BrideAccess.com Wedding Blog
BrideAccess.com brings you the finest Utah wedding service providers, including Utah wedding photography, cakes, Utah reception sites, wedding dresses, flowers and more. From Logan to St. George and everything in between, BrideAccess.com has you covered.
-By The Gathering Place
January 7th 2010
Thanks for coming back to visit our Blog. If you have a cool idea you would like to share with other brides, even something you are doing for your wedding click here to see how to submit your very own blog entry!!! If you are interested in seeing something in particular on our blog that you don't see, please don't hesitate in contacting us. See you next time!
by Shauna Lund
The Gathering Place at Gardner Village
I received a call from a “Maid of Honor” last week to set up an appointment for a tour of The Gathering Place at Gardner Village. I was impressed by her eagerness to help her bride. As they arrived for the tour, she pulled out a checklist and began to ask important questions about availability, parking, ceremonies, wedding luncheons and reception information. She also inquired about details such as linens, centerpieces, décor, food options and favors. She was well prepared with her questions and wrote notes to refer to once they had completed their tour of wedding sites. She was definitely going above and beyond the call of duty. How lucky that bride was to have such a well-organized and helpful friend in planning that very important day!
As you choose attendants who will assist you on your wedding day, I recommend choosing someone who has a pleasing personality, is organized and will be a calming influence even if something goes wrong. Here is a list of additional things you may want to consider.
• Make it a bonding time for you and your attendants. Outline what you expect from each of them over a nice lunch, followed by a shopping excursion to look at dresses for the wedding. A lot of our brides take advantage of the wonderful Cottage Retreat Day Spa here at Gardner Village, going for massages, pedicures and hair-dos on the day of the wedding.
• Give each bridesmaid a list of things she is in charge of on the wedding day. For example, putting on chair covers and sashes, setting up a display table or centerpieces. One of our cutest brides, who just happened to be an interior designer, had designed the most amazing centerpieces! She knew she would not have time on her wedding day to assemble them. So she took pictures as she created them, and placed the pieces into a box. Each table was to be unique. Each box was labeled and the picture added to the box. The night of the wedding, her attendants took their boxes complete with the picture of how each was to look and reconstructed the centerpieces on the tables. It was fabulous!
• Many hands make light work. Use your attendants to help lift the stress of your wedding day, so you feel relaxed and confident and can enjoy your guests and the memories you’re creating.
For an ideal venue for your special day, visit The Gathering Place at Gardner Village. We are located at 1100 West 7800 South in West Jordan. 801.566.0917, www.gardnervillage.com.
Posted in: Planning a Wedding ~ Wedding Vendors ~ Reception Sites ~ Wedding Design Tips
-By Nicole
January 4th 2010
Yes, it is that time of year… when Bridal Shows are abundant. How do you get ready for them?
- Plan a time to go. Often, vendors are not quite as busy at the very start of the show, which may allow you more time to ask questions and visit with them.
- You will be filling out your name and information many times over… be ready with some labels with your information already on them… small mailing labels work great. Include the following:
- Bride’s full name
- Groom’s full name
- Wedding date
- Wedding budget
- Email address
- Phone number
These are the basics, but it will save you a lot of time and hand-cramps!!!
- If you know what you are looking for, go to those vendors first, whether it is a particular vendor, or a type of category, such as videographers.
- If you are not sure what you are looking for, make sure to keep an open mind to new ideas, that can help you achieve the wedding you want.
- Make sure to ask questions, and get information so that you can make sound decisions.
- Bring someone along with you… a mother, a sister, a friend, the groom… etc… It is always great to have someone else to help bounce ideas off of. They may catch something that you don’t.
- If you are looking for a dress, make sure to not miss out on the fashion shows. Styles change every 6 months or so.
- Be prepared to come away with lots of information, packets, handouts, DVDs, business cards… Help keep your planning organized and sift through everything when you get back home and place everything in one binder or folder so that you are not searching for everything.
- Of course, last but not least… make sure that you are registered on BrideAccess.com to help you maintain your budget and checklist, get great ideas, so that planning your wedding can be a pleasant and fun experience with the least amount of stress as possible.
Happy Planning… from all of us at BrideAccess.com!
Posted in: BrideAccess.com Alerts! ~ Planning a Wedding ~ Weddings
-By Nicole
November 17th 2009
This is where we start with Nick & Whitnee. They were guests on Good Things Utah and talked a little bit about how their wedding is being planned! Watch this!
Don’t forget to watch Good Things Utah, next Monday at 10:00am for the first picks… Invitations and Photography!
Posted in: BrideAccess.com Alerts! ~ Planning a Wedding ~ Weddings
-By Nicole
November 16th 2009
COME AND MEET NICK & WHITNEE!
Where YOU get to help pick you their wedding which will be at The Tower on February 11, 2010!!!
Watch Good Things Utah on ABC4 every Monday morning at 10:00am starting TODAY to find out what the choices for each category will be… cakes… photography… flowers… ect.
Then, starting on November 23rd, you will be able to start voting on BrideAccess.com.
On Saturday, January 9, the voting results will be announced at the Bridal Showcase Event at the Salt Palace, where you can plan your wedding and see what has been chosen for Nick & Whitnee for their wedding day.
Meet Nick & Whitnee in the video below!!!
Posted in: BrideAccess.com Alerts! ~ Planning a Wedding ~ Weddings
-By LatterDayBride
August 7th 2009
You’ve just gotten married in the Temple, you’re on cloud nine and it’s time to start the celebration! We sat down with Mary Crafts, owner of Culinary Crafts, for some fun trends for LDS receptions.
A growing trend for LDS brides is to have food “stations” instead of a plated dinner or buffet. The goal of this type of reception is to have the guests mingle and talk to each other. And so the focus of the night is not to stay in your seat and eat your dinner, but rather to get up and visit the various food stations. Each station offers a small portion of the cuisine; only about 4-5 bites. Again, guests are encouraged throughout the evening to get up and visit all of the stations and to come back for seconds (or thirds or fourths). One station might have an Asian theme and servers are distributing small take out boxes of stir fry. Another booth might have freshly-made flaming crepes or even sliders (mini burgers) and French fries. The food then becomes a conversation piece and an ice breaker for those guests who might not yet know each other. Read more…
Posted in: Wedding Vendors ~ Cakes & Catering ~ Planning a Wedding ~ Weddings
-By johnnybs
August 4th 2009
Wedding bells will soon be ringing and there are tons of things to plan. One thing is for sure, this is a time for celebrating! And you know you want this celebration to be fun and exciting … that means music!
So here’s the big decision. Do I just plug in my iPod? Do I have my friend come and be in charge of the music? Or do I hire an entertainment company?
I know what you’re thinking. “Hire a DJ? I’m not so sure about that. I’m already on a very tight budget. Plus, all my favorite songs are on my iPod. I can just use that.”
What I wonder is if you are sacrificing a crucial component of your dream wedding when you hand over your entertainment to a 4 inch hunk of metal. Don’t get me wrong, an iPod is a great piece of technology, but it is definitely not a replacement for the personal touch of a live entertainer.
Read more…
Posted in: Wedding Vendors ~ Music & DJ's ~ Planning a Wedding
-By LatterDayBride
July 27th 2009
The Married Man’s Guide to Getting Married
(for the soon-to-be-married man)
by Jonathan Cabot, Wedding Survivor
Illustrated by Thomas P. Reidy III
Photography by Digital Izatt Photography
Having recently taken the plunge, bitten the bullet, fastened the chain (connected to ball) or what have you, and especially having attended a multitude of weddings over the years, I contend the groom should, after all, have a say when it comes to making the plans. The wedding will always be her day—without question—but there is absolutely no reason why you can’t offer some input, even if your fiancée doesn’t agree that a football cake or Texas tuxedo will make the event extra special. Not to mention the fact that today, costs are often split between families or the couples themselves—all the more reason for your needed suggestions.
With that in mind, I present the following pieces of essential advice that the betrothed man would be wise to follow in the months, weeks and days leading up to the big occasion. Good luck, friend. Read more…
Posted in: Planning a Wedding ~ Weddings
-By Kate Burton
July 16th 2009
You can open this PDF link below to view the entire article.
Latter-Day Woman, June/July 2009 Issue (Washington State)
One of the great wedding sites to visit on the internet is BrideAccess.com, formerly UtahBrides.com. This site has some great tools and a fantastic selection of recommended vendors. Even though, at this time, the vendors listed are only for the State of Utah, (they have plans to expand to other areas of the country in the future) the site has absolutely fabulous tips, advice and ideas for creating the wedding of your dreams. There is, also, a weekly television show, featuring the BrideAccess experts, discussing everything wedding-related, from design to relationships. For those of us not in Utah – past episodes may be watched by simply visiting the website. As a prospective bride, you can register (free) to gain even more “access” to wedding planning tools and tips. Read more…
Posted in: Planning a Wedding ~ Wedding Design Tips ~ Weddings
-By Dr. Liz Hale
July 13th 2009
Guess what? Now that you’re engaged you’ve become…an in-law! Not only do you have your own loveable, complicated family to embrace and work with, you now have another cast of characters with their idiosyncrasies and expectations. And together, you must plan “The Wedding!”
Read more…
Posted in: Marriage and Relationships ~ Wedding Vendors ~ Planning & Consulting ~ Planning a Wedding ~ Wedding Vendors ~ Unique Ideas ~ Weddings
-By LatterDayBride
June 17th 2009
Trash The Dress
So what do you do with your wedding dress after the wedding? The standard treatment is to vacuum seal it and store it away in the hopes that one day in 20 years or so your daughter will want to wear it to her wedding (suuure she will). Some brides have a different answer – they trash the dress! For photos and video, of course.
While clearly not to everyone’s taste, the trend follows the logic that a bride will never really get a second wearing out of her dress, and many of them want to create a unique and indelible memory without having to worry about keeping the dress pristine.
“We’ve seen brides under water, brides in the mud, brides and grooms having paint fights and even one bride on fire!,” says Mitch Burt of ZumaPhoto. “But those are extreme examples – it doesn’t need to be that crazy to be unique. It’s really about creating, not destroying.”
Read more…
Posted in: Marriage and Relationships ~ Wedding Vendors ~ Photography ~ Planning a Wedding ~ Wedding Vendors ~ Weddings
