Jul 1, 2013 | Weddings
Would this pizza buffet win an award? It was perfect for this wedding.
I’m catching up on some TV shows and just watched an episode of “Four Weddings.” Ever watched that? It’s a (so-called) reality show where four brides rank each others’ weddings and the highest scoring pair win a vacation honeymoon. It’s a chance to showcase four very different weddings and to talk about what makes a wedding “good.” Naturally, I have an opinion about all this.
On the plus side, the show minimizes the cat-fight-type competition among the women. They end up friends at the end and cheer for each other. On the other hand, the things the weddings are ranked on are the venue, the food, and the bride’s dress. Really?? Are these the three most important things about a wedding?
Sometimes when I’m working with a client, I find myself up against this sort of made-for-TV expectation. I have had to talk more than one client down from this ledge and remind them that the important things about a wedding are:
- The ceremony and getting married to the right person.
- Having family and friends there for the occasion.
- Having a ceremony and reception that truly reflect who you are as a couple.
If you happen to have a gorgeous venue, delicious food, and a perfect dress, that’s a bonus. If you don’t, you’ll still end up married at the end of the day, and that is what really counts.
Apr 29, 2013 | Day-of Coordinating, wedding planning, Weddings
It all looks as if it is going smoothly. Only the planner knows for sure. Courtesy of sprungphoto.com.
Once in a while I have to toot my own horn. I have a story for you that is interesting and also answers that age-old question, “Why should I hire a wedding planner or coordinator?”
I worked on a wedding last year that was excessively well planned. The bride is, herself, an event planner and had everything organized down to the last detail. Someone with less experience than she had might have concluded that between her exceptional planning and the professional staff at the venue, everything would go smoothly. Maybe sometimes that is the case, but not here.
I won’t name the venue–to protect the guilty–but let’s just say that it is a medium-size place that is accustomed to large events. It’s the kind of place one might reasonably expect to know what it is doing when there is a large wedding on site.
Both the bride and I had expressed to them how important it was to set a sound level on their equipment for the recorded recessional music. I began asking the venue staff to set up the sound equipment soon after I arrived. Thirty minutes before the ceremony, the catering manager was still trying to set up his own equipment, and clearly didn’t quite understand how it functioned. I did manage to set a sound level before the guests were seated, but only barely.
Things went well for a while. The ceremony went off without a hitch, and the guests moved to the next room while the venue staff, the florists, and I turned the room over for the reception. Once the meal began, though, it became clear that the venue was under-staffed. No one poured wine at the head table, and it was hard to find a server. Not only that, but the venue manager disappeared. I simply didn’t see him after a certain time.
That meant that I became the point person for everything, even things I couldn’t possibly know. But that’s all right: I can find things out when I need to. I spent the rest of the wedding day answering questions and solving problems that should have fallen to the venue staff. The guests never knew anything was awry; even the bridal couple never knew. Only the bride’s mother and I were making sure that everyone else had a happy time.
The moral of the story is this: Good planning is very important, but no one can foresee everything. If you want your wedding day to go as planned, it is also important to have someone who is your advocate on hand to solve problems and smooth over difficulties.
Mar 18, 2013 | Weddings
I’m so lucky to get these wonderful photos of the weddings I work on. I have the professional photos by Ann and Kam Photography and Cinema for your viewing pleasure. Click on the photo below to see all of them.
Click here to see photos from the State Fair Wedding. Photo by Ann Oleinik.
More?
Feb 18, 2013 | Weddings
Kristi Sanford of Light On Life Images was kind enough to share with me these photos from a wedding back in September. Click on the photo below to go to the gallery and see all the photos.
A beautiful wedding with a backyard reception. Photos by Light on Life Images.
Jan 28, 2013 | Day-of Coordinating, Weddings
I have the photos from the board-game-theme wedding in the fall. These are really fun so I hope you’ll take a look at the whole gallery.
Game-Themed Wedding. Photo by Johnny Knight.
Jan 21, 2013 | Weddings
When I was a kid, you always knew someone had gotten married around town by the sound of the tin cans being dragged down the street behind the car. There were always “Just Married” signs on the car and sometimes streamers, balloons, soap writing on the windows, and every other form of decoration.
And then all that seemed to stop. For a couple of decades, that sort of thing was out of fashion. Even the first few years that I was planning weddings, I never saw a decorated car. But in the past three or four years, that seems to be changing.
Friends decorated the car for these newlyweds. Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
First, there was this one. The friends of the bride and groom (with the knowledge of the bridal pair) attached streamers and cans, and filled the interior with balloons.
Surprise! The interior was filled with balloons. Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
The bride and groom didn’t know about the balloons….
This past summer, my mother-in-law got re-married and someone put a “Just married” sign on their car after the wedding, too.
And two other weddings I coordinated this past fall had a decorated car. The first one had some decorous soap writing on the windows. But the second….
The sign says, "Long live the newlyweds."
Signs, balloons, streamers, paper flowers: the style was different but the idea was the same. I don’t think these are flukes. Look for more decorated cars after weddings. I do love to hear that sound of tin cans coming down the street!
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