Diets that Work?

Forbes has interesting article this month on "10 Diets That Work." I still very much believe in the simplest diet of all: reduce your calories and increase your exercise, and yet I am still fascinated by all of this diet talk and even tempted to try a few.

The Sonoma Diet is especially intriguing to me (eventhough I don't even drink wine). It seems to have similar principles to a mediterranean style diet (protein, olive oil, cheeses) and it does not entirely eliminate carbs.

Weight Watchers made the list as well, and is always a tried and true choice. I'm even considering getting back on that bandwagon myself.

The NY Observer Bridal Blog!

So, I have been a busy bee lately and have joined in with the group of girls over at the New York Observer who are blogging all about the ins and outs of their wedding planning. Check out my latest entries here!

Though they were poking fun (It's ok guys, I can take it!), I even got a link in yesterday's edition of Gawker. Holla!

Pink is the new white...

...well, not exactly. I mean, there was not a specific mention of pink in this great Newsweek article about how color is totally taking over in the world of wedding dresses, but as I'm planning to wear pink, I thought I would give it its props.

By the way, this is not a pic of my dress that I've included (i'm not going quite so over the top), but now when you see mine, it will look positively tame in comparison. Clever of me, right?

Razzle Zazzle

I definitely fall squarely into the category of a non-traditional bride. Somehow this non-tradionalness has made me quite averse to all of the cutesy photo wedding stuff that people do. I think save the date magnets with the happy couple's pics on them are really adorable for others...in fact I still have a few on my fridge of friends and smile almost everytime I see them, but they just are really not a fit for me. As a result, I haven't really paid much attention to the whole customized stamp craze as I figured, what the heck are we going to put on them?

Well, zazzle.com has totally changed my mind. For some reason, it never occurred to me that we could put ANYTHING on our stamps...not just a pic of us. We could send a simple message or a cool monogram of our names that color coordinates with our envelopes.

My fave idea was making a stamp out of a pic of other people. I loved the idea of the stamp above. Though these are not my grandparents, how cool would it be to send out our invitations with a pic of my grandparents on their wedding day?

ROCKIN SITE: Figleaves.com

In my normal everyday life, I devote zero time to my lingerie wardrobe. I'm not proud of this fact and aspire to one day have a drawer full of sexy, sultry, slinky lingerie that I can color coordinate with my outfits and moods. But right now, I feel a major sense of accomplishment if my bra and underwear actually match.

Brides, however, need fantabulous lingerie--on their wedding day, their wedding night, and even on their honeymoon. So basically, I need to get busy.

Figleaves.com is a really wonderful online resource for everything lingerie, from simple basics to gorgeous, over the top frillies.

These mrs. boy shorts are really adorable (and would make a great shower gift too) and these retro french knickers are also pretty TDF (to die for). This site is like lingerie nirvana, so happy browsing.

You Can Wear It Again

I've mentioned before that I'm not going through the motions of choosing a bridesmaid dress and then forcing all of my maids to wear it. I totally get that this is an accepted and widely practiced bridal right of passage, but as someone who has spent one too many nights in an ill fitting, oddly colored frock that never saw the light of day again, I'm just not goin' there.

Meg Mateo Ilasco's new book You Can Wear It Again is a wonderful celebration of bridesmaids dresses and all of the loyal friends who have worn them. It's a fun look at both fashion trends and wedding trends over the past 50 years and would even make a great gift for your bridesmaids to give out at a girl's luncheon or to send along with a will you be my bridesmaid? card.

(via design sponge)

Blurb books for one and all

Call me a lazy blogger if you will (as I already posted about this in my other blog), but I just think this is so darn cool, I can't resist.

Blurb is an awesome new site that offers self-publishing software that allows you to make and publish your own hardcover books.

Their Photo Books are a great idea for your candid wedding photos (perhaps from your photobooth or from table cameras), or perhaps as a special gift for your bridesmaids (you can document all of your wedding fun from your engagement party, to the shower to the crazy night of fun from your bachelorette party). The Cook Book might be a great gift for your new mother-in-law (recipes from my family to yours) and the Text and Pictures book would make an unbelievable wedding gift for your soon to be husband to document your story of love from start to finish.

I just love these! There are sooo many books I want to make, my head is spinning.

Some of the books are not available yet, but with all of the publicity these folks have been getting, I'm sure they will be coming soon. Prices start at $29.99 and you don't have to pay for anything until you actually decide to publish.

A Wedding Bee in my bonnet

Alright, girls...I'm in love--TLF (true love forever) type of love. Wedding Bee, a fantabulous new NYC wedding blog is the current recipient of all of my affections.

Launched by a a lovely, sassy chick named Bee, this blog is chock full of wonderful suggestions, endless useful tips, beautiful photos and some of the best all around wedding planning advice I've come across. It is NYC based, but I don't care where you are getting married--there are loads of things there for any bride-to-be, wherever you may live.

Bee has a group of other fab brides-to-be who blog along with her, and each has her own style and point of view, making the blog even more fun to read. Best of all, these girls are truly busy as bees (pun intended) with loads of updates each and every day. They seriously put chumps like me to shame.

My advice: run don't walk straight over to Wedding Bee right now. (And once you decide you love it as much as I do, add them to your bloglines account).

Weddings Gone Wild!

, originally uploaded by ericabethg.

Wowza! Seriously. If you want to see some eye popping photographs of one of the most lavish, out there, insanely fun looking weddings I've ever seen, check out style.com wedding porfolio of the week long wedding of NYC hotelier Vikram Chatwal to Priya Sachdev. All of their 300 plus guests were flown around India on a private plane (are you reading this dad?) to get from one celebration to the next. There were a slew of parties: a masked ball, celebrations in royal palaces (I think two) and everything ended up in Delhi for the traditional Barat cermony where the groom rides through the strees in a horse and carriage.

For any brides who are having budget struggles with their weddings, I urge you to take a peep at these photos. It will make you feel better...I promise.

Photo Gifts

It boggles my mind how many wonderful options there are out there for awesome photo gifts these days.

Life Hacker posted a fantastic roundup of some super fantabulous photo gift ideas from this mosaic maker to this cutesy trading card generator (how adorable would these be to make for all of your bridesmaids?). There really are endless options.

Our new fave blog Wedding Bee also has a great post about a fantastic photo to canvas service that makes gorgeous reproductions.