Wedding Planner in the making

I came across these pictures earlier and laughed so hard. Maddy , who was 6 at the time (8 next week), decided we needed placecards for a casual family dinner one night. It was so cute.
She also required us to have a ticket to actually sit.

Rockin Organists, Mylin's Cd, & the whole tour.

Well, somehow, no thanks to a certain airline way at the top of the alphabet, I made it home. L.A. was fun, but no way could I go back to living there. I love the laid back style of Florida. Poofy hair weather and all. I swear it was 500% humid today.

I got a call from a client today. Her 1st words when I answered were, "That organist ROCKS!" I swear I nearly fell off my chair laughing.
Another client sent me an email that she and groom met with the cake baker, and picked out a mad hatter cake! I'm really excited to see it. The baker is so talented and I'm sure it will be an awesome display. I'll be sure to post a photo after the wedding. Less than a month away! Hatter? Is that right? Or is it hadder? Who cares. You know what I mean.

Before I forget, I met with an old friend of mine while visiting California. Actually she was my 1st roomate. Oh my gosh we had so much fun. We lived in Greenich Village in the littlest dorm-like room ever. We made Ramen Noodles in the sink. We went clubbing at Limelight 3 to 4 nights a week. And we frequently snuck into the tv room to catch Adam Sandler on SNL. Those were the days....Anyhoo, she just released a new cd, check it out if you are looking for something new. Plus she's my friend and I want her cd to go quadruple platinum. I think that would be pretty cool for her. You can get to her site http://www.mylinmusic.com by clicking the title above.

Last week I had the opportunity to get a private tour of Pink Shell Resort on Ft Myers beach. I was shocked. Here's why. I had been to this resort several times. In fact, I had been on 2 site tours prior to this one. Huge difference this time because the catering director showed me everything, a complete tour of the property. Apparently I got the "short" version previously. After eating at one of their restaurants, spending an afternoon at their spa, seeing 4 of the different room types, all the ceremony and reception sites, and then experiencing a mock wedding and reception, I have a completely different take on the place. Here's what I've learned- and want to share with all brides looking for their wedding locations: Schedule your site visit appointments for a time when the catering/sales director has the most time to spend with you. Don't take a "I can fit you in between" appointment. Tell her/him you want a complete tour of everything. AND if at all possible, eat at the venue & peek (don't crash) in on a wedding. You might be pleasantly surprised, as I was.

My first wedding baby!

I got one of the happiest emails ever the other night. My first wedding baby arrived this week! Mandy & Andy are the proud parents of cutie pie, 6lb9oz Aiden. He just looks so beautiful and I'm thrilled that he's here! Andy is still in Iraq but got to listen in on Aidens arrival by phone. It seems like just yesterday Andy cut into his grooms cake to find out he was going to be having a little boy (see picture). We surprised Andy with the cake and told him the color of the middle icing would reveal the sex of the baby! Hands down, the most exciting cake cutting ever.

I kid you not, I was in the most amazing wedding dress store ever today. Being a wedding planner you know I see my fair share of dresses. These were unlike anything I have ever seen and beyond stunning. Check it out www.LesHabitudes.com

My dear husband and Beckys husband had flowers sent to our hotel room for our arrival. How sweet are they?

Los Angeles, land of the cool.

Can't write much because I am so tired, but, Ellen was great. We got to see Matt Perry and Kenny Chesney. The show will air on Monday. I have a feeling all you brides may put a "no wedding planners on the dance floor" rule into effect after seeing the show. But no worries, I don't dance at weddings. Learned my lesson after I was forced into a chicken dance once...on video. I'll never live it down.
I also stopped by the Monique Lhuillier (sp?) off Rodeo today. Stunning dresses. I'll take 1 of each.

CRAZY wedding story

Here is one of the craziest wedding stories I have ever heard- and somehow, I was slightly, yet indirectly involved. On the day of a recent wedding on which I was providing partial services (meaning I didn't recommend and book all the vendors or locations), I rcvd a call from the limo driver, asking if it was okay if he was a half hour late. I quickly said "no, that would not be okay, I confirmed all the times and locations twice in the last week, and nothing can be changed at this point. A delay would be breaking the contract as it affects the timing of the entire wedding." His response, "I have to pick up another wedding party in Lehigh (2 cities away), bring them to their hotel, nearly in Sanibel (way far south -I'd say a city and a half), and then I'll come get yours (again, a city and a half). I'm going to go get them now (it's 1pm). My clients were to be picked up at 2pm. What happened after that is nothing you want to hear about, and nothing any bride needs to experience. One of those conversations that wedding planners have all the time for our clients; and quite frankly, they aren't pretty. By the time I was done, there was another limo on the way to get my wedding party. No way was my bride going to wait.
Brings me to last night. I attended a mock wedding at a great resort on Ft Myers Beach. Tell ya all about it on another post. Anyhoo- I'm seated next to the florist, who says, "Did you hear about my wedding a few weeks ago?" So he begins to tell me that the limo driver pulls up to the house, doesn't get out of the car, doesn't open doors, instead honks the horn. "WHAT!?!" is my reaction. That right there was enough to make my blood boil. The limo is filthy and reeks of smoke. The brother of the bride is following the limo and notices that its all over the road. The driver is drunk! So the brother does everything he can to get the guy to pull over, and eventually he does. Of course, they are at the busiest intersection in Ft Myers. The limo driver gets out of the car and throws all the luggage into the street! Then he tries to strangle the brother. So the bride takes off down the block, in her wedding dress, to ABC liquor to call the police. She comes back to find that now the driver has a knife to her brother. The police are pulling up, and so the driver takes off in the limo. Yep, police chase. Eventually they got him, not sure how. But they had to cuff him to a light pole in the median.
So I ask what limo co. it was. Don't you know it was the limo driver (also the company owner) who called me and was supposed to be picking up my clients that very same day?
Never ever have I been so happy that a vendor called and made me whip out the "don't you even think about messing with me" It's so rare that I have to do it as strongly as I did in this instance, but boy- this proves that there are times that it is absolutely necessary.

What the brides are up to

One of my clients emailed me the other day and said that she would love to hear more about what my other clients are planning. Turns out, she wasn't the only one. I got a couple more emails stating the same. Complete opposite of what I thought would be the case. So with that said, I'm going to share more! No worries everyone, I'll never mention who's who. What's really great is that I have nothing but awesome brides with amazing weddings in the works- and each one is completely different. But for the 1st time ever- I don't have a single "beach themed" wedding anytime in the near future. Although, several of them will take place at the beach.
Ok, so my next post will be about one of the weddings we're in the midst of. Right now though, I need to go find some cool cake plates for Karyns dessert buffet.
Thanks everyone for sending the comments and emails- I read them all, and it makes me so happy to know you like this blog!
Pictures....ummmmm....I'll come back with one later. Nothing fun at the moment.

Ok, I can't figure out why, but the other image didn't come thru...so today is a 2 post day.
Obviously I had to smudge out some names.

31 and still smiling

That's right! Today is my 31st birthday. So far, really good. One bride sang happy birthday to me (awwww)...just before she asked me to find a way to make her photography budget higher, again. "JULES!"
My wonderful wonderful friends have been so great to me. I got e-cards, and red envelope boxes, and plane tickets...I am so blessed. On top of all that, I am so excited to say- I am almost done with my to do list and its not even 4pm! Woohoo!

Wedding planning advice:
Today I also had a client move their event date so they could get the amazing band that they wanted. Thankfully I still had the date open. Changing your wedding date is not the worst thing in the world. The reason I say this is because without a doubt, there's going to be something about your wedding that is a number one priority. Chances are- it isn't the date. So why base all of your plans on that?
Let's say that you pick a date, have a great location chosen, and then you get to the band. The band means everything to you. And the one you just have to have isn't available on the date you chose. However, they are available the night before or 6 weeks later. Here's a great way to avoid this big snag: Before you do anything, make a priority list. Make sure you cover everything- band, location(s), food, guest list, photographer...everything (Don't think this is a complete list by the way, it's not even half a priority list). After you've prioritized, set your budget, detail your budget, and start planning. 1st priority first.

Pictures:
That's me today with my red envelope box. I'll tell you what's in it tomorrow. I'm going to save it for opening later. The other photo is the cover of the wedding program for a wedding we're doing in a couple months. We've going retro, and I think it just turned out so cute. It's inspired by a lobby card from the 1965 movie Forever Darling starring Lucy & Desi. This is just the 1st draft...still trying to decide whether to stick with the cartoon faces or photoshop in real photos. What do you think?

Down dog, plank, something or other

I just got back from my first yoga class. Here's what I have learned. I am weak, anything but flexible, and really great at the part where you just relax. Oh, and I can stand along time in that one position where you look like superman trying to take off. I'll go back again next week. The instructor seems to think that it will all start to make sense to me and the other "new people" eventually. We'll see about that.
Earlier today I met one of my clients at a florist for a 1st consultation. She's getting married around Christmas, so rather than fight the season- we're going to roll with it. We were practically jumping up and down at the church yesterday when we found out that the 2 50' Christmas trees would be up in time for her wedding. Totally made the day. Now we just have to decide whether to go wedding white at the reception or stay with the red. The florist did a wonderful thing and offered to meet us at the reception venue to plan the rest of the florals.
In the meantime I gave her several "picture" books to see what peaks her interest. I've managed to pull together quite the wedding library over the years; always wanting to learn more. Some of my recent favorites are by Preston Bailey, Martha Stewart, and Karen Bussen. Very cool stuff. Oooh- I do like the InStyle Weddings book too.
I highly recommend to all brides to take the time and go through the wedding books for ideas. Also, hit up your wedding planners for old magazines to browse through. Mine go back at least 4 years, and although some things are completely overdone- there's the chance that you might come across something that strikes you as perfect for your wedding.
Ok, I have like 10,000 emails to reply to. Well, that's a slight exaggeration. But there are many many.
Oh! Pictures! me and the superman pose. I forget the real name. Note that I believe my leg is supposed to be in line with my back. Oh, and I got a pedicure yesterday between meetings.

I took a day off!

So rarely does it happen. But today, I did not work at all on weddings. That doesn't mean I didn't think about them though. That is completely impossible. However, I locked myself out of the office. I did not check emails. I did not answer the phone. After doing chores about the house (yuck), I did flip through a few wedding magazines. I find that fun though, so its not work.
We also went to Denise & Kennys for a cookout. A great time as usual. We have a rather social circle of friends. It was so nice to come home to a clean house.
Oh! Let me warn you that I am a big dork in the eyes of many and just love Justin Timberlake. So I was thrilled to watch him on Ellen this morning as we (Kelly had the day off too and helped) put away 14 loads of laundry. Yep I was dancing the whole time. "I'm bringing sexy back, them other boys don't know how to act" I'm still singin it.

At the cookout I invented a new drink. Here's the recipe:
Some ice
Some Godiva Liquor
Some Malibu Rum
Some Milk
Don't ask me how much of each- 'cause I just don't know.
Marks back from Hawaii! Gotta go see how it went!
Pictures: Again- random. 1st is at Kennys surprise 45th birthday. Casino night...best fun I ever had at a party. 2nd- Sanibel Island. How lucky am I to work here!!!!

I am so tired

Really really tired. Could be because its 10:30pm and I am running on a half cup of coffee, one fajita, and about 14 of the yummy mint dibs. Those dibs are addicting.
Today I had clients come in today from Canada. I wish the weather was better for them. It was capital U ugly today. Anyway, I was so happy to get to meet them and their wedding is going to be amazing. No matter what chairs we use... <> I hope she made it to her hair trial because we were seriously running late.
I had my 1st ever comment posted. Did anyone notice? Thanks Heather. Your blog is great too. Yesterday I did what I call "Tour de Blog". I went to every blog that I knew of, read at least 3 entries, and posted a comment. It was a fun lunch break and I found that there are some absolutely hilarious people in this world.
PICTURES: I'm pretty sure that is a Snook Kelly is holding. I mentioned that in a post yesterday, and not everyone knows that a Snook is a fish. I am in so much trouble if that's a Redfish. The other picture I just picked randomly. It's a scan of some of our chritsmas tree ornaments. Last year we decorated our tree with polaroid pictures. Anyone who came to our house took a polaroid and hung it on the tree. It was the best tree ever. Those pictures are Kelesy & me, Clint, Kelly, and Libby & Eric.
For those who don't know and who are incredibly confused: My husbands name is also Kelly. And no, we didn't name our kids Kelly. That joke was funny for like a week.

There are nice people

Today I am adding a second post because I want to say thank you to some really nice people for just being nice.
To the girls who have offered to help our friend in need...how thoughtful of you (you know who you are).
To the awesome gal at Cultural Intrigue who said the nice thing she said...thank you, that made my day.
To Kenny who got plans rolling for a Labor Day cookout, thank you.
To my husband (who reminded me that today was the opening day of Snook season...that's great honey) who moved the garbage cans from behind my minivan.

Traveling the globe

Or at least the US. So I'm in my office and I'm looking at the calendar and see all the cool places I'm going to in the next few weeks. I am so excited! I was supposed to go to Ft. Lauderdale Thursday, but that stupid storm Ernesto had the event cancelled. Later this month I am headed out to Ft Myers beach to attend a mock wedding at the Pink Shell Resort. Okay, so ft Myers beach is only a 25 minute drive- it's still an island, which makes it a getaway. It sounds like they're going all out for this "unveiling", so I can't wait. It might have something to do with the bridal spa package I get to test out. Hee Hee. Let's see if they can compare to the Wynn Las Vegas "get to know us" I attended last spring. That was the best ever.
Later this month I'm going to Los Angeles. How lucky am I to score tickets to the Ellen show? I'll let you know when it's on so you can see me dancing in the audience. I commented on Ellens blog this morning. Ellen, you are invited to momment on mine too.
After LA, I head up to Williamsburg to help Shayna (coolest wedding planner in Williamsburg by the way) with her Knot.com market party. Sure to be the event of the year since she planned it. I just talked to her 15 minutes ago. She's currently sitting under Stupid Storm Ernesto with no power. Go figure. I think Isis (coolest planner in Cherry Hill) is going to be there too.
Finally, I head up to Baltimore to meet up with all the who's who in wedding planners. Yep, we all know each other. The cool ones anyway. Just kidding. I know all you CCers are laughing right now.
THE PICTURE: That's a bunch of us wedding planners (Ccers) at the Wynn Las Vegas being silly.