Plan Your Wedding with One Atlantic

Atlantic City, N.J., (March 2010) – One Atlantic, the premier over-water wedding venue in Atlantic City recently conducted a survey asking its portfolio of elite vendors to uncover the latest and greatest wedding trends that will be featured in 2010 at this breathtaking venue.

With the exceptional personalized service available at One Atlantic, couples will be guided by the venue’s expert team of wedding planners, bridal consultants, event organizers and vendors who will showcase the latest trends and styles in cuisine, décor, floral and production – to ensure that every detail is tailored to their vision and implemented in accordance to their wishes.

Below are hot wedding trends for 2010 that can be discovered at One Atlantic:

Farm-to-Table is Fabulous!

It’s no secret that eating locally-grown food has emerged as a major movement in the culinary scene, as diners wish to eat healthier and have less of an impact on the environment. With 20 years of culinary experience, Jon Weinrott, One Atlantic’s partner and master caterer has seen this trend of ‘farm-to-table’ evolve, as the desire for locally-sourced foods expanded from niche market to a mainstream trend. One Atlantic takes gourmet, custom catering to a whole new level by offering clients the opportunity to indulge in the venue’s signature, 100-Mile Menu, a culinary experience featuring foods foraged (produced and farmed), from within a 100 mile radius of Atlantic City. The venue offers personal foraging services to match the culinary appetite of each couple. Popular items that often grace One Atlantic’s wedding menus include Clams Casino, prepared with clams dug from Clam Daddy’s, a shellfish nursery in Brigantine and fine organic cheeses and eggs from Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville. The venue also offers a special opportunity for the bride and groom-to-be to plant and later forage the fruits and vegetables for their special day. Watch a video of One Atlantic’s foraging excursion here: http://www.cinemacake.com/video/oa-foraging/

Other Tasty Trends Include:

- Champagne Tasting Bar: A twist on the traditional ice-topped bar and sculpture, the champagne tasting bar is a more elegant and less potent version of the familiar vodka bar. Champagne is served from magnums in an ice bar. Many couples are further customizing this feature with rosé champagnes.

- Wines from the Source: Wines made from grapes that were grown, harvested, vinified and cellared by the winemaker offer a healthy break from generic wines. One Atlantic features its own label of wines from an exclusive estate in Napa County , CA .

- Custom Cocktails: One Atlantic ’s expert mixologist can create custom cocktails to satisfy both the bride and grooms flavors of choice, while being paired accordingly with the menu.

- “Comfort” foods: “Simple, down-home foods with quality products are growing in popularity,” said Weinrott. “We’re seeing more couples choose foods that evoke warmth. Food is another avenue through which couples can connect and share their love with friends and family. Utilizing family recipes or serving classic comfort foods is a way to make the culinary aspects of your wedding more personal.”

- Mini-Cakes for your Guests: Individual cakes are a wonderful way for couples to communicate to their guests that they appreciate each and every one of them taking part in their special day.

- After-Party Munchies: Classics Make a Comeback: French fries, friend dough, onion rings, sliders and other sinful snacks are re-gaining a foothold for post-wedding noshing. Located on Atlantic City ’s famous boardwalk, One Atlantic has a natural historical connection to these Jersey Shore stalwarts.


‘Green’ is the New White: Give back on your Big Day

Brides and grooms are looking for creative and unique ways to contribute to the community and the earth when planning their wedding. One Atlantic offers a number of ways for the couple to give back including:

- A partnership with Carbonfund.org, offering brides and grooms-to-be the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets for their wedding. Carbonfund.org is leading the fight against global warming, making it easy and affordable for any individual, business or organization to reduce and offset their climate impact and hasten the transition to a clean energy future. One Atlantic works with CarbonFund.org to calculate the carbon emissions of the event. Client purchased carbon offsets will be used to support projects that reduce carbon emissions such as Reforestation & Avoided Deforestation or Renewable Energy & Methane Projects.

- A community partnership with AtlantiCare for which the venue donates all floral arrangements to the organization after every event held in the space. The AtlantiCare Foundation exists to improve the health and wellbeing of our community through a comprehensive development program to support safe, equitable, quality healthcare.

- Use of top regional vendors who offer environmentally-friendly products for events including: cardboard furniture, no bottled water, recycled paper or digital invitations, greenery and flowers in wood boxes in lieu of large flower arrangements.

Post-Reception Events

After-parties have become more and more popular. And, if you’re getting married at One Atlantic, you are in luck; located in the heart of Atlantic City , the party never stops! Those attending receptions at One Atlantic have a posh option right in Caesars, the glitzy Dusk Nightclub (www.duskac.com) , where well-known DJs spin to a spirited dance floor well into the wee hours.

Getting the Wedding Party Intimately Involved

The responsibilities of the wedding party have expanded beyond participation in the ceremony and planning bachelor/bachelorette parties. “Couples are finding new and meaningful ways to involve the wedding party in the festivities,” said Weinrott. “Excursions and group projects add to the memories.” A few examples of this include creating a pre-wedding video filmed in advance of the ceremony featuring photos and interviews with friends and family of the bride and groom; One Atlantic also offers couples the opportunity to take their wedding party on foraging excursions to source the food for the wedding, which makes for a great photo shoot opportunity. Some wedding parties may even opt to create a dance to the bride and grooms favorite song that can be choreographed.

Finishing Touches – Little Things That Say a Lot

Once the big decisions have been made – the centerpieces, floral arrangements, table set-ups – it is the final touches that can help cement a lasting impression and can often exemplify the bride and groom’s personalities and interests. Signature finishing touches recognized by One Atlantic and its vendors include:

- The Perfect Package: A ribbon and a flower tied on every napkin. Another option is an elegantly folded napkin with a personalized menu nestled in the fold. “This really gives guests the assurance that the bride and groom thought specifically of them when thinking of their seat,” said Weinrott. “Often menus for each guest are slightly varied based on personal preferences, allergies and whether or not the guest is a vegetarian or vegan.”

- The ‘WOW’ Factor – A chandelier accenting each table. One interesting spin on this is an “ice chandelier” over one or more tables. As the chandelier melts it slowly adds to a lily-pad pond centerpiece.

- Surprising Elements – Unique twists on mundane items, such as alternatives to vases or unconventional salt and pepper shakers. For example, the salt shaker may be made of hardened sea salt – a container that exemplifies its contents.

There is however one important wedding trend that will never change. “Couples want their wedding to be different, to be unique – special not only to themselves but memorable for their guests as well,” said Wesley Adams, marketing director, One Atlantic. “They want their wedding day to celebrate their own personal relationship and, just as importantly, create lasting memories for themselves and their guests. At One Atlantic we appreciate the months of creative planning that go into planning a wedding and how important it is for a couple’s vision to be realized.”

One Atlantic has a distinction almost no other wedding venue can claim: it is an upscale event space located entirely over water. Stretching some 900 feet out over the Atlantic Ocean , One Atlantic provides vantage points unrivaled in the region through its floor-to-ceiling windows. Its 10,000 square feet of interior space and adjoining 2,000-square-foot garden terrace can accommodate weddings of up to 500.

For more information or to inquire about reservations for a wedding at One Atlantic, visit www.oneatlanticevents.com .

To speak with a One Atlantic representative, please call 609-343-9902 or email info@oneatlanticevents.com

Earth 911 Earth Day Contest

Check this out- I am giving away 2 signed copies of The Everything Green Wedding Book for this contest

Earth911.com recently launched a special section of its Web site to mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The channel not only features 40 tips about reducing, reusing and recycling, but also hosts a Twitter contest beginning March 29 and ending in a giveaway on Earth Day, April 22.

“We hope that people participate in our contest not only to learn more about how to improve their waste output and environmental footprint, but also to encourage their friends, family, and followers to do the same,” says Colt Melby, CEO of Earth911. “This Earth Day should be a celebration not of what we will accomplish on April 22, but what we will do the other 364 days of the year.”

During the contest, two tips will be released each day on the Earth Day channel, counting down to Earth Day itself. By simply tweeting the channel’s Web address each day a new set of tips is released (http://earth911.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=83da47614bd8be66468397bfc&id=dab9a65664&e=e9a5d88bdb), members of the Twitter audience will be entered into a drawing to receive eco-friendly prizes from organizations and authors such as:

- One home composting starter kit, courtesy of SunChips

- Two copies of Disneynature's EARTH, courtesy of Disneynature OCEANS

- One historic tree sponsorship, courtesy of American Forests

- One copy of "Ten Ways to Change the World in Your 20s," courtesy of author Libuse Binder

- One Interactive Boxed Set of stationery, courtesy of Ecosaurus

- Two desk clocks and one photo frame, courtesy of Corrugated Art

- One, certified CarbonFree® Certified GoECOlife™ SOHO 8

-Sheet ULTRA-QUIET™ Paper Shredder, courtesy of Carbonfund.org

- One copy of the e-book "Small Spaces, Fast Paces: New York Organizing Secrets," courtesy of author Sharon Lowenheim

- Three pairs of Performance Toesocks™ in CoolMax® EcoMade™, courtesy of Injinji

- One copy of "Celebrate Green!" courtesy of Celebrate Green!

- One iPad sleeve, courtesy of First World Trash

- One therm-o-tote, one acrylic cup, one stainless steel water bottle, and two reuseable grocery totes, courtesy of LittleFeet Big Feats

- One copy of "Suddenly Frugal: How to live Happier and Healthier for Less," courtesy of author Leah Ingram

- Two copies of "The Everything Green Wedding Book: Plan an Elegant, Affordable, Earth-Friendly Wedding," courtesy of author Wenona Napolitano

- Eco-friendly T-shirts, courtesy of Earth911.com

SunChips will also sponsor tips about newly introduced compostable products, as the company recently launched the world’s first 100 percent compostable chip bag that decomposes in 14 weeks when placed in a hot active compost bin.

The contest will culminate on April 22 when the winners from the giveaway will be selected. Those interested in participating can visit the channel for official rules, a list of prizes and daily tips to tweet and also follow Earth911 (@Earth911).

DexKnows Weddings Recessionista Giveaway

DexKnows Weddings, a content-rich resource for brides, is gearing up to launch a contest that will offer four couples the chance to win $10,000 each towards their upcoming wedding.

The contest starts April 6

Couples can enter to win on Dexknowsweddings.com or on the DexKnows Weddings Facebook fan page, by sharing what recessionista inspiring alternatives they plan to use at their wedding.

A recessionista is stylish, yet frugal and ideas should be as creative as the recessionistas themselves.

DexKnows Weddings celebrity wedding planner, Yifat Oren will pick the most creative finalists and winners will be chosen based on online public voting.

Four winners with the highest number of votes will win.

Couples must be planning to get married after June 1, 2010 and before June 1, 2012.

DexKnows Weddings is the ideal partner for anyone planning a wedding and features include:

Videos – Hundreds of ‘how to’ wedding-related videos

Q&A – A social networking community for brides

Celebrity Wedding Planner – Wedding planning tips and secrets from renowned celebrity wedding planner Yifat Oren, who has coordinated weddings for such stars as Kevin Costner, Jason Bateman, Mariska Hargitay, among others.

Articles – Thousands of original articles providing informative content and invaluable wedding planning tools

Vendors – Access to a robust local wedding vendor resource

Wedding Checklists – A step-by-step guide to stay organized and within budget

I am Now A Featured Wedding Contributor for Associated Content

More of my wedding articles will be featured on AssociatedContent.com soon as I have been elevated to a featured wedding contributor position.

I'll be posting links here once new articles are up.

I am also now writing for GreenDivaMom.com my post is now live and can be viewed at http://www.greendivamom.com/2010/03/16/daily-giggles-organic-lip-balm-for-little-green-divas/

Unfortunately the name in the title is supposed to be Dilly Giggles not Daily Giggles, I am sure the editor will make the changes to that soon.

Green Options Media is under going some changes but I will still be writing for them but the sites have been going up and down as they switch to new servers and new layouts which makes posting difficult. Once everything is back to normal I will once again be posting there as well.

20% Off OKA b Shoes Eco-Conscious Bridal Line

Looking for comfortable yet stylish eco-shoes for the bridal party?

Check out OKA b. eco-friendly shoes and their all new Bridal Collection http://www.shoesthatloveyou.com/Collection-Bridal-Sandals-Wedding-Flip-Flops.aspx

The U.S. based manufacturer offers eco-friendly, recyclable, stylish and uber-comfortable flip-flops, thongs, sandals and slides.

You can receive 20% off of your entire bridal order

through August 31, 2010

by entering BRIDAL2010 at checkout

when ordering online only at

http://www.shoesthatloveyou.com/

Stubby Pencil Studio is Giving Away an Eco-Easter Basket Filled with Goodies

Stubby Pencil Studio is a one stop shop for eco-friendly arts and crafts supplies for kids. They also have games and small toys; all made with ethical and eco materials.

They have offered to give away a wonderful Eco-Easter Basket to one lucky winner.
The Eco Easter Basket from Stubby Pencil Studio has a retail value of $65

Want to win this eco-fab basket? Head on over to Creatively Green and leave a comment.