Here Comes The Guide's Blog

Taste-ful Personalized Wedding Favors: Party Beans

At Here Comes The Guide headquarters, we love our treats. So imagine our delight when adorable tins and containers filled with M&M’s and Jelly Belly jellybeans arrived at our offices, each with customized messages and images—including photos!

Imagine how cute these Party Beans containers would be in gift baskets for your wedding guests, adorned with a photo of you and your significant other—or dog/cat/hamster/goldfish, whatever—and a small caption. It’s extremely easy to personalize your favors with photos, colors, and words of your choice. There’s even a mini barrel, perfect if you’re getting married at a winery!

Bonus: when the candy is gone, the tins can be re-purposed. I swiped the little glass container and filled it with water a single, floating flower for a calming desktop decoration. Or, you can compete for the most popular coworker by keeping the container full of candy!

Vintage Wedding Dresses

When Queen Victoria married in a white gown, who knew it would spark such a lasting trend? In 1890—a full fifty years after Victoria said “I do”—white wedding dresses became the norm in America. Before then, practicality won out: During the time of the California Gold Rush, for example, a woman probably wouldn’t have the luxury of wearing her wedding dress only once, so something like this blue silk number from 1868 made much more sense.

I learned this and other fascinating pieces of wedding history when I went to see eleven historical wedding dresses at the “Unveiled” event in my hometown of Auburn, CA.

Individual dresses are displayed at different locations: the Bernhard Museum (where you’ll see the sweetest pink flower girl dress from the late 1800s!), and the Placer County Museum in the Auburn courthouse, where a 1929 dress is the undeniable showstopper. The lacy tiered skirt stops just below the knee, but the sheer veil cascades well beyond it, pooling in lacy loveliness at the bride’s feet. The photo shows a solemn wedding party. I hope they went on to have a better time at the reception!

You can see the collection Tuesday–Sunday, 11–4 at the Gold Country and Bernhard Museums through November 2009, and daily, 10–4 at the Placer County Museum until May of 2010. Admission is free.

If you’re inspired to go vintage for your wedding, take a look at The Red Dress online bridal salon. They have anything from Renaissance wedding dresses to 1940s glam gowns.

Personalize Your Postage

Okay, gals—this is just too cute! A fun way to make your engagement announcements, save the date cards, wedding invitations and thank-you cards more personal: Create your own stamps!

Are these wonderful or what? Bridal Party: How about including a picture of the bride on the bridal shower invitation? Guests will be buzzing about the event before it even begins.

Read our latest article for more ideas, and check out zazzle.com.