Current Wedding Invitation Trends

Today there are no longer rules in defining your wedding style. The more creativity and color a couple uses in the details of their special day the more personal the entire day becomes. When planning for your celebration’s correspondence consider a few of the latest trends -

• Purple Passion – Brides are enjoying the use of the colors lavender, raspberry, plum and other hues of purple in many of their correspondence designs. A contemporary pairing is plum and pewter. Accents of yellow, orange, turquoise, or green are current favorites!
  
  
• Culturally Inspired – Brides are inspired by bold Moroccan, Mexican, and Indian colors and patterns. Such colors as gold, red, green, and magenta with intricate, cultural patterns as backgrounds and borders make for festive invitations.
  
  
• Make it a Hands on Experience – Forget flat cards! Correspondence pieces that have an extra dimension add interest and surprise for guests. Favorite styles among brides are pocket style invitations, invitation sleeves, boxes, folios, and ribbon closures.
  
  
• It’s in the Details – Classic correspondence pieces are being dressed up with unique materials and tiny and luxurious embellishments such as sparkly crystals for a touch of bling! Patterned envelope liners, satin ribbon, personal monograms and custom seals lend a special touch to correspondence pieces.
  
  

Happy 4th of July!

As we celebrate our nation's birthday take time to remember the brave men and women of our armed forces, past and present. As these men and women continue to fight for our freedom, celebrate today with close family and friends.
Take time to celebrate with the simple pleasures that make the
4th of July fun and relaxing -

• Family and friends
• A ice cold glass of homemade lemonade
• A full picnic basket
• A hometown parade
• Sparklers
• Lawn games you played as a kid

Have fun!

Fun Bridal Shower Favors

Party going guests enjoy receiving fun favors at an event. Here are a few favor ideas that we have found to be well received -

- How sweet it is! Have guests scoop up their favorite candy teats at a candy bar! Purchase favor bags and stickers so guests can carry away their treats.

- Shower guests with flowers . . . well after the shower ends! Incorporating favors into your tablescape is easy, fun, and functional with these adorned boxes topped off with beautiful hand crafted silk flowers. Inside are flower seeds distributed between biodegradable tissue paper for effortless planting and continues beauty. Seed favor box shown here from BloemBox.

- For the love of cupcakes! When it’s all about the cake, have guests decorate their own mini cupcake to go. Provide a variety of sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, and other tiny treats for guests to add to their frosted cupcake favor. Mini boxes and a napkin included!

- Charm your guests! So many guests, so many wine glasses! How do you keep track of your Chardonnay? Have guests make a set of four to eight wine charms for the bride-to-be and another set for themselves! Materials: hoop earring wire, a variety of beads and charms and jewelry pliers All materials can be found at your local craft store.

Sweet Puffy Omelet

In celebration of father’s day today I would like to pass on a unique and delicious brunch omelet receipt that my father enjoys. It was especially delicious this morning!
Try it out and let me know how you like it!

Ingredients:

3 large eggs, separated
1 to 2 teaspoons margarine
2 table spoons orange juice
2 table spoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon orange rind
1/8 teaspoon salt

- Set oven to 325 degrees and check rack placement (omelet pan should bake in the center of the oven).

- Separate each of the 3 eggs individually (be very careful not to get yolk in the whites).
Place egg yolks in a small mixing bowl and egg whites in a medium size mixing bowl.

- Using an electric mixer on the highest speed, beat the egg yolks until thick and light in color –
about 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

- Wash the mixer beaters carefully with hot, soapy water (the yolks contain fat and any fat left on the
beaters will prevent the whites from beating properly later in the recipe).

- Measure all other ingredients.

- Beat egg whites to the foamy stage – this will only take about 10 seconds on a high mixer speed.

- Once egg whites reach the foamy stage, add cream of tartar, dry orange rind and salt. Then add 1 T. of
sugar and continue mixing on high. Gradually add the rest of the sugar in small amounts.

- Beat to the soft rounded peak stage.

- Put margarine in a small (8”) skillet and heat over a low setting until it melts (watch carefully and don’t
let it get too hot or it will burn the bottom of the omelet later).

- While the margarine is melting, pour the orange juice and beaten egg yolks over the egg whites.
Fold together until well blended, being very gentle, but very fast.

- Immediately pour the omelet mixture into skillet and spread evenly. Cook for 1 minute over low heat
on range top.

- Move skillet to oven and bake until omelet is dry on top and firm when touched gently in the center,
about 20-25 minutes. Another test for doneness is to carefully insert a knife and see if it comes out
clean.

To serve, spread omelet with about 2 table spoons of jelly, fold onto a warm plate and sift powdered sugar lightly over the top. Recipe serves one. Enjoy!

Proper Wine Serving Temperatures

A Social Frog client asked me today, "what is the proper temperature to serve white and red wines?"

I recommend serving:

White wines between 48-53 degrees F
Red wines are best at 59-64 degrees F
Champagne is best at 43-50 degrees F

Pop the cork and enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there!

Mother’s Day is a special day for us to thank those caring, loving women who have brought meaning to our lives and taught us so much. Enjoy your day!

Postage Increase Takes Effect Monday, May 11th

Yes, up it goes again! It seems to be that time of year again . . . time for the United States Postal Service (USPS) to make another price increase for 1-ounce First Class mail as well as other mailing services.

Starting next Monday, May 11, it will cost $0.44 to mail a 1-once First Class letter in this country. Since 2006, the USPS has increased the postage rate on a First Class letter by $0.05, from $0.39 to $0.44. Not a distinct increase if compared to increases in such commodities as gasoline, electric, and such, but enough to make some wedding invitation clients to ask if they can invite wedding guests and have guests reply via an email address rather than through the mail. On this topic I strongly encourage all clients to use the USPS for extending their wedding invitations to guests and for the safe return of response cards. For other, less formal events, such as a Fourth of July back yard BBQ, children’s birthday parties, or a casual wine party on a Friday night, you can use an email address to send the invitation and as the method for response. More formal events, like weddings, make a trip down to your local post office or go on-line t0 http://www.usps.com/ and order your wedding postage today!

Remember, regardless of when purchased, customers can use their Forever Stamps in order to mail 1-ounce letters after May 11, without the need for additional postage.

Add style and a cohesive look to your invitation suite by designing your own postage stamps from one of these on-line photo stamp design options:
http://www.zazzle.com/ - http://www.snapfish.com/ - http://www.photo.stamps.com/