BEWARE OF WEDDING SCAMS!

It saddens me that Brides (and Grooms) get ripped off... especially on one of the most important days of their lives. Every now and again I have to post a reference to one of the worst cases of scamming I have ever come across... which I blogged about here. Kayleigh's was one of the first cases of scamming I had ever heard about.... but her's wasn't the last! I could fill my posts up with at least 1 a month and they are only the ones I hear about personally! 

But... no matter how many warnings are posted on the internet... still the scams pour in!

The Wedding Wire put out THIS POST about Chinese Knockoff - My actual DH Gate Trash the Dress Dress vs. what's advertised 

Morilee have had to put up a HUGE list of fake websites offering to supply their dresses at a greatly reduced price! And I have to admit I was totally shocked by the crazy amount of fake websites... here....

TAKE A LOOK!

And the problem doesn't end with Wedding Dresses.... even stationery can be a scam! I had a Bride come to me, who had not only been scammed with her dress... but her wedding stationery bought from 'Light In The Box'  I wrote about Kayleighs horrendous experience HERE

Ollievision Photography have been having their own problems with a scammer that used their Photographs to promote his business. Their article 

Steve Jackson Photography – A statement from Ollievision regarding Steve Jackson’s unauthorised use of images taken from my portfolio tells the full horrific story. 

And believe it or not... these are only the tip of the ice-berg! 

Thanks to Social Media, we are now starting to see Facebook pages emerge warning Brides of what they can expect if they order from the internet from unscrupulous companies.

There are hundreds (I'm not kidding either!)
of people who have been caught out
and left out of pocket.
Their only crime is to try and save a few quid at a very expensive time!

CHECK THESE OUT!

Brides Beware!

Wedding Knock Off Nightmares

My advise to Brides on the whole is 

DON'T BUY OFF THE INTERNET!

Or.... if you do... protect yourself as much as possible

and be prepared to throw away your hard earned cash 

and have to buy the item again somewhere else. 

I personally, can't believe how many young Brides (and some older ones too) will trust what they are seeing on Facebook and eBay and in fact, the internet in general as being totally genuine. 

FACEBOOK pages can be closed down and deleted at the click of a button!

EBAY - Many eBay sites nowadays state that the seller is from the UK... NOT TRUE!  I myself bought a really large sheepskin rug from a company in London. It took 8 weeks to get here, it was unwashed, came from Morocco and was only large enough to cover my Springer Spaniel! (See even I get scammed!).

WEBSITES - No matter how professional and dapper the website looks... DO NOT TRUST what you see! Just because the URL states .co.uk or .com means nothing!

Truthfully... the safest way not to get scammed
IS TO BUY LOCAL! And buy from a company that has some history and feedback. Not just a company that has just started up, no matter how well intentioned they are... many companies fail within the first 2 years of trading! And if the company is local, make sure they have a valid business address on their website! And a land line telephone number... not some mobile number that can be switched off in a heartbeat!

BEFORE ordering ANYTHING off the internet 

(and I mean ANYTHING!)

Check out the website 

 by going to SCAM ADVISOR .COM

and entering the websites URL! 

Above all remember:

If it sounds TOO GOOD to be true,

it generally is!

And you'll be hard pushed to get your money back! 

If you have been scammed... get in touch with your local

Trading Standards Office

Why EVERY Bride needs PINTEREST!!

"Oh not another Social Media, sharing website!"  I hear you cry!
OK... I know you are busy and time is precious. Pouring over endless magazines and websites to gain ideas and contacts can drive a girl to distraction right?

And all this while you are trying to plan your big day and seem endlessly bombarded with everything trying to distract you and send you into a total panic about planning the perfect day!

Never fear! PINTEREST is here!

I have to admit, I groaned too!
"Oh lord! not another thing to get me head around"

Well... Now I'm hooked... and I hope you will be too!

So... What IS Pinterest exactly?

Pinterest is a pinboard-stylephoto-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other pinboards for images, "re-pin" images to their own pinboards, or "like" photos.


OK.... So I get that... How will it help me as a Bride?

Well....You know what it's like. You're surfing the internet during your break times and lunch times and one thing leads to another and before you know it, you really can't remember that website where you saw that special something or indeed, what it was in the first place!

Pinterest makes things a whole lot easier! With virtually 1 click, you can pin the picture to one of your boards and go back to it later. It's great for idea catching too.

It's like your own virtual scrap book and will help you keep everything together... all neat and tidy like :-)

Hmmmm..... ok... I'll take a look... 

How Do I Get Started?

It's simple! Pop over to the Pinterest website http://www.pinterest.com/ 
And create yourself an account. 

Once you're on,  you'll need  the "Pin It" button installed in your browser tool   bar. This magic little button is what allows you to pin things online. Installing the button is very easy -- when you're in your Pinterest account, look to the upper right-hand corner and hover above "About," then click on "Pin It Button" and follow the directions to drag the button into your toolbar.

Or instead of using the "Pin It" button, you can also copy and paste links from sites you like, and it will search for photos from that page, which you can then pin. You can also upload photos from your computer

I've created quite a few Inspiration Boards for my Brides

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT I'VE PINNED

You then have the option of following individual boards or all of them.

Let me know how you get on... and if you post your Pinterest link below, I'll follow you :-) 

REMEMBER: Sharing is caring! 

Purple Themed Weddings -Kerry & Ryan - Lisa & John

Purple... and in particular

Cadbury's Purple is one of the most popular colours.

So much so, that this year all the UK stockist of Hot Foil were out of stock

and as the supplies come in from the US we were all on a wing and a prayer as to whether we c0uld get any more.

More worryingly for me... I had 3 orders in a row... asking for purple.

Lisa & John went for a Purple and Lavender Post Box

The 2 colours went well together

and took some of the over powering intensity out of things.

Don't get me wrong... I'm a girl that believes,

you can't have too much Purple... 

While Kerrie & Ryan needed a seating plan....

And Kirsty & Paul also needed their seating plan....

If like me you LOVE purple,

pop over and see my Pinterest themed board

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

If you are thinking of using Purple as your theme,

why not mix it with a little bit of Peacock Blue

TAKE A LOOK AT HOW GOOD IT LOOKS! 

Red Themed, Wishing Tree Themed Wedding Invitations - Stacey & Ben

Stacey & Ben are getting married

among Cherry Trees!

While she liked the Wishing/Blessing Tree design,

I suggested I'd try another design or 2 and see what she liked best.

So.. I set to work drawing some stylised  Cherry Trees

in a similar style to the blessing Tree....

The rule of thumb here is... the more black there is on the design,

the more red and therefore the more stunning the card will look.

Nope.... she wasn't convinced and we went back to the 

Wishing Trees... but added a couple of butterflies...

Stacey & Ben chose Folded Invitations for the Day Invites

and Flat for the Evening

Here's a close-up of the design....

hey! Just going to mention here... if you colour theme is RED

Pop over to my RED THEMED PINTEREST FOLDER

There's some great ideas!

Hot Pink & Black Themed Wedding Post Box - Lindsi & Kyle

Lindsi & Kyle had already sent out their Wedding Invitations....

but came back to me for a Wedding Post box

Again in their Hot Pink and Black colour Theme

As with the invitations...

the printing was in Black and the Ribbon in hot pink

As always I sent Lindsi a photo for approval,

and she then decided she wanted some small hearts on the box,

I think they worked pretty well :-)

CLICK HERE to see more Wedding Post Boxes...

And also CLICK HERE to see even more on Pinterest

Oh... and in case you're wondering...
here's the 2 Proofs I created for their Invitations...

Hey! If your Wedding Theme is Hot Pink or Fuchsia Pink

Take a look at my Pinterest board for Inspiration!

Hot Pink On The Day Stationery - Victoria & Andrew

The date on the top of this seating plan...

shows you just how far behind I am!

Although Andrew was against 

'Too much hot pink'

we soon won him round and in fact...

he was more than keen with the idea

 once we could show him how stunning

the colour can look.

I had already made the Wedding Invitations

some months before.

So these were the little extras that people

like to have which we call

'On The Day' stuff.

PLEASE NOTE: 'Stuff' is a great Yorkshire word for

Bit and Bobs and items too numerous to mention

Here's the Wedding Post Box

And the place cards...

Andrew had seen my display vase

and decided that instead of the usual Tent Cards,

The numbers would look good like this....

I think Vicky and Andrew managed to get hold of some cream coloured jugs,

And filled them with natural flowers.

The table numbers could then be hung from the handle.... cute eh? 

Large Butterfly Wedding Invitations - Hannah and Lionel -

Hannah & Lionel got married at the beginning of November.

Hannah was keen I kept her invitations, ordered way back in February, a secret.

So... it's only now I can let the cat out of the bag :-)

Hannah chose the largest butterflies

foiled in Silver on Ivory.

Folded Invitations for the Daytime Guests

& Flat Invitations for the Evening Guests

Here's a close-up of the day invites

Later she needed a Silver Butterfly 

Wedding Post Box

To match the Invitations and her general, overall, theme

One of the nicest parts of my job,

is making all the Invitations and Stationery to match

Vintage. Art Deco, Chalk Board, Inspired - Save The Date cards & Tags

Vintage. Art Deco, Chalk Board, Inspired 

Save The Date cards & Tags

It's been one of those 'funny' weeks. I'm thumb twiddling 

while I wait for couples to get back to me with final details of their orders,

which can take some time :-)

So... for a long time, I've been wanting to get on with some

SAVE THE DATE ideas.

Here's the first:

Based on a Chalk Board Style Font.

The 3 samples are in Pink, Purple and Blue,

but of course you can have anything you want.

The second is inspired by 

Art Deco..

A particular favourite period of mine :-)

And the 3rd idea is a classic vintage.

Of course, these designs are simple jumping off points.

We at Inspired by Script, work closely with our couples

and use their ideas and our creativity

 to come up with something that little bit different. 

Do you like them?

Leave a comment below

or drop us an email

  inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk 

... we LOVE to hear from you 

Sue x