Shopping and Product Reviews

Sabtu, 24 November 2012

Top 10 Indian Wedding Decor Trends

Diagram the décor much in advance keeping in mind the weather, theme, colours and current trends to ensure that it is perfect. While richness does not always mean opulence, the key to a perfect décor can lie in innovation. Explore all options before making the final choice.

The wedding décor must explore the colourful, vast, vibrant and rich culture of boundaries of Indian weddings. It is the one aspect that can make or break the look and feel of that special evening. It is ideal to know what's exactly trending before deciding. But before setting out on this journey, just clear your mind of all fixed ideas. This doesn't mean that you can't set preferences and expectations, but the way forward is to not be rigid.

1. Flower Power

Flowers continue to be the popular choice this season. They genuinely spread cheery vibes all around. While roses are classics, tulips are refreshing, and lilacs breathe elegance. Flowers must be used in tandem with other aspects like the stage décor, theme of the wedding. Different types of flowers including artificial ones can be combined beautifully using ribbons and then be strategically placed. Ask the florist for a mock setup!

2. Lighten Up

Candles and lanterns add the much-needed softness to an otherwise grand affair. It not only lights up the place, but also looks beautiful. Special arrangements are created to fill up empty places.

3. Fab Fabrics

Multi-coloured and different fabrics draped together create a dramatic effect. Just be sure of not using cheap quality fabric that might rip apart damaging the look.

4. Match-much!

The decor of core areas like entrance, stage, seating, photo-opt, lounge areas and the linens is colour-coordinated. This is upped a notch when the bridegroom's outfit matches the colours of the locale.

5. Tent It

Shabby shamianas are history! Tented weddings do not mean cutting down the cost or capacity anymore but widening the chances of customization. Depending on the weather, choose to have a transparent or covered roof, and then the choice of fabrics, crystals and flowers.

6. Stylish Seating

Make sure there is ample seating for your guests, and it is stylish! Be sure to dress up the banquet chairs with nice linen, which is not torn or damaged. Pretty it up with coloured sash, ribbons, flowers or crystals. It can be made more interesting by adding tassels and brooches is a good idea!

7. Colour It

Pastel and soft colours are really in! Using different shades of one colour look very nice. From invitation cards, floral balls to fabrics being used, ensuring that the colour is the same for all can perfect the Indian wedding decor like nothing else.

8. The Central Point

With proper seating plans, centrepieces catch all the attention. Regular floral or crystal ones are the usual choices; but edible options like a fancy chocolate candles or fresh fruits look great too! Innovation genuinely begins where convention ends!

9. Food Layout

Laying out the food, and displaying it well is an art. Make sure that the display of food, ingredients and chef's techniques is superbly creative so it engages the guest more.

10. Sweet Nothings

Vanity vans for guests to refresh or touch-up before entering the venue is really helpful. A grand welcome with sweets, fresh petal shower and other such gestures add the finishing touch to the otherwise perfect setup.

The author of this article is associated with BollywoodShaadis.com, a one stop destination for online wedding planning tips in India.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meenu_Bahuguna

Kamis, 22 November 2012

Christmas Holidays Made Easy: Helpful Tips and Strategies

We have all watched the many comical holiday movies that depict their characters rushing around during the holidays to get everything done last minute in a mad and sometimes unsuccessful fury. The Christmas holidays do not have to be a maddening and frantic endeavour filled with stress and fatigue. There are some very easy ways to have yourself a very Merry and relaxing Christmas with just a little planning and organization.

The first step is to set up a budget for gifts, food and decorations and stick to it. Base your budget on what you can afford to spend and avoid racking up those credit cards. After all financial stress can really put a damper on your holiday spirit. If you want to buy that special someone or the family a big ticket item then set up a savings account and save up throughout the year to purchase it outright. There's truly no better feeling than knowing that you can actually afford a wonderful gift for those you care about.

It's a good Idea to make a list of friends and family to buy for and make gift idea notes to help guide you when shopping. Shop as early as possible and avoid waiting until the last two weeks before Christmas for main gift purchases. There's bound to be some small shopping trips for last minute stocking stuffers and food purchases but having the main shopping done before the malls get busy can really lower your stress. The best times to shop are early in the morning or later in the evening and its best to avoid shopping on weekends during December as the malls will be packed and hectic. For those hard to buy for people start looking for gifts throughout the year and research online for helpful gift ideas. Shopping online for gifts if possible, is a great way to reduce holiday shopping stress and get substantial discounts. You can browse for gift ideas in online flyers and you will find that most online products are usually more likely to be in stock. Most online retailers have free shipping if you spend over a certain amount and will deliver right to your door which is very convenient.

Make a list of all the holiday food you will need and purchase it in late November early December so you are organized and do not have to keep running out for forgotten items at the last minute. Buying the ingredients and freezing holiday baking early in December ready for the holidays is the best way to prepare all those family favorite goodies. There are many breakfast recipes online that can be prepared on Christmas Eve, refrigerated and cooked in the oven while opening gifts on Christmas morning. I recommend the breakfast surprise recipes with eggs, bacon, breadcrumbs and cheese as they are easy to make and will be ready in about 1 hour just as everyone is getting hungry after opening gifts.

Wrapping a few gifts a night during the two weeks before Christmas is much easier and less stressful than trying to wrap them all on Christmas Eve. If you decorate do a little bit each day for a week rather than trying to do it all in one day. Put up your Christmas lights early on a dry day even if you don't have them turned on until closer to Christmas. Then you won't have to try and fit it in during the busy holiday season or have to put them up last minute in the cold, rain, or snow. Think about banking time or booking holidays off of work if it's an option for you earlier in October or November so you can ensure you get the time off preferably with pay. Clean your home thoroughly and tidy/ organize things a week or two before Christmas.

Our families special secret weapon for saving a lot of money and being prepared for Christmas well in advance is to purchase Christmas cards, lights and decorations after Christmas at up to 75% off to use for next Christmas and years to come. If you follow these guidelines your holiday season should be substantially less stressful and much more relaxing and family oriented, after all family and friends are what Christmas is all about.

This article was written by Don Farley the administrator of http://www.Pilotplanet.com which is an online aviation apparel store dedicated to creating and selling top quality products for reasonable prices. At Pilotplanet.com you will find superbly designed aviation calendars, cards, mouse pads, mugs, t-shirts, baby clothing, posters, and Pilotplanet.com merchandise. All purchases at Pilotplanet.com come with a 30 day money back guarantee so you can shop with confidence.

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Will Traditional Shopping Die Because of Online Shopping?

The popularity of online shopping has been seen by many as a threat to the existence of traditional shopping. Their argument is based on the recent widespread closure of established brands like Sears and Best Buy. But can we really say that traditional shopping is dying?

In 2011, even though the U.S economy was sluggish, shopping grew by 15% over the previous year. In addition, about 35% of Americans now have smartphones which enable them to purchase goods and services over the internet and this figure is expected to rise significantly in subsequent years. In actual fact, about half of smartphone users have used their phones for one purchase or the other. On Christmas day of 2011 alone, about 6.8 million iOs and Android smartphones were activated. Top internet retailer, Amazon, recorded a whooping net sale of $48.08 billion in 2011 which represents 40.6% increase over $32.20 billion recorded in 2010. This figure is expected to rise in 2012 and subsequent years. What then is the implication of all these to physical retailing?

Since many people now decide to shop over the internet due to the benefits derivable in doing so like convenience, easy access to market, price comparison, avoidance of crowd, better prices and so on, can we really say that that the traditional way of shopping is being threatened? In my own opinion, technology will enhance the traditional method and not kill it. The popularity of video cassette recorder (VCR) in the 80's was seen by many as a threat to movie theaters then, but today, the film industry has been strengthened by the new technology and the demand for films has increased.

Moreover, when the email became very popular, a lot people thought that the traditional postal service would die, but today, it is waxing stronger. The point I'm driving at here is that, if traditional shop owners can embrace new technology, shopping on the internet would not be a threat to them but a blessing.

If physical retailers can monitor shopping behavior through the use of Wi-Fi signals from smartphones, they would be able to compete favorably in a fast-changing world. They can use technology to measure loyalty, make better staffing decisions, improve store layouts, reduce wait times in checkout lines and so on. Online shopping has come to stay but it is not a threat to traditional shopping because many consumers still value some of its features like quality of customer service, the experience of trying and buying products, how products are displayed and so on.

Olushola Otenaike is an online shopping expert.