Howard Kier of Magical Moments Photography sent me these photos from the French Country Wedding I worked on in July. It was such a lovely day. I hope you enjoy looking at the photos from this rare event.
Click here for photos from July's French Country Wedding. Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
I finally got the photos from the wedding in June that I posted about back then. I have them on their own page. Click on the photo below if you want to see all of them. They really show off all the handmade things the bride made and the quiet, old-fashioned charm of this beautiful wedding.
Click here for more photos from this sweet wedding.
I’m re-running some old posts since I think they have some useful information. Here’s one from this time last year:
This bakery had a good contract--and good chocolate! Photo by Carasco Photography.
I want to share with you some information I give to many of my clients. It’s on a subject that is hardly glamorous, but is very, very important: Contracts. I’m not a contract lawyer, but this is what I have learned by experience.
When you are planning a big celebration, you will have to deal with a number of vendors, and each one of them should give you a contract. And each one will require a certain amount of your attention. You should read carefully each contract you are given. Make sure you agree with every point in it before you sign it. Because once you sign it, it becomes a legally binding document that might be very hard to get out of. It’s much better to negotiate it before you sign it.
And all contracts are negotiable, no matter what your vendor says. The point of a contract is to come to an agreement between parties, so don’t be afraid to negotiate your part of the agreement. I’m not saying that you can get everything you want into (or out of) every contract, but you don’t have to take whatever they give you without a murmur if you don’t like it.
Every contract should contain a certain minimum of information. It should have the vendor’s name, address, and phone number on it. If the vendor wants you to contact them some other way than by phone, that information should also be on the contract so it is easily available. The contract should also state clearly exactly what the vendor is going to do for you and when they are going to do it. Likewise, it should say how much you are expected to pay and when.
It is a good idea to include details in the contract: When and where will deliveries be made? Will the vendor only bring their goods to the venue or will they also set things up? If you change your mind and want something extra, what happens? And what will it cost? What happens if one party or the other fails to live up to the agreement? Finally, the contract should be signed and dated by both parties.
Florists and bakeries (in my experience) are notorious for offering incomplete contracts. Often, small shops don’t have the resources to put together complete contracts. In this case, you should not hesitate to hand write the missing information onto whatever they give you. It protects both of you.
I learned some of this from my dealings with a certain florist. What passed for a contract with the bride from this florist was just a list of floral options and prices with one of them circled. There was no information on delivery or set-up. I understood from the bride that the florist was going to bring all the floral arrangements into the venue and I would set them up. I even discussed delivery with the shop in the week before the wedding. Oddly, no one mentioned that the centerpieces weighed between 50 and 100 pounds, somewhat more than I can carry on my own. The owner of the shop showed up with the centerpieces, carried them down a flight of steps, and placed them where they belonged. I thought all was well. Five days after the wedding, I got an e-mail from the floral shop asking for additional payment because the owner had had to do extra work on the delivery. Fortunately, I had a copy of the contract (such as it was) and was able to explain that they should not expect to recoup their losses from me. It also might have been better if a complaint had been made on the spot so I could have solved the problem before it happened.
That experience is also one of the reasons I always insist on having copies of every contract that a bride has with her vendors. I can head off a lot of trouble if I know exactly what is expected of each vendor. So, read your contracts, make sure you agree with their contents, and send a copy on to your planner. You’ll be happy you did.
I do a lot of day-of coordinating of weddings. I have been hired six weeks before the wedding and I have been hired 18 months in advance. What is the optimal time for you to hire a day-of coordinator for your wedding?
Your day-of wedding coordinator should know your taste.
That is a complicated question, but one thing I know for sure is that you should not wait until two weeks before your wedding to hire someone. I have gotten calls from (rather desperate-sounding brides) who need to hire someone right away. Unless it is the depths of winter, chances are a good coordinator is already booked within six weeks.
Most of the calls I get for coordinating are from couples getting married within six to 12 months. I don’t generally book a job if it is much more than a year away. (There are exceptions to that rule, though, so if you know that you want to hire me, feel free to get in touch.) But any time within that range is usually a good time.
My rule of thumb is that you should have your date chosen and your ceremony and reception locations booked before you hire a coordinator. That way you can lock in a date with the coordinator.
Of course, if you are planning to hire someone to help with the planning, in addition to coordinating, that is another matter. Hire that person as soon as you start planning.
One thing I have noticed is that couples get a lot more service from me if they book farther in advance. Because my contract always includes unlimited phone calls and e-mails, if you hire me a year in advance, you will get a full year’s worth of advice, counsel, recommendations, and feedback from me–at no extra cost to you. The nice thing to me about that is that I really get a chance to know you and know what you want, like, and expect. That way, when it comes to your wedding day, I understand your taste and your wants and can make sure things are the way you like them.
To me, coordinating your wedding is all about communication. The more time we have to communicate with each other, the better the result will be.
I worked with a truly lovely couple this weekend on their wedding. It was at the magnificent South Shore Cultural Center. I have been to many events there and I was delighted finally to be able to work on a wedding there. It is one of the nicest sites for a wedding in the Chicago area, if you want my opinion.
My amateur photo of the wedding program. Better pictures to come soon.
It was one of those days when everything goes perfectly. That was partly due to the rigorous planning the bride and groom insisted on. (You should have seen their spreadsheet with everyone’s schedule on it. I was most impressed!) And it was partly just good luck. Well, the linens were an hour late being delivered (and you can’t start to put things on tables until the linens arrive), but the caterer, Wolfgang Puck, had twenty servers, so there were plenty of pairs of hands to get everything done in time.
And then everything ran like clockwork: Ceremony, photographs, cocktail hour, toasts, cake cutting, dinner, dancing, bouquet toss…. The highlight of the reception, as far as I was concerned, was the bride’s father’s toast. He had written and performed a song for his daughter and son-in-law about how they met. It was humorous and very well done. He’s clearly no amateur at these things. It was a surprise for the bride and groom, and I was standing where I could see their faces. They were clearly enjoying it. The groom had expected his father-in-law to do something unusual, but I think even he was pleasantly surprised by the form it took.
The other thing that was unusual about this wedding was the bride’s attitude. Even though she had planned everything down to the last detail, at the rehearsal the day before when she handed me the last of the paperwork, she said, “I don’t care if you do everything exactly the way I drew it. Just make it pretty.” She knew what she wanted, but she also trusted me enough to let me make the last-minute decisions. That was a real blessing when we were setting up. Sometimes a bride’s vision doesn’t quite fit with the reality of, say, the amount of space on a table, or the size of the floral centerpieces. But, since I could use my best judgment, everything was pretty, very pretty.
I love a good rainstorm. There’s nothing like the sound of a good, old-fashioned Midwestern thunderstorm. Unless it’s 5:30 in the morning on the day of an outdoor morning wedding.
Redfield Estate at The Grove
The bride, the groom, and I had been planning for months to have the ceremony and the reception outdoors at the lovely Redfield Estate at The Grove in Glenview. Naturally, we had a rain plan, but not one of us wanted to implement it. We all arrived before 8:00 in the morning and had to decide whether to move indoors or not. By then, the weather seemed to be clearing, but the lawn was very soggy.
We walked about to see whether we could do anything outdoors. Fortunately, the area around the gazebo where they wanted to have the ceremony was dry enough. After about a half an hour, I made an executive decision: We would have the ceremony outdoors but would serve lunch indoors, not on the damp and soggy lawn. The florist, the string quartet, and the sound rental company could all begin to set up.
Despite the late start and the uncertainties of the weather, this turned out to be a wonderful wedding. The bride and groom wanted a casual occasion where their friends and families could enjoy themselves. I think they succeeded amazingly well. The ceremony was personal and unique. It was bilingual to honor the groom’s French heritage and family. And it was followed by a receiving line and coffee and pastry.
The flowers, by Lynn Fosbender at Pollen, were perfectly French country: Sunflowers, lavender, a few lilies, etc. (I’ll have photos in a few weeks and you can judge for yourself.)
Then there was a lunch buffet, catered by Dave’s Specialty Foods, followed by dancing. Meanwhile, the bridal party went to decorate the newlyweds’ getaway car. They went all out, with streamers, cans, writing on the windows–and filling the car entirely with balloons.
This was a very personal occasion and a very fun one–just like the people who got married.
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