Business

Elegant Save The Date Basic Invite

December 29, 2018
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Free Wedding Websites – Our all-new elegant save the date magnets wedding websites are completely customizable just like our wedding invitations! These wedding websites are mobile friendly and super easy to use. You can instantly upload all of your wedding details along with images and a map with directions which is super convenient for your guests. Choose from 180 custom colors and even choose a design to match your wedding invitation suite!

Almost Unlimited Colors – Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers almost unlimited color options with instant previews online. Once you select a design you can change the color of each element on the card to over 180 different color options. So, you can make sure the card is exactly how you want it – down to the littlest detail. This is what we feel sets us apart from almost any other online stationery company and is what we feel is our biggest draw.

Custom Samples – Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers the ability to order a printed sample of their actual invitation so they can see exactly how it will print as well as the paper quality before they ever have to place their final order.

Over 40 Different Colors of Envelopes – Basic Invite is just as colorful with our envelopes as we are with our invitations. Customers can choose from over 40 different colors when it comes to their envelopes so that they can make their invitation stand out even before it is opened. All of our envelopes are peel and seal so the envelopes can be quickly and securely closed.

Over 900 Wedding Invitation Sets – Each of our wedding invitations is part of a set. You can find everything from save the dates to wedding invitations and enclosure cards, wedding menus, wedding programs and even matching thank you cards!

Free Address Collection Service – Use our free address collection service to request your addresses with just three simple steps. Share a link, collect addresses, and get free envelope printing.

Seal & Send Wedding Invitations – Our Seal & Send Wedding Invitations are an all-in-one wedding invitation with a tear-off RSVP postcard included! The Seal & Send lin is our newest collection and brides and LOVING them! Currently, we offer them in over 30 designs including our ever-popular foil options and like our other products are customizable. What’s extra special about our Seal & Sends is that guest’s addresses are printed on the front of each invitation which means no envelope necessary! All you have to do is share a link, collect guest addresses, and upload them onto your design, instantly. Once you receive your order all you have to do is add postage, fold your invites, and secure them with a sticker! Simple, easy, and super trendy.

Wedding Coasters – Choose from over 90 professionally designed looks. Each design can be personalized instantly to match your wedding colors. And there are no color limitations which means you are free to make as many changes as you would like at no additional cost. Each coaster is printed using the latest print technology and on a premium 200lb matte cardstock. Thanks to this technology your custom coasters wedding favors will have crisp, clean letters, photos, and graphics.

Food

The Best Way to Get to Know Berlin’s Foodie Scene

December 16, 2018

Over the last decade, the food scene in Berlin has changed drastically. The city has become an exciting destination for foodies from all around the world. From cozy eateries to Michelin-starred restaurants, a Berlin food tour – we suggest to have a look at the ones offered by companies like WithLocals – will cater to the diverse tastes of foodies.

The best way to get to know Berlin’s foodie scene is by savoring the most famous foods as you go about discovering the eventful past and exploring the monumental sights of this fascinating city.

Berliner Pfannkuchen

This traditional pastry is also called Berliner and is similar to the doughnut. It, however, doesn’t have a hole like a doughnut. It’s deep-fried then coated using icing sugar.

The Berliner may have chocolate or vanilla cream and is filled with jam. Both the old and young alike have a special liking for this delicious snack.

Pretzels

Known as ‘brezel’ or ‘breze’ in German, these treats are ubiquitous throughout Germany, and the city of Berlin is no exception. You’ll find this versatile treat being sold at many street food stalls, cafes, and bakeries lining the streets.

There are numerous ways to enjoy pretzels-you can have them with seed toppings, tender meat slices, decadent chocolate, or cheese. And what’s more, you can indulge in them at any time for they serve well as breakfast, light lunch, or even as snacks.

Currywurst

A tour in Germany wouldn’t be complete without tasting the famous bratwurst dish. Currywurst is a must-try. It’s one of the most famous bratwurst variety in the country and is made from seasoned pork sausage and curry powder with the addition of ketchup. The delight is eaten with fries.  

The Currywurst Museum in Berlin is an informative institution dedicated to this treat. Sausage fiends can visit the establishment after they’ve had a taste ofit.

Königsberger Klopse

This hearty and tender meatball dish is prepared using several ingredients including anchovies, ground veal, pork, beef, eggs, flour, and onions before cooking itin a broth.

It’s put in a cream sauce with capers and lemon juice and is usually served with potatoes. If you have a ravenous appetite, this delicacy will definitely fill you up.

Apfelstrudel

Do you enjoy cinnamon-flavored desserts, or do you have a sweet tooth? Then you’ll no doubt enjoy apfelstrudel. It’s a treat filled with apples and topped with cinnamon, raisins, breadcrumbs, and icing sugar. Apfelstrudel is served warm with aromatic vanilla sauce.

You can buy it from bakeries and cafes around the city, then have it as an afternoon snack or as a dessert.

Eisbein

These are pork knuckles and they are well-loved throughout Berlin. The meat is normally grilled or boiled and is served with potatoes, peas, and sauerkraut.

Kartoffelpuffer

Vegetarians will savor this dish. The kartoffelpuffer is a pancake that’s pan-fried. It’s made using flour, onions, eggs, and grated potatoes. This much-loved delicacy can be enjoyed as a savory or a sweet treat. It’s a savory delight when paired with meat or garlic sauce, or if you have sugar cravings, you can dip it in applesauce.

You’ll find kartoffelpuffer being sold in restaurants, cafes, and street food stalls all across the city. Visitors touring Berlin during the holiday season can buy kartoffelpufferat the Christmas markets.

Food

Food Photography Tips for Instagram

December 12, 2018

Instagram has quickly taken over as THE social media platform to be on, and it is easy to understand why. Tapping into the millennial’s penchant for photos and live updates, Instagram has grown from a mere photo sharing app to a colossal social giant. 

For the field of photography, this is a second lease of life where photographers can showcase their work and build their skills/reputation in a way that was unimaginable until recently. But the best thing about Instagram is that there’s no specific genre that you need to subscribe to. You can post photos/blogs on anything you’re passionate about and like minded people who are interested would congregate around the page. 

This is how food photography had burgeoned overnight in a big way. Everybody relishes food, and turns out they all love looking at delicious gourmet as well. To that end we’re lucky enough to have Paul the in-house photography expert from Canvas Factory here to give us some tips on food photography for Instagram.

1. Natural is the way to go

Very few people actually take into consideration that lighting plays as big a role in food photographs as it does on portraits. Indeed, for a beautiful image, you need the right lightning. So try to avoid indoor lighting when possible, as they tend to make your food look flat or give it an unappealing tone. 

Try and use natural lightning as much as possible. This means restaurants (though unavoidable for a food blogger) aren’t always the best venue for photos, but cafes can often work well. 

2. Apps are the perfect photo hacks

Filters have become ubiquitous with Instagram, and there’s a very good reason for it. While the photos on your iPhone won’t have great sharpness or white balance as one taken by a DSLR, you can still use various filters to make them look amazing. Just be careful with choosing the right filters because you don’t want your food to look pink or green. Use multiple apps like Snapseed to edit the brightness, temperature, horizon of the photo and then add in filters on top of it. Make sure you don’t overdo it because you want your blog to look authentic and not tacky.

3. Reflectors can be handy

While most people can’t take DSLR photos without a reflector, they seem quite content without one when it comes to food photography on their iPhone, which is ludicrous. Reflectors can be as cheap as a foam board, yet it’ll allow you to bounce off the light into the shadows of your frame, and sometimes even diffuse the light. These days they can be acquired at a very cheap price also, so don’t let that hold you back.

4. Everybody loves a story

Food photography isn’t just taking pictures of your afternoon lunch, or sumptuous but meaningless meal. Every photograph needs a story to captivate the audience, so try and construct a story behind it. Whether it’s the chaos of a birthday party, exotic food you’re tasting in a foreign locale or the everyday sweetness of your SO making you breakfast, try and tell a tale that resonates with your fans. 

5. Take your time

Even thought it’s just a picture of the food you’re going to eat, and you’re sort of worried of it becoming cold, it’s highly recommended to take your time with the shots. Set them up, and compose each shot; use ideas like rule of thirds or leading lines to serve as inspiration.

6. Shadows aren’t all bad

While natural lightning is amazing, don’t be wary of the shadows either. Shadows can be a significant asset, especially if you use the right app to edit the photos. In fact, with split lightning, your phone could actually meter off the light in the photo, making much easier to bring out the contrast in the pictures. 

              

Culture

Bridal Traditions From Around The World

December 4, 2018

Understanding wedding traditions from across the globe

Wherever you are in the world, marriage will be seen as a special occasion. From country to country though, cultures will have different ways of getting ready for and then actually celebrating two people getting married. Join going out dresses retailer QUIZ as they shine the spotlight on some of the weird yet wonderful wedding traditions from across the globe…

Wedding traditions in China

Wedding traditions will vary from region to region across China simply because of the size of the country. However, each has their own special meaning.

During every day of a month in the run-up to their wedding, Tujia bridges must cry for an hour per day. After the first ten days, the bride’s mother joins her in crying daily before being joined by her grandmother. As the other women join in, it’s seen as an expression of their joy.

Grooms in China’s Yugar culture will actually shoot their brides with a bow and arrow. Thankfully, the arrows are free from their arrowheads! After shooting their bride three times, the arrows are broken, showing that the couple will always love each other.

Then there is the ‘good luck woman’, who will assist the bride in doing her hair while she is getting ready on the day of her wedding. This woman is considered lucky if she has living parents, a spouse and children, and it is hoped she will pass on some of this good fortune to the bride.

The bride will then be collected from her home by the groom. Upon arriving at the bride’s home though, he will be greeted by the bride’s friends, who block his entry into the home (it’s all in good spirits). The groom is required to prove his love for his future wife through answering a series of questions about her or even by offering money in red envelopes to buy his way into the house.

A red dress, or Qi Pao, which is embroidered with gold and silver detailing is traditionally worn by brides across northern China. In southern China, brides wear a two-piece outfit — a Qun Gua, Kwa or Cheongsam — featuring a gold phoenix or dragon detailing.

Once the night of the wedding comes around, the bride is presented with a half-cooked dumpling. This is a signifier of family prosperity, as the word raw is linked to child birth.

Wedding traditions in Germany

There are so many wedding traditions to be aware of in Germany. Many of them start before the big day even begins too. For example, before a future bride-to-be is even engaged, she saves away pennies, which will then be used to purchase her wedding shoes. This tradition is said to help the happy couple get off on the right foot.

Couples in Germany don’t just send out their wedding invites in the post either. They send out a Hochzeitslader, a gentleman dressed in formal, fancy wear complete with ribbons and flowers, to hand-deliver their invitations. Guests accept the invitations by pinning a ribbon from the Hochzeitslader’s outfit onto his hat, before inviting him into their home for a drink. Depending on the guest list, this can take quite some time!

A civil ceremony must also be held by German couples at their town registry office. Then, in the days following, a church ceremony can be held, although this isn’t required. Generally, few guests will attend the civil ceremony and the bride and groom will dress relatively simply.

For German couples planning a church ceremony, a tradition is that a Polterabend is held a few days after the civil ceremony. Believing that negative spirits are attracted to brides, Polterabend takes place to scare them aware. On the night before the church ceremony, the bride and groom gather with their friends and family where they smash china and porcelain. The noise made is said to scare away the spirits, while illustrating that their marriage will never break. Glass is never broken, as this is believed to be bad luck.

Don’t be surprised to see German newlyweds sawing logs after a church service either. A log is set up on a sawhorses and the bride and groom must work together to saw through it, illustrating their teamwork. Instead of confetti, wedding guests throw grains of rice over the bride and groom, with legend being that each grain of rice that lands in the bride’s hair symbolises a future child!

Then there’s the reception. There, the bride’s veil is held up and the bride and groom dance underneath it. When the music stops, single women will tear pieces off the veil. The lady left with the biggest piece is said to be the next to marry. Alternatively, instead of ripping the veil, guests simply throw money into it while it is held up.

Wedding traditions in India

Depending on the region where the ceremony takes place, Indian weddings will differ. As a result, bridal traditions are different too. It’s not uncommon for Indian weddings to take place over several days — different to the couple’s one special day in other countries.

A Mehendi ceremony will be undertaken by the bride in the days leading up to the wedding. This is where family and friends gather to apply the beautifully intricate henna. Tradition says that the deepness of the colour of the henna determines the bond between husband and wife and how well the bride will get along with her mother-in-law. Hidden within the henna are the names of the happy couple and it’s often painted on the palms, hands, forearms and legs.

How about the bride’s outfit? Well, this will again depend on where the bride was born. In some regions, the women will wear a saree (long drape) for her wedding and in others she wears a lehenga (a long skirt). It’s common for the bride to be dressed in red or another bright colour and her clothing is stitched with an outstanding design.

Walking around the fire is a key element of Indian weddings. The marriage becomes official when the bride and groom walk around the fire four times as verses are chanted, and the couple is tied together. The husband and wife then race back to their seats, as the one who sits first is said to be the most dominant.

Wedding traditions in Spain

Traditional Spanish weddings are quite different to those held in the UK too. For example, they don’t include bridesmaids, groomsmen, a maid of honour or best man, and the mother of the groom walks her son down the aisle. Likewise, there are no speeches and wedding rings are worn on the ring finger of the right hand.

Black lace was traditionally used to make both the wedding dress and veil. However, modern times have seen more brides wearing a white lace dress and mantilla, a type of lace headdress. The mantilla is traditionally given by the mother of the bride, who will have it embroidered especially. The mantilla is worn with a peineta — a high comb.

It’s also tradition that a Spanish wedding will get underway in the early evening and then continue into the early hours of the next day. Often, the groom will present his bride with 13 gold coins, each blessed by a priest. This act is said to bring the couple good fortune and symbolise the groom’s commitment to support his bride.

Flowers are a key element to traditional Spanish weddings. In fact, many ceremonies see the orange blossom chosen to symbolise purity. The bride will give a small flower corsage to her girlfriends. If a lady is single, she must wear her corsage upside down and if she loses it during the night, it’s believed that she will be next to be married!

Sources

https://www.thelocal.de/20160613/10-things-you-need-to-know-before-attending-a-german-wedding

https://pairedlife.com/relationships/German-Wedding-Customs

https://www.donquijote.org/spanish-culture/traditions/spanish-weddings/

https://www.countryhouseweddings.co.uk/2017/06/spanish-wedding-traditions/

http://www.chinabridal.com/etiquette/guide.htm

Technology

Email Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

October 22, 2018

By virtue of having a limited budget in a very competitive landscape, small companies do not have access to a plethora of marketing strategies. This is why email marketing is very crucial for such local businesses. It gives them the opportunity to establish long-term success and to reach a great many people with a limited budget.

The following describes some important email marketing tips to improve your business metrics:

Promotions

Fair promotions are always likely to get some traction from the customers. Timely promotions will have a positive influence on sales and create more site traffic. Research has shown that people are interested in hearing about discounts and promotions offered by local businesses and 64% of them prefer to receive such offers via email. Promotions have a high success rate of kick-starting sales growth. For instance, a restaurant could email its subscribers special offers like coupons or lunch discounts.

Easy Subscription

Your customers should not struggle to subscribe to your newsletter. A difficult subscription process will put off many potential customers which will eventually hurt the business’s sales. The sign-up process can be made easier through:

  • Minimizing the fields on sign-up boxes to make the registration process easier
  • Including the social share buttons in your emails. This will allow subscribers to share the email content with other people and thus increase your subscribers, as well as, create brand awareness
  • Add CTAs (Call To Action) on your blog posts and on your social media pages

Let People Have Information Beforehand on What to Expect

Be transparent and forthcoming with your content. This helps prevent your emails from being viewed as spam or just irrelevant. People should be aware of the content to expect before they subscribe. The newsletter subscription form should clearly detail what the subscriber can expect to receive by signing up. This will not only protect you from legal repercussions but also lessen the likelihood of your audience unsubscribing.

Audience Segmentation

 

Ensure your email campaigns targets a specific customer base. Your marketing strategy must consider the different needs of the customers. Get to understand your target audience. This will help you to create smaller sub-groups with offers and content designed specifically to match their unique needs and wants. Segmentation can be done through a number of ways including personalization, geo-targeting, and demographics.

Approximately 760% revenue boost is expected from segmented campaigns. It is hugely profitable. Elements like visuals, subject line, CTA, and offers can be extremely helpful in establishing audience segmentation.

A/B Testing

As a business, it’s vital to know what your customers want. In the same way, it’s important to know which strategies are working and which ones are not. This is where the A/B testing method comes in. An effective A/B testing will require knowing exactly what to test. Things to test include the subject line, call to action, personalization, testimonials to include, and body text.

Testing will help you gather valuable information on your customers, which will be very important in decision-making. A/B testing will also improve user engagement, boost conversion rates, and improve the content. Data analysis will be needed afterward to measure certain metrics like conversion rates, unsubscribe rates, CTR rates, and open rates. The results will tell you what you are doing right or wrong.