The Fall/Winter 2005 issue of The Knot Weddings: Pittsburgh features a wedding we were pleased to be a part of.  You'll find the happy couple, Angelina and Michael, on page 46.  Photographer Mike Bordo did an excellent job shooting in the Morning Glory Inn, and we're happy to see the photographs featured the flowers so nicely, too!  There's a gorgeous close-up of Angelina's bouquet on page 48, and the rose petal path was made from several hundred roses.  It was a really windy day, and the Morning Glory Inn staff had to wait until the very last minute to make the path--you can see them doing so at http://www.bordo.com/angelina.html (near the middle of the page).  Usually we'd handle the path, but on such a windy day, we had to ask them to handle this.  Also, check out the floral swag on the garden arch behind the couple on page 46.  It's mounted about 10-11 feet off the ground, and consisted of calla lilies, dendrobium orchids, roses and other flowers with bountiful ferns and greenery.  It was a very large piece, and quite heavy due to the amount of wet floral foam we had to use.  We were rather nervous when getting that up on the garden arch.  There are two smaller ones on either side of the arch, which you can kind of see on page 49.  We have a couple color photos as well in our portfolios at the shop--stop by during regular business hours and you can look through them.

Congratulations to Angelina and Michael on your wedding, and for being one of "16 Amazing Pittsburgh Real Weddings".  Thanks for making us a part of your special day.

P.S. You'll find our ad on page 80.

What do Dorothy's ruby red slippers, Rockefeller Center's Christmas Tree, and a Marilyn Monroe dress have in common with your wedding?  Swarovski crystals!

Man-made crystals have been produced from melted quartz, lead, calcium and a few other ingredients for centuries.  In 1892, Daniel Swarovski invented a machine that could cut crystals that resembled faceted diamonds; in years to come, Swarovski became a favorite supplier for Coco Chanel and Christian Dior.  Swarovski crystals have adorned Dorothy's slippers in "The Wizard of Oz", the dress Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to President Kennedy, and the star atop the Rockefeller Center tree was created by Swarovski.

Swarovski, now led by Daniel's great-great-granddaughter, continues to court desginers, including Beverly Clark and Cathy's Concepts.  Several of the collections we carry from Beverly Clark and Cathy's Concepts are adorned with Swarovski crystals.  These collections include:

Beverly Clark	Cathy's Concepts
Celebrity Monte Carlo Regalia Venetian	Champagne Starlight Sparkling Entwined

There are a few items not associated with collections that are also decorated with Swarovski crystals.  You can click here to view all items adorned with Swarovski crystals.

As you sparkle down the aisle on your big day, remember you're in good company.

				Receive 15% off on all toasting flutes and cake servers during the month of July at www.bloomeryweddings.com! Browse for Flutes > Browse for Servers > Browse Closeout Items, 40% off! > Visit our blog for wedding tips and advice!	Silver Vine Goblets by Beverly Clark Collection
			©2005 The Bloomery, Butler, Pennsylvania

Few things go together like photos and weddings.  Few things can bring an internet connection to a standstill or fill up an e-mailbox than big photos.  Not a happy combination.  Microsoft has a plug-in for Windows XP called the Image Resizer Powertoy.  The Image Resizer helps you quickly resize a photo to a smaller file size so you can e-mail it to your friends without killing their mailbox.  It's a small download which installs easily, and adds an option to your right-click menu.  Find the photo you want to resize, right-click, and choose the size you want the file to be.  Windows will copy the file to the size you selected, ready for you to send.

If you are your fiancee' are photo buffs, and you own a Nikon or Canon camera, you can look at the Windows Raw Image Thumbnailer.  Microsoft's description says it best:

RAW image capture is preferred by many serious-minded photographers to preserve all the subtle color and detail possible from digital cameras. However, until now it has been impossible to view thumbnails and previews for RAW images in Windows without use of special software.

The Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer enhances the Windows XP photos experience by providing thumbnails, previews, printing, and metadata display for RAW images from most Canon and Nikon digital cameras. This tool enables advanced digital photographers to organize and work with RAW files directly in Windows Explorer in much the same way as with JPEG images. No more "guessing" which image is which!

This is a large download, so make sure you have time or a lot of bandwidth.  Also, check out the Readme file first to make sure your camera model is supported.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently ran an article about wedding insurance.  Included in the article were a couple of stories that made the insurance well worth the price.  We imagine weddings where the insurance wasn't needed simply aren't newsworthy.  In the hundreds of weddings we've been part of, disasters have been very rare, but they were big.  Until 2004, the worst problem we'd seen was a bride's dress delivered to her ready room with a stain on it.  The dress shop sent someone out, and it was cleaned in time for pre-ceremony photos.  2004 brought on a couple of doozies.

One bride spent 2 years planning every aspect of her wedding--double, triple and quadruple checking everything.  She wanted everything perfect, and to remember it all, hired a videographer to record every memory for posterity.  On the day of the wedding, the videographer (a local rep for a national agency) failed to show up.  They were not present at any part of her day.  To make matters worse, a thunderstorm knocked out the power to the reception hall, and the hall had no backup power.  Fortunately, the groom's father owned a farm nearby, and had enough portable generators to power the rest of the evening.  She contacted the national agency, who confirmed the videographer should have been at her wedding, but did not offer a full refund.  Several months later, she was planning to take the agency to court.

2004 was a very wet year for Western Pennsylvania.  By September, we had already received an average year's worth of rain, and we still had the fall rainy season to go.  The three rivers of Pittsburgh are fed by thousands of small tributaries, which normally pass under roadways with no problems.  Early in September, the remnants of hurricane Frances added several more inches to the total, swelling the rivers and tributaries to near record levels.  One week leter, Ivan's remnants dumped 5 inches in a matter of hours, causing streams and tunnels to flood, roadways to wash out, and entire towns to be evacuated.  By the time it was all over, nearly 8000 homes were damaged or destroyed, along with 600 commercial buildings and 300 governmental buildings.  Cleanup and recovery continue 9 months later.

It was during Ivan's visit that we were attempting to deliver a wedding.  A trip usually 30-45 minutes took over four hours to make because roadways were closed.  The ceremony had to be delayed over an hour so guests, flowers and the cake could arrive.  The hotel was running on emergency power, but the kitchen was not fully functional.  Because of road closings, few guests (even those close by) could make the trip.  The couple was married, but little turned out as planned that day.

Whether to add wedding insurance is a decision you have to make, and the budget should be considered.  We can't really offer advice on way or the other.  Be sure to fully understand what is covered and what is not.  Hopefully, our stories, as well as those in the Post-Gazette article, will help you evaluate the risks and the need for wedding insurance.  Like most things about your wedding, it's not an easy choice.

At one recent wedding, the bride and groom added some conversation starters to their place settings.  At each setting were two printed papers, antiqued and mounted on cardstock.  One of the cards featured "Love Quotes", a collection of quotes from their favorite songs, poems, stories and movies.  This turned out to be a real conversation starter while guests were enjoying the cookie table before the reception.  One good reference is to search Bartlett's Familiar Quotations at www.bartleby.com.  Use the thesaurus there and search quotations for a variety of words related to love.

The other paper featured a list of "On This Day In History"--significant events that occured on the wedding date throughout history, with the very last entry being the couples wedding!  On this particular date, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (here's hoping the marriage turns out better than Amelia's flying career).  One excellent reference is the Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).  You can enter the month and day of your wedidng, and it will return a list of significat events on that date.  For instance, on our anniversary, Disneyland opened in Anaheim (1955).

Clarification: We were married on the same day, but several decades after Disneyland opened.

Many couples choose to create a seating chart, traditionally numbering tables and having place cards with the guest's name and table number on the cards.  We've seen couples opting for more personal and creative ways of associating guests with tables.  One couple named every table for something significant in their favorite TV shows and movies.  Guests were seated in "Ten Forward" or "Rick's Cafe Americain".  Instead of place cards, the couple made CDs of their favorite songs, and placed the guest's name and table on the CD cover.  At each table was a brief story about what that table was named for, and why that was significant in the couple's life.

Tonight's couple named every table for a word they felt played a part in a good marriage.  Guests were seated at tables named "Honesty", "Faithfulness", "Passion", etc.   Each table sign was beautifully written in large calligraphy on a small piece of white parchment, and pasted onto a piece of cardstock matching the wedding's colors and folded like a tent.  Instead of place cards, the couple had an attractive sign printed on foam core, listing the guests and their table.

What you choose to do should reflect how you want your reception to be remembered.  Keep in mind that the seating arrangement is your guest's first impression of your reception, and you don't want to mix a wacky table scheme with formal reception.

Saturday was one of those happy-sad days for us.  Five years ago, we delivered the wedding of sister #1.  Three years ago, we delivered the wedding for sister #2.  Last year, their mother phoned us and said "#3 is engaged!".  We delivered sister #3's wedding on Saturday.  We've really enjoyed working with the family over the years, and we'll be happy to deliver the wedding for sister #1's toddler when the time comes.  We'll be a lot older by then, and that's kind of a bummer.  Sister #1's husband opened a medical practice not half a mile from the shop, so we still see her often, and we enjoy catching up.  What really makes us happy is that they've paid us the highest compliment a florist can receive--repeat business.  To be a part of all three weddings is a really special thing for us florists.  Guess we're doing something right.  Thanks to all three of you (and your mom), you know who you are.  Congratulations to you all.

Whether you call them wedding program covers or wedding bulletins, we sell a lot of them (view our selection of blank wedding programs from Warner Press).  Right now, at the height of wedding season, supplies can run thin and backorders of a week aren't uncommon.  Don't let that discourage you from ordering--you don't need the papers to preactice printing your wedding programs.  After you place your order with us (please try and do so at least 2-3 weeks in advance of your wedding), you can start setting up your programs so they're ready to go.

We tell you the size of every program in the description.  The vast majority are letter sized paper (8 1/2 inches by 11 inches), and are landscape orientation.  Most of the wedding programs fold in half like a book, but the chapel fold is a little different.  To make a chapel fold, hold a piece of letter sized paper landscape, and bring each edge toward the middle.  Crease the paper once the edges meet--you'll now have a piece of paper folded into three parts--one about 2 3/4 inches wide, one about 5 1/2 inches wide, and one about 2 3/4 inches wide (that should equal 11 inches).

Once you know how your paper is laid out, you can use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher or some similar program to start making your program template.  The exact specifics of how will depend on which program you use to print your wedding programs.  In Microsoft Word, to print a standard wedding bulletin, open a new file, and change its page layout to be landscape.  Make a margin of 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch on all sides, and create two columns, with the separation exactly in the middle (the Word help files can show you exactly how to do these steps, one at a time).  For the chapel fold, set up three columns with the measurements above.  Once you have this file set up, you can start adding your text.

What to say in your wedding program is up to you.  Most couples put the order of the ceremony on the left side, and introduce the wedding party on the right, with a personal message to the guests somwehere inside.  But you're free to do whatever suits you.  Keep tweaking the words, margins and spacing until you get the exact look you want.  Once your blank wedding program papers arrive, print a final draft on plain printer paper, and place it over the wedding bulletin paper, and hold it up to the light.  Make sure everything lines up correctly.  Then print only one of the blank program covers to make sure you know how to load the paper properly, and fold it to check the spacing one final time.  Then, load up your blank programs and print away!

We'll have some templates later this summer--keep watching this blog so you'll know when we do.

Here's a neat idea to keep the children attending your wedding busy...a childrens' activity table!  At a recent wedding, our bride (an event planner by trade) set up a children's activity table in the corner of the reception hall.  There were coloring books, crayons, chinese yo-yos, and other activities for the kids to play with.  More than enough to keep the kids entertained until the hokey-pokey was danced.

We have a couple of items that are great for an activity table.  One is a wedding coloring book, a 32 page coloring book and activity that includes 4 crayons (you may want to have a few more crayons on hand to keep the peace).  Another fun idea is a flowergirl candy necklace kit.  Little girls love to create their own jewelry, but love to eat it even more!

Wedding season is in full swing, and here's our Bouquet of the Month for May 2005.  This beautiful bouquet featured Hot Pink and Wine colored Roses, Bright Pink Tulips and Bright Pink Sweetpeas, with a lemon leaf foliage finish.  The stems were wrapped and tied with a white satin ribbon.  Approximate price $100 to $125.

The portfolio link is http://www.bloomeryweddings.com/portfolio_detail.asp?product_id=BW328.