Free Digital Photobooks from Inkubook

Laura from Inkubook has provided me with a great offer that I have to share with you.
Inkubook is a new collaborative photo book making web site and to help celebrate their recent launch, Inkubook is giving away free digital scrapbooks. Digital scrapbooks are an ideal way for a bride to create a professionally-bound photo album with pictures from their wedding or honeymoon trip. The pre-made page designs are ideal for busy newlyweds – you simply drag and drop your pictures into the pages. For advanced digital scrapbookers, custom page designs can be used as well – you don't have to stick with the pre-made designs. These photo books are even perfect for engagement photos, guest books, and gifts for the parents . . . the ideas are endless.

To receive your free digital scrapbook from Inkubook, simply follow these three steps:
1. Sign up with Inkubook and start making your free digital scrapbook
2. Using the "Invite Friends" feature, invite someone to join Inkubook and submit a few photos/page designs to include in your book. Inkubook will send them a promotion code to use for a free digital scrapbook.
3. When you're finished with your free digital scrapbook, enter this promotion code at checkout: EJR372. You pay only shipping charges to receive your free book. (Basic shipping options are $6.99 for Media Mail and $8.99 for Standard Ground)

Additional books start at just $13.95 for a 20-page softcover book and $24.95 for a hardcover. The above code is good for one book of any size, hardcover or softcover. Inkubook currently has three different options you can select from (8.5x8.5 softcover, 11x8.5 landscape hardcover and 8.5x11 portrait hardcover). Additional information on this special offer can be found here.

Wedding Giveaway: Wedding Goddess

My first giveaway is here!
I have 2 autographed copies of Wedding Goddess: a Guide to Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss to give away. This book is written by Laurie Sue Brockway - Please complete the following form for your chance to win a copy - there will be 2 lucky winners announced on Friday August 1st. About the book Wedding Goddess:
From creating personalized rituals and vows to throwing a bridal shower fit for a goddess, Laurie Sue reveals the secrets to radiating confidence and beauty while planning for that special day. And because a goddess never forgets about her groom, this book includes sage advice on staying connected through the craziness. With creative ideas and inspirational suggestions, every bride can transform wedding stress into wedding bliss.

About the author:
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is a leading interfaith and non-denominational wedding officiant, and a widely recognized expert on blended marriages and bridal stress. She reguarly presides over interfaith weddings.

You can visit Rev. Laurie Sue's web sites here:
Wedding Goddess Wisdom® | Wedding Goddess | Wed Lok

The contest is now closed.

Review: Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

by Meg Cabot
This is the 3rd novel in Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble triolgy, featuring Lizzie Nichols, a restorer of vintage wedding gowns who is in the midst of beginning to plan her own wedding. Meg Cabot is a #1 New York Times bestselling author - you may recognize her name from the popular young adult fiction series The Princess Diaries which was also made into two hit movies by Disney.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched begins with Lizzie accepting Luke's proposal, yet Luke's best friend Chaz quickly lets Lizzie know that Luke could never love her the way he does. Hmmmmm, what's a girl to do? While trying to plan her wedding to Luke at his family's chateau in France, she faces decisions that result in her breaking out in hives. Should she leave Luke for Chaz? Or should she marry Luke and move from NYC to Paris. And, what about her budding wedding design business? While Lizzie sorts thru these questions, she is surrounded by a great cast of supporting characters, including her Gran, her friends Shari and Tiffany, and the gum-snapper Ava Geck with her chihuahua.

In case you missed our exclusive release of Meg Cabot's latest video where she talks about her elopement on Monday, you can see it here. Meg's witty personality shines through in Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, even some of the quirks Meg has encountered in her own life, are passed onto Lizzie in the novel. This book was a sweet and fun read. I found myself not wanting to put it down, even though I should probably have been getting work done :) It's the perfect book for brides to read who want a temporary, yet still romantic escape, from all the tedious wedding planning.

Don't worry if you haven't read the first 2 books in the series, I haven't, and I don't feel that I've missed anything by starting with the latest release. Although... I am now off to start reading her other 2 books in the Queen of Babble Series. And, don't forget to enter our June contest to win your very own set of the Queen of Babble book series - 10 lucky winners will win a signed 3 book collection. Enter Here.

Exclusive Wedding Video from Meg Cabot

This month on BestWeddingSites.com, 10 lucky winners will receive signed copies of the entire Queen of Babble book series by Meg Cabot, including her brand new release: Queen of Babble Gets Hitched. Enter to win your book collection here.

Did you know Meg Cabot eloped? I am so excited to share with you an exclusive release of Meg's latest video where she talks about her elopement - you can only see it here before it launches for public viewing on YouTube tomorrow.

If the above video happens to not appear for you, please click here to see it.

A bit about the newest release from Meg Cabot
(as provided to me from Christine at HarperCollins):

Big Mouth. Big Heart.
Big Wedding. Big Problems.
It's the wedding of the century!
If Lizzie's engaged to the man of her dreams, then why does his best friend seem so sexy? Read Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, the newest novel from New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot. Read 20% of Queen of Babble Gets Hitched today, for free. Click here to start reading

How to Make The Best Wedding Memories

By Stacey Wolf, author of Never Throw Rice at a Pisces

Over the weekend, Stacey was so kind to put together the following ideas for our readers on making the best wedding memories for each astrological sign. (her book Never Throw Rice at a Pisces was reviewed in yesterday's blog entry)
Aries: Do something wild and fun—like play on some swings with the flower girls or jump in a lake (in your dress, of course) — and make sure your photographer is around to capture it.
Taurus: Have one of the guests take pictures of all the food courses. Make sure you try all the offerings down to the cake and what ever you do—don’t skip the meal!
Gemini: Make a warm and witty speech of your own. Dance with everyone you know and put it all on the videotape.
Cancer: Wrap a rose with a note telling your sweetheart, mom, dad, and best friends, how special they are. Have them delivered the morning of.
Leo: Take dance lessons so your first dance looks as graceful and romantic as if you were Fred Estaire and Ginger Rodgers.
Virgo: Plan an elaborate DIY craft—like making the favors and gift-wrap yourself—so that your guests delight in your talents and perfectionism (for the rest of your life!)
Libra: Hire a top-of-the-line photographer and leave plenty of time before and after the ceremony to take pictures. If your photos aren’t the most beautiful that you have ever seen, you will be extremely disappointed.
Scorpio: Plan a few romantic minutes alone with your groom after the ceremony so that you can sip champagne and remember what is truly important— your love for each other.
Sagittarius: Take your guests on a big adventure. Plan an usual spiritual ceremony, have foods from around the world, hire some exotic entertainment—such as a steel band or belly dancers, or even take a dinner cruise instead of booking a reception hall.
Capricorn: Hire an ace coordinator and go over your schedule a gazillion times so that the events of the day unfold exactly as you’d like and there are no negative surprises to ruminate over for the rest of your life.
Aquarius: Do something funny and unconventional. Sing a duet, plan some group line dances, or ride away on a Harley. Your wedding will delight your guests, people will be talking about it forever.
Pisces: Add fairy-tale elements and sentimental touches. Get photographed on a white horse, wear your best friend’s garter, carry your grandmother’s handkerchief, even wear your mom’s wedding dress—and don’t forget to have your husband carry you over the threshold.

Image Credits:
Aries: Carpe Icthus' flickr gallery, Cancer: Brides.com, Virgo: Brides.com, Pisces: Adam Schott flickr gallery, Aquarius: Bashed's flickr gallery

Review: Never Throw Rice at a Pisces

by Stacey Wolf
The Bride's Astrology Guide to Planning Your Wedding, Choosing Your Honeymoon, and Loving Every Second of It, No Matter What Your Sign
Stacey Wolf has written an amazing wedding planning book based on your astrological sign. In this book, Stacey gives "smart, easy-to-use, sign-specific advice" to help you plan your perfect wedding and honeymoon.

One of the best parts about this book? It doesn't tell you if you're compatible with your partners sign, but instead, you will find out how to plan for your wedding, honeymoon and life together as newlyweds using the signs that you are. This is the first wedding planner book that is guided by the stars and speaks personally to each bride.

According to Stacey Wolf, "Knowing who you are, what you want in life, and what you don't, helps tremendously. Never Throw Rice at a Pisces helps brides focus on who they are and reminds them of their unique personality and encourages them to make the choices that are right for them. Depending upon how deeply you want to dive into the stars, you can also use astrology to help you choose a wedding day that is in harmony with your emotional nature and that of your fiancé."

This book is a fun read and filled with a tremendous amount of wonderful tips, ideas and advice that are written in an easy to follow format. Also included are stories from other astrobrides. You can see more fun stories and tips from Stacey Wolf at her website - www.neverthrowrice.com

Purchase your copy of Never Throw Rice at a Pisces here and be the bride you were born to be.

Our Wedding Photo Bookfrom Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart has teamed up with Shutterfly to bring you Our Wedding Photo Books. You can create beautiful wedding albums to share with your family and friends by using the exclusive wedding photo book designs from Martha Stewart for Shutterfly. The personalized photo books are easy to create with drag-and-drop placement and text control. You can select from either an 8x8" or 12x12" hardbound books with a maximum of 80 pages and thoughtful headlines like "Friends & Family," "The Big Day," "Past & Present," "Bridesmaids" and "The First Dance."

This is a wonderful album to create after the wedding for either newlyweds or as a gift for the parents of the bride and/or groom.

And, coming soon...Martha Stewart has created another new line you are sure to love for all of your special wedding occasions (bridal showers and receptions) - please check back as I will be revealing more details in the next few weeks.

Special Offer for our readers:
Click Here to receive $5 off your order
of $25+ thru April 8th (Code: AF41-4808)

Wedding Planning 101

If you live in Louisville KY, Washington DC or St. Louis MO - you are invited to attend an Exclusive Wedding Planning and Registry Event hosted by Martha Stewart Weddings and Macy's. These 3 exclusive events will be taking place in the coming week. Unfortunately, I'm not in one of these cities so I won't be able to attend, but, if you do, please come back and let me know how the event went. Here's all the details that were sent to me earlier this morning:
Join Darcy Miller, SVP and editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, and Wendy Kromer, co-author of the new book Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes, as they provide tips for planning the perfect wedding at Macy’s stores in Louisville, Kentucky (March 2), Washington DC (March 6) and St. Louis, Missouri (March 9).

Sunday, March 2: 1 – 3pm
Macy’s Oxmoor
7900 Shelbyville Road • Home Store, 3rd Floor • Louisville, KY
RSVP: 502.423.3356

Thursday, March 6: 6:30 – 8:30pm
Macy’s at Tyson’s Corner
8000 Tysons Corner Center • McClean, VA
RSVP: 703.893.4900 ext. 515

Sunday, March 9: 12 – 2pm
Macy’s at St. Louis Galleria
1550 St. Louis Galleria • Home Store, 3rd Floor • St. Louis, MO
RSVP: 314.726.1810 ext. 3205

Details: Darcy will educate brides with Wedding Planning 101 – highlighting style, personalization, examples of memorable weddings featured in the magazine and how to register. Wendy will highlight some of the more than 100 delicious and inspiring ideas for timeless and beautiful confections that are perfect for every style of wedding as featured in the new book – Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes. Wendy will sign copies of the book, available to purchase at the retail price of $60 plus tax.

Both Darcy and Wendy will be available to answer brides’ personal questions following the presentation and book signing. Brides will have the opportunity to browse the entire Martha Stewart Collection, which is available exclusively at Macy’s, including the newly debuted Martha Stewart Collection with Wedgwood assortment of fine bone china, crystal stemware and flatware.

Darcy Miller and Macy’s Wedding & Gift Registry will be on hand to answer registry questions like: How many place settings do I register for? What is hard anodized? And what exactly is a duvet, anyway? This, plus tips on Macy’s registry rewards, and more will all be at brides’ fingertips during the event.

Who:
Darcy Miller: Senior Vice President and Weddings Editorial Director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc, Darcy
oversees every aspect of the weddings brand across all of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. business segments: publishing, broadcasting, merchandising, and internet. She has been actively involved with Martha Stewart Weddings since the first issue in 1995.

Wendy Kromer: Co-Author of “Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes,” master baker, decorator and contributing editor of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine.

Style Your Dream Wedding

Susie Coelho’s new book Style your Dream Wedding will be available soon and retails for $49.99 ($31.49 at Amazon and available for pre-order). Susie is a leading lifestyle expert in home, garden, and entertaining – she has hosted 2 series on HGTV (Surprise Gardener and Outer Spaces). I recently received a mock-up of Susie’s new book prior to publication and fell in love with the stunning photographs throughout the book. While I haven’t seen the official published book yet (I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of the printed copy), I’m sure brides are going to love this newly released wedding book. Susie helps the reader uncover their personal style profile amongst 7 styles that include: Classic (and Classic Holiday), Beach, Contemporary, Countryside, Garden, Fanciful, and Exotic. Everything from invitations, the dress, flowers, the ceremony, cakes, photography, and the getaway can be found in this book. Style your Dream Wedding would make a great gift for the bride-to-be as it is filled with much inspiration for her dream wedding.

Visit Susie’s website: Style Your Dream Wedding

Real Simple Weddings

In collaboration with Crate & Barrel – Real Simple magazine has published a must-have guide for planning a stress-free and beautiful wedding celebration. The guide is filled with step-by-step advice to match your style and budget. There are color photographs throughout for visual inspiration along with photos from couples’ real weddings. You will also find questions and answers to all your wedding planning dilemmas, plus the best ideas and solutions for everything from the initial planning stages to which invitations, flowers and favors are best for you.

In addition to the guidelines and checklists in the magazine that can also be downloaded and printed from realsimple.com, there is also a pullout guide with checklists, contact sheets and resources. This mini guide will make it easy to keep your to do’s with you at all times and easily check them as done as soon as they are completed.

Real Simple Weddings is available for purchase at your nearby Crate & Barrel store or online at Amazon for only $12.95. Included in the wedding guide is a card that entitles you to a free gift when you create a registry at a Crate & Barrel store.

Happy Wedding Planning!

We're featured in "His Cold Feet"

Andrea Passman Candell has written "a guide for the woman who wants to tie the knot with the guy who wants to talk about it later". The book, His Cold Feet will be in stores on January 22nd and you can pre-order your copy now on amazon.com.

We're so excited to be acknowledged in Andrea's new book - a while back, we had helped Andrea when she was looking for pre-engagement stories from our visitors. BestWeddingSites.com is listed in the acknowledgment section of His Cold Feet, on page roman numeral x.

While you can pre-order your copy now - be sure to come back to our site in February when we will be giving away 5 copies of the newly released book.

Wedding Titles from Chronicle Books

I recently received copies of some wedding books published by Chronicle Books - one of my favorite publishers. Their books are always modern, unique and make wonderful gifts. Please stay tuned for our reviews to be posted very soon on our site. The books sent included:



the DIY Wedding - Celebrate Your Day Your Way
the knot Book of Wedding Flowers
the Bachelorette Party kit
Bride Ideas - creative wedding journal and list maker
The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook
The Deluxe Wedding Planner & Organizer

We'll also be posting our reviews on some of the new items in the Martha Stewart Crafts line.

Create your own Wedding Book with Blurb

Blurb is offering members and visitors of Best Wedding Sites a free shipping offer thru September 15th. After you make your book, enter “bestwed” when buying a copy and you’ll get free shipping in the U.S. (up to $7 value).

About Blurb.com
Blurb is a revolutionary creative publishing service that enables anyone to create, publish, share, and sell professional-quality books. You simply drag and drop digital pictures and add text. Make a wedding book, guestbook, shower book, bridal party gift book, “how we met” book, or a honeymoon book – for yourself or as a gift. Blurb even works with professional wedding photographers to create stunning bookstore-quality, custom-logo wedding albums.

Blurb’s free bookmaking software works on a Mac or PC and features hundreds of professionally designed magazine-style layouts and backgrounds, plus flexible font capabilities that give you more creative control. Books come in four distinct sizes, from gift-sized 7x7 to Large Format Landscape 13x11. They're easy to make, just drag and drop images and text right on to the pages. Prices start at only $12.95 for a 40-page softcover or $22.95 for a 40-page hardcover with dust jacket. Order just one or many, and receive your books in 7 to 10 business days. Download Blurb’s free bookmaking software at www.blurb.com.

Details on Free Shipping Offer:
To qualify for free shipping, you must enter promotion code “bestwed” in the space provided at checkout. Offer is good for free UPS Ground shipping within the continental U.S. (or apply $7 value to outside U.S. or toward expedited shipping). Offer expires midnight PST September 15, 2007. Limit one-time use per customer.