Phew

This weekend was my fifth wedding of the 2011 season. The bride started planning six weeks (WEEKS!) ago and brought me in soon after. We worked to create a wedding that was simple & elegant. 

With 60 guests the wedding was set to be an intimate outdoor affair, I spent the morning setting up a drink station and other outdoor decorations only to have to pull them inside when rain threatened and take them back out when the skies brightened. With 20 minutes until the ceremony the sky began to look like all hell would break loose. We started the ceremony early, got the happy couple married & all of the guests inside before the storm came in and the rest of the night went off without a hitch.

I'm still exhausted from the day so instead of blabbering on anymore I'll share some photos I caught with my phone throughout the day.

My Third Wedding

Two weekends ago my third wedding came to fruition. I had been working with this couple for the longest amount of time and had so much fun thinking of ways to enhance the bride's ideas.

The couple has a sweet six month old daughter and wanted to include her in the wedding so we played up a youthful, vibrant feel with bright yellow & black, a playful candy buffet & the theme of three little birdies in their nest.

Again, please excuse the crappy photos, my camera sucks and I am DYING for a DSLR.

The bride & I made over 130 tissue paper poofs to hang from the ceiling of the reception hall (which, as you can tell, was lacking in appeal)

The groom & the bride's step-father built this pergola and replicated the birds from the invitations as decoration to the arch. I made the tissue paper pansies based on a tutorial from the Paper & Craft book. The table in the middle of the pergola holds sand for a sand ceremony.

There table centerpieces alternated between branches lying on the table & branches standing in vases. I spray painted the branches a high gloss black & adorned them with small tissue paper poofs & small yellow birds hung by bakers twine.

Each of the table numbers had song quotes from the couples favorite songs. I think that the couple should make a gallery wall of these quotes in their home!

The bride ordered over 80 pounds of yellow, white & black candy for the candy buffet. We titled it "Maddy's Candy Shop" in honor of their daughter and used small shovels as scoops. I made the giant flowers from this 100 Layer Cake tutorial.

I added yellow tissue paper flowers to the cake table.

Yellow pennant were the perfect way to top the chocolate cupcakes.

The wedding cake design was simple and we added yellow roses & black branches to it.

So there you have it, my third wedding. I ended up working over 30 hours the weekend of the wedding but all of the hard work was worth it when I saw the couple exchange vows, celebrate with their friends & family, and dance the night away.

My Second Wedding

Hello my dears. I thought I'd take a break from Real People in Love this week and show you the wedding I designed this past weekend.

Planning weddings in a smallish town can be tough. Venues are limited and budgets are often tight. Many brides I've talked with like to keep things traditional, don't want to see the groom before the wedding, want to serve home style food at the reception, and assume that flowers will be their only decoration.

I haven't gotten the opportunity to plan a $40,000 wedding in a penthouse suite but I'm committed to making every wedding special.

Two months ago the florist from our wedding contacted me about helping with design on an upcoming wedding. The bride had made all of the big decisions but at the end of planning had decided she needed help with decorating. As soon as I was brought in I knew why.

The bride & groom were on a tight budget and had chosen our local 4-H fairgrounds to get married at. The fairgrounds has several buildings that they rent out and the one the couple chose is basically a large pole barn, which meant that the space I was given to work with looked like this.

After meeting with the bride for several weeks we came up with a plan to try and hide some of the ugly and give their day a soft, romantic feel.

With clouds of baby's breath, tulle & lace backdrops, varying shades of ivory, cream & champagne, and loads of ranunculus & roses we were able to achieve the romantic look the bride wanted.

And on May 6 we rest

Hello my lovelies.

I have to apologize, I've been fairly absent from the blog world this week. This week has included a trip to Indianapolis, two meetings with brides, and lots of yardwork. We spent last night celebrating Cinco de Mayo with friends and when push came to shove I had to get into bed instead of plan a Double Dip or Vlog. So please forgive me if this post is boring & rambles on, but I promise, there is a point.

I need some help.

When I started planning weddings I had no expectations. I met my first couple at my parent's restaurant and volunteered to help. I wanted to help make my first couple's day better and see if I liked this whole wedding planning thing. In the end their day was perfect and I loved making it so.

Photobooth photo from our wedding via Imagination Photography

Earlier this week I caught up with the bride and groom who played my guinea pigs and they gave me a delightful present. Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette handbook, some milano cookies, tea, coffee & a generous monetary gift.

So now comes the task of spending the gift. The first thing I'm planning on investing in is a website. I've been looking for a designer but have realized that to start out with I need to decide on a business name. I've tossed around some names but need your opinions.

I've put a poll on the right side bar and if you'd kindly take the time to vote on a name for my business I'd really appreciate it. And if you have any stellar web designers you'd like to pass along I'd love you forever.

My First Wedding (Again)

Last Friday the photographers posted professional pictures from my first wedding as a coordinator and I was thrilled that they were able to capture the true beauty of the day. I nabbed a couple from their blog so you could see their beautiful work, but if you want to see more hop on over to Happinest Photography's blog.

I LOVE this photo of the bride, I think this sums up the way all brides feel.

All photos by the wonderful team from Happinest Photo.

My First Wedding

First off, I want to thank you all for your encouraging comments about my first wedding.

I met this weekend's couple at my parent's restaurant after the bride recognized my dad from our wedding photos. I offered my services and they gladly jumped at the opportunity. The bride has a very simple, classic aesthetic and we worked together to create a classic, elegant wedding.

When their photographers post pictures I'll be sure to let you know but for now here are my very non professional looking photos (don't worry, we're saving for a dSLR).

The ceremony took place at the lovely Lutheran church down the street from the Behemoth. Aisles were lined with ruscus tied with cream ribbon.

The ceremony was in the lovely Spohn Ballroom. I spent 5 hours decorating the space Saturday morning followed by 10 hours of running like a mad woman. The ballroom is on the 3rd floor so I found myself hauling gifts, flowers and everything else up & down the stairs dozens of times.

The day went beautifully and all in all I can't wait until my next wedding.

Something New & a Leap of Faith

When I made my New Years nonresolutions there was one thing that I desperately wanted to include but didn't.

This year I'm making a change that will impact my future.

I'm starting a business.

I loved planning our wedding, I researched everything 20 times over and came out of it with a knowledge that most brides don't have.

Word got around (and people saw the pictures & heard the stories of our wedding) and in the 4 months since our wedding I'm working with 4 couples.

I couldn't be more overjoyed to be planning weddings. I love being able to use the wedding knowledge I learned to help make other brides planning go smoother, and so far all of the response I've gotten from my brides has been positive.

I ordered business cards from the wonderful Downtown Paper & Press after I got tired of scrawling my information on random pieces of paper and have been handing them out whenever possible.

I'm starting out slow and seeing where this takes me, it would be awesome to make a career out of planning but if all I do are the three weddings this year I'll be happy with that.

(Who am I kidding, I totally want to become the next Ashley Meaders)

So there you have it, folks, a new adventure, a big leap of faith, and a business without an official name.

PS If you have any good ideas for a name I'd love to hear them!

Patience is a Virtue

One that I don't possess.

I've been dying to start our wedding recaps. I mean DYING!

Unfortunately professional photos work a little differently than normal pictures, I can't hop on facebook, steal the pictures I want, and repost them.

So, I've been waiting, fairly impatiently, to see the beautiful pictures Janie has taken.

Luckily for me, a couple of weeks after our wedding Janie hosted a workshop and she asked Jus & me to be her models. (I know, we're hawt-gah, I can't believe I said that-actually, I think she just wanted to use the Behemoth as a background)

As I got in the car to head to Milwaukee Jus walked out of the back door with a package from a Beth Anne from Anderson Photography. Beth Anne participated in the workshop and kindly shared the photos with us!

And now I present our after wedding/kinda trash the dress/a couple bridal portrait shoot.

Oh, you know, I just hang out in my wedding dress and listen to my hubby play guitar.

I heart this guy

I looooooove the way my dress looks in this picture

I love that these shots captured the Behemoth at its worst and us in some of our best.

Have you taken extra shots in your wedding wear?

PS Tomorrow is Vlog Friday! 

This week's prompt is: What were you like in 8th grade?

I'd love for you to play along!