2020 has been the worst year yet. The COVID global pandemic caused small businesses to shut down, people to lose their jobs, couples to cancel, reschedule or re-plan their weddings, and families to stay apart from each other due to a health crisis. And just when we thought things couldn't get worse, the war in Artsakh started in September. Our hearts have shattered into a million pieces, and we pray for all the families who have been affected - from our heroic soldiers who fought to protect our land, to the displaced families of Artsakh. 

Like most Armenians, we have done what we can to help - financial donations, activisms to drive awareness, contacting representatives, etc. Our favorite way to support Armenia is by supporting Armenian owned businesses and Armenian organizations. We started Harsanik in 2007 because we wanted to celebrate our rich Armenian culture and to support Armenian wedding vendors. And so we hope you will continue to support Armenian owned businesses this holiday season and for all future gift giving celebrations. And if you can't find the right gift, consider making a donation in lieu of gifts.

We've compiled our Buy Armenian: Holiday Gift Guide so you can feel good treating your loved one while supporting Armenians.

• For Women
• For Men
• For Children
• For Everyone
• Simply Donate

'Tis the season for love! As we celebrate the most magical time of the year, we've featured our top 12 favorite Pinterest Christmas wedding inspirations:

1. Floral Table Runner

Photo Source Pinterest

We've featured some of our favorite inspirations from cakes, decorations, bouquets to accessories to help you visualize and plan a stunning winter wedding! 

Ceremony Decor 

With Summer coming to an end, we are transitioning to darker colors, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and everyone's favorite, Fall and Winter fashion. As leaves turn brown and the weather gets cold, bridal gown styles change as well. We scoured the internet and found 12 beautiful wedding gowns that are perfect for a Fall or Winter wedding. We chose our favorite designs from three top wedding designers: Pronovias, Ysa Makino, and Berta Bridal. We hope these dresses inspire new brides and help simplify the wedding dress shopping experience.  

1. Pronovias

Bridal Bouquets have traditionally been carried down the aisle by many brides. They are very important and must match the style of the wedding and the bride's overall look. The bridal bouquet makes a statement as it is the bride's main accessory during the wedding. There are many styles of bouquets to complement every bride. Brides can choose to do one or a combination of these styles. Here are 8 styles of bridal bouquets to help you find the one that best suits you! 

1. Round Bouquet

A round bouquet usually consists of flowers cut at the same height and tightly bound by stems in a round shape. This bouquet is perfect for the classic, traditional bride. 

See more photos from Ishtar and Lawrence's Featured Wedding

Harout and Vanessa were the winners of the Harsanik Engagement Photoshoot Giveaway with Jay Jay Studios. As part of the giveaway terms, we asked the couple to allow us to share their photos on social media. Not only did Harout and Vanessa share their photos with us, but they even gave us and our followers on Instagram backstage access to their entire photo session! We didn't expect to fall head over heels in love with this couple when Jay Jay Studios did our Instagram Takeover in April. After their photo session, we connected with them to learn a bit more about them. Harout and Vanessa are both Armenian and were born in Southern California. Harout works in Venture Capital and Vanessa is an attorney. We thoroughly enjoyed connecting with these young professionals and learning all about their love story, their romantic proposal, and their gorgeous engagement photoshoot at the LACMA Urban Lights. 

When and how did you two meet?

La La Land was not only an Academy Award winning movie, but it also was the inspiration of many proposals in Los Angeles. After all many of the iconic scenes from the movie were filmed in Burbank, CA which made it easy for men to plan an effortless proposal at a famous movie location. But for Vache and Maria this movie-inspired proposal didn't go quite as planned. Keep reading to find out how Maria getting the flu almost cost her the proposal of a lifetime. 

Recently, a very dear friend of Harsanik co-founders Marineh and Garen, Sevada Mardirosian, got engaged. Marineh and Sevada went to Hoover High School together (Go Tornadoes!) and Sevada still jokes that he is the reason Marineh was able to attend her high school graduation ceremony. Sevada mentioned to Marineh a few days before the proposal his plans of popping the question, and we were ecstatic with the wonderful news.  And it was no surprise that Sevada planned an incredibly romantic proposal since he is a hopeless romantic. He paid attention to every tiny detail and made sure to sweep Lusineh off her feet. We're thrilled to feature Sevada and Lusineh's love story and proposal details on Harsanik! 

Tell us about how you two met and what drew you to each other. 

Face it, the wedding is for the bride. After all in Armenian word for wedding, “Harsanik”, has the word Hars (bride) in it! But this doesn’t mean you, the groom, can’t enjoy the wedding or the process. After years of running Harsanik.com and now having had my own Harsanik, here are some tips I’d like to share with fellow grooms:

Tip #1: Prioritize

Define the scope of your wedding and stick to the main goals. Essentially have an MVP and keep things simple. The more elements you add to the wedding, the more things can go wrong.

Tip #2: Hire Professionals

The Happiest Place on Earth just got a little more magical for Roubena and Sarkis! Both being Disney lovers, it was no surprise that Sako chose to propose to Roubena in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland. We sat down with Roubena and Sako to get all the details of how they met, the proposal, and their wedding planning adventures to date.