The Rest is Cake....

Literally and figuratively! I mean once those 5 big things (5 F's, see below) are done - everything else is cake! There's stationary, cake, miscellaneous - the fun stuff.

All that fun stuff really can tie the whole wedding together! Whether it's a monogram or a theme of some kind (usually a color or a flower type) - it's nice to notice a trend.

Check out this super elegant and fun vineyard theme.... I love the table numbers in the wine bags, those are made out of cork, so it's a very green way to go! Sparklers as the send off, the invitations were made form recycled paper and cork (again green!), cork backed table cards (green!), cork (green, green and green!)boxes filled with personalized colored Jordan Almonds, the bouquet is beautiful, just a super elegant and classy way to theme a wedding!

Happy Birthday!!!

I just had to take a moment and wish Monica a Happy Birthday! Monica owns (along with her sister) a great catering business called Olive You, Eat Well Catering! They always use health conscience, local ingredients as much as possible, and it's always delicious! She also just opened a great little Cafe for Breakfast called Sisters. If you're ever in the Haile Village Center, you MUST try it!

Oh! And Monica is also the face of Mad Housewives Wine!!! So she's totally famous!



Happy Birthday Monica!

Fun!

This is the final installment of our 5 F's series, and it sure has been fun! (no pun intended)


Fun for a wedding reception would account for the band or DJ, this can also include any live music you have for a ceremony as well. Personalizing the ceremony is always a treat for your guest, don't you think? I mean when the bride and groom have kissed and they are announced as husband and wife, and then they are about to walk down the aisle and you are ready for "Dumm-dumm-da-dumm-dumm-dumm-dum-da-da-da-da-dummmmmm" and instead you hear "Let's Celebrate" or your favorite Beatles song, or "The Gator, Orange and Blue" Song, it's fantastic and it gets your guests ready for the fun'ness that is about to happen. The Reception.


Wedding Bands (I don't mean the ones you wear) have come along way! And so have disc jockey's - Bands are no longer cheesy, have songs that all sound the same- things can be completely customized to what you need and how you want it. For instance I just had a duo learn "The Feather Song" from Forrest Gump for a client - and it brought tears to the eyes of everyone there! Thanks Gosia and Ali! It was really beautiful - and the next moment they can play "We are Family" - make sure that the band you are working with sends you a DVD, this way you can not only see them in action but how they work with the crowd too.


DJ's have also gone from campy to classy! There used to be a lot of DJ's that would sing to the music and make themselves the center of attention - (I am sure there are still a few of them out there) but beware, ask lots of questions! Get references from vendors especially, we work with these companies week-in and week-out, so feel free to ask around. I find companies like Solutions Entertainment and Storybook Events work very hard to make sure that the guests have a great time - and the bride and groom are the center of attention.


Check out my friend Peter Merry's new book, it totally rocks it's called The Best Wedding Reception Ever, it has some great ideas for a fun and totally unique wedding reception.

Check out these images of Robin's wedding, photographed by Damon Tucci, the band was Derek & The Slammers - everyone is totally having Fun!!!

Fashion!

The 4th of our 5 F's series! Fashion, what the bride wears, what the boys (ahem, I mean men) wear, what the fabulous women who stand next to the bride wear, kids, mom - you know, anyone involved in the wedding, heck even the guest, all have to wear something, right!


Let's focus on the Bride and Groom for now (which is about 5% of the total budget), I'll get to trends in the bridal party soon enough. So the bridal gown -- the choices seem almost unlimited as far as the styles, colors, length, embellishments, fabrics - but everyone has a preference.


It's just seems to be common knowledge that certain body styles look better in certain styles, and the type of ceremony you are having should play a small part in what you are wearing as well, for instance - if you are getting married on the beach, you probably don't want a huge ballroom skirt (the sand will be coming out of those tulle layers well after the birth of your first child). You might also want to consult the sales people at your favorite Bridal Salon like Solutions Designer House, they are super duper helpful when it comes to, what to wear.


What certain body styles should or shouldn't wear:


Short, Petite Brides:
A-line and sheath look best.
Stay away from bouffant skirts.
Consider beautiful detailing at the neckline to draw the eye to the face.
Avoid details like ruffles on the skirt and dangling beads on the sleeves.
Wear a taller headpiece, like a tiara style.

Tall, Thin Brides:
Good news! - She can wear just about any style she wants.


Full-figured Brides:
Light-weight satins, chiffon's, crepes and silk Shantung's (a soft silk with a rough uneven surface) work best.
Avoid bulky fabrics like velvets and heavy satins.
Avoid glossy fabrics like shiny satin and go for the matte finish.
V-necks, keyholes and scoop necklines help de-emphasize the bust-line.
Go for fitted sleeves and avoid puff or full sleeves.
Empire waists and A-lines work best.
Avoid mermaid and form-fitting sheath silhouettes and skip the back bow.
Avoid the large pouf veil, but go for beautiful jewelry or a pretty headpiece.
Carry a small bouquet, rather than a mass of flowers.


I hope these helpful hints, well, help!


A- Line/Ball Gown by Justin Alexander:



Sheath Style Gown from Target (Love Targets new Isaac Mizrahi Collection!)

And for the boys (I mean, men), I was going to put a style board together for them, but then I remembered seeing exactly what I wanted on Junebug's blog, if you haven't been there, she's amazing!

And thus ends the 4th F.... for our final installment on the 5 F's, FUN!

Foto's!

I love photography! (I can't take a great photography to save my life, but then again, that's not my job) I feel a great photographer absolutely captures the moment so vividly, that you should feel as if the photo's tell a story of the event. Even if you weren't there to celebrate, looking at the pictures, just snap shots of the event, should give you a feel, create an emotion of being there. I've heard some people say "Geez, photography is expensive" and they are right, it's costly, but it's something you have forever, so to quote a MasterCard commercial "Photography isn't expensive, it's priceless!"

The actual photography should account for about 15%+ of the total budget. And one thing to keep in mind regardless of cost - you'll want to get along with your photographer. This might sound like a silly thing to say -- but this person is going to be "in your face" the whole day and if the photographer you've chosen is even slightly annoying to you, you might want to consider looking else where.


There are so many different photography styles out there as well, so my recommendation is to first take a look at the the photographers website, see if you like their style of work, be honest with yourself. Then, put together a list of the photographers you like, after that look at their package prices - then meet with your top 3 and see where things go from there. Take a look at the pictures below and click any of them to bring you to that photographers website.

Some other great photographers to take a peek at are Power's and Amantez, I just didn't have time to post their images. There are so many great photographers to choose from! Just take your time, these are images you'll have for life!

Flowers!

The second in our 5 F's series - the beautiful flowers and decor, I usually clump these into the same category. The decor can really set the mood for the whole event, you can have a soft and romantic ceremony with all white on white colors, and a fun and bright ceremony. Or just stay with the same idea throughout. Either way, flowers and decor can really make it moody.


Flowers and Decor are typically 10% of the budget, can can go up-up-up if you are looking for something very specific or it can go down if you are looking for a simple minimalistic look.


Most people have a vision of the type of look and feel they want -- fun and casual, classy and refined - whatever your vision is, you want to make sure that your florist/designer understands completely what you are looking for. And if you have a very specific idea, make sure that who ever you are working with understands this.


I pulled some photographs from one of my favorite local designers website Dan Hathcock, there are tons more on his website as well.







It just so happens that Darci Miller had a Flower Planner on her website today, if I didn't know any better, I'd think we were sharing a brain!

Food! (the first of the 5 F's)

Food accounts for 50% of the wedding budget (most of the time, depending on the area) that means that 40% of the entire budget accounts for what goes into the guests stomach - and 10% for the venue, that's a lot of money! We'll go over where the other money goes towards as the days go on....

But keeping that in mind, if food is uber important to you (or your client) that percentage can certainly go up! But if you are only serving cake and champagne, that figure can be lowered. But let's talk about what's typical - 50% for food and venue.

Did you know that when asked 85 out of 100 people said the #1 thing that comes to mind when remembering a wedding is what or how good the meal was - #2 was how fun the reception was. So food is certainly something that deserves some time.

I am loving the idea of serving fun and different foods, recently we coordinated an after party for one of our clients (another growing trend - for another post) the client wanted to serve lots of little foods, mini hamburgers (like two bits), mini grilled cheese and ham sandwiches and an espresso cup filled with tomato bisque, mini bite sized hot dogs in a bun! (all should be eaten in 2 bites).

Thank You!!!

I just had to take a moment and thank Caroline Johnson who took some fabulous photo's of me and my team! I am going to post them on the blog permanantly, but I wanted to show you how fantastical she made us look!!! Thank you Caroline!!!

The first picture is of me, and the photo below is of (in this order) Tyler, Myself, and Brittany:

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday means something to most people, but in the day and a life of a wedding planner or someone who works in the wedding industry, it means that we have at least one more day of work.... which is totally fine with me, because I love my brides!

There is so much to do before a wedding, did you know that that the average wedding takes 300 hours of planning! That's a lot of time, and a lot of details to take care of - that is why one of the largest trends now-a-days is to hire a consultant, if not just to help organize your thoughts, ideas, and know that you won't have to worry about a thing on the day of your life's more cherished celebration.

Anyone in this industry has to truly love their job - there must be a passion for weddings, a desire to help, be dependable, creative, understanding, organized, tactful, I think the list of adjectives can go on and on - but you just want your clients to be relaxed on the day of their wedding and have fun, that's what it's all about!

Meet Kristen and Justin, they are just having a blast - and it shows! We made a banner for them to run through when they were being announced for the first time as husband and wife! They loved it, their guests loved it, in fact they still stop me today and say how fun their reception was! (Photo by: Photograhy by Rebecca)

I think that sometimes wedding guests are sort of ho-hum about wedding receptions, thinking "they are all the same" - so kicking it up a notch is always a funner (gosh there's that word again!) way for guests to remember your wedding reception.

Stats show that guests 85% of the time remember the food first, and secondly how fun the party was, so make it a good one!

The 5 F's

For those of you who don't know me very well, probably don't know what the 5 F's TM are. So allow me to take a moment and explain.

I teach a class about how to be a wedding planner, and we talk about the 5 most crucial things in a wedding are the 5 F's TM these are Food, Flowers, Foto's, Fashion and Fun. Food being the venue and what you eat at the reception, Flowers, well that's obvious, Foto's (and yes, for this purpose it starts with an F), Fashion, what you wear, and Fun, the DJ or the the Band. And once you have the 5 F's the rest is, shall we say, cake.

So everyday next week, I am going to give you a tip on one of each of the 5F's TM - I hope you enjoy them!

Food:




Flowers:

Foto's:
Thank you Caroline Johnson for this image! I love it!!!
Fashion:


Fun!!!!
Thanks again to Brides.com for allowing us to use these images, except for photography, that was Caroline Johnson.

Pretty Things

Don't you just love pretty and luxurious things! Most everything wedding related is beautiful, that is one of the many, many reasons I adore planning weddings. I haven't met one I didn't like.

One of my favorite magizines is Grace Ormonde their magazine is always chock full of incredible ideas. Most all of them shown are on the extravagant side of things, but even the most cost conscience bride can pull off a indulgent wedding on a budget! I promise (more on that next week)! But for now just take a look at what's to come in the new issue of Grace Ormonde.

Fall in Love with Fall!

I guess I am getting the Fall bug, or maybe it's because Gator Football season is right around the corner, but I love the idea of orange flowers in fall! Orange isn't a typical flower the brides navigate towards, but it can be so elegant!

I know Jenna from Celebrate! will love this one! If you have any color palates you'd like to see or idea boards you'd like for me to post, let me know.

Next week be looking for Tip Of The Days on the 5 F's!

Wedding PodCast Network

I always love finding new sites that have GREAT information on them. And here is one that was love at first site (site...site...get it!) The Wedding PodCast Network has a ton of information about every aspect of the wedding, from conception to day of advice and everything in-between! That a great idea! Thanks WPN!

Wedding Websites

A big congratulations goes out to our new friends at Our Wedding Plus they have just launched this super cool new personalized wedding websites for brides and grooms who want to have their own wedding website that is extremely customizable, very user friendly and very affordable! Check it out at Our Wedding Plus!

A lot of our clients are starting websites for their weddings, it really helps keep your guests in the loop - especially for those guests that are traveling, or even the locals that want to keep dibs on their friends.

It's All about The Cake!

While I am on a cake kick, I thought I'd show you some of the newest trends in cakes, besides cupcakes, and doughnuts here are some other sweet confections of cake'ness. I love the tasting plate on the bottom left on the palate - technically you are supposed to taste cake independently of each other, so a small bite of cake, then a bite of the frosting, then the filling, then it all together... but really, who does that! So this sort of forces you to indulge and enjoy each part of the deliciousness!

I'd like to thank our friends at Brides.com and Charm City Cakes for the use of their beautiful images!

Create-a-Cake

How fun!!! Brides.com has developed this software to help you see what your ideas will look like in real life! You can decide on the color, the embellishments, the topper, the whole deal-io! And you get to play alittle bit with ideas you'd never get to see in real life.... So of course I had to try it! Check out the cake I designed!



Now design your own cake!

Working Bride

One of the first blogs I check in the morning is The Wedding Experts she had posted this a while ago, and I just loved it! It really shows why one of the most growing trends in the industry is hiring a wedding planner. There is just so much to do, so many details to focus on - and honestly unless you plan parties for 150-1000 of your closest friends all of the time, the details can be life-consuming!

This graphic from Glamour Magazine [part of a series of of most annoying co-workers] says it all. In fact, I have always found it very interesting that the heaviest traffic time on BRIDES.com is on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2pm-4pm. That is when most brides are [supposed] to be working!!! Any of you who have planned your own wedding, worked with someone planning a wedding or had someone working for and planning a wedding understand this all too well.

Wedding planning is all-consuming, all encompassing on every level - emotional, relational, financial, etc.It is the single largest [i.e. most expensive] life event that most people will ever host or have hosted on their behalf. Be aware and respectful of the single focus most of these clients have - it really is ALL about the wedding for the months of planning - exciting, stressful and thrilling all at the same time!

I think that anyone that has had a job with someone that was planning a wedding is all to aware of this scene.

Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot!

Now you don't need a Cootie Shot! I am always looking for new ideas to help my clients make their weddings super special! I think that brides & grooms are always looking for ways their friends and family will remember their wedding as "the best ever" - here is a way that can help personalize your cocktail hour or wedding reception and keep your guest interactive with one another.

A Cootie Catcher! Fortune Hearts has a great affordable and personalizeable (maybe that's not a word but it definately works) Cootie Catcher for all occasions- Super Fun, huh!

Easy as Cake!

I always love finding ways to make my clients lives a weeeee bit easier. One thing I like to do on the wedding day when it's time to cut the sweet stuff is - first ask the photographer where they feel the best "Cake Shot" will be- and then score the cake in the place where the bride and groom will cut the cake. This way they don't even have to think about where they'll need to cut, how they need to stand, it's all about making them look good! And getting a photograph that will have memories to last a lifetime!
This is a photograph of a wedding I did a while ago - The photograph was taken by Photography by Rebecca I think it's simple and sweet. (and you can't even tell that I showed the couple where to cut the cake)

Congratulations Solutions Bridal!

I had to take a moment to congratulate one of my very favorite Bridal Salons on 5 fantastic years! They truly know how to take care of a bride. They understand the what the bride needs, and help her to achieve her goals with style. Solutions Bridal for all of your Couture Bridal needs!

Just the Begining!

Okay, so I've done it! I started a blog, I can't believe it, I've wanted to for so long - but no promises! Okay!

I am going to dedicate to this blog to showing off my clients events, some new ideas, innovative ideas that my clients are doing or trends in the industry. I am so excited to get this started!

There is a new, well new to us, Custom Wedding invitation company that I have just fallen head over heals in love with! It's called Erickson Design they can do ANYTHING and my clients think they are amazing, as well! I think their website doesn't even do them justice! I have never been a fan of using labels to address your wedding invitations, in fact, I'd always tell my clients to hand write them - but Erickson's labels are so classy and rich looking, that I can't help but say, "Hey, your time is precious, why do it yourself when they look so good!" Take a peek and let me know what you think!

The envelope is on top - itsn't it pretty! And then the invite and all the matching inserts as well, all personalized to your liking! And did I mention super duper affordable!

Just another example, something funner (yes that is a word!) you can literally do anything your widdle heart desires! If you can think it up, they can make it!

Let me know if there are any blog ideas or suggestions you might have!