Introducing Tis the Season Holiday Cards & Address Labels

I am so excited to introduce my new Holiday Collection of cards & address labels. This year's holiday cards are inspired by kisses & holiday cheer. All cards are available on our ETSY page and come in packs of 10. Most of these cards have matching address labels. If you see an address label you love and no card to match, just let me know and I can create a custom holiday card. Looking for photo holiday card, let me know and I can custom create a card just for you. The holiday cards start at $1.80 per card and the custom holiday photo cards start at $2.60 per card. All cards include a colored matte envelope to match.

Here is a glimpse of the "Tis the Season" cards & address labels. Check out the rest on our Etsy site.

Gift Ideas for your Bridesmaids

Wondering what to get your Bridesmaids and Maid of Honor for their "thank you for being a part of my big day" gift? With the holiday's around the corner it's a good idea to take advantage of all the sales going on, especially during Black Friday. When thinking about what to get your girls make sure to keep their personalities & interests in mind. You want to get them something that they can use outside of your wedding.

Also think about how you can help keep their costs down. We all know your girls are shelling out a lot of money to be a part of your special day and they do this because they love you and want to see the bride with a big smile on her face. A great gift might involve helping them save a little $$. Instead of making them buy their shoes, jewelry or hairpieces think about those as gift options. Here are a couple gift ideas to get your ideas rolling.

Row 1 - Cute clutches for bridesmaids are getting easier to come by thanks to JCrew and this Etsy designer.

Row 2 - These ultra adorable necklaces from Anthropologie are a beautiful addition to any bridesmaid dress, but will also dress up a casual outfit of jeans & a tee for a girls night out.

Row 3 - A beautiful hanky for your girls and even your mom and mom-2-be makes a touching gift. Personalize the hanky with their name, a poem or a special saying that only you two know about. This gift will be sure to bring a tear to their eye.

These oh-so-cute shoe clips are fabulous. I love how you can dress up any pair of shoes with these cute shoe clips. If you want all your girls to have the same shoe, this is a great way to help them save $$. Just have them all get a solid colored shoe (which every girl has a pair of black heels in their closet) and add a flowered shoe clip for a touch of style & elegance.

2010 Hot Spring Colors

Even though the holidays are around the corner, in the wedding industry, spring is even closer. We may be filling holiday card orders but we are always thinking about our upcoming spring & summer brides. For those Spring brides that are still trying to decide on a color palate check out the Spring 2010 Pantone Color Chart to help you decide.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Today, my husband, Pat and I are celebrating our 6 month anniversary. It's hard to believe that 6 months have already passed. The statement "time flies when you are having fun" really is the truth. I can say without a doubt, the past 6 months have been some of the best months of my life. To think just 6 short months ago, we were celebrating our love on our wedding day with all of our friends & family around us and then we jetted off to the Greek Islands to spend 2 amazing weeks with no worries surrounding us; just lots of love and of course the beautiful scenery and amazing food. How lucky we were to have that time together in one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was there on our balcony in Santorini over looking the Caldera we started to talk about our dreams and what we really wanted out of life. We talked about Seaside Invitations and the hopes and dreams I had for it and how we could make it a reality. I felt invincible, perhaps it was the swim in the Aegean, the beautiful setting we were in or the fact that I just married my best friend. I was ready to put my fears aside and take that leap into entrepreneurship and "live the dream".

When we returned we settled into marital bliss, wrote all our thank you cards and just truly enjoyed each other and our new married life. Seaside Invitations was born in August and we haven't stopped since. We started as a fully custom wedding invitation studio and have since added to our repertoire the monoLOVEgram, Tis the Season holiday cards (coming soon), personalized stationery, address labels and custom maps. We have partnered with various wedding professionals and we are currently in the process of being sold on Etsy.com and having our own Facebook page. Phew... I am tired just thinking about it.

All of this could not have been accomplished without the love & support from my husband. He has been there for me through out it all. I can see how proud he is just by the way he looks at me when I am telling him about my newest idea or what is on our very long to-do list.To see the love & support in his eyes and his embrace keeps me going and pushes me to be that much better. It is so inspiring and just fills my heart with joy. I am truly blessed to be loved by the one I love and to have a career that feeds my creative soul.

Vendor Review - Tampa Bay Watch

Each month I will be featuring a new vendor in the Tampa Bay area. To kick off the first vendor review I would like to feature Tampa Bay Watch. I have to admit I am a bit partial to this venue because it is where I got married almost 6 months ago. For my wedding I wanted to have a sunset theme and I wanted the reception to be on the water or overlooking the water. I searched for months and months and visited every venue on the beach or intercoastal and I still couldn't find "The One". We were looking for a venue that fit within our budget and that spoke to our personalities and I stumbled upon Tampa Bay Watch. It was like finding a needle in a haystack and I knew instantly that it was "The One". I instantly made an appointment to view the venue and by that weekend we had booked our site.

Tampa Bay Watch is located on the southern tip of St. Petersburg in Tierra Verde right before Fort Desoto. This beautiful venue has a spacious 2,500 square foot indoor and outdoor area for dining and dancing. The interior has a large open area with wall to wall picturesque windows overlooking the bay - perfect for those sunset photos. There is a deck that wraps around the back side of the venue so your guests can mingle on the porch and in the main dining hall. It promotes an open aired environment and a relaxed feel with stunning views. For those looking for a ceremony location as well, you can choose to get married on the beautifully manicured lawn overlooking the bay.

In addition to the beautiful venue and amazing views the price is very very reasonable compared to other venues on the water (they even provide the tables, chairs and linens) and the staff is just wonderful! You will work closely with Laura, their wedding coordinator, and she is awesome! She is so accommodating to what the bride wants and she will try to meet all of your requests. She will be there throughout the wedding to make sure all goes according to plan. They do have a couple of rules that all brides have to abide by but overall my experience at Tampa Bay Watch was top notch.

I could go on and on about this venue, but one more thing I will tell you before I end this review is that not only is this venue beautiful, but it is also works to protect our oceans. Tampa Bay Watch strives to counteract the huge loss of wetland habitats by expanding community involvement with hands-on restoration and protection projects around the bay. They work with volunteers, students, at-risk youth and civic organizations to participate in environmental projects such as coastal cleanups, rebuilding oyster domes and bars, restoring salt marsh grass and planting sea grass just to name a few. For me, it made me feel better to know my money was not only going towards a beautiful venue for my wedding but also to a good cause.

I hope this review has helped you and if you are in search of a venue, give Laura a call and visit Tampa Bay Watch.

loving this designer

Okay so I just came across a new wedding gown designer, Saja Weddings and I am totally in love! Her dresses are soo my style. Very classy, simple, casual and yet elegant. These dresses would be perfect for getting married on the beach or in a garden setting. Check out her newest styles and with the prices really reasonable you can't afford not to take a peek. Enjoy!

Introducing the customized Address Label

Last weeks inspiration board was Fall. This week I decided to go in a new direction and design address labels. The fully customizable address labels are our newest product at Seaside Invitations. They are designed to coordinate with the Fall season and your Thanksgiving greeting cards. At an affordable price of just $5 per sheet (1 sheet = 12 labels), all you need to do is send us your name & address and we will get these printed and out to you. Check back for our holiday card & address label debut in the coming weeks.

Put a stamp on it!

We are seeing a new trend hitting the wedding scene and that's postcards as your response cards. It feels like every time I turn around postage seems to go up. Using a postcard in place of a traditional response card will help save you money!

The cost of a postcard stamp is now $0.28 (regular first class stamps cost $0.44). Using a reply postcard not only helps to save in postage but you save in paper costs, as well, because there is no envelope needed. A great benefit of using Seaside Invitations as your invitation designer is we assemble your invitations and place the postage on your reply cards. A great way to add a bit more flair to your beautifully designed invitations is the use of vintage stamps.

Most people will need the standard wedding stamp when mailing out their invitations. The cost of these stamps has gone from $0.59 to $0.61. This stamp covers most invitations that include a few enclosures and/or the popular pocket or pocket-fold. If you are mailing a square invitation, then the post office will add a surcharge of $0.20 to your item. In the grand scheme of wedding planning an extra $20 on 100 invitations for postage is rather small potatoes but you don't want to be surprised at the post office.

The best thing to do before purchasing the postage for your beautiful invitations is to take one fully assembled invitation to the post office and have it weighted. They will tell you exactly how many stamps you need to purchase.