A few weeks ago I went to set up a wedding cake for one of my couples at their beautiful Austin church.  Upon entering the reception site I found the neatest idea that I thought I would share.  I know lots of brides are looking for fun and creative ways to incorporate their personality into their wedding.  As a travel lover myself, I found this idea a quite unique and fun one!  If you love to travel, this might be a great thing to incorporate into your wedding!

The couple had a table with an enlarged map of the world.  On the sides of the map were little tags (almost like mini travel bag tags) attached to a string and some pens.  There was a cute little saying framed into a small photo.  The couple had asked for their guests to write their names on the tag and pin it on the location of their favorite place to travel!

What a great idea!  The bride and groom have a great list of good travel destinations.  And, I'm sure this will create some great memories when they finally get to travel to those destinations.  Imagine the enjoyment the suggesting guest will experience when they receive a postcard from the couple at their chosen destination of travel!

HOW TO FIND THE BEST BRIDAL PRICES!

Are you an expectant bride looking for the best bridal prices? Believe it or not, you don't have to spend a fortune to look stunning on your wedding day! Here are seven simple ways to find the best prices on wedding dresses, shoes and accessories.

How to find the best bridal prices on designer dresses:

There's no reason to pay full price for a designer wedding dress! If you have your heart set on a designer gown, opt for a sample designer dress as they offer the same exceptional quality and designs, without the hefty price tag. In fact, if you opt for sample wedding dresses you can expect to pay 50%-80% less than retail.

How to find the best bridal prices on bridal accessories:

Raid your closet

When it comes to accessories, check the content of your closet before you rush out and buy expensive heels or jewelry. If you're the type of girl who loves to collect shoes, you may even find a pair of silver, cream or gold heels that match your dress perfectly.

Ask around

If you're after a particular item make sure to let your female friends and family members know as there may be someone with the same shoe size or who has the perfect necklace or tiara to top off your wedding day look. Also be sure to ask your mother whether she has any vintage pieces to loan you.

Get creative

If you're looking to save a few hundred dollars, it may be worth getting crafty and making some of your bridal accessories yourself. As an example, you could create your own fascinator using lace, a strand of pearls and a few fabric flowers. Or you could decorate a neutral pair of heels with lace, ribbons, crystals or beads. You're only limited by your imagination! If you need inspiration visit your local craft supply store or take a look at a few wedding magazines.

Visit your local antiques store or craft market

Antique stores are the perfect place to find affordable vintage treasures. Keep an eye out for pearl necklaces, gloves, ornamental brooches, fascinators and shawls that you can use to add a little personality to your wedding outfit.

Get your friends to help you with your makeup and hair

If you forgo hiring a professional makeup artist and hairdresser you can save a few hundred dollars! Another bonus of getting a friend to help you out is that you won't be limited to one or two practice sessions. Plus, a trusted friend will probably know more about your personal sense of style than a stranger.

Hire accessories

A great way to find the best bridal prices is to hire accessories instead of purchasing them. After all, how much use would you get out of a tiara or elbow length satin gloves? By choosing to hire accessories you'll also be able to afford better quality accessories. As an example, for the fraction of the price of a cheap diamante bracelet you would be able to hire a diamond bracelet.

Whether you want to save money for your honeymoon or to host a large wedding reception, you can easily save money on your wedding day outfit if you think outside the box. For additional information on sample designer wedding dresses click here.

Thank you to Bride Couture for sharing your knowledge and experience in our blog!  You can visit their website by clicking here!

Today's bride sure is a busy one!  She is oftentimes juggling a full time career, college or grad school, and sometimes a family while planning her wedding.  Over the past few years I have heard something from brides that is becoming more common - "we're buying our first home while we plan our wedding!"  Wow!  Purchasing what for most people are the two greatest expenses in one's life at the same time is quiet an undertaking!  My husband and I recently purchased our first home and let me say, for those who do this...you are much stronger (and patient) than I!  For those of you getting ready to start the journey to home buying, I thought I would share our experience!

My husband and I had been considering purchasing a home, but weren't quite sure if we were ready.  The crash of 2008 hit us hard so we were quite nervous about such a large financial responsibility.  Thanks to my mother, she took it upon herself to call a realtor, Thomas, and tell him we were looking for a home.  You can imagine my surprise when one mildly cool December day he called me asking if he could be of assistance!  After a brief conversation he felt confident we could get qualified.  Getting the pre-approval letter was actually the easy part.  Just a few papers to sign, some financial documents to hand over and we were pre-approved within a week!  

Shortly after the January Bridal Extravaganza we started looking at potential homes!  I always thought this would be fun casually touring all these beautiful homes!  Boy was I wrong!  Right now the Austin market is crazy!  Homes are flying off the market within days.  Yes, that's right...I said days!  Thomas would call us and we would rush to see a house, many times by the time we arrived there was already a contract on it.  We searched for about two weeks.  As we were driving to see one home we passed another.  I loved the outside and asked about it.  Even though we hadn't scheduled to look at it, Thomas knocked on the door and asked if we could see it.  The owners were gracious enough to offer a tour!  The house was perfect for us!  It had everything we needed and a lot of our wants too!  The house had been put on the market 3 days prior.  That evening, we put in an offer! The next day the seller countered and we accepted!  We were now under contract for our first home!  And that was the easy part! 

The next few weeks were relatively quiet.  We had to sign many many documents and file lots of paperwork and financials.  Everything seemed to be going well and we were set to close for the last week in March.  We had given notice to our landlord, the rental truck had been reserved, and the house was nearly packed.  And then a bomb dropped...the appraisal came back less than the contract amount!  After much frustration and banter we were able to get the appraiser to re-evaluate.  This took nearly a week!  Thankfully, he was able to get the appraisal up to where we needed to be.  Unfortunately, this was 4 days before we were supposed to move.  And that meant closing would not happen on Tuesday as we had planned...it was rescheduled for Friday.  Snag #2, some paperwork didn't get filed correctly and now we had to wait another week to close.  Snag #3...we had to be out of our house by Sunday!  Back to the drawing board with the seller.  Thankfully, our sellers were so kind.  They no longer occupied the home and allowed us to move in that weekend and rent the house from them!  So...a moving we did! 

We used our week as renters of our own home to begin the unpacking process and paint my oldest son's room.  I had promised we could design his room together so I wanted to make that my first priority in the house.  That following Monday we were on target to close the next day.  And another snag!  Some closing documents were not ordered in time and closing was delayed 2 more days!  Finally, on Thursday (some 3 weeks after we were supposed to close) we finally did!  There was a celebration in the title office!  I passed out a cake to my realtor and my mortgage lender.  They worked so hard for us and I figure they could use a little treat!  Apparently they thought the same of us as we were gifted a nice bottle of Pinot Noir.  And so ends the journey of purchasing our first home!  It was a little more stressful, took a lot longer, but certainly worth it in the end!