A glam package giveaway from Bonny Bridal

What's black, cream, full of glam and best of all....free? A wedding giveaway of epic proportions! Bonny Bridal has partnered with some amazing wedding vendors and are hosting a $1250 Vintage Hollywood Glam wedding giveaway - that ends NOVEMBER 30th!

One lucky bride will get all kinds of goodies including: The dress, a vintage handmade brooch bouquet, a Tessa Kim feather fascinator and birdcage veil, 25 couture wedding invitations, paddle signs and a wedding banner! There are only 4 days left to enter this fabulous giveaway! GOOD LUCK!

Buzz on over and enter our Meant To Bee Giveaway!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to remind any new visitors that this is the LAST WEEK to enter our October Giveaway! A winner will be chosen on October 23rd! We put together a wonderful selection of items for a wedding, shower or party theme "Meant To Bee". You can enter by clicking here! But, even if that isn't your theme there are still LOTS of other things worth winning! We made it pretty simple to enter this giveaway: Follow us (that's usually a given). By following our blog you will know if you won the giveaway but, you will also get to enter our other giveaways (we usually host 1 giveaway a month), find inspiration, have a place to find other fabulous giveaways and so much more. We have also requested that you "like" two of our generous vendors:

SweetenYourDay: I purchased a dozen handmade bees from her for a party I was having. I absolutely fell in love with them when I got them! Jennifer makes the cutest cupcake toppers, cake toppers and more. All of her items are handmade and edible! This girl has some SERIOUS talent! I contacted her and told her I would be doing a giveaway on the blog and she generously offered to giveaway 1 dozen bees to the winner! She really sweetened my day! :) I know she can make anything you can think of - just ask her for a special request! She made these mini story books - if your guy (or girl) loves to read, or you met in a library these would make a cute little reminder:

Or maybe you are two peas in a pod?

Our next vendor that you were asked to "like" was Bee Creative.  Karen, the crafter extraordinaire, is a personal friend of mine. She is always going out of her way to help her friends with their parties and she puts together amazing banners, invitations and more! I had asked her if she would make a custom "Mr & Mrs" banner for the winner of my giveaway and she was up to the task! She loves creating different things and the winner will get to choose their paper and ribbon colors! She will come up with something that totally matches your wedding or party theme! 


So, a very special "thank you" to both of these ladies! Like I said at the beginning, though, you do not need to be having this specific theme to enter this giveaway! There are other items that you will absolutely LOVE! You will love the Printing Press software. I have used this DIY invitation software for many years. In fact, I purchased this software to do ALL the invitations for my wedding: bridal shower, bachelorette party and the day after wedding brunch! It also makes creating envelopes a breeze. You can use the preloaded images or cut and paste any of your own. It has a very easy to use interface and I know the winner will come up with all kinds of things to use this software for. I am also including two packages of Avery labels that I use - ALL the time! I have uploaded a couple templates (here and here) that you can use for the round labels and you can download all of these items (free of course!) and edit them for your own personal use. I promise to create more - and I will take special requests - just shoot me an email! :)


Ok...that's it for the recap...now hurry up! Go enter the giveaway and good luck to everyone! 

Candy Buffet Bar

I am a huge fan of candy bar stations at weddings or any party. They are always a crowd pleaser - seriously, who doesn't love candy? When I was doing my vendor reviews for the Bee theme party I talked about Candy Pros. Well, I got an email the other day from them and they saw my review and they generously offered my readers a 5% discount off their already low prices so, I wanted to make sure every one knew about this! The code to enter at checkout is: "meanttobee". Pretty appropriate since it ties into our Meant To Bee Giveaway  going on now! Have you entered? I hope so! There are some pretty awesome goodies up for grabs but, back to the sweet stuff! So, over at Candy Pros you can shop by color - which makes finding exactly what you need pretty easy!

For wedding candy bars you will find items such as popular Jelly Belly beans - these are great items for candy bars because A. Jelly Belly has the best beans B. Jelly Belly offers the most amazing colors and C. Every one loves Jelly Belly because of their awesome flavors. One of the most popular Jelly Belly wedding items is called the Champagne Bubble - its a small white jelly candy with little white balls all over - we have all seen them, they look like this:

Every website I compared to Candy Pros did not even come close to their price! For a 5lb package the cost is $27.96. I did this on similar popular candies like the popular Whirly Pop lollipops:

Candy Pros sells them individually for about $1.12 per pop - this is a great price! Even our local Smart and Final (a warehouse discount store) can't even sell them for that price and if you are looking for individual colors at those discount warehouse type stores? Forget about it! Usually, you are going to find only the rainbow colored pops. 


You will also find all the popular candy like the Nostalgia Candy, Movie Theater Candy, Kosher Candy and even Gluten Free Candy! 


Some of my favorites for decorations are the super larger Shimmer Gumballs and if you are thinking about maybe offering something like an ice cream bar - guess what?? Candy Pros even offers specialized theme toppings! Super awesome! I could go on and on talking about sweets but, I am sure you get the picture - awesome prices, excellent customer service, fast shipping and good packaging - hands down a super win in my book! And, again...don't forget our special discount code "meanttobee" that will give you an additional 5% off!


Thanks Candy Pros! I am a super fan now! :)

Meant To Bee - Cakes, Cupcakes, Push Cakes and more!

One of my favorite things about having a party is the cake! Wedding cake, birthday cake, any kind of cake! Thankfully, I have an amazing bakery that I love near me: Beverly's Best. I have blogged about them before (here, here and here!). I already knew how I wanted the cake decorated and it was pretty easy to go in there and order - and I got to pick up a little treat while I was there (it was an espresso cup made of chocolate and filled with a cappuccino mousse....heaven!!). The anticipation of seeing my idea come to life was killing me! I couldn't wait to pick up the cake and I can tell you, once again, I was not disappointed - with the design and later slicing into it - deeeeee-lish!!

Those little bee's buzzing around the cake?? They were not done at the bakery! Oh no, one of the first things I found on Etsy when we had decided on the theme were these little guys from Sweeten Your Day:

And then I saw this cake picture that featured a larger bee:

Super cute, right? I ordered them right away! You can get a dozen mini bee's for $15.00 but, since I knew I wanted to use them on the cake, I split my order to 6 mini bee's and 6 large bee's. Jen is the owner and chief designer of Sweeten Your Day - she has been in the cake business for over 4 years but, decided to take a break to spend more time with her kiddos. You know when you love something though, it is a part of you, so she opened an Etsy store where she sells all kinds of cupcake and cake toppers that are ALL made by hand with either fondant, gumpaste, or royal icing and they are ALL 100% edible! Jen can custom create anything - so, no matter what your theme is she will work with you! I can tell you that when the bee's arrived they were packaged safe and secure and they looked exactly like the picture: PERFECT - right down to their little smiles! I loved them! For size purposes, you see the larger bee's on the cake above so, here is a picture of the mini bee's on the cupcakes:

  
Speaking of cupcakes...mmmm! I had purchased from one of those daily deal sites (like Groupon) a deal on a dozen push cakes from Kays Kupcakes. I knew I would be celebrating 2 different occasions so, I bought multiple deals to use. I love push cakes - they are cake and frosting in those little plastic tubes - heaven! So, when I called Kay to redeem my deal I explained to her my party theme and that I had already ordered a cake but wanted to do a sweets table. She was totally flexible (and super, super nice too) so, we came up with the idea to do 1 dozen push cakes and 1 dozen cupcakes. This was perfect since I needed to use my little mini bee's! Then, towards the end of our conversation, on a whim, I asked her if she did cake pop's! YEP! She did (pricing was excellent too!) so I ordered 2 dozen cake pop's from her as well! When we finally met in person, we hit it off perfectly! She is so sweet and bubbly - she fits right into the cupcake world! Speaking of the cupcake world, Kays Kupcakes hosted Cupcake Camp OC this year. Cupcake Camp OC is a gathering of cupcake-lovers to raise money for a good cause. This annual event is 100% volunteer-organized and operated by Kay and Tiffany.

 

So, the most important thing about cupcakes, push cakes and cake pops are how did they taste, right?? Well, I can tell you Kays Kupcakes has gained a permanent FAN in me! The frosting was incredible, the cake super moist and yummy flavor and the cake pops - amazing! I have had quite a few cake pops - even tried to make them myself ONCE - and they are not easy! Kays Kupcakes, on the other hand, has it down!! (just a little shout out here: THANK YOU SO MUCH Kay! I am so glad I met you...I am a huge fan!). So, no matter where you are, the push cake and cake pops can be delivered so keep them in mind for your next party, you won't be disappointed!

Now that I had my cake pops ordered, my next task was to find something to display them! I headed back over to my favorite hand made community, Etsy, and began my search. It didn't take me long to find MCreations4u. A relatively new shop on Etsy but, their prices were great and their feedback was good. I sent a message over to Marilou and she responded within an hour! I had explained my theme and she got back to me that same day with 2 mock up's of what I wanted - this was the one I chose: 

WOW. Talk about customer service! I was super impressed! I ordered the same day! 4 days later, I had my custom, handmade cake pop stand! I thought I was impressed before?? Double WOW now! The quality of this stand is super, duper amazing. I could not believe it! I was so excited about this and honestly...I already have ideas for two more I want to order now! Cake pops are really popular little desserts right now and if you have been looking for a way to show them off - or if you make them as part of your bakery - I urge you to check out Marilou's shop. Marilou can make whatever theme you are going with and you can message her about custom colors. You will not be disappointed with your purchase or her excellent customer service - I guarantee it!

Now, finally the candy bar! This was something I was planning on from the beginning but, something I waited to the last minute to put together! I couldn't decide if I wanted to hire someone to do it or make it another DIY project. I had been hunting for containers but, then decided if I factored in the cost of the candy and all the containers (which I would NOT need after) the price would work out to be very close. Decision over - hire a candy bar company. WRONG. I wasn't able to find anyone available to do it! Slight panic mode was setting in. I searched out a few online wholesale candy companies. I knew I had to find someone local because the party was only 4 days away! Luckily, I live in Southern California and I found a couple of options. I visited Candy Pros, located in the San Diego area, and when I checked the shipping information it said if you needed the order right away to call them because processing the order could take up to 2 days (yikes). I called and spoke with Susan and she told me, "If you place your order online within the next 10 minutes I will be able to ship it out today." Lady luck was on my side again! UPS Ground shipping would take 1 day. I ordered 15 pounds of candy and 12 Whirly Pop suckers - their prices were the best I found online but, their customer service plus same day shipping without any up charge equals a BIG WIN in my book! I would also like to share a discount code with all my readers for Candy Pros! I got such a wonderful email from Candy Pros the other day and guess what?? They have offered to give anyone who orders an ADDITIONAL discount off their already low prices! Yay! If you place an order with them, use the code “meanttobee” at checkout for an additional 5% off! If you are considering doing a candy bar or need any sweets - this is the site to check out! My order was packaged with care (meaning with candy lots of shipping popcorn and even had the ice packs to ensure no melting). In addition to their easy to navigate webpage you can find their blog here - which offers lots of ideas!

The only issue left was finding containers and scoops! Party City solved that problem. While picking up a few last minute items, sitting right at the check out counter display were these clear candy bar container kits from Wilton. They were priced at $9.99 for the set of 3 and the kit also had the labels you see on each container in the photo above. Surprise, surprise! They also had the candy scoops! The scoops would work but, they did have hearts on the end and I would have preferred no hearts. I ended up not buying the scoops - I had one more place to try but, at least I knew they were there if I couldn't find what I was looking for. By this time, it is the night before the party I had one more stop - Cost Plus World Market. If you are lucky enough to have one of these stores near you (they have 258 stores nationwide) you will be able to find the perfect 3-piece aluminum scoop set for just $4.99!


I hope you have enjoyed my Meant To Bee recap! I also hope that out of the two posts that if you are planning a Meant To Bee party, shower or wedding theme that the DIY projects I have listed and the vendors I have recommended will come in handy for you! Now, it's time to announce our Meant To Bee giveaway!!

Like all the things you've seen in this post? You can win these items! Our Meant To Bee Giveaway is now open! 

Click here to enter now!

Woodland Heart Wedding Cake Toppers

I love when I find things I would purchase myself (if I were getting married again!). One of my favorite things about writing this blog is sharing amazing, unique finds. When I came across these cake toppers on Etsy I knew I had to share! My hope is that someone reading this little blog will find things for their wedding - it's tough to weed out all the goodies that are out there when you are planning a wedding so, I hope that my lovely readers like all the ideas I share!


Etsy seller BetterOffWed is getting married this month! Her Etsy shop opened because she was creating custom items for her own wedding and she wanted to share her handmade items with other brides! I love finding items that are made from actual brides!

The Woodland Heart Wedding Cake Topper in Berry - $45.00

The Woodland Heart Wedding Cake Topper in Party Pink $45.00

Another thing I look for in items I love to share: things that can be used AFTER the wedding! You are going to be spending a lot of cash for the big day so, any item that has a use after is a huge bonus in my book! These cake toppers have many uses after the big day - simply snip the stakes with a pair of scissors and your topper is now a keepsake piece for your home and for generations to come. Hang your topper next to your wedding photo, display it in a shadow box frame or even tie a cord around it and hang it on your holiday tree. I absolutely adore these cake toppers. The heart is made out of fabric so you have many colors to match your wedding scheme. 


I've been been keeping my eye out for something that I have been wanting to giveaway on the blog and guess what? This is it! Stay tuned...the next post will be about how you can win your very own Woodland Heart cake topper from BetterOffWed...a little giveaway from me to you!

Aqua Blue and Red Wedding Color Inspiration

Are you ready for my favorite color combo? Sure, it's a little different and not your average wedding color - but these two colors together totally rock! I have seen these colors matched up before but, when I saw this gown from Bonny Bridal (style 6123) I was in love! What a gorgeous gown!

This dress is from the Crown Collection but, with it's little sweep train would be perfect for an outdoor wedding! I could even picture this dress in a tropical location - matching the ocean color! Just thinking about how beautiful this would be makes me want to fly off to an out of the way destination wedding!

The Ritzy Rose came up with this gorgeous brooch bouquet, Tutu cute flowergirl dresses, Handmade clutch for your bridesmaids, Crown Collection Gown, Carrie's Cakes has some awesome wedding cakes and if you are in Sandy, Utah you should check her out, this Save The Date Card does have a matching wedding invitation, my favorite handmade tie maker Me And Matilda has this adorable necktie and the paper place cards are certainly one of a kind!

Red, White and Black Wedding Inspiration

It's the beginning of a new month! This summer has been flying by! I continue to be amazed by the enormous talent of artists who hand make gorgeous details for your wedding or bridal shower! Today was inspired by seeing these gorgeous red poppies:

They are actually sugar flowers made by Two Sugar Babies. You can dress up any plain cake with their amazing creations and voila! You have a work of art! Two Sugar Babies  makes cookie toppers, cake pop decorations, and even brownie toppers! Their creations even coordinate with social stationary designed by Kelly Lyden of WHHostess. 

So, finding the poppies led me on an adventure of red, white and black! I fell in love with this sassy feather fascinator (veil is not included in the price but can be purchased individually) paired it with bridesmaid dress style 7104 from Bonny Bridal (about $165 suggested retail price) and then found these adorable peep toe pumps! The price is AMAZING - only $39.99 and free shipping from Your Shoe Store. Lastly, I headed back to Etsy for one more look around for wedding items in my color theme. Luckily for me (and you) I found these handmade paper flowers. The price is awesome: $3.75 for 25 flowers. These flowers gave me all kinds of ideas! They are small (approx. 5/8 in diameter). My mind started racing with all the things these dainty flowers could embellish for your wedding and DIY projects: invitations, placecards, will-you-be-my bridesmaid cards and so much more! Are you using Red, White and Black as your wedding colors? If so, share any of your amazing finds!

Custom Aisle Runners

A simple, yet elegant touch to your wedding is having a custom made aisle runner. Flo, who was married in 2009, was a do it yourself bride and she created her own aisle runner. She had so much fun doing her own, she turned it into a side business! I think most DIY brides come to the realization, after their own weddings, that they love creating things (and they miss it)! Some of my favorite finds have been from former bride-to-be's! Here are some of my favorite aisle runners that Flo has made:

Basic aisle runners start at $125 but, you can upgrade the design for an additional fee. This monogram, for example, has a $85 upgrade fee.

This is another design that has an additional fee. This upgrade fee is $100 - isn't this amazing though? So perfect for a Fall wedding!

I really LOVE the tree designs!

If you are interested in getting a quote for your custom aisle runner, check out Flo's website  or contact her via email!

Maryland: Antrim 1844 Inn and local wedding photographers

One of the things I do every day is surf wedding websites and blogs...it's a tough job, I know. Sometimes, I find myself at sites and I forget how I got there. Such is the case with finding Mr. and Mrs. Adams. It's a blog that was written for (I assume) friends and family to enjoy the musings of a young couple embarking down the aisle. Like I said, I am not sure how I got there but, what kept me there (for a couple of days now) was reading about the venue where "Mr. and Mrs. Adams" (not their real names) were planning their wedding: Antrim 1844. This venue is a neoclassical Civil War plantation that now serves as a nationally recognized bed and breakfast and fine dining restaurant. 

Last summer, when I was visiting my best friend in Maryland, I wrote about this venue, because she was married here! Finding Mr. and Mrs. Adams blog brought back all of the memories from my friend's wedding weekend, which took place in May of 1998! This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to and it's a place I would absolutely love to go back to (one day, crossing my fingers!). If you are in the area or even if you are planning a destination wedding - this is definitely a place to check out! Sadly, "Mrs. Adams" never finished her wedding blog...kind of leaving readers, like me, with a feeling of "what ever happened to..." so, I didn't get to read about her big day and how everything came together. From her blog, I found photographers, Procopio Photography (and this is exactly how I get lost in all the sites I visit!!).

This photography team has gorgeous "eye candy" for you to view! Their latest blog post, the wedding of Michelle and Jason, at the Washington National Cathedral prompted this blog post actually! My thoughts on the images were: double wow! We did not visit the Washington National Cathedral last summer but, another reason to head back to the east coast! During my visit to their website, I did find the real Mr. and Mrs. Adams! My curiosity about how their wedding turned out was finally satisfied and if you are curious you can check out their pictures here!

I hope that if any of my readers, or maybe people like me who wander wedding websites and blogs, happen upon this post that you might connect with these two wedding vendors! I feel pretty confident that you would not only be in capable hands but, that you would have the most amazing wedding with them! Sharing things I love with you all is just one of the reasons I love writing this blog! Cheers to a wonderful weekend!

===========Update==========

A reader let me know that Mrs Adams is back and updating her blog once again! She just posted a lovely video of her gorgeous wedding at the Antrim Inn! So lovely. Welcome back! 

Dessert pedestals for cakes and cupcakes!

I have been saving this "find" from Etsy seller BurlapAndBlue for quite awhile now....I know, I was totally holding out on you guys - right? Linda is the owner of this shop that is filled with beautiful goodies, perfect to accent a wedding or shower dessert table! I just love all the ways you can use this. Linda's lovely pedestals were also featured in the April 2011 Bride's magazine! And guess what? I just found out that Linda is celebrating her 1000th blog follower by giving away a gorgeous summer starfish dessert pedestal! BONUS! You have until the 12th of July to enter so good luck on that...but, if you want to check out these beauties head on over to BurlapAndBlue on Etsy!

Oh! And those awesome embroidery loops I just posted about here? If you are not much of a DIY crafter and would rather purchase handmade items (like me!) another bonus!! Linda makes them! Whoop! For $20 you can have someone else make the Chalkboard Embroidery Hoop for your dessert table!

Southern California Brides: A Special Deal For You!

My little blog reaches such a wide audience that I do not usually pass along "local" deals but, this one was too good to pass up! I got a notification that the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Gardens, located in Long Beach, California, was offering an amazing deal: Friday Wedding & Reception Special from 6pm - 10pm for $3300! 


Obviously, Fridays are not the "ideal" day for weddings - which probably prompted this special deal but, with the economy being the way it is, I think bride's are thinking "outside the box" and having a Friday wedding totally makes sense! The Japanese Gardens hold a very special place in my heart! Two very good friends have gotten married here (one held their reception elsewhere and one had their reception there). Also, back in the day, when I owned and operated my bridal store, TenderHeart Bridal, we did a bridal show here. I think it was the only bridal show the gardens have hosted but, it was an amazing, intimate event and we had a strolling fashion show of bridal gowns! Our models would stroll through the gardens...it was really magical! 

The Japanese Gardens is a BEAUTIFUL venue that is tucked away inside California State University at Long Beach. The grounds are amazingly kept! There are tall trees, an arched bridge (where the weddings take place), a koi pond and waterfalls. The garden can accommodate up to 200 guests for a ceremony and up to 165 for a wedding and reception.

So, if you are in the area and you are interested - I urge you to contact them! 

CONTACT INFORMATION

Call: 562.985.8889 for questions or Email: Japanese Garden Coordinators

Carnival Theme: Wedding or Party - Part 2

Doing a carnival dessert station was so much fun! I love creating and designing themed parties! In part 1 of the carnival party I talked about how I was able to get a dessert table for 50 people for just a little less than $2.00 a person! In this post we will tackle how to do the paper goods! Although this post is geared towards a carnival theme, you can incorporate some of the printables into other themes!


Stickers on the cotton candy bag: Adorable right? And...super easy! I had a package of Avery 8293 Shipping Labels at home - you get 400 of them in a package and these are GREAT for making your own labels for a variety of wedding items! I recently saw them priced at Amazon for $15.58 (free shipping and no tax!) makes them about .04 cents a piece! Here is a tutorial I put together on how to print the perfect label size every time that you will LOVE! 


If you are familiar with MS Publisher you can head off now to go and create stickers, after you download the red and white striped background here but, if you are not familiar with using Publisher and want to know how to create the stickers, keep reading!


Open your saved sticker in Publisher. You will need to use the oval tool to create the white space:

Now, you need to fill in your circle to make sure it's white:

Once you have done this you will want to open the red and white stripe paper using Adobe Reader and then hit Edit, Copy File to Clipboard. Go back to Publisher and hit CTRL M to get to the background mode. Hit CTRL V to paste your red and white stripe background on the file. This background will fill up your whole screen! Hit CTRL M to toggle back to your circle.


Use the text tool to write in your personal message:

Make sure you SAVE your document! And then you can print them off! You can use the Print Preview button to see how your finished document will look:

Pretty easy, right?! I just love these stickers and with a little work on your part you really will use all 400 stickers! If you didn't want to use the stripe background, but instead a solid color background, you can easily do this in Publisher using the Fill tool. If you need help with that you can leave a message on this post and I would be happy to help you!


I also came across this gorgeous collection for a carnival wedding or shower from Wedding Style Guide!

You can get all these goodies in PDF format! Click on any of the links to download the documents! Name tags, Invitations, Drink Tickets and Party Games!