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I had never thought about having a beach wedding until my fiance suggested it.  Being that our wedding is scheduled to take place several months from now,  it got me to thinking about the type of style I would want to wear as a beach bride. I thought about a short, white cotton dress that would not get wet as we said our vows with our feet in the water, but then I had this horrific vision of a strong breeze blowing my dress up in the air and exposing all of my unmentionables. My thoughts quickly moved on to a longer style that could flow in the nice ocean breaze without blowing up during the ceremony. The below result is what I put together with a little help from shopstyle. Before you click on the picture of the dress, let me forewarn you that it is very sheer; however,  I think I can pull it off with a slip dress underneath. Even if it isn't this dress, I am sure that I will be able to find somehting similar to it that isn't as sheer. Let me know what you think, or if you have had a beach wedding, let me know how it turned out.

More Giuseppe Zanotti...

A couple of years ago I was put in the position of helping organize a baby shower for a co-worker of mine. Although I had never thrown a baby shower before, my mind instantly went to the type of games we would play and the gifts that each winner would get. I first set out to come up with a theme because in addition to the game gifts, I wanted to create a special gift that everyone would go home with. I ended up using a theme called "Let Love Grow." It is not a new theme, but I had to figure out a way to incorporate the theme into the gift that I would be handing out to everyone that came to the shower. While pondering the idea, I remembered that I had seen on line where you could buy beans with messages on them. As the bean grew, the message would appear somewhere on the sprout. I began my hunt to find those "magic beans" at a cheap enough price so that I could pack at least 10 beans into each participants gift bag.

Keeping in mind the theme "Let Love Grow." I decided that I wanted to put together a package that included everything that they would need to start the process as quickly as possible. I didn't want to package dirt as the growth medium because that could end up being quite messy. So, I began to think about what would be something that would be clean, interesting, and easy to grow a bean in. I instantly thought of those crystals that turn soft and mushy when water is added to them. It used to be really popular back in the early 80's and 90's. Delivery florists would use it in their live plant creations. It came in all sorts of colors. I remember seeing it once when my mom received a floral delivery.

Now that I had decided on the bean and a growth medium, I needed to figure out a perfect container for the bean to grow. I thought that it would be cool to buy clear glass containers so that everyone could watch as their bean grew and blossomed into a beautiful sprout. It would be as though everyone growing a bean would get to take part in the miracle of life that was simultaneously occurring in our mother-to-be.

After all the ideas of what I would need came together, I set out to find a place on-line that had everything I would need under one roof and at a great price. After all, I would be putting together these gift bags for about 20 people, and I wanted to do it as economically as possible.

I ended up finding the magic beans and the water crystals at a website called Deal Extreme. They both were at a great price that fell within my budget. I found the glass containers at hobby lobby for 0.99 cent each.

I placed the bean packages and the water crystal packages into the containers with a simple personalized instruction card. I placed all of this inside a cellophane bag and secured it with a decorative baby blue ribbon. To make it easy to present, I placed this down inside of white and blue gift bags that could be easily and safely carried. The instruction card explained the procedure on how to prepare the magic bean for growth, and that we all would be taking part in the miracle of life by watching our magic bean grow and transform into a beautiful bean stalk over the next several weeks. I thought that it was a beautiful correlation in anticipation of our co-worker giving birth to her baby boy.

I must say this gift was talked about for weeks. Every day at work, someone would be giving an update as to the progress of how their "little bean" was doing. I think that everyone enjoyed this project and it all reminded us to stop and take notice of the miracle of life that happens around us everyday!

Below are some pictures to give you an idea of how it all came together.

1) Magic Beans

2) Water Crystals & Glass Container

I love Zum Bar products.  They smell so good.  Every time I try to buy them as gifts, I end up keeping them for myself.  These would make great baby shower favors or bridesmaid favors when wrapped in netting, tied with a pretty ribbon, and placed in small gift bags.

What's you favorite scent?  I love them all!