U.S. Wedding Travel

Over the last few months, we have been traveling back and forth to Europe quite a bit. Through our travels, we’ve met many young people from Europe traveling to the U.S. for destination weddings.

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. In the U.S., there are more locations, more options, more venues and more vendors. Given the weaknesses of the U.S. dollar against the Euro, it’s also a lot cheaper for them (although the dollar has bounced back a little over the last two months).

With that said, there are big changes to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program coming tomorrow. The Visa Waiver Program is for residents of certain countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa – mostly Western European countries.

Effective tomorrow, if you are part of the Visa Waiver Program (i.e., you don’t need a visa to travel to the U.S.), you must still register with the U.S. Government. This new registration system is called ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). You can fill the form out on the Internet and approvals take seconds. Once completed, you will be able to travel to the U.S.

The program is designed to give U.S. law enforcement more time to screen for potential terrorists. Unfortunately, this means it takes more time for non-U.S. residents to enter the U.S. (and more hassles).

If you are thinking about a destination wedding in the U.S., you should be aware of this additional step you will need to go through. And if you are a destination wedding vendor in the U.S., you should consider mentioning this to your foreign clients so they aren’t caught by surprise.

Design My Wedding - Wedding Innovators Challenge

Oh how I do wish that DC was a bit closer so that I could attend this one! C'est la vie. The good thing however is that it's a tour, so many many of us will have the opportunity to go!
DC Nearlyweds (one of my favorite wedding blogs) is hosting the Wedding Innovator's Design Challenge and Bridal Show. It will start in Washington, DC and travel to 5 additional cities (New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and Toronto).
Here is why I think we should all go- it's for wedding designer-planners and brides! It's a three prong event : Design Challenge for Event Planners, Bridal Show for Brides and a Silent Auction to benefit Brides Against Breast Cancer.
The DC Show is being sponsored by My Day Weddings Magazine and The Wedding Podcast Network and is being held at the Liaison Capitol Hill in Washington, from 10:00 - 5:00 pm on Saturday February 21, 2009.

From Vicky Johnson of DC Nearlyweds, "Leading our panel of judges is Los Angeles celebrity wedding and event planner Diann Valentine. She is also the host of the new Mark Burnett/Dreamworks TV Show Wedding Day debuting this Spring. There will be a ticketed VIP networking event following the show as well, so there's a great deal to see and do in DC!
We also welcome donations for the Silent Auction. Proceeds will benefit Brides Against Breast Cancer.(www.makingmemories.org)
Information and registration can be found on the show website www.weddinginnovators.com"

The tickets are $20 each, but if you're reading this, guess what? You get a deal Lucille! When purchasing your ticket use the code Socialites and your tickets will be just $15.
The event website is www.weddinginnovators.com Go buy a ticket or three.

I'm considering entering the challenge myself...what do you guys think? Should I do it?

Love love love Southern Weddings

And again I say Love Love Love. I think nearly all of you brides and wedding planners will agree with me, once you have the chance to read the premiere issue of Southern Weddings Magazine, that this is what we have been waiting for. FOREVER. Yes, I am screaming that. It deserved a scream.
I have read it 3 times now because I keep finding new elements to love some more. Hello! The true bride confessions- oh my gosh, cutest thing ever. Probably the most obvious fantastic thing about this magazine however, is the fact that there are over 20 real weddings covered! Are you kidding me? I could pass out in inspiration bliss.
If by chance you can't find it at your local B&N or BAM because its sold out, you can order it from the Southern Weddings blog. We also have a couple copies here in our studio if you happen to be local the Cape Coral or Ft. Myers area.

Congrats to Lara and all the editors at Southern Weddings! Love love love

Breaking the Silence

Happy New Year! 2008 ended very quietly for us. We received dozens of messages from readers wondering what happened. The truth is, we spent much of the fall traveling, including trips across the U.S. (Texas, Illinois and Florida) and also overseas (including Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco).

With all the traveling, it didn’t give us much of an opportunity to blog. Sorry about that!

We’re back. Hopefully we’ll get back on our weekly blog schedule soon. Thanks for your patience!

Black & White and read all overShopping inspiration

Today Michelle and I headed out to see if we could find a special table for Gwyneth Bride. We call her Gwyneth because she is so G. Paltrow its crazy. We adore her and her going to be off the charts gorgeous wedding. Back to shopping- I nearly had a meltdown when I got to my favorite shop because I realized I left my wallet at home. Ugh. Anyway, I was inspired by this months issue of Unveiled (I adore this magazine, its a must read). This issue is completely unique because its all about Black & White. Go get it.
So of course, I walk into the shop, and I find all this neat black and white that would be fantastic for a fun shower or bridesmaids luncheon. Best part- nothing over $4 a piece. Love that. These pieces might find their way onto a tablescape I'm doing next week.
While we didn't find the perfect table for Gwyenth bride, we did find these very cool 2.5 foot lanterns. These would be great at the beginning of a ceremony aisle with pillar candles inside and surrounded by big bushy peonies. Then we walked around the corner and found these monsters! I MUST HAVE THEM. Michelle is 5 foot, so you can see- these are big beyond big. I swear I could hear my poor abandoned wallet screaming, "come get me, I will buy them for you!". Michelle saved me by pulling me out of the shop with a Starbucks card. By the way, the new Tzao Vanilla Roobos latte is so good.

"Who won?"

I'll bet y'all thought we'd forget to pick the winner of Bouquet Chic. Nope, it just took us forever to choose because Michelle was talking me off the ledge at Homegoods (I'll explain this later). All the comments are awesome! Thank you so much for reading the blog, and keep reading for more giveaways in the future. And the winner is:
Lindsay TOAST:: Signature Celebrations said...

A tight round bouquet of pale pink peonies makes my heart sing. I came across an amazing peony pomander with pearls rather than ribbons as a holder and it was to-die-for!

Congrats Lindsay! Send me an email with your mailing address.

A Freebie and Giveaway reminder

{Heads up} I found a nice little surprise in my inbox this morning. You can get a free calendar from Shutterfly thru Jan 12th! The promo code is calendar12. More details available on their website.

What can you do with this calendar? Load in your engagement photos and use it for your planning calendar of course! As soon as you receive your calendar, fill in all your wedding payment due dates, perhaps a countdown (weeks left), task due dates (menus due, song selections due, invitation mail date, rsvp date, etc.), and appointments of course (tasting, alterations, floral consult, planning meeting, etc.).

Also, a reminder to enter the Bouquet Chic giveaway! We'll choose a winner later today.