And made by a Philly artist!
 PRINTS CHARMING: Wedding guest book, 16 inches by 20 inches, $84, and world map, eight by 10 inches, $39, both printed on 100 percent recycled wood from apple-orchard trees.
If there’s one thing Philly artist Ankita Kejariwal knows, it’s how to use color. And not in a Jackson Pollock throw-the-rainbow-on- a-canvas-and-see-what-sticks kind of way. Ankita, a former ad copywriter who studied at Moore College of Art & Design, incorporates just the right shades of peony pink and bright green into her art, including the totally customizable designs she creates for brides through her Etsy-based business, Textured Ink.
Her hand-sketched prints adorn everything from “wedding tree” guest books to customized-for-each-couple calendars to world maps signifying where a twosome met, fell in love or got married, all printed on recycled wood, paper or canvas. They’re bright and modern, with just a touch of nature-inspired whimsy. (“My first instinct is to draw trees and birds,” she says.) And custom art doesn’t mean months of waiting for the finished product: Ankita is hyper-aware of brides’ deadlines, can turn out your design in two to three weeks, and will even email clients print-it-yourself digital copies of her art if they’re the ones running late. From $20 to $200. —Nora Kelly
This article originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2013 issue of Philadelphia Wedding.
For more pictures of her work, click here.
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Jeff Salvage is a professor at Drexel University and a part-time professional photographer. His latest (and ongoing) project: photographing his wife Jennifer in her wedding dress over the past nearly five years of their marriage as they hop across the globe on various trips and vacations.
The story goes that it all started in 2008 at the couple’s wedding in Chile. Jeff wanted Jennifer to pose all over Easter Island, where their celebration was, so as to get a few different gorgeous shots of her in her wedding dress in this awesome location. Since then, Jeff has shot Jennifer wearing her strapless Maggie Sottero wedding dress everywhere from gazing over the Great Wall of China and at the Eiffel tower, to on a camel in Egypt, descending a staircase in the Vatican and diving in Jamaica (yep, she’s taken it underwater). There’s dog sledding in Iceland, there are waterfalls in New Zealand … well, you get the picture. (Ha!)
It’s a project they call One Woman, One Dress, One World, and they’ve chronicled it all on their blog (you can check out the gallery of images there, too). It’s really something. Sure beats those “trash the dress” sessions, if you ask me!
Do you have any plans for any crazy shots in your wedding dress, either on your Big Day or after?
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With pics.
 Hemera TripAdvisor.com—you know, the main site you scroll down and stare at for hours on end whenever you are planning your next vacay—recently put together their Traveller’s Choice awards for 2013, rounding up their readers’ picks for the most romantic hotels in the world. The world!
Here is the list at a glance—and then here it is in slideshow form, complete with pics and testimonials of couples who loved each spot. Greece takes the top honors, but we think you’ll agree that every single one of these places looks like it’s just dying to host you on your honeymoon. Let’s say it altogether now: We want to go to there.
Anyone thinking of ‘mooning at any of the places on this list? See anything on here that piques your interest?
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 Brand X Pictures This weekend felt a bit like the opening scene to Deniece William’s music video for “Let’s Hear It for the Boy.” (I think that statement may have shown my age a bit, and now you’re probably singing the lyrics as you read—sorry!) Eric and I spent this past weekend focusing on the boys, starting with tux shopping.
With a quickly expiring Men’s Warehouse coupon in our pocket, we headed out to the chain store and starting searching for what would outfit the men for our wedding. While there, I kind of felt like I shouldn’t have been, since Eric won’t see my digs until the Big Day—but I guess that’s the beauty of being a bride.
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Hemera Sean and I have yet to decide on our honeymoon destination and complete our gift registry. However, we are in the process of doing both—and are even considering combining the two to create a honeymoon gift registry.
While at a friend’s wedding this summer, we learned about online honeymoon registries. These friends had set up an account through HoneyFund.com where they could register for various honeymoon activities that guests could “purchase” for them. So, rather than giving cash, a guest might give an experience. For instance, say the couple wanted to take a sailboat ride to snorkel with some sea turtles. They would post this experience to their honeymoon registry and a guest could then buy that as their wedding gift. Gifts can range from a bottle of champagne to airline tickets, and anything in between. For higher ticket items, such as airfare or hotel stays, the items can be broken into smaller units, much like buying one place setting rather than all eight.
Sounds pretty cool, right?
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Just a hop, skip and a cab ride away from its more raucous neighbors, this part of Mexico offers a quiet 'moon filled with beach lounging, town exploring, nature watching—and all the guac you can eat.
 The Island Suite at the Rosewood Mayakoba Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico. All photos in this post courtesy of the resort. You might be surprised that a place so near Cancún—a town where, likely as not, you and 15 of your closet college buds once played quarters with shots of Jose Cuervo—would be where you’d choose to spend the first blissful days of your marriage. But there you have it: The Riviera Maya, nestled cozily between beach and jungle, just 45 minutes by shuttle from the Cancún airport, offers one of the most luxurious, peaceful and unforgettable escapes in all of Mexico—maybe all the Western Hemisphere. Spend your honeymoon at the gorgeous, nature-inspired Rosewood Mayakoba Resort, and the world outside—not to mention the last few months of your planning craze—just washes away.
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 The Hotel Monaco's Lafayette Ballroom. Last week we told you about Visit Philly‘s ‘With Love, XOX Philadelphia’ proposal contest (did you enter yet??) that the Hotel Monaco is a part of —and now, we’re going to fill you in on another proposal deal the new, modern hotel’s got going on. Except it’s not a contest you have to win—it’s a package available to anyone who wants to scoop it up.
And actually, it’s not just a proposal deal. The whole thing—they’re calling it “Diamond in the Sky”— not only takes care of pretty awesome engagement weekend—it also includes your Big Day celebration. It goes like this:
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 iStockphoto Lately, I’ve been envisioned our honeymoon as the light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, wedding planning has been amazing and fun, but a year-and-a-half long engagement has led me to a bit of a breaking point.
I asked Eric to take the lead on planning our honeymoon. He amazes me when it comes to planning trips; researching the best neighborhoods to visit, scheduling gorgeous hikes, and finding out where to invest our time, all while finding plenty of time to relax. Plus, it came down to picking out wedding invitations and table clothes so it seemed best to direct Eric’s interests elsewhere.
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 iStockphoto Baby, it’s cold outside.
And being the beach-lovers we are, Sean and I despise this cold weather. So all this bundling up has got us thinking about one thing: our honeymoon.
After some initial discussion of spending two weeks in Europe, we’ve shifted our focus south, to the Caribbean/Central America. While we know spending time exploring Europe would be amazing—and it will definitely be a place we visit in the next few years—we’ve decided that we need sun and sand to be the backdrop of this very special vacation, and who does that better than the islands?
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iStockphoto Pat and I have had the incredible fortune of getting to travel the world quite a bit. Through our study abroad program Semester at Sea, we traveled to 13 different countries on four different continents. It was the best experience of my life, and has very much shaped the person I am today. I loved exploring different terrain, climates, cultures, religions and governments. And for the most part, the more different they were from what I’m accustomed to, the more I enjoyed my time in that country.
Pat and I are hoping to take off as much time as we can/that our jobs will allow for our honeymoon, and why not use that time to go somewhere really unique across the globe and continue exploring? While we could likely take a weekend trip to Mexico in the future, a quick excursion to Bali will likely prove far more difficult.
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