What a Swell Party…!

Weddzilla.com. Remember that name because this innovative new website is sure to make your wedding planning a whole lot easier—along with bridalguide.com, of course!—and fun. Why? It’s the first online social wedding platform that combines the planning process with social networking and will enable you to plan, shop and connect with vendors nationwide. It’s a really neat concept and the brainchild of Aaron and Kristen Hall who, when she was engaged, wondered why there wasn’t one website that could help her connect with the type of vendors she was looking for.

Well, needless to say her question soon became an idea, then a work in progress and now a fantastic new site for busy brides like you. One of the site’s many features is a Wedding Guru Panel of industry pros who will offer advice and share experiences with you. I am very excited to be Weddzilla’s Wedding Etiquette Guru. And, in the coming months, look for our new blog section “Bride to Bride,” which will include content by Weddzilla bride bloggers. We’ll be sharing lots more interactive features such as bridalguide.com’s “Wedding Inspiration Boards,” which will also be found on Weddzilla.

To celebrate the launch of their site, the Weddzilla team threw a grand opening party on February 25, 2010, at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. I headed down on the train from NYC (good thing as we were hit with two feet of snow that day and all airports were shut down!) along with bridalguide.com’s General Manager, Jennifer Lazarus, and Managing Editor, Lori Francisco. Luckily in D.C. there wasn’t a flake of snow and nearly a thousand people turned out for this “Rock the Launch” party. Here, invited guests line up to register:

Note the eye-catching Bridal Guide covers, too!:

A variety of local wedding vendors displayed their goods, such as these delectable cakes from The Ritz-Carlton in Tyson’s Corner, VA:

And models showcased the latest fashions, courtesy of Blush Bridal Boutique in Gainesville,VA, as partiers listened to rockin’ music from Disc Jockeys on Call:

Guests also participated in a silent auction with all proceeds going to the Children’s National Medical Center (over $6,000 was raised):

During the event, The Weddzilla Guru Panel was introduced…

...including (from left) Steve Kemble, radio and TV personality, whose energy and enthusiasm is infectious (he’s also Top Cop for Us Weekly magazine’s Fashion Police); Lisa “Ceci Johnson, Invitation Guru, who is the Founder and Creative Director of Ceci New York and whose beautiful invitations have been featured in Bridal Guide; Cake Guru Ron Ben-Israel, who I’ve known forever and whose talent is obvious in the gorgeous cakes that have graced Bridal Guide’s pages as well as many other publications; Sharon Naylor, “How-to” Guru and longtime friend who’s not only written over 35 wedding planning books but is also a Bridal Guide contributor and Sue Fleming, Fitness Guru and creator of the Buff Fitness workout regimen and author of several books including Buff Brides, and that’s me on the far right.

It was a fantastic party and everyone (including my mom, sister Sally and brother-in-law Mark, who live in the DC area) had a blast:

Here’s my beautiful mom with Sue Fleming who actually interviewed her for some fitness tips. You can see the video on Sue’s Buff Fitness Facebook page.

Yes, my dear mom, the resident family fitness pro, is now an internet star: she wears a pedometer every day and walks 10,000 steps and eats all the right things (unlike her daughter who just inhaled a slice of pizza before attacking a buttercream-topped chocolate cupcake…sorry, mom {and Sue}!

Anyway, congrats to Aaron Hall, Weddzilla’s Founder and CEO:

...and the Weddzilla Team (that’s Aaron’s wife, Kristen, in the purple dress and Director of Marketing, Sara Morgan, in white, who coordinated all the details for us):