a vintage bridal shower tea

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Showering a bride-to-be with gifts and good wishes is a lovely tradition, and a fête that is uniquely hers makes the day memorable. While it’s easy—and appreciated—to purchase a gift from the registry, an unexpected set of exquisite, mismatched vintage teacups makes a great surprise for the guest of honor.

Here’s how it works:

• In the invitation, ask each guest to bring one pretty vintage teacup to the shower. (The hostess may want to have a few additional teacups at the ready in case a guest forgets.)
• Also encourage guests to wear any long, old-fashioned gloves they may have; it is a vintage tea party! Older family members will be delighted to dust a pair off, and younger attendees will enjoy playing dress-up. (The organizers may want to provide some at the shower for ladies to borrow and wear.)
• Be sure to ask one guest, perhaps the hostess or the organizers, to gift the bride-to-be with a tea pot.
• At the shower, set aside a small table or area for guests to drop off the teacup they brought, and then encourage everyone to use them! At the end of the party the bride has a pretty mismatched tea set to take home as a sweet memento of the day. 
• This sort of shower makes figuring out the favors easy! A tin of tea, a strainer and some honey (or any combination thereof) is great with the theme.

Note: Vintage tea cups and old-fashioned long gloves can be found at thrift stores, estate sales, church/synagogue bazaars or can come from one’s own collection—trés eco-friendly! It’s especially meaningful if family members have an heirloom teacup they’re willing to give.

put your stamp on it

Want your party favors to say “you”? Easy enough. Just put your name/initials/face on one of these customizable options perfect for baby and bridal showers, wedding favors and more.

• In the cookie department, we have: The Flour Pot, Freedom Bakery and Confections, and Gumdrop Cookie Shop. At Flour Pot, you can put you and your spouse-to-be’s names on cookies. At FB&C, you can put your mugs on shortbread. Or go for monograms at Gumdrop.

• M&Ms get personal by dropping the famed Ms in favor of your initials. Go whole hog and select a color scheme to match your wedding party.

• Personal Wine lets you do the talking with personalized wine labels. Use one of their templates, or create your own.

• Or create a label to go on anything at all at Beau-coup: candle tins, mint tins, even lip butters.

spike it

When it comes to ice cream floats, two options come to mind: root beer or Coke. I never thought there was more to the float world.

Then, one quiet day, the folks of Tastings in New York told me about an entirely new float. These floats were a giant hit at their summer parties. They involved alcohol. Also fruit. The visionary creation? Prosecco floats!

Bon Appetit introduced Tastings to the light-alcoholic-fizziness-meets-strawberry-sorbato combo. And the drink is, I’ve decided, the perfect hot-day refresher. It's also such a pretty addition to a bridal or baby shower. And while Bon App’s homemade sorbato (sorbet-meets-gelato) sounds delicious and not-that-hard-to-make, my approach is especially low-tech.

Spiked Floats

Place 1-2 scoops of store-bought sorbet of your choice—Haagen-Dazs’ strawberry, raspberry and peach are all great. Fill glass with Prosecco or other sparkling wine; 7 Up also works for a teetotaler version. Add 3 or so raspberries or other pretty fruit. Serve.

And be forewarned: This opens up an entire world of spiked floats. After this, I was an unstoppable-spiked-float force. I created what I call a Southern Spritzer by adding the leftover peach sorbet to 7 Up and bourbon and am officially smitten with this drink. I’m now contemplating my next spiked float move….

be my "and guest"

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Since we're at the beginning of another wedding season, we thought this would be the perfect time to address the perennial etiquette discussion of inviting guests with "and guest." Whether you're doing the inviting or getting invited, there are things to keep in mind to avoid a sticky situation.

Guests:

The rule is generally clear-cut: If your invitation doesn't include "and guest," then you're flying solo. Keep in mind that the bride and groom are tallying an exact headcount and paying per head. Showing up with someone unexpectedly or RSVP'ing with a guest will at most cause problems and at least lead to an awkward conversation.

There could be instances where the bride and groom may have overlooked your guest. If the wedding is being hosted by distant relatives or friends who live across the country, they may not know about your significant other. General etiquette suggests that your other is significant enough to require an invitation if you live together or are engaged or married. If you think that your lack of and-guest was an oversight, then definitely give the bride or groom a call.

Hosts:

In the interest of keeping your guests happy, here are a few things to consider during the invitation process.

• If a guest is single and doesn't know anyone else who you've invited, it's courteous to invite them with a guest. This is especially the case if that guest has to travel to get to your wedding.
• As mentioned above, if a guest lives with or is engaged to someone, their significant other should be invited. When inviting their guest, go the extra mile to find out that person's name (correct spelling and all).
• Be prepared to receive an RSVP or two with an unexpected write-in. It's not necessarily a pleasant surprise, but one that most couples (present company included) have to face.

happy feet

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With wedding season approaching, we ladies get to look forward to what is my least favorite thing about weddings: dancing the night away in horrifically uncomfortable shoes. If you're one of those people who's either barefoot or in flip-flops by the end of the evening, here are some tips for saving your feet from the clutches of those evil (but adorable) stilettos:

• If your shoes are new, wear them around the house for a few days before your party. You'll break them in a little and figure out if there are any trouble spots where you'll need reinforcements, such as...
• Band-Aid Friction Block — my new best friend. It looks like a tiny stick of deodorant, and it's packed with emollients that keep friction from causing blisters in places where your shoes rub.
• If your shoes are slightly big and your heel comes out, stick an insert in your shoe at the ball of your foot. The extra padding pushes your heel back slightly. (I like Tip Toes from Foot Petals because they're cushy and cute.)
• Slingbacks are lovely, but by the end of the night, the straps tend to slip. Plan ahead by cutting a strip of double-stick tape in half and putting the pieces into your clutch. If you find yourself yanking the straps back into place, duck into the powder room and stick on the tape. Violà — your straps stay put!
• Whatever you do, resist the temptation to slip your shoes off under the table unless you have no intention of putting them back on. Once your feet are free, they swell immediately. And you thought your shoes were uncomfortable before you took them off!
• At the end of the night, calm your barking dogs with a hit of Peppermint Cooling Foot Spray from The Body Shop. The combination of peppermint oil and menthol soothes your puffy skin and feels fantastic.

to a tea

As I write up this post on tea, I am, appropriately enough, drinking tea. It’s a milk tea that I sweetened with cranberry honey crème; I’m sipping it out of a china teacup, all while under a blanket and typing on my laptop. Sounds not so bad, right?

Lucky for me — a bona fide tea lover — tea is just as good for an occasion as it is for a solitary pick-me-up. Here are some tea tips in case you’d like to host a tea party:

• Easy, elegant tea bars, like the one in the picture above, are growing in popularity at weddings and showers. Rather conveniently, a row of different teas in the same tins — such as these from Portsmouth — makes a striking presentation. I’m also a fan of Lupica teas, especially their “ume verte,” which is a delicate and lovely blend of green and white teas scented with Japanese apricot.

• If you want to cover a range of teas without putting out a crazy amount, I recommend going with whatever flavor suits your fancy within these four differently caffeinated categories: black tea (strongly caffeinated), green (lightly caffeinated), white (lightly caffeinated) and red (no caffeine). You may want to remind your guests that some teas, such as white and green, need to steep for less time (roughly two minutes, depending on the brand) and can become bitter if over-steeped.

• As for tea accessories, put out spoons, milk, lemon wedges, sugar in cube or lump form (it’s easier that way) and honey. If you go the loose tea route, be sure to supply tea sacks as well so attendees can create their own little teabags; Portsmouth carries some. Also, to make things less messy for your guests, have either teacups with saucers, so guests can place their teabags on the saucers when they’re done steeping, or provide some other place for guests to put their teabags, like these tea trays from Tea Forte.

• Favors are obvious and not hard on the wallet (some might say “in the bag,” but not me). Just send guests home with an individually packaged teabag such as Tea Forte’s cone-shaped teas or Tea Revolution’s single-serving boxes. After all, the tea-drinking doesn't have to stop just because the party is over.

drawn together

Most brides will concur that finding the perfect dress is one of the most painstaking albeit rewarding parts of the whole wedding process. It involves going to umpteen bridal salons and abandoning all shame to get undressed in front of sales people who are complete strangers and a tad overzealous to profess how every dress she tries on is the dress. But for the bride, it's all worth it when she ends up with the most beautiful and special article of clothing she'll ever wear.

After all that time, effort and money, wouldn't it be nice to give her an extra-special keepsake to remember her beloved gown? We've decided that a one-of-a-kind illustration of her wedding dress just might be the most ingenious wedding, bridal shower or anniversary gift.

Send Dreamlines a photo of the bride on her wedding day, and the company will do a pencil illustration of the dress that looks like it could be straight from the hand of the designer. For a small fee, you can have them add an accessory like the bride's bouquet. If you want something even more personalized, Etsy artist Brooke Hagel includes the bride in her colorful illustrations.

So even though she'll only get to wear her dress for a few short hours, she'll have a truly unique portrait in which she can always behold it.

bridal bow-quet

One of my favorite bridal shower traditions is the ribbon bouquet: A paper plate adorned with the bows and ribbons from the bride's shower gifts to use as a bouquet during her reception. It's sentimental and adorable (two of my favorite adjectives). Unfortunately if you've not been to many bridal showers, you may not get how to create one of those bouquets.

As the maid of honor at my sister's shower, the ribbon bouquet was my responsibility and quickly turned into a comedy of errors. First of all, the only plates anyone had were those ultra-heavy-duty cardboard ones — try poking a hole in one of those without almost stabbing yourself. Second, the plate was oval, not round. Third, I just had no idea what I was doing. My sister ended up with a pretty sad-looking bouquet.

Then karma gave me an equally problematic ribbon bouquet for my rehearsal. My future sisters-in-law were in charge of collecting the bows and attaching them to the paper plate. They had a stapler, which seemed to be quite helpful. However, they created a ribbon bonnet instead of a bouquet. (This is either a tradition that I'm not aware of or a form of hazing.) After politely refusing to tie it to my head at the rehearsal, carrying it wasn't so easy because of its lack of handle.

To make sure more brides end up better faux-quets for their rehearsals, I assembled a few tips from some savvy former bridesmaids:

• Just make one hole in the middle of the plate and pull all the ribbons through. Tie the ribbons together underneath the hole to keep everything in place and create a handy handle.
• Ask guests to use ribbons that go along with the wedding colors. At my sister's shower, all the guests brought ribbons in various shades of pink. Even though the bouquet was quite sad, the colors looked really pretty.
• Have a few extra ribbons on hand to fill out the bouquet if it looks a little anemic. Thin curling ribbon, for example, isn't so great for creating a full, lush ribbon bouquets.
• If you're just not a DIY-er, get a bow-quet kit or a ribbon organizer to which you can tie the ribbons. No muss, no fuss.
• FYI: As legend has it, the number of ribbons the bride breaks as she's opening gifts will be the number of children she has. Tear carefully!

love is in the air

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Here at Evite, we love hearing about all the events you're planning. And we're really glad to be a part of your milestone celebrations, from special birthdays and baby showers to anniversaries and weddings.

Our goal is to provide you with the perfect invitations for all of your events, big and small. Recently, in response to your requests, we've added wedding invitations for same-sex ceremonies. You'll find them in the "Wedding Themes" design gallery.

Keep your celebrations coming, and we'll keep creating invitations to help you start the party in style.

sweet tarte

What couple wouldn't want to join the ranks of some of history's most famous duos? Bogey and Bacall, Daisy and Gatsby, Johnny and Baby — they're beloved pairs and shades of Tarte lip glosses. And with Tarte's custom glosses, you and your sweetie can be immortalized in the form of your very own. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a beauty-junkie bride who could resist the power of a personalized lip gloss (present company included!).

It's such a clever gift idea for bridesmaids, shower favors or even an everlasting supply of your favorite shades of lip gloss. (Well, maybe not everlasting. I'm pretty sure it's not advisable to be slicking on 10-year-old lip gloss.) Just pick an existing dual-ended gloss and send Tarte your info. You do have to order at least 25, but you get 40 to 50 percent off retail, depending on how many you order. I'd go with one of the universally flattering nude pairs like Fred and Ginger (my fave!), but it IS the bride's day. If that means candy-apple red and sparkly pink à la Danny and Sandy, so be it!

Added bonus: Scrolling through the shades of glosses is so entertaining. I love figuring out who some of the more obscure couples are. I'm still trying to determine who Roger and Mimi are. Anyone? Anyone? (Just a little Ferris and Sloane reference for you.)