Updated: August 16, 2011, 6:30 AM
Dear miss Manners: I am truly confused. my niece was married in February after getting engaged in December. no invitations were sent out, and only her parents and siblings attended. (She lives about six hours away.) Her mother readily admits they got married because they
I'd like to start designing these things and selling them, but I know nothing about printers. what kind of printer (and other equipment, if needed) should I buy to print high-quality, professional business cards, wedding invitations, etc. etc. etc.?
Use a Color Laser printer of HP brand
For professional quality you will need a good laser printer. Inkjet printers use a water based ink that will actually draw moisture and run. Laser printers fuse a type of plastic (toner) to the paper and make the item run proof
As the post-1980s Chinese begin to marry, they are spending a lot more on their weddings than their parents. Wang Jianzhong / for China Daily
BEIJING – Love and marriage are obviously big business. On June 25, the day after new York state legalized same-sex marriage, the US wedding information provider theknot.com recorded a doubling in its traffic as gay couples rushed to make wedding plans that had been on hold for many years.
The new York City Comptrollers Office estimated the state would enjoy a net gain of $184 million within three years of the law being passed.
And David Liu, chairman and chief executive officer of XO Group, which owns theknot.com, is certainly excited about the prospects of having a bigger slice of the wedding cake.
But what thrills him more is the lucrative market half a world away in China, a market with annual revenue of $57 billion.
“China is by far the world’s largest wedding market, with approximately 10 million weddings a year, which is five times the number of weddings in the US,” Liu said.
His company entered the Chinese market in November by launching ijie.com, which aims to provide Western inspiration and local advice on weddings, relationships and pregnancy for Chinese consumers.
The gleam in the eyes of the boss of the US-listed company is not difficult to understand when you consider the growing size of China’s middle class and the money they are willing to spend on tying the knot.
An average of $12,000 is spent on each wedding, excluding the cost of the wedding ring, attire and honeymoon, according to China Wedding Industry Development Report issued in March.
Liu said that the average age of a Chinese bride is 29, which means the generation born after China adopted family planning policies have started to get married.
“So for every wedding now, on average, you have two sets of parents and four sets of grandparents. it is the only wedding they get to celebrate. it is a lot of pressure and a tremendous amount of money being spent.”
What’s more, younger Chinese are being lured by Western traditions and rites, feeling that in adopting them they are showing off their education and affluence, Liu said.
Western elements such as multitiered cakes and diamond engagement rings have become more and more common in Chinese weddings over the past decade, which offers a fantastic business opportunity for Liu’s company.
“So being the largest wedding resource online for the West actually gives us credibility in this marketplace,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese-American brides have planned their weddings using theknot.com since the website was created in 1996. The site offers creative wedding experiences that blend Eastern and Western traditions, a perfect fit for the Chinese market.
“We had a Chinese girl in Texas who had a wedding cake that looked like qipao (a traditional Chinese costume),” Liu said.
“The picture is amazing. I’m pretty sure that you (won’t) find a cake like that in China yet.”
Local competitors in China don’t have this kind of experience, he said.
However, Liu’s local competitors are skeptical about ijie.com and doubt that it will alter the landscape of China’s wedding information website business.
Liu Xiaodong, chief executive officer of xfwed.com, based in Beijing, said that while there is no doubt about the quality of ijie.com’s ideas and its experience, advertisers and vendors have their eye on just one thing: a return on their investment.
Since launching xfwed.com in 2007, Liu Xiaodong’s company has attracted advertisers and vendors by leveraging the number of the website’s registered users, of whom he said there are now 350,000.
Maintaining registered users is a difficult feat because after most people have their weddings they move on.
As more companies launch similar websites in China, the competition stiffens, Liu Xiaodong said.
The company is trying to tackle this competition by opening regional sites, catering to diverse needs and tastes throughout the country. Twenty sites are now running, and that will double by the end of this month.
The secretary-general of China Wedding Services Association, Lin Bojin, said that with companies of all types and sizes joining the already crowded market, the onus is on them to be creative to succeed.
China’s first wedding information website is believed to have been launched five years ago, and since then many companies have followed suit, eager to cash in on a burgeoning market that offers to bridge the gap between couples who want to have a perfect wedding and vendors eager to sell wedding cakes, bouquets, photographic services and more.
Lin said that since there are no dominant players in this market, it is hard to tell whether ijie.com can reproduce its US success in China.
“After all, they have money and the experience. If they are creative enough, they may still win in China.”
(China Daily 08/02/2011 page14)
Me and my husband we're going to go to TN for our religious wedding, but we decided that with a son with autism, and twins coming in 3 months, we should stay in VA. We're willing to travel to a gorgeous place that is OUTSIDE of the tidewater area. Anyone have any suggestions?
Tidewater, is that VA Beach? Try googling (enter city, state) wedding chapels. It should get you what you want.
Best wishes.
I am doing my wedding in calla lillies and I was wondering if anyone had any sites where I can get ideas for bouquets and centerpeices and anything wedding related I don't need flowers for the guys I have a different thing for them but I need flowers for the girls,me,ceremony and reception. Thanks
images.google.com/images?q=calla%
Tick, tick! Kim Kardashian is soon to be a married woman. her wedding will be held Saturday at ex Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s $20 million mansion in Montecito, Calif., according to the New York Post (it used to be owned by Ellen Degeneres).
Other deets: Still under wraps is what color the bridesmaids’ gowns will be. Kim’s sis Kourtney leaked on Twitter that they would be green, but experts think she was joking. They’ll likely be black to stay in theme with the black and white invitations. Of course Kim’s Vera Wang dress will be white.
Is there a family feud brewing already? Kourt admitted on Keeping up with the Kardashians that she hasn’t formed an opinion of her “sarcastic’’ soon to be brother in law. “I definitely don’t know what I think of Kris yet,’’ she said of the NBA power forward. “none of has spent a serious amount of time with him yet.’’
EOnline also reports that Humphries’ two older sisters (ironically named Krystal and Kaela) will not be in the wedding party. Too many K girls perhaps?
Regardless, Kim is chill, she told us Weekly at a launch party for the Kardashian Kollection in Hollywood Wednesday. “I’m just really looking forward to the whole wedding.”
E! will air the nuptials in October.
By Helen A.S. Popkin
Any literate Luddite can write his own wedding vows — and not endanger the future of humankind. Instead, Miguel Hanson wrote his own minister.
Unable to get a friend to preside over Saturday’s nuptials for him and fiance Diana Wesley, the Houston web developer and IT consultant went and coded a virtual minister named “Rev. Bit.”
Miguel Hanson, right, kisses his fiancee Diana Wesley by the computer that will soon rule us all.
“We’re both friends of the computer. so it’s kind of like our best friend is still marrying us,” Wesley told the Associated Press. “The computer is a huge part of our lives, so why not be a huge part of this?”
Wesley, 30, a high school sign language teacher, and Hanson, 33, met on the Sweet on Geeks dating site — which seems about right. (Why, it’s as if a computer wanted them to meet … )
The couple claim to have a shared interest over science fiction and fantasy, yet there is no mention of cyberpunk, which could explain why they figured a computer minister is perfectly safe. ”That’s kind of our thing,” Wesley said. “In fact, my maid of honor, she’s making my cake and she’s making it with Nerds as the topping and not icing. That’s kind of the theme, the geeked out wedding.”
(Eat cakes made of colorful candy while you can, Houston lovebirds. Soon, our robot overlords will have us toiling in servo factories.)
With a voice reminiscent of one Dr. Stephen Hawking, Rev. Bit presided over the ceremony via 30-inch monitor — square face with oval glasses on one side of the screen, purportedly executing words written by Wesley and Hanson on the other. He’s a bit less animated than Japan’s “I-Fairy” robot which married a couple last year. but what he lacks in movement, he makes up for in danger-distracting humor.
“If anyone here has anything to say that might change their minds or has any objections, they do not want to hear it and I will not recognize your objections since Miguel has programmed me to only recognize his commands,” Rev. Bit quipped to the approximately 30 wedding guests in Hanson’s parents’ back yard.
Leaving no room for Clippy to offer, “It looks like you’re getting married…” the couple spoke their parts, reading from a smartphones, of course. Hanson prompted Rev. Bit to speak his parts via a wireless mouse in his pocket.
More ceremony than legally binding, Rev. Bit doesn’t have the credentials to officially marry the couple — yet. until the machines take over, the lovebirds must also to go to a human justice of the peace and sign some papers for that.
Going in, the couple had complete support from their friends over Rev. Bit — though not all family members were into it at first. A couple members of the family were like, ‘Really? A computer?’” Wesley said before the wedding. “I think once they see it. … It’s novel and so it’s something they haven’t seen.”
Indeed. the video shows a glowing groom, a giggling bride standing before Rev. Bit’s monitor — and your standard-issue teary-eyed guests — a must at any wedding. and who knows? maybe all those wedding-presiding Elvis impersonators will be out of business as soon as someone programs that thing to sing.
Adorable? Sure, for now. But we all know how this ends.
More on the annoying way we live now:
Helen A.S. Popkin will take even the happiest story and make it about dystopia. tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.
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Article Source:Wedding planning ideas
In case you are the form of bride who desires all the things in her marriage ceremony to be a bit distinctive, from the bridal jewelry to the dessert menu, conventional marriage ceremony centerpieces may not be your cup of tea. One attention-grabbing various is to design centerpieces round live fish. it have to be carried out with care and thought for the fish, but when carried out nicely, swimming fish centerpieces are quite lovely and a fantastic dialog starter.
Most marriage ceremony centerpieces with fish are carried out with both beta fish or goldfish. Beta fish come in additional colors and have lovely tails. Goldfish, alternatively, are less expensive and easier to take care of after the wedding. Goldfish can happily co-habitate in a shared bowl after the marriage, but betas will need to be housed individually. Either plan to maintain the fish as pets in your new home, or make sure that you have friends lined as much as take them home after the reception. Do not assume that should you put out a note asking for someone from every desk to take home a fish that they will!
Carefully prepare the bowls on your fish centerpieces. The water will need to be treated before placing the live fish into it with tablets or drops obtained at a pet store. Think about what shape you would like to use for the bowls. The traditional round fish bowl shape is a pure choice. Another idea is a tall cylinder, so long as it is extensive enough to present the fish some room to swim. If using low open bowls, it is a very smart idea to cowl them in order that none of the friends are tempted to poke their fingers into the bowl. This goes as a lot for drunken marriage ceremony friends as it does the younger children on the marriage ceremony!
The fish themselves will be quite lovely swimming round, but you will still need some other design parts to finish your centerpieces. For taller vessels, it seems to be completely lovely to prime the vase with a floral arrangement. a green plant may also be used for a extra affordable option. This will be both decorative and will maintain the fish protected from intruding fingers. it also seems to be pretty to have rocks, pebbles, or marbles in the backside of the fish bowls. Some of the websites which you’ve got been extremely advisable in this regard are Wedding Centerpieces, baby furniture and electrolyte pills.Check these out and feel free to fill me in with your thoughts.
There’s a famous scene in the sitcom Friends where all three women just dress up in bridal gowns for an evening because it just makes them feel good. as anyone who’s worn a bridal gown knows though, there is something about the virgin white bridal dress that just makes a woman feel like the only bride in the whole world. Of course, everyone wants a Vera Wang dress and little angels holding their train up as they sweep down the aisle. Most women though, would easily settle for a discount bridal dress if it saved them a few precious dollars, and if it looked like a Vera Wang dress for all anyone could tell. Let’s look a little closer at the whole discount bridal dress market and where you’re likely to find the best deals.
To every woman (and a few men), nothing tops the experience of going to a bridal salon to be pampered for the big day. Two out of three women getting married every year go to such a place. the average price of a dress in such a place though is about $1000. That’s 5% of your wedding budget right there. the reason dresses at bridal salons are so expensive is that they custom-make them. You can’t ever find that kind of fitting anywhere else. not to mention, you have a whole entourage waiting on you, hanging on your every word. It’s a whole experience that you pay the money for.
If you would like a discount bridal dress but you still wouldn’t want to give up on the salon experience, you need to look on the Internet for what bridal salon in your area deals in the more affordable brands – like Maggie Sottero and Watters & Watters. These brands make dresses in the $500 range – ones that they will suit everyone. it isn’t just the dress that costs you money. the alterations contribute a great deal to the price too – changes, sleeve length changes and so on – and you should save a bundle.
The next best thing to a bridal salon of course is a bridal chain store. Typically, these places will offer their own brand of dresses. You always find great examples of discount bridal dress at stores like Alfred Angelo. These are cheaper because they make them out of a more common fabric. You can find dresses here for no more than $200. David’s Bridal actually sells an affordable line of discount bridal dress by Vera Wang for about $600. they are on Vera’s affordable White line.
The normal retail clothing stores are getting into the wedding business more than ever before today. Wedding gowns happen to be a very profitable trade. the difference is that at Ann Taylor or J. Crew, they charge you for the dress and not for the fact that you’re sticking the word Wedding before it. usually, you’ll find simple cuts at these places. if your wedding is going to be more informal formal, a dress from one of these places should be just perfect. A simple tulle dress for instance, would set you back no more than $350.
And finally, when it comes to getting a discount bridal dress, no one beats Costco. they don’t actually sell them very cheap – you’ll find nothing below $600, for example. What they offer you though, tends to be quite special for the price.
