Wednesday 21 May 2008

Here in Winter...Gone in Spring! "I Do"...In the Igloo!


The trend continues, to go where no bride has gone before with a very unique ceremony....shiver on and look no further. Akemi Kito and Hiroshi Matsuoka enter a chapel made of ice during their wedding ceremony at the ‘Igloo village’ on Lake Shikaribetsu in Shikaoi town in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. Geeze.

Here in winter, gone in spring: the phantom village. The
Shikaribetsu Lake Kotan Phantom Village appears on the frozen surface of Lake Shikaribetsu in winter. Kotan is an Ainu (the indigenous people of Hokkaido) word, meaning village. The village features an open-air hot bath on ice, ice bar and igloo built using snow and ice.
Talk about a Cool Wedding!

Monday 12 May 2008

Credit Crunch Brides


When it comes to getting married, usually no expense is spared for what is after all a once-in-a-lifetime event.

"People tend to get married , whether they have a job or not, whether they get a promotion or not," says David Wood, the president of the Association of Bridal Consultants, a nationwide training organization for wedding planners.

A recent survey undertaken by the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) reported that they are not seeing increases in cancellations of weddings due to the slowdown in the economy. However, a little less than half of those surveyed reported seeing a decline in wedding spending, and more than half said more couples are avoiding the Saturday premiums and opting to get married on Friday or Sunday.

Many couples and their families are happy to splurge on the big day -- an average wedding costs $27,000, in the United States and that doesn't include the honeymoon. Twenty years ago UK couples spent an average £4,300 on a wedding, but this has more than quadrupled to £18,500 – rising at more than five times the rate of inflation. Yet destination wedding costs average at less than half these rates.

Increasingly couples are looking to create a unique wedding "experience" for family and close friends by taking a wedding abroad or wedding away from home, the venues in exotic locations look to gain the most as the move towards destination weddings is yet again on the increase.

The exponential move towards destination weddings is music to Karen Thornton-Brown's ears. As owner of www.WeddingsAbroad.com, one of the world's leading destination wedding planners. She is finding more and more couples seeking to use the services of WeddingsAbroad.com, and the brides and grooms attitudes are that "the show must go on", but not at any cost.


With the affordability of low cost flights to many destinations, WeddingsAbroad.com offers exceptional weddings at fantastic locations around the world which are well within couples budgets.

In the current economic climate, the increasing popularity of destination weddings, shows that couples and their families are now taking a closer look at wedding costs, and are discovering that a destination wedding ticks all the right boxes, with the wedding, location, travel and honeymoon costing a lot less than the wedding alone at home would cost.

As the economic storm clouds gather, destination weddings are providing a ray of sunshine to the blushing brides and grooms in these uncertain times, proving that when it comes to getting married, brides and grooms are determined the show will go on, whatever the economic climate.

Monday 5 May 2008

Hang on!


Sitting at the table of a charity ball on Friday evening, all lady guests where given a beautifully packaged black gift box. As there were 5 ladies on our table we spent quite some time trying to work out what this stunning gift was! After opening the organza bag in which the box was held, we opened the boxes to reveal what appeared to me to be a bangle with a mirror on to put on one's lipgloss...vain moi? :-) We did have a giggle, and came home non the wiser and too embarrassed to ask our kind hosts.

After the Paracetamol and Milk Thistle took effect on Saturday morning, I again braved the box, thinking the answer would be staring me in the face...but no! Anyway a clue was to be had in the form of a web address...logged on and voila!!! I now know what it is....and what a fantastic gift it is. Do you want me to tell you? ;-)

Well, it is indeed a purse hanger, or handbag hook depending on where you are from. What a great invention, I shall have to test it out to see if it will hold the enormous bags I have taken to carrying since having three kids!

Here is the description found on the site.....Chatt folding purse hooks are a beautiful combination of fashion and function. They work on gravity to easily hang any bag under a table for your convenience, security and to keep it off a dirty floor. Folding hooks are the most compact. Measuring just 2 inches across, they perfectly in small handbags. Folding purse hooks are also known as fold-up purse holders, folding purse hangers, purse caddys,fold-up handbag hooks, folding handbag hangers, and handbag caddys.

I shall certainly consider recommending these to my clients as an unusual favour for lady guests.
http://www.chatthook.com

Sunday 4 May 2008

Here comes the bride, all dressed in....black!


In a culture so keen to defy tradition, the sky really is the limit when it comes to choosing your wedding gown. With dramatic black joining traditional white and ivory in the style stakes, today's brides are more bold and adventurous than ever before.

I noticed last year several of the major wedding publications both in the U.S. and the UK featured black bridal gowns, but only this week did I actually see them in the window's of bridal stores. We all have a little black dress (L.B.D.) or three as a wardrobe staple, many of us would not dream of ever wearing a white dress so why do so just because you are getting married?

Historically, until the
1930’es the most common colour was black for wedding dresses, these could be used over and over again as ‘the nice dress’. They were dresses to be worn for many years, forever altered in size and shape. Some people felt a black wedding gown was bad luck, hence the old saying, "Married in black, you'll wish yourself Back." A black wedding gown might also be worn by a bride if she were to wed a widower.

Girl's are going for the more dramatic red carpet look for their trip down the aisle...and why ever not? Take a look at some of these black beauties!


http://www.cymbelineusa.com/emailImage.aspx?imagename=41_cy_bruand_noir.jpg


http://www.cymbelineusa.com/emailImage.aspx?imagename=36_cy_bouton_dor_2.jpg

http://www.justbrides.co.uk/images/ww/Xena_ADD03.jpg


http://www.creations-bochet.com/fpdb/mini-22_2405_Dynasty.jpg

Friday 2 May 2008

In a social whirl!




Not updated my journal as much as I should have lately, but I've been having a busy old time! Go on admit it...you've been checking for any exciting updates!


Firstly we had the school Easter holidays here and my eldest two children needed some "mummy time"...which was fun, even though it rained almost every day! My baby Theodore, has been poorly and had to go to hospital...thankfully he is now fully recovered. My beautiful daughter Georgina, also turned 7, her party was a hoot when Mummy managed to set the cake on fire! I now have more Hannah Montana and High School Musical 2 paraphernalia than the Disney Store! Any applicants for the position of full time housekeeper please apply here!


My niece and her friend arrived from Australia to begin their new life in the UK, so been settling them into local life, and introducing them to the social scene...well someone has to do it....not sure I am still fit enough to keep up with these 22 year old's and stay out til 4am too often! What fun we have had though....we attended a charity event for the Teenage Cancer Trust, organised by Music Means Life which was a fantastic ensemble of young talented singers, all battling out for the winning title and a recording contract.


Then my dearest friend Jacqui, invited me, my husband and my now "older daughter's" (when did I become a mother of 5...yikes I'm far too young!) to a charity golf event organised by MillerDirect for the Youth Ministry Team which was an amazing night...even better that my fantastic husband managed to get tickets for the final of Britain's Got Talent with the fabulous Ant & Dec, who were also present on the night.


I promise you, amidst this social whirl, I have been planning lots of weddings and working on many exciting new projects for WeddingsAbroad.com - thankfully I am very lucky to have a new right-hand woman at the helm! Paula has recently joined us and has been getting to grips with our hectic office and my even busier diary!


We have some new beautiful, wedding destinations just added, to Gran Canaria and several new locations ready to go on in the coming weeks. Keep checking out our site...if you are a bride or groom and we don't yet offer your destination of choice, drop us an email and we can always help! With us what you see isn't always what you get! If we can't help we always know someone who can.


Likewise if you are a wedding planner or a wedding venue, anywhere in the world, that would like to be considered for inclusion on WeddingsAbroad.com, please email me for further information on our criteria


Dare I say I'm off to yet another Ball tonight......