Traditionally, the rehearsal dinner is an opportunity for a couple to thank everyone who’s making their wedding possible, and to share time with their closest friends and family. However, the dinner is often the last thing they turn their attention to. Aiming to deliver a stress-free, memorable pre-wedding celebration, Well Rehearsed is an event planning company that focuses solely on rehearsal dinners.

Two main packages are on offer: the first helps the couple plan the party and leaves them to choose vendors, the second takes everything off their hands and lets them focus on everything else wedding-related. Based in San Francisco, Well Rehearsed mainly works in the Bay Area, although it can organize an event remotely for further-flung customers.

Event planning is a highly competitive industry. By focusing on an often-overlooked element that can be outsourced separately from the rest of the wedding, Well Rehearsed has carved out an appealing and potentially lucrative niche.

Website: www.wellrehearsed.com
Contact: info@wellrehearsed.com

Spotted by: Alexia Clements

The word "commune" may connote images of long-haired hippies and failed experiments, but in today's ailing economy, that's no reason to abandon the concept altogether. So goes the thinking behind Wanna Start a Commune?, a website now in beta that's dedicated to promoting a fresh take on the communal-living idea.

Wanna Start a Commune aims to provide members with the tools they need to share resources of many kinds, whether or not they actually live together. The site's 24-page "Tools for Commune Starters" pamphlet—downloadable for USD 3—includes a "get started" checklist, resource-sharing guide, potluck and workshop planning tools, organizational documents and technology tips for managing and growing a commune. Commune-related events are in the works; meanwhile, interested consumers can follow the organization's three pilot projects currently underway in the Los Angeles area at CuldesacCommune.org. In one pilot in Topanga, for instance, members are taking a communal approach to planting wildflowers, rodent control and building a new well, as well as carpooling and installing a communal pizza oven. The other two—one in Hollywood and one in Rustic Canyon—are teaming up to barter services, install a shared solar array, create a disaster preparedness plan and offer salsa dancing lessons. The group invites consumers interested in starting pilot projects of their own to contact the site for help.

There's nothing like necessity to make once-discredited ideas gleam anew with fresh possibility, and that's particularly true in this case given that neighbours are already forging new connections online and shoppers have begun teaming up to wield their crowd clout for discounts and other benefits. The communes of the '60s may not have lasted, but who's to say a modern approach won't make them just what we need today? (Related: Neighbourhood approach to renewable energy.)

Website: www.wannastartacommune.com
Contact: us@wannastartacommune.com

Spotted by: Alex Warren

There's no doubt having a baby is a joyful experience, but most moms would likely agree that it would be a whole lot more joyful if one didn't have to start off so sore and tired. Aiming to transform the hospital stay into one of relaxation and rejuvenation, Go Home Gorgeous hopes to better equip new mothers for the sleepless times ahead.

Minneapolis/St. Paul-based Go Home Gorgeous offers a variety of in-room spa services for new mothers designed to help them go home from the hospital feeling better than they did when they arrived. Available services include a "foot thanking" treatment for USD 45; scalp, neck and shoulder massage for USD 60; traditional body massage for USD 85; and a postnatal body therapy package for USD 139. Gentle massage, aromatherapy and soothing music are used to transform the hospital room into what the company calls a "Spa-Spital" room, where eucalyptus-infused steam towels, for example, decrease water retention, deepen breathing and increase circulation. After mom and baby are home, meanwhile, the company's in-home "Sleep Relief " offerings include night nanny, baby nurse and postpartum doula services—night nannies even arrive fully self-sufficient with their own cot, pillow, blanket, reading light and water bottle. Hourly rates vary from USD 20 to USD 35 per hour, with a USD 45 setup fee. Sleep massage packages, pregnancy massages and errand-running services are also available. Go Home Gorgeous donates 3 percent of its profits to organizations that help women in need.

Currently serving just Minnesota, Go Home Gorgeous plans to bring its sanity-saving services to the moms of Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Boston later this year. One to get in on early...? (Related: For new moms, by a new mompreneur — Members' clubs for moms — Concierge service for busy moms.)

Website: www.gohomegorgeous.com
Contact: info@gohomegorgeous.com

Spotted by: Susannah Haynie

Just a few weeks ago we wrote about Links Lessons, a Florida-based social network that offers personalized golfing instruction online, and since then one of our spotters alerted us to a similar coaching site for cricket players.

Both Links Lessons and MyCricketCoach invite users to upload a video of themselves playing their sport for professional analysis. But whereas Links Lessons offers a session of such instruction for free as a way to help local instructors recruit new clients, MyCricketCoach sells its coaching in the form of online lessons beginning at AUD 55 per session. Clients of the site, which is led by Australian cricket veteran Gary Cosier, begin by uploading a video of themselves playing in a recent practice session; the site serves everyone from beginners to advanced players. Within 48 hours Cosier then delivers coaching in the form of voice-over and written comments and instruction drawn right onto the video the user originally uploaded. Clients can also access the MyCricketCoach video coaching library, and live coaching is available as well for players equipped with a video camera and computer at their practice session.

Next on MyCricketCoach we'd expect to see the addition of community features that let clients connect. Nevertheless, whether it's guitar lessons or coaching in a favourite sport, online instruction brings professional expertise—and the status skills that result—within reach of anyone with an internet connection. Any bets on which sport or hobby will be next...?

Website: www.mycricketcoach.com
Contact: contact@mycricketcoach.com

Spotted by: Emma Crameri

The web has spawned new ways to track just about everything under the sun—from our finances to the foods we eat—so why not our sex lives too? Indeed, Bedpost is an online application now in private beta that helps consumers do just that.

Bedpost is an entirely personal application, password-protected from the prying eyes of others, and stresses that it offers absolutely no social networking features. Rather, it is a way for consumers to keep track of the sexual encounters they've had by logging in and entering some key details after each one. Users begin by creating a profile for the partner involved in their most recent encounter and then clicking on the calendar to indicate when the encounter happened. Then, they enter not just the time it happened, but also how long the encounter lasted, some descriptive tags and a star-based rating of the experience. The site then records all that information and presents it in a map of activity for the month on the user's dashboard. For a historical view, Bedpost tracks summary statistics including frequency, average rating, and totals for the month and year so far. "Solo sex" tracking is also available.

As Bedpost notes in its privacy section, sexual data is potentially second only to financial information in its sensitivity. Will consumers be willing to trust a third party with that information—and will the benefits make any risk worthwhile? Time will tell. In the meantime, Bedpost is seeking donations as votes for the project's long-term viability.

Website: www.bedposted.com
Contact: feedback@bedposted.com

Spotted by: David Licona