Mar 12, 2012 | wedding planning
Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
Every wedding planner has a calendar or timeline laying out the important steps necessary to plan a wedding and reception. The timeline is an important part of planning your wedding, but there are other equally important things to think about in order to have the wedding you really want. Here is one of them:
Consider the most important things about your wedding day. Right at the top of your list should be, “Ending up married to each other at the end of the day.” Keep that as your main focus and then, when something goes wrong, you will know that the day is still a success, as long as you are married (to the right person!) by the end of it. Also, if you are throwing a party, make sure you are inviting people you really want to spend the day with; and then throw a party they can all enjoy. It isn’t about impressing people or feeling rich for a day. It should be about having a good time with the people you like best, and sharing your happiness with them.
Mar 5, 2012 | Eco-Friendly Events, vendors, wedding planning, Weddings
Committed 2012 was last Sunday, and it was a successful and very fun afternoon. This was the first year the of the show’s existence, so the fact that a couple hundred guests showed up was very heartening.
What everyone said was that this was much nicer than most bridal shows. It felt more like a party than a trade show.
The Stephanie Rogers Band.
Music was provided by Cage+Aquarium (doing an all-vinyl set) and the Stephanie Rogers Band. There was food provided by several caterers, including FIG, City Provisions, and Pure Kitchen.
Setting up the truffles.
Katherine Anne Confections and Bleeding Heart Bakery provided delicious sweets.
Mignonette's booth.
Models from Mignonette showed off some gorgeous and highly unusual bridal dresses and vintage tuxes.
Collective Resource.
Collective Resource was very successful at composting the entire event. The ratio of compostables to garbage at the end of the event was about 75 to 1, maybe more.
And here was my set-up:
My area.
Feb 27, 2012 | Lace wedding accessories
Here's the first item I have for sale on Etsy. Photo by Light on Life Images.
Goodness knows, I’ve teased you enough times with hints of my tatted lace wedding accessories. This time, though, it’s for real. My Etsy shop is open and I have items for sale. I’m putting them on sale one at a time, so please visit often to see what’s new.
It takes a long, long time to make pieces of tatting, so I will always have a small stock of items. I will have wedding accessories, gifts, items for the home, and (eventually) some other things that will be completely different. I have tons of ideas, but it takes a long time to bring them to fruition.
I hope you enjoy my lace creations. I also do custom work, so if you see something that’s almost perfect for you, let me know. I can probably create something that is just right. Visit often, and please make me one of your Favorites.
Feb 20, 2012 | Eco-Friendly Events, vendors
A little bit of natural beauty.
I wrote a post a while ago about compostable disposables. I mentioned in that post that the thicker compostable plastic could only be composted in a commercial facility, and that is not always easy to find access to those facilities. Well, I have found a resource to help eco-minded people solve that problem.
Collective Resource is a business based in Evanston that is committed to helping you have zero-waste events. The owner, Erlene Howard, is tremendously knowledgeable about how to compost, what to compost, and why to compost.
For a fee, Collective Resource will bring compost buckets to you for your event (or to your home for household composting), help you figure out what goes into the buckets, and pick them up after the event. All food scraps and other compostables are taken to Land and Lakes in Chicago where they become nutrient-rich garden soil.
Feb 13, 2012 | Day-of Coordinating, Eco-Friendly Events, wedding planning, Weddings
I told you about Committed: An Avant-Garde Wedding Event a couple of weeks ago. Here are some more fun facts about the event.
Not only is this a wedding show presented by Chicago’s greenest wedding professionals, it is going to be a model green event. It’s at a location that is LEED certified. And the goal is to make it a zero waste event. Collective Resource will be composting everything that isn’t recyclable.
And did I mention the swag bags? Green Bride Guide is donating swag bags for the first 100 people to show up that day. That’s incentive to show up early!
If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, they are still available. Don’t wait until they sell out! Buy yours now.
Feb 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
Have I mentioned lately that you can Like me on Facebook? All my blog posts are on my wall there and you can comment and be part of the discussion.
Feb 6, 2012 | Lace wedding accessories
I’ve been sending out teasers from time to time about my tatted lace. Really, it will be on Etsy before you know it.
Here is one of my favorite recent things I've made. Photo by Kristi Sanford, lightonlifeimages.com
But I also teach tatting, for those who want to make some of this beautiful art for themselves. I have two classes scheduled at Pamela Penney Textile Arts in Oak Park. The classes are scheduled for Tuesday, February 21, 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, February 29, 1:00 p.m.
In a two-hour class, you will be able to learn all the basics of tatted lace, along with some of its history and trivia. If you’re interested, I encourage you to sign up now for the class.
Jan 30, 2012 | Eco-Friendly Events, vendors, wedding planning, Weddings
I have to tell you about a wedding show I am participating in next month: Committed, An Avant-Garde Wedding Event. It will be on Sunday, February 26, noon to 4:00 p.m. at the Greenhouse Loft, 2545 W. Diversey. You can buy tickets in advance.
Committed is sponsored by the Chicago Green Wedding Alliance, Chicago’s premier group of wedding vendors with a sustainable focus. Not only is this the greenest group of wedding professionals you’re likely to come across, they are also some of the hippest, most creative, most interesting businesses and people in the industry.
There will be caterers like FIG Catering and City Provisions; venues like Logan Square Kitchen; and even unusual vendors such as Collective Resource, a composting company. I’ll be there, naturally. Check out the full list of vendors at the link above.
And don’t expect your standard trade show with rows of look-alike booths. This should be a very fun and unique event. Buy your tickets now!
Jan 23, 2012 | Day-of Coordinating, Weddings
I have more photos for you, this time from the very fun literary wedding I coordinated in the fall. These photos are by Paul Grigonis, p+g photography. Click on the photo to go the full photo page.
A Literary Wedding. Photo by Paul Grigonis, pplusgphoto.com.
Jan 16, 2012 | wedding planning, Weddings
Why are there so many stories about wedding cakes? Is it just because they are so fragile? Anyhow, I had another fun one this past summer.
The cake should always look this perfect. Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
It was an outdoor wedding reception and the weather wasn’t supposed to be too hot, so I wasn’t worried about the cake. Normally, I would have asked the baker if she was freezing the cake, but it was a friend of the family and I wasn’t directly in touch with her. Well, the cake arrived unfrozen, and the day was warmer than predicted.
The other thing you need to know is that I had never met the bride. The bride and groom live out of town and had returned to the bride’s home town to get married. Somehow, we never met up. Whenever they were in town, I was unavailable. Or they forgot to tell me they were coming.
I was only at the reception, not the ceremony. So, I’m watching the cake wilt as the ceremony is going on and as the guests start to arrive. Finally, the bride and groom appeared. The cake cutting was scheduled for after dinner, several hours later. I walked up to the bride and said, “Hi, I’m Lisa. I’m very pleased to finally meet you. We need to do the cake cutting right after the bridal party introductions, not after dinner. Is that all right?”
Fortunately, these clients were flexible and agreeable. We made the change right there. The cake was cut before it melted or imploded. The guests never knew the difference. And a potential disaster was averted.
The moral of the story? Freeze your wedding cake on a hot day. Or be prepared to make other plans. Either way, your cake story will have a happy ending.
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