Boys can be so hard to buy for! So here’s a top ten list of great gifts for the groom to be this holiday season!

1. Cufflinks – most Tuxedos come with cheap plastic cufflinks. Your guy will appreciate some funky cufflinks so he can show off how stylish he is on his big day. You’re not the only one that appreciates some new bling!

2. Speaking of bling, why not get him a fancy new watch. Something simple, but stylish like a Movado watch which he can wear everyday or on special occasions.

3. Game it up! – Why not let the big kid in him out? Get him a Wii complete with Guitar Hero so he can rock out with his boys (and you!)

4. Boudoir photos – show him how much you truly love him by having some sexy photos done. Contact Libertee at Pureform Salon and see our post from October about these photos. He’ll be so glad you did!

5. Tickets to the game – get him 2 tickets to see his favourite team in action and let him take his Best Man out with him for a night of fun.

6. New golf gear – what groom to be wouldn’t love a new driver or putter? Visit Golf Town or Nevada Bobs for a great selection on golf treats for him.

7. PVR – make sure he never misses another game while you’re out planning the big day. With a PVR he can record all the action and watch it when he’s taking a break from all the wedding planning with you.

8. New digital Camera or Flip Ultra Video recorder – let him capture all the fun moments at his bachelor party and the rehearsal party on a new camera or flip video camera.

9. Wine Appreciation Course – does your guy love his wine? Why not send him to Willow Park Wines and Spirits to learn all about wines. The courses run seven Sundays and when he’s done he’ll be a pro!

10. Make sure he’s connect with a new Blackberry Storm

Guestbooks today can capture the true personality of a bride and groom. They are no longer limited to using the traditional guestbook that only captures guests name and where they've traveled from. We love the guest books over at http://www.guestbookstore.com/ as they allow guests to write about their favorite memory of the day, give the couple advice and tell their story. Instead of tucking this away after the wedding, you'll want to display it so you can share your guests memories with everyone.

Another bride I know went back east to get married, so she purchased a book about the Canadian Rockies and had guests sign on the pages. It was a way to bring a little piece of their home here in Alberta to their guests out East. Now the book has a home on her coffee table.

There are so many great ways to personalize the guestbook!

Another guestbook idea we love is the Adesso Album - check them out http://www.picturethisalbums.com/. Guest have pictures taken of them (yes using a Polaroid camera!) and slide their pictures into the albums and write comments. Instantly you have a great photo album of all the important people you've asked to witness your big day!

*Photo courtesy of picturethisalbum.com

We just had an incredible two days! We are an official member of the Association of Bridal Consultants, met with a web designer, a web guru and purchased the rights to cornerstoneevents.ca!
We'll keep everyone updated on a date for our website launch!

This truly is the most wonderful time of the year. A time of year where everywhere you turn you can find some really unique gifts for people on your list. What a better time of year to find gifts for your bridal party too! Get these gifts checked off your to do list early, and find some amazing items while your at it. The last thing your groomsmen need is another flask with their name engraved on it! Give them a gift they'll love and treasure!

Here are some great places to get some fabulous gifts:

Twisted Goods - Market Mall

Festival of Crafts - Round-up Center - November 27-30, 2008 http://www.ourbesttoyou.ca/calgary/default.html

The Willows Casual Home - Willow Park Shops

I Appeal - 17th Avenue SW and Kensington

When I had mentioned I was making a "diaper" cake to my husband, he thought I was either making a cake shaped like a diaper or incorporating cake and diapers into some sort of gross concoction. When I finally showed him what I was up to it all make a little more sense to him.

I found some directions on one of my favorite blogs, Hostess with the Mostess and created this one for a baby shower.

Need one in a hurry, contact us and we can make one up for you to match your baby shower decor!

I love how rich and elegant the color purple can be. Especially when we can work with light and dark purples to obtain a very dramatic color effect. I threw in a little green in the board to show how much pop just a little hint of green can give to this look. My favorite part of this board has to be the lanterns hanging from the ceiling. If your venue allows, this adds such a great look to the room!

When I first read this story I couldn't actually believe this was true. I'll let you decide for yourself.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1081355/The-100-000-white-wedding-16-year-old-girl-lives-caravan.html

We were reviewing photos from our wedding in August to get pictures of the candy buffet we did, and found this one. This would be the “After” shot. This candy buffet did not last long. This was all that was left when we arrived. We figured we had too much candy when we purchased it all, and we learned one important thing about candy – there is no such thing as TOO much candy!

Candy buffets are a great way to get guests involved at your wedding or any other party for that matter. Just find cute containers, and tell guests to fill up on their favorite treats. You can color coordinate the candy to match you colors, or do a very colorful candy buffet with all kinds of sugary treats. The color scheme for this wedding was pink and black, so we did pink M&Ms, Jelly Belly’s, and licorice all sorts, as well as black licorice, and these great black and white penguins that tasted like peaches! (We found those at Superstore in their bulk bins!)

Here is a list of some great Candy places to shop for your candy buffet.
Sweet Surprise Eau Claire Market, 200 Barclay Parade S.W.; 403-777-1881
Candy Bouquet945 General Ave. N.E.; 403-265-8687; http://www.candybouquet.com/
Jolly Goods Candy Shop24 High St. S.E.; 403-225-4007; http://www.jollygoodscandy.ca/
Yummy Company235 26 Ave. S.E.; 403-279-9866; http://www.yummyco.com/
The Candy Tree1-800-668-7677; http://www.thecandytree.ca/
Welch’s- The Banff Candy Store
Banff Avenue http://www.banffcandy.com/

Want to see more pictures of a great Candy buffet? Check out Hostess with the Mostess for their posting!

1. Dedicate a night for you and your fiancé where you don’t talk about the wedding. Remember why you got engaged in the first place. Cook dinner at home, open a bottle of wine and just enjoy each other without mention of the big day.

2. So while we recommend setting aside to NOT talk about the wedding, we also recommend setting aside time to talk about the wedding. Make sure your fiancé is as in the know as you are. If you hired a wedding planner, make sure they are sitting down to go over your wedding, including the budget, on a scheduled basis.

3. Set and stick to a budget. No matter what the number is you will always be able to spend more. Keep all your receipts and log them in promptly so you always know what you’ve spent.

4. Pick your top three priorities for the wedding and allocate money accordingly. Is your photography the most important piece of the big day? Or is it the food? Determine what you will not sacrifice on and set aside budget according to those priorities. Better yet, have a wedding planner do that for you and help you find the perfect vendors that are within your budget.

5. Don’t sign the first florist you meet. Make sure you do some research on each vendor. It may seem like a lot of work, but ultimately you want to find the right vendors for your big day. Wedding Bells has a great forum where you can see reviews from other brides in your area of specific vendors.

6. Stay organized – keep all documents, receipts, ideas, and all other details in one spot. Purchase a binder and keep all of it together so you know exactly where to find that contract for the DJ when it comes time to pay him.

7. Do things early – hiring a DJ or florist last minute can cost you some big bucks and not to mention stress you out. The more items you check off your list early in the game the better off you’ll be. Good venues book up quickly, so unless your budget includes $100 or more per plate, better book one early.

8. Advice – you’re going to get a lot of advice from your coworkers to your family to perfect strangers. So what do you do with all this advice, thank them and move on. One person will tell you a wedding gown shop is awful and the next will swear by them, everyone has good and bad experiences, so listen, take notes, but do what’s best for you.

9. Guest list drama – the guest list can be a soar spot for couples and their family, but ultimately it’s your wedding day. If you haven’t spoken to cousin Bob in 5 years, inviting him is up to you. But you want people at your wedding that mean something to you and your fiancé. After all they are witnessing one of the most important days of your life. Make sure your family knows that.

10. Ask for help – your friends and family and bridal party are there to help you out. So recruit them to help you address invitations and make your cute favors. Find a wedding planner who includes some of these tasks in their list of services and hand it over. You have better things to do – like visit the spa with your bridesmaids!

Cakeworks has some amazingly funny cakes and they're quite yummy too. But did you know they also do beautiful wedding cakes??

We were looking at their online catalogue and found the perfect cake for our last posting on pink and orange color schemes!

They also do great cakes for stagettes and bridal showers. Call them for more details as their naughty cakes are not listed online :o)

http://www.eatcake.ca/

With all the wedding coordinators out there it’s hard to make a decision on which to call and interview and who will work best with you and your fiancé. Not all wedding vendors are the same and you’ll soon realize there can be a huge difference on how much one photographer costs compared to another, and that goes with wedding coordinators as well.
At Cornerstone Events we know first hand how frustrating that can be. When searching for a photographer for a wedding this summer we found packages ranging from $1500 to $6000! So what’s the deal? Which one is going to be right for this wedding? Well first off we knew that for this wedding the bride and groom wanted to own their wedding images. So we had to find a photographer who would either sell the images to the couple or included that as part of their packages. Because that was very important to the couple, it narrowed our choices down significantly. Then it became a matter of photography style and finding a photographer that matched the couple’s personality.

So what do you look for when you’re hiring a wedding coordinator? You want someone who is going to care about all the little details you’ve invested time on. Sure maybe only you’re going to remember the little stickers on your favor boxes, but you’ve spend hours attaching those details, so you want someone who will notice if one of your favors is missing this detail!

At Cornerstone Events we’ve worked with large clients who expect nothing but the best. Every detail is crucial and missing one is never an option. Our attention to detail and dedication to ensure all our events are top notch will result in an unforgettable wedding day for you, your fiancé and your friends and family. We have an Event Management Certificate from Mount Royal College and are completing a wedding planning certificate as well. Being a native Calgarian we also know of all the great venues and vendors in the city, including some out of the box locations to make your day extra special.
Call us today for a complimentary consultation, in person or on the phone.

Just found this great page on Brides.com on color combinations! Take a spin and see the latest color trends for your upcoming wedding! These color combinations look great and I've been playing with them for a good hour to see them all. http://www.brides.com/planning/receptions/colorstudio/

My favorite color combination right now is hot pink and bright orange - just the look of them makes me smile!

Photo courtesy of the knot.com

With everything going on in today's economy, we're all looking to save a some money where we can. So while you're planning your wedding you're probably saying to yourself, "why should I hire a wedding coordinator? I can save money doing it myself."

If you're looking at hiring a Wedding Coordinator or Consultant to help you with all the details, her fee should include helping you find budget saving ideas. Most Wedding Coordinators have the inside scoop on which vendors are reliable and which will be flexible to work within your budget. In additon, she'll have some great ideas on how to get that expensive look without breaking the bank.

The one thing most brides don't get on their wedding day is a break. If you want to enjoy individual moments more and deal with questions and disasters less, hiring day-of help should be a high priority on your to-do list. The quality time you'll gain is well worth the fee. Even the DIY bride needs help on her big day so she can fully enjoy all the time and effort she put into making that day perfect. Be the life of your party and let someone else do all the running around and worrying for you. A Wedding Coordinator should be someone who is professional and just as excited about your wedding as your are. In additon, she'll be just as concern about all those little details you worked so hard on as you are. So after spending all that money and all that time on your big day, don't you deserve a little time off to enjoy it too? What is that worth to you and your fiance?

Even as a Wedding Coordinator, I hired help for my big day. I was able to relax and fully enjoy all the time and effort my fiance and I put into making our big day what it was. I knew if anything happened she was on top of it, and that I didn't have to be looking at my watch to see if things were on schedule or if the DJ was going to arrive on time.

We're always looking for a favor that does double duty at a wedding or event, so these cool napkin rings caught our eye. They're from Ikea and cost only $7.99 for a set of 6, that works out to $1.33 each! Tag on a cute eye catching place card and it will add to your decor too! We love items like this for weddings as it's a way to save big bucks! Your guests will love taking them home and using them for their next dinner party too!

Photo courtesy of ikea.com

On your wedding day you'll be on your feet all day long, so why not make the best of it by making sure your tootsies are nice and comfortable? With that long gown very few people are going to see your shoes, so opt for something a little less traditional and a whole lot more comfortable that those 3 inch heels. Sketchers makes the cutest sneakers that go perfect with that beautiful dress of yours. Think about it, happy feet make for a happy bride!

*Photo courtesy of sketchers.com

I LOVE cupcakes! I make any excuse to either make or buy some for any event, so it's no wonder when I was throwing a baby shower for mommy-to-be Trisha that I called up my favorite cupcake shop in town and ordered some custom flavored cupcakes for her party. We ordered large cupcakes and baby cupcakes for those who just wanted a bite size treat. Cupcakes are perfect for any event, Christmas, Baby Showers and even wedding. Call Kari at Buttercream Bakeshoppe today and go see all the wonderful things they can do for your upcoming event. http://www.buttercreambakeshoppe.com/