Looking for Diamonds?

If you are one of those lucky ladies who has received a romantic marriage proposal this festive season, then we have just the thing for you.

More and more couples are opting to purchase their engagement rings online, and one such website madlydeeply offers you the opportunity to design your own engagement ring, or they can design it for you with their bespoke design service.

Their engagement rings come in Platinum, Yellow Gold and White Gold and all rings over £850.00 come with an independant valuation. This company also gives you a 100% Refund Guarantee.

For more information on their products and service, pop on over to the madlydeeply website where you can also take advantage of Live Help.

The first Christmas Proposal!

Well, I just knew there would be a number of proposals this Christmas and judging by the number of visitors to our wedding sites Mrs2Be.com and Shelaghm.co.uk over the Christmas Holidays, I was absolutely right! And one of them is extremely close to home in the shampe of one of my best friends - Nicky and her other half - Chris! I received a text on Christmas day to tell me that she received something hard and sparkly in her stocking and that her other half was going to make an honest woman of her! We are thrilled as it was my husband and I who brought these two together (unintentionally!) exactly a year ago. Now here they are enjoying their first Christmas together with their baby daughter (oh yes) announcing their impending wedding in the summer of 2007!

So - congratulations Chris & Nicky!

Christmas Proposals

I love Christmas, it is such a cosy, romantic time of year and what better time to propose to your loved one than in the subdued lighting of the christmas tree lights with a roaring fire and a warm feeling in your heart?

Not only is Christmas a wonderful time of year to propose, but I personally think that it is also a wonderful time of year to get married. There are some truly beautiful winter wedding dresses around and there are some fabulously romantic winter wedding venues too.

So, I am looking forward to all the new Mrs2Be we will hopefully see after December 25th!

If your loved one proposes to you this Christmas, be sure to pop on by and let us know here at Mrs2Be won't you!

Get Fitness & Diet Advice Online

This blog is written by a instructor and I love the name of it for a start: NoExcusesGym.com! We all know that you want to look your best for your big day, afterall you are going to be the centre of attention on the big day and you are also going to be looking at your wedding photos for years to come! So, you need to love them! But, losing weight and getting fit has to be done properly in order for it to be successful so it is great to be able to get advice from personal fitness instructors, particularly if like many women, you don't have enough room in your ever expanding budget to add a Personal Trainer!

The blog is written by Personal Fitness Trainer and Aerobics Instructor Marcela who lives in Southern California. Marcel has many, many years experience in all manner of womens fitness and has been involved as a University Professor, Physical Education Teacher, Personal Trainer, Aerobic Instructor, Dance and Choreographer.

Her blog covers many issues of health, fitness and diet including muscle fitness, fitness for women, training, diet, muscle strenth, weight training, running, aerobics and workouts. There are also some really handy hints on things like squeezing exercise into your hectic schedule, Tips on getting fit to look good on the Beach - v.important for your Honeymoon snaps! As well as daily tips.

So, if you are determined not to pile on the pounds over the festive season, head on over to NoExcusesGym.com for some no-nonsense advice.

Beyonce's High Hopes for Marriage - but not yet!

Following the rumours that were flying about regarding the possible wedding of Beyonce to Jay-Z - Beyonce has been said to say that he is simply not yet ready for marriage.

So - no big plush wedding on the Island of Anguilla then!

Beyonce does admit though that she has high hopes for marriage particularly as her own parents have been happily married now for 27 years. Interestingly she also states that she was never one of those girls who dreamt about having a big wedding.

Her secret of success? Friendship. She says ""It's wonderful to understand and want the same things, but the friendship is most important.

"You know someone loves you by the way he treats you and respects you. You know it by how you both feel when you're together." (source: Jamaica Gleaner)

Financial Advice from The Thrifty Scot!

We love this website - I mean if you are going to get financial advice, who better to get it from than a Thrifty Scot! Known for their thriftiness - this website gives you plenty of practical advice on various financial aspects. From basics such as the best savings accounts for you to put that hard earned cash for your big day, to mortgages and home insurance. If you are looking to raise finance to help pay for your wedding, then you will find plenty of practical advice on which credit cards are available to help you make those purchases. If you are using this time in your life to consolidate your finances then perhaps information on secured loans is what you are looking for, and they even cover that!

So, why not pop over to Thrifty Scot and take a look for yourselves.

Hurley Gets Health for her Spring Wedding

Liz Hurley who is due to get married in March 2007, has decided to follow a health regime in order to be in peak condition for her big day. Prompted by the fact that her recent schedule has left her feeling "dreadful" through lack of sleep and little exercise, she and Fiance Arun Nayar have decided to follow a health regime involving regular exercise, low-fat diet and plenty of natural vitamins.

Knowing how beautiful Liz looks, we have no doubt she will look absolutely stunningly beautiful on her big day!

Cheap Wedding Favours

If you are looking to buy your wedding favours online, then here is another wedding favour website for you to consider.

There are some products on here that I have not seen elsewhere such as coin bags, photo CD cases, and lipstick holders. They seem to have quite a number of oriental themed wedding favours too.

This site is ideal for those brides on a budget as they do offer cheap wedding favors so ensuring your budget will go further while still giving out something more interesting than sugared almonds!

The site is easy to navigate if a little uninspiring to look at, but they do have a Live Help option which is always nice though remember that this is a US based company so bear in mind any time differences.

DIY Wedding Stationery

We know that many brides are either getting married on a budget, or they simply want to have a hand in every part of their own wedding including creating and making the wedding invitations.

So, with that in mind, we decided to review the website of one such company who offers DIY wedding stationery.

Razzle Dazzle Wedding Stationery has an online wedding card shop which allows you to purchase the kits. They sell wedding invitation kits in packs of 10 though this is not immediately evident when you visit the site. These kits start at £11.95.

As well as wedding invitation kits, they also offer Evening Invitations, RSVP Cards, Thank You Cards, Save The Date Cards, Orders of Service, Menus, Place Cards, Favour Boxes and Guest Books, to allow you to create a completely co-ordinated theme.

The downside is that there are only 8 designs to choose from. Each design though, does offer you a number of colour choices and you can also request a sample, though at £2.50 for an invitation sample and £3.95 P&P we feel this is quite expensive.

In summary, whilst the website itself is slightly annoying, what we like about this particular service is that they sell you the complete packs with the design and everything already mapped out for you so it is ideal for those brides who are not too worried about having creative control, but still want to either

a) enjoy the experience of making her own invitations
or
b) save money!

Pop a long and see what you think: Razzle Dazzle Wedding Stationery

UK Credit Cards

It is a fact of life that many couples go into debt to fund their wedding day and it is always difficult to advise against it as a wedding is such an emotional event and it is every little girl’s dream to get married and have their very own fairytale wedding.

That said, it is highly unlikely that you will have a bank account full of cash and so it is highly likely that you will be borrowing money in some form or another so it is best to do it in an informed and sensible manner.

Therefore this particular website may well be of interest to you if you are planning to put some of your wedding purchases on your credit card. It can sometimes be difficult to filter through some websites to get to the detail you want particularly if they cross over into many different financial products.

This particular website focuses on UK credit cards, which we liked. It also clearly lays out the menu option to click on if you are specifically looking for Balance Transfer deals or if you are looking for the best Credit Card on the market which again saves you faffing around the website.

If you are looking for a 0% balance transfer fee card, then it details those cards available in a table, but there didn’t seem to be any particular sort order in the table and I think it would have been nice to be able to sort this table according to your personal requirements i.e. if the length of time of the 0% was most important, then being able to sort them in order of the longest term first would have been useful.

Each card also has a link directly to the lender.

Rather than just leaving you to get on with it, the site does give you some more detailed information on the different considerations such as “True Cost of Balance Transfers”. This article helps you to understand whether or not you would truly be saving money in the long run.

Whilst the site is well laid out, neat and easy to navigate around, one criticism I would make in terms of look and feel is that the writing is quite small and faint due to it being grey and not black. Though I do prefer to read grey text sometimes as it is less harsh, perhaps a darker shade of grey would help. Also the sub-headings are in lime green (which I do like) but sometimes lime green can be difficult to read on screen.

All in all though I think this website is a good informational resource if you are considering using UK credit cards to help pay for some of your wedding so take a good look.

Arrive in Style!

Actress Lucy Davis of The Office fame - has married her fiance Welsh Actor Owain Yeoman this weekend at St Paul's Cathedral! Wow - what a venue that is! Not usually available to non-royal weddings, the couple were granted permission because Lucy's father the acclaimed comedien Jasper Carrott is an OBE.

Lucy arrived at the venue in true style - a London Black Cab! And guests arrived in Red Routemaster Double Decker Buses! Fantastic idea!

Baby Shambles Frontman buys Baby Pink Wedding Dress

Paul Doherty - frontman of Baby Shambles and Kate Moss' other half has been reported as having bought Kate a Vintage Christian Dior wedding dress from a second hand shop for just £120.00.

Personally I think that is one heck of a bargain (providing it is as nice as he thinks it is), but I have to admit, I can't help but feel that the prospective Groom2Be buying his Mrs2Be's wedding dress is a bit - well - wierd!

Festive Fun!

I know this blog is meant to be about weddings, but I really think that you busy wedding planners need to take a break over the festive season and have some fun!



To help you get into the Christmas Spirit we have found some fabulously fun themed wallpapers and christmas screensavers. Better still they are free!

So, get creative with your PC and add some Christmas magic this holiday with these lovely festive images. There are snowmen, christmas trees, father christmases and snow scenes galore! These will help take your mind off budgets and colour schemes and wedding favours, if only for a short while!

Is Beyonce Planning a Secret Wedding?

Rumours are flying about that Beyonce is using a 4 day birthday party bash for Jay-z's 37th birthday as a cover for what is actually their wedding. The couple have been dating now for 4 years and it is rumoured that friends and family have been asked to make sure they have their passport applications filed by last Friday!

The couple's four-day party will begin on a luxury yacht. Guests will then be ferried across to Anguilla for the alleged wedding ceremony, which is rumoured to be taking place at the five-star resort of Cap Juluca.

Hmmm - we shall have to wait and see.

No Scary Wedding!

It is rumoured that Mel B and Eddie Murphy have ended their relationship - ahhhhh - Murphy apparently dropped the bombshell live on Dutch TV when he also announced that no-one could be sure that Mel's Baby was his until the child was born and tested.

So - there will be no Scary Murphy Wedding then!

Honest Honeymoon Travel Reviews

I know how hard it is to choose where to go on holiday, never mind on honeymoon and let's face it, you want this to be the holiday of a lifetime so getting it right is so important.

The difficulty as I see it is that when you go and pick up the brochures from your local travel agent, everywhere looks beautiful - of course it does - it is meant to! And then you speak to the sales staff and they make it all sound beautiful but let's be honest, how many of them have actually been to these resorts?

However, help is now at hand with a highly popular travel idea blog called Tavel Plan Idea. This blog gets a good amount of feedback from people who have actually visited the places that they are commenting on, and they have a specific honeymoon travel section to the blog too. All of the feedback is honest as there is no sales target incentive to be met!

There is information on getting married in Disney, on board a ship and in Italy. Or perhaps if you and your Mr2Be are particularly active, you might want to consider something completely of the beaten track such as climbing Kilimanjaro! Yep, there is even a post about that!

So, why not pop over there and take a look prior to booking your honeymoon.

H&M Join the Wedding Dress War

H&M have joined the Wedding Dress War now selling designer wedding dresses at just £219.99! The dress is designed by Viktor & Rolf and a limited number have gone into selected stores last week.

Viktor & Rolf are couture designers of 15 years and have now teamed up with the high street store to produce this limited edition line of wedding dresses. The dress has a silk bodice, silk overlay a bustle back pleat and a Mermaid tail train.

This dress has been bought by people who haven't even set a wedding date yet - in fact one woman, who bough 3 - hasn't even got a boyfriend!

The dresses are also now being sold ol ebay apparently for twice the price!

A sign of the times I guess!

Cash Saving Coupons from CouponChief.com

Oh how I love to save my Mrs2Be money and this site is up there with the best of them. This particular site brings you money off coupons from a wide variety of companies including Weight Watchers, Body Shop & Amazon!

Mrs2Be is a keen advocate of saving money - I mean - why buy something at full price if you can get a discount! Weddings can be an expensive enough time without adding any extra expense to it if you don't have to.

All you need to do is go along to CouponChief.com and get your coupon codes and start shopping.

Tom's Tum!

It has been reported on a news site - zeenews.com, that Tom Cruise had to resort to having a girdle sewn into his undergarments to ensure his Armani suit would hang properly on his big day!

See girls - it isn't just us to fall prey to the bulgeing tummy syndrome! Oh no - even the famous fall prey to a doughnut too many!

Hmmmm - I wonder if he has "dinner lady arms" too?

Don't suffer in silence.

As a suffer of IBS myself, I know just how painful and debilitating this condition can be. The worse thing is it tends to hit you at the very time when you could least do with having to suffer any pain at all - when you are stressed!

Planning a wedding can be a very stressful time, and then of course there are the on-the-day nerves to contend with.

This American company BestHealthUS.com has come up with a product designed to alleviate the symptoms of this awful condition and it is called Digestive Advantage. Billed as "most effective product available on the market today" the comapny are so confident about their product they even offer you a money back guarantee and sell it to you for less in the first place!

At the best of times this condition can be embarrassing, at the worse - crippling. Don't let it ruin the run up to your big day or worse still, the big day itself.

Diamonds are Forever!

If you are looking for a diamond engagement ring, then this website is the site for you! There are some absolutely stunning pieces of jewellery here. The company is called Designs by Indigo and they are based in London. Design Indigo are a direct supplier of the finest quality certified diamonds and luxury diamond jewellery from source in Antwerp at wholesale diamond prices. 8 out of 10 diamonds sold in UK, Europe and US originates from Antwerp.

Not only can you see some beautiful pieces of jewellery but the site is also packed full of information about diamonds and how to make a wise investment in them.

There are also some diamond rings for men on the site. For more information visit www.bestdiamonds.co.uk.

Do you surf at work? Beware!

Now I know already know the answer to that questions because I see the website statistics take a sharp rise between the hours of 2pm-4pm and I don't believe for a minute that all your Mrs2Be out there are shift workers!!!

I also know from a survey that was carried out recently that Mrs2Be wish they could take time of work to plan their weddings due to the amount of time it takes, and this coupled with the fact that 77% of brides now plan their weddings online means that it is inevitable that you will be using your work PC to surf the net at some point!

But, in all seriousness - you must be sure to check your company's internet usability policy for acceptable use as they do have ways and means of ensuring they know exactly how their employees are using the internet and what sites they are viewing. Once such piece of software is keylogging. Keylogging eylogging tools can be used to record anything ranging from web sites you visit to recording your passwords. Whilst you may not be overly thrilled to know that this clever piece of kit could be monitoring your every move online, I bet you would be the first in line if you had teenagers and kids at home surfing the net - I mean you can't exactly be looking over their shoulder at every moment - can you!

M&S to Launch Bridalwear Collection Spring 2007

M&S Wedding Dresses

There are more and more high street stores offering wedding dresses these days and now Marks & Spencer has joined that ever increasing list!

M&S has announced that it will be launching its bridalwear collection next spring, via selected stores.

The collection will just four dresses to start with, all ankle length and the prices will range from £120 - £150. The collection will be made from fabrics of chiffon, overlaid lace and crepes in white and vintage cream, is described by M&S as "young and fun in attitude", they go on to say that it is "great value, but also good quality and individual design."

Bridal Lingerie

Already famous for its Knickers, M&S has a bridal lingerie collection namely Truly You bridal. The collection will also include bridesmaids dresses and Grooms formal wear.

M&S is already a popular high street store for their bridal gift list service and they already offer a wedding cakes and flowers too so this really will finish off the whole Wedding service.

I for one will be interested to see what the quality of the dresses are like and of course just how "young and fun" their designs really are. I think that having such a limited number of wedding dresses within the collection may be an issue for them and for brides though obviously if it becomes popular this will undoubtedly grow.

Step Away from the Sugared Almonds!!!

As a wedding planner one of my bug bears has always been that we brits seem to be so far behind the American wedding market in terms of giving our guests Unique Wedding Favors. We are in the main still stuck in the rut of giving out five sugared almonds – which yes, I know are traditional – or chocolate hearts, or those dragees which come in an array of colours.

But honestly, when you go to a wedding, how nice would it be to walk away with a little gift that you would go home, put on your mantle piece, or in your kitchen and which would raise a smile every time you saw it as the memory of that happy occasion goes through your mind?

Or, if it is an edible or drinkable Wedding Favor, how about something a little different and more inspiring than sugared almonds?

To give you some inspiration, we have come across this wonderful website packed full of wedding favors that even has a specific unique wedding favors category – so you don’t have to do much work to come up with some inspiration ideas – they do it for you!

There are an array of ideas and just one of our personal favourites is this gorgeous “Scoop of Love” heart shaped ice-cream scoop! Not only is it cute but it is also useful and comes beautifully presented in a bow tied box!

Another favourite are these pretty Love Crystal Paperweights which look beautiful.

If you want a little bit of fun – then these Bride & Groom Loo rolls would make sure your wedding is remembered for years to come!

So come ‘on girls – when you are considering which wedding favors to give your guests – be a little creative and give them unique wedding favours – step back from the Sugared Almonds!

Maternity Wedding Dresses

If you are getting married with an expanding waistline due to the arrival of a new addition to your family then it is imperative that you not only look beautiful on your wedding day, but that you are comfortable. Of course, you would not want that comfort to be at the expense of your beauty but it is perfectly possible to achieve the two.

However, your considerations as a Mum2Be as well as a Mrs2Be will be different to those who are simply a Mrs2Be (are you keeping up?) and so we have put together a short article to help you with choosing that dream dress on your wedding day.

DIY Colonic Irigation - No Really!

OK, so having your colon flushed out is widely publicised as being a favourite detox programme of sports people and celebrities alike and in fact the pracise has now become popular with us mere mortals on the street to in a bid to detoxify and cleanse our bodies.

I am all for detox, particularly before such a big event as your wedding! But - now there is a method of carrying this out without visiting a clinic and having a plastic pipe put somewhere plastic pipes were never designed to go!

Yep - that's right DIY colonic irigation in the form of "Almighty Cleanse™"!!! Almighty Cleanse Colon Cleansing is billed as "is a powerful yet gentle 2-part system to help regulate and purify your digestive tract".

Colonic Irigation is meant to help to support your natural digestive system and alleviate occasional constipation. It also helps with that uncomfortable condition many women suffer from (no, not men), bloating!

The idea is that Almighty Cleanse™ will support the body’s natural eliminative functions via a dual formula dietary supplement and thus cleanses the colon.

It's manufacturers also state that it helps to expel impurities and fecal matter from within your intenstinal walls!

Ewch - not before breakfast!

Get it on your Chest with HeSaysSheSays!

Mrs2Be has teamed up with HeSaysSheSays who produce fun t-shirts for Brides and Grooms 2Be!

The t-shirts are ideal for that all important Hen Night or Stag Night and there are many different slogans to choose from or you could even come up with your own.

Sharon of hesaysshesays.co.uk has kindly put together some ideas especially for Mrs2Be and we think they are gorgeous! Available in Black, White or Baby Pink.

So why not check them out for yourself, you could even get his nibs one too! For more information go to www.hesaysshesays.co.uk or check out their blog at www.hesaysshesays.co.uk/blog

You can get a discount on these T-shirts if you are an executive member of Mrs2Be details of which are in your Mrs2Be Membership Area. If you are not already a member of Mrs2Be - sign up now for just £19.95 for a full year and make full use of the wedding tools and such offers as those provided by HeSaysSheSays!

Healthy Coffee - There is a God!

Now - I for one am a huge coffee fiend and yet I am also well aware of the negative press surrounding coffee and it's adverse affect on our health and toxin levels. So imagine my delight when I heard about a coffee that actually is non- acidic and has no Chemicals. Not only that but it is billed as giving you an immediate increased energy levels and reduces physical fatigue!!!

The company is 1st Healthy Coffee.com and their coffee contains half the caffeine of regular coffee and has over 200 health enhancing nutrients!

For more information visit the 1st Healthy Coffee.com website. They even provide a 100% money back guarantee!

I know just how much coffee I consume when I am stressed and working flat out and so I decided that all my Mrs2Be would benefit from this too so! All we need now is for someone to come up with a Healthy Red Wine!!!

Groom2Be shot dead in New York on Stag Night

Police in New York have opened fire on 3 men whose car hit their unmarked police vehicle after a night out. ITN news report that New York's mayor's office said the police officers opened fire fearing there was going to be a fight and that a weapon would be used! They then let rip into the car with 50 rounds of ammunition killing the Groom2Be and injuring his two friends.

Talk about fighting water with fire!

Financing Your Wedding

Weddings now cost on average £17,000 - £19,000 and there are very few of us who would have that kind of cash sat around!

Some people are lucky enough to have relatives that are willing to help them out financially but others have to find ways in which to raise the cash. Some people may take out a personal loan, others may re-mortgage, and some will use credit cards.

If you are considering putting your purchases on your credit cards then it is imperative that you seek the best deal. The credit card market place can be so confusing. There are adverts every where you look and you will no doubt also be receiving phone calls from major banks offering you their credit cards. So here at Mrs2Be we have been digging around to see if we can make the whole process less confusing and time consuming and look what we have found!

Now, you and I both know that the internet is the way forward for planning all things in life (well most things) and now there is a search engine dedicated to Credit Cards! CreditCardSearchEngine.com enables you to "Compare, Decide & Apply" - how easy can it be?

They have broken it down into categories for you including Low % interest rate cards, Cash Back Credit Cards and Student Credit Cards. If you happen to have a low credit profile, there are even options for you.

So before you go making any decisions about which credit card to use take a look at CreditCardSearchEngine.com a search engine dedicated to Credit Cards.

Increase your Benefits - Get Divorced or Stay Single!

The Mail on Sunday carried a story today on page 5, about a young married couple, freshly off their honeymoon, who went into their local Job Centre to sort out their benefits now that they were married.

The couple, who are in their early 40s were out of work for different reasons. The wife had to give up her job to enable her to look after her elderly and infirm parents, and the husband had suffered a nervouse breakdown after working for the same engineering firm for 20 years. He had in fact lived off his savings for much of the time he had been signed off work due to his health problems, rather than claiming any money from the government!

When the company then went to their local job centre to seek advice on how being married would affect their benefits, they were told by a government welfare official 'You'd get more money if you split up.'!!

Ironically, the newly married wife is training to be a marriage guidance counsellor!

Ebay sells Cruise Wedding Ashtray!

Well it didn't take long did it? Someone is selling an ashtray which is from the Villa Odescalchi - the Italian Castle that was the scene of Tom Cruise and Kati Holmes' 'wedding'.

How romantic is that - an ashtray! I hope it is un-used.

The ashtray has received 19 bids so far (a the time of writing this entry) and is priced at $46.00!

And the buyer is based in ............................ Canada!

It's amazing what people will buy - I mean in 3 years time, will anyone looking at that ashtray really remember that it was the Italian Castle that Tom Cruise & his wife were 'married' at? He may well have moved on to another wife by then!

OK - just in case you are tempted - here is the link to the ebay sale!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330052194722

Here Comes the Bride, Stressed, Broke & Wired!

Why do brides feel so pressured to make their wedding day bigger and better than any other they have been to? And is it really possible to enjoy the whole wedding planning experience without turning into Bridezilla at some point?

Personally I think there is a huge amount of pressure placed on couples to achieve the ultimate wedding and this can sometimes place them in a precarious position at the very time in their lives when they should have little to worry about.

It is more and more common place to fund weddings via huge credit card bills and bank loans but - have we list site of what is really important in this world of materialism?

Have a read of this article and tell us what you think!

Mr & Mrs T Cruise!

At last - Tom & Katie have become man and wife. The couple - who married in a medieval castle near Rome on Saturday 18th November - had a scientologoy service behind the walls of a fortress, by candle and torch light.

The wedding which is allegedly said to have cost $3.4 million dollars, was attended by the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, The Beckhams and John Travolta. Interestingly though, local authorities are said to have stated that the couple have not sought to have a civil wedding licence which would lead us to question the legality of this particular ceremony. One would assume that they have either already had a civil wedding ceremony performed, or are to do so at some stage.


Photo: Reuters

The Bride wore a white, lace gown designed by Giorgio Armani with a catheral length veil, while the groom wore a simple black suit, shite shirt, black tie ensemble.

Handfasting - Pagan Wedding Ceremonies

Apparently Handfasting is the Pagan equivalent of a wedding ceremony - though not legally binding at the moment. Interestingly, they traditional handfasting ceremony will only bind man and wife together for 18 months!! Though there is the option to have have the "Love Lasts" option which binds them together as long as the Love Lasts!!!

I am not sure which is better really! Anyway - for more informatin - take a look at our article.

Live and let live - that's my motto!




Image courtesy of Emily Rossiter from Rivendell Bridal

Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise set to marry in Rome

Well there is a right furror at the moment over the fact that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are set to tie the knot this weekend in a 15th century castle just outside of Rome.

Tom and Katie hosted a party for some 130 guests in a central Rome restaurant last night which was attended by a whole host of celebrity A listers. Tome & Katie have been photographed with baby Suri arriving at the top restaurant and Katie and Suri seem to be sporting the same hairstyles!

Tipped to be THE celebrity wedding of 2006 - I am looking forward to the photos!

Free Wedding Mags to the US Only!

You know one of the reasons I ventured into this arena was because I kept coming across the American sites that were selling all manor of wedding favours while us Brits were still giving out 5 Sugared Almonds (yes, I know some people like sugared almonds!). And now I find that of you are living in the US or Canada you can get yhour hands on Free wedding magazines! Via a nacky site called - free-wedding-magazines.com (it does exactly what it says on the tin!).

The featured free magazine at the moment is WeddingChannel.com Wedding Bells. All their members have to do is fill in a simple form and they get a free copy! Now - how come our magazine companies are not so forward thinking in their marketing! I know my members would love to get access to such an offer but the best I could get for my UK brides was a discount from Wedding Ideas (which incidentally is a very good magazine).

So, if you are reading this blog and you happen to be living in the US or Canada I suggest you get yourselves over to Free wedding magazines and take a look at what they have. Not only are there some great offers but there are also some interesting articles as well including one on Reasons to Elope - how romantic!

Wedding Stationery - The Champagne Lover's Guide

We all know wedding stationery is important as a means of communication before, during and after the wedding. But, have you thought that it is also going to create the first impression of your big day - and we all know how important first impressions are!

Vicky of Serendipity Moon - who are specialist handmade wedding and civil partnership stationers, has produced this guide to wedding stationery. To read more visit Mrs2Be.com

Cheap wedding dresses

Weddings are well known to be a huge financial drain with the average cost of a wedding costing around £17,000. However not everyone has that kind of resource available to them. Every bride has the right to look beautiful on her wedding and we have uncovered a way to purchase cheap wedding dresses and help those less fortunate.

Are weddings are becoming more intimate

Personally I think we are seeing a move away from the big bold brash wedding of the links of Peter Andre & Jordan in favour of more personal intimate weddings.

In a recent Mrs2Be poll, we asked people to vote for their favourite celebrity wedding of Summer 2006 of which there were a few including:

Cheryl Tweedy & Ashley Cole
Ant McPartlin & Lisa Armstrong
Tamzin Outhwaite & Tom Ellis
Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban

The over-riding factor that stood out about 3 of these (excluding Cheryl Tweedy's wedding) was how traditional and intimate they appeared to be.

The clear winner by over 50% of votes was Ant McPartlin & Lisa Armstrong who got married in a very traditional, intimate wedding ceremony this summer after a long courtship.

Interestingly though Posh 'n' Becks Wedding is still rated by many as The Celebrity Wedding of the last decade which is interesting. Perhaps largely because it was the first of its kind?

I'd love to hear your comments on this......

Exciting Updates from Mrs2Be

Wow - the summer is pretty much over and we are heading into busy Wedding Planning time. The Bridal Fairs will all be starting up again so don't forget to check out our list of bridal fairs to find one near you.

Upgraded Wedding Planning Tools

Whilst our blog may have been quiet during the month of August -we certainly haven't been!

So far we have updated our budget planner to make it more streamlined and more functional.

We have also updated our wedding guest planner. Some exciting new features are:

Dietary Requirements
Guest of Bride, Groom or Bride & Groom
Seating Plan
Sort Facility







Also available is a FREE Mrs2Be Toolbar! So download it now.

Happy Planning!

Weddings, weddings everywhere! There have been 2 celebrity weddings to speak of in the last fortnight and they were completely different in the fact that one seems to have been a complete media circus, while the other appeared to have been dignified and intimate!

So who were they, well Cheryl Tweedy & Ashley Cole and Ant McPartlin and his longer term girlfriend Lisa Armstrong of course!

I have to say that I find it quite sad, that a bride and groom are prepared to give up the privacy and intimacy of such a huge day for a quick buck. It somehow takes the romance out of it.

I was pleasantly surprised that Cheryl Tweedy looked quite nice in her chosen wedding gown though, I must admit, I was expecting something far more gawdy though for me, Lisa Armstrong and Tamzin Outhwaite both beat her hands down.




Cheryl's ornate dress was ok, though for me the bow pattern encrusted on it didn't float my boat, but I particularly liked the tulle underskirt which poked out from the long train. When I first heard that the bridesmaid were wearing Organge, I shuddered, however, from the pictures in the glossy mag that paid huge bucks - they looked like very nice.

When I read the article, I couldn't help but feel that Ashley Cole had little say in their wedding or the media circus surrounding it.

So, what was so different then about Ant & Lisa's wedding? Well, it seemed to be intimate and romantic with Ant grinning from ear to ear permanently in the images that were not staged and have been re-produced on the web. Lisa looked beautiful - like a normal girl who has transformed on her wedding day into a beautiful bride. The dress she wore was far less ornate but very pretty all the same and the lace shrug looked stunning. The accent colour was pink which worked beautifully too.

I very much got the impression that Ant & Lisa's wedding was about 2 people in love, sealing their love with marriage where as with Cheryl Tweedy & Ashley Cole, I got the impression it was about making money which is very sad, and I hope I am very wrong.

Are we seeing a new trend? Celebrities starting to shun the fickle celeb mag wedding? Those that stand out recently as having done so are Ant McPartlin, Tamzin Outhwaite and Nicole Kidman. Or will human lust for money make sure those media circus celebrity weddings remain for years to come ........ hmmmmmmmmmmmm!

This self-employment lark is hard, hard work! When things go right, there is no-one to share it with, and more importantly - when things go wrong, there is no-one to chew the fat over with!!

This week has not been the best to be honest. The wedding favours are not moving as quickly as I would like even though the new wedding favour boxes look great.

We are having some more development done on the wedding planning tools to hopefully make them even more useful.

What I really need is another web entrepeneur who has been there and done it and who is willing to impart their knowledge!!! I don't ask for much eh! Someone like Simon Nixon from Moneysupermarket.com would be good.

The number of visitors to the site is increasing month on month, and the number of members rises daily so that is going well.

Well all of the new literature is now in and the new letterheads and business cards are also all done. They look great. Just waiting for the sample of the membership card to arrive as I was not happy with the quality of the first one.

We have had lots of new members this week which is great and I have had a really busy week seeing people and promoting Mrs2Be.

The sun is shining - it is Friday - what more can I say!

Have a fab weekend!

We have made a few changes to the width of the web pages because it was getting very crowded! I just hope there are no blips that we have not yet come across!!!

Celebrity weddings seem to be everywhere we look at the moment, so we wanted to find out what our visitors deem to be The Celebrity Bride & Groom!

It's hot, hot, hot in the office, so we seem to be quieter than normal! Hmmmm!

Just don't mention "football"!

Things have been hotting up on the website front. Yesterday saw a record number of visits since we started and it really was a lot higher! The number of visitors is going up day by day and so are the number of members which is great.

I have really been struggling to find new and interesting wedding favours in the UK. It seems we are a long way behind the American market in terms of interesting favours but I have managed to source some new suppliers so watch this space.

Our Mrs2Be membership cards should be with us soon as should or new mini brochure!

We also seem to have had a record number of requests and questions from our target audience, our brides to be! All sorts of enquiries are coming in and have resulted in leads and sales for some local suppliers which is what it is all about! Win - Win!

That's it for today.

We have added a new product to our shop this week - Mini Rolls of Love heart sweets. What a wonderful wedding favour these little rolls of sweets make. The Mrs2Be Membership packs are almost ready too! We are waiting for a couple more samples to come through and the labels and we should be ready to go!

This month - we are featured in "Wedding Ideas" magazine. We love this little magazine because it is so practical so go and pick up the July copy and you will be able to see Mrs2Be as an "Editor's Choice"!!

We have also been featured in The Liverpool Daily Post, the Chester Chronicle, the Manchester Evening News and Dee 106.3!

Some interesting facts that have come out of this week are:

• 26% of brides hire a wedding planner to help plan their wedding.


• Internet advertising has now overtaken radio advertising.


• The amount of money being spent on Internet Advertising is now back to the level it was at during the dotcom boom.

Well - interesting to me anyway!

So what else has happened this week? Well we have been approached by a company selling a beautiful luxurious product who would like to offer their new Wedding Scenting service to Mrs2Be members at a discount! This particular product is currently sold in Harrods, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason so we are very excited about it! The brochures and discounts will be distributed to our Executive Members.

Also - a celebrity stylist based in Manchester is producing some vouchers for our Executive Members giving them a 20% discount off their first cut & style!

We have added "Personalised Chocolate Bars" to our range of confectionary in the Mrs2Be online shop. And yes - they are very yummy!

I think that is it for this week! Have a fabulously sunny weekend.

An interesting day in many ways with some interesting lessons - all about Customer Service! First of all I charged into town this morning as I knew I didn't have a lot of time, and flew into the bank where there are all these fancy machines for carrying out your banking. Only the cheque that I was trying to put into the bank was being rejected by the machine and so I headed upstairs to the business banking section ............... which did not open for another 5 minutes.

So, if you hit one brick wall you turn round don't you? I went back downstairs to ask a member of staff for a solution - but there wasn't one and I was told to come back in 5 minutes. OK, not good, but OK.

So, my next port of call was the Orange Mobile phone shop. I had received a new phone the day before via courier direct from Orange (thank you orange), and whilst I did write down all sorts of notes from my conversation with a very nice young man on the phone as to what I was meant to do to get the thing working - could I remember - no! So, I thought to myself, it's ok, I will go into the store, they will of course be able to help! "Have you got your receipt" I was asked, I explained that no I didn't have a receipt it was delivered by courier the evening before, I just needed help to set it up. I had everything in the box - except one piece of paper. I asked if they could possible call Orange who would of course be able to confirm that yes indeed I had come by the phone by entirely honest means - but the response I got was "It's a different department".

Needless to say, I left the shop entirely dissatisfied. But what a contrast this was to my dealings with the skincare company Liz Earle Naturally Active. I have purchased from this company before, and everything about their products and their customer service makes the whole progress a wonderful warm experience! This really showed me just how much difference Good Customer Service and poor customer service can make. Both the bank and the phone company are huge corporations and yet they do not place enough importance on the experience the customer has when dealing with them and then all the work they do on building up their brand is ruined in the eyes of the customer by the person behind the desk or behind the till.

Funnily enough, I am taking part in a Telephone Seminar at the moment by Sales Guru Chris Cardell, and guess what part of his seminar was about? It was about the fact that the most successful entrepreneurs and business people are not driven by the desire to make money, but the desire to make a difference and add value to their customer's lives! Someone needs to tell Orange and HSBC that!

Well, this week we have been working on making the personal wedding website tool for our members, more user friendly. The new system is now live and we have been testing it, hopefully, it is fine, though there may still be a couple of gremlins in it that we've not yet unearthed.

These things are always difficult as you never know if you have covered every aspect. I really hope our members find this system easier and more user-friendly!

Great news - we are in the Manchester Evening News tonight! All because a member wrote in and asked for our help finding a Nudist Wedding Venue!

I am so looking forward to seeing what other dilemas we are able to help our members with.

Today I did a telephone interview for Dee 106 based in Chester all about Mrs2Be. How exciting! They say it will be broadcast tomorrow - Tuesday 16th of May - so listen out for us!

Another good week! This week has seen some new companies coming on board in the mrs2be wedding directory. What I have found is that once people know that mrs2be is using a well-respected PR company to launch the business, people know they are buying into something worth buying into!

Also this week; discussions have started with a bridal fashion house to sell wedding dresses online! How exciting! This deal will hopefully be exclusive to mrs2be and should be seen within the next couple of months.

w/e 6th May 2006

This week has seen some interesting ideas being banded about as well as some ideas that have been in the pipeline being more firmly cemented.

A meeting at the beginning of the week with our PR company has set the PR machine in motion and so advertisers and members alike will start to see the benefit of this as we attract more special offers and member discounts as well as increase the volume of traffic and awareness of the site.

We have also had one large hotel in Chester agree to put a Mrs2Be membership discount together for us along with an offer of a special deal from their independant beauty salon! So, watch this space!

After a 4 hour long meeting with the programmer, we have agreed on a schedule of works that should see some improvements to elements of the site such as the mini wedding websites as well as some new tools that will be added shortly.

A further meeting with an established events/wedding planner proved fruitful and she has agreed to come on board to strengthen the Mrs2Be team even further which will mean that we can offer even more specialist help and advice to our members.

A good week all round!