Business & Tech

Local Woman Hopes To Take the Confusion Out Of Wedding Planning

Brittany Blando's Beantown Brides blog will soon feature local vendors and aim to help local brides.

From cakes to flowers to dresses and invitations, the wedding planning process is overwhelming at best.

This is exactly how Marblehead local Brittany Blando felt after 8 years of being a wedding photographer and watching brides struggle with choosing great vendors and seeing the outcome on the wedding day.

"I always say, 'it's amazing what it takes to get two people to the alter,'" Blando said with a laugh.

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Blando is the brains behind a new business venture "Beantown Brides," which is a blog that helps brides narrow down great vendors.

"The wedding industry is so over-saturated with many levels of talent," Blando said. "We're bringing it back to referrals and creating a resource where brides and grooms can find the best of the best and also showcase the work of great vendors."

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Based in Marblehead, Blando has been in business a year, but is relaunching the site in the coming weeks to be more smartphone friendly and other more advice for couples about to wed.

"Our hope is couples go on the site and maybe they are having a wedding at the Eastern Yacht Club. They can see photos of other weddings at the Eastern Yacht Club and get inspired," Blando said. "Vendors put so much passion into their cakes or flowers and this is also a great way to showcase them and their work."

Blando said the vendors on the site are selected by invitation-only for their reputations and work.

"There are so many great florists, vendors and venues in Marblehead and surrounding areas," she said.

As for trends this summer and going into the fall, Blando said couples are opting to get married on a weekday and keep things intimate without sacrificing glamour.

"We recently had a Marblehead couple get married at Old Town Hall and then go out to dinner with friends and family in Boston at the Four Seasons," Blando said. "Even though people are scaling back, they are definitely not giving up the lavish weddings either."

Blando said there are some tips to take from the recent wedding of Elizabeth Lynch in town.

"Rafanelli Events did the Lynch wedding and the Clinton wedding," Blando said. "What I really loved about the Lynch wedding is she kept it local, they did tours around Marblehead and the wedding was brought back to where they are from."

Blando said although Lynch's flowers most likely came with a hefty price tag, similar looks can be had for less.

"There are ways to make a wedding look a certain way without spending a million dollars," Blando said. "It takes time to research, look at pictures on blogs and find the right people."

Blando also said a tip for future brides is to keep in mind where you are from and what you like.

"Weddings are intimate, it's exciting people are embracing that," Blando said, noting her favorite thing about weddings is the merging of families and cultures and being a part of family history.

When the site relaunches in the coming weeks, Blando hopes local brides-to-be check it out for ideas and tricks she has learned from years in the industry.

"We want brides to trust us and trust who we're showcasing," Blando said. "We want to be a place brides won't be so overwhelmed."


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