New Photos
I’ve received new photos from the wedding in November I wrote about a few weeks ago. You can view them here:
Photo courtesy of sprungphoto.com.
A Great Team
My photo of the gallery set up for the ceremony.
Wedding planning is, in part, about putting together a great team of people who will make your wedding as perfect as possible. In the case of the wedding I managed on Saturday night, the two women who were marrying found exactly the right people. I am happy to say that I was of some help making it all go according to plan, including guiding them to some of the team members.
They called me just about a year ago needing help finding the right wedding vendors. They had their location already, the Black Walnut Gallery in the West Loop. It is a small, intimate art gallery with a back courtyard. It was the perfect size for a wedding with 35 guests (although the gallery will easily accommodate more guests).
The next thing they needed was a caterer. I recommended two caterers for them to try. First, they had a tasting with Dave at Dave’s Specialty Foods. After meeting with him and tasting his food, they canceled their other tasting. Dave was hired! I was thrilled for them because I knew they had made a very good choice.
They hired Victoria Sprung as their photographer. And we used BBJ Linen and Arlington Rental for linens, tables, chairs, dishes, and all the other necessities. The flowers came from a florist in their home town in Wisconsin. I never met her, but she did a beautiful job. Finally, they hired Rev. Rebecca to perform the ceremony. They found her independently, but she was the officiant I was going to recommend if they had asked.
Flowers on the bar, with some art in the background.
Good planning always pays off. I had gone over all the details with everyone, making changes as necessary, so when the day of the wedding arrived, everyone was ready to make a beautiful day for them. The servers set up tables, chairs and the bar; I set place cards, flowers, and decor for the ceremony; Dave put together his kitchen in the basement of the gallery and prepared to dish out splendid food; Reverend Rebecca arrived and began to give the place an air of sanctity. A few friends and family members pitched in to set up because they wanted to, but no one felt stressed. Even the weather cooperated with sunshine and 60 degrees in November.
Finally, it was time for the ceremony. Everyone commented on how personal and meaningful it was. Vows were made and rings were exchanged in a very moving manner. And then a celebration was in order.
While the guests enjoyed drinks and appetizers in the warm, candle-lit courtyard, the servers brought in the tables, as if by magic. I placed the ribbons, flowers, candles, and flower confetti on the tables while the tables were set. Dinner and dancing followed. Everyone worked together like a well oiled machine to make sure that all the guests had a good time. And at the end of the evening, I called cabs and congratulated the families on a very happy occasion. All the hard work that went into planning really paid off.
In a few weeks, I hope to showcase some of Victoria’s photos of the wedding here. From what I could see, hers are much nicer than mine.
Success Stories (3rd in the series)
Here’s a story from a few years ago (pre-blog):
The bride and groom were moving to Los Angeles the day after the wedding, so the reception theme was “A Farewell to Chicago.” They held the reception in a hall where they had gone to hear many bands, with catering by a well-known Chicago pizza place. Without a full-service caterer, they needed someone to set the tables, hire and supervise the serving staff and bartenders, and generally make things run. I made sure that the hall was ready for the reception, including setting tables for 150 guests, coordinated the caterer, the bar, and the band, and I made sure that the bride, the groom, and their families could have a good time without worrying about anything.
The caterer had not quite brought enough pizza for everyone. I think they underestimated how much people would eat. When the supply of food was dwindling as the line moved through the buffet, I knew I had to act. I whispered to the bride that there was a little problem, and she asked me to take care of it. After consulting with her mother about payment, I asked the catering manager to supply more food. He managed to get it there within a reasonable amount of time, and I don’t think anyone but the bride, her mother, and me knew that there was ever a shortage.
No one went hungry that night!
Sign On the Dotted Line
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.
What’s In the Emergency Bag?
One thing comes with me to just about every event I do: my emergency bag. I have a very sturdy canvas gardening bag with many pockets and pouches that contains lots of things that I might need at a wedding or other event where I am working. The contents of the bag change from time to time as I add or remove items, but the basic things it contains remain. Because I was a good Girl Scout, I try to be prepared for every emergency, and so my bag contains these things:
* An ace bandage, alcohol swabs, antibacterial ointment, bandages, an ice pack, and other things that might be needed for first aid. Fortunately, these things see very little use, but I always want to have them on hand.
* Bobby pins, a comb, a cuticle stick, dental floss, tissues, hand lotion, mouthwash, a nail clipper, an emery board, toothpaste, and similar personal care items.
* An eyeglass fixing kit, hot glue and a hot glue gun, a stapler, rubber bands, safety pins, a sewing kit, and velcro. These are the things I reach for the most often. There always seems to be one groomsman who loses a jacket button–if it isn’t the groom.
* Insect repellent, sunscreen, matches, a lint brush, pantyhose, and black socks.
The florist brought plenty of pins. But what if he hadn't? Photo by Happy Buddy PhotoArt.
* Aisle runner pins, wide white ribbon, corsage pins, and white chalk.
* And twenty kinds of tape. This is probably my favorite thing in the bag. Someone always asks, “Lisa, do you have any tape?” It comes in handy for so many things, and I have just about any kind you might need.
There are a few more things I would like to add to my stash to make sure I am prepared for everything. Don’t worry, though: If there is an emergency, I’ll come up with a solution whether I have that one item in my bag or not.
One Of Those Perfect Evenings
The cake, along with all the white lights I strung.
Last Saturday, I was the coordinator for a wedding, and it was one of those days when everything goes perfectly. That’s not to say that there were no challenges, but everyone rose to meet them.
The biggest hurdle we had to overcome was the weather. The wedding was at Architectural Artifacts/Atrium Events on the north side of Chicago. It’s a wonderful space and I look forward to working there again. The one and only drawback to the place is that it has no air conditioning. And Saturday was the first day this summer when the weather was over ninety degrees!
The ceremony was outdoors in the courtyard where the weather was bearable. The reception was on the lower level that had stayed cooler than the rest of the space. The caterer had also made sure to bring extra fans to keep the air moving at the tables and on the dance floor. Only the cocktail hour was indoors on the upper level where it was rather hot and crowded. The caterer, the photographer, and I all coordinated our activities so we could open up the lower level as early as possible to let people get out of the heat. (I thought the bride’s godmother was going to melt!)
The band started playing at 9:00, and the lead singer invited people onto the dance floor this way: She said, “As long as you are already sweating, you might as well be dancing.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. The guests took her advice, too.
But there was more to this wedding than just overcoming the challenges brought on by the weather. The lovely young couple had done an exceptional job planning their entire wedding day. They really thought through the details. In fact, I was still getting e-mails from the bride the day before with just “one more thing” she had thought of. She was a little apologetic until I told her that I’d rather she told me those things in advance, rather than waiting until half an hour before the ceremony. Knowing what they really needed, I was able to take care of all the little details that made the day special for them.
And because they had planned so thoroughly (and hired people who knew how to execute the plan), everything went perfectly. They had a lovely, personal ceremony followed by a terrific reception with food and drink, cake, flowers, meaningful toasts, and dancing to a very fun dance band.
Recent Comments