Come visit us at Nicotra’s Ballroom on January 26, and discover a one stop shop for all of your wedding planning needs! Meet with the best local vendors, and see the latest trends in everything from flowers to photography. We hope to see you there!
We just received photos from one of our favorite brides -Elise, and boy are they fabulous! Take a look at these stunning photos by Infinity Photography www.infinityphotographyinc.com and flowers by Flowers By Bernard www.flowersbybernard.com
Hi Everyone! Our beautiful bride Salema has shared some fabulous photos with us and we would like to share them with you. Salema and Don were married in August and had a stylish “jewel” themed wedding. Be sure to check out all of the glitz and glamour (not to mention all the crystals!) in the pictures. Enjoy!
We’re so happy to announce that our portfolio and company information is now available for viewing through WeddingWire.com at Martha Stewart Weddings!
To view our profile click below!
Hello Everyone,
Just came across some pictures we had taken at the last Bridal Expo we were in. Thought you might like to take a look. Let us know what you think!
We had a wonderful time at the National Stationery Show recently where we met a ton of great people and saw some amazing products. Our favorite exhibit was Meri Meri, a California based invitation and greeting card company. Their invitations are simply sublime, and we just HAD to have them in our store.
We are proud to announce our new partnership with Meri Meri and we are likewise excited to have their invitations in our studio for viewing! From baby showers to weddings, their line of fashion inspired invitations and announcements was specifically selected to become part of our in store offerings. We know that our clients will love it as much as we do. Below are just a few pieces of the collection. Feel free to stop by to view the entire portfolio!
We’ve gotten an absolutely wonderful response to our first invitation etiquette posting, as so many of our brides have come into the shop feeling just a little bit more comfortable with their invitation wording. With that in mind we wanted to address the second most popular question that we are asked in the studio.
We are asked the following question so often that we practically hear it in our sleep. Simply put, the question is when should the invitations be mailed out?
Traditional etiquette dictates that the invitations be sent 6 - 8 weeks prior to the wedding date. Unfortunately for the modern bride, the etiquette was written at a time before it became essential to get your numbers settled sooner rather than later. Besides the peace of mind that comes with getting your seating and final budget set as soon as possible, many catering halls are now requiring that you guarantee a minimum number of guests. The stress that can accompany these issues is probably not something left for the immediate weeks preceding your wedding. That being said, if you plan correctly, it is possible to work within the modern requirements of vendors while still staying in the traditional etiquette window of six to eight weeks.
To complicate matters, depending on the season or the location in which your wedding will take place, it may become necessary to send your invitations even further in advance so that your guests can make special travel or other arrangements. For example, for a summer or holiday wedding you may want to let your guests become aware of your date as soon as possible so as to not have them schedule travel plans on the same date. While you can accomplish the same goal by using a Save the Date card that would precede the formal invitation, the use of such a card is discretionary and not required by traditional etiquette.
Many brides are concerned that if they send out the invitations too soon that their guests will forget about the wedding date. While it is possible, and maybe even plausible if the invitations were sent more than 4 months before the wedding, we have never heard of this happening on an invitation that is sent a reasonable amount of time before the wedding. In an era of Blackberrys, PDA’s and calendar software, it becomes less and less likely each day that anyone would forget about an event.
As with everything involving etiquette, and we can’t stress this enough, each bride has to be comfortable with their own choices. Our personal opinion however, is that so long as your invitations get sent out anywhere more than six weeks in advance that you should be fine.
Hear are some beautiful detail shots taken while Tracy was getting ready:
Just about every bride who walks into our shop has some question about proper etiquette in the printing, addressing, wording, or sending of their invitations. We have done a ton of research on the topic of etiquette, and for those brides who need to have everything “just right”, we’re going to be periodically sharing with you some of the questions that we hear most often (and their answers!)
Far and away, the most popular etiquette issue in our shop is the use of the word “honour” vs. the standard spelling- ”honor”, and by extension the use of “favour” as opposed to “favor” on the response card (as in “the favour of a reply is requested by…”)
The short answer is that either is perfectly acceptable under most circumstances. The formal spelling (honour/favour) is actually British, and is traditionally held to this day to be the most formal way of spelling those words. The use of either word becomes a matter of personal preference, and may largely depend on the type of event that you are having. For the most formal of events, it is suggested etiquette (although not mandatory!) to use the British spellings. If your event will have a more relaxed feel to it, then you may want to use the common American spellings, although again, the etiquette on this issue is very flexible as both spelling variants are perfectly acceptable.
The caveat to this discussion is that the most traditional wedding etiquette dictates that you only use the line “request the honour of your presence” (with honor being spelled either way) if you are having a religious ceremony only. Otherwise it is proper etiquette to simply “request the pleasure” of the company of a guest.
The most important thing to remember about this topic is that the choice in wording is something that you must be completely comfortable with. Your wedding invitation is always going to represent your unique sense of personality and style, and what’s perfect for you is always what should be sent to your guests.
