Sweet Lingerie for your unforgettable day!

As brides, I know we focus on our direct attention to the dress, venue, flowers, photography and entertainment, but we seem to forget in how to beautify our undergarments for our big day.

Today’s Metro newspaper shows an article that talk sassy lingerie to wear for your big night!

My favorite and affordable lingerie is the Blush Lingerie Sweet Vintage strapless bra-$44 and hipster-$32 Check out www.dollhousebettie.com – the image above

Affordable favors – “Chocolate Truffle Scented Candles”

Dollartree always has affordable and creative favors to give to your guests. Check out these Chocolate Truffle Scented Candles. A great décor to add to your plate setting for a fall wedding !
http://www.dollartree.com/floral-decor/Wholesale-Bulk-Candles-Holders-Votives/-Chocolate-Truffle-Scented-Candles/202c205c205p307893/index.pro

How a yoga practice can keep you calm during wedding season?

As most of my clients know I do have a yoga practice on the mat and off the mat. Often, I always get the popular question, how are you a wedding planner dealing with so many weddings, personalities, timelines, checklists all at the same time-how do you handle it all? The answer is Yoga.

Yoga is a connection between the mind, body, and spirit. It stimulates balance and rewards your body sense of healing, calmness, and confidence. That is how I can multitask and still be in the present moment with each client’s wedding. My yoga practice is like a daily cup of coffee- either through yoga asana, mediation, or focusing on my breath. It definitely keeps me prepared for the unexpected on a wedding day.

Usually, on a weekly basis I have been top of my wedding blogs on a weekly basis. However, for the past 3 months, I have been offline, due to my decision to go deep within my yoga practice to take the 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Registered Certificate with Yoga Alliance that began in January through April. Thankfully I graduated and now I can share my practice.

How can yoga benefit you during your wedding plans?
I often hear from brides, I’m so overwhelmed, I have so much to do, I’m so tired, I have 3 more months until the big day and I didn’t lose any weight, I can’t sleep, I can’t breathe, I can’t stop, I’m scared, etc. Does this sound like you?

Well I have a remedy for you =)
Yoga is designed to meet your specific fitness goals, help you relax and renew, create a space for you to develop inner peace, tranquility, compassion, and grace. Yoga is not about how flexible you are or if you can do a “picture perfect” headstand- it’s about giving your body a gift to surrender and connect with your self physically and emotionally. No matter what, yoga will make you feel perfect and content just the way you are and your day will be close to perfect as it is destined to be.

Wedding planning and the actual wedding day can be a stressful affair. The 5,000 year-old practice of yoga helps brides-to-be, their fiancés, family, and friends meet their fitness goals, relax, celebrate, and enjoy this momentous occasion.

In addition, we live in New York City, a city no place like it, the hustle and bustle, achieving our dreams, balancing transitions such as having a wedding, full time careers, and more- always on the go in a NY minute. We forget to breath in this fast pace city. Most couples are flustered when the time has come to walk down that aisle and they forget to breathe, panic, which takes you from the present moment- that is to live, laugh and love in your day! Yoga can bring the deep breath into the big day!

My Bridal Budget is revamping and taking a different holistic direction – that is to bring Yoga to wedding planning. I will offer private couple yoga sessions and/or have a private class packages with your bridal party and family. If you want a calming bachelorette party, bridal shower, or a wedding day maybe yoga themed class can just be the gift for you and your loved ones.

Do you want check out what this Yoga is all about?

Tomorrow 5/5/12 Cinco de Mayo (yoga without the margaritas!), I will be teaching a 10:30am Level 1 yoga class at Bamboomoves in Forest Hills. You can also catch me on 6/9/12 Saturday at 10:30am, and 7/14/12 Saturday at 10:30am.
www.bamboomovesfh.com

I look forward to seeing you on the mat!

Picture- Me in my headstand- its not perfect, but it gives me balance =)

Namaste!
Fouzia
CEO & Wedding Planner and Yogini =)
My Bridal Budget

Service Charge- Is it taxable or not?

That is a good question to ask to your catering company or catering venue because you don’t want to miscalculate or have any surprises when you pay your final bill. Most catering venues charge 20% for service charge, which you are responsible for that cost that covers waiting staff, linens, directional/place cards, any operating venue costs, etc. In New York, tax is applied to the service charge. Most of us go out to restaurants for dinner, most of the time tax is not applied on the gratuity and service charge. However, in catering venues that have large parties, tax is applied on the service charge.
If you are the type that is organized with finances and likes to see the figures in a spreadsheet. Here is an example in how you would calculate your catering bill with taxable service charge:


$9,095 ($85 x 107 adults)
$280 ($35x8vendors)
$385 ($35x11kids)
--------------
$9,760 (subtotal)
$1,952 (service charge-20% x $9,760)
----------------
$11,712 (total)
$1,010.16 (total x Tax 8.625%)
---------------
$12,722.16-Grand Total

The numbers turn out to be a big difference when tax is applied to service charge, therefore please ask the question to your venue –“Is your service charge taxable?” so, you can make sure your budget is accurate.

Below is NY tax regulations regarding to service charges-


http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/memos/sales/m09_13s.pdf
Gratuities and service charges
Gratuities and tips that a customer leaves voluntarily for the wait staff are not taxable.
Mandatory gratuities are different because they are automatically added onto the bill given to the customer. However, a mandatory gratuity is not taxable if all of these conditions are met:
• the charge is shown separately on the bill,
• the charge is identified as a gratuity, and
• all of the money collected is given to the employees.
If any of these conditions is not met, the mandatory gratuity is taxable along with the rest of the catering bill.
Many caterers bill a service charge on banquets or on parties of more than eight or ten people. Since these charges are not specifically listed as gratuities on the bill or invoice, the service charge is always subject to sales tax.
For more details, see TSB-M-09(13)S, Sales Tax on Gratuities and Service Charges.

Wedding Photography Permit at Landmarks

We live in beautiful New York City with so many parks lavished with trees, spring cherry blossoms, you may be thinking of taking pictures after the ceremony with your bridal party at a park nearby the venue, which is a great idea. However, please be sure you check out the city parks information online because most parks require a permit, which includes a fee to use the park’s grounds.

Some New York City parks charge $100 for 30minutes to take photos, such as the Conservatory Gardens. As well as give yourself ample time to send in an application at least 3 months before the wedding date to ensure avaiblity for a photo session.

Another idea, if you prefer to have your wedding ceremony at a park, there is a ceremony fee that is $400 in some NYC parks such as the Conservatory Gardens. You should file an application to the city parks at least a year before the wedding date to ensure availability.

Be sure to include these fees in your budget, as well as include the time slot in your day of coordination timeline so your photographer/videographer is aware of the time.

Here is the link to learn more info about NYC parks http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/general-info/weddings/

Image Source- Omar Lopez Photography
Location –Conservatory Gardens
My Bridal Budget client- Mr. & Mrs. Steadman
Wedding date- 3/18/12

Bride's Choice Award 2012

We officially started our wedding season last week, graciously I'm pleased to announce that My Bridal Budget has received the Bride's Choice Award 2012 from Wedding Wire. A newsletter release from Wedding Wire is below. My Bridal Budget is honored to receive this award because we do demonstrate quality and most of all making sure our brides & grooms are pleased with their experience.

Forest Hills, NY – March 26, 2012 – WeddingWire, the nation's leading wedding Marketplace, is excited to announce My Bridal Budget, LLC has been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for wedding/event planning services!

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, My Bridal Budget was selected based on its stellar reviews from past newlywed clients.

My Bridal Budget is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate My Bridal Budget for their continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.”

We are happy to announce that My Bridal Budget is one of the very best wedding/event planning services within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at www.mybridalbudget.com .

To learn more about the Bride's Choice Awards™, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire™, the nation's leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.

Wedding Wines

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Grapepoint Wines at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, which made its grand opening a month ago. I met with Joanna Zablocki who is the owner of her new wine store that launched a month ago at the Greenpoint Brooklyn community. Joanna has an extensive knowledge about the art of wine. Speaking of art, there will be a free art and wine event on Saturday, March 10, 2012 from 6pm to 9pm.

Grapepoint Wines has an intimate and vibrant ambiance in combination with Joanna’s friendly personality shines throughout her store and to her customers in this community.

In addition, I had the opportunity to interview, regarding on what kind of recommendations for wines for a wedding-
Here is what she is says:

Here are some of my wedding suggestions:
1. Sauvignon Blanc is a super versatile that goes great with Chicken, Vegetables, Seafood and Salads
My pick at the moment would be Yealands Sauvignon Blanc 2011 from Marlborough New Zealand. This Sauv Blanc is outstanding and truly captures the essence of NZ. It’s an expressive bold style of bouquet, bright citrus fruits with hints of passion fruit and guava. AMAZING.

2. Cabernet Sauvigon is one the most popular red wines. It’s a nice hearty wine that goes well with beef and pork dishes.
My pick at the moment would be Amplio Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 from Lodi California. This cab is medium bodied with an approachable style. Hints of blackcurrant, black raspberry and earthiness.

3. A slightly oaked Chardonnay is also a crowd pleaser.
My pick would be the Boschendal Chardonnay 2009 from South Africa; it is round well balanced with notes of citrus and toasted almonds.

4. Valpolicella is also a great choice for red wine. Usually medium bodied, fruit forward and approachable.
My Pick would be Brigaldara Valpolicella 2010 from Veneto Italy. This Valpolicella is incredibly juicy coming from a family owned vineyard that yields a small production. It is medium body with tons of dark fruit. Hints of chocolate and spice. Delicious.

Here is the invite link to respond to this the Art and Wine Event on 3/10/12
http://www.facebook.com/events/359514940746133/

Grapepoint Wines is located on 155 Norman Ave
Corner of Newel Street, Brooklyn NY

Grapepoint Wines currently takes bulk orders if you need wine for your wedding or event.

Photos
Fouzia (MBB) and Joanna (Grapepoint wines)


Cheers!