WeddingBee once again has something unique to offer for the DIY Bride! I love how affordable these coasters are. You can buy blank ones at Blockheads and stamps at Impress Rubber Stamps. If you’re concerned about the ink running with cups with condensation are placed on the coasters, either use an embosser with clear powder or just whip out some clear fingernail polish and give it a quick coat. Is this heart-tini stamp cute or what?

The Wedding Lens is an awesome website that helps your guests share their photos with the bride and groom! Sure, you could create a Flickr or Photobucket account instead, but they wouldn’t be anything near as nice as this. The Wedding Lens has albums specifically created for weddings and even your guests who aren’t so proficient with a computer will find it easy to use.

You can either sign up for free for one year or pay an affordable $50 for a premium account, which enables you to download photos as full resolution and not have any ads on your page. You can print instructions for guests on Moo mini cards and display them at the guest book table during the reception, too. I think it’d be a big hit!

Photo by Christey Krause, FotoCuisine.com

Life can’t get much better than this if you love spicy food. Check out Fotocuisine for more photos and commentary on the preparation of this dish!

Ingredients
butter
texas pete
1/3 c. V8 Juice
two cornish hens, defrosted and towel dried
salt and pepper

Combine the butter, texas pete and tomato juice in a sauce pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and add a pinch of pepper. You can also add cayenne, if you like.

Clip the wings of the birds and tie them securely. Season with salt and pepper, brush the tops lightly with the sauce and roast in a baking dish at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Take the chicken out and baste liberally with the sauce, then put them back into a 375 degree over for fifteen minutes. Keep checking back every fifteen to twenty minutes, adding more sauce as needed. They should be done in about 50 minutes. Serve it over your favorite rice and voila!

The fabulous shoes, flowers, framed engagement photos, telephone booth…there are a ton of details in this wedding that I just adore!

They might look a little gothic in black, but imagine them in white, pink or whatever your wedding colors may be! Read the instructions here. I think it’d be neat to make one black and one white to hang on the back of your chairs with little notes saying Bride and Groom. It brings a whole new meaning to “tying the knot” huh?

It’s true that you can do all the necessary paperwork yourself to change your name, but I’d rather shoot myself than wait in long lines of unhappy people at the DMV, rub elbows with IRS agents and listen to endless elevator music while on hold with credit card companies…honestly, it’s stressful just thinking about the whole ordeal.

That’s why sometimes, it’s okay to take the easy way out. For $25, Name Birdie will do it all for you in minutes. All you have to do is print the forms and lick a few stamps. I laugh in the face of bureaucracy, ha ha ha ha!

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes, they also have gift cards, which make a great bridal shower or wedding present! You’ll all thank me for this one day, I promise.

It’s interesting how a few small changes can transform a the usual ceremony photo into something so modern and organic. This could be a great DIY project if you or someone in the family has a talent for carpentry! Building simple benches like this would be a snap, and you could stain the wood whatever color fits your fancy. You can buy cushions for cheap at stores like Big Lots, and you might even be able to find some affordable benches there so you don’t have to make them yourself!

I’d love to see this done with lavender buds instead of orchids. Or wedding confetti in your colors. The possibilities are endless! These photos were featured in this wedding, by the way.

Everyone wants to look their best for their wedding, but the stress leading up to your special day may be enough to cause your eye area to look tired and dark. You may even be cursed with ever present half-moon circles on any day of the week, like me. That’s why I’m featuring Garnier’s Anti-Puff Eye Roller in today’s Favorite Friday.

Fortified with Pro-Vitamin B5 and caffeine, it decongests puffiness and diminishes dark circles while hydrating your skin. Use it every morning for two weeks, and you’ll see a huge difference! Just remember that for any skin care routine to work, you have to be consistent. Here are some other quick tips:

• Before bed, boil lavender buds in a covered pot for five minutes, then let the water slowly cool until it’s still warm but not burning hot. Soak a washcloth in the water, wring it out so that it’s not dripping wet, and cover your face with it for at least twenty minutes. Lavender is an anti-inflammatory and an anti-septic, so it’ll reduce puffiness, splotchiness and keep your pores clear of bacteria while you sleep.
• Don’t forget your beauty sleep! Lavender can help here as well, since it’s often used as a sleep aid. A lack of sleep causes you to have poor circulation, increasing the darkness under your eyes and making you look wan and pale overall.
• Take your vitamins and drink at least six glasses of water a day. I’m the first person to say that taking pills isn’t fun, so don’t feel ashamed of buying Flintstones Gummy Vitamins instead! Drinking plenty of water increases circulation and helps keep your skin moisturized.
• Wear sunscreen on your under eye area with a higher SPF than the rest of your face. The skin under your eyes is particularly thin and thus tans more easily than the rest of your face, and if you keep it from darkening further, eventually your skin may even out and make the circles hardly noticeable.
• When all else fails, use a concealer with yellow tones to combat the blue/purple/brown discoloration.

What skin care products can’t you live without? Are you making any special changes leading up to your big day?

There is so much to admire in a bold, contemporary look like this! For more information concerning the individual pieces of this board, click here.

This article gives some great tips for making your business ecofriendly without the fluff and buzzwords that are often attached to the term! We’ve been implementing sustainable, ethical business practices from the start, but we’ve been short on ideas on how to take that to the next level. I’m so glad to have run across this article, as it takes a really refreshing look at the simple ways we can do our part to contribute to both our local and global community. So far, we:

• recycle everything we can, both business and non-business related
• reduce our consumption of power and resources by taking advantage of natural light, electronic documents and putting on sweaters instead of turning up the thermostat
• use high energy efficient bulbs, a water filter, and rechargeable batteries for all our camera flashes
• use only digital so that we don’t have to deal with the harsh chemicals involved in developing film
• offer digital downloads direct from our galleries so that we reduce the need for packaging and mailing photos

There’s still so much that we could be doing, and we’ll be blogging about those changes in the coming months!

What are your thoughts on sustainability, as defined by reducing your negative impact on the earth and your community? Does it factor into your wedding planning? Are there any initiatives you’d like to see us take as a business to help improve our surroundings?