When can we meet? whenisgood.net

time management wedding planningAfter creating this list of interactive wedding planning tools, I recently found one more that really is so useful, it merits its own blog post: whenisgood.net .  While not strictly for wedding planning, whenisgood.net is wonderful, simply because it does one thing well: allows you to specify “when is good” for everyone involved in a meeting.  Simply click and highlight several dates and times that work for you, create an email to send to everyone you would like to invite to the meeting, and send. Your invitees also click their available times, and eventually a good date for everyone emerges.

For busy wedding planners and brides trying to coordinate the multitude of vendor interviews, looking for a free, easy to use online tool, whenisgood.net is super helpful!

x# Handy Tools for Your Out of Towners

If you have tech-savvy guests, have them make use of the Portland "Twisitor's Center" by following @travelportland on twitter.com . Your guests can then post questions with the tag #inpdx and receive real-time advice on where to eat, shop, and play during their wedding-weekend downtime. Thanks to VentureBeat for the tip!

Wedding 2.0: Seven interactive planning tools

For this week's roundup, I thought we'd put together a list of some cool planning tools that are making  use of the latest technologies to help you plan your wedding. If you know anything that should be in this list that I've missed, please post in the comments!

Olivia Luca Design Studio  This Portland-based design firm has an addictive Flash tool where you canOlivia-luca-wedding-gown
design your bridesmaids' dresses from silhouette down to the sash and the trim.  Eco-friendly fabric options are available for order as well, or you can be like me and just keep making tons of dresses online and daydreaming about the fetes I can wear them to!

Wedding Gown Guru   I met Bridgette, the "Wedding Gown Guru" , on twitter.com and took a look at her interactive gown selection tool.  Simply answer a series of questions about your style and personality, and she will suggest several different looks for you! Much more fun that a visit to a crowded bridal salon, and a great way to prep yourself before going out to shop in person.

Wedding-gown-interactive-tool
David's Bridal "Dress Your Wedding"  Thanks to Sasha Souza, celebrity planner and the brains behind Sparkliatti, for turning me on to this. They have done a great job in creating a Flash tool that allows you to mock up your bridesmaids' gowns and colors, plus groomsmen's attire, so you can preview the lineup of your whole virtual wedding party, including groomsmen and child attendants!

Calculators at Eventageous  Eventageous is an Austin-based event planning firm, and they've been on Eventageous-austin-planner
the cutting edge for forever. I know this because they've had these great calculators on their Resources page since I started my business in 1999! Scroll down this page to see the Calculators; here, you can tote up everything from the number of people that will fit into a given square footage, to a sample wedding budget. Simple tech, but so helpful!

Wedding-mapper-logo
Wedding Mapper  So many weddings involve out of towners, so this interactive mapping tool with great design is a must.  You can even tag the locations with your notes ("Here's where he proposed to me"/"This is our favorite bar"). Also included is a method for leaving and reading reviews of vendors.

Backpackit.com  Not an exclusively-wedding tool… Nonetheless, Backpack, the consumer version of design Backpacklogo-small
powerhouse 37signals' Basecamp, is inexpensive, easy to use, and a great way to invite collaboration across a large group (think Mother in law, mom, bridesmaids, dad, the groom, and your wedding planner!) I'm currently using it with a client and love it — we might even make it part of our standard package in the future.

Evite Drink Calculator  Most of us have used Evite for their free online invitations, but I recently discovered their handy-dandy drink calculator. It's not super detailed, but it at least can give you a place to start, if you have no idea where to begin as far as beverage purchases.

Hope you find these helpful!

The Impossible Project: Bringing back Polaroid film!

Polaroid
Remember our post from last year lamenting the closure of Polaroid’s instant film factory?  We thought that was the end of those cute little guest books, at least in the traditional format.  Well, it’s so exciting to hear that a group called The Imposssible Project (love that name!) has announced:

“We aim to re-start production of analog INTEGRAL FILM for vintage
Polaroid cameras in 2010. We have acquired Polaroid’s old equipment,
factory and seek your support.”


So go to their website, and see if there’s any way you can help them!  I know a lot of you are creative types, and it looks like a daunting task.  We wish them luck.

If you can’t wait for 2010, then Adesso still has the original Polaroid film in stock.  And right now they have a special buy-two-get-one-free deal!

Art of Weddings Recap and Roundup

The past week was plenty busy with our participation in the first wedding show of the year – The Art of Weddings.  We had so much fun and saw all kinds of cool things that we just have to tell you about. So today’s Saturday Roundup will have a lot of content, hang in there!

First off, we were so lucky to be placed near Annette from Swanky Tables Event Design.  Her business centers around getting all the little details on the table just right, from linens to place cards, and she even has a candy buffet setup service!  Her table was all decked out in pink and silver, and it was hard to resist the pink rock candy swizzle sticks! We can’t wait to do an event with Annette.

Swankytables portland wedding

Next up is Karren’s Specialty Cakes.
They were handing out full-size samples of their chocolate orange and
pear cake and both were fabulous.  I am really picky about
cake so take my word, it’s great! I heard tell that Karren only does
one cake a weekend, so if you’re interested, get on it! Pictured below
is the Porceline cake from her website:

Porceline wedding cake portland

Continue reading “Art of Weddings Recap and Roundup”