Here’s another good idea, while you’re at it: The guys at GroomGroove.com suggest setting up a wedding registry on an otherwise uneventful weeknight. Turn off the TV, and make creating a charitable wedding registry a cool date. Says Golden: “It’s an opportunity to learn about the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. One recent groom chose Teach for America as his charitable organization, whereas his bride chose a charity that benefits artists.” You may be surprised to find out what charitable causes interest your fiancée.

I Do Foundation

Use this simple, free system to enable your guests to make secure online donations in support of the organization of your choice.  as their wedding gift to you.  You select the nonprofit organizations of your choice from their list of Recommended Partners, which includes Children, Youth, and Family, Community Development, Education, Environment, Health, and Social Justice.

Changing the Present

At Changing the Present, you can choose from over 1,500 donation gift opportunities, each at different princes, from adopting a tiger ($40) to sponsoring a year of schooling for one girl ($250) to clearing landmines ($50).

In addition to a charitable registry, you can order charitable wedding favors, which are small cards placed on your guests’ tables, saying that a donation was made in their honor. These favors include things like sandwiches at a drop-in center, materials for a struggling artist, assistance for deaf families, and more.

Wedding Channel

With a Wedding Channel registry, you can have your cake and eat it too. They will make a donation to your charity of choice every time someone uses WeddingChannel.com to purchase you a gift from one of your registries (in partnership with the I Do Foundation).

Charity Choice

Use their online wizard to create your own personalized webpage, customize with your favorite charities, buy bridal shower and party favors as a special honor for your guests, or give an elegant customized certificate as a charitable presentation to your wedding party.

Heifer Gift Registry

Help end hunger and poverty with gifts of livestock and training. With a Heifer Gift Registry, your gift will help families around the world become self-reliant and be able to provide for themselves, their families and their community.  You can choose from goats, water buffalo, chickens, llamas, camels, and much more. In exchange for their livestock and training, families agree to give one of its animal’s offspring to another family in need, so that this becomes the gift that keeps on giving.

The Valentine’s Day tradition started in the early 1700s, and for centuries it was celebrated with an exchange of handwritten notes and handmade tokens of affection.  (You can thank the Victorians for today’s Valentine’s Day style—they liked their paper goodies dolled up with lavish images of lovebirds, cupids, and flowers!)   When printing technology began to improve, mass-produced cards become the norm. But if your local drugstore’s offerings fall short of your grand expectations, you can opt to create handmade Valentine’s Day gifts and greetings that are truly authentic, and won’t fail in the romance department either.

Wikipedia says that lovers have traditionally expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines“).  So whether you chose something edible, grow-able, or save-able, your loved one will sure to delight in the sweetness of your hand-made tokens of love.  Below, Brides.com asked eight of their favorite designers to share their best ideas for homemade valentines.

DIY Moleskine “Top 10″ Photo Album

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Turn an ordinary blank sketchbook into a romantic photo keepsake.

• Read our directions

Fondant “I Heart U” Pops

Pastry chef Melody Brandon shows us how to transform ordinary donut holes into a special treat.

• Get the instructions

Sweets for My Sweet!

Baker Naomi Henderson shares a simple tutorial on decorating with fondant to create cute cupcakes.

• Read it here

Matchbook Scrapbook

The design mavens behind Nice Package explain how to make a custom scrapbook for Valentine’s Day.

• See how here

“Love Grows” Bulb Garden

Studio Choo presents a stylish Valentine’s Day centerpiece that you can easily make at home.

• Learn how to create them here

Simple Mason Jar Arrangement

Event designer Megan Fickling demonstrates how to turn supermarket staples into clever centerpieces.

• Read the instructions

Paper Punch Valentine

Stationery designer Sally Shim gives the how-to’s for an easy DIY valentine.

• Get the directions

Candy Matchboxes

Stationery designer Brooke Reynolds shows us how to turn matchboxes into sweet candy containers.

• Read the how-tos here

Do you have a favorite homemade Valentine idea? Please share it with us!!

Big bags, little bags, travel bags and make-up bags, beach bags, hand bags, totes, clutches…  striped, solids, polka-dot, even reversible! At American Bridal you have no less than 181 bag choices for your beautiful bridesmaids, and all of them can be monogrammed and personalized! With so many to choose from, finding a bag that reflects the lifestyle and personality of your girlfriends is a cinch!

Destination wedding? How about a personalized carry-on or duffel bag!

Beach wedding? That’s easy… a beach bag, of course!

Black tie affair? Your bridesmaid will need a stylish evening bag. These gorgeous little things are perfectly lovely, and you can order something to match her bridesmaid dress!

For the gal who loves the outdoors (but must bring food along!), consider a cooler tote, wine & cheese bag, or picnic basket!

A pretty cosmetics bags always come in handy…

Internet addict? Now she’ll never leaves home without her laptop!

Is your bridesmaid a diva? Maybe she’d like a lingerie bag, spa kit, or silk jewelry roll!

And, of course, you can’t go wrong with a carry-all tote bag. They come in all shapes, sizes, and styles! (Reversible ones too, so you get double bang for your buck!)

Last but not least, there’s even a ladylike little tool bag for your fix-it-up, do-it-yourself kinda gal!

Visit American Bridal for even more fun, fabulous bags for your bridesmaids!!

Looking for Groomsmen gifts, too? Great gifts for the Great Groomsmen!

In particular, I’ve been loving these wooden items that you can paint yourself. Mirrors, picture frames, door plaques, wall hangings, keepsake boxes, bowls, trays, mezuzahs, and more! Check out your local crafts store to see what other kind of fun things you can make yourself.

Here are some things I’ve recently made for friends…

Another fun idea is a door plaque. This one says simply, “Welcome,” but you can also put the couples names, such as “Bill & Laura” or “The Smith’s”…

For your Jewish friends, a hand-painted mezuzah is a nice gift! (I actually used a wedding invitation I found online for the design inspiration… I am sorry but I don’t know where the original picture came from… But isn’t that a great idea for a friend who’s getting married… using their wedding invitation as the inspiration?!)

For a gift with extra feeling, add a personal message or favorite quote. I love these personalized frames from Etsy:

What will you need to get started?

• unfinished, wooden piece you want to work on
• acrylic paint
• paintbrushes (thick one for the base color and a slender one for details)
• varnish
• rhinestones, beads, sequins, ribbons, for extra bling!

Have a great time! The bride and groom are sure to love it!

Just as the willingness of a once-small number of consumers to seek out (and occasionally pay a premium for) organic produce is now changing the face of food production and consumption, we believe that we – and more importantly, you – can drive meaningful change in the world’s product-consumption habits, purchase by purchase.

Factors that make a product “sustainable” are assessed as follows:

1. The materials used must be environmentally responsible (recycled and/or recyclable, organic, biodegradable, non-toxic).

2. The manufacturing process must be ecologically sound (efficient use of energy, materials and other resources, such as using a renewable energy source).

3. The labor employed must be treated fairly and provided safe, healthy conditions in which to work. (Must come from fairly-traded sources or low-impact sources such as FSC-certified forests).

Check out some of the beautiful, environmentally responsible objects available at Branch, including furniture, such as this chair made of 100% recycled plastic, and room divider hand-made from FSC-certified wood and cotton rope:

Looking for some pretty objects to liven up your decor? Try these Bubble Pitcher + Cups
made from recycled glass stock, processed using wind power. Or treat your feet to the Seat Slice: Pink rug, handmade from 100% virgin wool felt.

For your kitchen, I love these 100% organically-grown bamboo bowls and serving pieces!

If you are having an event that requires disposable paper goods, try these biodegradable options:

Want some decorative pillows? Here are a few pretty options, made from hand-stitched linen and cotton or 100% reclaimed ultra-suede:

Dress up your bed in a 320 thread count, organically grown, cotton duvet, printed with non-toxic water-based dyes.

What wedding registry would be complete without a few sets of towels? At Branch, you get to wrap yourself in 100% sustainably harvested beech wood fibers! 9 pretty colors to choose from!

Start growing your own plants, spices, and veges! Get started with Branch’s “Egg plants” and “Garden in a Bag” options, including basil, oregano, chives, sage, red pepper, lavender, mint, dill, strawberry, parsley, English Thyme, and cilantro.

Some of the items pictured are pricey, but there is a page for Gifts under $30 and Gifts under $100. Happy Shopping!

Claudaniel, 30, and Melody, 28, had pledged to be abstinent before marriage — but went a little further by agreeing not to kiss each other on the lips before their union was official.

Why so strict? They didn’t even want to get close to temptation, instead waiting until the minister said the magic words: “NOW, you may kiss the bride.”

Both Claudaniel and Melody Fabien are abstinence educators — Claudaniel for the nonprofit Confederation of Spanish American Families. Melody is director of the “What’s Good” program for the LYDIA Home Association, a Christian service agency. Both teach abstinence programs within the Chicago Public Schools.

High fives all around! Good for them, for both their commitment and following through. No wonder the crowd at Maranatha World Revival Ministries “whooped and hollered” when the couple had their first kiss.

It makes a lot of sense, as Vasti Cruz, another LYDIA educator, points out: “A lot of people, at 20, are starting . . . life with regrets.”  Abstinence “keeps you focused on your future,” said Cruz, who is 71 days away from her own wedding.

“It feels like such a gift,” said the bride, Melody. “When you value a kiss, it becomes something of worth.”

Reported by the Chicago Sun Times.

But there are lots and lots of other options out there. Like goats. Did you ever think of registering for goats? Unless you plan on moving to a farm or really want to make your own goat cheese, chances are you haven’t thought about it. But one amazing couple, as reported by A Practical Wedding, wanted to do good with their registry.  Instead of using the opportunity to just build their own home, they chose to help other people strengthen their homes as well. (No need to give up your own wedding gifts, this is IN ADDITION TO the traditional household registry items!)

Aimee and Mihn called it The Goat Project. Aimee saw the effects of this program personally while in Uganda. It is run by TPO Uganda (a local Ugandan NGO that provides psychosocial support and mental health care to communities, families and individuals in conflict and post conflict settings), and administered in the U.S. by the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development.  In their own words, here’s how the program works:

Children with special needs in refugee camps and rural villages throughout east Africa often are hidden from society, ignored or abused and considered cursed. An announcement is made in the villages that a goat will be given by TPO to any special needs child, which provides visibility to the families so that proper care and support may be given. Families are taught the actual potential and limitations of their children, and often realize they are not alone, as other families with special needs children also become visible. Community is engaged in dialogue and learning, and attitudes slowly transform. The goats provide nutritious and necessary milk and, after bred, food for families in dire straits. Finally, the child, who now owns a goat, has status within the family and community, and a small charge to care for and love. The ripple effects have been astonishing. All for a $45 goat!

Did anyone purchase a goat for Aimee and Mihn? Oh yes! And what did the guests have to say? Although some were  skeptical at first, in the end they LOVED it!

We received goats all right, plus a ton of animated phone calls and giddy emails from our loved ones, telling us how excited they were about their gift to us. Even at our reception, right on the dance floor, we had friends and family eagerly sharing their goat gifts with glee! How happy is that?! We also could have never anticipated the extent of our own excitement. The first time we received a certificate saying that our friends had donated goats in honor of our upcoming marriage, Aimee cried. We knew at that moment that our wedding was extending far beyond ourselves.

And I think that is a really beautiful thing. Because a wedding should be a time to extend beyond ourselves. Creating a marriage and building a home is a beautiful, personal thing, but it is a million times more beautiful when it touches and enlightens the world we live in.