A day in my life

Did you ever wonder what a wedding planner does all day? Probably not. Not all wedding planners work the same way, by my typical day is run by a to do list (photo above). I start with a list usually 10 items long and add on as things come to mind, calls come in, etc. Yesterday I started at 5am. I didn't intend to start that early, but I woke up with tasks weighing on my mind, so I decided to tackle them right away. It was an unbelievably busy day. Tropical Storm Ernesto was a big influence. I was trying to get a day ahead if possible...just in case. First thing you'll notice is that not everything was completed (and I worked until 7:30 last night). Somethings took much longer than expected. For instance, I called Julie to make sure she sent in her deposit for the church. It ended up being an hour long call and we completely re-worked her budget. I had to go to 3 stores to find the perfect paper that matched Karyns invitation (see yesterdays blog) for a map that we decided to add. And getting my linen samples for Kristas wedding ended up being a 10 minute phone call followed by 2 faxes. So I went back at my email sent file and I sent 23 emails yesterday. I checked my call log; I made 11 calls from my office and 12 from my cell phone- all work. I sent 4 faxes, but one was registration for a yoga class that I'm taking with my friend Becky. I am so excited for that to start. I've never taken Yoga and I am the least flexible person in the entire world. So we'll see how it goes. I did take an hour and a half to make dinner and spend some time with my crazy kids. They are just so funny sometimes.
Oh, and I did have 2 cups of coffee, a salad, some bbq ribs (leftovers), a Perrier, I listened to Breaking Laces, Michael Buble, and Black Eyed Peas. I also had the weather channel on in the background the entire day, except for an hour of the today show and Ellen.

Order enough invitations!

It happened today. It wasn't my brides fault, she ordered plenty to begin with, but moms decided that there were more people who absolutley must get invited.
Always order more invitations than you think you need. At least 25. Why? Because chances are that you will forget someone, a few will get lost, a few will get ruined, and your moms will come up with at least 10 more people you have to invite. Adding 25 to 50 invitations on to your order should only slightly increase your costs. Doing another order entirely, after the fact- will cost you almost as much as your orginal order.
So that you can see the difference:
Original order (100): $185
Original order plus "just in case 50": $281
Original 100, and then new order of 50: $333
That's a $52 difference (or 8 pina colada's on your honeymoon).

Chef Julio got married!

Yesterday was Chef Julios wedding! It was a great wedding despite the stormy weather. Fortunately, a few weeks before the wedding we moved the ceremony from an outdoor location to an indoor one with a view. For Jen & Julios wedding, they were both hands on through all the planning. Jen literally made hundreds of tissue flowers to decorate the ceremony & reception with (she got the instructions from the Martha Stewart weddings magazine); Julio designed the wedding cake, and they both came in to the office to pick out their invitations together and went to meet with DJ together.
The ceremony was beautiful. I cried as usual. The bride wrote the ceremony herself and it included a "new family is born" piece as Jen has a daughter from a previous relationship. Jen also chose to stand on the right side, so that she could see her mom during the ceremony. I thought this was very sweet and unexpected twist on tradition. The reception was a huge party. DJ Ron had everyone on the dancefloor nonstop. They absolutely had a crowd that loved to dance. Especially the officiant- he went crazy on the dancefloor. Yep, he did the centipede, the running man, and the cabbage patch.

A little too much music.

Quick note: Turn the volume off on the photoshows below if the music is driving you insane. I have to figure out how to run them without sound!
More blogging to come today!

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

Whew; It is HOT!!! Really truly, it is insanely hot right now. No wonder nobodys getting married outdoors!
This weekend I hosted a birthday dinner party for my best friend Becky. Dinner for 12 is much more work than I had anticpated. But, leave it to the wedding planner to go all out. I couldn't just have the meal catered- it had to look good too. I got to use one of the hot new color combinations, tiffany blue & chocolate. I thought it came together well. I wanted all the guests to feel great too. So I made them all wear cocktail attire. The husbands weren't particualrly thrilled, but it was so much fun to have everyone dressed up. It was a real blast, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves, the endless bottles of great wine, and six course meal!
The chef, Julio, is actually a groom to be. His wedding is Saturday, and he's really excited about the event. As am I of course. Pictures below!

Running a little behind

I know, I know. It's been a very long time. No excuses other than I've been rather busy planning a dozen weddings and sending my kiddies off to school. Wahoo! I also managed to move and reorganize the WBS storage unit. I had no idea how much wedding decor I had accumulated over the years. It took me 2 entire days to move and reorganize. Now it is all nice and neat and the next time I need a 3x10 hurricane- I'll know that I have 12, but I need 9 pillar candles. Everything is organized in a detailed list (3 pages worth) and a photo of each item. Let's see if I can keep it that way through the fall season though! A girl can dream.

Hopefully you're all enjoying a nice end of summer. We survived another Hurricane Charlie anniversary (wonderful thing in these parts). Last weekend I held my 2nd Wedding Anthology. It's a small wedding showcase I started last year. I did an even smaller one this year; basically to prepare for a really big one in the late winter. I'm posting a link to some of the wedding ideas champagne reception photos. Can you believe I actually have all this stuff in my inventory? I had a difficult time deciding how to decorate the tables. Limiting it to these few was an awful task!
At the Anthology I focused on invitations. A big trend right now is the pocketfold invitations. They are really neat packages aren't they? A couple things to consider about the. They are pricey. Pricey to purchase, pricey to mail, pricey to print. You're best off going to a custom designer if you really like these invitations. Printing them yourself, you'll most likely end up spending just as much time and money on bad prints; smeared ink, off center margins- you name it. To mail these suckers is a whole new ballgame. The odd size and number of inserts you have, the heavier the paper, the higher the cost. I've yet to get one out for 63 cents.

Consider perhaps sending a beautiful traditional invitation and then, once you get the "yes " RSVP's send those folks the fancy expensive pocketfold with all the inserts. You could literally save half the costs!