Happy Travels

Traveling can be hectic, confusing, and tiring. But it can also take you to beautiful, relaxing and interesting places. People travel for weddings, for work, for fun, for family, and there are a few essentials that we think everyone should have, no matter where they’re going.

The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s newest tablet, is perfect for reading, watching TV and movies, and playing games. The touch screen is non-reflective and easy to use, and the colors are vibrant. And if you thought it couldn’t get any more perfect, brace yourself. It’s small (7.5 X 4.7) and lightweight enough to slip in your bag (or briefcase) to take with you anywhere. ($199 on www.amazon.com)

If you constantly find yourself in airports that you don’t know very well, this may be the app for you. Flysmart (Free, from www.apple.com) can download and tell you almost anything you need to know about the airport. The app can download flight numbers and their gates, terminal maps, and lists of all of the stores and restaurants. This app helps you stop getting lost in, say, Atlanta, (what a way to start your honeymoon, searching for your flight!) and find your gate quickly and without stress.

Once you reach that honeymoon, or destination wedding, what do you want to do? Take pictures. Beaches in Hawaii, Cancun, the Caribbean…who wouldn’t want pictures of those? But unfortunately, getting married on the beach at sunset can make for bad lighting. This little camera, the Lytro, ($399-$499 at www.lytro.com/camera) can take pictures in low light, as well as extremely fast, and you can focus after you take them. This means that the slight fuzziness of the picture of sunlight hitting a wave behind the happy bride and groom is no longer a problem. Not to mention all of those pictures of everyone having a good time at the beach party (which just happens to be lit only by tiki torches).

And if you travel for business more than for pleasure, but you still have to share documents with people on the opposite side of the country, then maybe you need this item. The iTwin ($99 on www.itwin.com) is a USB drive in two parts. You just have to plug it in to one computer and then take off the other half and give it to someone else. They can plug it into their computer (or you can plug it in to your laptop) and then you can access all of the files through the Internet. Traveling for work just got a little less stressful.

Fun Bachelorette Party Ideas

Recently, the Baltimore Sun published an article describing fun ideas for themed bachelorette parties. For those of you who missed the great ideas and looking for a fabulous pre-wedding party theme, here are some suggestions:

High Adventure: Skydive Baltimore will take private party groups for tandem skydiving jumps. The plane speeds through the air and climbs as high as 14,000 feet. Just the perfect outing for the thrill seeking bachelorette. The plane takes off from a private airport in Harford County and prices start at $ 239 per person.

Thirsty?: The Wine Market in South Baltimore offers private wine tasting events, broken down by region and by season. Tastings feature 5 wines and hors d'oeuvres and range in price from $ 25-32 per person.

Sporting Good: Watch the Orioles beat a rival team from the private Miller Lite Flight Deck at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. A minimum of 24 guests and a maximum of 30, can see all the action for $ 40 per person which includes a $ 15 food and beverage voucher. That sounds like good, clean fun.

The Artist: How about a session at the Painting Workshop in Mount Washington to bring out your inner Picasso? A still life set-up and instructions are included, and for $ 225, you and your friends get two hours to paint away.

Time to Eat: How about a private cooking lesson from Baltimore Chef Nancy Longo? For a group of 8 or more, on a Sunday or Monday afternoon or evening at her restaurant Pierpoint, she will teach a new recipe or cuisine. Classes are $ 75 per person and include alcohol.

Hiring !

The Bridal Salon at Saks Jandel is eagerly looking for a fabulous sales consultant for their salon. The position is full time (yes, including Saturdays) and the best candidate is a good people person with sales ability and fashion style! Retail experience is great, but not required. Attention to detail a must.

Send resumes to bridalsalesposition@gmail.com.

Photo by the fabulous David Michele Photography

Adult Juice Boxes

 

What a great idea! Why didn’t we think of this? For those wine lovers out there, your dream has come true. Black Box Wines has created on-the-go adult juice boxes. You no longer have to worry about carrying wine glasses or a wine opener, just twist and sip. The small 500ML box with environmentally friendly packaging allows you to take your Black Box Wine with you everywhere you go. Perfectly priced at $5 per box and available in different flavors, we have a feeling that this will be a new trend for summer/fall 2012. 

Essie Bridal Nails

Refinery 29 recently posted a great little piece on Essie nail polishes.  The brand created a line of fabulous bridal colors that would accent any sparkling ring.  The soft creamy pastel colors are subtle yet playful and would work on both the bride and bridesmaids.  The line has been described as celebrating "brides who are confident and want to have fun with color, yet with a nod to tradition."

Will You Marry Me?

In 1979, Pepsi used a skywriter to write “Marry Me Sue” in the sky, becoming what is one of their most well known advertisements. Since then, skywriting has been a big way of popping the question. But like everything else, it has evolved. Say goodbye to the old school airplanes, and say hello to the digital version.

Bootcamp Lights, run by Kyle Benham and Robert Schapiro, is headlining this change. Their customized R22 helicopter has a 36- X 8-foot digital billboard on the bottom, that can flash anything you want. The brilliant entrepreneurs are hoping that their neon-bright advertisements will catch everyone’s attention after years of the same old airplanes dragging banners and leaving smoking trails.

So, if you’re looking for creative ways to ask that special girl to marry you, or advertise your latest invention, look no further.

 

Just Pin It

 

The Social media industry has done it again! Pinterest is the new, upcoming, addicting website that allows you to “pin” inspiring images, great products, innovative ideas and much more to virtual bulletin boards. In the wedding industry, Pinterest is an amazing tool for brides. It allows them to save images and ideas with a click of the mouse.
As planners it enables us to see our client's boards to get a feel of what their style is—no more magazine clippings-- inspiration boards have gone viral!

Visit our boards:  Elizabeth BaileyWeddings Pinterest for always evolving inspiration.

It's All About The Shoes

Finding the perfect pair of shoes for any occasion is not as easy as one would think, especially if that occasion is your WEDDING DAY! Every bride dreams of her wedding day being perfect down to every last detail, including the shoes. And that's where Milk & Honey Shoes saves the day! With Milk & Honey you become the designer. You choose the toe shape, heel back, heel height, straps, material, color…. you name it! No matter if you are a bride, bridesmaid or a guest at a wedding, this site gives you the opportunity to create the shoe that fits your vision. Because you know, it’s all about the shoes! 

Becoming a Social Traveler

The Honeymoon: Your chance to exhale.  A well-deserved vacation giving both of you the chance to finally take a deep breath, relax and celebrate the beginning of a new chapter together.  But one last question: how do we choose the perfect destination and are we getting a good deal?  

The first thought is to lean on the trusty Tour Guide Book or an online resource like TripAdvisor, but with the age of Social Media comes some game-changing websites for the helpless honeymooners or even the seasoned world travelers.  Instead of relying on the written word of strangers, social media websites like Gogobot.com  and Gtrot.com have revolutionized the way spouses are writing their next chapters.  These websites allow you to be your own tour guide and they utilize social media to give honeymooners the opportunity to share hotel, restaurant and other travel recommendations with their friends and followers.  
Gogobot gives you the tools to create a digital travel scrapbook via FourSquare and Facebook check-in’s and was created on the theory that travelers trust their friends’ recommendations and photos over out-dated guide books and online travel sites.  
On the other hand, Gtrot is taking the social media concept one step further and incorporating the Groupon’s and Living Social’s of the world to pool together daily deals for your preferred destinations.  This gives honeymooners the chance to create their dream vacation but at the same time saving a few bucks.  While these are only two of the options available to honeymoon planners, it is important for you to remember that you no longer have to stress about the planning or the cost of kicking off your next chapter together.  You can now rest assured that you are one click, ‘Like’ or ‘Follow’ away from your happily ever after...

Cocktails Perfect for Summer Entertaining

Daquiris are for the beach, Cosmos are for the club, beer is for a barbecue. But what do you do if you’re throwing a glamorous summer party, just for the heck of it? Patron Tequila came up with these three great, summery cocktails using Patron Silver.

Patron Pomegranate

1 oz Patron Silver

½ oz Patron Citronge

Fresh pomegranate juice

Lemon Squeeze

Patron Grapefruit

            1 oz Patron Silver

            ¼ oz Patron Citronge

            Fresh grapefruit juice

            Splash of club soda

Patron Pineapple

            1 oz Patron Silver

            ¼ oz Patron Citronge

            Fresh pineapple juice

            Lime squeeze

(Left to right: Patron Pomegranate, Patron Grapefruit, Patron Pineapple)

Don’t they just sound so refreshing and bright? Go ahead and try them. Hot days beg for fun and fruity drinks

Pop-ular

Popcorn is having a moment. We hope it goes on forever. Popsations, a popcorn company in Baltimore, makes seven different flavors of popcorn that you can order in small bags, or in tins of one, two, three or six and a half gallons of popcorn. It is perfect for a popcorn bar at a wedding or to include in hotel gift bags.

There’s also a popcorn company in New Orleans called Popcorn Bistro which  has over 100 different types of popcorn, including Classic Kettlecorn, Mesquite Barbecue, Nerds (the Wonka candy), Steak, and Peanut Butter Chocolate. Yum! If popcorn is one of your favorite things (and why wouldn’t it be) you can share the love with individual popcorn gift bags and presents, for people who like it just as much as you do.