The Bride is Always Late: Irish Wedding Blog from WeddingDates.ie » Wedding Favours

Wedding Favours With A Charitable Twist

ClaireB — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:00:44 +0000

I often feel guilty for any form of lavish spending I might indulge myself in. You know the feeling, don’t you? I sometimes felt this way when I was planning my wedding because it all seemed like such a costly affair for one very small moment in time. Looking back it was worth it, but I think that bringing acts of love and charity into your wedding planning is always a good idea.

I recently discovered that the Irish Heart Foundation are doing something unique: they custom make wedding stationery, wedding favours and wedding flowers. Naturally the proceeds all go towards the foundation and support a very good cause.

Consider doing more, give a little of your heart away…

To connect with the Heart Foundation:
Facebook
Website
Email

{Image by Helga Weber.}

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re-wedding: old books, satchels and heels

ClaireB — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:00:45 +0000

I am feeling ever so nerdish today. Think black rimmed glasses, bobby socks, mini skirt and books, lots and lots of books. Oh but I do love reading with all of me.

I have this wild dream of sitting in a giant oak tree for an entire day, with a flask of warm milky coffee, reading page after page of a book I simply don’t want to put down.

So why not make the dream a reality and create my re-wedding around it? Calvin is totally in on this idea. He quite fancies trees himself, says he likes the idea of hoisting himself up high.

Rosa makes me feel pretty when she paints my face so I will ask her to make feel like a pretty princess for my big day. Paula takes photos that look like people don’t even know she is pointing a lens at them. I like that because I am rather camera shy myself; I prefer my nose in a book you see. So because she has this special talent, she will be my photographer.

I want to hang pretty garlands in all the trees. The sun will sparkle through the branches and Paula will take special photos of all my guest’s shoes, just because I love shoes and in every invite there will be a special request to wear shoes that tell a story on this big day.

I will give special word pendants to my attendants to say thank you for all that they have done for me and each guest will receive a hand written thank you note, made from old books, the ones with that scent that bursts out of their pages.

My dress will be a hoop one, it will jump up when I sit in the branches. It will be big hoop that makes me giddy when I run…

Feeling inspired? Thinking of your own wedding theme? Make sure to connect with the suppliers and photographers below. You won’t regret it:
old books by 132photography
word pendant by cape cottage designs
word cards by cards by carla
heart garland by dragonflies
oak tree by steven
coffee mugs by vitorio benedetti and jack fussell
dress image by kathleen waters
shoe image by luca vanzella
wedding photography by paula o’hara
make up by rosa opina

{Images by artists included within the piece.}

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Escort Cards: Make Your Own

guest — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 07:00:43 +0000

A really great trend that has hit our shores recently is Escort Cards. Escort Cards? Does this mean more work for me, the bride? NO! In fact the opposite.

Escort cards have the name of each guest, along with the table number of where the guest is sitting.
So guests come along to where the escort cards are displayed, find their name and go to their table; it’s that easy!
There is no more tedious work in organizing a seating plan AND trying to figure out who will sit next to whom!

And then there is more…

But the really great thing about escort cards is that they also act as wedding favours. I have seen some great examples recently; bunches of lavender tied with a ribbon, poloraids of the bride and grooms’ engagement shoot (a great keepsake for the guests), even a Ferrero Rocher; and one of my favourites is a packet of seeds of flowers or herbs, for the guests to plant after the wedding.

A couple I am working with at the moment will have great Escort Cards! (And they did bring a tear to my eye when I saw them) The bride and groom’s young son and daughter actually drew pictures of all 4 of them, with a welcome note saying “Uncle Pat, Welcome to Mummy and Daddy’s wedding. Please sit at table 2, from Brian and Ava”.

Have a look at Etsy which is a fantastic website for escort card ideas. But try to be creative – what is around you? What can you use that will be cost effective and shows off your creative flare? Shells, flowers, pretty stones; the list is endless.

Tips
Some tips for your escort cards and seating arrangements:
• Delegate – if you decide to make your own escort cards, ask your bridesmaids and family for help.
• Start making your escort cards once you’ve finalized the guest list.
• Don’t agonize and waste too much time and energy on deciding on who sits on the same table. It’s a wedding; guests will mingle and have fun!
• Have a look at Wedding Bee & U Plus U Design
• Save time and money by using one escort card per couple (assuming they’re at the same table).
• Ensure you have a large enough table to display your escort cards. If they will be outside make sure the wind won’t blow them away!
• Keep up to date on our blog for more wedding planning tips!

{Escort Card Image by French Market on Etsy}

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re-wedding: lace, guitars and a game of hide ‘n seek

ClaireB — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 07:00:40 +0000

nostalgic
fragile
young
tender
hungry…

hungry for love. i want to get married again. to my husband with his head of curls and guitar playing hands. to the one who has been mine for 5 years, the one who sang to me on that very first day and who still sings me to sleep at night.

this re-wedding will be a spring one: dappled filtering light, yellows and fresh greens and all things lace. i want yards and yards of lace.

when i was four i would twirl around in the sun under the big avocado pear tree; my gran had made me a lace dress and i couldn’t stop staring at the patterns in the fabric. they twirled and spun like sugar, fine and brittle like bone. it is this magic that i want to recreate on this big girl day of dreams.

imagine haybales, guitars, rolled up trousers, letters and poetry spun through trees.

i want to write each guest a letter. the letter will hold my heart, my reasons for why they were chosen to share the day. it will be intimate, maybe 40 people, just my favourites, the ones who make me laugh and cry and jump. because they love me so much, we might even play a game of hide ‘n seek.

i went meandering through etsy to see if my dream could be made real and sure enough, it is all there: the yellow, the lace, the gifts.

if you like these ideas and want to use them for your own wedding take a stroll through etsy. you might just love what you find:

lace arm gloves by inbal at my secret face
lace pendant by dianne from gifts for all occasions
wedding dress and head piece by alisa benay at alisa benay bridal
paper lace garland by elizabeth smillie at the road less traveled
lace pegs by alisa at blue pearls
lace earrings by tina eva renee
spring garlands by violeta at hello violeta

{All images sourced from the featured artists and on Flickr via Creative Commons. Credits can be found in the accompanying gallery.}

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DIY Wedding Tips – Guest Post

guest — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:00:56 +0000

Here is another Lovely post from Cassie, A TY Student we had in the WeddingDates HQ a few weeks back!

Want to make your wedding stand out that extra mile without spending lots and lots more money? Well there’s plenty of ways. Here are just a few of my favorites.

1. Celebrations
We always see on TV after a wedding confetti being thrown over the happy couple or white doves being released just as they leave the church. The tradition is rice, a sign of fertility, but if your like me and don’t like the idea of either of those why not keep things simple and use something like bubbles! Might sound stupid to you right now but have you ever seen a wedding picture with bubbles? There’s that sense of innocence and freshness. When we we’re young we played with bubbles, well when you get married your relationship is still young so why not represent this through bubbles? Fun eh?

2. One More Kiss.
We’ve all heard about the game of getting the bride and groom to kiss during the reception but why not do that extra something like get people to tell a story about you or your partner or even the two of you as a couple. Every time someone tells a story you have to kiss! The laughs and tears will be going on and on.
Another idea would be to have a box at each table, in the box is a question and different answers. The question is about the bride or groom and everyone at the table have to work together to choose the right answer. Each right answer equals one kiss. This gets the people at the table talking to each other and getting to know people instead of them sitting at the table awkwardly not talking.

3. LOVEly place-cards
Why not spread the love through your place-cards? On the back of each place-card write a love quote. Something like: “If you have it [love], you don’t need to have anything else. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter much what else you have” -James M. Barrie
Or
“We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.”-Benjamin Disraeli
Chances are you won’t run out of the, the list goes on and on but if you feel yourself running out don’t hesitate to repeat!

4. A different kind of wedding favour
Can’t come up with a wedding favour that you want people to remember? Why not push the boat out all together and create your own wedding soundtrack! Maybe even write and record your own song for it if you feel up for the challenge. But if you think that’s too much work why not just burn all the songs your using in your ceremony and all the others that have a special meaning in both you and your partners heart.Then create a personalized CD cover with your names, date of the wedding and even a picture of the happy couple. Sure to get everyone talking about its uniqueness.
Too much work? Well here’s another one! Go out and buy up bars of chocolate, take the original paper off and and create your own personalized wrapper. Same idea as the CD cover but smaller! Which ever one of the two you choose just make sure you make it original and personal. Something people will remember you as a couple by.
Finding all that too much? Then go for a simpler approach. We’re all familiar to the lottery scratch cards right? Why not stock up on them, go out and find yourself red envelopes and start saving the 1cents. There you have the perfect wedding favor! Put the scratch card and 1cent into the red envelope, on the front of the envelope write the words ‘Lucky In Love’ (Maybe in silver, let it stand out) and place them at each seat. Cheap and cheerful! Who knows, maybe someone will be leaving your wedding with lots of cash!

5. Simple centrepiece
Stuck for an idea for your centrepieces? Simple! Get a jam jar, fill it 3/4′s of the way with water and drop in a tea light. Don’t worry the tea light will float. Place it in the center of the table and surround with rose petals or leaves, twigs, flowers, whatever takes your fancy. Viola! Sophisticated, sweet, simple centrepiece! Not enough? Well then how do you like Coca-Cola? Maybe it was the fist drink you shared with your lover. (Personal touches are always nice!) Get out and start looking for the glass bottles to use as vases! Might think that sound tacky but if it suits your theme go with it. It can look amazing. Maybe your going to name your tables? Then you could put little flags out of each bottle with the name of your table on each one. Just and idea.

6.Memories
Want to do something different for your guests that fun? Why not hire a photographer that will bring props, (or maybe you’ll have some stuff at home that you could use. Hats, wigs, boas etc.) Set up a backdrop, something completely random. (For example, if your weddings in the summer and everyone’s out in their short dresses and summer clothes have a snowy background.) Get the photographer to take pictures of everyone with the props! Might seem mad to everyone but imagine the laughs when the pictures are developed! Imagine the wedding album… non-stop laughs guaranteed!

Maybe you have some unique ideas you would like to share in the comments?

[Image by Zanastardust. Sourced via Flickr Creative Commons Images]

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DIY Wedding Love Notes

Ciara Crossan — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:11:41 +0000

I wrote before about a wedding that my friend attended that had personalized message in a bottle for each wedding guest, and today i stumbled on a great DIY project that encompasses that very idea!

From Amy over eatdrinkchic you can create these gorgeous Love Notes for guests, and get them to write their messages back to you too! She has created downloadable templates, that you can print out and use yourself, so you don’t even have to be that arty farty to pull this one off. Go check it out and download the templates here >>

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Beach-themed Wedding Favours

Ciara Crossan — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:08:20 +0000

This article comes from the good folks at beau-coup Wedding Favors where you can buy the prettiest wedding favours online as well as get fabulous ideas for your themed wedding! If you are planning a Summer 2011 Wedding then check out these great favour ideas for inspiration!

Summertime is a fabulous time to hold a beach wedding! No matter what type of beach you choose or the décor, you’ll definitely want to pick out the best wedding favors for the day.

If your wedding takes guests to a tropical location be sure to be prepared for the heat by providing your guests with personalized hand fans that can double as favors. Some parasols and flip flops can also go a long way in making your guests feel comfortable.

For the reception, consider using personalized sea shells in your décor. Not only do they make great beach wedding favors, but they are also perfect as place cards. As an alternate set up, you could fill some mini buckets with sand and then attach a tag with your guests’ names. The buckets can also hold a tea light candle atop the sand for a lovely and unique touch. For a colorful accent, hang some round paper lanterns over trees, wooden beams, and anywhere else you see fit.

Be sure to provide your guests with some more practical favors as well. Personalized water bottles are perfect to quench thirst and mini personalized sunscreen or hand sanitizer favors are also definite dos for any outdoor ceremony. For some added fun, hand out some wedding Frisbees—especially for the younger ones.

{Images from: Beau-coup Wedding Favors, Style Me Pretty, Polka Dot Bride}

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Welcome to our Wedding!

Ciara Crossan — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:45:28 +0000

Todays post comes from our guest blogger Annie Byrne, Wedding Planner from Aislinn Events:

Photo Credit: Kate Parker Weddings

I am currently thinking about welcome packs for out of town guests. This is a lovely thing to do especially if your guests are travelling. Imagine taking planes, trains and automobiles, arriving tired to your hotel and finding a beautiful well equipped welcome gift bag (or basket or box…) in your room from the bride & groom. Aaahhhhh.

Include information on the wedding activities – where to be and when. Local information from the tourist office. What about a postcard from the place where your wedding is being held? Bottles of water, mints, cookies, tea, dried fruits and nuts.
Or personalize more to the style of wedding. From champagne snipes to flip flops the possibilities are endless and will fit any budget.

Check your hotel to make sure they will put them in the bedrooms and also to make sure what you are putting in your welcome packs are not already in their rooms. Bottles of water, hand cream and the like are standard in the better hotels so put in something they will not have and also act as a souvenir.

I recommend bags or boxes as opposed to baskets and not only for the cost factor. Your guests may not want to drag an empty basket back home with them.

I really like these Gable boxes from boxandwrap.com. They come in all colours and will even put a logo or monogram on them. Or what about a plain brown? You can have a personalized rubber stamp or embosser (customrubberstampsonline.com, thestampmaker.com and even Vistaprint) made for the front then use the stamp in other areas for your wedding (napkin rings perhaps?). Tie any of them with a nice ribbon and Bob is your uncle – in fact Uncle Bob will love them too!

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Dessert Buffets and Sweet Tables

Ciara Crossan — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:30:51 +0000

I’m a bit up theh walls this week with the upcoming appearance on Dragons Den so, I asked Annie Byrne wedding planner extrodinaire from Aislinn Events to do a guest blog post and when she sent it over, I was drooling!

Your wedding cake will finish off your meal but why stop there? Display your cake on a beautifully decorated full dessert buffet for your guests to choose from after the meal. It is a great idea to get your guests up after the main course before they get too sluggish {although they are going for more food} and with a buffet it will get guests from different tables meeting and talking to one another when they might not otherwise.

If you think the dessert buffet is too much, how about a homemade Cookie Station? Or Sweets Table? This can double as your favors if you have nice bags for your guests to fill and seal with your own personalized labels {of course} to take home or nibble on later. I actually did a sweets display at my own wedding and it was a big hit! I chose various types of sweets from our childhood, put them in clear jars with scoops and our guests were delighted! They all began reminiscing about going to the shop for penny sweets as a kid. They all packed up what they could to take home when the evening came to a close.

There are actually companies in America that do these for a living and Amy Atlas is at the top of them. What a fun job! But you should be able to DIY it really. Theme it in with your wedding colors or style, get some clear glass jars and fill with your favs, use those cupcakes everyone loves, Dipped fruits, popcorn, the possibilities are endless!

All photos and designs by Links: Amy Atlas

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Do your bit for charidee..

Ciara Crossan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:30:37 +0000

We all know weddings are expensive business. Once they get into the planning, some people are shocked at how much things cost – stick the word “Wedding” onto something and you can nearly double the price! There are some things that are essential (dress, flowers etc) but you might consider many of the other components to be variable and you might cut them depending on budget or taste.

If you aren’t into the whole wedding favour concept, but do like the idea of doing something for charity with the money you would save, then why not consider a donation to a charity. The Irish Hospice Foundation do donations in lieu of wedding favours and provide the generous couple with some display items to place on the tables to let their guests know. Their mission is that no one should face death or bereavement without the appropriate care and support.

Their main focus is on working to ensure that everyone who requires it can have access to this care and support regardless of geography or diagnosis. Your support will help make it possible for our vital programmes to continue, including:-

Hospice Friendly Hospitals – our single biggest project which aims to bring hospice principles to hospital practice, which is where the majority of people in Ireland die each year. The first phase is operating initially in 42 hospitals throughout Ireland
Children’s Palliative Care programme – designed to address the needs of children with life limiting conditions and their families in the community. We are funding and increased number of children’s palliative care nurses
Night Nursing Service – for non-cancer patients in their homes, which is free of charge.
Extending Access Programme – concerned with extending access to hospice care for patients with conditions other than cancer who currently only account for around 5% of people benefiting from hospice care annually.
Education, Research and Information/Resource Centre – plays a leading role in the strategic development of palliative care education.

As a charity, they receive no statutory funding and rely on voluntary contributions to fund their work. A great cause!!

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