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InvitationConsultants.com launches a new unique product line: Red Leaf Papers.

Tampa, FL (PRWEB) January 15, 2009 -- InvitationConsultants.com, a leading online retailer of wedding and party invitations and social stationery, has recently diversified their product offering with a line of unique invitations called Red Leaf Papers.

Red Leaf Papers is designed by Invitation Consultants and printed by the nation's leading wholesale printing company, Carlson Craft. Red Leaf Papers is the result of the creative effort of Invitation Consultants' staff of talented graphic designers and the inspiration of the company's president, Allison DeMeulder.

"We've sold many wonderful brands of invitations over the past 10 years, so it only seemed natural to start our own brand," said De Meulder. "We chose to work with Carlson Craft because of our tremendously positive relationship with them over the years. Their quality and service is exceptional."

Red Leaf Papers is available for sale on InvitationConsultants.com or on Carlson Craft CCEasy websites where independent retailers set up their own store.

Red Leaf Papers perfectly complements the fresh new design of InvitationConsultants.com which has undergone a makeover and adopted the new mantra: Your Fabulous Event Starts Here. The new design enhances the customer's shopping experience, making invitations and stationery easier to find and order. InvitationConsultants.com also now offers an instant preview for many of the invitations available online. The instant preview allows shoppers to customize the font, ink color and layout of their invitation wording and view their creation before submitting their order.

About Invitation Consultants:
Invitation Consultants is an award winning, full service invitation company offering over 8,000 products. Established in 1999 by Allison De Meulder, the company has established itself as the preeminent choice for wedding and party invitations. For more information, please visit InvitationConsultants.com and RedLeafPapers.com.

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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/wedding/invitations/prweb1860944.htm

 

A Hiring Guide from Blue Orchid Designs

Blue Orchid Designs is a wedding planning firm out of Arizona and while I'm not a wedding planner or bride, their blog is one that I check in on everyday. Liene, the bright CEO, offers tips for many important details involved in planning a wedding. One of my favorite things about the Blue Orchid blog is that there are comprehensive posts that form series filled with helpful information. Last year, Liene posted about how to plan a wedding in thirty days. After reading it, I really got a new appreciation for how much work it is to plan an event and how much our customers have on their plates.

Yesterday, Liene posted an installment in another helpful series: Wedding Vendor Hiring Guide. The post was on choosing the right vendor for your wedding invitations and stationery. I thought she brought up a few key questions involving samples and proofs. If time allows, samples are very important because they allow you to see the quality of the cardstock and the color of the paper in person. Proofs are also very valuable because they enable you to read over your wording one last time before printing and allow you to see the text laid out as it will be printed. One thing I would add is to Liene's tips is ask what printing method will be used on your invitations. It will give you a really good hint for what can be personalized, how many ink colors you can use, and gives you a good jumping off point for comparing pricing. 

While I'm partial (pick us! we're awesome!) I understand it's important to shop around for invitations. It will give you an idea of what you really want for your big day. Ask the important questions and go with your gut when choosing your paper vendor.  If you want to ask us the important questions, we're here.

Series Starter: Be A Recessionista Bride - Focus on Centerpieces

This week’s topics:

Centerpieces  for the Recessionista yet Fabulous Bride.

 The centerpiece staple: the Vase

Glass vases are relatively inexpensive. They can be purchased in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Some brides prefer straight lines on a square or tall vase or for a Victorian or traditional look try a vase with a circular base. Glass vases are extremely versatile because they match everything.  They can morph into ultra-traditional representations or contemporary masterpieces. A few fillers for the vases that we recommend are:

1.     Lemons and limes to add color and spring and summer seasonality. Even mix fruit and flowers.

2.     Passion fruit for a variety of bolder colors.

3.     Dried or silk flowers in the colors of your wedding or real flower petals

4.     Rocks ( I prefer smoother surface). Even add one flower to the rocks like they did.

5.     Seashells whole not pieces

6.     Colored jellybeans or M&M’s with your names or cute message to your guests

7.     Snowflakes or other holiday ornaments

8.     Painted wood letters that spell words (or the name of the table) or the initials of the bride and groom

Floral Preferences

Flowers are very often a must have for brides and groom. They are a classic symbol of a wedding. Although many couples are finding alternatives for flowers, these iconic symbols will always be a part of many weddings. If you must have flowers consider unique recessionista twists.

1.     Purchase a glass or colored vase that has a special design and only allows for 1 – 5 flowers. These vases are simple and although there are few flowers, the design accentuates the flowers.

2.     Consider less expensive flowers in the color of your choice. If red roses were your first choice, consider red Chrysanthemum or Carnations.

3.     Make a centerpiece out of your party favors. So there is no waste of the centerpiece, everything gets taken home, including these little flower pots. Martha Stewart Weddings shows this as well.

Floral Substitutions

There are alternate options for flowers that can have a similarly gratifying effect.

1.     Consider an alternative to flowers are big leaves. Tropical weddings can try the palm frond or simply leaves from a palm tree.

2.      Also consider strikingly large branches (which items may hang from). During the fall season leaves may hang from the branches or during the holiday season, small ornaments can bring color to these branches.

3.     Candles of all sizes and colors can make from sweet ambience. Even inexpensive votive candles  (if you have at least 10 on a table) can illuminate the room. Incorporate your theme or location in the candles, like these sailboat votives.

As you can see there are many great centerpieces to create on a budget!

Everyone Wants to Know

This article has gotten so much traction. It is truly a burning question, "How to Word Those Wedding Invitations - Even When Life Throws Curveballs?"

Check out our words of wisdom. And if you have a wording question, you can always email us at customerservice@invitationconsultants.com.

Life is crazy - so be prepared to create the right wording for your invitation!

Mid Week Pop of Yellow

Inspiration hit this morning when I saw a billboard that said "Save money, invite people over." It featured that cute little monkey that has been popping up all over the place. Does anyone know anything about this monkey that is making random appearances about saving us money on energy and other things? He or she has some good tips because all it takes to entice people to come over is some inspired food, drink and merriment. Here are some bright and fresh ideas for a party, including new Jamie Oliver food (even the packaging is cute) and seasonal Petunias, called the mid week perk up party! Thanks to Chelsea over at Frolic for the lovely photograph!

Becoming a Recessionista - the new Cool

Fab*Blog is starting a five part series on Becoming a Fashionista Bride in these Recessionista times. Everyone seems to be reaching out to each other, whether it is referring a friend to another who has lost their job or helping someone have their big day no matter what. There is a blog contest by a wonderful photographer that is actually donating her time to a lucky couple. Check out emilie sommer's blog for the details. And check back for our new series Becoming a Fashionista Bride in these Recessionista times! As always keep your eye out for those great deals and contests out there!

 

Dress Me Up!

Every year Gasparilla transcends on the Tampa Bay area. Yet people from all over the country come to enjoy it! It is an excuse for grown ups to dress up as pirates, meander around a float and throw beads to children and adults of all ages. The key is: the more beads you get..the better! There is a children's parade, a day parade and a night parade. How much partying can the bay area take? If you want to know more about the history of Gasparilla, click here.  The more you read about it, the more fun it sounds like! If you want to party hop, hit Tampa and then New Orleans for Mardi Gras! Double whammy!

This parade has been popular for quite some time. And now there is a new surge of popularity in pirate themed parties all around the country. It gives kids a chance to dress up on other days besides parades and Halloween. Kids are having pirate themed birthday parties...simply because they are fun and you get to talk funny. Pirate invitations are great for boys and their dress up parties.

So while adults are out dressed up as pirates and young boys as pirates too, what is a young girl to do!  Tea parties are a great way to have girls dress up as their favorite princess or a replica of their hip yet well mannered mommy. So many cute places are popping up where girls can dress up for a few hours and enjoy tea and friends. What is great for kids, is Halloween is not the only time they can dress up; they can do so for birthday parties too!

Tips for having a great kid's dress up party:

1. state that dress up is recommended on the invitation or if dress up will be provided at the party location

2. don't have anyone dress up who doesn't want to; this isn't for everyone

3. check out more party blogs for ideas, such as Amazing Moms, who recommends having plenty of help the day of the event

4. don't leave anyone out, even if they do not want to dress up, not everyone wants to be the center of attention (although I do not understand that phenomenon, I can certainly respect it!)

Have a blast!

OSCAR!

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning! If you are not a member of the Academy or BFFs with Elton John, chances are you will watch the Oscars from your couch.  Invite friends over to watch with you and you have an instant party. There are so many directions you can take an Oscar Party in. You can have your guests dress up in formal wear and serve champagne and an elegant entree, or you can have guests come casual and snack on movie snacks (popcorn, milk duds, junior mints, etc.). Either way, there are a few good tricks to having a fun Oscars party even if you haven't seen the films receiving nods.

1. Print the Oscar ballots and have everyone predict the big winners. Your friends may not care who wins the Oscar for Documentary Short, but they will have fun guessing just the same. A sweet prize to the most accurate guesser is always appreciated - oscar statuettes are available at most party stores.

2. Honor the classics. Invest in a couple of vintage movie posters, or hand out movie postcards. Make a mixed CD of movie themes and include some from back in the day. No matter how much time has passed, the Godfather theme is still a chilling classic.

3. I wish there were halftime at the Oscars, but since there isn't, choose a boring part of the show (like when they announce the accountants... j/k) to play a quick game. Print out movie trivia or play movie charades. As guests arrive, you can have them put an index card printed with an actor or actress' name on their backs. You can give hints all night as to who it may be. The person who guesses the fastest wins a prize. 

In the spirit of the Oscars, let me know in a comment below: what's your favorite movie? 

Featured above: Gold Red Carpet, Platinum Carpet, and PG13

The Year of the Cupcake

I was in Los Angeles this past week and had a fabulous time. The weather was in the 70's with little to no humidity, how can anyone complain. I spent one of my days in my favorite place, maybe you have heard of it..Beverly Hills. Hint: if you are having a bad day play Weezer's song Beverly Hills and your mood will change swiftly! Anyways, we stopped into Sprinkles aka an awesome cupcake place. I had the vanilla with vanilla sprinkles and it was worth every sprinkle (I mean calorie). From the recycled boxes to the unique flavors such as marshmallow to the minimalistic use of the color mocha, this place is delicious!

There has definitely been an upswing for "the cupcake" in the past year. Cupcake spots are popping up all over the country. We have a local one here in Tampa with chandeliers as the lighting fixtures. It is now hip to sip on a latte and chomp on a cupcake on a Friday night; a great substitute to the Friday night beer and peanuts! And no longer do you have to have a toddler in tow at a cupcake place; it is an evening treat for just the adults too! Cupcakes are cute and whimsy and you do not have to be eight years old to love them. We even have a taste of cupcakes here with our cupcake themed invitations. So these dainty icons can be placed anywhere, even paper! Find your local cupcake place and support it!

Shown: Va-Va-Vanilla from Tampa Bay's Cupcake Spot, Blue Cupcake Sticker and Cupcake Napkins and Girl Cupcake.