The blogosphere (gah, I hate that word) is chock full o’ wedding goodness these days.

I’ve mentioned my slavish devotion to Design*Sponge here before. You do know about d*s, right? It’s a wonderful blog devoted to showcasing great design of all kinds. They’ve begun running a feature this week called The Handmade Wedding written by guest blogger Rebecca, owner of Moontree Letterpress. I’m very excited to see what fab finds they showcase! Hop on over to THW posts at d*s.

Another blog I’m enjoying these days is Paper Crave. It’s all about showcasing great paper and stationery finds. This month is a special feature on wedding invitations/stationery. If you’re looking to purchase invites or are just browsing for inspiration, do visit Paper Crave.

The Something Old, Something New blog is one of my absolute favorites. Written by the ever-fabulous Mackenzie Sala of Kenzie Kate stationery, this site pulls together the yummiest wedding inspiration pieces. You must check out Mackenzies tutorial for making paper flower pommanders. They’re gorgeous!

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Posted in Industry News at March 13th, 2007. No Comments.

A hearty thank you to the lovely folks at Bridal Depot!

Sal Tenorio, store manager of Bridal Depot, has offered to help brides in and around the Houston area who’ve been affected by the Bridesave.com closure.

Sal says:

” We would like to help those we can in the Houston and surrounding areas.
They can bring in their recepits and we will gladly extend a 20% discount in addition to any other sales in the store. Come and see us for more details or call us at 713.668.3100″

Bridal Depot : http://texasbridaldepot.com/
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Posted in Industry News at October 3rd, 2006. No Comments.

For those of you affected by the sudden closure of Bridesave.com, David’s Bridal is offering to help you. (Way to go, David’s!)

Here’s the press release:

David’s Bridal to Offer Additional 20% Discount to Brides Affected by BrideSave.com Closing
Wednesday September 27, 9:16 am ET

 

Close of Second Major Online Bridal Discounter Within Fourteen Months Highlights Benefit of Shopping In-Store vs. Online

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — To help brides impacted by the sudden closing of BrideSave.com — one of the major online bridal discounters that had been frequently recommended by consumer advocate groups — David’s Bridal is offering BrideSave.com customers a 20% discount, in addition to current sale prices, on all off the rack dresses* found at David’s Bridal locations nationwide.As the nation’s leading bridal retailer with over 260 stores across the country, David’s believes in making all brides’ dreams come true and decided to help when they learned about the difficulties that many brides and their bridal parties encountered due to the closing of BrideSave.com this past weekend.

In addition to providing the incremental discount, David’s Bridal carries a large assortment of gowns in every size — including plus size — that can be tried on and even taken home that day. This service will likely benefit brides who now face considerable time constraints due to the abrupt closing, as most bridal salons carry only “sample sizes” of wedding gowns, requiring a lengthy ordering process.

“With the ever-growing popularity of online shopping, people are becoming accustomed to getting anything and everything with the click of a mouse,” says Cindi Freeburn, Vice President, Public Relations for David’s Bridal. “While there may be advantages to shopping online for some products, for others, there are significant risks, which has been demonstrated by the closing of two of the major online bridal discounters within the last fourteen months. We want to caution brides-to-be to make informed choices when purchasing their bridal and bridal party gowns — some of the most important items of the wedding — so that they are not left in the lurch.”

David’s Bridal recommends consumers purchase their gowns from a well-established bridal retailer with a local storefront to insure the best service. In addition, most retailers have a specific consultant dedicated to each customer, making it easy to follow-up either in person or via phone. Working with a trusted retailer with many years of experience greatly minimizes the chance of the store going out of business.

“A wedding should be one of the happiest times in a couple’s life,” adds Freeburn. “If we can help get a wedding back on track and make a bride feel her most beautiful on that special day, we are happy to do so.”

Starting today, anyone who comes into a David’s Bridal store with a receipt from BrideSave.com will be eligible for the 20% discount, which is in addition to the sale currently running at all David’s Bridal stores nationwide. The offer will be available through Tuesday, October 10, 2006.

To find the location nearest you, consumers can logo onto www.davidsbridal.com/findastore.jsp or call 1-800-877-923-BRIDE.

* Special order merchandise is excluded from the offer

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Posted in Industry News at September 27th, 2006. No Comments.

Bridal Bargains is reporting that Bridesave.Com has closed its doors.

“Bridesave.com, one of the largest internet sellers of bridal apparel, is closing, the authors of the book BRIDAL BARGAINS have learned.Bridesave.com sent emails to its customers late Friday announcing the closure:

“We regret to inform you that we have closed our business. Since 1999, BrideSave has faithfully served thousands of brides and their wedding parties. We extend our sincerest apology. We cannot fill your order.”

Repeated calls and emails to Bridesave.com’s headquarters were not returned. A notice on Bridesave.com’s web site says the site is “temporarily unavailable” but there is no mention of the closing.

In the email to customers, Bridesave.com provides details about customers orders and directs brides to contact dress manufacturers to obtain their gowns.

Bridesave.com is headquartered in Midland, Texas and was one of the most prolific sellers of bridal apparel online.

To help brides get info on refunds or dress deliveries, we have established a special thread on our message boards. Click here:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=810&mesg_id=810&page=

Also: two dress discounters in our book, RK Bridal and PearlÂ’s, have offered to help out stranded brides. Contact these stores directly for info.

We will post info on our message boards as it becomes available,

Alan & Denise Fields
Authors, BRIDAL BARGAINS
http://www.bridalbargainsbook.com

(Please feel free to post this message on wedding message boards in order to spread the word about this situation).

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Posted in Industry News at September 23rd, 2006. No Comments.

Well, lovebirds, those of you thinking about migrating over to Vegas for a quicky wee-hours-of-the morning ceremony are out of luck if you don’t plan ahead.

Beginning Wednesday, August 30, there will be no 24-hour marriage license service at the Clark County offices (the only place to get a license). They’re cutting back the 24-hour service to cut costs. Licenses will be issued only from 8 a.m. - midnight daily.

You can still have a ceremony after midnight — if you already have a license.

For more info contact the Clark County Clerk’s office.
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Posted in Industry News at August 24th, 2006. No Comments.

Attention brides who’ve ordered gowns from a Maryland couple selling gowns via the internet. The Maryland Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division has reached a settlement with Melody and James Row, the owners of a wedding gown business conducted under many names including:

  • Bridal Elegance
  • Elegant Creations
  • The Bridal Suit
  • Heavenly Accent

The Rows have agreed to stop their business practices after complaints that paying customers complained never received their dresses.

The settlement requires the Rows to pay restitution to consumers who paid for products they never received.

If you’ve ordered and have not received your gown from the above company, do contact the Maryland Consumer Protection Division by calling 410-528-8662 or by going to http:⁄⁄www.oag.state.md.us⁄Consumer⁄complaint.htm.

(Please be aware that there may be other reputable companies with the same - or similar - business names in other parts of the country.)
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Posted in Industry News at July 17th, 2006. No Comments.

Fab member, Ella, sent me this great link to a site where you enter your zip code and it’ll spit back what the “average” wedding cost in your area is. It even gives a breakdown of those costs.
I’m just a tad skeptical about how accurate/realistic/valid this service is. Why?

“On average, couples will spend $87,682.14 for their wedding in {my town}. This does not include cost for a honeymoon, engagement ring, bridal consultant or wedding planner. Add that in and cost could reach $116,258.00. ”

Riiiiight.

Now, granted, my town is one of the more spendy in the area. But over $100,000 for a wedding? I seriously doubt that’s even close to the average.

I plugged in the neighbouring town’s zip code and got a dramatically different result:

“On average, couples will spend $45,495.45 for their wedding in {neighbouring town}. This does not include cost for a honeymoon, engagement ring, bridal consultant or wedding planner. Add that in and cost could reach $60,322.00.” So, if I schlepp the less-than-10 miles to the next town, I can slash my wedding costs in half!

From my experience with working with local brides, I know that the average is closer to the $30,000 (or less) mark. And that’s here, in the Silicon Valley, where the cost of living is quite high.
Unfortunately, the wedding cost website doesn’t disclose its methodology. I’m very curious how they determine what the average is in each area. I suspect they’re using a percentage of the median household incomes and are not basing their results on what couples are actually spending on wedding items.

So, the cost website is fun to play around with but, as far as reliable information about local costs goes, I wouldn’t take it too seriously.

How does the site’s results compare with actual wedding costs in your area?
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Posted in Industry News at July 16th, 2006. No Comments.