Archive for the ‘trendy tips’ Category

Who doesn’t love to win stuff? Imagine YOUR mug on the cover of Modern Bride magazine?

Then get off the hiney and click your way over to Brides.com. Wouldn’t it be cool if someone local won??? We have the best looking brides around!!! And omigosh….if one of OUR BRIDES WON!!!

woot! woot!

The contest has begun today and here is a brief excerpt from the Press Release:

The contest will be documented on CBS’ national morning news program The Early Show and will be announced by Ms. van der Meer on the show on May 16^th. America will vote on Brides.com to select the five “Modern Bride of the Year” finalists. The winner will be chosen from the finalists announced on July 25^th on The Early Show. She will then be photographed for the cover of Modern Bride’s December/January issue.

Submitted entries will be evaluated and narrowed down to 10 girls. Of the 10, five finalists will then be flown to New York for three days to appear in several segments on The Early Show, which is scheduled to include a Macy’s “Supermarket Sweep”-type registry challenge, a dance competition, a runway fashion show and more.

NOW GO AND DO IT!!!! You have nothing to lose. Except of course, winning!

Plan on! -saundra

Trend alert:

NEW interesting songs to walk down the aisle to … such as:

This little diddy by Colbie Callat (her voice is smooth like butter). We loved it so much that we used this song for our 2008 Highlights video.

And my bride, Tara Brown, a couple of weekends ago had her Bride’s Processional to a song recently made popular by the movie Juno. Performed by Barry Louis Polisar who writes children’s songs. It was absolutely precious and I hope to see it again soon at another wedding.

Dontcha just love individualism? Have you heard of any other cool songs for the wedding processional?

Plan on! -saundra

This is me with my bride, Brittany (Burris) Lear and her mother Dana.
We had such a fun time planning this wedding!

Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” is wrapped up today with last, but not least (what did you expect)….

Today we are going to talk about your wedding planner.

If you have hired a wedding planner to help you with your wedding, you get what we do. It’s so much more than picking out colors, loading gifts, or cutting the cake; we are there for you and all the other vendors to help create a memorable day.

Reasons why you should love your wedding planner?

1. They have a “game face” that is almost invincible. You’ll never see them sweat.
2. They mediate between the other vendors when problems arise (so you don’t have to). And they arise. Frequently.
3. Planners are your buffer to problems that you don’t want to deal with (especially on your wedding day), they shield you.
4. Your planner will look out for your best interest even when it comes to dealing with your family.
5. It is physically demanding work, a 3 day wedding weekend can mean 22-33 hours on their feet. Still, service is done with a smile.
6. They work under extreme pressure at times and take very seriously that there are no “do-overs” on your big day.
7. If you only knew how much sheer running around and fast-paced it is behind the scenes. Planners do that for you….your friends may not.
8. Your planner truly cares about your wedding day and making sure you have all your personal touches and special moments that mean something to you. You want your planner to take that kind of “ownership” because the passion is there. (This is NOT the same thing as taking over your day and making it her own).

Behind the scenes:

One time we had to wait for the mother of the bride to make the “rain call” while we watched it pouring down rain on the ceremony location. We had already implemented the backup plan; but never told her. Instead we waited patiently for her to give the okay out of respect (but the plan was already in motion).

At another wedding the bartenders did not bring champagne with them for the toast. We told the groom (who didn’t tell the bride) and we ran out to the local liquor store to buy more.

When our DJ’s building burned down the night before the wedding, we spoke with the parents of the bride but never told her about it. It would have stressed her out way too much. She found out at the end of her reception.

We don’t tell our brides/grooms when their family members are rude to us. Weddings bring out the best and worst in people. We realize that it is human nature that people will take out their anger on someone else (hired help) instead of the person it is really directed towards. We take it and move on.

We keep your information confidential; for instance when you don’t want to tell your mom that you’re pregnant before the wedding. Or how you really can’t stand your birth-father who has suddenly decided to show up at your wedding with his new girlfriend.

We are the bad guys at the wedding for you! We remove wedding crashers and asking guests to move when they have not RSVP’d and are sitting at a family table. But we also look out for your guests making sure the girls who had a little too much to drink make it down the stairs and into a car with a designated driver.

Bottom line: your wedding planner is as committed and passionate about your wedding as you are. So for that reason and many more, you should LOVE your wedding planner.

We hope that you have enjoyed this series of loving your wedding vendors. They (we) work hard for you, very hard. Sure there are mistakes, we are all human. We’ve all read, experienced or heard about wedding “disasters”. It’s more important to look at a person’s intent and what they did to fix the problem for a positive outcome.

Thanks everyone for the emails and comments…this series has been well received!

Plan on! -saundra

Our bride, Tina (Wolfe) Swain captured by Black Tie Video Productions.
Click on the picture to see her wedding highlights.

Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” continues:

Today we are going to talk about your wedding videographer.

More than half of our clients want to have video captured of their wedding. This is a digital age (duh!) so just think into the future after your children are born…..they will want to see video!! Video is an excellent compliment to photography to remember your wedding.

Reasons why you should love your wedding videographer?

1. Their equipment is heavy and can be cumbersome, it’s back breaking work!
2. They have to be as creative as they are stealthy to capture those moments.
3. Unlike photographers with digital cameras, they have to shoot a lot of film and usually will not check it until they are back in their studio the next day.
4. Serious skills in the editing department; that’s what makes you tear up when you watch your wedding video.
5. Flexible and understanding; they work long and hard while often not getting a chance to sit down or eat a full meal.
6. They are challenged in capturing your moments because people walk in front of their cameras all the time (sorry, I do it too).
7. Somehow they get your vows on film, even though your pastor or priest will not allow them to stand in a good position in the sanctuary.
8. Like any true artists, they pour their hearts and soul into creating a video by editing raw film footage and adding music that will leave you feeling like a movie star!

Our groom, Luke Lear at his wedding to Brittany (Burris) by Black Tie Video Productions.
Click on the link to see their wedding highlights.

Behind the scenes:

I’ve worked with a few wedding videographers both locally and outside our immediate area. It never ceases to amaze me how professional and how much energy they use on a wedding day (I thought I was the one that buzzed around a lot).

Humorous things that I see is how often videographer’s shots get messed up (of course after the editing process all is usually good). Because they stand so still they seem to blend into the background, which is a good thing. BUT, guests and wedding planners (okay, me) sometimes will walk right in front of them, which is not a good thing. I’ve had to train myself to be aware of where they are at when I’m running around on a wedding day.

They can have challenges also with DJ lights. You know the first dance is beautiful and then there is a blue light bouncing off the bride’s face. No problem when you are watching it in person; but when you transpose that image into video…they may end up looking smurfs!

They hear and see EVERYTHING! You know when they are recording you and your bridesmaids getting dressed on your wedding day; they are recording with audio too!!! It’s a good thing there is an editing process and music takes the place of some of those conversations. *wink* At one of our weddings, the videographer taped me threatening to stick one of the “overly-friendly” groomsman with a boutonniere stick pin. It was fun to see that raw footage later.

Overall, wedding videographers are absolutely committed to capturing all your memories to create something that you, your family and friends will enjoy for many years to come! For that and all their hard work, THAT is why you should love your wedding videographer!
Plan on! -saundra

Tomorrow: love your wedding  planner

Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” continues: Today we are going to talk about your wedding florist.

If you have every tried to do your own DIY flower arrangement, you will know why you should love your wedding florist. It’s more than just having a green thumb, they have to be creative and have serious skills to create dazzling floral works of art! Let’s face it; it’s more than collecting a bunch of flowers, putting floral tape around it and a ribbon!

Reasons why you should love your wedding florist?

1. They’ll let you know what flowers are in season so you can save a buck.
2. They can take a $450 bridal bouquet picture that you ripped out of In Style Weddings and recreate it without the impact on your pocketbook.
3. They make it their business to know a zillion kinds of flowers; all filed and stored in their heads!
4. Florists are like MacGyver with interesting and creative ways to create an awesome visual!
5. Great florists are willing to: make a prototype before the wedding, make minor adjustments to your bouquet and will throw in an extra boutonnière or corsage (for breakage or oops-you-forgot someone important).
6. While this is a creative job it is also incredibly physically demanding. They have to stand for hours in a chilly warehouse so you can have your dream wedding.
7. They work under tense deadlines and tremendous pressure to cater to emotional clients.
8. Snow, rain, humidity, oppressive heat or cold…they work hard to setup/tear down your décor whether it is inside or outside!

Behind the scenes:

I have so many behind the scenes stories regarding florists…that this could be a long post. So instead I’ve decided to tell you a story about how this whole “love your wedding series” was born.

During my trip to Atlanta earlier this year, I went early with Sally (a florist whom I hire frequently for our client’s floral needs) to work with a floral/event designer friend of hers. We worked actual production for two large weddings that where in the 5 to 6-figure dollar range for décor. Definitely Big City stuff!

On Friday, we worked production in a cold, large warehouse to create the centerpieces. Can I just tell you that I would personally want to manage 10 crazy, emotional brides than work in a warehouse? But that’s just me.

Look at the money flowers in this warehouse!

On Saturday we showed up at the gorgeous downtown Hilton to assist with installation for a large Indian wedding reception. This was actually their second wedding reception, to honor the groom’s family in Atlanta.

The bride loved red roses and there were at least 45 centerpieces with about 50-75 roses in each one (there were two sizes). When her New York wedding planner saw the rose centerpieces we had made the previous day, he simply shook his head and said, “No! The bride is not going to like them…she wants the roses tighter together with minimal spacing or greenery”. Oooookay…no problem.

These were the centerpieces before we did the redesign.

AFTER the redesign, nice and compact.

So in the outside veranda at this beautiful and expensive hotel we laid down plastic sheets and reworked the design in every single centerpiece. I pulled out and cut over 2,500 roses while Sally would create arrangements. It took us four continuous hours with one break. We were very methodical at first but towards the end we had to really push ourselves so we could clean up before guests showed up! Literally we were rolling the carts out to the service elevator while guests were starting to come up the stairs. Whew.

Those suckers were heavy!

Pretty room! and the centerpieces did look better the way the bride wanted them.

The bride and groom never knew how hard we worked. And for the record; I no longer like red roses.

For the florists that deliver exceptional service and let their brides see their wedding bouquet and floral arrangement before the wedding, like we do, for that … you should love them!

Question: what do florists get on Valentine’s Day? teehee.

Plan on! -saundra

Tomorrow: love your wedding videographer!

Virginia and Dave’s backyard gourmet feast created by Just Rennie’s.

Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” continues:Today we are going to talk about your wedding wait staff and bartenders.Often overlooked, these players in your wedding are CRITICAL to a successful event.

Think about it. There are three things that a guest will remember from your wedding: Food, Fun and Service. You really don’t know how important good service is until your receive, um, bad service.That is why a good wait staff that can serve your wedding meal proficiently and quickly is so important to help keep the overall flow of the evening.

Reasons why you should love your wedding wait staff and bartenders?

1. They work really hard. Ever serve meals or clear tables? How about at a reception where the bride was sure she could squeeze 280 guests in a room that seats 250. And it is a plated/served meal.
2. Often unappreciated and sometimes not treated kindly, they still work really hard.
3. Your bartenders are on their feet, working tirelessly to quickly serve your guests.
4. Often understaffed, they have to work twice as hard.
5. Your bartenders have to deal with your drunk guests. Seriously.
6. They are grossly under paid.
7. Really, they should be paid more.
8. Oh, did we mention, they are often under paid for the services they perform.

Behind the scenes:

We planned a beautiful backyard wedding a few years ago (see the photo above); which was a fete to pull off and a sheer volume of work. So when the hailstorm and sky to ground lightening made the guests rush in the home for cover, we had a small problem on how to serve the gourmet courses to the guests. The wait staff and bartenders under unbelievable time constraints, pressure, and tight preparation quarters…served the guests quickly and the guests response was that the food was unbelievable!

Here’s a thought on gratuities. We know that gratuities are almost always included in caterer’s contracts which covers the wait staff and bartenders. You are already paying 18-20% of your bill.

However, I contend that if your wait staff or bartenders did an exceptional job, really went ABOVE and BEYOND (the scenario above for instance), then it is perfectly acceptable for you to give them an additional tip. If you choose to do so, be sure to give cash and directly to the servers.

Plan on! -saundra

Tomorrow: love your wedding florist!