Jackie's Wedding Planning Journey - The Big Move and a Touching Gift

The last few weeks have held some big and exciting changes for Matt and I. We closed on our new house last week, and I have never felt as grown-up as I did signing those final papers and being handed the keys to our house! 5 days later we are almost moved out of the rental house and into our home! And if that's not great enough, my cat, Soozie, has been returned to us after living with my parents for 2 years due to space issues with the dog! Matt thinks she's evil...I think she's just spoiled.


On to wedding-related posting... I wanted to share this picture of my shower, and the story of the most meaningful gift I received.

Matt's grandmother gave us this wonderful surprise - her 50-year-old China...from Japan (got that?). When Matt's grandfather was in Japan, on his way to Vietnam, he bought this China for her. He picked out the pattern and they made the 96-piece set right in front of him! She still has every piece after all these years. It was so thoughtful of her to give it to us, and the gesture really made me feel like a part of the family.

Are you registering for China, or are you counting on China - or other family heirlooms - to be gifted to you for your wedding?

Wedding Q&A Thursday – Honeymoon Registries

Q: I have heard about "honeymoon registries" from a few friends. What exactly are they and do they fall in line with proper etiquette?

B: Couples used to move in with each other after the wedding and straight from their parents' houses, so asking for kitchen and bath items was a necessity - people were literally helping them get started on their own. Nowadays more and more couples are getting married older, and often have already lived together or on their own and have a house full of items. This may make a "traditional" registry - dishes, linens, china, crystal, kitchen appliancess.. - a bit useless, unless such as couple is looking to upgrade home goods and such.

A honeymoon registry is a web site where you ask your guests to donate upgrades, activities or money towards the cost of your honeymoon in lieu of a concrete gift. Guests can buy you a night out on the town or breakfast in bed; they can pay for you to go zip-lining through the jungle or swim with the dolphins. The options are endless and many of the sites will suggest things for you to do based on where you are going - research you would be doing anyway.

So are they within the confines of proper etiquette? Well if you honestly don’t have a need for items, and don’t want to do a traditional registry (even though we suggest that you still register for some traditional items) a honeymoon registry is a great alternative. The thing is, if people want to give you a concrete token of their affection, they'll do just that, no matter how much you ask otherwise. But a lot of people will just give you money anyway, which you may be planning on using for the honeymoon - if you register, at least they can choose what they're helping to pay for.

But you don't have to take our meager word, Etiquette Queen Bee Emily Post has chimed in on the subject:

"Is a Honeymoon Registry appropriate? Yes, but don’t expect all guests to choose that gift option. Some will be more comfortable selecting a traditional gift, or giving cash. A honeymoon registry is an acceptable choice, but it’s probably safest to give guests alternate choices -- so it’s a good idea to still register for some traditional items, too."

So how do they work, exactly? Well, here is a site that is far better than us at explaining all the details on honeymoon registries! They have also done the work for you in comparing eight different honeymoon registries so you can see what is the best option for you!

We know you are out there, our google analytics tell us so, so be sure to comment and tell us if you used a honeymoon registry or what your feelings are about them. Your comments help other brides formulate their decisions!

Do you have any questions for us? We feature a new question each Thursday, send yours in to info@triciahuddas.com and we might feature your question next!

Custom Wedding Shoes

We are busy little bees as of late here at Tricia Huddas & Co. with lots to blog about, but nary a free block of time to give any of it justice. I hate to just swipe something from another blog and write a post about it, but even with all of the other things going on in my head recently, I can't get these shoes out of my head!!

I was mindlessly scrolling through my google reader when I saw this Weddingbee Pro Post by Chelsea Petaja of Oh My Deer. She is an accessories designer whose work I had only seen in the hair accessory genre until I stumbled up this fantastic footwear!

Let's be honest, the bridal blogs are giving some serious attention to dreamy, accessorized, designer shoes (guilty, who can help it, they're so pretty); but can most brides afford an $800 pair of shoes? No, not even as a "splurge." Chelsea has given us a great way to get the look without the loot. Thanks!

By the way, I think that custom shoes would be the best bridesmaid gift a girl could receive...get your girls the same shoes and have Chelsea create a different look for each maid!

Stay tuned this week for discounted wedding stationery and the introduction of a new guest blogger.

No gifts, please?

This weekend's Wedding Field Notes article in The New York Times, Wedding Bells' Toll, focused on wedding gift giving and how to do so thougtfully and with little expense. It's a nice article, you should read it, because it reminds us that we are not slaves to registries and mythical rules about matching the price of your meal with what you spend on the wedding gift.

I've been hearing from couples A LOT recently that they do not want gifts because they have everything they need....feel bad asking people to spend money on them....know that it will cost guests a lot to travel to their wedding... And though I respect the thought behind that, I think that a lot of your guests, in the end, want to get you a gift. And whether or not you care, it is just as improper to put "no gifts, please" on your wedding invitations as it is to put registry information. I know that there are thoughtful intentions behind that choice, but I think there are better solutions.

You can register with a charity so that people can make donations in any amount that they can afford. Even if they only give $20, that will make a difference to a charitable organization. Or you can set up a registry on Alternativegiftregistry.org which allows you to choose traditional items as well as just type in whatever you like. If you create a registry here and type simple things like Simple but Delicious Crock Pot Recipes or Double prints of the pictures that you take at my wedding, people will see them and understand that you are not looking for big gifts, but will feel like they have some guide should they still WANT to get you a gift.

Isn't this Jack and Lulu Blue Club Recipe Box cute? It is only $50 and, filled with your favorite recipes, it would be a great and affordable gift for a young couple that is just getting started in a home together OR friends who are on their second marriages and living in fully furnished homes and kitchens.

Cead Mile Failte!

100,000 Welcomes!

I have started my great assembly line of March wedding welcome/hospitality bags and wanted to share with you some of the original welcome bag ideas that my brides are employing over the next month. Welcome bags are customary for all guests of destination weddings, or for only guests that have traveled from out of town for others. Typically they are ready and waiting for your guests at their hotel, either in their room or at the front desk upon check-in, and are a very thoughtful way of giving your guests a sincere Thank you for traveling to join us on our special day!

I love it when my brides really put time and thought into their welcome bags as it truly shows that they are thinking about their guests. They realize that the wedding isn’t all about them, but rather a celebrations of their loved ones gathering to share in this special time. I am currently assembling two different welcome bags for two different March Savannah weddings.

This weekend my beautiful bride and her soon-to-be are going with a classic Savannah style welcome bag, with a touch of St. Patrick’s Day swag in honor of the holiday that takes on a whole new form of popularity here in Savannah. I hope that her amazing photographer will share some of her pictures next week so we can post! They are including the classics - a couple bottles of water, a Savannah Travel Planner, a custom welcome note that we have helped them to prepare, Savannah Pralines from Savannah’s Candy Kitchen, Byrd Cookie Company Georgia Peach Cookies (yum!), a small bag of chips and Green Mardi Gras beads - a St.Pat's Day staple that guests will need in order to fit in with all of the other tourists that are making the pilgrimage to Savannah over the coming days for next week's big parade (second biggest in the country). That is a great combination - something sweet, something salty, water, and a few personal touches.

My other March bride has been working on her welcome bags for a year to make them very personal and reflective of her wedding day!

Included in her burlap welcome bag are individual packages of candy that honor their loved ones who can not join them on their special day - Jelly Belly's for gramps and licorice for Nanna; tea from their favorite NYC neighborhood shop; Persian Pistachios from the bride's mother’s native Iran; a bottle of Sweet Tea; a bottle of coke with an Obama bottle opener around the neck; and small bag of Savannah Bee Company goodies!

She took the best advice that we can pass on to anyone on a budget and kept her eye out for good holiday clearance sales! She was able to snag enough travel-size Savannah Bee Company lotions, lip balms, and body washes at a post-holiday sale at a Bath and Body Works to stock 75 gift bags working within a very realistic budget!

I am packing up all of the items in green tissue paper and burlap bags, tying them with a green ribbon, and adding on a personal welcome note and map of Savannah. Don’t they look great?

Are you doing a welcome bag? If so, what are you putting in it?

Less Wasteful Welcomes

I know a lot of couples are looking for ways to "green" their weddings. It can be a daunting task, and I don't think any couple should beat themselves up over the consumption and waste that results from their wedding if they are conscientious in the way they live their everyday lives. If you can, however, put some of your everyday practices into use for your wedding, well that's just great. If you're looking for a place to start, look at your Welcome Bags for out of town guests! Check out these canvas beauties from cheaptotes.com. They're only $0.99 each and highly unlikely to end up in the hotel's dumpster.

I'd wager 99% of Welcome Bags also contain bottled water. If you're not already making use of polycarbonate water bottles yourself, get on that! ( 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States end up in a landfill. ) Then see if you can't start your wedding guests off on a greener foot by sending them home with customized, reusable water bottles! These are from discountmugs.com and are about $1.50 each. They even have some generic wedding clip art that you can have imprinted if you don't have a monogram or motif of your own.