagement dinner or on the wedding day? These books will answer all of your questions.


Read The Full Article:
http://weddingsoiree.blogspot.com/2009/11/book-watch-stylish-men.html

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Color Card 051: Poppy, Carnation, Orangesicle,
Buttercream, Fern

Inspirational image from yvetteinufio.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.inspiredbride.net/2009/11/03/color-card-051-poppy-carnation-orangesicl
e-buttercream-fern/

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Get Married

I've always loved watching Get Married TV Shows on their website. They have recently announced the launch of Get Married magazine, a new shopping and trend guide for the savvy brides. It includes editorial features on real weddings, wedding professionals and experts, as well as trends, tips and articles, product profiles and inspiring challenge.

Get married is giving the first issue of its magazine for free! Annual subscriptions (4 issues) are available at $14.96. Order your free issue now!

Be sure to drop by Elizabeth Messina's blog, Kiss the Groom, and go behind the scenes with her during her photo shoot session for the premier issue of the magazine.

Also check out Get Married's article on the Top 10 Trends for 2010.

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Read The Full Article:
http://atimelesscelebration.blogspot.com/2009/11/get-married.html

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The Planning Hiccups

Rancho Sol Del Pacifico
 
I know it's been a LONG time since I have written an update. I know, I know.

Here's the deal. I need advise!!!

Everything was going smoothly. More than smooth...we were on a roll getting things crossed off on the checklist.

Until....

Until some very close family members brought up some concerns about having the wedding at the ranch in Malibu. From the getgo, we always planned this to be OUR special day that the guests would share with us. But, WE were the driving force....not our guests. It was OUR special day that would always be remembered, and a day that the guests would likely forget over time....so we were planning it so it would be magical for us. Well, REALITY check.

For anyone planning a wedding at a non-traditional venue (not at a hotel), here are some things (some very REAL and legitimate things) that will inevitably come up:

• Where are kids going to be able to nap in between the wedding and the reception? 
• Where are people going to be able to change or freshen up in between the wedding and the reception?
• If it is a summer wedding, where will people freshen up after the bharat? 
  
• What is the radius of all of the events over the three to four days, and how will guests be getting there? It's fine if guests need to rent a car, but how far will they be driving in an unknown city. 
• How long does it take to get from one place to another? 

These are all things we thought about moderately, but none were big enough concerns for us. We thought the awe-factor with such majestic Malibu views would eliminate these issues from being big. Probably naive on our part, but that's what we thought. A majority of the people (friends, family) have advised us not to worry about it and to let the guests take care of themselves.

But over the weeks, this issue has just been nagging at us both so we went back to see what our option were. We called Amy, our wedding planner, who was wonderful through the whole process, to help us navigate options.

She came up with a BRILLIANT plan.....have the reception at a hotel closer to the sangeet venue...one that is close to the beach....and one that does indian weddings really well.....and of course, one that is in our budget. And for the wedding, pick a location that is right on the water (so I get my mandap overlooking the ocean on a bluff). This plan was perfect, and everyone would have been happy. In this plan the wedding would have been at Terranea (a gorgeous hotel in Rancho Palos Verdes, on a bluff, overlooking the ocean) and the reception would have been at the Hyatt Long Beach. It took Amy two weeks to get an answer from Terranea - and they said no. - they didn't want to host just the wedding, without a reception. Funny thing is, that the hotel, which is BRAND NEW, is going through bankruptcy (or close to it), yet they feel it is bad PR! Go figure! So, our wonderful plan is no longer an option.

Which puts us back a square 1. I would love to get some of the readers thinking on this one....I don't know what to do!

Here are the current facts (I am pointing out all the negatives to give a picture of what people have trouble over....obviously there are a lot of pros, which were explained in my blog post about the venue here). So, the issues....
1. More than 80% of our guests will be flying in from the Eastt coast or Midwest
2. The central hotel will be in Santa Monica
3. The Sangeet will be in Cerritos on Friday night  - - - a 45 min drive from Santa Monica
4. The wedding and reception is in the hills of Malibu on Sat - - - another 45 min drive from Santa Monica in the other direction
5. Given the distance, we are going to have the wedding and the reception in close timing so that people would not be bored. But this means they cannot go change in between, unless we try to get some rooms in this the private estate house, which is questionable.

Here are the things running around my head:
1. We have already put down a hefty deposit for the Malibu ranch, and there is a chance that we might not get it back
2. I want my guests to be happy and stress free, but I need to balance that with what we wanted from our wedding ..... mandap overlooking the ocean, nature, art.....all of that. I can't sacrifice that, RIGHT?
3. I can't blow up my budget and have the entire thing be at Terranea. That, unfortunately, can't happen.
4. We were done with the venue searches....the box was checked.....and it feels exhausting to even think that we have to go looking for something all over again. We tried one option, gave it a damn good effort, and it didn't work out....do we keep looking? And at what point do we tell our concerned family members, that we tried our best but that we couldn't find a reasonable solution? And if so, how do we work out their concerns to the best of our ability? 

Or do we make out of state family guest comfort our #1 criteria and diminish focus on everything else (basically shift from having it be "our" day to throwing a really great party)

So, what do I do? I'm going nuts....and need advise!!!






Read The Full Article:
http://anjaniandsaurab.blogspot.com/2009/11/im-back.html

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I'm Back.....

Rancho Sol Del Pacifico
 
I know it's been a LONG time since I have written an update. I know, I know.

Here's the deal. I need advise!!!

Everything was going smoothly. More than smooth...we were on a roll getting things crossed off on the checklist.

Until....

Until some very close family members brought up some concerns about having the wedding at the ranch in Malibu. From the getgo, we always planned this to be OUR special day that the guests would share with us. But, WE were the driving force....not our guests. It was OUR special day that would always be remembered, and a day that the guests would likely forget over time....so we were planning it so it would be magical for us. Well, REALITY check.

For anyone planning a wedding at a non-tradational venue (not at a hotel), here are some things (some very REAL and legitimate things) that will inevitably come up:

• Where are kids going to be able to nap in between the wedding and the reception? 
• Where are people going to be able to change or freshen up in between the wedding and the reception?
• If it is a summer wedding, where will people freshen up after the bharat? 
  
• What is the radius of all of the events over the three to four days, and how will guests be getting there? It's fine if guests need to rent a car, but how far will they be driving in an unknown city. 
• How long does it take to get from one place to another? 

These are all things we thought about moderately, but none were big enough concerns for us. We thought the awe-factor with such majestic Malibu views would eliminate these issues from being big. Probably naive on our part, but that's what we thought. A majority of the people (friends, family) have advised us not to worry about it and to let the guests take care of themselves.

But over the weeks, this issue has just been nagging at us both so we went back to see what our option were. We called Amy, our wedding planner, who was wonderful through the whole process, to help us navigate options.

She came up with a BRILLIANT plan.....have the reception at a hotel closer to the sangeet venue...one that is close to the beach....and one that does indian weddings really well.....and of course, one that is in our budget. And for the wedding, pick a location that is right on the water (so I get my mandap overlooking the ocean on a bluff). This plan was perfect, and everyone would have been happy. In this plan the wedding would have been at Terranea (a georgeous hotel in Rancho Palos Verdes, on a bluff, overlooking the ocean) and the reception would have been at the Hyatt Long Beach. It took Amy two weeks to get an answer from Terranea - and they said no. - they didn't want to host just the wedding, without a reception. Funny thing is, that the hotel, which is BRAND NEW, is going through bankrupcy (or close to it), yet they feel it is bad PR! So, our wonderful plan is no longer an option.

Which puts us back a square 1. I would love to get some of the readers thinking on this one....I don't know what to do!

Here are the current facts (I am pointing out all the negatives to give a picture of what people have trouble over....obviously there are a lot of pros, which were explained in my blog post about the venue here). So, the issues....
1. More than 80% of our guests will be flying in from the east coast or midwest
2. The central hotel will be in Santa Monica
3. The Sangeet will be in Cerritos on Friday night  - - - a 45 min drive from Santa Monica
4. The wedding and reception is in the hills of Malibu on Sat - - - another 45 min drive from Santa Monica in the other direction
5. Given the distance, we are going to have the wedding and the reception in close timing so that people would not be bored. But this means they cannot go change in between, unless we try to get some rooms in this the private estate house, which is questionable.

Here are the things running around my head:
1. We have already put down a heafty deposit for the Malibu ranch, and there is a chance that we might not get it back
2. I want my guests to be happy and stressfree, but I need to balance that with what we wanted from our wedding ..... mandap overlooking the ocean, nature, art.....all of that. I can't sacrifice that, RIGHT?
3. I can't blow up my budget and have the entire thing be at Terranea. That, unfortunately, can't happen.
4. We were done with the venue searches....the box was checked.....and it feels exhausting to even think that we have to go looking for something all over again. We tried one option, gave it a damn good effort, and it didn't work out....do we keep looking? And at what point do we tell our concerned family members, that we tried our best but that we couldn't find a reasonable solution? And if so, how do we work out their concerns to the best of our ability? 

Or do we make out of state family guest comfort our #1 critiera and diminish focus on everything else (basically shift from having it be "our" day to throwing a really great party)

So, what do I do? I'm going nuts....and need advise!!!




Read The Full Article:
http://anjaniandsaurab.blogspot.com/2009/11/im-back.html

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Jen & Brynley's red & white, 50's inspired
wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Jen, Graphic Designer (and OBT member "Jensensi")Her Offbeat Partner: Brynley, MusicianLocation & date of wedding: The Country Cottage, Nottingham, UK — 27-06-09What made this wedding offbeat: We decided from the get-go that we wanted it to be as cheap as possible without compromising too much on a nice venue. We didn?t want [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://offbeatbride.com/2009/11/red-white-uk-wedding

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Wedding Question: What Food & Drinks Should I
Spend the Most Money On

We just received this question from a reader: I am in the process of figuring out the food and drinks for my wedding. I’m not (yet) over budget, but I’m having a hard time figuring out where I should bother to put in the extra money and where it will make no difference! What is [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.theweddinglens.com/2009/11/03/wedding-question-what-food-drinks-shoul
d-i-spend-the-most-money-on/

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paris spa treatments for men

I originally posted this a few years back, but a recent string of inquiries has prompted me to repost these resources on where a guy can find a good spa treatment in Paris:I received an email the other day from a groom-to-be in the U.S. who was frustrated because he couldn’t find information online about [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.parisianevents.com/parisianparty/paris-spa-treatments-for-men/

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It's that time of year again...

Since we've come back from the honeymoon I find myself desperate to finish getting our place sorted out with decor, curtains, linens etc. that we need to make this place feel cozy. Not that it doesn't already, but I'm a lot more active about it than I have been in recent months.

The past few days have been particularly bad- I've been going crazy with cleaning, hanging pictures and photos everywhere, re-organizing everything in the cupboards, buying stuff to organize the closets with etc. In fact, I almost want to strip the whole place bare and start from scratch. (material possessions don't mean much to me- I'm pretty good at parting with stuff and starting over when I get bored)

I'll admit, I tend to get fairly nesty around this time of year anyway (I'm preparing for my annual hibernation. I hate winter.) but I can't tell if this is exaggerated to make up for the fact that I haven't done ANYTHING in my house all summer, or if it's newlywed syndrome.

Last night I came across two AMAZING home decor websites. The prices are far more expensive than anything I could ever afford and DH hates most of it, but hey! a girl can dream can't she?!

I would LOVE to have these two pieces in our bedroom- photos from The French Bedroom Company

Wouldn't this collection be darling in a formal parlor or sitting room? (Graham And Green)

Read The Full Article:
http://sapphyreswedding.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-that-time-of-year-again.html

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