Ashley and Waymon

As you can see from the picture, this was a beautiful, outdoor wedding. The wedding took place early on an August Saturday morning. The bride and groom are special friends of mine, so I took great delight in being a part of their special day. The ceremony took place at Heritage Park in Bryan, and the reception was at Benjamin Knox Art Center in College Station. Flowers were created by Nita's and the delicious cake was one of Mary Burkhalter's creations. We used a personal friend, Annie, who is also a personal chef for the caterer. The girl who took these amazing pictures, Sarah, is also a friend and an incredible amateur photographer.

There were a few interesting mishaps surrounding this wedding. The bride's mom drew a diagram of how she wanted the chairs set up. I misread the diagram and had the chairs in the wrong location. Before the rehearsal, it only took a few minutes to rearrange and put them in their proper place. Also, we set up the chairs and sound system on Friday to avoid having to get up so early on Saturday morning. The bride's mom hired a security guard to supervise the equipment overnight. While he was securing the grounds, a car drove up on the sidewalk of the park and was headed straight for one of the speakers. He was able to somehow stop the driver, who appeared to be inebriated, before she hit the speaker. Also, early Saturday morning, the sprinkler system automatically came on and sprayed right on one of the speakers, all over the chairs and some of the other sound equipment. We had prepared for rain, but since we had reserved the park for Friday and Saturday, it was a surprise to us that the parks department had not remembered to turn the system off.

Overall the ceremony was "perfect" in the words of the bride. She told me it was exactly the way she envisioned her wedding. So, all the glitches and bizarre happenings were worth it to see the dreamy look in their eyes and to know that I was able to be a part of making their special day happen.

Kind Words...

Erin,

Many, many thanks for all your hard work during and for our wedding. It was a dream of a weekend and we are so grateful to have been able to ENJOY it instead of working at it. You guys did a fabulous job and everything worked out better than I ever imagines it would. Please pass my compliments on to your helpers!

Much love and thanks

Susan

Susan and Will

This was one of the busiest weddings I have ever coordinated. The b&g hired me for "day of" services. The bride is very organized and had every detail planned. She just needed someone to make it all come together. And for those of you who have ever planned a wedding before, whether it is yours or someone else's, you know that not everything goes as planned. Susan decided to use my services for set-up and take-down at the reception as well. It was held at The University Club, which is a beautiful facility located on the top of Rudder Tower on the Texas A&M campus. It has large floor to ceiling windows which give a great view of Aggieland! My staff and I arrived at 2:45 on Friday to decorate. The flowers, which had been arranged by Susan, Will's mom and some friends, arrived at the same time. They were beautiful!! There were close to a hundred vases of flowers. Party-time Rentals supplied the dance floor, table toppers and sashes for the chairs. Our set-up and decorating took a little longer than anticipated for several reasons which were out of our control. However, the final product was beautiful. The ceremony took place at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on George Bush Drive. It is a church that has been around this community for many years. The service was very formal and edifying to the Lord. Their photographers were a husband/wife (and now baby) team from Fidelis Studio. Their names are Tim and Kristen Douglass. They are so efficient, yet comfortable and relaxed. I enjoyed working with them. Music was provided by Attic Productions. This crowd was easy to please and had a wonderful time dancing to a good mixture of country, '80's and '90's. (do I dare say oldies?) The cake was beautiful and delicious from Jaqulyn at Fabulous Fare.
Probably the biggest glitch for this wedding happened at the very end of the reception. Will and Susan wanted to leave down the big staircase outside which starts from the second floor of Rudder Tower. At 10:00, I went down to the second floor to make sure that the door leading to the outside was indeed unlocked. The guests were to light sparklers and light the way as the couple left down the stairs. The door was unlocked- check. So I went back upstairs to tell the DJ to give the crowd instructions to start heading down to the second floor. My assistant, Erin, and I gathered up the sparklers, lighters, buckets of water to put out the sparklers, and headed down to the second floor. There, we found the door locked- the exact one that was unlocked 10 minutes before... There was no time to run back upstairs to tell the DJ because at that moment, we realized that all the sparklers were "bundled" and had to be seperated to give to individuals. In the meantime, guests began to come to the second floor, as instructed, and I had to run up there to tell them to come to the first floor. It was all a bit confusing, but alas, everyone found us on the first floor and we lined them up in two lines to send off the newlyweds. I went back up to the top of the tower (the 11th floor) to get Will and Susan and tell them that they couldn't go down the stairs. They left to the glow of sparklers and then it was time to finish taking all the decorations down. There was smoke from the sparklers going inside the first floor of the tower, and so I closed the door leading to the inside to avoid setting off the smoke alarm. Big mistake. The doors were set up so that you can open them from the inside going out, but not from the outside going in. We flagged down a custodian who let us in, and after that, take-down was pretty uneventful. The groom's mom did a great job gathering a bunch of folks to take all the flowers and other decorations back downstairs and load them in vehicles. They had everything cleared within 15 minutes. However, when the last guest left, we found one more decoration that was to go back to the bride, and Erin took it downstairs, only to get locked out again... Of course, it was more chaotic from our end. I think the guests and family had a wonderful time and didn't notice the hiccups. The bride and groom were able to enjoy their special day and didn't have to worry with all the details. That's why they hired me- the wedding planner.

The Spring Bridal Show 2009

Last Sunday was the Spring Bridal Show that the Bridal Association of the Brazos Valley hosts in the spring and fall. This is the largest Bridal Show in Bryan/College Station. This was my second one to attend and it was just as much fun as last year's show. I met many blushing brides, a few grooms and thier mothers. All of our guests seemed to be having a great time! I also got to meet some new vendors as well as touch base with the great vendors that I enjoy knowing in this business. We had a much better turnout than we expected and that was a nice surprise. Some of my current clients came to the show with their moms and mothers-in-law to be and it is always good to see them! Overall, the show provided this wedding planner with more tools and ideas to make all my clients' wedding dreams come true!

Ricci and Jason

Jason and I would like to thank you again for all of your help with planning and organizing the wedding. Since we are both Ph.D. students, it can sometimes seem like there are not enough hours in the day (and sleeping is sometimes a luxury instead of a necessity). So, it was so amazing that you were able to handle all of the phone calls and digging around for information and prices, and setting up many of our meetings...it was more helpful than you know! Plus, it was really great to be able to draw on your experience of what people have done in the past, particularly what has worked and what hasn't, in order to help make our day even more wonderful. Although I was a bit stressed the morning of the wedding, I knew that everything was going to come out beautifully, because you were so organized in all of our previous meetings! And, lo and behold, the wedding was even more beautiful than I could have imagined it to be. It was so awesome that you were able to recruit help and set up the wedding decorations while me, my mother, and my bridesmaids were getting hair and make-up done! And, at the end of the night, it was EVEN MORE amazing that you all took down the decorations and cleaned everything up. It was like the wedding magically unfolded around us, and then disappeared around us...without me and Jason having to worry about doing anything! Plus, we got all of our deposit back from 7f (thank you thank you thank you), so we can use that money to purchase wedding pictures!

We got so many compliments from our friends and family about the wedding (people were still talking about it at Christmas!), and about how amazing our coordinator was. Some of our friends that are getting married in April were a disappointed that you live so far from where they are getting married because they wanted you to help them with their wedding! Overall, it was a wonderful and special day, and you and all of your helpers (but especially you) made it that way. So, thank you again!!

Best,
Ricci and Jason Clepper

Getting to know my clients

I recently planned a wedding for Ricci and Jason. They hired me in January and the wedding was not until December, so I got to spend a lot of time with them and really get to know them. They are a sweet, easy-going couple that seem so comfortable around each other. Ricci has a really great sense of humor, and I liked them both from the start! Her number one priority was the cake- she wanted a delicous cake that everyone would remember how good it was for years. The cake lady that Ricci chose was Mary Burkhalter with Heavenly Crumbs, and the cake was beautiful AND delicious!
The wedding took place just outside of Bryan/College Station at 7F Lodge which is an outdoor facility in Welborn, TX. It was drizzling in the morning, but turned out to be an absolutely perfect day for an outdoor wedding. J squared did the catering and Lori Luza was the photographer. The videographer, Magination Video, came from Waco and the DJ, Chris Austin from KORA 98.3 did his first wedding that evening and did a great job!
As a wedding planner, I get the privilege of being a part of the most important day in a married couple's life. It is the day that they join together as one and make a convenant to love and honor each other through better and worse. I find myself praying for them during the ceremony because I know that marriage can be a rough road, but with commitment, compromise and patience, they have a lot to look forward to in their lives. It was no different for Ricci and Jason. I prayed for them to have the kind of marriage that the Lord intended for them to have and that their wedding day would only be the beginning of their joy.

Engagement Pictures

Who your photographer will be is one of the most important decisions you will make for your wedding. You should choose someone who fits your style as well as your personality. There are many wonderful photographers in Bryan/College Station. However, several of my brides have chosen to search outside of our area, and I have enjoyed meeting and working with them. Recently, Amy and Todd had their engagement pictures done, and I thought they were so cute and unusual, so I decided to post some of them on my blog. The name of the photographers are JD & Jessica Merritt with Snaptacular Photos: http://www.snaptacularphotos.com/ http://www.snaptacularphotos.com/blog/
To me, they look as if they are having a really great time, and that's the way it should be! The time you spend planning your wedding and the big day itself should be a wonderful and joyful occasion. Yet, another reason to hire a wedding coordinator so that she can make that happen for you! I hope you enjoy the photos!