What NOT to wear on your wedding day!

Okay so here is my pic of the day.. Yes I slack on these but it is so rare that I find one worthy of posting. Than I see this. What is this girl really thinking?? Are the gloves really necessary?

Escort Card? Seating Charts? Place Cards? None of the above?

Where to start.. I always ask my brides "will you be doing assigned seating?" Because for one it takes a bit of time to organise the seating and for two if they say no I like to try and talk them into it. Unless of course it is a super casual wedding or a "cocktail" type event.

Almost 90% of the time I hear well what is an escort card and place card? Seating chart? (Usually the groom asks) but often the bride too. So let me define them..

Escort Card: a small card usually set out on a table or other creative item to tell the guest which table they will be sitting at.

Place Card: A card or item with a name on it that will tell your guest which seat they will sit at usually accompanied by a seating chart

Seating Chart: A display of names along with the table they will be assigned to.

I personally prefer the escort card style. For one it is generally easier for the guest to grab their card or item and go. For two they can be so fun! It does not have to be a card at all. It can be a rock, a clothes pin, a pen, a box of crayons, a flower pot, anything you can think of!

Seating Charts.. I am not as find of. They tend to create a "traffic jam", because they are placed right outside the door and the guest have to look for their name and table and if you are creative and have maybe made each table something other than a number they have to think "well what is the Peonies table?" And poor grandma can not see the chart so she is like right up on it reading everyone's names to see who is who and where they are. So even though they are really pretty I suggest to assign your guests a table with the escort card and let them pick who they sit next to.

That is just my 2 cents!

Vintage Girls

I have a TON of brides doing the "vintage" theme for the next two years. I am really excited about it too because I LOVE vintage. I am glad girls are starting to think in terms of style instead of color. It is definitely fun. So even though I feel like I have a good feel for a vintage wedding I still love to research because there are so many era's to work with. That is what I do I research the life out of any theme or idea one of my brides has. I have noticed that Cincinnati really has not caught on to this trend. Meaning dress shops. Wow it is hard to find a great vintage dress around here. So during my research I did find an AMAZING designer of strictly vintage. I think you girls will love her. Only downfall. you will have to travel to her if you want to try then gowns on. BOO HOO! Come on Cincinnati lets go and expand to carry other lines of dresses besides the norm. It is okay!

One good thing is Cincinnati does have some great locations for this theme. Music Hall, Union Terminal, The Syndicate, to name a few.

So go on and check out this site if nothing else it should give you some inspiration. Click on the pic above.

Awesome Wedding..Congrats Stacey and Darrell

I try not to toot my own horn but every wedding I do turns out pretty darn close to perfect. (knocking on wood) This weekends wedding was AMAZING!

So we had an outdoor tent affair..

Location: Turfway Park track side next to the Paddock all during live racing. Amazing venue. all of the staff were great.

Weather: AMAZING

Vendors: Great group..

Florist: Courtenay Lambert she does such beautiful work I love her flowers especially when I score a centerpiece (which I do at every wedding by the way) but she is great I really love her creativity.

Caterer : Turfway Park.. Food was great.

Cake(s): BonBonerie Tortes. SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. As a matter of fact I should order one right now. This was such a non traditional wedding why ruin it with a traditional wedding cake? The tortes were absolutely prefect and beautiful!

Photographer: Sasha Maslov ( not a typical wedding photographer) He was really cool though I liked him. I am anxious to see his work from this wedding.

So once again I am not a photographer but I like to leave you with something.

Newsletter

To assist brides with some often asked questions I am creating a newsletter that will be sent out bi-monthly (as of now).

The newsletter will include a ton of tips for planning your wedding. Anyone who wishes to receive the newsletter please sign up via my website by going to the contact me page for now. I will be adding another element to the website so it will be easier to subscribe. This is still in the making stage so please do not expect the newsletter this weekend.

Also please do not hesitate to email any questions or topics that you would like to see!

Budget update

Hey girls.. I just had a bride ask me to post an excel version of the budget spread sheet so for those of you who use excel here it is BUDGET.

Photo of the Day

Vintage themes.. LOVE THEM!!! I snagged this photo from Bella Umbrella and you can visit that site via the link to the right. They rent amazing umbrellas. SO cute.

Budgets....

Okay lately I have seen a number of clients come in and say "we have no budget" OKAY... so that means in my opinion we are creating a Donald Trump affair than right? Not really what they had in mind..
Everyone and I mean everyone has a top line. The max they want to spend. I understand that many clients come in and they just do not know. They have no idea what flowers cost or Dj's or invitations so it is hard to set a dollar amount to something you just do not know.
Let me start by saying the average wedding cost is $25,000 for this area. (Cincinnati) now that is a pretty nice wedding with all the basics covered. Can you go lower? Absolutely. You just need to know what and where you can cut back. The guest list is a HUGE area to start cutting. You can knock a good $2000.00 off just dinner by cutting out 50 guests. Not to mention the bar cost.
So my point here is please check you finances and start with a budget. This is the order you should start your planning in.. Set a date, set a budget, than set a guest count.
I am adding a link to a GREAT budget worksheet. One of my favorites and I actually even use this one myself. It helps me get an idea of what my clients want, and how to finagle their money around to make it happen.

To see and use this budget click here!