What we wouldn’t give for a tropical vacation…. Lying on the beach and swimming in the warm water seems like a dream. For many of you, it will soon be a reality as you plan for your honeymoon. If crystal blue water, white sandy beaches and tons of sunshine are on your must-have list we would highly recommend checking out Elite Island Resorts. We got lost in their site reviewing all the uhh-mazing destinations: Antigua,  Barbados and St. Lucia are just a few of the unique beachfront resorts.

Where are you going on your honeymoon? Hopefully somewhere simply delightful, we would love to hear where you are off to.

Based in the DC area, jerseymaids is a one-woman imaginative photo studio aiming to capture nostalgia in functional form.  With original Polaroid artwork and with photos from clients, jerseymaids creates heartfelt keepsakes and gifts for everyone involved in your wedding (even you!)

The detail, quick communication and great customer service make every experience with each individual wedding party easy.  Graduated discounts and free gift wrapping are just a few perks on wedding party orders – and with cuff links and pocket watches to lockets and earrings, you’re sure to find something perfect for your special day.

They really are a unique and special gift that everyone will love.

Thanks to Wedding Jojo, you can carefully organize all your wedding details and have a stylish wedding website. They really do have some of the  cutest wedding web sites around town: modern, unique, whimsical, all designed to offer you a great looking and hip alternative to a wedding website. Below is just a taste of a few of their super stylish designs that can be color customizable to go with your theme. Love that!

As we mentioned before, having a wedding website can really help reduce the stress that comes with planning a wedding. One feature that is a huge stress reducer is the ability to post all relevant travel and hotel information for your out of town guests.

Stop countless phone calls about where to stay and what to do while visiting. Freeing up your time to do more important things like get your nails done. See more of Wedding Jojo features by clicking here to learn how you can free up more time.

Hop on over to Wedding Jojo and share with us your favorite theme. Our is a toss up between Paper and Bliss. If you ready to start building your wedding web site click here. Yep … they do have a free option.

It’s always nice to show your guests your appreciation for celebrating your wedding with a thoughtful gesture. If you do not have the time to diy a 100 gifts, weddingfavors.org has a wide variety of affordable unique and personalized wedding favors. We picked out a few of our personal favorites that we know your guests would love.

Their Classic apothecary shape jar filled with sweets are way cute, evergreen window planter escort cards are perfect for a garden wedding, chalkboard frosted glass tea-lights would make super cute escort cards/favors. For the warm summer weddings greet guests with a silk fan. Who doesn’t need a a ladybug magnet?

On your next  wedding favors and bridal shower favors order, all Wedding Chicks readers will receive 20% off purchases over $69 when they use coupon code CHICKS20. The coupon is set to expire February 12, 2012.

The Green Kangaroo is a stationery boutique specializing in unique wedding invitations and other wedding stationery (think save-the-dates and wedding programs). Each of The Green Kangaroo’s  stationery is completely customizable to fit the personality and individual style of every bride. They sent us some sample invites and we snapped a few photos to showcase their unique wedding stationery.

Besides having some fancy stationery, The Green Kangaroo also has a helpful blog with some fun tips and tricks- like How To: Assemble Envelope Liners and helpful advice on exactly how to word your wedding stationery.

Wedding Window has a few Free Wedding Websites and some super cute premium sites like the above, swoon. This along with plenty of Free Planning tools to make the planning process way easier. 3 Lucky winners will win a smart package from Wedding Window a $99 value. All you have to do is visit Wedding Window and leave a comment below. Enter as many times as you like. Winners will be announced this Friday.

Wedding Window has also added Apps to their websites enabling you to add them virtually to any website page to enhance your wedding website. You can now include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Just another fun way to get your guests involved.

If you are newly engaged it’s definitely a”must have” to have a wedding-website. Update guests on everything and anything regarding your wedding. From sharing your love story, to activities and to-dos in the area for out of town guests, contact information all the way down to a song request list. It is such a great way to stay in touch with your guests and involve them in the wedding planning process. Just imagine any last minute change, leaving you to contact all of your guests, but if you have a wedding website they would be updated automatically. Easy peasy.

Visit Wedding Window to get your free wedding-website and start the wedding planning process.

Hope you are all ready to meet the real Claire Pettibone. We got up close and personal with bridal fashion guru Claire Pettibone and are so excited to share. Well known for her vintage inspired and bohemian style wedding gowns oozing with romance and femininity, Claire gets candid with us from personal style to her favorite music to the people she loves.

We are long time fans and admirers and are so humbled that Claire would get a little personal and fun with us. Thank you Claire.

WC: Is there something about you that may surprise our readers?
CP: I met my husband at a nightclub in Hollywood! 19 years later, shows you never know where love is going to grab you.

WC: How you would describe your personal style?
CP: Casual romantic

WC: If we were to meet for coffee, what would you wear?
CP: Jeans, lacey camisole, ruffled sweater-jacket

WC: Your favorite song at the moment is …
CP: anything by Florence + the Machine

WC: What inspires you to create?
CP: My lovely brides, vintage laces, wall paper, cake, rambling gardens, peonies, the sky, Gustav Klimt, Alma Tadema, John Singer Sargent, Paris, paint swatches, antique jewelry, Big Sur, my grandmother’s photo album, music, my beautiful daughter Lorelei, and my dream of a husband. That peaceful sense of spirit that radiates within all the beauty on this planet that is the mental state I tap into when I create a collection.

WC: When you have an idea or vision (as we refer to it) what do you do? ex: write it on paper, email yourself, text yourself?
CP: Combination of old-school pencil and paper, and then to clarify my thoughts, sometimes it’s a Word doc.

WC: How would you describe the bride who wears your gown?
CP: Intelligent, independent, feminine. All ages, all body types, but the common thread is wanting a gown that touches her soul and is utterly romantic.

WC: We feel that your works embodies the epitome of femininity, romance and softness … do you surround yourself with these elements in your studio?
CP: It’s a big ole mix of gorgeous swatches and pretty tidbits mixed with books, papers, and clutter!

WC: What advice would you give a bride who is searching for her gown?
CP: Bring no more than two friends/family members shopping with you at least until you’ve narrowed it down. If you are ready to choose your life partner, you should be able to choose a dress without a committee! Oh, and wear flesh colored underwear!

WC: Do you work alone or do you have a so-to-speak right hand man who knows you as well as you do?
CP: My husband Guy Toley is my partner in business as well as life. We started the business together 17 years ago, and he (thank goodness) handles all of the numbers and management sides to running a company.

WC: Coffee or tea?
CP: tea

WC: Chocolate or Vanilla?
CP: chocolate

WC: Salad or burger?
CP: Both! I’m leaning towards salads lately, but you gotta love a good burger every now and then!

WC: Flats or heels?
CP: It used to be heels, but I’m momma to a 4 year old, so she keeps me on my toes in flats!

We hope that you all loved our interview with Claire Pettibone. To see the Real Brides above wearing her gowns you can click here and here. Be sure to stay tuned for way more pretty.
Claire’s family photo by Elizabeth Messina.

We have such an incredibly special day planned for you. Starting off with a little peek at a lovely online magazine, Reverie. Reverie Magazine is a quarterly online & digital publication curated in London, England. Created by the creative duo, Mary Lee Herrigton of Forever & Ever Events and Kate Taylor of Coquette Paper & Press.

How pretty is the cover above? Captured by Elizabeth Messina in a Claire Pettibone creation. Below are a few photos from the Claire Pettibone‘s spread, to see more be sure to visit the Reverie and please stay tuned for more.

Reverie Magaine is a feast for the eyes featuring beautiful weddings, fashion and lifestyle design. Easily accessible, always inspiring and all at the click of a button. Take a peek below at a little snippet of the mag and hop over here to check out the full issue.

We absolutely love the “get the look” roundup at the end of every wedding feature. Like a shopping list – if you will – of how to recreate the look – making it a little easier for you to have the wedding of your dreams. The wedding we featured from Reverie Magazine was photographed by Elizabeth Messina.

Stay tuned, because as we mentioned before, we have quite a day lined up for you. We have a behind the scenes interview Claire Pettibone along with some breathtaking images captured by Elizabeth Messina. There is going to be some serious eye-candy going on over here so head on back.

It is time for you meet another one of our Hand-Picked vendors. This time we are heading over to Florida to meet Kallima Photography. They believe that wedding photography should tell the story of a wedding. One that your grandchildren should be able to look at and feel like they were there.  Kallima Photography  knows that each wedding is unique – and every bride and groom should be treated as such. As you might know we love some good customer service. To get to know these two a little more, head on over to their Hand-Picked page.

If you have not seen this wedding captured by  Kallima Photography you must take a peek at it. The bride had the best neon green dress we have ever seen. The wedding is pretty fabulous as well, check out the entire wedding here.

Lilia and Ray Ahner are Lilia Photography. Living and working in San Francisco and shooting fabulous weddings for creative and amazing couples with an independent sense of personal style. Their style is candid, real, and vivid. Blending fine art photography with wedding day photojournalism.

Lilia Photography specializes in capturing real authentic moments. Of course they love to travel, and are available for weddings and shoots worldwide. If you are having a Northern California wedding celebration be sure to take a peek at this creative duo. They would love to offer Wedding Chicks readers a 10% discount on any of our wedding packages. This offer expires on June 30, 2012. You must mention this offer in order to receive the discount.

For information about Lilia Photography be sure to check out their website. Hair and makeup by Jaclyn Jean Bridal.