Friday, May 29, 2009

Wedding Shoes


Hey ya'll,

I just received information on a site that sells a variety of shoes that would be perfect for any style of wedding you are having.

Check out Wedding Feet at www.weddingfeet.com/married.

Happy shopping.

(above photos courtesy of Wedding Feet)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Latest wedding post


Check it out by going under "Another Smooth Wedding" on the list on the left and click on "Wedding of Millie and Anthony."

Friday, May 22, 2009

Happy Memorial Day


I'd like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Memorial Day, ESPECIALLY our military personnel who are currently serving or have served in the past. Thank you for everything you do for our country.

God Bless America!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

For the Groom


Grooms - are you feeling left out of the plans for your wedding? Not sure what you are suppose to be doing? Well, wonder no more. A friend of mine sent me the following article which was recently published in The New York Times. I have copied the article for you below. Read and enjoy! Check out the Web sites listed in the article and have fun. Hope this will help you be a more involved groom for your wedding.

A Wedding Plan for Men
By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI
Published: May 9, 2009
FOR many bridegrooms, planning a wedding is an exercise filled with dread. For others, tasks like creating guest lists, choosing invitations and arranging the perfect honeymoon are part of the fun.
But bridegrooms on either side of the planning aisle have one thing in common: There are few places where men can go for guidance and advice on how and what to contribute to their big day. Wedding books for bridegrooms, like “The Guy’s Guide to Dating, Getting Hitched and Surviving the First Year of Marriage,” by Michael R. Crider, are scarce, and wedding magazines written for men are nonexistent. Clearly the wedding industry is designed to appeal to women.
Sean Palmgren, a 28-year-old research analyst for a marketing firm in Minneapolis, became engaged last June, and immediately began surfing the Internet for ways to help his fiancée, Betsey Krause, plan their wedding in December at a Minneapolis hotel.
“There was nothing out there for guys,” Mr. Palmgren said with a sigh. “Most everything, from magazines to wedding shows, was all about women, but I kept searching.”
Eventually, he found GroomGroove.com, a site for men that tackles such wedding-related topics as knowing if you’re ready to get married, how to pop the question, what are the bridegroom’s and best man’s duties, how to deliver a toast, how to plan a mild bachelor party, and how to plan a wild one.
“The underlying goal is to get marriages started on the right foot,” said Michael Arnot, who founded the site in 2007. “We want grooms to be really sure they are ready to get married, and if they are, to get involved with their wedding, which is a rite of passage. We men pride ourselves in never having to ask for directions. But if there’s one time to do so, this is it.”
Mike Harms, a 39-year-old director of business strategy at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., became engaged to Shannon Truax in October. At first, he said he was “supercynical about marriage.”
“So my first response was to defer to my fiancée for all the planning,” he said. “But as we went along, I realized that I was helping her create a great experience, so I actually began to enjoy it.”
Mr. Harms, whose wedding is scheduled for Dec. 7 at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Fla., found information helpful to grooms on mywedding.com, and eventually began posting his own blogs on the site (grumpygroom.com).
“I totally understand that some grooms want nothing to do with their wedding day, but what I try to point out is that some aspects of it can actually be fun,” he said. “Personally, I have been learning through trial and error, but at this point, my responsibilities include putting together the guest list, the honeymoon, even my own bachelor party.”
Amber Haught, 21, a bride-to-be from Lower Burrell, Pa., said her fiancé, Eric Housholder, “has been a part of everything, from the catering to the flowers to my bridesmaid dresses — everything except my wedding dress.”
Ms. Haught, who is to be married June 27, said that all the extra help “is both good and bad.
“Sometimes I look at him and say, ‘Hey, I didn’t think of that.’ Other times I look at him and say ‘Are you serious?’ ”
Rob Johnsen, one of four men who founded mywedding.com seven years ago, said that “we are seeing a huge trend in grooms who are getting more involved in their own weddings.”
Mr. Johnsen, 38, whose wedding was last August, pointed out that on his site, there are roughly 100,000 links to “free wedding Web sites,” everything from simple postings to the kind of blogging done by Mr. Harms.
Sixty-five percent of those sites, he said, have been created by men.
“In American culture, weddings have always been all about the bride,” Mr. Johnsen said. “But couples are now getting married later in life and as a result, they are paying for their own weddings, as opposed to having their parents pay. So a groom making this kind of investment is more likely to take a more serious interest in the decision-making process, and that has greatly contributed to the trend.”

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Wedding Day

Wow! I actually do have time to do a last-minute blog post. I finished all the flowers last night and got to bed earlier than I expected - around 12:30am.

This morning, I carefully packed the centerpieces in boxes, printed out last-minute updates, remembered to pack up more items I need and am dressed, ready to go. I am just waiting until just before it's time for me to leave before I pack the grapes and cheese into the Goodie Boxes.

My DH helped me tremendously last night with stuffing the rose petals into their cones and finished packing up the Goodie Boxes.

Waiting for him to return home now with the children who participated in a 5K run this morning. He's going to help me pack up the bouquets, bouts, corsages and altar arrangements I need to take to the church as well as the Goodie Boxes and several other wedding items. Whew! After last night, my body feels like I have already done the wedding. It will be a long, but wonderful day for my bride and groom.

Look for the wedding post sometime after I recover. Then, it will be time to work on my next wedding. Tis the season.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Wedding Week - Final Entry

Friday

Assembling bouquets, boutonnieres, altar arrangements and centerpieces. Whew! Also have to finish putting the monogrammed stickers on the rose petal cones and stuff them with the rose petals.

Other client just picked up their linen rentals.

Rehearsal later at 4:30pm. Will I be done in time? Nope. I’ll finish whatever’s left to do tonight. I may be burning the midnight oil tonight. Scratch that. I WILL be burning the midnight oil, for sure.

Saturday – Wedding Day

Doubt I’ll get a chance to blog tomorrow, so thought I would do it now while I’m taking a short break.

In the morning, I have to finish stuffing the Goodie Boxes with the perishable items which are grapes and cheese. Then, it will be time for load-in. Need to load the flowers for the ceremony (DH is delivering the centerpieces, cake topper and rose petal cones to the reception site later), birdcage for wedding cards, vases and sand for the unity sand ceremony, flower girl basket, ring bearer pillow and memorial vases. Will I ever be done? Not until sometime after midnight when the reception ends.

I’ll post pictures next week along with the details for the wedding.

I will be crashing on Mother's Day!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Wedding Week

Thursday

Picked up rose petals (they didn’t arrive yesterday afterall), picked up flowers and attended final planning meeting with my clients and the reception site. Delivered to reception site the overlays, votives, menu cards, favors, table numbers, toasting flutes, cake knife and amenity baskets for the restrooms.

Back home now beginning to condition and hydrate the flowers to prepare them for assembly tomorrow.

Tonight, I will be assembling the paper rose petal cones with monogrammed stickers the bride made for them.

Last night, I started assembling the Goodie Boxes for the wedding party. Can’t put the perishable items in until Saturday morning.

That’s it for now.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wedding Week

Wednesday

Today, I will be picking up the overlays (as well as other linens a customer ordered whose wedding is also on Saturday), guest book albums and rose petals that are arriving a day early. Aghhhhhhh! They weren't suppose to arrive until tomorrow, but I have a very cool (cold) basement and they should be okay for Saturday.

I will be going to my local Costco to pick up items I need for the Goodie Boxes. These will be filled with snacks for the wedding party. I'll post a picture later.

My bride will be coming over today to drop off the menu cards, favors and stickers I need to seal the personalized rose petal cones I made for the toss when they leave the reception.

I will be calling the bakery to confirm delivery time of the wedding cake.

All in all, a very busy day.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wedding Week

Monday and Tuesday

I have a wedding this Saturday, so I thought I would give you a “snapshot” of what I do to prepare for a wedding I am coordinating.

I was hired nine months ago to help this bride plan and coordinate her wedding. Can’t believe it’s almost here. I’m sure she can’t either. At the time she hired me, she had already found and reserved the church and reception site. She also found the bakery she wanted to do her wedding cake. I researched and hired the photographer and videographer. I am also doing her flowers and handling all her rental items. I am so excited!

Yesterday, I reviewed and finalized all details. I printed out the itinerary for the wedding party which I will give to them at the rehearsal this Friday. This will tell the wedding party where and when they need to arrive at the church, when photos will take place and a general order of the ceremony as well as the reception. This also has all of my contact info so they will be able to reach me should they have any questions or need anything on the wedding day.

I sent my bride many e-mails with reminders of various items that she needs to take care of this week.

I went through all my checklists ensuring everything is done that needs to be done or still needs to be done prior to Saturday.

Today

I am sending out detailed schedules to all the vendors so everyone will be on the same page. As with the wedding party, this schedule has the times and order of events for the ceremony and reception. My schedules are so detailed, my vendors rarely have questions.

My bride is using the Adesso albums for her guest books. To save money, we are also renting the Polaroid cameras from Adesso. I need to pick them up tomorrow as well as the purple sparkle crepe overlays we are using for the guest tables.

More tomorrow.