Yesterday evening in the back yard of a Victorian house on the main street of a small town west of Chicago, there was a wedding like no other. Everything had been hand made by the bride–and when I say “everything,” I am hardly exaggerating.
Many brides have DIY projects, but few do what this bride took on. Not only did she make all the ceremony and reception decor and her invitations, but she also made 150 paper boutonnieres for her guests; silk flowers for the wedding party and her close family; her dress and jewelry; her mother’s dress and hat; and all her bridesmaids’ dresses.
If you want to see everything she did (along with instructions for some of the projects), check out her blog. It was an incredible feat of planning and crafting, and the result was absolutely beautiful.
Hand made table decor for the reception.
The photo above gives you a small sample of the DIY crafts on display at this wedding. Front and center is one of the table numbers leaning on the small container garden used as a centerpiece. All this is on the vintage wallpaper used as a table runner. In the background, you can see the doily menus on the plates and the votive candles in mason jars. In the lower right-hand corner is a glimpse of a paper napkin with the guest’s name hand stamped on it.
A wider view of the tables and tent decor.
In this photo, you can see how the decorations all came together. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the chandelier the bride made. It hung over the dance floor. I’ll post a picture when I get it. Here are a couple more photos to give you an idea of what it all looked like:
The basket of handmade paper bouttonieres.
Place cards in individual envelopes.
As if all this weren’t enough excitement, the annual tractor parade went by the house during the cocktail hour before dinner:
One of the tractors in the parade.
Another tractor in the parade.
The wedding guests watch the tractor parade.
Taken all together, it was a very exciting evening and a lot of fun for the guests. Even for me, it was fun. Because it was a wedding at home, not in a venue with staff accustomed to major events, a certain amount of extra work fell to me. Naturally, I was more than happy to do it, since that is what I am there for.
One word of caution, however. If you are planning your wedding for your home or your parents’ (or anyone else’s, for that matter), be aware that it is a tremendous amount of work for the person who owns the home. The parents of this bride were extraordinarily generous in opening their home to 130 guests plus wedding vendors. They moved a lot of furniture, cleaned, decorated, and gave up the use of their home and yard for several days. And I’m sure it will take a couple more days to clean up and return everything to normal. Their daughter and son-in-law are very lucky.
Last week, I was at the second meeting of the Chicago Green Wedding Alliance. This is a group of wedding vendors who are all committed to environmental sustainability and social responsibility. The official mission statement is:
Chicago Green Wedding Alliance is established to encourage mindful weddings, commitment ceremonies, and social events by connecting a community of environmentally and socially responsible vendors with the conscious consumer. Members are united in their effort to continually grow and inform their responsible business practices through the support of their like-minded peers.
This group is still quite new but it’s an exciting group of people. Watch for more information on a vendor list at their website and some upcoming events.
Together, we plan even the smallest detail. Courtesy of sprungphoto.com.
Sometimes it takes someone else’s chance comment to point out how one is different from others. I had that experience this week when I was chatting with the owner of a very nice event space. She asked what services I offer my clients, and when I described what I offer for day-of event coordinating, she couldn’t help saying, “That sounds like a lot more than day-of coordination!”
Here’s what I offer besides coordination on the day of a wedding: one planning meeting at the venue; a two-hour rehearsal; confirmation of all vendors; timeline for the day; floor plans, if needed; vendor referrals; and unlimited phone calls and e-mails. Also, unlike some others, I am happy to book a year in advance. What this means is that when you hire me to do day-of coordination of your wedding, you also get a consultant who will work with you through the entire process. By your wedding day, I am thoroughly familiar with what you want to have happen and I have been able to think it through. And for all that, I think my prices are quite reasonable, too.
Why do I offer so much for so little? I like to offer my clients the highest level of service and value for your money. In order to be fully prepared to coordinate a wedding, it is well worth my time to get to know my clients and get to know what you want and what you expect. And for a minimal investment of time, I can help you to refine and improve your plans so you can actually have the wedding you want.
Would you like to find out what I can do for you? Get in touch and I’ll tell you.
Back in January I was interviewed for a green weddings segment on the show called “Save My Planet” on the Live Well HD Network. Well, it has finally aired and is available on their website. It’s a fast-moving overview of ways to make your wedding environmentally friendly. You can watch it here:
There was no payment for referral of this vendor! Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
The other day I was talking to Howard Kier of Magical Moments Photography about an upcoming job we are doing together. We got to chatting, once business was done, and started to talk about some of the scams we have run into in this business. I told him about the owner of a small, second-rate venue who had leaned on me to pay him 10% of my fee any time he referred a client to me. Howard told me about the time he walked into a venue to start shooting photos for a wedding when the owner hit him up for a $100 fee just to work there.
And then he told me about some new rules put out by the Federal Trade Commission that regulate payment for endorsements. He has even gone so far as to call the staff contact at the Bureau of Consumer Protection (a bureau of the FTC), one Richard Cleland, to clarify what effect the new rules have on the wedding industry and on the kind of payments that occur routinely.
As you may know, it is common for a vendor to pay a planner a percentage of their fee for a referral to a client. Some venues also charge vendors a fee or percentage for the privilege of being on their preferred vendor list (or sometimes require them to advertise in their in-house magazine at the usual rates). Under the new FTC rules, these transactions are legal ONLY IF they are disclosed to you, the client and consumer.
Here is how Howard described his conversation with Mr. Cleland:
Richard said when a venue provides a preferred vendor list, it is an endorsement from a trusted source. Any payments made by vendors to be on that list do fall under the endorsement rule and will have to be disclosed.
As I understand the rules, your wedding or event planner, is also a “trusted source” and should, therefore, also disclose any payments made by vendors for the privilege of a referral. So, you have the right to ask whether there have been payments for referrals and you have the right to receive an honest answer. (And if you have evidence of any funny business, you can complain to both the FTC and to your state’s Attorney General.)
In my experience, most vendors are honest folks who play by the rules. Some of them may not yet be aware of the new rules requiring disclosure of payments. And there are a few who are not to be trusted. Use your best judgment. And, as always, you can count on some of us, like me, who say up front, “I do not take payments for referrals. Ever.”
It's all about you.... Courtesy of sprungphoto.com.
I was most honored to receive a very positive review on Yelp that described me as, among other things, having a “servant’s heart.” At first, to be honest, I was not sure what kind of a compliment that was. After all, I am a professional and consider myself to be a manager.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that it is one of the highest compliments I could have received. My work is in a service industry, after all. My goal is to make magical things happen while remaining invisible, myself. My focus is on my clients and on their wishes. These are, I think, all the hallmarks of service. If that is what is in a servant’s heart, then I do fit the description.
I’m sure that I came by this ethic by working as a theatre stage manager for so many years. In the arts, the highest goal is to serve the artistic product. There is no room for ego, so I learned to think less of myself and more of the art. This has carried over into my practice as an events professional. It’s not about me. It is all about you. And I am very pleased by the feedback that tells me that I am achieving that goal.
Chicago Green Wedding Alliance is established to encourage mindful weddings, commitment ceremonies, and social events by connecting a community of environmentally and socially responsible vendors with the conscious consumer. Members are united in their effort to continually grow and inform their responsible business practices through the support of their like-minded peers.
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