With the holiday season fast approaching, everyone’s schedules seem to be filling up with dinner parties, shopping sprees and trips home to visit family and friends. With all of the holiday hub-bub happening over the next few months, throwing a wedding into the mix sounds like a social challenge indeed. But scheduling your wedding on or near a holiday has implications throughout the year as well–who wants to attend someone’s wedding on Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day or the Fourth of July?

Have you ever been invited to a wedding on a national holiday? Would you consider scheduling your wedding on a holiday? Why or why not? Rant or rave?

Whether you’re an engaged couple preparing for your wedding or newlyweds fresh from your trip down the aisle, make this season a memorable one one by sending out your first holiday card as a couple! Tiny Prints, the Wedding Paper Divas’ parent site, offers a range of adorable holiday cards that are easy to personalize and perfect for newlyweds, couples and families.

If you want to add an extra personal touch to your first holiday card together, include a wedding photo, engagement picture or a snapshot from your honeymoon. We’ve even seen couples who photoshop funny thought bubbles into their photos, or turn themselves into characters from cartoons like “South Park” or “The Simpsons.” You are young, stylish and head-over-heels in love, so choose a holiday card that will let the world know how much fun you are having snuggled up together this season!

If you are anything like me, a lot changes when you get engaged.  You and your fiancee are no longer just “dating”–suddenly, you are en route to not only being your own family, but to joining both of your families together as one.  While it’s always great to expand your circle, it can also pose problems and force you to make decisions you’ve never even considered before.

One of the biggest issues comes up during the holidays.  Whether you are engaged or newly married, this is a tricky time for most couples, and can become even more problematic if you or your families live in different states. You are used to your family traditions, and your fiancee, his.  In addition, both sets of parents and siblings will most likely vie for your attention during the holidays.  To top it all off, you probably want to have a more personal holiday with your future husband or wife-to-be, but with all of the back-and-forth between families, you will find little time for that.

If you live out of state, a whole new set of problems emerges.  Which family do you stay with?  If your families live in different states, who do you visit for each holiday?  How do you achieve the privacy you’d like for Christmas if you are guests of one of your families?

There are the obvious solutions–alternating holidays between families, having an early Christmas of your own together, getting a hotel room instead of staying with one of your families, or staying at each parents’ house for half of your trip–but these don’t always work for every couple.

The bottom line is that you need to do what works for you.  Eventually, you will have kids of your own and will develop your own traditions.  Perhaps the best solution is one that we at Wedding Paper Divas can help you with–invite both sides of the family to YOUR house for a holiday celebration.  That way, you’re in control of the who, what, when and where, and everyone gets what they want!  To host your own holiday extravaganza, check out our Holiday Collection preview on parent-site Tiny Prints, like this Holiday martini Invitation:

So, you tell us:  What is the best solution for you and your honey?  How do you stay sane while balancing the demands of both families?

Getting married on or near Halloween? Then you’ll love this week’s inspiration board chock full of spooky, eerie and surprisingly elegant designs for a unique wedding or bridal shower. Check them out for a chic and creepy holiday treat.

Pumpkin lanterns, tin can pumpkin lanterns and chandelier Shades, all from Martha Stewart, will light the way to a ghastly good time on your wedding day! Guests will be spooked and surprised by these creative lights.

Who says you can’t wear black on your wedding day? This gorgeous satin gown by BCBG Maxazria (from Nordstrom) would make any bride feel like a queen and this orange number by J. Crew (photo from Brides.com) is a perfect fall shade of orange. Bridal bouquet filled with calla lilies from The Knot.

This beautiful Fancy Flour cupcake wrappers from Brides.com is festive and fun! And lastly, choose our Oval Monogram Wedding Invitations to make your Halloween themed wedding day complete!

Today’s Real Wedding was submitted by photographer Critsey Rowe.  The simple and elegant wedding of Amy, a neonatal ICU nurse, to Aaron, a North Carolina highway patrol officer, took place at the Little Church on the Lane in North Carolina. The event planner was Ivy Robinson (”Whose Wedding is it Anyway?”).

What is Amy & Aaron’s advice to engaged couples? “Don’t worry about every single detail, because the day goes by so fast that you are not going to be focused on the details but on your new spouse.”

Amy & Aaron

March 2008

To submit a wedding for the Real Weddings feature, send photos and an event description to blog@weddingpaperdivas.com.

Last summer, I attended a beautiful wedding in Orange County, California for two of my dearest friends.  Both the bride and groom are Indian, and they created an event that seamlessly incorporated Indian traditions with a modern Cinderella theme that showed the couple’s individuality.

The entire event featured bursts of bright colors and some really great ideas that we hope inspires your wedding planning.

Vinod & Seema

August 2007

For the ceremony, the bride & groom wore traditional Indian attire

Prior to the ceremony, the groom arrived on a white horse to meet his bride

The ceremony

The couple transitioned from the traditional to the modern in Cinderella’s carriage

After the ceremony, the bride changed into a Cinderella inspired Sari designed by a friend

The reception was adorned in bright hues of blue to reflect her Cinderella theme

This is the first post of a new series that Diva Dialogue is introducing called “Real Weddings.”  If you are interested in submitting your wedding to our blog, please email 5-10 photos and a brief description of your wedding to blog@weddingpaperdivas.com for consideration.

By guest blogger Geeta Sachdeva
Next weekend is Mother’s day. How about taking the opportunity to get some wedding stress off your mind? Plan a wonderful day with your Mom. Remember that these past few months have probably been a whirlwind for her as well. So why not involve her in the planning process, seek her advice and make her feel that you value her opinion? Make the most of this time, and tell her the wedding of your dreams will be incomplete without her support.

A great idea would be to give her a handmade Mother’s day gift that shows how much she means to you. A personalized photo album would be great for showcasing your childhood memories.

Another cool idea would be to have two cards in contrasting colors placed on adjacent pages, using one as a frame for pictures or memorabilia and the other for writing comments! (I got the Wild Grass Wedding Reception Cards in chocolate and soft pink from Wedding Paper Divas.)

Here is a page from my scrapbook. I hope it inspires you!

Image courtesy: Matteus Pan

It makes me excited to see a lot of companies getting into the green spirit. From fuel efficient automobiles to books on living green, being eco-friendly is suddenly cool. Here at Wedding Paper Divas we too are on a mission to be green. We’re hosting our own special day today internally but for all you green lovers out there who also love our stationery here’s some facts that may interest you:

1. Did you know that digital printing is environmentally friendly? Traditional offset printing wastes 10-15% of paper in a set-up process called make-ready. The digital process does not have make-ready. We print exactly what is needed and this helps reduce the amount of paper used.

1. Three cheers for our envelopes! Wedding Paper Divas envelopes are made using hydro power.

Happy Earth Day and happy shopping to all you earth-friendly consumers out there!

Valentine’s Day cards have been shared in Europe for centuries, but the American tradition of sending Valentine’s Day cards was pioneered by one innovative and creative young woman. Esther Howland, “The Mother of the American Valentine,” was inspired by an ornate English valentine she received shortly after graduating from college in 1847. Determined to make beautiful valentines of her own, she ordered paper lace and floral embellishments from England, created a few samples and was overwhelmed by the volume of orders placed at her family’s Massachusetts stationery shop.

Operating during the height of the golden age of valentines from 1840-1860, Esther grew her business from a small valentine production line in her family’s home to full-blown flourishing and in 1879, The New England Valentine Company was created. Her business thrived until she retired in 1881, when she sold it to the George C. Whitney Company. Esther’s highly intricate and romantic paper lace designs, as well as many others, set Valentine’s Day cards trends in America for over thirty years.

Image courtesy of Donna Albino, http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~dalbino/

At Wedding Paper Divas we’re inspired by Esther’s dedication to creativity, romance and above all, innovation. As a modern tip of the hat to our pioneering, visionary sister, our state-of-the-art personalization options allow you to make our Valentine’s Day designs your unique cards. Newlyweds and couples can easily customize a quick, heartfelt thank you note to loved ones or transform a valentine design into a moving or marriage announcement.

With the Sweet Paisley Valentine Red Photo Card, choose to keep “Happy Valentine’s Day” at the top but incorporate “Your wedding date” where the family member names are. Like Esther Howland’s exclusive paper lace creations, our personalization options and designs combined with your sentiments and style offer the perfect opportunity to create your own exclusive and indelible Valentine’s Day card trends.

Source:
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Valentines/howland.htm
http://www.jsbeads.com/esther-howland/