Bed Sheets that Tell All

“Show me your skin and I’ll tell you who you are” or better still what you did last night. Rise and Sigh is a collection of bed sheets that plays with incidents that usually take place behind closed doors, in bedrooms.
The sheets are embroidered with captions that leave an imprint on the sleepers’ body. The embroidery is strategically placed, so that different sleeping positions leave different imprints on the body. Not only do these imprints give a hint about the past night’s atmosphere, they suggest you what to do and tell things about you.
Created by Martina Carpelan, who has worked as a Junior Designer at Frostprodukt, these sheets manage to create temporary body art.
The words on the sheet are emblazoned in reverse so that they're printed legibly on the skin. The Rise and sigh series of bed sheets are available in three sets, for the bachelor, for the love affair and for the one night stand. Intriguing and innovative, the sheets should create a stir once they are available off the shelf.

Cocktail Hour, Anyone?

As my friends set to get married and want a very small, inexpensive but yet meaningful celebration, I was thinking what can make it so... And then the words "It's 5 o'clock somewhere..." came to mind. Cocktail reception!

Cocktails and heavy Hors d'oeuvres receptions are gaining in popularity and are actually very common in the South. This type of reception is nice because it can be as formal or informal as you want it to be. If you have passed Hors d'oeuvres for 1-2 hours in addition to a passed or buffet-style dessert, your guests will not leave the party hungry. Or thirsty for that matter.

Some fun and creative ideas to bring a nice touch to your reception would be an assortment of different ethnic salads on white miso spoons, different cheese fondues with an assortment of vegetables, meats and breads for dipping and choices of satay served in mini to-go containers with chop-sticks.

Make up a creative "flight" menu for your guests to choose from. Creative martinis, champagne cocktails and wine tasting station are always good ideas.

If you are concerned that your guests will be expecting a meal, I would recommend either mentioning the Hors d'oeuvres Reception explicitly on your invitation, or starting the party a little later in the evening. It is not required to have a full sit-down meal - after all, it is your wedding and you should go with a reception style that will make you feel the most comfortable.

Trends in Videography.

Wedding videos have grown in recent years to encompass a myriad of video production offerings. So what are the new trends in Wedding videography?
Robert and Natalie Neal of Glass Slipper Productions, who were named one of the top 25 videographers, certainly do know. Here are some solutions that they share with us.

Old school: Photo Montage a.k.a. Video Scrapbooks – all those pictures from your childhood and painful time in high-school gathered together for all you friends and future in-laws to see. Oh my…
Solution: Surprise your guests with Same Day Edit a.k.a. wedding day edit or wedding encore presentation - a short video produced from the footage of the wedding shot earlier in the day, usually only incorporating footage from pre-ceremony, ceremony and post ceremony that is then showed at the reception as a recap of the wedding.

Old school: Good old ‘Save-the-Date’ cards or magnets. How many times we’ve gotten them in the mail. So, here’s the big news – It is so last century!
Solution: Make your romance public! Engagement Video – a video documenting the groom asking the bride to marry (quite often filmed without the bride's knowledge) or Love Story - an interview of the bride and groom, inter-cut with romantic footage of the couple, about how they met, what they are like together and what their plans for the future are.

Old school: ‘Thank You’ notes. We’ve seen them come and we’ve seen them gone… right into the trash can. No offence.
Solution: Spice it up with your-dear-self! Bridal Elegance - a video shot in the style of a fashion shoot or music video that depicts the bride in her wedding gown. After all, that beautiful and extremely expensive wedding dress was made to wear twice. Or with Concept Video – a short film about the bride or groom or both and quite often not related to the couple's real life.

Old school: VHS! And pretty soon, let’s face it, standard DVD.
Solution: HD! Blue-Ray disks and Hi-Def television are just entering our lives it this point but… how long did it really take for DVDs to worm their way into our living-rooms?! Make sure your videographer is up-to-date with the technology and able to provide you with the top-notch product that meets nowadays standards!

Old school: Family gatherings (not that it’s bad) or sleepovers (not that it’s bad either) just to watch that precious Wedding video.
Solution: Think little! In this busy world we all have gadgets that take us through the day – blackberries, i-Pods, smart-phones – little things in our pockets we can’t live about. So put your video on it and take it with you. Ask your videographer about the possibility, if they say YES – you are in business!

You can watch fabulous videos by Glass Slipper Productions here.