The best part is that you do not need to have any programming or technical knowledge to add widgets to your website.
One of my favorite places to find widgets is on Widgetbox. It’s a site full of fun, FREE widgets that do a million different things. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to find a widget on Widgetbox and add to your Glösite:
Here you can browse by category, see what’s new and also search for widgets. Let’s do a search. Say you’re looking for a weather forecast for the place where your celebration will take place. Type in “weather forecast” or something similar in the search box
(3) Scroll down the list til something jumps out at you. I’m a fan of the Weather Channel.
On the widget page, you’ll be able to preview the widget as well as see any comments or reviews others have left about the widget.
(4) Once you find a widget you’re in to, click on “Get Widget” below the widget itself. This brings up the code you’ll need to copy and then paste into your Glösite page.
(5) Now go to glosite.com and log into your account. Go to “Manage Glösite” > “Edit Pages” and click on the page where you’d like to add your widget. On this page, you have two options for adding the code.
The first is to paste it into the widget box at the bottom. This will add the widget to the bottom of your Glösite page.
The second option is to use the HTML function in the text box. This will allow you to place the widget anywhere on the Glösite page – above or below any text, images or other widgets that you want to add.
(8) After you’ve added the code, save the page and go to view on your Glösite! The widget should appear just like this!
Have you discovered any fun widgets? If so, let me know in the comments!
Tell us how you got engaged:
On the evening of Friday, April 1st (yes April fool’s day) Anders told me, Michelle, he was going out with the guys for a drink (I was fooled!). I was at home with their roommate and friend, Jill. Around 9:30pm, just as Jill and I were making plans for our weekend night, my phone rang. Anders asked me to meet him at a favorite local spot of ours–a lake in a regional park near our house. My initial reaction is “No! It’s dark and cold.” Then I realized what was happening.
Jill and I got really nervous and excited and then I got in the car to leave. When I arrive at the lake it is dark, but then I saw Anders with a lantern and he led us down a path to the lake-shore. We came to a canoe with more lanterns attached to the ends of the canoe. We got in and Anders paddled us across the lake. Anders recapped some of the wonderful memories we have had together and then we came into view of a huge circle of hundreds of tea-lights. There was also music playing that was coming from the beach. We pulled the canoe ashore and get out to find a picnic that had been prepared with several of my favorite things: Spanish wine, sushi, ice cream and a bouquet of lilies. After we ate, Anders played on the guitar and sang a song he had written for this very moment. The end of the song said, “Marry me.” Then he got down on his knee, and opened the box of the ring that my grandmother wore for 57 years. I said yes and we eventually went home to celebrate with friends.
What’s the overall ‘feeling’ you’re aiming for with your celebration:
The intention behind our planning is to have a beautiful celebration while using our resources wisely. We specifically went looking for venues whose mission we wanted to support, which ended up being a unique old theater and an art gallery that focuses on local and regional art. Our goal is to have a celebration that truly represents who we are and what we care about. For example, we love living in and being part of city life so all of our events will be taking place in Minneapolis. We also strongly value our friends and family so we have found creative ways to get a very large number of people involved in our wedding day.
Are you adding any fun twists on tradition:
Even though we are having our ceremony in a theater, we will still have a pastor facilitate the ceremony. We want to share our belief that spirituality can happen in many places. Additionally, we decided to have a very large wedding party (10 guys and 12 girls). We decided that we didn’t want to feel like we had to cut people out so we included all of our close friends and rather than have them line up in the traditional fashion, we will have each of them doing something during the ceremony. And lastly, we are very excited about the ice cream cake we will have in place of a wedding cake. It’s something we both love so this was an easy selection.
What was the inspiration for you Glövite and Glösite design? (If you uploaded your own design – how did you make it?)
We wanted something artistic, refreshing and that represented us. We both grew up in Minneapolis and love the urban setting. When Michelle couldn’t find the perfect background, she picked up a pencil and paper and started sketching what she was looking for. We both realized that having an original drawing would be really neat so it stuck!
I had looked through dozens of images on the internet of sketches of cities and particularly Minneapolis. I finally found one that showed the specific landmarks with the perspectives I wanted to capture. I used that for my inspiration for my drawing while giving it my own twist. We knew it had to be somewhat simple because we wanted to add a background for some color.
Any good planning tips and tricks for the couples who are just starting to plan?
I would suggest to other couples: discuss your vision of your wedding and what is important to you before you start looking at options. When you start looking stick to your instinct about whether something feels like a good fit. When it comes to the big things (i.e. venues), it is worth the time and effort to find something that really represents you. Don’t just pick something that’s easy. One thing that has really helped us to stay organized is using electronic invites. We can update guests and they can contact us very easily.
What’s the biggest “say what?” moment or funny story that’s happened since you started planning?
A funny moment we have had together so far was with a good friend during our “Pre-wedding preparation.” This friend of ours that offered to facilitate our sessions is a retired professor in his seventies and we know him through Anders’ graduate school work. On this particular occasion we had already had a few really wonderful conversations about how we viewed our upcoming wedding and life together. On this day, however, a certain conversation struck an emotional chord with me. On any other day this wouldn’t have been a big deal, just a simple discussion and we would have moved on. However, it was that time-of-the-month and though I wasn’t actually that upset about anything, I couldn’t stop crying! I didn’t want our friend to feel too uncomfortable so I eventually felt the need to explain that I was fine–I just had PMS. After what felt like an embarrassingly long amount of time (but in reality was just a few minutes), we moved on and had a normal conversation for the remaining time. Anders and I laugh about this situation now! If its something you are open to, I definitely recommend some sort of pre-wedding conversation that can be facilitated by someone you trust…just don’t forget the tissues!
October 2011 Liz’s parents’ home
Northport, Leelanau County, Michigan USA
Tell us how you got engaged:
Hate to burst your bubble and sound lame, but we don’t have a big story. (Editors note: Pretty much NOTHING about this sounds lame to me. It all sounds rather fabulous!) It was just “time”. One day we found a ring we liked on Etsy. Two weeks later we placed an order for it and a custom wedding band. Four weeks after that we told our families because we thought the rings would show up about soon. Turns out US Customs had another idea (goldsmith is in Ireland) and the rings finally arrived 3 weeks later. We then celebrated by having a half-baked flash-frozen deep dish pizza flown in from our fave Chicago pizza place, Lou Malnati’s, and cracking open a bottle of 1999 Dom Perignon we’d been saving. Oh, and some french macaroons.
What’s the overall ‘feeling’ you’re aiming for with your celebration:
We’re laid back & (mostly) casual people, so we hope our celebration reflects us. We love the outdoors and plan to have the ceremony on a little deck overlooking Lake Michigan followed by a reception in a tent in the front yard. We’re looking at the woods as our inspiration – they’re full of birch trees, cedar, and many, many woodland critters.
About our venue… My parents’ started bringing me up to Leelanau County when I was 5 months old to camp. When I was three, they bought property. When I was 9 they built a house on it. And when I was 25 they retired to it full time. Needless to say this is a place ingrained in my soul, and it was the only place Tom and I wanted to have our wedding at. Otherwise, we would have eloped! True story.
Are you adding any fun twists on tradition:
We’re looking forward to a laid-back day that includes our beloved dog as our ring bearer (sporting a bow tie to match his “dad’s”, of course), both of us wearing monogrammed Chuck Taylor All-Star shoes, and after-dinner merriment in the form of a bonfire on the beach and star gazing once it gets dark enough. We even included a “Can you bring a telescope” question on our RSVP!
We’ll also be having pies instead of cake. My mom makes THE BEST cherry pie in the world (Northern Michigan is considered the “Cherry Capital”), and an apple. There may be cupcakes too since I’m a sucker for those. Also, the guests will be standing on our beach below us during the ceremony. The deck we’ll be married on will only fit the two of us plus the officiant. Our attendants (two total) will be on the 5 steps leading down to the beach, and the guests below them looking up at us.
What was the inspiration for your Glövite and Glösite design?
We received a framed silkscreen from family for Christmas this past year that is the tree with our initials featured on the site. It was silkscreened onto burlap (something else that will be prominent in our decor) with the heart stitched and the names hand lettered. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it on our website. Interestingly, this family member wasn’t aware of our plan to feature trees and initials in hearts in our decor… she apparently knows us well! We’re doing paper invitations of a somewhat similar design.
Photoshop and I spent many hours together, scanning, clone stamping, and stitching. Taryn also was a huge help in helping figure out how to anchor the tree in place so it won’t drift off the page depending on the viewer’s browser.
Now show us your Glövites and Glösite
Any good planning tips and tricks for the couples who are just starting to plan?
Keep calm. My mother has a saying, “Be cool. Trust the Universe. It’ll all work out in the end.” I tell myself this frequently. Go with your gut too. It usually knows you very well. And read A Practical Wedding. I’ve been a fan of this site since October 2008 (that’s 2 years prior to actually being engaged.) The amount of resources and information on tricky planning/sticky situations is truly awe-inspiring, as are the folks who write it, and those who read it.
What’s the biggest “say what?” moment or funny story that’s happened since you started planning?
I had had my eye on a particular JCrew gown for months, ever since I’d seen it in a featured wedding on 100LayerCake. When it came time to go dress hunting I was STOKED to be able to finally try it on! Then I went to the website and couldn’t find it. Then a misinformed JCrew customer service rep said it was discontinued.
*Commence surprised sadness/insane search for a used gown at 11pm on a Friday while my fiance was asleep on the couch next to me, watching some inane movie like Anchorman or whatever.*
Two weeks later I was flying to LA to try on a used gown I’d found on OnceWed that appeared to be my size. The night before I flew down I found out from JCrew that no, they weren’t discontinuing it and they were actually fully stocked. And, it was 30% off with free shipping. SAY WHAT?! I went to LA anyway. Tried on the used dress and even though I ended up not taking that particular one (hadn’t been dry cleaned and didn’t want to budge on price), I knew it was THE one. My MOH and I went straight to the local JCrew and ordered a new gown.
We had been dating for a little under four years when Evan proposed. He proposed on Valentine’s Day, which provided a good cover for the elaborate plans. Here is how it went down:
Evan had a whole day planned for “Valentine’s Day” full of various activities. I untied a ribbon on the schedule to reveal a special thing that we enjoyed about our relationship, and then we did that thing. For example, I untied “running together” before we ran a Valentine’s day race. While we were eating dinner (another thing we like doing together), I unwrapped the saying, “We can do anything together.” He gave me a photo-frame with two pictures: on the left was a picture of us taken while I was undergoing chemotherapy for a rare type of ovarian cancer, and on the right was a picture of us running in a race a couple months after the treatment. I started bawling. Then, he told me to turn around to see my family walking down to where we were sitting, and when I turned back around he proposed. More bawling from me. And an emphatic, “YES!” of course.
Photo by Katie Vaughan
What’s the overall ‘feeling’ you’re aiming for with your celebration:
Photo courtesy of Bybee BlueBerry Farm
We’re going for a very relaxed feeling (it’s on a farm!), and we’re trying to make decisions that make the wedding very personal for us (the farm is at the base of the first mountain we hiked together). We’re definitely using the skills and talents of our family and friends to pull it off. From pie-baking, to flower arranging, to singing and playing instruments during the ceremony, to simply moving tables and chairs around, our guests will be very much a part of the wedding.
Are you adding any fun twists on tradition:
We plan to serve and toast with smoothies from our most favorite smoothie place instead of serving alcohol (we figure, it’s at lunch, and we’re not big drinkers anyway). We’re also going to play some fun lawn games that are loved by our (rather competitive) families, bake pies instead of serving a traditional wedding cake, and use my dad’s collection of antique jars as part of the centerpieces.
What was the inspiration for your Glövite and Glösite design?
We designed the invitation before the save-the-date or site. We wanted to incorporate the blueberries that reflect the blueberry farm location. We also incorporated our aforementioned love of running (which also hints at the walk/run we’re planning to have the day before the wedding). Finally, we wanted to learn Photoshop, so we used the invites as our first practice project.
How did you make ‘em?
We made everything in Photoshop. We used the “photocopy” filter to create the effect on the blueberries and shoes. We put a texture over the whole thing to make it look kind of like paper.
Now show us your Glövites and Glösite
These two even added a timeline of their relationship…from the FIRST proposal (in high school) to the one that stuck. Below is a snippet…
Any good planning tips and tricks for the couples who are just starting to plan?
For us, with our 1.5 year engagement, we really appreciated being able to plan in spurts and avoid becoming overwhelmed. We worked on a bunch of stuff for a week or two, then we would take a break for a while (up to 3 months) before working on stuff again. It allowed us to have some perspective about what really mattered to us, and what was just a silly detail that wasn’t worth stressing about.
Photo by Katie Vaughan
So our advice is this: think about what matters to you and have fun planning those parts; take some time off of planning when things get stressful and remember how much the details don’t matter. As far as organization, we have been using Google Docs since we can easily share them between us and our families. It’s nice that everyone can collaborate on a spreadsheet or document at the same time, and it’s much easier than emailing attachments all the time.
I’ve written before about adding a Picasa slideshow to your Glö wedding website, but I know that lots of you also use flickr to store all of your fabulous photos. We don’t like anyone to feel left out, so here’s a similar tutorial on how to add a flickr slideshow to your Glösite.
This “how to” will focus on adding a slideshow of a particular album I have on flickr, but the same principle applies to adding a slideshow of your photostream or an individual photo.
1) Go to your flickr account and on your photostream, set or album you’d like to add, click on an individual photo.
2) Click on the three dots in the bottom-right corner and choose “View Slideshow” from the pop-up menu
3) This takes you to a black page with your slideshow or photo in the middle. Click on “Share” in the top-right corner of this page
4) You can either select the code from the “Grab HTML code” box or else you can click on “customize HTML code” below to change the size of your slideshow
4b) If you click on “customize HTML code” make your selections (I like the medium size for Glösites) and copy the new embed code
5) Go back to glosite.com and navigate to the “edit” page for the page on your wedding website where you’d like to add the slideshow (Manage Glösite > Manage Pages > edit) Scroll down to the widget box at the bottom of the page and paste in the code, or else you can use the HTML button on the text editor to add the slideshow to the middle of your page
Do you pretty much live on Facebook? Me too. Want lots of people to like you? Me too!
Here are the steps you can take to add a facebook badge to the “Contact Us” page on your Glö wedding website
1) Go to facebook and view your profile
2) Scroll to the bottom of the left column and click on “Add a badge to your site”
3) Click on “Edit This Badge”
4) Customize what you’d like to have on your badge and click ‘Save’
5) Click on “other”, then highlight and copy the code below
6) go to glosite.com > “Manage Glösite” > “Edit pages” and click on “edit” for your Contact Us page Scroll to the bottom and paste the code into the widget box or else use the HTML button to paste the code into the text area of your page. Then click “save page”
I was working late, but my boyfriend was persistently texting me about when I would get home. When I finally got home, he told me he’d e-mailed me a new edition of his company newsletter. I always ask to read his work. I babbled on about my day as he nervously waited for me to open the e-mail. When I did, it was a special newsletter full of sweet stuff about us and photos. When I looked over at him, he had the ring. It was perfect for us because we met working on our campus newspaper and bonded over our love of news.
What’s the overall ‘feeling’ you were aiming for with your celebration:
We wanted to have a fun, casual and eco-friendly night that celebrated our love with all our friends and family. We aimed for an elegant, Southern feel, but still laid back.
Photo by Sarah Kobos.
Photo by Sarah Kobos
Any fun twists on tradition?
Here is one of Liz’s blog posts about the fun details of their wedding day (professional photos by Sarah Kobos):
Since I didn’t have a wedding planner or coordinator, coming up with the details that make a wedding a whole lot more than just a party took a lot of originality. I brainstormed what I liked and scoured wedding blogs. Some of the ideas I liked I stowed away on a Tumblr blog. Since we were tying the knot in sleepy South Carolina, we went for a Southern-esque theme.
So, we had quilts. My mom loves quilts. And hay. Bails of hay are really pretty cheap.
We hung a timeline of photos on a clothesline with clothespins along the wall in the carriage house. We made sure to includes photos of us with each of our guests so they felt a part of our day.
On tables we had ranunculus that I ordered online. They didn’t turn out exactly as planned but I actually really like the look. We put them in cans painted with metallic paint and tied with raffia. And tealights.
I came across a few weddings on blogs that used cotton. I loved the look and was determined to use a lot of cotton. I succeeded. The cotton was free because it’s South Carolina and my sister-in-law has family that lives on/near a cotton farm. She really helped me pull it off.
So we used cotton on some tables in mason jars.
My amazingly creative mother then made wreaths with cotton and tied wooden letters in the middle.
Meanwhile, my handyman father built country road signs.
He also made the chalk board bubbles for the “Faux-to booth.”
Speaking of the photobooth. Here’s how it turned out.
We also had yard games for people to play. One of Chas’ groomsmen got us Bocce and cornhole.
And my most favorite detail — the chairs.
What was the inspiration for your Glövite and Glösite design?
We went with South Carolina pride because it’s where we fell in love. After living far away for several years, we miss the South. We played up the Palmetto Tree to incorporate this. We made both in photoshop using free fonts and free brushes.
Now show us your Glövites and Glösite
If you uploaded your own design(s) – how did you make them?
We made them in photoshop using free fonts and free brushes.
Any good planning tips and tricks for the couples who are just starting to plan?
Think simply. The more you plan, the more you have to do. We should have made it even more casual and laidback, but that’s just us. Just be aware that anything you want, you have to actually pull off.
It has to be about what you and your fiancee want. We were pulled in many directions from everyone, but in the end, you want to be happy on your wedding day. Sometimes this means saying, I just don’t like that. I wouldn’t go overboard and become bridezilla. Know when to fight for something and when to cave-in.
When the day actually rolls around, just go with it and don’t let the little things get you down. My niece, our flower girl, was very sick the day of. So she missed out, but we were more worried about how she was instead of that we didn’t have a flower girl and she wasn’t in our photos. My sister-in-law, and matron of honor, and brother had to leave early to take her to the hospital, so we didn’t have an actual wedding toast. No big deal! (My niece is fine, by the way! No worries.) My mother forgot the pretty decorative and personalized napkins I’d ordered. We now have about 400 napkins left over, but it wasn’t a problem. And no one let anything bother them on that day. It was perfect.
The best advice I heard before was that the day go by so quickly that you have to take a minute to enjoy it. I’ll admit this is tough to do, but I tried. Before you know it, it’s over and you aren’t ready for it.
I let my mother and my mother-in-law login to our Glosite to update guest information. They added addresses and contact info. for people we didn’t know. When it came time to write thank you notes, we had all the addresses in one central location, so we didn’t have to ask for addresses again. The site has just kind of helped us keep track of everything: gifts, addresses, who came, etc. And we can access anywhere, so it’s been way better than a spreadsheet.
UPDATE: Now that Picasa is linked to Google+, some of the features have changed slightly. The directions below are still valid if you work via the old Picasa web interface, which you can find but cutting and pasting the original link into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/home
I’ve had a few questions lately about how to add a Picasa slideshow to one of your Glösite pages. In case others are wondering the same thing, here’s a quick video that should help. (for some reason, the video appears to go faster than the recording, but I hope it’s close enough to make sense!)
To recap, the key steps are:
1) Ensure your album (or image) has the right visibility settings: Either Public or Visible to anyone with the link
2) grab the embed code from the lower-right side of the picasa page for that album or image
3) Paste the embed code onto your Glösite page – either into the widget box or using the “html” button of the text editor
4) Save your page, and view!
This couple needs little to no intro to set the tone for what their celebration is all about. Fun, fun and pretty much more fun. I’ve been waiting and waiting to have the chance to introduce you all to these great ladies – enjoy getting to know Liz and Cristina!
Cristina says: Liz had been drinking, and as I was putting her to bed she looked up sleepily and said “will you marry me?” And I said yes. And the next morning we confirmed that it was all true.
What’s the overall ‘feeling’ you’re aiming for with your celebration:
The overall feeling is “family gathering with bacon.” We didn’t want anything too formal and we want people to have plenty of good food and drinks, feel comfortable, and have fun spending time with each other. For us, this means not worrying about or including chair covers, favors, or the color of cocktail napkins. :)
Are you adding any fun twists on tradition:
Instead of just having a day or a weekend celebration, we are having months of celebration! We’ve invited people to join us for events leading up to and after the wedding (like a book convention, a day at the spa with us, and a trip to New York to see Lord of the Rings!). We really wanted to include people in our lives for in more than just one day. Editor’s note: these ladies are way to modest – they are planning an entire epic celebration full of a bajillion fun events for those who are free to join. I’ve already started lobbying for my own invitation….See their entire range of events below!
What was the inspiration for your Glövite and Glösite design?
Honestly, we just picked the design because we liked it. I like the color yellow and it was a good backdrop for the tons of text that we have.
Now show us your Glövites and Glösite!
This has got to be my absolute favorite page…
Any good planning tips and tricks for the couples who are just starting to plan?
Cristina says: Figure out what is really important to you and stick to it. Don’t worry about all the stuff that people or wedding magazines say you “have” to have (favors, flowers, a clown, etc.), and don’t get distracted. For us, our non-negotiables were having the ceremony at our church, having good food, and being able to invite everyone we care about (since Cristina has a huge family, that means a huge guest list).
Liz says: Also, avoid wedding blogs and magazines. They can send you into a spiral of “I want my wedding to look like this and it will never be good enough waaaaaaaaah.” Not fun. I only read two wedding blogs: Offbeat Bride and A Practical Wedding. Keep talking to each other! Wedding planning can bring up emotions around lots of things that you might not have been expecting. It’s OK to realize that you care about things that you didn’t think you would (for me, it was the dress). And it’s OK to realize you *really* couldn’t care less about some things (like decorations). We made our guest list over several months – this gave us time to make sure we weren’t leaving anyone out. We started by making an excel sheet listing people. When we switched to Glo, we inputted all of the people on the list.
Liz says: Glo has been the single biggest organizational help. I was going crazy with my multiple excel sheets for multiple events. Once I inputted the guests into Glo, I could manipulate them much easier. We just sent out our email save the dates, and I would say this: if people don’t view the invitation through their email, send the link to them on Facebook! I sent out 15 messages and within a few hours everyone had viewed it.
super-great tip there about facebook!
What’s the biggest “say what?” moment or funny story that’s happened since you started planning?
Apparently, bridal stores are unable to comprehend that anyone *wouldn’t* want a train on her dress. We were at a certain well-known wedding dress factory trying on dresses and this is how it went:
Liz: Can the train on this dress be cut of?
Saleswoman: Not really. You’ll want it for the pictures, and then you can just bustle it.
Liz: But I don’t want a train.
Saleswoman: It looks nice in pictures.
Liz’s head explodes.
And because no one can resist the cuteness of kitties – here is ONE of Liz and Cristina’s four black cats
So tell us…If you attended Liz and Cristina’s festivities – what would YOU wear to outshine the brides??
moment or funny story that’s happened since you started planning?
7) Save the page and view on your Glosite
