New Year's Assignment!

Well my degree is in teaching after all, you had to expect there would be some "homework" somewhere along the line here, right?
Here's the story. In the shop we are going to use the area by the invitations, in front of the center window, to present a "Palette of the Month" display. We thought it would be fun to choose color palettes for weddings that would be trendy, novel and inspiring for our couples that come in the shop. We thought we would project it out about 7-8 months, so the January palette would be something designed for a July wedding, the February palette would be something for August, etc.
Our thought on this is to bring together everything for a wedding--tuxes, vests and ties, invitations and other paper products for your wedding, accessories, favors, etc. We are all really excited about this! It's going to be like planning a wedding every month! We even considered making up a fictitious bride and groom and telling "their story" along with the display. Won't that be fun?
So this is where you all, my readers (all three of you, haha) come in. We would love some suggestions, ideas, thoughts, on what colors to use for our palettes. Tell us what colors you are using for your own wedding. Tell us what your favorite colors were that you have seen lately. Tell us what you would like to see. Feel free to suggest one color, two colors or an entire array of colors. We will pick and choose the "Palette of the Month" for each month based on your input, the trend colors for next year, and of course, what we like the best! haha.
I think this will be a really fun thing to do, and it will give us a lot of great ideas for future weddings. I will post a photo of the Palette each month so that you can see it. But keep in mind that seeing it in person is always so much better and besides, we would love to have you come visit us!
So get on that homework assignment now Class! I expect to hear from you in the next day or two!
Class dismissed!

Megan's Reception (better late than never!!)

So,I believe we left off, two MONTHS ago (Gees! Does anyone have any ideas on how to be a better blogger? I am so awful at this! I have so many things go through my head that I think, "Oh! That would be a great topic!" But when it comes to sitting down and actually writing them, I have a blank mind! Help!) Megan and Trey had boarded the fire truck to go take pictures and all the guests headed for the garden and cocktail hour, right?


Ok, so in the garden, we had the Jeff Brown Trio playing on the patio, and a portable bar set up to serve wine and the bar was open in the ballroom for mixed drinks and such.
It was a little on the chilly side, and a lot of people in the garden, but it was very festive! The servers passed hors d'oeuvres in the garden on trays--crabcakes, asparagus beef rollups, caprese skewers and shrimp shooters (pipettes of wasabi sauce or cocktail sauce with a shrimp stuck on the end! So fun! You put the shrimp in your mouth and squeeze, so that you get the sauce with it, it was a kick!) Eventually everyone moved into the ballroom, and the festivities continued there. The wedding party came back and took a few photos in the chapel, then joined the party.
As the guests entered the lobby, they foun d their placecards and signed the 18x24 picture matte with brown pens.
The matte, emblazoned with a large taupe "W" also had a 5x5 picture of Megan and Trey from the rehearsal.

The tables were set with chocolate brown bichon tablecloths, and each had one of four different designs of centerpieces. The variety was interesting and very pleasing to the eyes.



The placecards, which were displayed in alphabetical order, matched the menu cards which were at each place on the tables.


(All of the paper pieces were coordinated both in the color and type of paper as well as the ever present "W"--save the date, invitation, placecard, menu card, program for the ceremony, and the gift bags for the golf outing and the hotel guests.)
The formalities began with the introductions of all of the parents, grandparents, wedding party, and then the bride and groom.


They went to their cake, in the middle of the dance floor and cut the cake.


This works out really nice because it gives you something to do besides smile and wave after you are introduced! You also have everyone's attention at that point, so they don't miss it. I can't tell you how many weddings I have been to at other venues where we didn't even know they had cut the cake! It was hidden off at the side of the room and no one could even see them cut it. What a waste. If you are spending all that money on a beautiful cake, your guests should see it! That's why we put it front and center in the middle of the dance floor!
After the cake was cut, Megan and Trey took their seats, and the Best Man, Paul,


and the Matron of Honor, Amy,


gave two very lovely toasts. All of the guests toasted the bride and groom with glasses of Frixenet champagne topped with strawberries on the rims. After a prayer, the dinner was served--and what a dinner it was!! The first course was a Granny Smith Apple Salad with crumbled bacon and bleu cheese, sliced apples, and spring green. Yummy! After the salads were served the bride and groom stood up and thanked everyone for coming and made a few comments. Then dinner was served. Filet mignon with a skewer of shrimp and scallops, sour cream and chive mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus. The spice wedding cake was served for dessert, topped with real whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.
As the cake was being served, the bride and groom took the dance floor for their first dance. As Amy had mentioned in her toast, watching the two of them dance was truly a treat.


They dance so beautifully together. Trey ended it with one of the best dips I have ever seen at Aberdeen!


The rest of the formal dances followed, and then the dance floor was opened with an anniversary dance. Mike the DJ had all of the married couples come out and dance, and then eliminated them by calling out how many years they had been married. As the number got higher the dancers got thinner and thinner till only one couple, who had been married 43 years, was left. Mike introduced them and asked them what their advice was to the couple. It was a wonderful way to get the party started.
The dancefloor was packed all evening. My theory on this, and I have seen it happen time after time, is that if the bride and groom enjoy dancing and are out there the whole evening, they will have a crowd with them! Mike played lots of great tunes, and everyone had a terrific time.
At this point I must make a confession. I dance in the kitchen. It always seems like about 9:30 or 10 pm I get a second wind, and I walk through the kitchen singing whatever the DJ is playing or if it's a song I really like, well yes, I boogey down folks. It isn't appropriate for us to run out to the dance floor when we are working, but nobody sees me in the kitchen! The staff all think it's pretty funny, and they are particularly impressed that I know the words to "Apple Bottom Jeans" which is one of my all time faves.
Anyway,we invited all of our staff to come out and do the cupid shuffle with us about 10 o'clock; servers, bartenders, dishwashers, kitchen staff; they all came out and danced--it was SO much fun! We wanted to do something to recognize them for all of their hard work and effort. They did so much to make this day perfect for us, and we wanted them all to be publicly recognized for such a great job.
The evening flew by. I remember standing by the bar and just looking around at all that was happening, trying to make a mental picture of it. Megan came over and I said "Megan! We're already to the dancing!" So I put my arm around her and we just took a moment together and soaked it all in. It was really a special moment.
As the reception ended, Megan and Trey changed out of their wedding finery. Megan had a cute little hoodie and pants that said "just married" on the back in rhinestones. They gave eveyone hugs and said their goodbyes, and jumped in the limo that was waiting to take them to Chicago where they were leaving the next morning for Mexico.
Since the wedding, Megan and I have said many times how nice it would have been to have had some time the next day to "debrief"! We had worked so hard on this day for so many months. It was so difficult not to have any time to talk over the events of the day and go over every detail. I could hardly wait for her to get back! I think she will agree that this would have been one of the very very few things we would have done differently. It would have been so nice to have Sunday to talk about it. We had a brunch at the house for all of the out of towners, relatives, and close friends, but it just seemed like something was missing without Megan and Trey there. I think, ideally, the bride and groom might stay and one of our beautiful local B&B's for their wedding night, join in the fun for the brunch on the morning after, and then leave on their honeymoon either Sunday night or Monday morning. In my experience as an independent consultant, the afterparties are the most relaxed, and most fun of all the weekend activities. It's a shame if the bride and groom miss them.
So that's the whole story. And now I promise I won't bore you any more with the details of my daughter's wedding. But for those of you who were interested, I did want to finish the narrative.
All I can say is, I am so glad I have all of the weddings at Aberdeen to work on coming up, because if this had been the end of my wedding planning, I think I might have been very depressed! But I guess that's why I'm in this business. I really and truly want to make EVERY wedding we have at Aberdeen as unique and wonderful as Megan's was. I am here for ALL of our brides and grooms, to help them find ways to make their wedding different and exciting. It's what I do, it's what I love, and it's why I am in this business.
But I must admit, I am just a little bummed that all four of our daughters are married now!!!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, I need a disk for the additional photos I want to add to this post, so check back around the 10th and I will get them added in. If I can't add them here, I will put them in an additional post.

Megan's Wedding--Part 2

The weather was beautiful, sixties, sunny and not much breeze. A perfect fall day. The chapel was all decked out and looking absolutely gorgeous. Dodrill Construction had made a special effort to install the candles in the windows before Saturday, Dennis worked on it all week to get them done. They looked beautiful. We had liked the candles in the windows last Christmas so much that we wanted to have them year round. They look amazing.

Inside, The Flower Cart had worked their magic. Little antique copper containers hung from the pew ends filled with roses, orchids and bright green amaranthus.

The table at the front of the chapel was covered in roses, amaranthus and candles. Megan had wanted to have lots of candles. She and Trey worked some beautiful elements into their ceremony, which was officiated by Judge ProTem Doug McMillan. They had each of their attendants light a candle for each of the vows, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, etc. Then the two of them went up and lit the unity candle.



It was just lovely. I loved that it involved the entire wedding party in a unique and moving way.

Following the ceremony, the bride and groom went back to the front and released the guests themselves, rather than having a receiving line. As each of the guests came through the doors of the chapel, they were given balloons in the wedding colors of chocolate, burgundy and ivory.

(That's my little granddaughters, Mary Grace and Claire, the flower girls, with their daddy and their balloons, sooooo cute!)

When everyone had left the chapel and had their balloons, Megan and Trey rang the steeple bell, and came out the door. They released their balloons and so did everyone with them. It was so beautiful. Not very PC I admit, but it was magnificent.



Then the bride and groom boarded the Task Force Tips firetruck, driven by my brother Stewart, and they went down the street to take some pictures by the fountain, sirens blaring, lights, and bell clanging! It was wonderful fun!




So today is flying by, and I need to attend to the wedding we have this evening so for now you will just have to wait with eager anticipation to hear about the reception! If you can't wait you can always go to my daughter, Amy's blog where she has posted her take on the whole affair days ago, because she is a much better blogger than I! If you visit her blog be sure to read her poem from last Monday about "My Favorite Things" it was darling!

Being on the other side of the event!

Well, as many of you know, my youngest daughter, Megan,

was married last Saturday. It was awesome. What can I say? All the months of planning and thinking the entire event through, minute by minute, paid off. We really had a very stress free weekend, thanks to my Peeps at Aberdeen Manor! They did an absolutely amazing job, with the food, the coordination, the entire event. I never had to worry about a thing. I felt so at ease and so calm. I just knew that they had everything under control.
We started the weekend out with a golf outing at the Course at Aberdeen on Friday for the groomsmen, parents, and a few others. There were 16 in all, plus Trey (the grooom) who played a few holes with each foursome. We had made cute little gift bags with personalized tees and embroidered towels for everyone, as well as some water bottles and snacks.



The weather cooperated, although it started to get a little chilly toward the end, and it took a little longer than planned, so the mother of the bride ended up at the rehearsal in her golfing clothes!!! For the rehearsal dinner we had a Spanish Tapas

theme that turned out wonderfully. You would have thought that Don Quijote had catered it! The tapas were fabulous, and everyone had such a good time. We decorated with black, red and yellow linens (the colors in the Spanish flag) and wine corks. It turned out really cute.


Megan spent the night at our house, because she had lots of company using her house. On Saturday morning we all got up and had a leisurely breakfast. Megan said that she was moving back home after the wedding because she had slept so well and loved the breakfast Jim made for her! At 10 a.m. the bridesmaids came over and Maria Blanco also came to do their makeup. Everyone kind of took turns eating lunch (again supplied by my Peeps, enough chicken salad to feed an army! We made sandwiches and had chips and fruit and mimosas courtesy of Megan's stepsister Jill) At 1 everyone went to Terry Abner Salon to have their hair done. They did an amazing job on everyone. We were all out at the chapel later in the afternoon for photos. Oh, did I mention that Ed Collier, our photographer, came over about 11 and spent the whole day with us. He went to the salon for the hairdos, and then out to the chapel. What a joy he is to have around! Ed was like one of the family. After a while we didn't even notice that he was taking 9 million photos! It was like having a good buddy there to hang out with. We are all dying to see his shots though tomorrow!
I arrived at the building, my outfit and shoes in hand because I had yet to have my makeup done by Maria. Good thing too! When I walked into the ballroom I absolutely lost it! The flowers were absolutely incredible!!

The Flower Cart had told us they wanted to do "a couple little extra things" but I was NOT prepared for the absolutely amazing flowers! Everywhere I looked there were red roses. On the tables, on the mantle in the lobby, hanging from the chandeliers


with tiny burgundy orchids shooting out of the balls. it was an absolute fantasy of flowers. Over at the chapel they had gone crazy as well, there was even a rose petal "W" in the grass outside the chapel!

It was just beautiful. Unless you saw it there is no way that I could describe it adequately!





Amazing! It was all just totally amazing! The garden was lovely, with round glass bowls and tall cylinders full of reflective crystals on LED bases that would glow at night. The tables all had small bouquets of red roses with a candle in a glass holder on the chocolate tablecloths. These were high tops for the cocktail hour.

But I digress! I had intended this to be a post about what I learned from being on the other side of the coin. Well, one thing I really realized, was how oblivious you are to what is happening around you, and this is why you need someone there that is consciously aware of what is going on! It was funny how many folks asked us if we were "checking out" what our people were doing, and honestly, I had no awareness of that at all! I kept thinking "this is all going by so fast! Gosh, it's already to the dinner, or the dancing or whatever, it's going SO fast" I really wasn't aware of anything my staff was doing. I guess this is a good sign because if they hadn't been on the ball I probably would have seen it, but they were all so on top of everything--I knew they had it all under control so I wasn't even thinking about it. If you are going to enjoy your reception though, you need to have someone there to look after all the details, so that you don't have to!
Second, and I have already said this in so many words I guess, it goes by SOOOO FAST!!! You are trying to be involved in all that is going on, talk to all of your friends, participate in everything, and the evening absolutely flies by. I guess all I can say is that you need to stop every once in a while and just soak it all in. Look around you, and just be in the moment. I can hardly wait to get Real to Reel's video back, because I want to relive every little detail of the day.
Third, I think the key to having a beautiful, relaxing weekend, is PLANNING! You need to think through every single moment of the weekend, and what will be going on. Think it all through. Who will sit where, what will be happening, what will you need to do to make sure that it all goes according to plan? Megan and I drank many a bottle of wine over the wedding plans. We talked through each and every detail. We made lots of lists, and we set aside time every week for the last several months to work on wedding plans. It really paid off. We knew what was happening each and every minute of the wedding weekend, and so we could relax and enjoy it all, knowing that all the bases were covered.
Fourth, the other key to a perfect weekend is having great vendors! Your DJ, photographer, videographer, florist, cake person, etc. all make their contributions to your day that make it perfect. It's an orchestra, all playing together, and if one of them is out of key, it affects the whole symphony. We had wonderful vendors. Of course, having had the opportunity to watch all of them in action for years was a big help, but we also share all of this with you in our favorites list, so there is no reason that everyone can't have a perfect day.

I plan to write more about the actual ceremony and reception tomorrow, but I had a long weekend and I'm tired! So you'll just have to wait till tomorrow!

Happy wedding planning!

Theme parties--So much fun!!!

Well, those of you who are into such things, will notice that for the month of July I have 5 (count them, FIVE!) posts already and there is still a week to go in the month! Woohoo! I have really been trying to be more attentive to this blog. I'm still not sure that anyone (other than my daughters) is reading it, but I shall persevere and continue to write posts.
My week has been interesting. We did a seminar today with a carnival theme, so most of the week was consumed by trying to think up a centerpiece that said "carnival" to go with their other activities. Hmmmmm. I enjoy coming up with things like that, funky solutions to weird off the wall problems. But this one took some real thinking! We ended up with a tall vase that we filled with peanuts and had those mylar grassy fountain things coming out of the peanuts in purple, green, and red. Then we put stuffed animals all around the base with pictures from carnivals and fairs that I printed off and cut out, all over the animals. Then we put peanuts around them on the table. It turned out great. The pictures were all bright and interesting and really made it eyecatching.


We used lots of colors of cloth toppers on the tables and we put contrasting colored napkins flat in the center of the tables for additional color under the centerpieces.


The food was the most fun. We served hamburgers, chicken, potato salad and baked beans for lunch, with funnel cakes, deep fried Twinkies and deep fried Milky Ways, for dessert. For their afternoon break they had tortilla chips and salsa, popcorn, pretzel rods, and snow cones! It was definitely a fun theme to do this week since our county fair is going on out at the Expo Center. Patti even went to the fair to do some research on how to get those deep fried Twinkies and Milky Ways perfect! I hope this doesn't catch on for wedding receptions though! Those Twinkies and Milky Ways took a long time to fry! It was a fun day and a really interesting and fun project to work on. I like doing stuff like that. It keeps my brain working.
My theory about doing a theme, whether it's a seminar, a wedding reception, or any other type of party, is that you have to carry your theme through to touch all the senses--sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch. When we have an Asian buffet or a Spanish buffet, or any of our many themed events, we play music that goes with the theme, the food and the menu hit sight, smell and taste, the decorations on the buffet and the tables go for the sight and touch. It makes for a complete event. If you leave any of the senses out, then your theme has holes in it. So if you are thinking about a themed party, remember--appeal to all the senses and your party will be a huge success!

Warm fuzzies

Sometimes I receive notes that just make my day. This was one of them:

p.s. We went to a wedding this afternoon for some of our friends from college,their reception was at xxxxxxxxxx... and as we drove home tonight we both said how glad we are that we chose to go with you. We already know we are assured such a classy wedding reception and atmosphere and won't be sharing the space with the 50th wedding anniversary party tonight that had tons of kids running around! (with no special kids room to play in I don't blame them!) But we were just that much more confirmed in our decision to have our reception with you all and wanted you to know that we're glad that such an all encompassing friendly and knowledgable wedding service and classy place like you all are right here in Valpo and are taking such good care of us for our special day! Its very comforting and exciting! So thanks for being here! :)

Now I ask you, what better testimony is there? This is why we keep going in this business. It's couples like this that "get it" that make us feel like we are really doing something that is important and appreciated. So thank you A.! You made my day!

December is available for the picking!!!!!!

Well, I had a meeting with my ad agency on Friday, and we talked with them about tying a calendar of available dates into our blog. Does that appeal to anyone? Does anyone actually READ my blog? (That would be other than my daughters who are loyal and faithful readers, haha) Our thought was to have some sort of list along the side of the posts that would show the available dates that are kind of getting missed in the shuffle. It's always frustrating when someone says to me "Oh, I hear you are booked three years ahead!" because we AREN'T booked that far ahead, and even if someone came in tomorrow wanting a date this fall, we could do it. Maybe not a Saturday night, but we do Fridays and Sundays all the time, and they work out great! We have a number of SATURDAYS in DECEMBER!!! This friends, is THE most beautiful month of the year to have a wedding! And for some reason, everyone is shying away from December this year! We still have plenty of time to plan it (heck, two or three weeks is enough for us to plan a wedding!) We are offering our winter discounts that normally start in January, in DECEMBER this year because we would really much rather do weddings than Christmas parties. What a deal you can get! Discounts on the ballroom rental and the chapel, free centerpieces and beautiful bichon tablecloths, the disounts amount to about 1500 dollars discount! AND you get the advantage of having all of our beautiful Christmas decorations AND the luminaries from the chapel to the ballroom, and of course, the WOW moment. (Don't know what the WOW moment is? Well, that's when everyone walks into the ballroom, and all the lights are turned down, the candles are lit, the fireplace is burning in the lobby, the tables are set and sparkling and perfect; and the guests walk in and breathe "Woooooooooow" because everything comes together in that one perfect moment, and they are just overwhelmed with the beauty of it!) Honestly, those fluffy pictures outside with the greenery behind them are overrated. You can get equal or better photos with Christmas decorations and just think, the smile on your face when you think of all the money you are saving will be even bigger!!
To be truthful, I start to get a little shakey if I go a month without doing a wedding! We'll certainly book Christmas parties in December if we don't have weddings, but gosh folks, save me!
If you are at all open to the idea of a December wedding, come see us, email me, or call so that we can talk about it!
By the way, Jim and I were married on December 14th, my parents anniversary, and my brother's was December 18th, Michelle's anniversary is December 2nd--so we can all tell you firsthand about how great a December wedding is! And just think, wouldn't it be a lot more fun to go to the Caribbean or Mexico or Hawaii when it's not 85 degrees here?
Check out this site for some fabulous ideas for winter weddings! If this doesn't get you thinking that it could be fabulous, I don't know what will!