How to prevent this

The internet is buzzing lately with the horrible story about the couple who returned from their wedding reception to find their apartment ransacked. The thieves even took the toilet roll off the holder and the clothes from the closets. It was a complete 'move-out'! So how could something like this possibly happen?

Every day millions of brides around the world are busy announcing their weddings, talking about the time-lines and making plans for their honeymoons. And...they talk openly about everything that is taking place. In restaurants, in the hair salon, at work, in the supermarket and just about everywhere.
This poor couple did the same thing and when you watch the clip, you may think to yourself, well that's just not possible where I live. But think again, after doing a little research, we've found that the most prime times for burglaries are, believe it or not, during weddings and funerals! As horrible as it seems, this is what professional burglars prey on. They scan through newspapers and scope out the sections with announcements such as weddings and funerals. This is when they are sure no one will be home. Not even neighbors, as they'll no doubt be attending too. They calculate and move with speed and can clean an entire 3 bedroom apartment out within one hour. People passing by will just assume its moving day and be none the wiser.
So how can you prevent something like this happening to you? Always lean on the side of caution and make preparations before your wedding. If you've announced your wedding and know you will not be returning to your residence before the honeymoon, then make arrangements for someone or a good soul neighbor to keep an eye on your apartment/home while you're gone. Enlist the help of a good neighbor to be particularly aware of the wedding day itself and report anything suspicious. If you don't know your neighbors, make it a point to introduce yourself before the wedding and also the local police department if you're going to be away for more than a couple of days. Better yet, see if you can find someone that will be willing to stay at your home while you're gone.
This posting is not meant to panic anyone or make anyone paranoid, but do be aware. Better being safe than sorry.
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Are you considering a Candy Bar or Dessert Table at your wedding reception?

Today's weddings incorporate fun and more whimsical ideas than the old fashioned traditional weddings where a served dessert and wedding cake only are served. Brides have a chance to show off their personalities by placing their favorite candy, popcorn or cookies at their reception and guests can treat themselves when they're ready or even take some home in treat bags.

When offering a treat bar, make sure it is easy access to all your guests or offer a server there to assist. If you are presenting your sweets in glassware, this will ensure there are no accidents.

Also consider having pre-packaged treats to send home with your guests with a short thank you note and a sweet dreams message from you and your groom. This will allow your guests to take a bit of your wedding home with them and enjoy the flavors even after the reception is over with.

Contact the Bridal Library for more ideas on customizing your wedding day celebrations with added treats! CLICK HERE
Photography courtesy of A CHARLESTON WEDDING

Charleston Wedding FAM

Are you interested in having a Charleston Wedding but really don't know where to start? Good news. A CHARLESTON EVENT & BRIDAL LIBRARY have teamed up with the local wedding venues in Charleston to present a stressfree, fun-filled weekend of tours, information and tips from the pros on planning a destination wedding in Charleston.

A Charleston Event are the creators and organizers for the original and informative Charleston Wedding FAM (FAM meaning familiarization). Travel in style while we take you through a step back in history and present you with beautiful historic homes and mansions, plantations and even more contemporary sites to hold your nuptials and wedding celebrations. You'll find surprises along the way as each site offers their hospitality to those who grace their premises and you may even get to see a few preparing for upcoming weddings while you're there.

For more information on Charleston Wedding FAM go to the website by clicking HERE.
The best news? Once your FAM is over, you're not left on your own. If you'd like to book any of A Charleston Event & Bridal Library's planning services, the cost of your FAM will be transferred over as part of your deposit. Call the Bridal Library today for more information on wedding planning services or visit the website BRIDAL LIBRARY.

You can also call our office at 843-494-9501 for more information on our upcoming FAMs.

Lace Inspired Water Bottles

Absolutely LOVE these lace inspired water bottles by Evian! Evian® dresses in Christian Lacroix! Christian Lacroix's Prêt-à-Porter bottle comes decorated with glittering snowy crystals that charmingly symbolize the purity of this natural spring water. The coppiced lace pattern provides the bottle with a classic frosted feel and is reminiscent of the flora that can be found at the French Alps. Distinguished, understated and so very Lacroix, it will add that final touch of chic and elegance to every festive table. 750ml glass bottle.

Update from Christy on planning her own wedding!

BRIDAL PORTRAITS
This was an experience all in it's own and something I would recommend to all brides. It not only gave me the opportunity to finally feel like a "real" bride, but also allowed me to get the feel for my dress and shoes. I also could not decide if I wanted to wear my hair up or down so I did both for the portraits. It was great to be able to look at the pictures afterwards and see how I would look either way on the wedding day. So, I made up my mind, but you will just have to wait and see! Thank you to my "entourage"...make sure you take one with you! I was blessed to have my mother, furture mother-in-law and Elyn there with me. Heather, as always, you made me feel so beautiful! Laurel and Sara from Patrick Properties were nice enough to lend me Lowndes Grove for a couple hours to make it all come together. Can't wait to post pictures but will have to wait until after the wedding...can't have anyone seeing me in my dress:)

STOCK THE BAR PARTY

Our Bar is Stocked! This is my advice to bridal parties...give your bride and groom a Stock the Bar party. Some of our bridesmaids and groomsmen gave us one and it was a perfect "couples shower". We not only have our bar stocked but also had the chance to hang out with all of our friends and celebrate. It was such a great time!!!!

DECISIONS, DECISIONS...
Did I just make a Decision? Being proud of myself doesn't even explain it! I finally decided what I wanted for florals. Not only did I make a decision...I am going to stick to it. I can't give myself full credit because Elyn had to finally sit me down and "help" me make up my mind. Again, reason number 526 to have a supportive wonderful wedding planner and floral designer! I can't show you the designs yet. You'll have to tune in after my wedding and see all the final touches. In the meantime, here's a sneak preview of my colors........

ONE MONTH OUT

Wow, I can't believe that the wedding is less than a month away! The past year has flown by and Chris and I both are so excited that we will finally be married. My advice for brides during the last weeks before the wedding is to remember that everything will fall into place. In my case, thanks to Elyn! Instead of being stressed out, enjoy the last few weeks engaged. Chris and I have had fun rearranging my house and buying small things to make it "ours". We have also been going through our presents and deciding where everything will go. It has been a lot of fun playing "house". Can't wait until it is our HOME!

Inspiration

Check out this new entry on favorite wedding blog - Wedding Bee. Crisp spring colors with a turquoise and robin's egg blue. And below, rich aubergine (eggplant) and a soft lavender palette. Check out the site for tons of ideas and inspiration!

Wedding Bee Blog

Decorating with candles

OK, so you're on a budget and want to decorate your wedding reception without having to break the bank. You want a romantic effect and something that will WOW your guests. Nothing screams romance louder than candle light and here's a perfect way of doing it yourself with little effort.

Buy, rent or have friends donate glass cylinders (all different sizes) and add a couple of dendrobium orchid buds and water. Then top off with single tea lights or floater candles and a sprinkled orchid blossoms around the bases. Delegate one of your friends or catering crew to light right before your guests are due to arrive at the reception and watch as they bring a sense of beauty to any room. Simple and cost-effective elegance!

Facebook Updates

Hi everyone. If you are on facebook, make sure you check out our new Facebook Page:

Just click on A CHARLESTON EVENT & BRIDAL LIBRARY

We enjoy hearing from you so sign on as a fan and give us your feedback on new designs and items posted. See you on Facebook!

BLOG ACTION DAY for Climate Change

Today is Blog Action Day for Climate Change and while some of you may think that has nothing to do with weddings or special events, I beg to differ. I'm not an activist or have any political stake in this subject. But I am passionate about TRYING to make a difference in our world and do believe that each one of us has a conscious and moral obligation to try to do the same, no matter how small that might be.

There is a lot of debate today about things such as recycling, chemicals that we use on a daily basis, pestasides, and even radiation. All are claimed to be just a fraction of the cause of global warming on our planet right now. Truth or myth? I'm not sure what the true causes are but I do know this; when I was a child, we used to lie for hours under a beautiful sun, on the back lawn that wasn't swarming with ants and we didn't get swathed in sun screen before we went outdoors. We never wore insect repellent. We had strong winters and hot summers and also had beautiful springs and autumns, the way nature is supposed to be.

The arctic was truly a world wonder and there was no talk of ice melting and mountain tops disappearing or even endangered species. We ate things with real sugar, real butter and real fruit and vegetables. They were all from local farms and we never heard the word organic.

While there was cancer and illness in the world, it was nowhere near what we see today. I can remember only once hearing about a hurricane and the tornadoes I heard about was on the Wizard of Oz. Drought wasn't a word that was ever used and floods were only heard of when referring to Noah and his ark.

Perhaps I grew up sheltered from the real world or my parents weren't as educated and worldly as parents are now. We watched the news every night but never do I remember such intensity in climate changes in the world as there seem to be today. A dear friend of mine argues that this is because reporters today have more freedom of speech and better financing to research and get to the stories. I believe that reporters of every generation had the ability to report storms, disasters and current events and it is evident that today's climate change IS different and is changing drastically.

In our home, we are trying so hard to do more than just recycle. We have changed light bulbs to energy efficient ones, we've stopped wasting water by turning it off when it doesn't need to run and we're trying to educate ourselves on the impact of waste that is consumed by millions of us every day in order to learn something and teach our children and grandchildren. We've stopped buying plastics and styrofoam and use glass instead. Using real plates and cloth napkins (so what...you have a few more plates to wash up after a BBQ).

The biggest thing is being conscious of trying to make changes. Say what you'd like about Al Gore and his documentary about global warming. You may or may not like the man, but in my mind, he is one of the very few that had the guts to stand up to the world and create a film that SHOULD get everyone thinking!!!

There are a lot of people out there that use the word 'green' too loosely because it is such a raging topic right now. Green houses, green cars and even green weddings. In my industry, there are wedding planners popping up all over, who are truly trying to create the ultimate 'GREEN WEDDING'. Hats off to those who do it successfully and from the heart. From my standpoint, if each one of us try a bit, it adds to the big picture.

Please do go to http://www.blogactionday.org/ and post your comments and feelings. This is a one day event and an opportunity to give everyone around the world a voice that can be heard. If nothing else, it give us all the opportunity to 'think' about the changing climate as it stands today.

Catering Previews

We have been so blessed in working with such a large variety of wedding vendors in Charleston and one of the things we were asked to cover by our brides was more information on some of our favorite vendors. Today, we'd like to tip our hats publicly to two of our favorite caterers in Charleston.
Quite a few brides leave a lot of the menu planning up to their caterers and planners. Frankly speaking, we plan weddings and our caterers plan menus. We know what we like as individuals, but no one knows what your taste buds crave but you. So while we can make suggestions on menu favorites for your cocktail hour and reception, there is no simple answer to this question and there is no set menus to choose from.

Everything depends on your caterer and the dishes that they specialize in creating. For instance, above you'll see these wonderful little shrimp and grits pears that were created for a number of our weddings and special events by Iverson Catering. Any catering firm or chef can make shrimp and grits, but Chef Iverson created a twist on the original dish and came up with these wonderful two-bite morsels. Large jumbo shrimp are packed all around with a creamy seasoned grits (a southern favorite) and lightly breaded, baked and topped with a bay leaf.

Other options include things such as rolled flank steak with a seasonal garden vegetables display and accompanying mac & cheese singles with a ceasar salad station (chicken, shrimp and other toppings on the side, a pasta station and so much more. Iverson Catering

If you are thinking about something a little more relaxed without sacrificing the show, then perhaps you'll consider these wonderful finger sandwiches created by Royal Grand Events. It's all about the display of food. Here, Curtis Labitue arranged these chicken salad sandwiches on three different levels with a pretty sign that made the guests at this beach wedding feel like they were eating at a beautiful beach resort. A grand fruit and cheese display and fresh lemonade in beautiful decanters was also provided at this wedding and budgetary requirements were met while maintaining a beautiful and artful presentation.

Royal Grand Events

When all is said and done, what does your palate crave? If you're a meat lover, you can never go wrong with a great tenderloin or prime rib. Cou ntry ham biscuits are made differently by each catering company and make great appetizers or late reception snacks. Seafood lovers can enjoy a mixture of oysters, shrimp and local trigger fish with another southern favorite - crab cakes. Chicken, carved turkey or glazed ducking in a sweet orange sauce for poultry lovers and nothing beats a great mashed potato or pasta station for vegetarian options. The choices are unlimited.

Ask your caterer to send you their menu suggestions and choose from what they offer, but don't be shy in asking them if they can create a menu around your personalities and favorite foods. 99% will be more than happy to do this for you! Bon appetit!