1001 Ideas...

You may only need a few, but Colin's got 1001 Ideas for a chic wedding. And his latest book will be on hand at the Wedding Party ready for Colin Cowie's personal inscription.
And here's another great idea. Bring a friend, your mom, your maid of honor or even your fiance to the Wedding Party, on us. We have a few tickets left and we want you to be able to bring a guest. So we're offering the next 20 ticket purchasers a free ticket ($50 value) when you buy a ticket. Don't wait, I don't think the offer will last until the end of the week! Write in 2 tickets, use discount code BringaGuest. See you at the Wedding Party!

Lela Rose Introduces Bridal Shoes

They're new from Payless, and quite a bargain. I lean towards Giuseppi Zanotti and Prada, but a good basic white shoe is often the most comfortable -- especially after dancing all night. And now you can find a stylish shoe, too. Payless and Lela Rose are generously donating their brand new styles for our fashion show on January 24 at the New York Palace. (I'll let you know how the models rate them on comfort!)Buzz Bonus: Lela Rose and Payless are raffling shoes for a bridal party of eight at the Wedding Party!

Vera Wang Wedgwood

The Vera Wang Tabletop Collection is generously raffling off 6 place settings of your choice at the Wedding Party. I think I'd like the Lace Bouquet, or maybe the Blue Duchesse....Lace Bouquet Blue Duchesse

Top 20 Reasons I'm Loving the Wedding Party

1. Luxury spa treatments 2. Bridal bouquet-making demonstration 3. An authentic Italian gelato cart 4. Sugar flower-making demonstration 5. Custom candy bar 6. On-site calligraphy demonstration 7. Top notch stationery designers' talks 8. Live "mannequins" 9. Signature cocktail mixology lessons 10. Pages of Winter Elegant Bride "brought to life" 11. Photo booths 12. Air-brush makeup on site 13. Caterer treats 14. Raffles of Barbados honeymoon and Wedgwood china 15. An amazing live band showcase 16. A simulated, full-size private jet segment 17. VIP luncheon with premium gift bag 18. Mojito bar 19. Top-notch bridal fashion show 20. Cool DJ and classic music showcases. And I could go on, and on...

Haute! Haute! Haute!

It's rare that we get to see our masterful stationers in person. And it's seldom that we have them all at one event. And simply extraordinary to have the likes of Lisa Hoffman of CECI New York, Bernard Maisner and Heather Arak of Arak Kanofsky share their design process, inspirations and trends for the coming year. A stationery lover's dream, we are proud to present these designers and many more at the Wedding Party on January 24.

Here's a sample of what you'll learn from Arak Kanofsky: "A behind-the-scenes peek at the art of creating a couture stationery wardrobe, Heather will walk you through the evolution of a comprehensive wardrobe. She'll discuss the evolution of the inspiration and the drawing board to the press and beyond. Trends in palette, imagery and narrative will be brought to life."


Samples courtesy of Arak Kanofsky Studio

Lela and Colin

We can't wait to meet Lela Rose and Colin Cowie at the Wedding Party. Lela's showing new bridal gowns selections with Mark Ingram's Bridal Atelier and we just confirmed that Colin is signing his new book, 1001 Ideas for Every Moment of Your Celebration. And our dear and wonderful friend Antonia van der Meer from Elegant Bride is pulling it all together. We hope you'll join our party...

Lela's new bridal shoe line for Payless will be on our runway models. Elegant Bride's editors will be on hand to answer questions and to recreate pages of the magazine. Buzz Bonus: Sounds like there are surprise treats for those of you with Platinum tickets, too...

Need a Venue?

Do as the insiders -- turn to BizBash's brand new 2009 National Venue Guide. BizBash is geared to professional party planners, so be prepared to do your research. But the issue is comprehensive and offers lots of creative venues. Click on the image below to view the entire book, or sort by the 16 major city markets that they cover.
For a more conventional source for wedding venues, check out Locations Magazine, our go-to resource for the NYC market. (Available at the Wedding Library.) We're expecting their new issue soon!

Navy and Buttercup -- It's Essential!

I've been showing you some of the amazing editorial pages from the winter edition of Elegant Bride that are being re-produced at the Wedding Party bridal event we are hosting at the end of the month. Well here are a few more pages -- almost all of these elements will be shown at the event. Navy and yellow are such a clean, classic combination -- it's hard not to smile when you see them together. But now, along with some of our other favorite combos, it's been elevated to a truly sophisticated combination. I can't wait to see these essentials in real life as I've never had the luck of having a bride embrace this combination for her wedding! If I don't get to plan someone else's event with this palette, maybe I'll throw my own party...

Milk & Honey Wedding Library Videos

Milk & Honey sent us a unique holiday gift this year -- a video compilation of some of the weddings we've worked on together. It's a great memory keeper for us and a wonderful way to show potential clients some weddings we've coordinated at a few of our favorite locations. You can link on the photo below (from a wedding at a private estate in Michigan) to see weddings at the University Club, Metropolitan Club, Museum of Natural History and a destination tent wedding. In addition, there's a rehearsl dinner photo montage video for those of you considering creating one. Thank you to the film makers at Milk & Honey, and enjoy! Buzz Bonus: See Milk & Honey at the Weddding Party on January 24!

Social Stationery Savings

Crane's and William Arthur both want you to finally get that personal stationery you've been wanting. Crane's is offering free engraving dies ($98) value with personal stationery orders until February 17.

William Arthur is offering free return address printing until February 28. Both are on orders of $100 or more.

I calculated that with the promotion, engraved personal stationery is almost the same price as flat or themography -- so you get a much better quality card for the same price. Now that's a deal.

See It At The Wedding Party

Hot off the press from the editors at Elegant Bride. This amazing editorial page from their current issue will be re-created at The Wedding Party with the beautiful screen back-drop, ice sculpture vases and lovely white arrangements. Stay tuned for more news on the fun elements at our upcoming event. Ice sculpture by Okamoto Studio (our favorites)!

Amsale's Little White Dress

Amsale Aberra, wedding gown designer extraordinaire, has done it again. How marvellous to change into one of these little numbers when the dancing gets crazy at your wedding. Or for a saucy little wedding gown for that stylish event you're planning. Available now!

Elegant Bride Cover

The new Elegant Bride has hit the stores and it's gorgeous. At the Wedding Party we'll be re-creating some of the most gorgeous editorial pages -- we love the idea of bringing the magazine's pages to life. Our full-page ad for the Wedding Party is in there too. Check it out at your local news stands or receive a complimentary issue at our event!

Ready for 2009 Weddings!

I admit it. I've been making holiday cookies, wrapping presents, actually reading books and taking a break. But now we've begun 2009 in earnest and it's time to get to work! We'll be filling the pages of our blog with inspiration, tips, real weddings and great vendor news. Just so that you know I didn't forget about all of our brides over the break, here's a photo of one of my bride ornaments from my tree. You're never far from my mind...

Here's to a 2009 filled with beautiful weddings!