Coming Full Circle with Sharing and Saving
This weekend, I’m going to experience some very happy wedding deja vu. My Bride$hare buddy is getting married, and Hunter and I are thrilled to go back to the Bungalow Club for the first time since our wedding 6 weeks ago, and enjoy some of our decor, drink delicious mojitos, and dance our faces off, for the 2nd time around.
These are the fateful paper lanterns that spawned the whole idea for Bride$hare! (photo by Dan Chen)
Way back when, Rebecca saw a blog post of mine lamenting the desire for paper lanterns to spruce up the space at my venue, and she contacted me to suggest we go in on them together and share them. That was just the beginning. Together, we were able to co-purchase and recycle many items from our weddings, which went perfectly with Hunter and my mission to both save green and be green in our wedding plans! In fact, the reception venue owner likes them so much, she might even buy them off of us after the fact and keep them up, which means future brides can benefit from them, too! My bridal karma meter must be off tha charts, son!
These manzanita trees will make a repeat appearance this weekend, too!
Having a Bride$hare buddy was not only a great way to be more fiscally and eco-responsible, but it was also the beginning of a fun and resourceful friendship. Whenever we researched or booked vendors/hotels/rehearsal dinner venues, we’d check in and make suggestions or give feedback to one another about it. We talked invitation design and oohed and aahed over eachother’s creations. We generally supported eachother in a way that most brides only find via message boards, and that was a priceless bonus of the whole experience.
Together, we shared roughly $4,000 worth of goods/services. It was so inspiring, that I set up a website for other brides to connect and get their own share on! Saving all that money was certainly thrilling, but after blogging about it what excites me most is the amount of interest in and embracing of the BrideShare concept from gals all across the web. I encourage you all to try and share and save – after all, green is the new white! So whatcha waiting for? Go get you some!
I am so happy for Rebecca and Rupen this weekend, and can’t wait to celebrate with them, and raise a glass to our collective good fortune.
That is a great idea! I'm sure brides-to-be are very grateful (and perhaps I will be using this one day as well)!
Brilliant! I don't know what I'd do without my three bridal comrades. Our weddings are throughout the summer and fall, and we're mixing/ matching/ sharing all kinds of goodies: vases, paper lanterns, printing company, etc. Saving money/ time/ stress AND resources. It's so helpful to have others sharing the experience! Congrats on setting up a formal venue so that all brides can benefit from sharing!
i'm actually checking out the bungalow club tonight, i'm so excited and hope i love it. and love those lanterns, so gorgeous!
such a brilliant idea
That's a fantastic idea ladies.
Very cool Idea I wish I read that when I was getting married last year!
brilliant!
Very cool idea. To keep going on the Green theme, here's a way to get your guests all the info about your bid day with NO paper involved: mobile wedding invitations/programs.
Create your own personalized mobile wedding program with the help of this cool app, http://www.magmito.com.
Basically you follow simple Web templates (anyone can do it) to create a wedding program that can be viewed on all phones. Add text, photos, maps with directions, links to your gift registry and even include quizzes, polls or forms to collect info on food preferences/allergies, RSVPs. It's free. You only pay for the SMS/text fees to send it to your guests. All this on a device guests carry with them everywhere. Hope this helps all you fellow brides out there.
fab idea!
what a great idea! The blogging world is so useful
off the charts, d.
How was the Bungalow?
Love the idea!!!
I love love love this idea I only wish i could find a Sydney (Australia) bride that shares my taste and budget, I'd do it in a heart beat.