WANTED: Your non-traditional wedding {and some bridal trends this season}

Good morning everyone! I've been so inspired lately with all the new bridal trends going on; it's bridal fair month for MN. The Twin Cities Bridal Fair and St. Cloud Bridal Fair are next weekend, there's another this weekend in Little Falls I think. What I'm hearing is that COLOR is BACK!!! No, not in the magenta-bridal gown, but in gorgeous detailed "pops" of color like a right-hand cocktail ring; feathers in hair{on gowns and in floral arrangements}, and colored lighting at receptions. The last one is really neat {and a HUGE cost saver in decorating!}. With strategically placed up-lights with colored gels {or even colored bulbs} really make a space feel luxurious and inviting. Also, the "tech" in the flameless candles has really come a LONG way, so if your reception hall has a "no open flame" policy {many do...be sure to ask!} you can get really realistic pillars to votives to tea lights. {Our reception hall had the policy and the flameless candles in '01 were pretty tacky for my taste...and unrealistic.} Craft's Direct has a pretty decent selection of flameless candles {and an AWESOME discount store...we got all our decorations there. Pictures to come....}
in store. They are family-owned, operated, and are great philanthropists in MN. In fact, they even had great "Keep the Christ in Christmas" flyers for their holiday ads. Pretty cool in such a PC{politically-correct} era, IMHO anyway.

PROMOTION ALERT!!!

I'm looking for non-traditional weddings {farm, steampunk, goth, eco, etc...see offbeatbride.com} to kick off the 2010 season. There's a $300 discount to the first 5 weddings to book in 2010 {non-traditional or traditional}; and a scaled discount to the next 5...so that's the first 10 to BOOK in 2010. You can be getting hitched in 2011 or 2020; just have to book this year.

Why am I running this promotion?

Easy. Those bridal expos I mentioned above have either a "waiting list" or a "bidding hierarchy" for photographers. The small ones start at $350 and the high end is $2000. I don't want to PAY someone what I could pass along in savings to clients. It's my way of staying away from the big-box prices and keeping a close base with brides{and grooms-and their parents} on budgets. Plus, I'm a believer in word-of-mouth advertising and feedback.

As of today, there are ALL 5 full discounts {and all 5 tiered discounts} available. I've got to admit, I've had a few savvy brides already email and set up meetings in the coming weeks. But I'll keep the counts in all coming posts until they're gone.

Hope you have a great weekend ahead of you!

~e