Beautiful Wedding Sites in Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach is a beautiful location for your most special day from the beach to the Halifax River to all the yummy seafood you can find. Here are some of Jen's and my top favorite wedding site locations:

Sunset Harbor Yacht Club

The Plaza Resort and Spa

LPGA International

Fall Inspirations

This weeks blogs are going to all be about the fall season that is quickly approaching! We are so excited about the change in the weather, colors and beautiful flowers that bloom this time of year.

The colors of autumn/fall are universally bright, bold, and rich. Amber, gold, burnt orange, rust, mustard yellow, sage green, chocolate brown, copper and burgundy are some of the more popular hues but couples interested in using a fall theme at their weddings are not limited to just these bright shades. Adding white or creamy accents can lighten fall colors and add a sense of warmth and a wedding feel to the theme.

Stay posted this week for all of our wonderful fall themed blogs!

Fall Inspired Wedding Cakes

Today is the first day I actually have started to feel fall coming. The air seem a little cooler and all my plants look like they are about ready to change colors. With fall here, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite fall inspired wedding cakes.

Welcome Stacy and Jeremiah

Jen and I are so happy to welcome Stacy, Jeremiah, and their families to our celebrate! family. The wedding is being planned for March 20, 2010 at the beautiful Ponte Vedra Club and Inn. So far, Stacy has found the perfect wedding dress and knows she wants her wedding to be simply elegant dressed in hues of whites and greens. We are so excited to help her make all her wedding dreams come true.

THE INSIDE SCOOP on this AMAZING COUPLE

The Engagement (in Jeremiah's words):

July 11th, 2009 marked the big day. Stacy was picked up in a chauffeured car and driven out to the beach. There I had setup a table on the beach surrounded by tiki torches right at the time of sunset. We enjoyed a dinner of grilled chicken salad, breadsticks, and fresh fruit followed by homemade cookies :) Josh Lee provided romantic acoustical background music! After dinner came the question, and fortunately without hesitation, a YES!

Wedding Gifts: Welcome Baskets

A great way to thank all your guests who traveled miles to be there on one of the most important days of your life is to have a welcome basket waiting for them when they check into their hotel block. Just imagine traveling all day and walking into your hotel room to find a beautiful, thoughtful welcome basket from the bride and groom, what a warm and fuzzy feeling!!!

Here are some ideas to include in your welcome baskets:

• Map of the Area
• Sunscreen
• A Mini First Aid Kit
• Trail Mix for Snacking
• Customized Water Bottle (Include your Wedding Date)
• Personalized Thank You Note
• Wedding Cookie
• Itinerary of Wedding Activities
• Coupon Book for the Area

Need help planning your welcome baskets, call the professionals at celebrate! today. 386.677.0o18

Guide to a GREAT Wedding Day Toast

You said yes? Sure, you are probably okay with wearing the tux or luxury dress and even with most of the bridal duties but you suddenly realized you have to speak in public. Oops! What to do next?

Before you start wondering how to tell the bride and groom you just can't speak at their most important day or you come up with some cover story, you need to know that giving a wedding day speech really isn't all that bad. Relax, enjoy & speak from your heart.

In fact you can make it a joy! Here are some simple tips that are sure to get you through your important task, some tips to help relax, and enjoy the expereince.

Tip # 1 - Preparation - First of all, preparation is important! Take the time to do a bit of preparation and the whole process gets much easier. Allow yourself to spend a bit of time just thinking about what you want to say and then start writing down speech topics and ideas. Once the project begins to take shape, write it down so you remember it. All this preparation will pay off.

Tip # 2 - Read a Few Ready Made Speeches - Reading a few ready made wedding day speech examples is not a bad idea either, especially if you have never heard a good one. They will give you an idea of where your speech topics should be going and will act as a good guideline as you work on your text. Use them only for inspiration to write a personal speech text.

Tip # 3 - Incorporate Humor - Humor is always an ice breaker! Jokes and funny remarks are a great addition to any public speaking speech. Consider adding a bit of humor to your talk. It will make people laugh and it will help you to relax as well.

Tip # 4 - Take Time to Practice - Make sure that you take some time to practice the wedding day speech. You do not want the first time you actually deliver the speech to be in front of 300 people. Practice in front of a mirror or in front of some friends several times so you become more relaxed with the speaking habits. Videotape or record your efforts and watch the progress.

Tip # 5 - Keep it Short - No matter what kind of wedding speech it is, keeping it short is important. There are many activities going on at a wedding and no one wants to sit for a half hour and hear you speak. So, make sure your speech is not more than about five minutes or so.

Last but not least....take a deep breath, relax and speak from your heart!

Wedding Gifts: Bridal Party

The members of your bridal party are such an important aspect of your wedding day. These are the ladies and gents who have not only supported you but dealt with all your wedding day jitters and freak-outs. Here are some cute ideas to say a big THANK YOU!!!

This great monogrammed manicure kit is from Swankychics.com

A great gift for your groomsmen is to buy the tie they will be wearing to your wedding and pair it with a yummy bottle of wine.

Treat your bridesmaids to a monogrammed makeup brush case from Brides 2 Babies Embroidery. Fill it with the lipstick they will be wearing at your wedding.

Give your groomsmen monogrammed golf towels from celebrate! Invitations when you paly golf the morning of your wedding.

Wedding Gifts: Parents

Giving your parents the PERFECT gift to thank them for all their love, support, guidance, and help with the wedding can become overwhelming. How can you possibly say thank you enough? Here are some wonderful ideas to say "THANKS!"

A picture frame with a picture from your engagement photo shoot, wedding date, and names.

A gift basket full of your parents' favorite snacks.

CD/DVD Leather Case or Wooden Case. Place a homemade CD of the songs played at your wedding (ex. Father/Daughter Dance, Mother/Son Dance, First Dance, Cake Cutting Song).

Wedding Gifts

This week is all about showing thanks to all the people involved in creating the beautiful masterpiece called your wedding day. Remember to thank everyone from your bridal party to your parents to your guests to your wedding day vendors. We will give you some great ideas to say THANK YOU!

Wedding Website

A great way to keep your wedding guests involved and excited about your BIG DAY, is to create a wedding website for them to visit. You can include information about your wedding day (time, date, location), lodging accommodations for your guest, engagement photos, and up to the date information that you think your readers might just love to hear about. These days there are so many amazing websites to help you create a spectacular website just for you.

Here is a great site for you to start crafting your beautiful and informative wedding website, Momentville.com. I just love this site because they have great backgrounds to match your wedding colors, you can upload photos, your website can have a playlist of your favorite songs, and it is so easy to use.

Jacksonville Wedding Hot Spots

Jen and I love planning weddings in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville has such an amazing array of breathtaking wedding sites that it is so difficult to choose are favorite. Here are a few of our favorite wedding sites we highly suggest for you to discover:

Club Continental

This beautiful wedding site brings the romantic feel of the gardens alive.

One Ocean

This amazing site truly captures a sleek modern appeal with true elegance.

Ponte Vedra Inn and Club

This gorgeous wedding ceremony and reception site is elegance at its peak and will make every bride smile.

Omni (Downtown Jacksonville)

This beautiful wedding site has impeccable staff and is so charming dressed in hues of gold.

Welcome!!

We are so excited to welcome Jennifer & Josh to the celebrate! family!! We are planning a beach wedding in St. Augustine for this November. It is going to be a very small intimate wedding for the bride, groom, family and close friends. It is going to be a beautiful event and we are so excited to help them plan all of their wedding dreams into reality!!

What a cute couple!!!

Fun Event Foods

I feel like a lot of people forget that the look of your event food is extremely important. Presentation of everything from the appetizers to the salad to the main course must be fabulous and appealing to your guests. Afterall, the food is one of the main ways you are saying "thank you" that your guests attended your function.

You should always ask the chef at your facility or catering company if they can jazz up the look of the food. Most culinary experts would love to bring your food to the next level by adding some creative flair. Creative flair can be added by making a simple meal miniature size or adding a unique topping to jazz up ordinary food or piling the food in a unusual way, etc.

Here are some great ways various foods can be presented:

Twitter!

We have so much fun following other "tweeters" on twitter. It's a great place to get daily updates on what is going on with all of the other wedding vendors. Don't forget to follow us to keep up with all of celebrate!'s new adventures!!

You can find us at: celebrateYOU

Wedding Dress Shopping

Choosing your wedding dress is one of the most important aspects of your wedding day. Every bride wants to feel like a beautiful princess while she walks down the aisle.

Photo by: Sandy Brantley Photography

This big decision can be not only fun but stressful if you are not prepared. Here is a helpful list of things you need to bring dress shopping with you:

• Strapless Bra
• Spanx or any other under garment you may use
• Pictures of some dresses you loved while looking in magazines and online
• A camera (call the bridal salon ahead of time to make sure you can bring this) to take pictures of your different options
• Hair Ties, Clips, Booby Pins, etc. to throw your hair into a quick up-do
• Heels that have the amount of height you would like for your wedding shoes
• Pen and paper to write down the style of gowns you like and the size needed
• A group of small honest people who will tell you what you look stunning in

Photo by: Greg's Gallery

Mackenzie's 6th Birthday

Mackenzie's birthday party was a huge success and she had so much fun! We had a great turnout and the kids swam like fishes, ate yummy food, and played fun games to win prizes. I loved the fun goodie bags we gave away to all the kiddies at the end of the day....a beach tote with a pair of flip flops!!!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACKENZIE!!!