I have written about this company before, LOVE their product (EVERYBODY needs a secure place to put those envelopes of CASH at the wedding, bat/bar mitzvah) and just had to pass along the "giveaway"!!! Creative Custom Card Boxes reached a milestone today! We now have 500 fans on our Facebook fan page!

In celebration of this Facebook milestone we are offering a giveaway and who doesn’t love free stuff! We are giving a way a $25 E-Gift Certificate which can be used towards anything on our site!

How to enter (you can enter multiple times):

1. Go through our Gallery, choose your favorite design and leave a comment about it.

2. Become a facebook fan and leave us a comment with your link.

3. Follow us on twitter @cardboxdiva and leave a comment with your Twitter name.

4. Tweet This and then comment here that you tweeted with your twitter name: I entered 2 win @cardboxdiva ’s giveaway! You should too!

Its that easy!

This giveaway ends Friday April 9th so make sure to enter and tell all of your friends!

Groomsmen, be sure to check your suit/tux before the day of the wedding. Be sure it fits properly, that all items are there and that it's pressed properly. You don't want to be standing out as the guy with a mismatched tie or overly wrinkled suit. Your responsibilities don't end with the bachelor party.

If you are trying to save money on your floral budget choose colors for your wedding that are available in the most flower varieties. Pink, Yellow and white are the most common colors for flowers. Blue and purple are the least common colors for flowers. By choosing common colors for your flowers you will insure you have the most selection and the best price.

I am so blessed to have met some amazing people on Facebook. In fact, I refer to many of them as angels.......Somehow the world gets smaller and the distance "across the pond" shortens when you meet someone as wonderful and generous as Mandy from Angels Finery. Today I received, in the mail, a gorgeous Pink box that enclosed a luxurious pink and gold sachet (nothing like elegant packaging to spark the joy of unwrapping!!!). Opening the strings of the sachet, I find a beautiful heart pendant with the words "Behold the Angels" engraved on the back! I can only say that I have been touched by an angel :-)

Angel's Finery has a stunning range of unique, stylish and desirable hand made jewelery - from elegant and ethereal to bold and funky. Inspired by a love of angels and by all that is stylish, sparkly and feminine.

Using the finest semiprecious stones and fresh water pearls their jewelery is ultimately designed and created to make the wearer feel fabulous.

Each piece is finished with a sterling silver angels wing clasp. Reminding the wearer of unseen love and support and making every piece a truly meaningful and beautiful gift. What a perfect gift for bridesmaids, Mother's Day, birthday or anytime you want to show someone how much you have been touched.

Angels Finery, After all, every angel deserves her finery! Mandy, I cant begin to tell you how much I look forward to wearing this necklace and treasuring my angel......... Thank you

There are so many wedding customs and traditions, but are they all must-dos? Of course not! A couple may decide to pass on a wedding custom or tradition for a number of reasons. For one, many couples’ weddings are getting pared down due in hopes of saving money. Some traditional aspects may fall by the wayside as couples seek to make their weddings more personal. Or, they may just find some customs silly.

Just remember that when you skip certain wedding customs, you will have a few guests who are surprised and may question your decision. Be prepared to answer to them! But here are a few traditions you have WedSpace’s permission to do without:

~ Favors: Unless the gift is immediately edible, many favors will get left behind. Skipping favors such as candles, CDs, and mini photo frames can save you hundreds of dollars and most guests won’t miss them anyway. If you want to give something, tell guests they can take home their table centerpieces as favors if they like.

~ Tossing the Bouquet: A recent bride on WedSpace.com commented that she really wanted to skip the bouquet toss at her upcoming wedding; at a friend’s wedding, the ladies were practically being dragged out onto the floor and she didn’t want to embarrass her single female friends. Truthfully, many female guests say they duck into the bathroom during the bouquet toss. Plus, if you don’t do it, you’ll save money on purchasing the second “tossing bouquet.” The same can be said for the garter toss; grooms may want to skip that custom for same reasons.

~ Dollar Dance: I find this tradition — where the bride dances with guests in exchange for a dollar or more toward the honeymoon — a bit outdated. OK, truthfully, I think it’s cheesy. This was popular during eras past when young brides and grooms didn’t have much money. Modernly, couples are more financially stable, as they get married later in life. Set up a honeymoon registry to allow guests to help fund the honeymoon and skip the Dollar Dance.

~ Receiving Line: The Receiving Line is a wedding custom that many couples choose to skip. It’s very formal and often means that guests (and the bride and groom!) end up standing around for a long time, instead of enjoying the reception. Instead of a Receiving Line, the couple can simply make a stop at each guest table to say hello and thank people who have traveled to the wedding.

~ Saving the Cake Top: Who wants to eat stale, freezer-burned cake a year after their wedding? Many couples won’t mind passing on this custom. Additionally, it is increasingly popular to serve cupcakes, mini pies, or a dessert buffet instead of a traditional cake, so some couples won’t have a cake top to save for their anniversary. Instead of saving the cake top, register for a rare bottle of champagne and celebrate with that on your first anniversary.

Found a great website for the GLT community. Some excellent reasons about "Why Hire a Wedding Planner"-
Top 14 Signs You Need a Wedding Planner

* 14. You live across the country but are looking to get married and have no idea who to hire or trust in that area.
* 13. You're very intelligent but don't have a good sense of how to create a cohesive vision and pull together the right colors, fabrics, lights, sounds and flowers to create a wedding that tells your story.
* 12. You're both busy professionals, possibly with one or more kids, a lot of friends, family and hobbies and just don't have the time.
* 11. You realize that it's less than six months to your preferred wedding date and you have no idea where to start.
* 10. You have been engaged for months, still don't have a date, and are too overwhelmed to sort through the 770,000 wedding venues that showed up in Google.
* 9. You need someone to manage your budget and make sure you stick to it.
* 8. You want to be sure that the vendors you hire are reliable, trustworthy, dependable and do beautiful work.
* 7. You have a vision for your wedding, but don't know how to turn your ideas into reality (and you might need help convincing your fiancé that your ideas aren't that crazy).
* 6. You want to avoid the mistakes you've seen at other people's weddings - poor flow, not enough people dancing, the wedding ending early, bad food, cheesy DJ and more.
* 5. You want to save money! You love the idea of a planner who can help you receive discounts from vendors and give you tips on how to save money.
* 4. You don't want to be asked when you walk into a bridal, cake or floral studio, "So which one of you is the bride?" or "Where is the bride?"
* 3. The etiquette questions are driving you mad - who to invite, what wording, how to deal with family issues, whether to invite kids and more.
* 2. You don't want to worry on your big day. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to worry about the schedule, flow, where to put the guestbook, if the DJ will be late, flowers and cake.
* 1. And finally, you want to ENJOY your engagement! You want to spend the months prior to your wedding spending quality time with your fiancé, planning your honeymoon, picking out china and otherwise daydreaming about blissful married life!

Did you love all the dangling chandelier earrings worn be the stars at last night’s Oscars? If so, this week’s Savvy Steal is for you! Celebs like Carey Mulligan and Rachel McAdams made a splash with their show-stopping statement danglers, and we want you to shine just as bright when you walk down the white aisle!

Onewed.com is giving away a gorgeous pair of Anna Bellagio bridal earrings. Antique charm meets modern glam with these Gwenyth Cubic Zirconia bridal chandelier earrings! With a simple swept-up bridal hairstyle, these earrings will be perfection!

To Score These Stunning Anna Bellagio Chandelier Earrings...
• Register on OneWed.com (US residents only please)

• Comment on any Savvy Scoop blog post this week (make sure you're signed in when leaving your comments!)
• Comment on multiple posts to increase your chances of winning!
• Post your comments before 12pm CST on Friday, March 12. We'll choose and announce our winner by 5pm CST on March 12!
• Best of luck, ladies!

Create your own message + 'Diamond' Ring

Fans of Chinese food? Looking for a way that still may get a surprise moment to propose. The folks at My Lucky Fortune help you to pop that question and make this a special moment that you will never forget.

Surprise your special someone when a waiter bring these specially made fortune cookie with a diamond ring inside and a personal message from you in this traditional fortune cookie............. I am to assume that 37.95 is for the custom cookie (DIAMOND RING ADDITIONAL)

Details

Price: $37.95

Every dress needs alterations as not one woman is the same shape, so it will always take a few weeks to get everything perfect. When you try out or purchase your dress from the stockist, you will probably have at least two or three fittings or more may be necessary, all of which you will have to schedule with them. You may have to leave ample time for all these, before the wedding.

A bride’s first dress fitting usually takes place about six weeks before her wedding day. It is a good idea to bring one like-minded friend or family member along with you when you go for the first fitting. You have to decide which accessories you want to wear with the dress, and buy or order them so you can bring them along and see how everything looks together.

First fitting:

At the first fitting there are two main things for the bride to ensure: that the gown is the right size, colour, and design, ie. neckline, train, sleeves and the seamstress (who helps the bride get into the gown) knows what she is doing - where the dress needs to be taken in, let out, shortened, lengthened or otherwise altered.

While the seamstress is busy fitting your wedding dress, take a close look at the way the material falls, how the waist feels, the chest area fits, and so on. Speak up if you see anything you do not like as this is your time to be demanding. Remember, you are paying lots of money for this gown, and it is your privilege to have as many fittings as it takes to get the perfect fit. Schedule your next fitting before you leave the shop.

Second fitting:

This should take place about a month before your wedding. Bring along your foundation garments, bridal shoes, jewelry, and any accessories. If you are not quite sure which accessories to wear, bring along a camera as well, so you can see how each option looks with your dress. Also, make sure all your concerns from the first fitting have been addressed and fixed. Be sure whether the hem skims the tops of your wedding shoes. If there is a problem, continue to schedule fittings until you are completely satisfied.

Final fitting:

When you go for your final fitting, get your chief bridesmaid and mom to come along so they can learn about your dress. You also should find out how to get rid of last-minute wrinkles in your dress and what if you spill something on the gown.

When the day arrives to pick up your gown ( about two week before the wedding), try it on one last time, especially if it's been a while since your last fitting.

Are you still looking for that perfect gift to give your Groomsmen? Look no further! These custom GROOMSMEN character glasses will add the best touch to your wedding experience.

This design can be on a pilsner, pint glass, low-ball (as shown in picture) or water glass. Feel free to mix and match!

Each glass is designed to look like the groom, groomsmen, the best man and even your ushers or fathers.

Glasses can be personalized to match their hair color, skin color, wedding colors and wedding date for that custom touch!

Look inside the glass and you will find a special message... "refill A.S.A.P."

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32227992

I Love to talk, ok for those of you know me........ I LOVE LOVE LOVE to talk! Breaking the ice is a huge challenge for most people who walk into a crowd, so why not get the party started with s Conversation in a Can! Conversation in a Can turns small talk into BIG LAUGHTER! With hundreds of fun and clever questions, each tin was created to inspire laughter and storytelling among friends and family. We recommend you enjoy the tins at birthday parties, vacations and "staycation"s, sleepovers, the beach, summer camp or anywhere friends gather for fun and laughter. And what a way to make dinnertime more fun!

If you stopped by The D-Tales booth at the PWG show, you had a glimpse of their products. What a great bridesmaid gift!
Look them up, check out all the products and grab a tin... because there is never enough to laugh about!

Mention The D-Tales when placing an order and receive a special treat! Also,
always a girl's girl,inc. will be donating a portion of the proceeds from our sales of the "Celebrating" and "Over Cocktails" for 2 for $18 to the Relay for Life organization. Help us fight the fight!

The Wire Bouquet – This one’s more for the rock chick bride. Make it barbed wire if you’re really alternative. LOVE IT!!!!!! You???????

Weddings are among the most significant investments that many of us make in our lives. To protect that large investment, more and more people are opting to buy wedding insurance.

Here are a few scenarios that could be protected by insuring a wedding:

* Sudden severe weather prevents your celebration, or causes many of your guests to cancel.
* The charming restaurant you chose to host your rehearsal dinner has gone out of business, but not before they cashed your deposit check.
* One of your vendors or service providers fails to show, but keeps your deposit.
* A sudden illness or withdrawal of military leave makes it impossible for certain family members to attend.
* Your darling nephew--the ring bearer--loses the ring while “practicing” his entrance.
* Mid-hug, someone accidentally spills a glass of Merlot down the side of your antique wedding dress.

When choosing a wedding insurance company, look for providers who have been in business, have an established presence and provide the product you need at reasonable rates. You may also want to buy insurance at the beginning of your planning process, and purchase it before any significant deposits are made. However, if you are not the plan-ahead type, remember that cancellation insurance can still be purchased no later than 14 days before the event, and liability insurance can be purchased up to 24 hours before the event.

WedSafe.com is an insurance provider that I recommend. Their policies start as low as $75 and fall within two different categories:

* Liability & Property Damage Insurance protects you if you’re held financially liable for property damage, bodily injury or an alcohol-related accident. This is the type of insurance required by many wedding and reception venues.
* Event Cancellation / Postponement Plus protects your financial investment with coverage for nonrefundable expenses or lost deposits should you have to cancel or postpone your wedding.

Both types of policies can be purchased individually or together as a package. When purchased together, WedSafe offers a 15% savings on your premium.

Don't you dare think about clinking those champagne glasses

Two things can happen if you clink your glass long and hard enough at a wedding reception. The bride and groom will kiss, or the glass will break. I don’t know about you, but I HATE glass clinking, I mean I cannot even put into words how much I detest this cliché of a tradition. Luckily, a lot of my clients feel the same way and are looking into new ideas for the old kissing game thing.

There are tons of options out there but I’m going to give you the three that I like the best. If none of these get you going, feel free to hit the ‘net and look for alternatives to the clinking of glasses

This Is How We Do It

At our wedding, we pre-selected a bunch of married couples (letting them know ahead of time of course) and called upon them to show the us how it’s done. They would kiss and then my wife and I had to mimic that kiss. It started out pretty simple but as the dinner and speeches progressed and the wine took effect, we had some pretty crazy stuff going on. I suggest spacing out the kissing and having your MC announce the couple, introduce them and then have them kiss. Also, let them know to keep it PG-13 tops, you may have kids there and they don’t need to see your Uncle go all 9 ½ weeks on his wife!

Are You Questioning Me?

Another alternative to the dreaded glass clinking can be asking the couple questions related to their life together so far or questions in general. You can certainly ask trivial pursuit questions, but get a few different editions, add in some cool ones, Lord of the Rings, Movie stuff, Music stuff and the original version as well. If the couple gets the answer
right, they are in the clear, if they answer wrong…It’s kissin’ time! I love when relatives and friends get up to the mic, introduce themselves and ask one of the couple a question about the other. These questions can be from their childhood, the time they were dating etc. No questions about how many people the other person has slept with or dated, keep it specifically to the couple. I had a grandfather get up and ask the bride what kind of sandwich the groom used to make every day when he came home from school…and she got it right!!!

Dance Rummy, Dance!

My final suggestion to spare your glassware is this…there is always a dance floor at a wedding, so let’s use it shall we? Sure it gets used later in the night but let’s get people out there sooner. Have the DJ bring a cordless mic (most include this anyway) Have the MC announce that glass clinking will get you nowhere and if you want the couple to kiss you have these options, you can take to the dance floor and show the couple a few fancy moves, you can sing them a love song or you can share a memory you have of the couple (content appropriate of course) What’s great is you can have the videographer record all this and it makes a great addition to the wedding video. At the end of each performance, he couple has to kiss and the glassware is still intact.
Gutsy Groom Advice

Some traditions are great, “You may now kiss the bride” should certainly be included in your wedding. But clinking glasses, I don’t think so. The only traditions you should be concerned about are the traditions you are going to start. Don’t include something in your wedding just because the websites or your family says that’s the way it is supposed to be. Don’t be afraid to start new traditions, add new ideas into your wedding. As long as you like them, it’s all good. It is your wedding day after all. I pride myself on working with my couples to get everything they want added into the special day and make sure it is a combination of their personalities and the things they want to bring into the wedding.
You want your guests walking away from your wedding saying how great and original it was and then next year they will be comparing everyone else’s wedding to yours. And we can make that happen for you.