Blogging About Your Wedding or Business

Last week I was a speaker at the 21st Century Bride event. It was a conference on how to market to brides using your Web site, blog, and other social media and marketing tools. I spoke on blogging.

Whether you’re a bride or a business a blog can be a fun way to share information about your wedding, products and services. It’s important to know who your audience is and focus your content on reaching that audience.

So for example, if you’re a bride and want to create a blog about your wedding you should feature posts on details you want to share with your guests: activities planned around the wedding, where you’re registered, how you met and got engaged.

If you’re a business then you want to feature your work and what inspires you.

I love blogging and while sometimes it’s hard to come up with a new post idea I do enjoy sharing my wedding tips and ideas, and I love getting comments and responses from readers. It lets me know someone other than Dave and my parents are reading this blog :)

If you do want to start a blog, on weddings or any other topic, I suggest you start it on a free service, like Blogger, to see how it goes. You may find that you’re too busy to keep up with it or that you don’t really have much to to say on the topic. But at least you tried and it didn’t cost you anything.

Shoesday

I know Shoesday posts are on Tuesdays and I'm not writing about a specific shoe but the idea of Shoesday in general.

Shoes are fun and they can be fabulous.  Let's face it, how many times have you swooned over a pair of shoes.  I even own a few pairs that I had to have even though they weren't comfortable or were a little too small or too big. (Yes, Dave I'm thinking of those fabulous bubble gum pink Christian Louboutins I had to have and wore maybe once.  They are so fabulous, just a little too small.  And they were on sale!)

Anyway, a lot of bridal salons carry bridal shoes in shades of white and ivory, but your wedding shoes can be in any color.  You're matching them to a white or ivory dress so feel free to add a splash of color to your wedding day look with a colorful pair of "bridal" shoes.  And with a colorful pair you're more likely to wear them again.  I've never worn my wedding day shoes after my wedding day,

I know off the top of my head that the blogs Santa Barbara Chic Blog and Merci New York both write Shoesday posts  but I'm sure there are many others.  Click on the "Shoesday" tags at the end of their most recent posts and you'll find all of their Shoesday content.  You're sure to find some amazing shoes for your wedding day or any day!

Don't Be Surprised If What inspires You Costs a Pretty Penny

If you had a chance to read the article in The New York Times on wedding blogs this past weekend then you probably caught what Maria Cooke, owner of Ritzy Bee Events and Ritzy Bee Blog editor, said about brides finding inspiration on wedding blogs.

“Blogs are nice in that when brides are ready to place an order with a vendor, they have all their ideas already. But I have a lot of florist friends I work with daily, and they’ll say couples automatically look at the picture of a flower setting without asking, ‘Is it within my budget?’ or even, ‘Are the flowers even available at that time of year?’ ”


Maria makes an excellent point.


Blogs are filled with beautiful wedding inspiration but the captions are usually limited to a photo credit.


It's not uncommon for a bride to take an image she found on a blog - or in a wedding magazine or website - to a vendor and find out that that arrangement or detail is out of her budget.  When you can't get exactly what is in the photo let the vendor help you find something similar, inspired by the photo, in your price range.


Unfortunately costs will vary per region as well as per season, so if a November bride in Manhattan with 250 guests and a June bride in Des Moines with 150 guests both take a photo of a centerpiece to their local florist they are both going to get very different prices on what the arrangement costs.  This, I'm assuming, is one of the reasons there are no prices on a lot of wedding inspiration shots.


Don't be upset if a vendor says you won't be able to get what you want at your budget.  


After finding inspiration meet with several vendors in each category to see who can give you what you want, or as close to it, at your price.  Let the work you find on a wedding blog, magazine or website inspire you and your vendors.  You don't have to duplicate the image exactly.  No one is going to compare your detail to the source of inspiration.

The B-List: In the NYTimes and How to Join

Vane from the blog Brooklyn Bride and I started The B-List in 2009 as a way for bloggers who have emailed and read each other's blogs over the years could finally get to know each other.  The event was a huge success and in April 2010 our group grew and The B-List had an even more awesome event in Washington, DC.

Wedding blogs have become more and more mainstream in the past two years.  Bloggers have been featured in national wedding magazines (BRIDES, Martha Stewart Weddings) and quoted in a variety of news outlets.

Over the weekend the New York Times published a story in the Style Section on the popularity of wedding blogs and how they have become an important part of the wedding planning process for brides. (Click here to read Blogging Brides.)  While there were a number of bloggers and blogs mentioned, the writer also highlighted The B-List as a professional organization of wedding bloggers.

The B-List is a community of wedding bloggers who help nurture and support wedding bloggers across the country and around the world.  Being a member includes free admission to our annual conference as well as events throughout the year and promotion to traditional media outlets as a trusted wedding resource.

If you are interested in becoming a member of The B-List please visit blog.theb-list.com and complete our online application.

If you have any questions about The B-List you can email me and Vane at theblistmeetup@gmail.com.

Niemierko The Blog

Mark Niemierko, London's top wedding planner and my buddy at bridal market, just launched a fabulous blog that I thought you should know about.

It's written for the British bride but Mark's great sense of style is good for wedding inspiration and basic planning information for brides around the world.

The Blog, the official name is Niemierko The Blog, has a few great franchises including, Love It/Hate It, Mr N with answers to common wedding planning and style dilemmas and Mark Meets with interviews on some of the top wedding vendors and editors.

I love Mark's common sense advice and I think you will too.  And if you're thinking of getting hitched in the UK, definitely schedule an appointment with Mark.  His website is niemierko.com

The Difference Between an Ad and Editorial

Do you know the difference between an advertisement and an editorial story?

Sometimes ads are as clear as day but other times it can be confusing, especially when it resembles other stories in a magazine, website content or blog post.

Magazines will usually (because they have to) put  the word "Advertisement" or "Advertorial" or "Sponsored" at the top of the page when the ad looks like an editorial story, but it's not that clear on some websites.

For example, a Dedicated Email fro Daily Candy is an email paid for by an advertiser.  A *sp may mean sponsored in a Facebook posting or Twitter tweet.  And in fact a number of sites charge people to be part of their vendor directories - even though they may be screened, they're still paying to be part of the listing.

The reasons I'm sharing this is because I'm annoyed that not every site makes this clear.

It's important as a consumer that you are aware what's editorial - there because an editor really believes in or likes a product/service - and what is paid editorial aka an advertisement.

Nothing happened specifically that made me want to write this post.  I just thought it was important after hearing the confusion for the umpteenth time today.

And for full disclosure purposes, I don't accept advertisements on this blog because I don't want there to be any appearance of impropriety at this site or at my day job as a wedding editor.

There are So Many Wedding Blogs!

The nomination period ended today for the aisledash.com Wedding Blog Awards and I have started to tally up the nominees to determine who the finalists are in each category.

I assumed I'd be familiar with many of the blogs nominated but I was very surprised at the number I didn't know.  So I started checking them out and I am really so excited at all the new blogs I'm discovering.

I think it's amazing that weddings are inspiring so many people and I highly recommend clicking around on  blogrolls when you see a blog name you don't recognize.  You never know what inspiration and information you'll find!

Aisledash.com's Wedding Blog Awards - Nominate Your Favorite Blogs

If you haven't heard I just launched the Wedding Blog Awards over on aisledash.com.  I've asked Marcy Blum, Colin Cowie, Eric Hildebrand, Mark Ingram and Liene Stevens to be the judges but you get to pick the nominees.

For four weeks - ending on July 22, 2010 - the public can nominate their favorite wedding blogs in 12 categories:

Best Blog for Wedding Inspiration
Best Blog for Wedding Planning
Best Bridal Fashion Blog
Best Community Blog
Best DIY Blog
Best Groom Blog
Best International Blog
Best Local Area Blog
Best Magazine or Wedding Website Blog
Best Real Bride Blog
Best Retailer Blog
Best Service Vendor Blog

The 3-5 blogs with the most nominations in a category will be the category finalists and then the judges will vote on the winner in each category.  The 5 blogs that receive the most nominations overall will be finalists in the Best Wedding Blog category.

The winners will receive a Waterford crystal award.  Waterford makes the People's Choice Award.

I'm not allowing From "I Will" to "I Do" to be nominated in any category so don't bother nominating it, but please visit aisledash.com and nominate up to three of your favorite wedding blogs using the Nomination Form.

Category finalists will be announced on or about July 26th and the winners will be announced around August 18th.  If you have any questions you can always email me.

Wedding Countdown Clock for the 21st Century Bride

I feel like I was born in 1901 with this line but here goes: When I got married we didn’t have wedding blogs and wedding planning apps and wedding widgets. I did use the Internet but I couldn’t easily find what I was looking for in Google.  Today’s bride has the whole world at her fingertips and can easily find what she’s looking for with a quick Google search.

One of my favorite wedding tchotchkes was a wedding countdown clock that sat on my desk at Martha Stewart Weddings and counted down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to my wedding. With a 20 month engagement it was a very long countdown.

Today you can easily download a widget and it will countdown the time to your wedding. You can add it to your wedding website and get your guests excited about your wedding too.

A new blog, WeddingPlanningAdvice.net offers 10 wedding countdown clock widgets that you can download for free and put on your wedding website, blog or almost any other social media outlet…facebook anyone? Each one comes in a different design so you can find one that compliments your site and you can personalize it with your names, wedding location and of course your wedding date. The site will be releasing new designs monthly so you can swap out one for another.

Come Listen!

That Wedding Show with Anne and Chris (of The Man Registry) has launched on the Wedding Podcast Network!

The show is a mix of wedding trends and happenings and Chris and I debate and discuss some of the most common wedding fights/arguments brides and grooms have - like when to talk about the wedding (brides: not all the time) and how to divide the guest list between the two families.

Click here to listen to the premiere show

And it's about 40 minutes so I'd listen while doing chores in the house or during your commute or at the gym.  I listened to the show at work today with headphones.

And at one point we tell you how you can win free wedding invitations, wedding favors and bridesmaid dresses through the show's sponsor weddingpaperdivas.com.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts and if you have a problem you need help solving email onthecouch@thatweddingshow.com with what you and your groom are arguing about.

Local Resources Can Inspire Everyone

I'm a huge proponent of local wedding resources. Bridal shows, in-store events, local magazines, Web sites and of course blogs are chockfull of great vendors, venues and real weddings specific to that city, state or region.

Today I got an email about a new blog, targeting the Boston-bride, or Boston-area bride. The blog, BeantownBride.com, features vendors, planning information, inspiration and real weddings.

Since it's a new site there's not a lot of info up yet but I recommend checking back regularly if you live in the area. They are sure to have useful resources for the beantown-area bride.

And if you don't plan on getting married in or around Boston the blog can still help you too. You may not be able to use their vendors for your big day, but their inspiration and real weddings may inspire your own wedding.

After my post earlier this week on bridal blogs I learned about a few new blogs that I plan on featuring this week and next.

Merci New York is a stylish blog with great images and wonderful ideas. The blogger behind Merci also owns a gift company that specializes in chic guest room gifts, couture gifts and swag bags. I'll let you know when her retail site is live.

The site consists of inspiration boards, product picks and giveaways. You’re sure to fall in love with her images. The ones featured in this post are just a few samples of why Merci New York is now on my blog roll and bookmarked.


Photo's Courtesy of Merci New York

Bridal Blogs are Great for Wedding Ideas

I had dinner with fellow bridal bloggers this evening – Vane from Brooklyn Bride, Liene from Think Splendid and Anne-Marie from Perfect Bound. The three of us talked about blogging and the upcoming B-List event in April so when I sat down to write today’s post I thought I’d write about wedding blogs and how they can help inspire and inform you as you plan your wedding.

There are dozens of wedding blogs. Some blogs are part of larger company sites, such as The Bride’s Guide on MSWeddings, Brides.com’s blog Wedded Bits and even Wishpot (the registry site) has a blog about registering and gifts.

The independent bloggers, as I call them, are written by small wedding businesses and individuals who love all things weddings. Many blogs feature real weddings and beautiful wedding inspiration but each blogger has a unique point of view. And some wil even focus on a specific wedding detail such as fashion on Perfect Bound and stationery on Oh So Beautiful Paper.

I could make a list of all the blogs I read but then this post would run the length of this page, so instead I encourage you to click through my blogroll on the right and check out some of my favorite bloggers. And once you’re on their site click through their blogrolls because each of the blogs listed here link to blogs that aren't in my roll. (My favorite blogroll is on Brooklyn Bride. I usually visit Vane's site and then click over to some of the blogs she recommends.)

If you’re busy with work and wedding planning I recommend signing up for blog feeds or twitter accounts—some blog feeds link into a blogger’s twitter account—to be able to see brief summaries of the latest posts and then you can click the link to read the entire entry. That may be easier and faster than visiting all your favorites everyday.

Two Blogs to Add to Your Favorites List

I received two emails this week about two new blogs – well actually they are new looks not new new blogs – and they look fabulous!

Ruffled was formerly known as Vintage Wedding Glam. The new site has some great new features including a photo gallery, navigation bar and free (and exclusive) downloads. The site is sure to be a must-visit Web site for brides looking for wedding inspiration.

The Sweetest Occasion also re-launched this week and offers readers beautiful inspiration for all types of parties, including weddings, birthdays, casual dinners and any other event Cyd can think of. She’ll also offer detailed DIY projects so you can recreate some of her exquisite party details at your own soirees.

A Must-Read Wedding Registry Blog

I've written before about blogs that create inspiration boards for weddings but I just learned about a new blog, Feathering a Pretty Nest, which creates inspiration boards for wedidng registries. Really!

Nicole Ossola, the owner of Kireina Paper, recently started a blog where she posts inspiration boards focusing on decorating your new home.

Every day she focuses on a different part of the house -- bath, bed, dining, kitchen -- as well as favorite finds and creates a board with stylish items within the same color palette or theme. The board above is Kitchen Board No. 4: Mellow Mint. Each boards is accompanied with a credit list so you can easily buy it or add it to your registry.

If you're looking for ideas for your home or are already married but thinking of redecorating , I'd definitely add Feathering a Pretty Nest to your list of sites to research.

How to Pick the Perfect Palette

My wedding tip regarding how to choose your wedding palette is quite simple. Go to your local paint store - or Home Depot or Lowe's - and pull the paint chips that you are attracted to.

Paint chips are free and at the larger stores the sales help won't usually bother you while you pick out colors you like. If you're nervous just tell them that you're redecorating and looking for color ideas.

Once you get home place all the colors on the kitchen table. If your table is not white then use a white sheet or white paper for a neutral background. Once they are all out in front of you group together colors that you like and toss the ones you no longer like for your wedding.

When you've narrowed down your choices go back to the paint store for a few extra copies so you can give them to your vendors: florist, planner, baker, etc... and they can help you finalize your wedding's colors.

But how do you use these colors in your wedding details? They can be used in a myriad of ways: In your stationery design, calligraphy ink, flowers, linens, bridesmaids' dresses, groomsmen's ties, cake decor and favors.

If you're still not sure what colors will work well together check out the blog, The Perfect Palette. The blog is dedicated to creating color palettes and inspiration boards that will inspire you when you're planning your own wedding. I think you can also hire them to create a specific board for your wedding.

The inspiration board above is from The Perfect Palette's Shades of Pink (hot pink, coral and fuchsia), Board #256.

Wedding Planning Help for Southern California Brides

Seattle-based wedding planning Web site, Junebug Weddings, has just launched a Southern California division covering San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County and Santa Barbara.

The site offers recommendations on wedding vendors in every planning category: reception sites, photographers, bakers, caterers, gowns, stationery, rentals, music and more.

There is no fee for brides and all of the vendors featured have been selected by brides, fellow vendors and the Junebug team.

And don't forget to check out the company's blog, What Junebug Loves with daily planning advice. And here's a link to a recent post where Junebug owner, Christy, interviewed me.

Real Wedding Inspiration

This is a totally selfish post on my part but when Maria from Ritzy Bee found a photo from my wedding online and told me the whole wedding, which was featured in the Fall 2004 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, was online I had to check it out.

Looking through photos of real weddings—either online or in magazines—is a great source of inspiration. Some bloggers pull images from a variety of sources to pull together a great inspiration board on one specific topic (see Snippet & Ink) or they’ll grab some of their favorite details to inspire their readers (see Ritzy Bee Blog).

Here are a few images from my wedding (c/o Martha Stewart Weddings) or you can see the entire spread with captions, here.

Our guest book—white cards placed in an etched glass jar—allowed guests to write well wishes to us.

The seating cards were placed on a glass tabletop etched with moons and stars (our wedding icon) and in the center of the table were the words: ...and they dance by the lgiht of the moon.


Each table had one of three colored floral centerpieces: lavender, pink or white. Small glass bowls with coordinating candies and short supper club style lamps also decorated the table.

Our wedding cake, by Ron Ben-Israel mimicked the design of the wedding motif (moons and stars) as well as the wedding color, lavender.

Guest Room Gift and Favor ideas from the B-List Meetup

While guest room gift bags and favors are not a must-have at any wedding, they do allow the bride to show off her creativity and guests are often pleasantly surprised with the treats their hosts have put together for them.

At the B-List event this weekend, bloggers were treated to a gift bag of wedding-related products including edible treats (my favorite kind of favors) to stationery samples and fashion accessories. Here’s a complete list of items that were donated and I highly recommend clicking through the links because you may want to use one of these products for your own wedding—for yourself or as your wedding favor:

Abigal Kirsch, Bella Bridesmaid, Blue Ribbon Design, Blue Orchid Designs, Blurb, Chronicle Books, City Pass, Delphine Press, Fresh, Fritts Rosenow, Gumdrop Cookie Shop, Hallak Cleaners, Hello Super8, INK + WIT, iomoi, Jennifer Behr, Jessica Rust Designs, JimmyJane, Jones Soda, Karen Wise, Linda+Harriet, Minted, Mohawk Paper, Nantaka Joy, NELLE Handbags, Nunu Chocolates, OneWed, One Love Photo, Papabubble, Paper+Cup, Paperwink, Poseprints, Ritzy Bee Events, Saipua, Sarah Drake Design, Smock, Sonya Renée, Stuck Labels, Style Made Simple, Thoughtful Day, Two Bees Press, Union Photography, Viv&Ingrid and Wedding Paper Divas.


*Photo by Maria of The Ritzy Bee Blog

Intorducing the B-List

This weekend was the first B-List Conference for bridal bloggers. The event brought together bloggers from across the country to talk about being a wedding blogger and to get to know one another. (Most of us have emailed and of course read each other’s blogs but never actually met before.)

We had a chance to chat at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO and then invited local New York, tri-state area wedding vendors to join us for drinks, a catered lunch (provided by Sterling Affair and wedding cake (care of Mark Joseph Cakes in Brooklyn). In the age of emails, twitter and texting it was nice to put faces with the names of all the businesses we’ve featured on our blogs over the years. We also attended a wine tasting sponsored by Brides.com and produced by Swirl Events.

The B-List members have started a blog, The B-List, where brides, vendors and fellow wedding bloggers can learn more about the vendors that were involved in making this event possible as well as future events coming up across the country.

I for one had a great time meeting so many fabulous bloggers whose work I’ve admired over the years and who I can’t wait to see again! And since I won’t leave any post without a helpful Wedding Planning Tip, here’s one on bridal blogs:

Reading bridal blogs can really help you plan your wedding. There are blogs that are filled with inspiration, blogs that are filled with planning advice and blogs that allow a bride to join a community where she can interact with other brides. There are over 100 bridal blogs that you can follow but the truth is, you really don’t have time to read every blog every day. So here’s an idea: You can use Google Reader to help you organize and skim the list of posts at your favorite blogs or you can categorize your favorite blogs in your bookmarks toolbar: Inspiration, Real Weddings, Planning Tips, Community, Local Resources, etc… and skim each folder a few times a week.

Remember to print out ideas and information that you think will come in handy and save everything in your wedding orgaznizer so you can bring them with you to appointments.


*The B-List logo was designed by Erica from Thoughtful Day, and group photo by Jenny Ebert