What happens when you wake up on Monday morning, check your inbox and find a lovely note from wedding book author Sharon Naylor? You do a little dance, that’s what you do.

Sharon, who is currently working on her 40th book (titles include 1001 Ways to Save Money … And Still Have a Dazzling Wedding, The Bride’s Survival Guide and The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner), wrote a lovely blog post about Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding that Fits Your Budget and Style.  Thanks so much Sharon! You are one talented and generous lady.

Sharon’s website is a fabulous resource for anyone planning a wedding. Not only does it highlight all of the wonderful books she has written, the blog offers heaps of great ideas and tips for planning a wedding. Check it out.

You’ve got one day left to enter the Wedding Favor Cupcake Giveaway.

If you’d like a chance to win a $100 gift certificate towards Gourmet Gift Company’s custom label cupcake mix wedding/shower favors, simply go here and leave your answer to the following question in the comment section beneath this post:

What was the wedding favor that you received at the last wedding you attended? What made it a good (or not-so-good) wedding favor?

Deadline is 11:59 PM Eastern Time April 20, 2009. The winner will be chosen by the random number generator and posted April 22. The winner will be contacted by email. Contest is open to residents of the U.S and Canada only.

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I had to share this because I thought it was such a neat idea.

You can turn your own handwriting into a font just like I did! For free! Go to YourFonts.com and print out the PDF. Simply fill in the letters of the alphabet, scan, upload, install and voila! I would love to do this to my architect sister-in-law’s handwriting, or my mother’s lovely handwriting.

Just make sure you take your time and stay within the lines when you create your alphabet.

*At the time of writing this, the font was free. But as one of my readers pointed out, now they are charging $9.95. Bummer.

(Discovered via Tizzalicious)

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Do you think there are few things better in life than curling up with a good book?  Why not have a book themed bridal shower?

Wedding Style Guide  has some free wedding printables for a book-themed shower, including bookmark invitations. Or you could use the library slip invitation idea from this library-themed wedding. You could have a ‘cupcake cafe’ and serve gourmet coffee and cupcakes.  Yum.

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What’s not to love about a wedding map, a custom save-the-date and a forever keepsake all wrapped up into one original piece of artwork?

Cartoonist Jim Hunt creates these custom save-the-date cartoon wedding maps on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock.

You send him a sketch mapping out as best you can the positions of all the elements you are looking to highlight. Something like this: (It doesn’t even have to be this detailed.)

Jim creates a sketch.

And here is the final piece.

Fun and fabulous!  The price for this map was $385, but Jim points out that prices for maps vary depending on how much detail is involved.  Want more info? Check out Jim’s website form more custom hand drawn maps.

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