If you’re looking to take your wedding invitations to the next level there are quite a few ways to accomplish that. Add custom colors, go for an entire matching wedding suite, choose a foil design, or create a real wood invite. All of these are great ways to up your invite game and you can do all of them with a little place called Basic Invite.

Basic Invite is an innovative stationery design company based in southern Utah. They have been creating custom wedding invites and other stationery products since 2006. With more than 200 unique wedding invitations, 180 custom colors, foil, wood, and acrylic invites, and many more customization options Basic Invite is the ultimate card company.

Since they know what they’re doing when it comes to stationery, here are their top 4 ways to create next level wedding invitations.

1. Custom Colors – Classic black and white invites are always an elegant choice especially when you have 100 font choices to choose from, but incorporating color can add an extra touch of personalization and pop to any design. If you still want to go with black and white Basic Invite has 40 different colored envelopes that can make your invites stand out from the start.

2. Matching Wedding Suites – From your save the date card to all of your enclosure cards, creating a matching wedding suite is the ultimate wedding invite. Basic Invite allows customers to create an entire custom suite and house it in a pocket envelope for an organized and cohesive look. This next level choose will wow your guests

3. Foil – The most elegant choice are foil invites. Available in silver, gold, and rose gold foil invites and day of stationery like foil table cards are so classy and so gorgeous.

4. Real Wood – Finally, real wood wedding invites. Made from real cherry wood veneer and stamped with bright white ink these triple thick wood invites are the real deal. These are the perfect look for a winter wedding or a rustic themed ceremony.

Either way you go, any of these design ideas and customization option will put your invite above the rest! Basic Invite currently offers 15% off everything so head over to Basic Invite and customize yours today.

With all the blushing brides and grinning grooms, wedding season is a wonderful time of year that sees hundreds of happy couples across the country officially tie the knot. Donning a princess-esque dress alongside her tuxedo-clad husband-to-be, the bride will treasure her wedding for the rest of her life. Whilst guests are sure to revel in the joyful atmosphere, they are often left feeling pressured when it comes to selecting an appropriate gift for the occasion.

Couples sometimes launch their own “wedding gift list” to point invitees in the right direction, but if a guest is particularly close to the bride, they’ll want to give them something special and a little out of the ordinary. Good gift ideas can be tricky to come by, but any worried wedding guest can relax in the lead up to the big day by taking inspiration from the trio of top solutions below.

A Bridal Gift Box

Bottles of champagne, wads of spa vouchers, and fistfuls of twinkly jewellery are all lovely gestures that the bride is guaranteed to love. But in order to make her eyes light up and her heart melt, a wedding guest must offer something more personal – a gift that represents the bond they share.

A homemade bridal gift box is just the ticket – a pretty container full of bits and bobs that bring back brilliant memories (including old photos, letters, gig/cinema tickets, and childhood toys). Fancy toiletries and chocolate can also be thrown on top to put the icing on the cake.

Buy a Star

Photo credit:©istock.com/SandraKavas

By visiting buyastar.ie, wedding guests can treat the bride to an unforgettable, everlasting wedding gift. At this completely website, users can purchase and name a star for the wife-to-be – thereby making her name part of a constellation forever more. The bride will also inherit a gift pack as part of the deal, featuring a certificate, star map, fact sheet, and essential information about the star, ensuring they will never look up at the night sky in quite the same way ever again.

The star will be permanently recorded in the International Star Registry, and given how buyastar.ie exclusively sells stars that can be seen with the human eye, the bride will always be able to gaze up at their incredible gift on a dark, clear night.

A Celebrity Well-Wisher

This one takes some planning, but will go down a real storm if successful. A lot of celebrities receive letters and emails on a regular basis, and often do their very best to respond accordingly. If a bride has a particular infatuation for a certain celebrity, a perfect present would be a congratulatory letter from this person.

Guests may find obtaining a celebrity messages to be difficult, so it could be worth writing to a number of people the bride admires to improve the chances of a response. What greater gift could there be than a letter from a bonafide superstar wishing the newlyweds congratulations?

Cover photo credit: ©istock.com/AndreyCherkasov

Sitter: Brandon Marks, Seattle, WA
Dog: Della
Sitter on the platform since late August of 2014

Hen parties, tux rentals, and ringbearer pillows fit for dogs. This cocktail fit for a romantic comedy can only mean one thing: wedding season. While the stress of planning can be unavoidable, the beautiful vow made by lovers–through sickness and health, strife and laughter, dog poop and cuddles–far outweighs the burden of planning. Though this is a magical time in your life and love conquers all, someone still has to pay for it.

Is that someone you? Do you need extra income to offset some burgeoning wedding costs? Did you react with a voracious nod and grip your computer in desperation for answers? Numerous options to offset wedding costs exist, some more creative than others. Let me introduce you to a sitter on Rover who lives in Seattle with his wife and black lab, Della. His wedding story is inspiring, financially creative, and totally achievable.

In an effort to make money to plan their wedding, Brandon and his wife Kaycee turned to the sharing economy. While extra income was an obvious benefit of running their new pet-sitting business on Rover, the reward went far beyond monetary. Della, their affable lab, quickly made new dog friends. Brandon and Kaycee even included Della in their big day by hiring another sitter on Rover to hang out with her at the wedding so Della could participate in the ceremony. Della was so ecstatic about being involved in the wedding that she fell asleep in her wedding attire—I’ll pause for the sigh of infatuation.

After only one year of dog sitting with Rover, Brandon and Kaycee had enough money to pay for 25% of their wedding, as well as some of their honeymoon. Inspired by the growth of their business, Brandon and Kaycee continued sitting through Rover after their wedding. Since the big day, Della has stayed with the sitter who cared for her at the wedding numerous times, and has of course made more friends than she can count on two paws.

The celebration of eternal love shouldn’t come with a significant financial burden. Brandon and Kaycee made all of their dreams more affordable, simply by getting paid to do something they love. If you have experience caring for dogs—personally or professionally—Rover could be a great fit for you. Face it, you deserve a less stressful wedding-planning experience and more time snuggling dogs. Luckily, Rover’s here to help.

My Big Day: Home or Away is a brand new show in which a couple gets the services of two wedding planners for free.

One plans a wedding in Ireland and the other plans a wedding abroad.

The couple will fully brief the wedding planners about what they would like for their wedding, including their budget, number of guests, locations they would like.

Our expert professional planners do their research and then take the couple to each location, one at home and the other somewhere foreign.

The couple will choose one of the plans and the show ends with their wedding, either at home or away.

Rules:

If a couple makes the short list, they will need to apply for their wedding licence immediately. (It takes three months for the licence to come through).
The couple gets the full services of two professional wedding planners for free: one planning a wedding for in Ireland, one planning a wedding away.
The wedding planners will work to the couple’s brief and their budget.
The couple will fully pay for their wedding.
The couple will be taken to both locations by the production.
The couple commits to choosing one of the plans, and they must get married in that location, and their wedding will be filmed.

To apply, clink through to this link: http://t1n.ie/16p

Or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact robert@cocotelevision.ie

Coco Television produces the TV show’s Don’t Tell The Bride and First Dates.

While the wholesale price of diamonds has dropped significantly in the last few years, it doesn’t mean that it automatically translates into savings for consumers. The recent drop in diamond prices can be attributed to economic conditions in India and Asia, which were two of the biggest consumers of diamonds in the last decade.

The reason why top quality diamonds are still very expensive is because there is still high demand for these types of gems. However, there are savings to be made on lower quality diamonds that are still very attractive and can make a perfect engagement ring. Here are a few tips on how to find a great engagement ring on the cheap.

Compromise on the C’s

Diamond quality is usually assessed by what is commonly referred to as the four C’s, which are clarity, cut, carat and color. Out of all the factors, cut is usually the most important and the hardest to compromise on. Cut is actually what gives diamonds their brilliance, which is essential when picking a diamond.

However, when it comes to clarity, one can compromise and still have a good quality gem. For instance, a SI1 diamond, which is 7th in order of clarity, can still seem perfect to the naked eye.

Go for Lighter Sizes

Prices usually are higher when you buy full, half or quarter carat stones. But if you don’t have an issue buying a stone a little shy off a full carat, you can make significant savings. For instance, instead of buying a full carat diamond ring, you could settle for a 0.95 or 0.96 and still get the same result.

Pick an Original Shape

Round shaped diamonds are usually the most expensive on the market. By going for unusual shapes such as marquises, ovals and hearts, you can make significant savings while still making a statement. And we’re not talking about small savings here, you could save as much as 40% on a round shaped diamond if you go for a marquise instead. So that’s definitely something to be considered. Most retailers, like ascot diamonds for instance, will have a wide selection of diamond cuts to choose from, so make sure that you go with a retailer with a wide enough variety of cuts on hand.

Forget Brand Names

Many people make the mistake of falling for brand names when buying diamonds. Please know that the brand of a particular diamond has little to do with the quality of the gem itself. Brands like Tiffany and co. charge a premium for their brand, but you could easily get the same quality of diamonds elsewhere.

Try Negotiating

There are periods of the year when business is slower for diamond retailers. This gives savvy shoppers the chance to make great deals on engagement rings. Some will also offer savings for those buying the stone and setting together, so consider this option if you want to save a few extra bucks.

You don’t have to compromise on quality if you want to find a great and affordable engagement ring. With the tips in this article, you should be able to find a great engagement ring in no time.

Images Courtesy of Voltaire Diamonds

When it comes to planning a hen party, there is a lot to factor in. Whatever the party, whether it’s a country getaway or a glamourous night on the town, there are some key areas of organising a hen party that remain the same.

Before you start booking venues and planning the guest list, there are some important factors you need to run over with your bride. Although it is tempting to keep your bride in the dark, it’s essential that you get her feedback on the guest list, location, the time and the theme.

Keeping yourself organised from day one of the planning will ensure that you remain relaxed on the run up to the bachelorette party. In a lot of cases, simply thinking ahead can allow you and your hens to have a drama-free day. For example, have you checked the weather forecast? If it’s raining, will you need to hire taxis and buy some umbrellas for all of the attendees?

To answer all of these questions and more, Black and White Events have created this super useful infographic that is packed with helpful tips on everything from invitations to party games. Let’s check out this infographic that can help you survive and have a stress-free hen party!

What’s your best piece of advice to survive a hen party? Let us know in the comment section below!

The emerging trend in bridal gowns this wedding season has to be the rise of the two-in-one wedding dress which takes brides from ceremony to reception. The best kind are those with detachable skirts and are being spearheaded by celebrity brides such as Sofia Vergara for example.

While perhaps more of an emerging trend in the USA, we are also seeing a rise in wedding concierges. These are specialised wedding planning services where a particular area of wedding prep is outsourced, the most unusual of which is the hiring of ‘professional’ bridesmaids!

Also key this year is the inclusion of a ‘highlights’ video which is a short edited clip of the wedding video which is suitable for sharing on social media. With 25% of all weddings now destination weddings, having a ‘highlights’ video is a great way to make guests who could not travel to the wedding, share in your big day.

For more, see the infographic below that has been put together by Killarney Hotels.

Christmas is the most exciting time of year and December is the most popular month for Irish couples to get engaged. In fact, one in every five engagements in Ireland takes place during the festive month. By contrast, January is the least popular month to pop the question. 21% of people think that Christmas Day itself along with New Year’s Eve are the best days to propose.

When it comes to the engagement ring, four in five men manage to keep the cost of the engagement ring secret from their bride-to-be, which is no mean feat. Of those grooms-to-be that do not manage to keep the cost a secret, unfortunately, one in three lie about the cost of their fiancé’s engagement ring. Cheekily, two in five grooms-to-be go so far as to double the price they actually paid for it. For more fascinating facts about wedding engagements in Ireland over the holiday period, have a look at this infographic produced by The Wedding Band Shop for more information.