Monday, August 2, 2010

The Full Monte {Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta}



Be sure to check out our dear (and daring) friend Monte Durham featured in Sunday's Washington Post article.  We had such a fun morning hanging out with the Post reporter while Monte styled Abby Bonder, an Engaging Affairs bride!  Check it out!

Bubbly Bride Giveaway!!

As you can probably tell from this blog's name, the girls behind Bridal Bubbly are big fans of the celebratory cocktail. And now we have a whole new reason to raise our glasses! Bridal Bubbly is giving away free copies of The Bubbly Bride: Your Ultimate Wedding Cocktail Guide, a fun, informative book with dozens of recipes for signature cocktails perfect for any and every bridal situation.


The author Natalie Bovis-Nelsen is a professional mixologist, which means she knows her stuff, but she doesn't take for granted that others do. As a complete novice behind the bar, I especially appreciated her crash course in cocktails and the tools of the trade. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover Natalie runs The Liquid Muse, which Engaging Affairs has consulted before when attempting to create the perfect signature cocktail for a wedding.

From bachelorette party shots to low-calorie cocktails for the bride on a fitness regimen, this bartender's bible for the newlywed has more than 70 recipes. Five lucky Bridal Bubbly readers can see them all by winning a free copy of the book (just email weddings@engagingaffairs.com with The Bubbly Bride in the subject line to enter the contest), but we wanted to share one recipe with all our readers now.

And since it's about 90 degrees outside, my eye was naturally drawn to the Chill Pill (part of the Battling Bridezilla section of the book-- love it!):

Chill Pill (served in a champagne flute)
Lavender water (available at health food stores and online)
1 ounce lavender bud-infused vodka
1 ounce lavender-infused simple syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
Splash DRY Soda Co. lavender soda
1 spring lavender or edible flower

Mist the inside of a champagne flute with lavender water and set aside. Shake lavender bud-infused vodka, simple syrup, and lemon juice with ice. Strain into champagne flute and top with lavender soda. Give it a quick stir and present with a sprig of lavender to sooth the senses, or with an edible purple flower.

Cheers!
Alison

Don't Miss the Hampton Paper Giveaway!


Don't forget to enter to win $100 towards Hampton Paper wedding stationery! These are some of the freshest designs we've seen for wedding paper products and some lucky reader is going to have 100 cool ones to blow on it.  Send us an email with Hampton Paper Designs in the subject line and you'll be in the running. Good luck!