Hi everyone!

Sorry I have not updated in FOREVER, but we lost a few people in our office and things have been crazy! December through March is high honeymoon booking season.

Anyways, I thought I would do a quick post about an upcoming bridal show that we are participating in…

From 11 am to 3 pm, join us for an upscale bridal show at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. Famous for its golf tournaments and for its famous clientele, this is the first time the Riviera Country Club will be allowing non members to contemplate having a Rivera Wedding.

And did I mention you will have a chance to enter into our Hawaii Honeymoon drawing? That’s right! You could win a 4 night honeymoon at a five star resort.

All you have to do is register! The first 300 brides are free and get a free bag of goodies.

Register Here: http://www.rccla.com/arivierawedding/

For more info, visit our website and click on the link in blue at the top of the page.
www.amtweddings.com

October and November are the unofficial beginning of the new travel year.  This is when pricing is available for the most popular travel months of June through August.  To promote products, resorts and travel consolidators will offer what is often called the early booking discount.  This could be anything from a free night, a special amenity such as free breakfasts, or up to $100 off the hotel stay a night!  This is just one benefit of booking any travel early. When it comes to booking travel for a honeymoon, it is even more important to book early, especially if you are planning to travel between May and August.  These are the most popular wedding months, and honeymooners must compete not only with regular travelers high season, but an increase in other honeymooning couples.  This means that special room categories, such as honeymoon suites and oceanfront properties, will sell out quickly.  And with such an important trip, you do not want to leave it to the last minute chance.

Booking early also gives you the ability to get you air fare at a lower price as well.  Air usually gets more expensive the closer you get to a departure date.  And with air pricing changing on a daily basis, the first price at the earliest time is usually the best.

Once you have a deposit on something, there is no worrying about what could happen.  So weather you are traveling for your honeymoon, a destination wedding or any other type of vacation or getaway, book early to avoid the stress of loose ends!

As I have mentioned before, wedding fever is a force of nature in my life.  Not only am I working with brides all over the country to create the best honeymoons, but it seems that, one after the other, friends and family members are getting married.  The latest in this list is my dear cousin Kelly.  My mother, my aunt and my cousin Jenny are throwing her a “posh” shower next weekend.  I was drafted into creating the invites and the shower centerpieces, being the crafty one.  The invitations were a bit of a fiasco (I won’t go into it), but the centerpieces are coming out incredible.  I am attaching a picture of them.  As it is a fall wedding, with the wedding colors being sage and chocolate, I decided to do the shower in fall colors, using the sage, chocolate and orange.  They are so great I simply had to post this picture.  See, you can have nice things you make yourself!

Because destination weddings are growing in popularity with modern brides and grooms, more and more resorts are offering wedding packages. My favorite of said companies is Couples Resorts. Located in Jamaica with four unique properties: Couples Ocho Rios, Couples Sans Souci, Couples Swept Away and Couples Negril. These all inclusive resorts are more peaceful than their big name competitor, Sandals. They are also less crowded, with only 150 to 312 rooms available. And these are large properties, meaning it will seem even more intimate. Each resort has about seven restaurants, four bars and plenty of included activities. Some resorts even offer Jacuzzis in the suite! And this is a couples only resort. Each of these beautiful resorts offers complimentary wedding packages to make your day special!

I have sent many a couple to the Couples Resorts for destination weddings, but the most recent is Tabitha Durkee and Kirk Arneson. They are planning their destination wedding to the Couples Swept Away on April 1, 2008 for about 30 guests. Take a look at their website
http://www.kirkandtabitha.com/bonusone.asp

If you are thinking about a destination wedding and want some great location ideas, check out this site with the top ten destinations!

http://www.amtweddings.com/destination-wedding-top.html

As always, I am happy to answer any questions about honeymoons or destination weddings!

There are so many ways to gift your friends and family who are getting married.  From a honeymoon registry gift to new home registires, the wedding world is changing drastically.  You can see a free honeymoon registry that I personally run at http://www.amtweddings.com/honeymoon-registry.html.   

And now there is a new type of registry, perfect for couples who treasure the art of their loved ones.

 For the new Mr. and Mrs. in your life, consider giving a much needed gift that you personally made yourself.  At  paint your own pottery stores, there are a number of engaged couples who are asking wedding guests gor hand painted plates, mugs, bowls, serving platers and more.  This gives the bride and groom a chance to showcase the art of their talented friends and family.  And it’s non toxic, lead free, microwave and dishwasher safe!  I have personally partaken in such a gift at my local paint your own ceramic studio, A Fire Within Ceramics www.afirewithinceramics.com.  So if you are looking for the perfect gift, or for the perfect registry to use for your weddings, a paint your own ceramics registry may be the way to go!

Have you ever noticed that weddings in your personal life happen in clumps? For example, I have been involved in a wedding for the last four years. It seems that as soon as one ends, another begins. Personally, I blame the wedding fever. Women go to weddings, and have a great time. The bride looks beautiful, the groom so handsome, they are so in love, etc. etc. etc. And before the night is over, bang, the wedding fever has been passed on. I think that the throwing of the bouquet is actually a physical metaphor of the spread of wedding fever. Men are obviously immune to its effects, unfortunately for us gals! But wedding fever is so catching because everyone has a good time. In fact, if people come away from your wedding without wedding fever, your reception has failed! So keep this in mind: The purpose of your wedding is to have fun, thus passing on the wedding fever! p>

For years, people have been applying themes to their weddings.  From Star Trek to Fariy Tale themed, each wedding has certain foods and garments to incorporate whatever appeals to the couple.  I came across one such option on Mother’s Day, when I took my mom to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.  Sure enough, you can be married there, overlooking the beautifully scenic lake, in a decorated gazebo.  The Faire has a number of packages to choose from to create the perfect Renaissance themed wedding, but has several add-ons to make it comprehensive.  At first, I thought that a wedding here would be cheesy.  But the Pleasure Faire really works hard to give their weddings an elegant look, with touches like rich brocade table cloths covering other wise simple stone benches, and even a historically accurate “bridal chamber” where the bridal party can prepare themselves.  Anyone who has ever been to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire knows that anyone in attendance will be warmly welcomed an encouraged to join in the fun of the Faire!  No doubt that any weddings held at the Faire will have an energetic and exciting atmosphere.  One of the bonuses of having your wedding here is the Faire Wedding Coordinator.  Included with your wedding package, the Faire wedding coordinator can put brides in touch with special costumers, florists, entertainers, photographers and more.  You even get private “privies” aka outhouses, that are not used by the public.  There can be a lot of perks to such a wedding.  Talk about the event of the year!  Who would forget such an innovative way to say I do?  The Faire can even get you a minister who will marry you in traditional Elizabethan english!  For couples who really want to immerse themselves in a theme that is not only fun, but as historically accurate as possible, the Renaissance Pleasure Faire seems the way to go!