Honeymoon Heaven

I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!! After spending time with my loving husband on a romantic vacation to sunny and warm St. Lucia and then coming back and spending time with family and friends, I feel very blessed.  I have been married for almost 4 years now and Greg and I plan on having a honeymoon every year so today's topic is: honeymoons!!  When planning your honeymoon, the first thing I suggest is to not over plan it with activites. The weeks and days leading up to your wedding will be filled with activites and stress and you need some time on your honeymoon to just enjoy each other and relax. Maybe warm tropical beaches is not your idea of paradise but let me share with you my thougths and you can translate them to your destination, wherever that might be.

I am a huge fan of  "all inclusive resorts". You have just planned the biggest event of your life and hosted a party for many of your friends and family. Now it is time to let someone take care of you! The top of my list is the Sandals resort experience. Their all inclusive packages include all the food AND drink for your stay (note that most cruise ships include food but not drinks and your bar bill when you get set to get off the ship can be mind-blowing!) I loved that fact that none of the restaurants had prices on the menus. You could order anything you wanted because it was already all paid for. The tips are also included with the Sandals packages so when you are done eating there is no reason to wait for the waiter or waitress, you just get up and leave! There are also many activities poolside and beachside to participate in during the day or in the evening so you can be as active - partying and meeting people as you want to be. Or you can choose to lay by the pool and occasionally swim over to the bar in the pool to quench your thirst and relax the day away! The staff at Sandals is incredible and there to serve you. They truly understand and are the epitome of customer service!

Another hint for a great honeymoon - use a great honeymoom specialist/travel agent. It is easy to look at a travel brochure or look on line and get excited about the incredible pictures. But to book a honeymoon takes more knowledge than pictures. A good honeymoon specialist has been to the various properties and can tell you where the best rooms are at that resort. Which ones have a "view" of the ocean through the trees and over the highway and which rooms are actually on the beach. She can share which resorts best fit what you are looking for in a honeymoon. Let me share with you my honeymoon booking story - When we had been married a year, I decided to take Greg on a second honeymoon and wanted to take him to a tropical island to get warm and away from the Indiana winter. I got in touch with a local honeymoon specialist and told her my plans. Kim asked " What do you like to do - scuba, deep sea fishing, or what?" I told her that I don't swim so the watersports were not my thing but my husband and I love to golf. She immediately said, "Then you need to go to the Grande in St. Lucia because it has a golf course included in the resort property." There is no way we would have known that without Kim's help but with her expertise we arrived and were taken care of in style by our own butler who made our dinner reservations, brought us drinks and food (at all hours of the day and night!) and took incredible care of us. It was a vacation to remember and we will be taking many more in the future thanks to Kim's knowledge and expertise.

Many couples think that travel agents are expensive and they can find better deals on line but travel agents can many times find you better deals on flights, accomodations and excursions than you can find, and without you having to spend hours looking. You also will know what you are getting for your money and will not be disappointed showing up to a place that doesn't "look like the picture". Another tip is that you don't need to have all the money up front to book a honeymoon. For a nominal deposit you can reserve your trip and then pay it over time up until a couple of month before the wedding. So book early for the best deals!!!

So here is my bonus to my readers today. If you are looking for a fantastic Sandals honeymoon specifically chosen for the two of you and what you like to do, I am sharing my incredible honeymoon specialist with you. You can contact her at: kim4honeymoons@aol.com and tell her Linda sent you. She is loads of fun and you will have a new friend for life.  Have a fun, relaxing time and drink a Margarita for me!!!

P.S. Send me pictures and tell my about your honeymoon experiences!!!

Accessorize your wedding party

Today I want to talk about my NEW favorite store!! Charmng Charlie opened just before Christmas at Jefferson Point in Fort Wayne, IN. With all of the holiday and wedding activities, today was the first time I had a chance to go check it out and WOW!! I walked in and told the sales associate "I have died and gone to heaven!" There were jewelry, purses, belts, scarves, and gifts as far as the eye could see. The selection is HUGE and set up by color so if you are looking for purple (which is what I went for today, as you can see in the picture!) you see it together, animal print inspired in another section, brown, copper, green, blue, red, etc. You get the idea.  Just phenomenal displays. And wait - here is the best part - the prices are very reasonable!!!

So what does my wonderful shopping day have to do with your wedding? Today's weddings are all about accenting with your personality and style and what better way to personalize your bridesmaid's gowns than with a truly unique necklace and earrings. No longer do you just have to choose a simple silver, gold or pearl accent to the gowns. Add a splash of color, a bold beadwork or a funky headband. Get matching jewelry for all the girls to wear or personalize each attendant with her own unique style in accessories. There are so many here to choose from that would be great to mix and match with different girls. Or if silver and sparkle is more your elegant taste - they have a special occasion section that rivals any bridal salon at GREAT prices!! One word of warning, however - they get new shipments in every day and what you see there today may not be there next week. So if you see something you fall in love with like I did - buy it now. A lot of women have been disappointed during the holiday season when they found something they wanted and then came back the next week to get it and it was gone!

And don't forget the bridesmaids, mom's and helpers gifts - what woman wouldn't love a great new purse (check out the unique style in ALL different colors displayed here) filled with fun accessories - from key chains to sunglasses, note pad to jeweled pens, Charming Charlie has the best selection I have seen anywhere. They even have a kid's section where you can find unique gifts for your flower girls.

I was so impressed with this store that I have special gift for you!!! Any bride who books her 2011 or 2012 wedding with One of a Kind Events during January or February of this year will receive a Charming Charlie gift card from me to start your shopping! So check out this amazing store and then if you have a wedding coming in the next 2 years, give me a call, email or text to schedule a free consultation and talk about your wedding style and dreams. You could be shopping on me!!!

Wedding Theme and Style

A theme or style will give your wedding continuity and give your guests a more memorable experience. When choosing an overall theme and style for your wedding and reception, make a list of personality traits and interests of both you and your groom. Are you fun loving and adventurous or do you like spending quiet evenings at home cooking and watching movies? Do you enjoy travel or certain sports? Is your passion spending time with close family members or going out on the town partying and dancing? The first party you host as husband and wife needs to reflect who you are as individuals and as a couple. You want your guests to walk into your reception and say “Oh, this just looks like ______ and ______!”

Be creative with how you incorporate your interests into your event. Your “save the date” cards and/or invitations can set the style and tone of the event. Do you enjoy or have you always wanted to get away to a tropical island but didn’t want or couldn’t afford a destination wedding? Bring the tropics to your guests with a destination style wedding using palm tree and tropical motifs on printed products and orchids and tropical flowers and greenery in flowers. Bright colors can also give a tropical feel. Or if you are a sit around the fireplace couple, choose a more intimate, personal venue and give it warmth with lots of candles and more muted, comfortable colors. If you like to travel, consider using a map motif on invitations and favors and let guests know that you are “taking the next step in your journey together” and you would love to” take them along for the ride”. Instead of table numbers, give tables names of places you have been together and set up a station where guests can give you ideas of their favorite destinations and suggest places that you might like to visit as husband and wife.

Look for subtle ways to incorporate your theme and don’t hit them over the head with it. Too much of a good thing can start looking “cheesy”. A romantic atmosphere in red, black and white can be achieved without putting a red heart on everything! Again a professional wedding stylist can help suggest creative ideas and pull together a cohesive, personal vibe that has your guests going “WOW!” from the time they open your invitation to looking at the pictures and remembering “an awesome event that had the bride and groom written all over it!”

The Perfect Day... Your Wedding - Your Way

What a wonderful time of year it is as planning for spring and summer weddings is in full swing. My days are filled with meetings with brides who are in love, excited and dreaming of their incredible day. But those same brides sometimes feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and ready to have the whole event over! Does that sound like you? Here are some tips to keep your sanity:

1) Decide which parts of the wedding are the most important to you and oversee only those items. Delegate whatever else you can to others as early in the process as you can.

2) Choose who you delegate to carefully. As you plan your wedding you will have MANY people who want to give you advice and help. Although they all mean well, it is still YOUR day and needs to be done your way. People who help need to understand your vision and be willing to take on tasks the way you want them done.

3) See if your budget will allow you to hire professional planning help. Most of our brides are amazed at how much smoother and happier they are with a professional at their side. A good wedding planner knows what needs to be done and takes the stress off of you. She will also run interference for you when others become overbearing and the time pressures become overwhelming. I become the best friend of most of my brides during the planning process because, I make sure all the details are covered while still making sure your day is your own special "one of a kind' event.

At One of a Kind Events, we help each of our unique brides get the most for their money AND keep their sanity. You need to sit back and enjoy your day instead of worrying about everything getting done. After all, you are the BRIDE!

Brides from Fort Wayne and all over northern Indiana have benefitted from each of our planning packages - from a full service planner (for that busy bride who wants a dream wedding but doesn't have time in her own busy schedule to make it happen) to our "panic packages" (for the brides who have most of the planning done but need help pulling the final details together.) We can also help the bride who just wants the rehearsal and wedding day coordinated so she can enjoy her guests. We offer FREE no obligation first consultations so visit our website http://www.oneofakindevents.org/ and contact me to see if we can give you "The Perfect Day... Your Wedding - Your Way"