Colorado Tides: December 2009

Wedding Wisdom

If you have to invite your best friend to your wedding, you are marrying the wrong person.

How To Manage Your Budget After Marriage

So the wedding is complete, the honeymoon is over and it's time to begin that wonderful newlywed life! Before you head into the great unknown, take a minute to check out this video from GetMarried that features Simon T. Bailey dishing out some helpful tips and advice for managing a budget once you're married.

To see more great wedding videos like this, visit GetMarriedTV

Follow Simon on Twitter

Do You Think Wedding Planners Are Useful?

Good wedding forum thread going on over at BridalTweet that discusses the growing trend of brides cutting back on event coordinator spending and choosing to plan their big day themselves. Do you see the benefits in hiring a wedding planner for your big day?

Click here to read the thread and join in the conversation.

Average Cost of a Wedding in 2009

The average 2009 bride in the U.S. spent $19,500 on her recession-era wedding.

Click here to see the current average cost of a wedding.

The Dr. Seuss Wedding Cake

Feast your eyes on the Winner of 2009 Whimsical Cake Contest held over at Cake Central

Dr. Seuss Wedding Cake

Everything is cake... except for the glove which is styrofoam and modeling chocolate. There is a central threaded steel pipe and every tier has a pvc sleeve to protect the cake from the metal. The light blue cake is supported by 3" washer and a 16 gauge nut. All the gears are gumpaste (and they turned!) and the lorax tree is gumpaste. Total height is 41".

Simply unbelievable!

The Dr. Seuss Wedding Cake
Created by: The People's Cake

Wedding Gown Advice From A Former Bridal Shop Owner

Today's guest blog post comes courtesy of Jessica Fox of A Foxy Wedding.
Hi, everyone! I'm Jessica Fox, former bridal shop owner, wedding venue manager, and event catering sales girl turned freelance writer.

That intro sounded like some kind of 12 step meeting, didn't it? Maybe that's what I need! When I graduated college, I didn't plan on having so many jobs culminating in owning a bridal salon, but somehow, in the crazy way the universe works, that's where my degree in Communications got me. Now that my shop is closed, I find myself doing what I went to school for while trying to share some of what I know through my blog, A Foxy Wedding.

Purchasing a garment is a perfectly commonplace transaction. It is within the framework of a wedding where things get kooky. The inner workings of a bridal boutique are shrouded in mystery, so I thought I would offer a couple insights!

# 1: Knowing is Half the Battle

Homage to G.I. Joe aside, deciding on a budget that is realistic for your expectations is key. To determine this, look through magazines or online to identify styles you are drawn to and the designers that create them. Then call shops in your area that offer those collections and ask the price range. It sounds more awkward than it actually is, I promise. Whoever is on the other end of the line won't know or even remember it's you! Now that you know what the general cost is, you're better equipped to set spending parameters. Though far from fun, believe me, this will go a long way to stem frustration during the search. The quickest way to see a happy customer become sad is the moment she learns her favorite gown is way outside of her ballpark.

#2: Subterfuge

On the flip side, not all shops will share the price range of a collection over the phone. For me, that's a big, fat, red flag. Right away, a secretive tone is set, and the customer is put on the defensive. This is a step some salons have taken to stop Internet and comparison shoppers. Many designers have chosen to sell their gowns on discount websites, negatively affecting the sales of privately owned stores that sell their collections.

Customers will visit the salons, try on gowns, learn the name of what they like, and then order it online. Essentially, the store does all of the work but makes no sale. Additionally, in an effort to find the lowest price, customers will call salons all over the country searching for the best deal. In response, tactics like disguising style names or numbers, tearing out labels, outlawing pictures, and implementing policies against price quoting have become commonplace. Right or wrong, this is done to combat losing sales to other shops who don't adhere to price points set by the manufacturer and online discount stores. When you encounter this, reconsider making this store a first stop. With all that cloak and dagger going on, it's sure to cause anxiety, and it does little to make a girl comfortable or confident in her decisions.

No matter what, follow your instinct and try not to allow all the fun and madness of planning a wedding unmoor you. Your dress can be once worn, short, long, vintage, new, your mother's, couture, DIY, custom designed, or whatever you want it to be. All that matters is that you love it and feel your most beautiful in it. At the end of the day, you are joining your life with your partner's - your gown is just the icing on the cake!

Couple Replaces Wedding Cake with Giant Tuna Fish

Would you trade in your wedding cake for raw tuna? Well if you're getting married in Japan, that option is readily available.

In a video on YouTube, a recently married Japanese couple cuts into 220 pound BigEye tuna at their wedding reception, instead of the traditional wedding cake.

The company that provides this raw fish alternative has been offering the "cutting of the fish" for over 10 years and says pricing depends on the size of the raw tuna. For those of you interested, a tuna sufficient for a wedding of 50 guests would run you about $1,600.

Bride Surprises Groom At Airport For Wedding

William Acosta and Robyn Moore recently said "I do" at Corpus Christi International Airport Monday as Acosta arrived in Corpus Christi from Toledo on a flight from Houston.

Unknown to Acosta, a camera, a wedding party and a bride dressed in white were waiting at the terminal. The short video shows the magic moment.

(source)

Martha Stewart Celebrates First Gay Wedding Ceremony

The upcoming Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine {Winter 2010} issue will boldly break new ground, by featuring it's first same-sex wedding ceremony.

Jeremy Hooper (blogger at Good As You) and his husband Andrew Shulman, are featured in a delightful spread that shares some intimate details of their special day along with some great pics taken by Jag Studios. The magazine will begin hitting shelves on Dec. 28 and will be centered around a celebration of the magazine's 15th anniversary. Congrats to both Jeremy and Andrew!

click here to see the entire wedding album of Jeremy and Andrew

Shotgun Shells on a Groom's Cake?

Notice the shotgun shell "pillars" between the cake layers?
Notice the doe on the top is wearing a wedding veil?
Notice the grass and antler wedding stand?
If we didn't know any better, we'd say this was a Deer Hunter's Groom Cake! Click on the pic to enlarge

Plaid Weddings Hot In 2010?

We just received an email from someone who is a very prominent figure in the wedding industry stating that plaid wedding themes will begin trickling into popularity towards the second half of 2010. While this is definitely a bold prediction, our source has years and years of consistently nailing these sort of bridal trends, so we'll graciously take their word for it. Below are a few bits of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing and be sure to keep your eyes open for more plaid wedding decor, DIY and subtle Scottish-influenced wedding events in 2010.

Top Wedding Forums To Watch In 2010

We love wedding forums! As more and more brides turn to online wedding resources for their bridal planning, 2010 could be a high-growth year for bridal discussion groups. These online wedding communities are a great source of inspiration, information and support for brides and wedding pros alike.

If you're looking for some great wedding communities to share some thoughts, advice and opinions on, click on one of our wedding forums to watch in 2010: