kerry + chris :: the granary. new harmony, indiana
This is a very, very special wedding for the pfe team. One of our own event engineers, Kerry married her best friend. We designed every aspect of this wedding while collaborating with a fabulous team of vendors. Please enjoy! It was also beautifully featured on landlockedbride.com .
photographer: amy shepherd photography
plan on!
happy 7 birthday, pfe blog
Today is the SEVEN year anniversary of planning…forever event’s blog. That’s right! Seven long years ago we began blogging. As far as I know, we were on of the first wedding bloggers in this area. I believe there was another photographer that started in 2006, but the business name escapes me. Having a background in advertising and media, I realized early on the importance of having a blog to openly give information, teach and also convey who “we” are. And the deep desire to be ahead of the curve, drove me to blogging.
how to blog
It took a long time to find my voice. I look back at some of the old posts and I was so stiff. I wrote what a “proper wedding planner” would say. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Snooze Fest.
The key to having anything be successful (blog, business, career, personal relationships, et al) is to BE yourself and be TRUE to yourself. I have a little sarcasm to me. I know, I know … you’re shocked, dear reader. Well if you read this blog, you’re probably not. I like to poke fun (at myself first and then others). And I love to teach. This is why this blog doesn’t have 1,328 style boards for you to review. Others do that so much better. We like to use (for the most part) our real clients at their real weddings for eye candy in a blog post. But more importantly, we like to give real, straight-up, walk out of the room and use immediately, useful tips.
highlights over the past years
We’ve had a lot of “series” on this blog. Some have been very successful at going viral.
seeing each other before the ceremony
what wedding traditions should you keep?
on the job with a wedding planner (this one was SUPER fun)
don’t box your wedding vendors in (personal favorite, blog posts are STILL picked up by other vendors and promoted from this 2009 series)
how to choose a wedding vendor series
the real behind-the-scenes story to my most VIRAL post
Hands down, my absolute FAVORITE blog post of all time was the open letter to wedding church coordinators . This post was truly from the heart (with a little humor) because it was so personal. You see my father died on a Thursday and we had TWO weddings on that Saturday. I had to be at the wedding, no question. There was a local church (which I will not name) whose church coordinator was so mean and downright ugly to me that everyone noticed. The vendors, the wedding party, the family … they were all shocked at her actions. My team went above and beyond and no matter what we did she sat there with a scrunched up face in the back corner and would murmur ugly things. Even though I took the time to meet with her TWICE before the wedding to assure her everything would be great. Hmph. After the wedding, I was done and was full of her bad behavior. I approached her and her husband to let them know that this was unacceptable, I nor my team did not do any actions to warrant this type of treatment and shame on them for acting like that in a House of God. I’ve never publically told this story, but enough years have passed that I’m going to. I honored my Dad that day, by respectfully telling this person that her bad behavior would not be tolerated.
This blog post was also LOVED by many wedding planners because we often do have inter-personal issues with church coordinators. I see both sides to it, I really do and addressed it, I think, with humor and truth in the blog post. The wedding industry liked it SO MUCH that a little florist/coordinator in Texas copied my blog post (in its entirety) and posted it on a national newspaper website as the author. In other words, she stole it (and many other well-known blogger posts). Consequently, she was fired from that newspaper job. I still giggle about this. I mean, I felt NeNe Leakes, “I’ve arrived, hoooney, and the spotlight’s on ME!”
thank you, dear reader
More importantly on this birthday, we’d like to thank you for reading. Now one of the reasons this blog had some dust bunnies last year is because sometimes, we kinda get a block on what to write about. Between blogging and coming up with creative ideas for the Local 7 Lifestyles TV Segment, it can sometimes stump you. That’s why this year we started the Wedding Sayings Worth Pinning every Friday. Cute little phrases that may make you go Aha! and share with someone (or pin).
So .. is there something that you would like to have addressed or answered? What struggles are you having with your wedding that we could blog about to help you and others? If you don’t want to ask here openly, please email us at staff {at} planningforever.com
plan on!
switching sides at the wedding ceremony
all images: amy shepherd photography
So here is something crazy to consider, because you KNOW we like to shake things up.
You know at the ceremony (if facing the altar), the Christian and non-religious tradition is to have the Bride’s family and friends on the left side and the Groom’s respective family and friends on the right side.
At one of our weddings at the beautiful West Baden hotel, something happen seconds before the families walked down the aisle. There was some confusion and gathering of a large processional. So when the mother of the bride and father of the groom were escorted, they accidently went to the “wrong sides”. The bride’s mother was sitting on the right side (front row) and the groom’s father was sitting on the left side (front row). However, like tradition, the bride stood at the “altar” on the left and the groom stood on the right.
Standing in the back, immediately I saw this and thought, DOH! I still had a ring dog and three wiggly flower girls and ring bearer to contain.
Oh well, that is how weddings go. No such thing as perfection … just roll with it.
But wait, as the ceremony began I realized, this mishap is kinda brilliant. You see, the bride’s mom can now watch her baby’s face during the ceremony instead of seeing the back of her head. The same for the groom’s dad.
There are many speculations as to how this tradition started with having the bride on the left and groom on the right. My feeling it really comes from the right side traditionally being reserved for men as it is considered a position of privilege and power, (think Jesus is “seated” at the right side of God”. ) Perhaps that is why in Jewish ceremonies it is opposite.
I suggest, for keeping the tradition, but for the families, switching it up. Who cares where the parent’s sit? For us, the most important part is being part of the ceremony, the emotion and enjoying it. And as a mother, I would rather watch my son’s face while he takes his vows (15 years from now) than watch his new wife. Call me crazy.
What do you think? Love for you to weigh in … if you’re getting married, will you consider this shake up of this tradition?
