IDWN Editors and Contributors
Pac Lorefield Editor-in-Chief IDWN Founder
Marla Marx Creative Director IDWN Co-Founder
Hitcher Post Marketing IDWN Manager
Henri McKeenan Contributor Editor IDWN Manager
Netera Landar Head Contributor IDWN Member
Juliet Moonshadow Contributor IDWN Member
Gunthor Allen Head Photographer IDWN Member
Sanjaria Photographer IDWN Member
CONTENTS JULY & AUGUST | VOLUME 2 | NO. 6
09 13 21 25 31
Editor’s Letter | Happy Holidays IDWN Feature | Winter Wonderland Postscripts | Winter Blinging IDWN Member Highlight | Aster Builts IDWN Ask Juliet | Meet our new Advice Columnist
A LETTER from the EDITOR
“It’s the Holiday Season!” The stores have decked their halls with holiday cheer and the Polar Vortex has returned in full fury. Winter is coming in with bang! I have to say this is my favorite time of the year around the grid. I am truly amazed at the creativity and dedication so many have to make Second Life such a festive place during the Holiday Season. This issue is chock full of great Winter Wonderlands to visit as well as those festive touches you can put on your own personal winter paradise. I hope what I have to say next won’t put a damper on our festive issue. After months of contemplation and juggling, I have come to the hard decision that it is time to retire from the I Do Wedding Network and our magazine. I am happy to report it isn’t because of drama or mishaps. Some of you readers know that I have my own business in RL. It has been flourishing and it is now to the point where I must devote most of my time to my business which leaves me little time to give the creative focus to IDWN that it deserves. I am currently in negotiations with an angel investor who shares a similar passion to continue building this group as I have had and would like to take it on and make it their own. When and if the deal is finalized, we will make an official announcement and let you all know. Until them, please have a safe holiday season with your friends and loved ones here in SL and in your RL. Best wishes,
Pac Lorefield
IDWN Exclusive
Henri Fouquet
“Sleigh bells ring are you listening…” Winter in Second Life is brimming with glorious pastel hues, evergreens flocked with snow, skating on icy ponds, enjoying a sleigh ride through snowy drifts, a cozy fire and romance – without any of the cold! As Andy Williams serenades us during the winter holiday season, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” Seasonal wedding venues are the rage in Second Life, and savvy wedding planners and venue owners are all about it! And they are all abuzz filling their calendars with winter-themed weddings. Pink & Zain’s Wedding Shop This is a fun place. The shop offers a charming collection of clothing and accessories for a winter themed wedding, to include off-sim snow, trees, tables, chairs, pillars, urns and a coordinated set of snowflake bouquets, boutonnieres, cakes, pillars and urns. They also offer a beautiful “Complete Wedding Venue Setup” at a reasonable price. The venue offers several color selections, and they will customize the colors to match the wedding color theme. Pink and Zane also have an impressive Marketplace store for all of these items – and more – with a rather unique collection for Goth lovers!
A charming winter venue greets you at Pink and Zains Wedding Shop.
Pondlife by Eladen This store is a wedding planner’s dream. How many years did we struggle with ungraceful wedding walks and a dozen pose balls that were always hiding under the bride’s gown? Whether you are a planner or want to create the ceremony venue for your own wedding, the HUD Controlled Couples Wedding System™ is a must-have. It includes all the ceremony poses – hold hands, face the minister, vows, prayer, kiss and presentation to the guests. This system also includes poses for the wedding party. The individual standing on the ball can adjust up or down for their own height, preventing the aggravation of adjusting them manually. The HUD controls whether they are on or off. Pondlife also offers wedding walks that are easy to set up and work quite well. This includes individuals, couples, flower girl and ring bearer; and you can demo them at the store. You can also find them – and a host of other items at his store on Markeplace. Charming Beginnings I like this business. Why? Because the owner - Peggie Bundy - has a blog, and it was easy to get all the information in one place. Charming Beginnings offers full-service weddings, from the planning to the reception. A full sim is dedicated to weddings, both venues and shopping opportunities. Additional services are available such as wedding invitations, DJ (for the wedding and/or reception) and photography. The blog showcases the Love Story venue (includes a video). In-world, you can visit the Winter Wonderland Skydome. It’s delightful, with details only a true romantic would know to include! Peggie and her husband, Leland Maggs, met in SL and are now together in RL. Maybe that’s why!
Timeless Weddings Jules Shamrock and her business partner Sam have created a winter venue that speaks for itself by the name – Winter Love Story. The venue resides high above the clouds at 4000 meters and is the size of a full sim. You can nearly hear the snow crunch beneath your feet as you discover this simple and elegant place. A majestic horse and carriage sweeps you to the outdoor cathedral, where you see pillars and urns filled with magnificent flowers, guest seating and altar. The color theme can be changed for the flowers, seats and aisle. Jules was inspired by the winters of her home in England, and the quiet beauty of this place reflects that. Why do you suppose people love winter venues, I asked. Turns out it’s simple – it’s romantic. Many people in Second Life have never seen snow, so it’s an opportunity to experience something wonderful and new. Timeless Weddings provides numerous wedding packages and a planning service. You can shop their all-inclusive store in-world or on Marketplace – from wedding gowns, dresses, flowers, cakes and toppers, invitations and venues; to the wedding guitarist microphone (guitar included).
Marla Marx
Its the most wonderful time of the year..... Bing Crosby’s classic song can provokes a euphoric mood, which is how most couples feel when they are about to become partnered. No season says it better then winter with all its pure white glory of snow covered trees, paths and warm homes. Here are a few things to know this season to make your winter wonderland wedding come true.
Try using a softer tone for color such as a powder pink or soft blue. Add a little green for trimming such as a ribbon or powdered berries with the leaves on to add a little bit of the festive feel to your bouquet with a few crystals that bounce the light to make a dazzling arrangement. A simple, yet beautiful background that matches that sparkling bouquet of flowers. In typical fashion for winter red and green are used Why not bring that winter sparkle to the table with the most but why not add a little sparkle to boost ice sculptures that will twinkle to the air making the up that magical feel that only winter can bring. reception romantically fun.
To keep your theme flowing, tie napkins with your colored ribbon and add a crystal to the center. All of this brings the outdoor wonder of winter inside to your warm loving wedding. Sometimes in second life it can be hard to find the ideas we see in real life magazines but any good wedding planner can build or knows the perfect builder that can help you find all those wonderful items your wedding needs and deserves. Do not hesitate to think outside the box and give your self the wedding you always dreamed of and make it come alive here in second life.
IDWN Member Highlight
Aster Builts
Invitations, Flowers and Cakes that Capture the Virtual You
NETERA LANDAR
In Sweetheart’s Jazz Mall, in a stylish gray and beige double-sized store, you’ll find Aster’s Wedding Invitations and Accessories. Classical gray and brown striped walls feature vendors. Aster Orchicz greets me dressed like a beautiful English woman ready to sit down for afternoon tea. She takes a deep breath preparing herself for the many questions I’m going to ask her. One of which is, “before she ever created her first wedding invitation, bridal floral arrangement or guest gift, what brought her into Second Life?” She stated that she was playing another virtual game and grew bored. In her search for something far more interesting, she came across Second Life in March 2008 and decided to check it out.
“I logged in and landed at Sweethearts,” she recalled. “I explored a newbie landing page and browsed popular areas. I think I chose Sweethearts because it said it was newbie friendly and featured Jazz music,” she said, while rezzing two chairs for us. As for her first impression of this virtual world, she found friendship the moment she went from gray to color. One of the residents saw the quality of her newbie skin and offered to buy her something better, as well as gowns. After applying to be a hostess at Sweethearts she met a special man and they continue to be partners. From that day on she said she was so taken with Second Life that she has been on nearly twenty-four hours a day.
“I went to all the romantic places on the destination pages with Logan,” she said. “When he asked me to partner with him and get married in SL, I looked for items to get married with. I had trouble finding what I wanted for our wedding. That’s how I started building wedding items.” She began using prims to create what she desired and attended classes at New Citizen’s Inc. to learn how to use sculpties. “My first product was a Heart Shaped invitation with a water animation in the back. I made one in white and another in red. The second was the gazebo from one of my classes. I created an Asian style invitation next,” she explained. Aster learned that one of her Second Life friends was getting married.
Shortly after, her friend requested a custom-made invitation. After scanning their virtual property, she came up with an idea for their Goth wedding invitation. Within a week, she realized she could build a line of elaborate invitations based on Second Life themes. She created Gorean, Asian, Winter and Steampunk invites, as well. The Cream Wedding Invitation features a framed wedding invite with pillars topped with flowers and champagne in elegant glasses. There is also a St. Paddy Style Wedding Invitation, Valentine, Victorian Heart, and gift cuddle pillows. She expanded her inventory with various cakes, flowers and bridal bouquets with mesh flowers. The majority of the cakes she whips up are towers. Her mesh and cascading cakes also sell well. Her floral arrangements include table and altar flowers. I even found a complete set of bouquets for the wedding party: A Mesh floral bridal set of Red Calla Lilies featuring a hold animation, will make your floral selection so much easier. The set includes the Bridal Bouquet, 3 Bridesmaids Bouquets, 3 Bridesmaid Corsages and 3 Grooms Buttons. Color selections are: Red, White, Yellow, and Purple Calla. For the aisle leading to the altar there are flower arrangements in vases on a tall, thin brown stand, with a bow tied around it. The floor wedding flower arrangements are 100% mesh and include pedestal, vase, candle and bouquet. Colors are yellow, white, purple and red. Aster’s business grew not only through marketplace, but through hunts and wedding expos. Her most popular products are the Gorean Scroll wedding invitation, the Gothic Fountain Wedding Invitation and her Red Mesh Cake. The open scroll invite features candles and goblets of red wine. Its 100% mesh, and only 19 prims. The heart Goth wedding invitation has a Blood fountain, star particles and fog. Its 100% Mesh and only 15 prims. Aster continues to create new products and update items by using mesh. She stated that she has about 200 products in her line. One of her newest is the tulip bridal flowers. For those brides and grooms who would like to show their appreciation for their guests joining them on their special day, Aster has created a series of thank you gifts. She has a Box of Wine Wedding Votive presented on a white tray, with a framed thank you note and a bottle of wine. Also a Box of Goodies Wedding Voite with red roses, candles, wine and a framed thank you and a Wedding Basket. As for promotion, that’s done bride-by-bride. Visit here at here IN-WORLD store.
IDWN Advice Columnist
Hello lovelies, I am Juliet Moonshadow, your resident expert in all things regarding love, dating, and weddings in SecondLife. Now, by expert, I mean I have been witness to just about every crazy thing you have ever heard of happening in the dating world of SecondLife, both good and bad. Fortunately, I have also been there for the amazing possibilities that this virtual world opens up for us when it comes to love. Many of us have found love in here; maybe even a few times if you’ve been lucky. The eternal search for love is what connects us all. While I am here, I plan to see if I can’t help a few of you along the way. Maybe you have a question about your wedding plans or need some help with some dating advice… Either way, hopefully I can share some wisdom with you. xoxo, Juliet Dear Juliet, There’s this guy that I have feelings for and even though his feelings are mutual he doesn’t want to get into relationships because of a bad experience. I have no idea what to do about the situation whatsoever. Signed, Confused on Cloud Nine Dear Confused, This can be a tough situation to navigate and you have to take into consideration that he is just guarding his heart. You know you would never intentionally hurt him, and I am sure he knows it as well. However, he is completely justified to keep things at a comfortable distance for his own protection. The best part of this is that he already made his decision clear, and now you get to make the rest of the decisions to protect your heart. Try and think about how far you are willing to take things knowing that he may never come around on his view of having a relationship. You should spend time with him and see how your feelings grow over the course of a few weeks. Spending time together may show him that he can trust you enough to try a relationship as well. Always remember though that intimacy can change dynamics very quickly and you should only go at a pace that is comfortable for you. The outcome should be
clear soon and you two can either continue spending time together heading towards a commitment or you can decide that one of you might get hurt and go back to being friends. There is never a guarantee when it comes to love, but with a little patience and time you can decide if there is enough trust and a big enough spark between you two to try a relationship. xoxo, Juliet
Dear Juliet, I am planning my wedding and I cannot find the perfect dress! I have tried on almost a millions demos and none of them are THE dress! What do I do? Signed, Naked at my Nuptials Dear Naked, Well we have to get you fixed right up! You can’t walk down the aisle in other your birthday suit…. Unless that is your cup of tea! As far as your perfect dress, you are lucky to have this problem in Secondlife, as opposed to real life. The possibilities in here are endless and so much cheaper. The first step would be to try on your favorite demo dresses from the hundreds you collected and find pieces of them that you liked. You might find one skirt and one top from two different dresses that work together perfectly! You may find that some have similar textures and will look as though they were made to match. Now, that doesn’t work, you can always ask a dress designer to help you create your perfect dress. Many of them will happily recolor a dress or design one from scratch as long as you give them enough notice. This avenue will cost more, but it will still only be a few real life dollars to have your perfect wedding dress. xoxo, Juliet