I thought I would introduce the first of many new batches of wedding favours that we are introducing this year. The first of which is a really useful little gadget, a wine pourer. This fits into the top of a wine bottle and makes pouring really easy and drip-free. It comes in beautiful packaging and is sure to be a big hit at weddings this year.
The second new product is a beautiful fleur de lis design resin box. This is a really lovely item that can be filled with all sorts of things. Your guests will find it really useful to take home with them and use for jewellery and other trinkets.
These are just two of the many products that we plan to add to the site this year. As usual, do let us know what you think. We will also be adding a few royal themed products for the upcoming royal wedding.

We will be doing another competition draw in six months time for those of you who would like to try your luck again, please visit the homepage for further details, www.verbenastationery.co.uk

This year seems to be flying by, we can’t believe that we are already halfway through July and wedding season is in full swing. I hope that your planning is coming along and good luck to all of you getting married this Summer.

Until next time
Kate

Personalised favours have been extremely popular this year. Including the name of the happy couple and the date of the wedding on your favour boxes is a lovely touch and is sure to remind your guests of your wedding for years to come. It is not just boxes that can be personalised, wine bottle labels, stickers, gift tags are just a few of the items that can be printed on. Get creative and present your guests with something truly memorable.

Practical favours are a must around your wedding table this year. The Love Birds salt & pepper shaker is our best selling favour this year. It’s not only practical but is a true symbol of the meaning of your big day. Bottle stoppers often follow this theme as well, the heart bottle stopper has sold extremely well this year.

Another practical theme that has shone through is to combine place card holders that can also be used as a photo frame for your guests to use at home. There are lots of small frames on the market that you can use for your place card holders. You could even include a photo of yourselves for your guests to keep as a beautiful reminder of your special day. Again, these have been extremely popular in 2010.

The wedding CD is proving to be a new trend this year. Couples are choosing to create a CD with their favourite songs included to give out to their guests as a gift. This is a relatively cheap and truly personalised.

Another emerging trend is to have environmentally friendly wedding favours. Beautiful handmade paper favours that have been scattered with wildflower seeds can be purchased for your guests to plant. These look beautiful on your wedding tables and might even product some beautiful flowers. Pot plants, beeswax candles are also ever popular as wedding favours this year.

If you pick one of these ideas, you will not only be on-trend but you will also send your guests home with a long lasting memory of your big day.

I’ll be reminding you of the dates nearer the time and hoping to meet some of our loyal blog readers at the show.
Until next time
Kate

The iBride app also includes a personal wedding checklist, a guest-list planner, product and service reviews and an instant appointment-maker.

There will be more than 150,000 weddings in Canada this year, with the average couple spending about $22,000 on the big event, according to iBride Inc.

iBride for iPhone and iPod touch is available now as a free download on Apple’s App Store.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/busy+bride+looking+help+there+just/3026971/story.html#ixzz0oBrS9mfD

The figure is a rise from last year’s average of £280.

Expenses such as accommodation, transport, a new outfit and a gift, drive up costs for guests, the poll for Direct Line found.

Of those who attended a wedding in the last year or expect to this year, 78% said there was either some or a lot of pressure to spend money.

As well as the preparation, there are also many costs on the day.

Rachel Southwood, editorial director of Wedding Ideas magazine, said couples were cutting corners and expecting more from their guests.

“Guests are expected to contribute more and more. For example transport used to be provided to take people between venues, but now they have to make their own way,” she said.

“Free bars are less common, with more guests having to fork out for drinks. It all adds up.”
The online survey of 2,017 people revealed wedding guests are expected to spend an average of £293.69 on attending weddings this year, compared with £279.47 last year.

However, the poll showed that people are cutting back on spending on gifts.

Guests are paying an average of £78.67 on presents, a drop from last year’s £86.51.

Some 44% said they would spend less on a gift if they were short of cash, while just over half said they would cut costs by not buying a new outfit.

Of those polled, 17% would consider not attending the wedding and making up an excuse if they were stumped for cash.

The research also revealed that many people found stag and hen parties to be expensive. Some 72% said they felt financial pressure when attending these events.

Article taken from BBC news website – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

When Greg Rewis used Twitter to propose marriage two years ago to Stephanie Sullivan, some onlookers were outraged.

“People were saying, ‘How unromantic!,’” recalls Sullivan. “They obviously don’t live my life. For me, that was a far more fabulous proposal than him on bended knee.”

Now the geeky Arizona couple is taking the next logical step: a Twitter wedding. On Thursday evening, their marriage vows will hit the web in 140-characters-or-less increments as a minister pronounces Rewis and Sullivan man and wife.

The nuptials, scheduled for 6 p.m. in the couple’s Phoenix home, will be attended in person by about 10 guests, but the virtual wedding party could number in the thousands. Sullivan created the #tweetwed hash tag enabling curiosity-seekers to check out the event online.

“At first, we were going to stand there and put our vows into [Twitter], but one of my friends begged me: ‘Please don’t sit there at your computers and type it in,’” Sullivan told Wired.com in a phone interview. Instead, she and Rewis, each with two sons from previous marriages, recruited their children to tweet the ceremony.

Sullivan, a web design expert, explains: “My son will have my computer, Greg’s son will have his computer, and since we pre-wrote our own sort of free-form vows, our boys will be sitting in chairs at either end of where we’re standing. As we say the vows, they’re going to paste it into Twitter.”

While a groom made headlines for pausing his wedding-in-progress for a quick Facebook update last December, Sullivan and Rewis plan to fully integrate Twitter into their ceremony — just as they’ve woven social networking into their daily lives.

Greg Rewis and Stephanie Sullivan will live-tweet their wedding using the #tweetwed hash tag.

Minister Jeff Carbutt, who has a certificate of ordination issued by the Church of Spiritual Humanism and will perform the unconventional ceremony, does not use Twitter himself, and says he feels no pressure despite the potential online audience.

“I’m just going to proceed through the ceremony as you normally would,” he says. “I thought that it was a fantastic idea and a great way for them to follow up their Twitter engagement.”

Because Rewis spends 240 days a year on the road as a marketing rep for Adobe Systems, he and Sullivan rely on Skype and Twitter to stay in touch. Bride and groom have each been married twice before; they had no problem skipping the big cake/white gown ritual in favor of a multimedia throwdown complete with Twitpics, Flickr photos and video shot by friend/videographer Amy Jo Martin.

In one regard, the wedding will be traditional: Drinks will definitely be served. “As each guest arrives, they will be required to do one tequila slammer to start,” Sullivan laughs.

On a more serious note, Sullivan sees Twitter as a platform for sharing a special occasion with far-flung friends and relatives.

“We’ve both had church weddings but this time, there was no way because we have friends all over the world,” she says. “My friends in New Zealand got married and people flew there to attend the wedding — that’s just so much to ask. We wanted to provide a way for people to participate and follow along and enjoy the happiness. We live on Skype and SMS and Twitter. That’s why we’re doing the wedding this way: Greg and I already live in a virtual world.”

Read More http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/04/twitter-wedding/#ixzz0kyjLQN2n

While a wedding meal of porridge may not be to everyone’s taste, Denbighshire council is applying to use Ruthin Gaol for ceremonies.

An application has been submitted and the council said it had already been approached by interested couples.

A jail, first built on site in the 17th Century, is now a tourist attraction.

A spokesman for Denbighshire council said: “The council has submitted an application to allow Ruthin Gaol to be used to solemnise marriages and civil partnerships.

“Two of the council’s heritage buildings, Plas Newydd at Llangollen and Nantclwyd y Dre in Ruthin, are already licensed for this and we are hoping that the Ruthin Gaol application will be successful.

“We have already had approaches from people interested in getting married at Ruthin Gaol.

“The location provides a historic backdrop – it’s unique, different and quirky. Some people want their ceremonies to be individual and the gaol really would offer that.”

The application will be discussed by the council licensing committee and is still the subject of consultation.

The gaol was taken over as a munitions factory in World War II
The first county house of correction was built at Ruthin in 1654 at the bottom of Clwyd Street on the same site as the present buildings.

An entirely new prison was designed by the architect Joseph Turner of Chester in the late 18th Century and the building served as the county jail until 1866.

Ruthin County Gaol became HM Prison Ruthin in 1878 and it remained open for 38 years until finally closing its doors in 1916.

Denbighshire council bought the buildings in 1926 and converted them for office and library use.

The gaol was taken over as a munitions factory in World War II but the council returned after the war.

The public has been able to explore the building as a tourist attraction since its reopening in May 2002 following a £2m restoration project.

Article taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news