But fear not, wedding planners! You can still fit in that dress as long as you keep making smart choices at every meal. If you need a little help, check out this fun new Menu Decoder on the Eat This, Not That website. You can select what style of restaurant you’re visiting and then scan through the menu to find out what’s your healthiest option (and what you should stay away from).

I’m thrilled to hear that pad thai and potato skins are healthy options to indulge in! What’s your favorite nutritious pick for dining out?

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If you are considering a trip to Santa Barbara, check out some of these hot spots for food, fashioned and fun:

Where to Eat & Drink

Food

• The Santa Barbara Shellfish Company: At the end of Santa Barbara’s historic Stearn’s Wharf, The Shellfish Company provides a casual dining experience coupled with some of the best seafood the city has to offer.
• Arigato: Santa Barbara is full of amazing sushi restaurants! Arigato offers a delicious range of rolls, sushi and other menu items with plentiful wine, beer and sake options.
• Opal: Cozy up next to your new spouse in one of the chic tables facing all the action on State Street. The perfect place to watch the many parades and festivals go by, Opal combines California cuisine with international flair.
  
• The Biltmore: This Four Seasons Resort offers breathtaking views and the utmost in luxury. Stop by for brunch that can’t be beat at the Bella Vista restaurant.

Drinks

• Soho: Check the website for Soho’s calendar of events, or just slide up to the bar to enjoy Santa Barbara wines and a range of premium cocktails.
• The Boathouse: Enjoy your cocktails while taking in an amazing view of the Pacific! The Boathouse offers great happy hour specials, a fun crowd and some of the best scenery in the city.
• Joe’s Cafe: Strong drinks, cushy booth seating and a casual vibe combine to make Joe’s the go-to spot for late night cocktails.

What to Do

• The Santa Barbara Zoo: It might be small, but the Santa Barbara Zoo is full of cute little animals and amazing views of the surrounding area. You’re sure to love the quaint and cozy atmosphere.
• Whale Watching: Every year gray whales migrate past Santa Barbara on their way to Mexico, providing the perfect reason hop aboard a boat for the afternoon!
• The Santa Barbara Mission: Step back in time with a tour of this California landmark, and then fall in love all over again in the Mission Rose Gardens (a popular site for weddings!).
• Beaches: Santa Barbara has a wealth of beautiful beaches where you can spend days lying in the sand and soaking up the sun!

Where to Shop

• State Street: This famous stretch of road features some of the best shopping in California! Cruise down toward the beach to visit shops like Blue Bee and Blue Beetle, which feature fun and fashionable designs for you and your hubby, respectively.
• The Closet: Also known as designer resale heaven, The Closet offers vintage and consignment designs that will make a thrift store convert out of you!

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Wedding Paper Divas and our partner, Beau-coup, have teamed up to offer the perfect prize for any bride. Submit your ideas to be entered to win $1,000 in Wedding Paper Divas and Beau-coup gift certificates. Plus, by visiting Resourceful Brides, you’ll find tons of money-saving, savvy tips to help you make the most of your wedding in these rocky times.

Enter today, plus find great tips for planning your wedding!

The deadline for submissions is Monday, July 20 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winning idea will be posted online on Friday, July 24 at www.ResourcefulBrides.com.

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If you are planning a destination wedding in a faraway city, try scouring the web for local bloggers to find some insight into the best restaurants, nightlife and day trips to recommend to your wedding guests. On a recent trip to Australia, I met the lovely, talented and hilarious blogger behind the cake + the knife, an Aussie food blog that’s as entertaining and endearing as she is. With camera in hand at a spectacular Moroccan restaurant, she gushed about all of the  fabulous places I should visit while in Sydney. Talking to her was definitely one of the highlights of my trip!

Blogs like the cake + the knife exist in cities all over the world. One of our office favorites is Little Brown Pen, which is dedicated to the blogger’s undying love of Paris. You can also find sites full of local reviews and tips, like Bahamas Local—a resource that will surely come in handy if you plan to enter to win our Bahamas honeymoon sweepstakes!

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If you are looking for great online wedding resources for men, we recommend a few of the links below:

• GroomGroove offers everything a guy needs to play his part with finesse. Find tips for making speeches, hosting a rocking reception and even a checklist of the groom’s duties.
• Looking for gifts tailored to grooms, with a little advice thrown in for good measure? The Man Registry is the site for you. They have everything from personalized beer steins to tips for writing vows that will leave her teary-eyed.
• Is all of this a little much for you? Find a place to read about a groom who is even more skeptical than you at The Grumpy Groom. It might even inspire you to start your own blog!

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As if that weren’t difficult enough, you also have to deal with the logistics of changing your address, co-signing your lease and dozens of other details that you might not expect.

To help ease your stress, here’s a few moving tips for newlyweds that we’ve gathered from around the web:

• Split up the chores, talk money beforehand and follow the rest of these 8 Tips for Newlyweds Moving in Together from DearSugar.
• Find everything you need for your moving process, including a “Why Should I Move?” worksheet, a moving checklist and a few fabulous design slideshows on HGTV’s Front Door.
• Don’t forget to change your address! You can fill out the USPS change of address form online for only $1, or print it out and mail it in for free.
• Make sure to order moving announcements to let your friends and family members know your new address.

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If you are like me and you love to dance from gorgeous photo to gorgeous photo, I suggest organizing your bookmarks into specific folders. Whenever you come across a stunning bridesmaid’s dress or a lovely engagement photo shoot, just drop them into their appropriate photos, et viola! Organizing your inspiration is a breeze.

Here are a few inspiring links for your table numbers folder that are all from the beautiful  wedding planning website, Details Details:

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• Choose the stores that you register at carefully. If you really check them out, you’ll see that Macy’s, Bloomgindale’s and Bed, Bath and Beyond have virtually identical merchandise, even if the stores seem drastically different.  Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s are actually both owned by Macy’s, Inc., making them even more connected.

• Register at multiple stores. In my opinion, registering at 3 places is ideal.  You can pick a mid-range place, like Macy’s, that will cover both low-priced, mid-priced and high-priced merchandise.  In addition, you can register at a place like Williams-Sonoma or Pottery Barn, both which tend to be higher-priced.  Finally, you can add a speciality store or even a Honeymoon registry.  This gives your guests flexibility and different price ranges when choosing a gift for you.

• Do your homework before you go. Registering, although a blast, can be time-consuming, confusing, and frustrating.  Figure out how many place settings you want.  I have never used all 12 of my settings at once, but I can’t help but be happy that I have the option if a big family event is in my future.  Figure out what kind of pots and pans you want (Stainless?  Non-stick?  Brand?), how large of a knife set you want, and which things are most important to you on your registry.  (Tip:  I registered for a beautiful, high-end knife set, and am so happy I did.  Great knives make a huge difference, trust me!).

• China or no China? That is often the question of many brides.  I went for it and registered for both fine China and casual dishware, and I don’t regret it for a second.  When else in your life will your purchase China?  Plus, it’s something I can pass down to my children one day, and it works great for special occasions.

• Look for Registry Parties.  Many stores, including Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, Bloomgindale’s, Crate and Barrel and more have registry parties in which the entire store is open only for couples registering for their weddings.  There are usually snacks, beverages, and tons of helpful staff on hand to guide you through the process.  It’s a great atmosphere and very helpful during the confusing registry process.

• If you’re not sure about something, register for it anyway! You can ALWAYS return stuff.  Every store I worked with had amazing return policies for bridal registries, with some even giving cash back.  With all the wedding planning, it’s hard to make tough decisions about what you’ll need for the next 50 years of your life.  Make them later.

• If you see something you love that is wildly expensive, register for it. A lot of people like to give group gifts, and items like that make it easy to do so.

I could come up with 15 more bullet points, but these, to me, are the most important.  Regardless, have fun!  When else will you get to make a huge wish list and actually receive most of it?!

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I opted not to do this or have the bouquet toss out of consideration for my single friends. There are definitely pros and cons to sticking with this long-time tradition. If you decide to do it, however, make sure to sit at an angle where you won’t be flashing your guests. And another tip? Either take the garter off yourself or ease it down a bit so its not so high on your leg. And if you have sensitive and conservative guests, I’d say avoid having your groom taking the garter off with his teeth.

Sources: Wikipedia

Blue bow garter from Victoria’s Secret.

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1. Writing a thank you card actually begins when you start sending out your invitations. Make sure you keep everyone’s contact information in a spreadsheet. Google has a documents program that allows you to share files with others. This way you and your significant other can keep track of your information in the same place.

2. Either mail out all of your thank you cards at the same time or do it by family. If not, you’ll run into the same issues as me and have some people calling to find out what happened to their thank you card since they heard someone else already got theirs.

3. Clarify any questions early! As you receive each gift, look for a card or gift tag. If there are presents without any name attached to it or the card says from: The Smiths and you have two relatives with the same name, clarify things with the gift givers right away.

4. Order extra thank you cards. I’ve made so many mistakes on my thank yous and had to throw them away. Having 25 extra ones really made a difference especially since I didn’t account for cards to our vendors.

5. Do a little at a time. So that the task seems less daunting commit to doing say 5 or 10 cards a day. Then just push through the process. What I told my husband was that these people deserved a nice card for all of their efforts getting to our wedding and for their generous gifts. It was worth the bit of discomfort to get them a well worth the wait thank you card!

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