New Trends for your Save the Date

There are so many ways to send out your Save the Dates these days.  You can go the traditional route of the postcard with your photo on it, the common but still popular refrigerator magnet, or the new age of internet and do an online save the date.  One trend that is rising and that I actually do like is the video save the date.  This is something that can be sent online, shipped to the recipient as a DVD (good for the not-so-tech-savvy), or linked to a QR code that gets sent as a postcard, among other ways.  Here is a link to an extravagant and most likely expensive, but pretty awesome example of what I mean courtesy of Vimeo:
Bambo & Janice Save the Date video

We're Engaged! Now what??

The most popular time of year for engagements is upon us.  New Year's Eve, Christmas, and Valentine's Day bring out the romance in men, I guess.  The next wave of engagements will be the practical, planner-types who are graduating from college and pop the question in cap and gown.  No matter when the engagement happens, your next few months will be filled with questions from friends and family, bombarding you with when, where and how.  To get you started, here are some helpful tips for making the process of getting married in New Orleans easier:

• If at all possible, pick your venue first, then your date.  For example, if you know what season you want (the most popular dates for outdoor weddings in New Orleans are in October and November, then March, April and May for those that don't mind an indoor option), then search for venues you like and ask them what weekends they have available.  Choose from those dates.  Remember, most brides start planning a year or more in advance, so if you're less than a year out, your dates may be more limited.
• Keep an open mind about the day of the week if you want to save some money on venue rental fees.  Many locations give discounts or lift restrictions for Friday and Sunday weddings.
• If you have guests coming in from out of town, check the convention calendar before you commit to a date. If there is a convention or event in town that is expecting more than 20,000 people in attendance, the hotel industry calls this a "city wide", in which the major hotel chains jack up their rates and start requiring 2 and 3 night minimums. The NOMCVB will check up to three dates for a bride who calls in directly.  You can also call any Hilton, Marriott, or similar hotel in the downtown area and simply ask for a wedding room block quote for the weekend you're considering.  If there is a city wide on those dates, the rooms will be expensive or not available at all.  Many hotels rule out wedding blocks during major conventions and events.
• Create a wedding website before you send out a save the date.  When you are planning a destination wedding, especially, people will rely on the website for hotel information, tips to navigating the city, and wedding agendas.  When you're a local, this is the best way to share your gift registry, which can never be included in wedding invitation or save the date mailings.  Free websites are easily found on most wedding sites, but I find that the simplest templates with the shortest URLs (without all the letters and numbers you see in some web addresses) are on www.weddingwire.com.  Choose an address that's easy to remember, like your two first or last names, and use the wedding date or a significant word as a password.  You don't have to have the whole website complete by the time the save the date goes out, but you do want to include your website address in the mailing.
• Pick your venue before your pick your dress if you want more location options.  The wedding dress sets the tone for the entire event.  If you choose a formal location, you'll probably want a formal dress.  If you choose a more comfortable feeling space, you may want to go with a more simple style of gown.  Your invitation will follow along with whatever tone you choose, giving guests the first idea of what the wedding attire will be.  The more formal the invitation, the more formal the dress code.
• Send save the dates out up to one year in advance.  The save the date does not have to match the wedding invitation, so this is your chance to have a little fun.  Postcard save the dates are an inexpensive alternative.  Create your own or use picture postcards from your wedding destination city. 
• When you create your guest list, include phone numbers.  Once your RSVP deadline (30 days before is my go-to RSVP date) passes, you'll want to call each of the guests that did not respond, or have a family member or friend call, so that you can get an accurate guest count for catering and venue needs.  When I make these calls for my clients, I say something like "The bride and groom didn't receive your RSVP, so they're worried that you didn't receive your invitation."  This gives the guest the chance to RSVP without feeling like they've been rude by not responding on time. Usually they admit that they forgot or simply answer yes or no.

These few helpful hints will save you a lot of headache as your start your plan.  If the process seems overwhelming, call All About Events to handle it for you! :)

Photo courtesy of www.bestofneworleans.com and Scriptura

“There’s no such thing as a married monogram…”

…or so etiquette says. Margaret Jones, owner of Scriptura in New Orleans, aficionado of all things cordial and one of my favorite people in the world, gave me the DL on monograms after I received a lot of inquiries about putting them on invitations. Here is the gist of it:

If you’re going with traditional etiquette, a monogram is only for one person. It has three initials, the center initial is for the last name and is usually larger than the other two. The letter on the left is the first name initial and the letter on the right is the middle name initial.
The big scandal comes in when we get into married vs. single couples. Again, if you want to go traditional, there is no such thing as a combined monogram. The history of the monogram stems from back when royalty could rule a country without the prerequisite of being literate. (come to think of it, I’m not sure that is a prerequisite now).  Back in the day not many people knew how to write their names. Royalty needed a way to mark proclamations and decrees, so they would design fancy logos using their initials and create an emblem which would be used to represent their signatures. Hence the single name. To give a traditional monogrammed gift to a married couple, such as towels or bathrobes, you would get two and put the man’s monogram on one and the woman’s married monogram on the other—sort of a fancy way of saying “his” and “hers”.

That brings us to the question of the married woman’s monogram. Before the wedding the monogram of a woman would be the same as above: first initial, last name larger, middle initial. However, once the woman gets married, she drops her middle name and her maiden name takes its place. Then the monogram becomes first initial on the left, married name initial larger in the center, maiden name initial on the right. In the case of a wedding invitation, the bride’s maiden name monogram should be the only one used. The married name monogram should not be seen until after the couple is actually married, usually on a thank you note (stay tuned for more wacky fun with thank you note etiquette in a future blog post.)

So why do we see so many combined initial monograms floating around on http://www.theknot.com/ and other wedding related sites? Because the modern idea is to throw out the etiquette of traditional format and do whatever you think works. Currently, combined monograms, while still technically incorrect, are being more widely accepted and used. (That still does not mean you can use it on a wedding invitation!) If you’re going to go with the new frame of mind on this, the bride’s first initial goes on the left (ladies first), the married name initial in the center, and the groom’s first initial on the right.

Many thanks to Margaret the Great for putting her stamp on this information. Visit her at her fabulous shop, Scriptura on Magazine St. in New Orleans or go online and check out their stock at http://www.scriptura.com/ Tell her I sent you :)