This coming Sunday The Wedding Cottage will be at the Bravo! Wedding Affair at The Embassy Suites Downtown.  This show is a favorite of ours, and one not to be missed!  You can get wonderful ideas and inspiration for your big day all while enjoying some delicious treats, and champagne!

What an amazing bridal show it was this past weekend! Thank you so much to all the wonderful brides, grooms and bridal parties who stopped by our booth- We loved having the chance to show off all that The Wedding Cottage has to offer, and especially loved seeing so many people sporting our sashes!  The award goes to the Groom who wore a sash that proudly said “Taken” – how incredibly sweet.

This year Randy Fenoli from Say Yes to the Dress was at the show, and as I watch that show whenever it is on (much to my husband’s dismay) I really wanted to meet Randy and get a photo with him.  On Sunday afternoon I sneaked out of the booth and stood in line to meet him.  I might have been pushing my luck but I asked him if he would wear the sash that I made him that said “Say Yes to the Dress”- He turned to his manager to ask, and got the ok!

He was a good sport and just as nice as I imagined.  I’m sure it is hard to sign autographs and smile for hours at a time, so I was impressed that he gave each person his full attention and energy.  Anyways, it was really fun to get the chance to meet him and even though it was hard to leave the booth, I am so glad I did!

Bridal Shows are one of my favorite parts of my job, and if you weren’t able to make it to this show, I hope to see you at some others in the future.  To see which shows we will be at visit our website under “Specials and Events”

We’re getting all packed up and excited for the Rose City Bridal Show that is taking place this weekend at the Convention Center.  The show is great every year but this year there are some exciting little additions – The first is that Randy Fenoli (from Say Yes to the Dress) will be coming on Sunday, and you can have the chance to have breakfast with him and hear him talk.  I’m not gonna lie, I pretty much watch every episode of Say Yes to the Dress and so I hope I get the chance for a little photo op with Mr. Fenoli.  To get tickets to this event click here!

The next new addition to the show is there will be a Dream Wedding Cake Challenge!  Four bakeries will battle it out from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, beginning with a blank cake and creating a full wedding cake throughout the day right there on the show floor. Attendees and a panel of judges will choose the winners.   Anyone watch Cupcake Wars?  I am hoping for a little drama with this event.

The last new addition to the show are the “Scoop Sessions”.   Throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, wedding vendors will be sitting down to answer your questions and give advice about the topics below.  I will be there for The Wedding Cottage at the Stationery and Accessories portion from 10:30-11:00am each day so stop by and ask away!

1. 10:00–10:30: Attire & Beauty
2. 10:30–11:00: Stationary & Accessories
3. 11:00–11:30: Food & Beverage
4. 12:30–1:00: Photography & Videography
5. 1:00–1:30: What does a Day-Of Coordinator Do?
6. 2:30–3:00: Entertainment

Anyways, it is shaping up to be a great show – We hope you will stop by our booth and say hello!

The Wedding Cottage is excited to be apart of the Very Engaging Bridal Event that is happening this Sunday at Bridgeport Village!  This wedding show is pretty fantastic because you can meet with wedding vendors, get great ideas and inspiration for your event, and of course do a little shopping!

The show is on Sunday, September 25th from 11am-4pm and the great thing is, admission is FREE!

There is also a fabulous VIP event from 9am-11am at Saks Off Fifth that includes a light brunch, fashion show, tips from professionals and a gift bag. The VIP event is $25.00 and you can get your tickets online.

We hope you will come by and say hi – we’ll be in Dosha Salon Spa!

One of the best things about owning The Wedding Cottage (among many others) is having the chance to go to gift shows and find new fabulous items for the store.  While there are gift shows on the west coast, I think the best shows seem to be in New York and Atlanta.  Having gone to college in Atlanta, how could I not go to this show!?  I get to see my college friends, visit my favorite old stomping grounds, and of course visit the show – perfect plan.

My Mom came with me on the trip and was the best travel companion- always giving me that much needed second opinion!

Not sure why we are wearing sweaters in this photo because it was SO hot and humid!

This gift  show is definitely one of a kind.  It is huge.  Like really really huge.  In fact the show itself is 7 days long, but with the amount of booths and showrooms it would be literally impossible to visit every single booth in 1 week.  Picture 3 buildings, each one being 18 stories tall and then hundreds of booths on each of those 18 levels – WOW.

Once the intial overwhelming shock was gone, I thought “Let’s go shopping!”  Below is a sneak peek of some of the new items I got at the show.  Everything should be coming in a few weeks.

First up: Survival Kits for the whole bridal party

New books below that I think would be a great alternative to the traditional guestbook.

ADORABLE Christmas ornaments (The Bride and Groom Birds)- that I would have loved to use at my wedding for our cake topper!

“Love Story” Flutes and Cake Servers with a matching Ring Holder

Hope you will come in and see it all!

I hope you enjoyed the last posts about all the new products that we will be getting into the store.  We are really excited about everything, and truly hope you will be too when you see it.  While it was 3 days of “work” at the Stationery Show, we managed to have a little fun in the big city as well.

Of course we had to catch a Broadway Show…

and go to Serendipity Dessert Shop from the movie “Serendipity”…

I’m not going to say we finished this ridiculously huge sundae, but then again I won’t say that we didn’t … I will say that it was AMAZING.

And last but not least…what else would a girl who owns a wedding store do on her last couple of hours in New York City?  Well visit the J.Crew Bridal Boutique of course!  Pretty much for me J.Crew + Weddings = bliss.

Here a few *sorry not great* photos of the fabulous store.  It is the only store in the nation that has their wedding dresses and all the different colors and styles of bridesmaid dresses.

I wanted to try some dresses on…

but then I am already married so Jacob thought I shouldn’t ask.

Smart guy.

Once we saw the store we headed to the airport and flew home!

Once we checked off finding new invitation books for the store, it was time to go searching for new cards and other fun items.  I quickly realized that I wanted to buy something from every single booth, and Jacob quickly realized that his job at the show was to make sure I didn’t go crazy and buy everything!  But we did find some really fantastic new products that I cannot wait to share with you all.  Here is just a peek of a few things we found.

This might be my favorite…

What a fun shower gift, or engagement gift!  It all has to do with what was going on in Portland the year you said “I do”.  So clever and so unique.

As soon as I saw this card below I thought, I must get that for the store!

This photo really doesn’t do this card justice, but it is sooo cute!

I have a confession to make – I am in love with all things silhouette.  Which is why I was in love with the card above, and which is also why when I saw this cake topper, I couldn’t resist getting it for the store.  I think it is so unique and different than any of the other cake toppers I have seen before.

I hope you enjoyed our little preview.

I guess you’ll just have to come into the store and see everything else we got! :)

Eco-Friendly Invitations are definitely a sought-after style in Portland.  But what if I tell you we have something even better than eco-friendly?  Yup that’s right folks, I now introduce you to plantable invitations!

We will now be featuring Bloomin Invitations at The Wedding Cottage.  A little info from the company, “Bloomin Wedding and its production processes are the most Earth-friendly available. Each sheet is handcrafted from 100% recycled, post-consumer paper and embedded with wildflower seeds. We print this seed paper with natural biodegradable inks that will not compromise the seed’s ability to grow.”

I guarantee your guests will be pleasantly surprised when they see the little message on the bottom that they can plant the invitation and it will turn into flowers that will grow back every year.

This company also features plantable favors as well!

And don’t think that by having eco-friendly invitations you have to compromise customization.  You are able to change up the card stock, all the colors, and of course the fonts and wording.

We often hear from Brides and Grooms that they want their wedding to be personal and unique.  I think these style of invitations will definitely fit the bill, and I hope you think so too!

Wiley Valentine.  How cool is that name?  Yes, I was in love at first sight.  I am so excited to tell you that we will now offer Wiley Valentine Invitations at The Wedding Cottage.  After seeing many, many talented invitation designers at the stationery show, Wiley Valentine seemed to offer something just a little bit different.  From their vintage style designs, to their color choices and customization, I knew it would be a perfect fit for our store.

One thing that really attracted me to this company is all the customization that they can do. The designs in this book feature their signature textured paper, and all of the colors on each invitation can be changed.  As an added plus, all the paper is 100% cotton – that means tree free for you eco-minded brides!   What is also wonderful though is that all of the designs in the book can be done in letterpress (if that is what you are looking for), or printed digitally (to save a little $).

By being able to change up all the colors and fonts, as well as the option to order that oh-so fabulous RSVP postcard, you can make these invites very personal and very you.

But don’t think we just found wedding invitations from this lovely company. We also now have a new book that features photo save the date cards, and photo save the date postcards.

So go out and get those engagement photos!

I am so very excited to share with you a sneak peak of some of the new invitations and goodies we got for The Wedding Cottage at the Stationery Show this past week.  From Saturday to Wednesday we went up and down the aisles visiting booth after booth to make sure we found the perfect new items for the store.

One of the companies that I am so excited to start working with is Designers Fine Press.  Like many people out there I have a huge LOVE for Letterpress.  It is gorgeous, and there is truly nothing like it.  My heart skips a beat just thinking about all the beautiful letterpress invitations we saw over the last couple of days.  But there is one big huge problem with letterpress… it is expensive!!!  Sometimes it seems you have to pay a small fortune for it.  Which is why I was so excited to come across Designers Fine Press, because they are truly able to keep the costs down without skimping on the quality.  I know you probably don’t believe me, because honestly I didn’t believe it at first.  But listen up girls because this is the real deal.  The average letterpress wedding suite is $7.50 each (100 sets of invitations, reply cards and printed envelope).  And to top it off, their designs are fun and fresh.  I cannot wait until this book arrives and you can see for yourself!

Another thing that I am excited about is they offer Postcard RSVP cards!

I love this one invite with the hearts, it is just so darn cute!

And this has been letterpressed on wood, so creative!

The hardest part now is to wait for the book to come in.

We’ll keep you posted when it arrives!