Congratulations!!!

Tuscany Gardens gave away a wedding package worth $5000 at the January Bridal Fair at Ogden's Union Station. Congratulations to Morgan Zimmerman and Mike Meeker, who were the lucky winners. They are a great couple and we are so excited for them.

Fun Alternative to the Bouquet Ribbon

Once again, Martha can't be wrong. This has always been my favorite idea for finishing off a bouquet. Found on www.MarthaStewart.com: Ribbon isn't the only way to dress a bouquet. A handkerchief embroidered with your wedding date makes a lovely and sentimental decoration. Use a vintage or heirloom hankie and it can be your "something old." So look in your grandmother's ceder chest, or on the Internet, for a handkerchief to make your bouquet complete.

Tossing of the Bouquet

Who said that you have to throw the bouquet anyway? Instead of tossing the bouquet, hand it to the person in front of you. Odd, I know, but it sounds like fun. Here is a fun alternative that I found on www.MarthaStewart.com. A custom popular in Finland: The bride is blindfolded, and the unmarried women form a circle around her. While music plays, the bride slowly turns in place in one direction and the women walk, arms linked, the other way. Everyone stops when the music ends, and the bride walks forward to hand off her flowers to the person directly in front of her.
If that isn't your thing, try tossing a fortune bouquet. Also found on www.MarthaStewart.com (Yes, I love Martha): Save your bridal bouquet and throw a special "fortune bouquet" composed of a dozen or so small clusters of flowers bound together with a ribbon that you untie before you throw. Each mini bouquet is bundled with a different romantic fortune.
Just thought this was something fun to think about to add a little fun to an old tradition.

Mystery of the outer envelope and the tiny piece of tissue paper

Have you ever wondered why there are two envelopes for inviations? Or why is there a little piece of tissue paper on top of the inviations? For the answer to these pressing issues, I looked these questions up on the Internet, and here is what I found on www.davidgregoryonline.com: In olden times, when letters were delivered by messengers on horseback, every card had both an inner and an outer envelope. The outer envelope was subjected to all of the elements of the journey and then discarded minutes before delivery to reveal a clean, neat inner package. Today, more formal invitations, like wedding invitations, have inner envelopes to keep the invitation and all of its accessory pieces together. Inner envelopes are addressed with the guests' names only.
As for that little piece of tissue paper, here is what I found at www.WeddingUSA.com: Before modern, fast drying inks were developed, tissue was used to cover the printed surface. Tissue is both porous and light enough to stick to the ink without smearing. Including tissue today is just a tradition.
Hopefully, this was a cure to your curiosity on this subject.

Keep Centerpieces Simple

When it comes to centerpieces at your wedding reception, think simple. Nine times out of ten, people move the centerpieces to the side so they can converse with the people sitting across from them. So don't waste money on things that might be shoved aside. Think about using short small centerpieces so the guests don't feel like they have to talk over something. Lately, we have had a lot of brides using something simple to create something elegant...cranberries. Adding cranberries and water to a glass cylinder or vase, with a floating candle in the middle, gives the room a romantic glow. The cranberries float and surround the candle and it looks great.

Getting ready for the new year

Hey guys!

I havent posted anything for a long time. It is great to be back. Well the new year is going to be here before you know it and we are starting to book weddings already for next year.We have some great new plans for 2008, cant wait!

The Bridal Gathering

Hi everyone!

Just a short blog to give all of you a heads up about the Bridal Gathering in Ogden. I know it may not be the biggest or the best but it will be the most fun filled bridal show ever, espcially because Tuscany Gardens is giving away a wedding. The wedding is a full service package that includes, invitations, cake, flowers, food for 200 people and a limo that will take you and your spouse off to a fun honeymoon night. The package is retail $5000.00 and you can enter to win at The Bridal Gathering on September 28th and the 29th at the Marriott in Ogden. For more info go to thebridalgathering.com. Hope to see you all there!

Cakes?

I am starting to see a very interesting trend in weddings. Over the past couple of months I have notice more and more brides are opting out of having a professional wedding cake made for them. Each wedding I have done where they did not have a cake I asked the bride what her reasons were. Each one of them said that they thought it was a waist of money because they end of throwing away most of it.

If you had the choice to spend $500 on a wedding cake or $500 on your honeymoon or other vendors what would you do?

Brody

Real Weddings

I love to post images from real weddings so everyone can see how each wedding can be different. This wedding was perfect. It was at the Kimball Arts Center In Park City right on Main street. It was a killer location and it was a ton of fun. Check out the slideshow below by pressing play.

Brody Dezember Photography

Congrats to Heather & Jay!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to post the invitation we did for Heather & Jay, who are getting married this week!

Lets talk wedding rings

Do you know where the tradition of the wedding ring came from or what it stands for? Well here is some fun trivia that you might enjoy.


The ring is in the shape of a circle it has no beginning or no end, it symbolizes eternity and perfection.


Old wives tales recommend you to wear a wedding ring because it wards off evil spirits.

The first people to wear wedding rings were the Romans. They wore the ring on the third finger of the left hand because they believed the vein in that finger lead straight to the heart.

The first diamond engagement ring was given in 1477, not that long ago.

Wedding rings were originally made out of rushes, hemp, or braided grass.

Tradition now is being broken by brides wearing colored stones. Far cry from the white diamond that has forever been the standard.

Do you have more trivia? We would love to hear from you !

I wanted to share a big welcome to Mollie from Polka Dots & Daisies. She owns one of the newest custom invitation companies in the state. Her designs are pretty amazing and I know that she can get you what your looking for. Check out some her great invitations and keep an eye out on the blog of some of her new designs when she posts them.

Couture Bridal Gowns

One of the most important parts of your wedding is having a wedding dress that makes you look fabulous. Instead of having a dress that looks like every other bride's, why not start from scratch and make the gown of your dreams. Check out Elisa Dawn's Couture Bridals. She makes incredible, detailed, gorgeous wedding gowns made to fit within your budget.

Choose a professional

Hey guys. Sorry it has been awhile since you have heard from me, but my busy season is still crazy , but I could not let this opportunity slip by. Tonights wedding went great. except for their cake. The couple choose to get their cake from a in home cake business, probably a friend. You know, save some money. The frosting flowers were suppose to be white , they were pink. Her colors were red and black. It looked like the leaning tower of Pisa. All night we were afraid that it would fall. Then it started to sweat, that happens when they freeze it to make it stable, or so they think. By the way frozen cake cannot be served, and when it starts to defrost it becomes mushy. They had to borrow my cake fountain because none of their 3 fountains worked. Guys it is so much easier to just hire a professional. You have no worries because they know what they are doing and how to support the cake without freezing it or using straws to help it from falling. Hobby cake decorators are great for birthdays, but wedding cakes need more supplies that hobby decorators wont spend the money on because it is not cost effective. Ask to see pictures and taste the cake. Get references, it would be worth it to avoid what tonight's bride and groom went through. Utah Weddings has a great cake section in their book that would give you dozens of professionals to choose from.

Unique Fun Wedding Ideas

Okay, am I getting annoying yet?? I've had so much fun lately looking for interesting wedding ideas, here is a whole page full of unique ideas for receptions, guest books, bridal bouquets, favors, cakes and wedding themes, not all of them are outlandish either, and since there are too many to list, just go to this page:

Unique Wedding Ideas


Kristy -
Amber Creek Wedding Invitations

Super cute RSVP/Guest Favour idea

I found this post by a bride on a site called Super Weddings it was so cute I had to share it. As someone who deals with invitations ensembles all the time I know the RSVP card is a common enclosure, this is a fun twist on that idea.

I heard this great idea...... when the wedding invitations go out, you ask the guests to enclose their favourite recipe with the response card. When the response cards come back, you take all the recipes sent to you by your family and friends and make recipe books to give all the guests as wedding favors. The cover of the book might feature a photo of the bride and groom in a kitchen with aprons on etc.

Kristy-
Amber Creek Wedding Invitations

More miniature cake favors

Sugar Cookie Wedding Favors

I love the idea of miniature wedding cakes as favors, but if you can't afford the chocolate ones, here's an easy and inexpensive idea for you that I found while scouring Martha Stewart.com. Read more about it by clicking the link above and get the recipe too. If you really wanted chocolate you could make them out of chocolate cookies instead, or top them with chocolate or strawberry icing, or icing colored to match your cake or colors, the possibilities are endless. Tell me those aren't totally adorable!And while we're on the subject of cookies, read all about these adorable favors as well. Simple can be better. Cute monograms too! Kristy -
Amber Creek Wedding Invitations

Who doesn't love Godiva chocolate?

So as I was flipping through one of my many bridal magazines, I came across an advertisement for this:Chocolates shaped like wedding cakes! How cute is that?! The best part? It's filled with dark chocolate ganache! Wow, makes my mouth water just thinking about it. You can get these cute little things from Godiva. As with you would expect with the Godiva brand though, they are cute, but may be a bit more pricey than you would like ($38/set of 4), but hey if you have tons of money go for it!

Another (less expensive) option are these cute chocolates from DeBrand Fine Chocolates. At less than half the price of Godiva, they are cute and you can choose from different colors of ribbon.


Be careful though, right now it is 100 degrees outside (okay, its like 94), you need to take this into consideration when you are choosing what kind of favors you want. If you choose to have chocolate favors, make sure you don't let them sit in the car :)

Are you looking for some fun wedding ideas? Here are a couple:
Idea #1: Get your wedding party and go on a photo scavenger hunt. Split the wedding party into 2 groups, one with the bride and the other with the groom. Each group has a list and a Polaroid camera and they have to search for items on their list. All have to be in the picture of whatever the item is. For example, something on the list might be find a construction site and take a picture with a construction worker. You have to find a construction site and take a picture of it with everyone in the picture. The first group who gets to the final destination first wins the game. What a fun way to spend time with your friends before your wedding.

Idea #2: Assign someone to snap pictures of guests as they arrive at the reception using an instant camera. After the wedding, sign each photo, add your wedding date, and include a short word of thanks to each guest for having attended. Mail the photos to the guests along with your thank-you cards as an extra special memento.

Help with Inviation Etiquette

An expert on etiquette and perfection herself, Martha Stewart, has some great advice when it comes to invitation etiquette. You'll love reading these articles about addressing envelopes and more.

Click on each to read more...

Invitations

Long before the first strains of "Here Comes the Bride" are sounded, invitations set the tone of a wedding. The style of language, the choice of font, and even the weight and quality of paper all provide important cues for your guests. Martha Stewart Weddings editor Darcy Miller has seen quite a few invitations over the years and offers a few basic guidelines to keep in mind when selecting yours...

Invitation Basics

Because the form of a wedding invitation is usually traditional -- an engraved, folded sheet inside a double envelope -- the smallest detail can set yours apart...

Addressing and Mailing Invitations

We now offer many of the custom style wedding invitations shown on Martha's website, contact us for more details.

Amber Creek Wedding Invitations
www.amber-creek.com

Congratulations Vanessa and Cole!

I just wanted to say Congratulations to Vanessa and Cole, my lucky bride and groom who were married on 07.07.07. They had a beautiful ceremony at the Bountiful Temple, a scrumptious luncheon at the Mandarin Restaurant, and a gorgeous reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. These two are amazing.

CLICK HERE to see more images.







Photography courtesy of Three Winks Studio

End your special day chaos-free

After you have spent months or years planning your special day, be sure you end it chaos-free. Have family members and friends assigned to pack up your gifts. Have a trusted member be in charge of your cards ( which most of the time have money and gift cards enclosed). A person to take home the top of your cake that will be sure it gets put in the fridge and not left in a garage somewhere. Who is going to be sure the tuxes are returned? Are you going to have your bouquet preserved? What about your wedding dress ? Delegate these tasks between your family and friends it will make for a better honeymoon.

Want to get married on TV??

Once again, the Today Show is giving away a Wedding! This year, they have a couple twists: First, it will be a Martha Stewart Wedding; Second, Al Roker will be going to cities around the country to meet engaged couples, the closest city to us is Las Vegas (sounds like a good reason to get away for a couple days)! You don't have to go to one of the cities to be chosen as a finalist, you can just fill out an application. There are a few restrictions, you must be 21, not have a criminal background, and basically let other people pick out every detail of your wedding... But then again, everything would be free :)

Be Prepared !

Hey Guys. I love this time of year ! There are weddings almost every day, and with the heat it brings out the crazy in everyone. Today's wedding was outside, its OK. I think it is only 101 degrees today, but the bishop kept it short. The most important thing for me when I am going somewhere , I try to be prepared. As a reception center owner we try to do our best to give our guests what they need, haven't you seen the wedding planner? No , I do not have diapers for your children. No , I will not make a sandwich for you so you can take your pill. Keep in mind this is not the bridal party this is the guests as they arrive for the ceremony. Hurry my mom is a diabetic she needs food, now! I know the bride and groom are not going to cut the cake for a couple of hours, but can we have a piece off of the back right now? So the moral of this story is "Be Prepared". Oh! and by the way No ! my staff cannot dance with your drunk brother.

Wedding Websites...

I love when people do wedding websites. Sadly, I don't think enough Utah couples do them. One of the first wedding websites I saw was that of some friends of ours in California. It was so fun! It had tons of pictures as well as details about the wedding, including maps, where to stay, how to RSVP, etc. There are a bunch of places out there that can help you do a customized site... here are a couple I have come across that do a great job at a very reasonable price.

The first is Design Our Day - which is actually based out of Park City! They have tons of designs and you can totally customize everything...

Another site I found is WedQuarters.com, they also have some very cute and modern designs...

Most places offer a free trial (7-14 days) so you can play with it and see if you like it before you buy it. If anyone knows of any other sites, let us know!!

Do your guests a big favor

Every time I open a bridal magazine there is a ad for guests favors. Food seems to be the most popular. They can print them with your names on them or in your wedding colors. They can wrap them in pretty paper or beautiful boxes. We have had candy bars. By bars I mean tables with pretty glass jars filled with different candy, and the guests can help themselves to any candy they want . Chocolates with your pictures on the wrapper,fortune cookies with your name and wedding date as the fortune.Special cookies made by grandma with your initials on them. Should I stop? OK, the reason for this blog is the sanitary issue of the favors.Prepared or boxed edible gifts will get taken and eaten by your guests, but a basket or jar filled with candy that you can help yourself to never goes over very good. Who wants to eat a treat from a container that everyone has had their hands on? Hand sanitizer with your names on the bottle, now there is a gift for your guests that they will all use.

Customized Wristbands

So, we've all seen the different colored bracelets for various causes (Livestrong, Breast Cancer, Armed Forces, etc.) and now you can get your own bracelets for your wedding! Brody had a wedding last night that had the Bride & Groom's names as well as their wedding date. I'm not sure where they got them, but I googled "personalized bracelets" and had tons of websites come up. Most sites I looked at required you to get a minimum of 100, at about $1.50 each. Not too bad for a fun little favor/keepsake if you really like them! Here's a picture of the ones from last night...

First Impressions can't be replaced

I've missed plenty of amazing weddings because of lack of enthusiasm on receipt of the invitation. Many can be poorly done, cheap looking paper, etiquette mistakes and smeared or unprofessional printing all affect the initial impression of your wedding.
I've also been to many average/mediocre weddings because I was sincerely interested by their invitation, beautiful colors, professional designs, cursive addressing, etc. Getting the guests that aren't immediate loved ones or long time friends to attend your wedding is like getting a customer into a new store for the first time. If you receive cheap looking promotional material in your mail, it is unlikely that your opinion of that company will ever be anything but "cheap" and it is also unlikely that you will turn your thoughts to that company as a first resource for your needs.

This is the same for your wedding. Amazing decorations, beautiful dress, incredible food, but how will your guests know if they don't show. Show them an amazing invitation first and they'll leap at the invitation to see what the rest of the event contains. The nice thing is, nice invitations don't have to be expensive, we offer a wide variety of gorgeous invitations at extremely reasonable prices.

Express the classy elegance of your upcoming venue, or the modern lavish decor that will be there, or even express the uniqueness of your personality by the invitations that you send, but don't let the first impression of an amazing event get lost by cutting the budget on the invitations.

Kristy - Amber Creek Wedding Invitations

A Picture Is More Then Just A Print, It's A Memory!

Planning a wedding can be so stressful. (but I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you that) I've learned that it really helps when you involve people who know what they're doing. Yesterday Justin and I went down to Salt Lake to get our engagement pictures taken. I will honestly admit to being nervous about how we would look in them. They are so important because all of our friends and family will see them in our invitation. I'm one of those planner brides, you know, we plan every last detail. Yeah, one of those! After we got to our photographers office I felt so much better. My photographer is Brody Dezember of Dezember Photography. He is so great and carismatic and it was refreshing to see how much he made the pictures our own. They weren't the same old stand by a tree and smile, they were unique, inventive and reflected his modern inovative style. Though he had many ideas to add style I have always favored the train track look and I asked him to take a few on the tracks. He was more then willing to try new things as they came to him, but also let us add imput. I loved it!!! It was so much fun! I love that Brody is reliable and dependable. It was nice to have Brody direct us and tell us if something looked bad. He would let me know if a hair was misplaced or if my shirt was bunched, which as all of us girls know we hate when we see a good picture but we have a hair twanging. That is the worst. Brody was also VERY patient with us. He let us bring three changes of clothes and after each change he drove us around SL to different locations, then back to his office to change again. It was so nice to not have to change in a car or behind a tree like most photographers, plus he didn't even get mad at me when I lost his women's bathroom key. OOPS. Ha ha I still feel bad about that. But I could go on all day about how pleases we are with his service. Justin and I both agreed that it will be one of our funnest memories we will have from our wedding experience. I'm so glad we decided to have him do our wedding and especially my bridals, cause honestly it's all about the dress, right? But seriously, Brody is very personable and it's nice to have piece of mind knowing that our memories are in safe hands. It was reassuring to meet him personally and see his work. I guess what they say is true, you get what you pay for, and Brody Dezember is worth every penny.

Sign In Book!!!

Hello Everyone! I am a new comer to The Bridal Solution. I am getting married on August 16 of this year in the SLC Temple and I am having my reception at the beautiful Tuscany Gardens. I am a big fan of the scrapbook as the sign in book and I saw an even better idea at a wedding this weekend. At Photoworks.com you can make your own photobook. Make sure your pictures are already on your computer and then you can drag and drop them where you want, plus you can also write little sayings below, above or on the sides, for instance "The many faces of Jade" (which showed a bunch of pictures of the groom making faces) or "I chose to love and I love who I chose." She made a page of just the groom and one of just the bride, then a couple of them together. It was really cute! I went on the website and it is really pretty easy. It will walk you through the process step by step. Plus, a huge bonus for those of us on a tight budget, she only payed $80 for it. It looked really classy and elegant. Make the background white or a lighter color so you can see the writing and let your guests sign on the pages. Well. that's all the tips I have for now. Goodbye!

Congratulations to Meghan & Brandon!

We wanted to say congratulations to our very own Meghan and her new husband Brandon on their marriage! Check out some of the pictures from their special day... If you are getting married soon and would like to be a part of the solution just send an e-mail to: brides@UtahBridalSolution.com.

Photographs courtesy of Brody Dezember Photography

MyKleenexTissue.com

My girlfriend called me the other day and told me that she saw the cutest thing, a Kleenex box with a picture on it! They run about $5 each, which isn't bad, considering in store this Kleenex container/shape runs about $3/each. So, I checked it out, made a couple samples on their website, and this is how they turned out... Thanks to Brody for letting me use his pictures... okay, so one is of our son, but he still took it :)

The first picture is how it looks when you are designing your box, the second picture is an actual preview that they show you before you decide to buy (so you can see front and back). Sorry for the bad resolution, I had to take screenshots.

*Picture on Front* *Names on Back*

(you choose what you want where!)

Sample of the front of Connor's box

You can change the background and lid color, as well as fonts... Check these out at MyKleenexTissue.com

I am finally back!

Sorry it has been a very long time since I posted anything. We have been on vacation in Italy. What a beautiful country. We went to Rome, Pisa, Tivoli and a lot of other towns. We traveled around Italy by train instead of renting a car. (The people drive crazy). It was a adventure for sure since we speak no Italian! The money of course is different, but the people are very helpful. Lets talk about the food, WOW great food. The gelato was way good, and don't say oh that is ice cream, because it is way more than ice cream. We liked the gelato so much we are thinking of offering gelato on our menu at Tuscany Gardens next year.We are glad to be back and I promise you will hear from me much more.

Welcome!! Amber Creek Wedding Invitations!!

I just wanted to post a quick note to welcome Kristy, owner of Amber Creek Wedding Invitations to Utah Bridal Solution. Amber Creek has some awesome invitations and her pricing is amazing! Right now there are summer specials where you can receive 35% off your invitations, AND every Monday Kristy has "Weekly Specials" which give you 40% off!! Seriously, you cannot beat that pricing. Check out the Amber Creek website and e-mail Kristy from there, or give her a call at 801-635-5843, they have two locations in Utah, but can ship anywhere in the U.S. We can't wait to hear all her great tips for helping plan a wedding!

Some cute Wedding 'Favors'

Now that finals are over (big sigh of relief!) I can get back to fun stuff... like posting about cool things I have found that might be fun for your wedding!

Okay, first up... You all know how much I love personalized stuff :) Well, Hershey's has cute "kisses" that you can order that are pre-printed with "Just Married" "Thank You" "Best Wishes", etc.

Then, this Personalized Ribbon from "My Wedding Favors" can be used for DIY invitations, to put on favors you are giving to guests, or whatever else you would use ribbon for!

Lastly, Confetti with your picture on it from Photofetti.com, these are very cool... The nice thing about this confetti is that it is larger (1/2 to 1 inch) which is much easier to clean up then that teeny tiny confetti (which doesn't vacuum up very well). Plus, you can choose up to 10 pictures to put on it!

Oh My Gosh I HATE FINALS!!!

Okay, so first I just have to apologize for my delay in writing ANYTHING!!! As many of you know it is the last week of classes, and that means FINALS.... uuuuggghhhh.... and on top of that our very own Debbie has been in Italy living the high life while I have been here running the business... So anyway, I promise I will get back into the swing of things soon enough, just wanted to write a quick note to let you know I hadn't fallen off the face of the earth :)

Crystal