Budget Weddings For Dummies

Budget Weddings For DummiesDon’t let ‘white blindness’ drive you into debt! Make your wedding everything you want it to be on the budget you determine.

Are you planning a wedding, but worried about how much money you'll have to spend? In today's tough economic times, planning a budget wedding is more important than ever. This fun, money-saving guide is packed with tips for planning the wedding of your dreams without breaking your bank account!

Inside you'll find tons of tips and advice for planning a budget-friendly celebration while still remaining true to your personality, values, and tastes. You'll see how to make and keep your wedding budget; select the most economical time to get married; scope out wedding locations that fit the bill; and incorporate everything from economical to green ideas that emphasize style and elegance. Plus, you get tips and pointers for negotiating with vendors and avoiding hidden expenses and add-ons.

  • Hands-on information for planning a stylish wedding while sticking to your budget
  • How to get deals on gowns, tuxes, cakes, invitations, photography, food, and more
  • Use your creativity (and friends and family) to save money on decorations, food, favors, and wedding attire
  • Cut corners where no one will notice
  • Set your own priorities for your big day

  • Make your celebration unique

You don't have to settle for less on your wedding day. Author, Meg Schneider is an award-winning journalist who planned her own wedding for less than $5,000  Budget Weddings For Dummies is the only guide you need to save yourself money, time, and stress while you plan a beautiful, memorable ceremony!

Price: $16.99


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Important Business Philosophies You Should Adopt


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Instilling Global Ethics


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Modern Ponzis

One of the marvels of nature is the ability to adapt to changing environments. The Evolution Theory (which I only believe in partially) tells us that man was once made for the bushes, sturdy and dangerous, very strong and enduring. This has gradually been changing to the softer side. Today, man cannot even stand the chill of dusk! Being the copy-cat that man is, this has been fully taken advantage with concepts like continuous development and rebranding. You have probably seen the same bread wrapped in a new cover to be proposedly revamped and more nutritious! A famous cliché goes like the monkeys are always the same, what changes is forest. The truth cannot be emphasized more.

When the pyramid schemes were invented, they took "entrepreneurs" by storm. The logic behind it was seen in the short-term rather than the long-term. The "get rich quick" syndrome infected them and those. The contagious wave swept valleys and hills alike, and by the time the truth came out, many had been defrauded. In my country, families were broken and lives taken. Many lessons were learnt but one. The bigger they come, the harder they fall.

But do we ever learn? The apparition has been unleashed again. Only this time sand-witched and creamed! Every TV station has a "Royalty Rewards Scheme". A game so simple that even the biggest fool would have a chance at it. Just like true gambling. But is it just that? Is it a chancing game? Be it or not, that is beyond the question, after all, random selection is a rule that has no particular format. Thus anyone can be a winner! But what are we winning here? Where is this money coming from? Definitely not from a portion of the year round profits of the giant media business. Not one participant have I heard complain. The SMS is just too costly. And only one SMS does not guarantee you a "good chance".

The more you SMS, the more your chances of winning! The reality, the more money you pool into the scheme, the more the masterminds take home. The "price money" was contributed the first few weeks. The rest is pocket money for some people we all know. The usual suspects that vanished with our money the last time. The wheeler dealers in the public domain. The men with the Midas touch....everything they touch turns to gold. And that includes your hard earned money!

Why Are Business Ethics Important?


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Do You Need to Put in a Private Pool?

Each and every one of us dream of having one where we can relax after a tiring day at work or where we can have a bonding time with our family or friends. Having a pool at home may take a lot of time and energy in maintaining it but it could give you so much fun and enjoyment on days to come. Let us examine the advantages and disadvantages of having a private pool at home.

If you want to consider having a pool in your house, it may be an entertainment area for times you would want to have a party at home or if you just want to bond with your family or friends. This may possibly give them a great view of the area. It can also be a great place for a barbecue party or if you just want to cool down on hot days. Instead of planning a vacation outdoors you can just do it at the threshold of your home. This will save you time and money as well. Swimming can also make you stay healthy and fit. According to some studies, swimming three to four times a week will progress your heart rate. So, having a swimming pool will not only give you pleasure but also will help you improve your health.

Though having a swimming pool can also give you some disadvantages. If you have children under the age of four, you must give some importance on how you could avoid them on going or playing by themselves at the pool by themselves. There are some cases where children drown because parents forgot to educate their children on the danger of going to the pool by themselves or worst some parents forgot to put some safety devices that will stay their children away from it. As an owner, one must know the first things they need to know on how to prevent accidents. Remember that you will carry the blame if one or two of the children in your neighborhood decided to creep in your house and have a swim in your pool.

Securing and maintaining the pool may be quite expensive. There are some security gadgets available online or in the market these days. Having a pool may also trigger future buyers of your house because some people avoid buying a house with pool because they know the dangers and the responsibilities they have to carry in owning one. It may add beauty to your home but also it may give you some problems in maintaining it. Also, changing the water in the pool once in a while will also take so much of your time and it may cost a lot on your water bill.

So, there are a lot of things you need to consider if you want to buy a house with a swimming pool or if you want to install one at home. It is best to consider the good things and the bad things of having one.

Reason For Investing In A Hotel For Sale

Miami is a well known tourist spot in the city. There are lots of places that you can really enjoy here while trying different activities that will help you get out of your boring life.

Now there is a tremendous increase of those people who come and visit the city to have fun and excitement. Of course as you visit the city, you need to find the best accommodation in the city. Now there are already hotels that are available to cater the needs of that tourist who visit the city.

Aside from the fun and excitement that you can get in this city, there are also business opportunities that you can also grab. If you are planning to put up your own business, then you can consider checking those Miami hotels for sale. Due to the popularity of tourism in this city, having your own hotel catering the needs of tourists, businessmen and events will surely guarantee your goal of success and profit.

There are plenty of Miami hotels for sale that are made from quality hotels and residential buildings for investors to try for a new business in the city. But no matter how profitable this venture is, thee are still other investors who are having their second thoughts about investing a Miami hotels for sale because of the high cost involved-expensive acquisition cost, maintenance and the possible decline of its value in the market. But you have to keep in mind that these are just some of the probabilities but with proper planning you can avoid all of these.

Here are some of the reasons why you have to pursue your plan of investing on hotels in Miami.

-Miami is a well known tourist destination. Many consider the city as their permanent vacation place especially during the winter. You can be sure to earn more as you have your own hotel in the most appealing area of the city. You can cater the needs of the tourist especially if you offer complete facilities and services that will safer the needs and wants of every individual.

-Aside from being the best getaway for most tourist, Miami is a well known home of different business opportunity. Normally business men and women are visiting the city for a meeting with their client or partner, attending conference and seminars. These individuals are the target market of this venture especially if your business is open for bulk reservation for events and other occasion.

-Miami hotels for sale are cheap and very affordable because of the economic decline in the US, many of the hotels and other residential properties are at their lowest price. This can be the best time for you to invest.

10 Best Reasons to Buy a Home in Scottsdale Arizona


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Why Business Ethics Are So Important


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500 Poses for Photographing Brides: A Visual Sourcebook for Professional Digital Wedding Photographers

500 Poses for Photographing Brides: A Visual Sourcebook for Professional Digital Wedding Photographers

Containing numerous contemporary images by leading photographers, this indispensable manual concerning wedding portraits explains posing fundamentals as well as how to create a flattering, feature-specific photograph—one that focuses on the head, shoulders, arms, legs, or torso—in different levels of close-ups, from head-shots to full-lengths. Since posing is the second most challenging aspect of photography and with the added complications of a wedding—from the bride's personal style to her figure and gown—it can be very easy for a photographer to make a wrong turn. This perceptive reference provides the perfect place to turn when in need of quick posing strategies and fresh ideas.

Price: $34.95


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Objects in the Fashion, Jewellery & Accessories Collections

Jan Yager, Invasive Species Tiara

The Invasive Species Tiara forms part of Jan Yager’s City Flora/City Flotsam collection – jewellery that has emerged from a study of one city sidewalk in Philadelphia, PA, from 1990 to 2000.

More on Jan Yager, Invasive Species Tiara
King James II Spectacles

A fascinating late-eighteenth century letter accompanied these spectacles when they were acquired by the Museum, claiming the case had once belonged to King James II (1633-1701). It also tells us how three times it was presented as a gift to different people.

More on King James II Spectacles
Leda & The Hat Pin

The Sculpture Collection is pleased to welcome a new addition to its collection of contemporary art medals - a silver version of Leda and the Hat Pin by Linda Crook, 2003.

More on Leda & The Hat Pin
Men in Skirts

Today, very few men wear skirts. The idea of men in skirts blurs the visual distinctions between the sexes. It contradicts how men are expected to look and, more fundamentally, challenges ideal attributes of male behaviour.

More on Men in Skirts
Sampler

This embroidery, a confession by a young English woman, is unique in the Museum’s collection in its austerity and poignancy. We describe it as a sampler, which was usually a decorative schoolroom exercise in this period of the 19th century, but the laboriousness of Elizabeth Parker’s sampler reveals much more than just her skill in stitching.

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Thai Gold Choker & Matching Earrings

These outstanding examples of modern Thai goldwork were created by two senior master craftsmen and tutors at the Royal College of Goldsmiths in Bangkok.

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Leda & The Hat Pin

A New Acquisition for the V&A
The Sculpture collection is pleased to welcome a new addition to its collection of contemporary art medals - a silver version of Leda and the Hat Pin by Linda Crook, 2003. If you can, come and see the medal on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Room 64, Level 2.

More About Leda & The Hat Pin
Linda Crook has rethought the ancient Greek myth about the God Jupiter who changes himself into a swan and makes an unwelcome visit to Leda, wife of the King of Sparta.

The artist has written, ‘I wanted to make a set of three medals around three Greek myths, which I felt needed some reworking. I wanted to free the women in them from the role of “victim”. In Leda and the Hat Pin we see the concluding episode of the story, hitherto unpublished. The swan is unable to escape being made into a fancy hat – which Leda tidies up nicely with a hat pin'.

More About the Artist
Linda Crook is based in London and has exhibited extensively in Britain and abroad. She has work in the collections of the British Museum and The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, having recently completed a portrait medal of Richard Came, the Company’s Prime Warden.


Leda and the Hat Pin by Linda Crook, 2003, back view

Thoughts About Her Medals
‘Medals address the intimate space between the observer and the object, making it legitimate to involve the sense of touch. Just as one can walk round and around sculpture, so it is possible to turn the medal round and around in the hand. It is possible to encapsulate a world of myth or dream or poetry in one small object. I shall continue to produce medals because of the endless fascination and challenge to be found in their making’.
Linda Crook, 2003

‘Linda Crook is a figurative artist combining imagination with personal experience. She refers to a wide cultural vocabulary from Giotto to Brancusi. Her love of irony and the ambiguities of language follow a great English tradition.’
Professor Ronald Pennell, medallist, glass and gem engraver. 1997

For more information, please contact either Linda Crook at Linda@crook.fslife.co.uk or Wendy Fisher at w.fisher@vam.ac.uk. See also the website of the British Art Medal Society for more contemporary medals.

Leda & The Hat Pin

A New Acquisition for the V&A
The Sculpture collection is pleased to welcome a new addition to its collection of contemporary art medals - a silver version of Leda and the Hat Pin by Linda Crook, 2003. If you can, come and see the medal on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Room 64, Level 2.

More About Leda & The Hat Pin
Linda Crook has rethought the ancient Greek myth about the God Jupiter who changes himself into a swan and makes an unwelcome visit to Leda, wife of the King of Sparta.

The artist has written, ‘I wanted to make a set of three medals around three Greek myths, which I felt needed some reworking. I wanted to free the women in them from the role of “victim”. In Leda and the Hat Pin we see the concluding episode of the story, hitherto unpublished. The swan is unable to escape being made into a fancy hat – which Leda tidies up nicely with a hat pin'.

More About the Artist
Linda Crook is based in London and has exhibited extensively in Britain and abroad. She has work in the collections of the British Museum and The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, having recently completed a portrait medal of Richard Came, the Company’s Prime Warden.


Leda and the Hat Pin by Linda Crook, 2003, back view

Thoughts About Her Medals
‘Medals address the intimate space between the observer and the object, making it legitimate to involve the sense of touch. Just as one can walk round and around sculpture, so it is possible to turn the medal round and around in the hand. It is possible to encapsulate a world of myth or dream or poetry in one small object. I shall continue to produce medals because of the endless fascination and challenge to be found in their making’.
Linda Crook, 2003

‘Linda Crook is a figurative artist combining imagination with personal experience. She refers to a wide cultural vocabulary from Giotto to Brancusi. Her love of irony and the ambiguities of language follow a great English tradition.’
Professor Ronald Pennell, medallist, glass and gem engraver. 1997

For more information, please contact either Linda Crook at Linda@crook.fslife.co.uk or Wendy Fisher at w.fisher@vam.ac.uk. See also the website of the British Art Medal Society for more contemporary medals.

Men in Skirts

Today, very few men wear skirts. While it is permissible for women to wear trousers, if a man wears a skirt in public he risks ridicule. Associated as they are with women’s clothing, skirts have become potent symbols of femininity. The idea of men in skirts blurs the visual distinctions between the sexes. It contradicts how men are expected to look and, more fundamentally, challenges ideal attributes of male behaviour. A man in a skirt is not only perceived as looking feminine but being feminine.


In the West, men have not always worn trousers. It was with the evolution of tailoring from the 14th century that bifurcated garments gradually became associated with men’s dress and masculinity. Previously, both men and women wore draped or unshaped garments and tunics. As men’s tunics became shorter and tighter-fitting in the 15th century, fashionable men began to wear hose or stockings as outer leg wear. By the 16th century they had adopted breeches and by the early 19th century trousers. Long gowns and full-skirted coats, however, remained part of fashionable men’s wardrobes until the early 20th century.


Since the 1960s, several designers have attempted to re-introduce the skirt as an acceptable form of male attire. Frequently borrowing styles from other times and cultures, these designers have invented and re-invented the ‘skirt for men’. In some instances, counter-cultural groups, such as hippies, punks and new romantics, adopted their designs as a symbol of anarchy.

Skirts have also been worn by gay men as a sign of their alternative lifestyle. More recently, other men have begun to wear them as a fashion statement, often endorsed by pop, film and sporting personalities. In the mid-1990s, the footballer David Beckham was photographed in a Jean-Paul Gaultier version of a sarong.

With the exception of the Scottish kilt, men have been reluctant to wear skirted garments. Their adoption by the general male populace will ultimately depend on the re-evaluation of traditional gender conventions. But, through the work of contemporary designers, the idea of ‘men in skirts’ is constantly given new impetus.

King James II Spectacles

A fascinating late-18th-century letter accompanied these spectacles when they were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, claiming the case had once belonged to James II (1633-1701). It tells us how the object was passed as a gift from person to person, ending with the writer of the letter.


The letter explains that the case had been in the possession of James II's son, but it does not say how he got it. Catholic James II was on the throne of England for only three years before he was forced to abdicate in favour of Protestant William of Orange in 1688. His son, also called James, consequently lived from infancy in exile in Europe. Known as the Pretender, James tried to seize the English crown in 1715 but failed. He spent most of the rest of his life in Rome where he died in 1766.

One of his followers and part of his court in Rome, Colonel John Hay of Cromling, was married to a Mrs Margery Murray. According to the letter, the Pretender gave the case to her, 'with whom he lived upon the most intimate of terms', implying she was his mistress. For his loyalty the Pretender gave Colonel Hay the title of Earl of Inverness.


The letter tells us that after Colonel Hay’s death 'Mrs Murray, alias Mrs Hay, alias Lady Inverness' lived in Avignon in the south of France, where she was visited in 1756 by Viscountess Dow Primrose. Mrs Hay gave the case to the Viscountess, who in 1770 gave it to her 'Faithful and Dutyful Servant' William Walker, the writer of the letter.

The letter is written in an 18th-century style of handwriting, and the piece of paper has a watermark we can date between 1780 and 1809. William Walker takes the story of the case up to 1770, so he could have written the letter. However, it is more difficult to prove the contents of the letter, leaving us with the tantalising question, ‘were these really James II spectacles?'

Stylistically it is possible James II could have owned the case, but this style of spectacles, known as 'pince nez', is not known before the middle of the 18th century. Notably, William Walker only refers to the case, not the spectacles inside them. It is probable, therefore, that the spectacles were added to the case sometime after he wrote his letter, and were never worn by a king.

Jan Yager, Invasive Species Tiara

The Invasive Species Tiara at the Victoria and Albert Museum forms part of Jan Yager’s City Flora/City Flotsam collection – jewellery that has emerged from a study of one city sidewalk in Philadelphia, PA, from 1990 to 2000.

Between 1990 and 2000, American jeweller Jan Yager created a unique body of work which used the sidewalks around her studio in Pennsylvania as a starting-point for an investigation of contemporary urban surroundings. Yager began beachcombing – collecting the detritus of the street: pen tops, paper clips, buttons, cigarette butts, spent cartridge casings, and crack vials and syringes – objects that were 'undeniably identifiable to this time and place' (Jan Yager). The City Flotsam pieces she created from them draw on the device of the 'trouvaille', or found object, which has been a key constituent of 20th-century art and craft since André Breton.


Yet these intimate objects of adornment are also 'memory devices', linking one sidewalk to a whole area, and one city to the histories that1 have shaped the contemporary landscape. Yager’s jewellery includes self-conscious historical references to the politics of trade and imperialism, the indigenous population of North America and today’s contemporary social structures. An example is the American Ruff. It is shaped like the collars of wealthy Northern European merchants in the 16th and early 17th centuries, whose ships circulated between Europe, Africa and the New World transporting goods, colonists and slaves. In contrast, the two dimes mounted on the ruff were minted in Philadelphia. Together, these historical references play against the crack vials that represent trade and mercantile activity on the streets of Philadelphia today.


Jan Yager created the City Flora series partly as an antidote to her stressful urban investigations. These metalworked floral pieces are portraits of nature’s survival in the urban environment. The Invasive Species Tiara is based on different wild flowers that grow in an abandoned lot across the road from Yager’s studio. The presence of prickly lettuce, plantain, clover, grasses and chicory in the city, growing through cracks in the concrete sidewalk or in abandoned spaces that are returning to prairie, shows the resilient strength of the natural world. At the same time, however, the urban landscape leaves its mark on these plants – and Yager represents this through the tyre-tread patterns which mark some of the leaves. She describes this as 'a kind of modern geometry'.

fashion

Fashion Museum, Fashion Research Centre
Collections include photographs from the 19th century onwards, records of couture houses, knitting and dress-making patterns and the Sunday Times Fashion Archive. Situated in Bath, the Fashion Research Centre is an extension of the Fashion Museum housed nearby. The Centre provides study and research facilities for students and members of the public.


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The University of the Arts
The London College of Fashion library holds Clothing & Footwear Institute Archive and rare materials such as artworks and ephemera related to fashionReference access is allowed for non-London Institute students and researchers: visitors must phone in advance to make an appointment to use the library.

The Central St Martins library holds Fashion Files, covering designers and other specific areas of fashion at the Charing Cross Road site. Written permission is required before visiting.



More on The University of the Arts
Winchester School of Art, Library
It holds knitting and sewing patterns, the Design History Collection and the Textile Conservation Library (a collection of books, specialist journals and student dissertations).The Library is open to visitors, who must phone in advance to make an appointment.

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Leeds City Libraries, Art Library
The library holds the Sanderson Collection, a special collection of mainly 19th-century fashion plates.


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Publications Lectures Symposiums

This is the catalogue from the exhibition '6+. Antwerp Fashion in the Flemish Parliament'. It has been edited by Ludion and is available in Dutch and English, with contributions from Cathy Horyn, prof. dr. Barbara Vinken and Caroline Evans, among others.
ISBN 978-90-5544-659
www.momu.be


Catalogue Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp : Class of 2007
The 14 students of the final year fashion design made a catalogue together with Chris Gillis, Paul Boudens, Ronald Stoops and Sarah van Marcke.
The catalogue and dvd from the show can be ordered by Copyright Bookshop, Antwerp.
www.modenatie.com

Modebuch
Contemporary Fashion from Austria
Idiosyncratic, closely tied to the artistic avant-garde, incorporating a large dose of intellectual introspection coupled with meticulous craftsmanship – this is contemporary fashion made in Austria. With this book, Unit F büro für mode has aimed to give an impression of the complexity of Austrian fashion creation since the 80’s, and to document the national and international networks that develop in the fashion system. The book will be distributed throughout Europe beginning end of September.

ISBN-10: 3-9502225-0-2
ISBN-13: 978-3-9502225-0-0
www.unit-f.at/publications

A Magazine #5
After Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Haider Ackermann and Undercover's Jun Takahashi, the next curator is Martine Sitbon!
www.modenatie.com

_fabrics interseason protocol
Published by _fabrics interseason Wally Salner, Johannes Schweiger.
This reader on Viennese design label _fabrics interseason gives a comprehensive overview of past and current activities (collections, art, exhibitions, music) with a lot of images & text as well as with a cultural-theoretical discourse on socio-political phenomena in the context of art, design and fashion.
Distributed by Vice Versa from October 2006 on.
ISBN-10: 3-200-00753-2
ISBN-13: 978-3-200-00753-6
www.vice-versa-vertrieb.de

Mode in Nederland (Fashion in the Netherlands)
A history of fashion development in the Netherlands.
By José Teunissen. Published by Terra.
ISBN: 90-5897-468-5
www.terralannoo.nl

Bless Book
Celebrating 10 Years of Themelessness N°00-N°29
Published by Sternberg Press
www.sternberg-press.com
www.bless-service.de