Feb

3

A Horse Drawn Carriage for Cinderella at a French Wedding Chateau

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Destination weddings are a thriving business with 16% of U.S. brides choosing them last year, up 400% ten years ago. While the price tag for a celebrity castle wedding often runs well over a $1 million your typical chateau wedding can be done for far less. European castles are being booked by non-celebrities in hoardes.

Apparently it was Madonna (Skibo Castle in 2000) and Spice Girl Victoria Adams (Irish castle wedding in 1999) are credited with heightening interest in the trend with pomp and circumstance.

Interest in the Odescalchi Castle has soared since Tom and Katie held their wedding there. Skibo Castle has a waiting list with hopeful brides paying a $40,000 initiation fee prior to a wedding booking. Eva Longoria and Tony Park’s wedding on the auspicious 7th July 2007 at Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte has only fueled the trend. When a celebrity wedding in an exotic location makes headlines people see it and want to copy it.

According to Brides editor in chief Millie Martini Bratten, “The average U.S. wedding costs $27,850”. The 2006 average price tag of a destination wedding was $25,800, plus travel and hotel costs. Away-from-home weddings can be cheaper, because there are typically are fewer guests to wine and dine. The guests for a hometown event average 165 and 47 for an overseas location. However, a destination wedding at a luxury wedding castle attended by 30-40 people might run to $20,000-30,000 a day, not including airfare.

Cinderella, you shall get to the wedding.

Saying “I do” in a wedding castle is as fashionable as carrying the latest Chanel handbag for today’s Hollywood celebrity.

Anyone, especially non-celebrities can rent a wedding castle and get married in France and have a fairytale wedding castle of their dreams. Marrying in a chateau means “becoming part of a fairytale,” says Mindy Weiss, Eva Longoria’s wedding planner “You’re walking into a chapter of a romance novel.”

For the true fairy tale princess wedding, a horse drawn carriage is an essential. Whether you travel in a massive cart pulled by a huge shire horse, or a trap with little shetland ponies, nothing beats that fairy-tale feeling.

Katie Price also known as Jordan has been attibuted for the increase in horse and carriage weddings.

Some advice on selecting a horse and carriage

- a pair of horses makes more of a wow statement. Also this offers you a back up if one of the horses at the last minute is lame and not able to pull the carriage. Ask the carriage providers if both horses work in pairs and drive singly as well. As if they have single and pairs wedding harness.

- how big is the carriage. Is it big enough for you and your wedding dress. Carriages for smaller horses are smaller inside as well. A carriage pulled by a pair of horses over 16 hand high is roomy and makes a great impression. You will not feel squeezed andd your wedding dress will not get all crushed.

- think about the weather. Does the carriage you are considering have a canopy or a glass cover. Victorian carriages and Landaus are popular for this very reason

- Ask how the carriage is going to be decorated - at the very least you should get a pair of brass lanterns and flowers. Do the horses wear plumes? Ask what colour schemes they can offer or if you can provide flowers of your colour scheme. Because of the movement and wind, companies usually use silk flowers. If you want additional colour real flowers can be added for your static photos.

- Do the pair of horses match - colour, height, blaze and socks and stepping action. Two matching browns or black horses will look more impressive than a brown and a black. Ask to see a video if at all possible. Long white socks look stunning and are very popular. They look striking just like a french polish manicure. Ask if the horses mains will be braided or flowing. You could ask if the company will braid the horses manes with your colour scheme.

- If you are going to have a video think about the stepping action of the horses. Horses bred with some hackney blood have a lovely knee-high stepping action which looks incredible. Dutch bred gelderlander horses usually have some hackney blood in them for that high stepping action. It seems a shame to go to the expense of a horse and carriage and then not have a horse that looks the part - fine and elegant. Cobs and cart horses are more suited for pulling gypsy caravans and look more rustic.

- Ask what attire the driver and groom (not your man - the one holding the horses) will wear.

- Think about the distance that you need to travel. Horses do not go at 100 kilometres per hour and are limited on the distance that they can travel. Besides you do not want to spend dall of your wedding day travelling from your home to the church and then to the reception venue. Also if you are travelling a long distance any wind could play havoc with your hair if you have an open top carriage.

- Think about safety. Unfortunately in some countries wedding carriage drivers are not regulated and you get some cowboys. Check that they are experienced - ask to see photos of dirreferent brides. Check that the harness looks symmetrical. I have seen wedding carriage business promotion material with a horse harnessed to a carriage with the shafts being set at different heights. I have also seen carriages for shetlands hitched to a cob. Not only does it look ridiculous but it is down right dangersous. How old are the horses? Check that they have insurance. Ask if the carriage has hydraulic breaks. I have seen professional companies turn up with grooms that are under 10 years of age and that are just there for the photos and who would not be able to hold a horse in an emergency.

Feb

12

Bridal Shower Invitations Includes Themes, Floral And Simply Elegant Designs

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In the wide assortment of available bridal shower invitations are themed items, ones with lovely flowers on them, and others with only classic typefaces appropriate for any degree of formality. Many of them can be used for rehearsal dinners or brunches as well. Thoughtful grooms can even help their brides select the invitations.

Bridal shower invitations can be used to help set the mood for your upcoming celebration. For example, if you’re planning a casual wedding with a few family friends and a backyard steak-fry, choose an invitation with a fun floral design. For a more formal occasion, you’ll want to select a glamorous modern bridal shower invitations to suit the mood.

You can find a number of wonderful shops online where you’ll be able to design your bridal shower invitations from the comfort of your own living room. You’ll find many exquisite designs available on high-quality cardstock. The people who own these shops take particular pride in giving you everything you need and more. The websites offer easy-to-use personalization software, fast ordering, and super-quick turnaround times.

Although it’s what most of us have come to expect at a shower, bridal shower games aren’t really a necessity. If you’ve assembled a group of people who don’t all know each other, games are a good way to break the ice and help your guests relax. During the games people will start talking and interacting. If your guests are all old friends, it might be nice to skip the games altogether and just talk.

Play background music to set a mood. Help your guests feel relaxed by providing games that don’t make them feel embarrassed. Eliminate written quizzes unless you have a very special reason for including one. Everyone will have a lot more fun and less pressure if they’re allowed to just call out the answers. It’s best to avoid personal topics unless you’re with only a group of your most intimate friends.

One bridal shower theme can be set around invitations which feature a whimsical martini glass and an olive in colors of olive green and pinks. By shopping online you can personalize the stationery for your shower and the favors all in one place. You can write the copy for the inside of the invitation and request the color of ink and the type font used in addition to selecting from an array of envelope colors.. To go along with your theme you can purchase bridal shower napkins with the same martini motif as well as matching thank you cards and mint tin favors.

Decorated with fun floral or glamorous designs, bridal shower invitations are a great beginning to your exciting event. They are also marvelous for use in a rehearsal dinner and brunch. Husbands-to-be can care for the bride-to-be with exquisitely elegant shower invitations. Treat the prospective bride to a martini bridal shower invite using a mix of colors that evoke olives and different pinks. Generally, bridal shower games are a great way to get the shower party started. It provides guests with the opportunity to interact with other guests they may not be familiar with.

- Debbie L