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Amy and Sebastian had a lot of details for us to get done the day of their wedding, starting at 11am with my assistant and I picking up their flowers at Tantalizing Blooms and dropping them off to the girls and guys at their “getting ready” locations. The flowers looked and smelled great, the bouts were very easy to pin on (I love that!) and it was fun to get to see some of the before shots!

Their ceremony began at 1:30 at St. Isidore in Macomb. The contact there, Gerri, was wonderful to work with. Setup for the ceremony was minimal - they had a unity candle and arrangement, reserved signs for the first few pews, and programs for the groomsmen to hand out as guests walked in. The closest family members of were greeting guests at the door from the lobby into the chapel, which added such a personal touch to the ceremony.

Immediately after the ceremony, we grabbed the leftover programs, unity candle and arrangement and headed to the Imperial House to set up for the reception. Amy and Sebastian had done a lot of the work the day before, and the room ended up looking very elegant and beautiful. We set up place cards, menu cards, votives (we lit them all too), the guest book, the cake topper, flutes and some other decor brought in by the bride and groom.

We also had to make a run to Kmart across the street because the baker (I won’t name names, you will have to ask me) did not frost the top of the cake! When I called to see if they could come fix it, they told me that the baker had left and gone to bed and there was nothing they could do. So, vanilla frosting in hand, we made the top look as close as possible to the rest of the cake (the color was a tad off, but no one noticed) so that the topper would actually stick and it wouldn’t look unfinished.

Their photographer, Dionne from The Shooting Gallery (the pictures here are from her) was amazing to work with as always. She brings out the best in the people she photographs and makes you want to just jump straight into her pictures! I can’t wait to see their video from Castle Video Productions - it was great to watch Kristyn work! DJing their hand-picked music was Kevin from Rent a DJ, who was helpful as always in coordinating the grand entrance, dances, cake cutting and more throughout the reception. Amy and Sebastian had a wonderful group of vendors!

The food was very good, and the staff at the Imperial House very attentive to requests that were made. Everything flowed very smoothly - the only thing that set the timeline back was waiting for all their guests to arrive - difficult to do on the last work day before Memorial Day weekend!

We stayed until the end of the night to pack everything up and load it into Amy’s parents’ car - it was a long day but a lot of fun! Congratulations Amy and Sebastian, it was great to work with both of you!

At Katie and Cliff’s rehearsal, the church coordinator informed us that they would not be arriving the next day until 1:30pm. This was a minor problem, since deliveries and arrivals were scheduled for 1pm, however, I quickly called the vendors affected and made the change. The rehearsal went pretty smoothly, the organist was there which always helps with timing for the processional and unity candle lighting!

Here is a picture of Katie getting ready at the church (Bethlehem United in Ann Arbor) - I absolutely love her dress! It is so perfect for her and looked great down and bustled later on!

Getting ready, my assistant and I pinned the bouts on all the men involved in the wedding, made sure the unity candle and guest book were set, hung her DIY wreaths on the front doors, and started the stationary video camera on the balcony.

We also informed Amanda Williams of the church’s photography rules in advance. Amanda, once again, was my favorite vendor of the evening! I very much enjoy working with her and cannot wait to see how her pictures turn out!

The ceremony went exactly as planned, except for the readers forgetting to bring their readings! Fortunately I had backup copies and was able to get them to the girls… After the ceremony was over, we grabbed the pew flowers, unity candle, guest book and wreaths and headed toward Cobblestone Farm where the reception was set to take place!

When we arrived at Cobblestone, the caterer Movable Feast was busy setting everything up. The chair covers had been set up and left, however, they had missed the top two tables in the upstairs area. I called them and had them turn back around and deliver the last of the chair covers which they were very nice about doing! We also tied the pew flowers to the posts at Cobblestone for additional decor, set up the “DJ”, gift and guest book tables, and improvised with some extra centerpieces for the head table when the bridesmaid bouquets came back a bit more wilted than desirable…

The table numbers doubled as menu cards and were made by Gourmet Invitations, one of my favorite invitation designers! They looked great on the tables with her hydrangea centerpieces from Chelsea Flower Shop and the 200+ votives that were spread throughout the room (those took a while to light)! It was very nicely lit, and the green napkins added the perfect splash of color to the room to create the look!

Before dinner, the bridal party made their grand entrance. It was a bit delayed because of Katie’s bustle, which was a bit harder to tie than she thought! I also had to fix her hair which had fallen out a bit - nothing a dozen bobby pins couldn’t fix! The food was phenomenal, definitely a caterer I will recommend again! Very tender beef, flavorful chicken, an exciting vegetarian option and of course the beautiful appetizer spread and mini desserts!

Congratulations Katie and Cliff on a beautiful wedding! Have fun in Europe as you begin the rest of your lives together!!!

My assistant and I got to Partridge Creek yesterday at 2pm to start setting up for Vicki’s 6pm reception. Half of the room was set and ready to go, the other half was being used for a shower until 3 o’clock. Maya from Sposa Seating was already there when we got there, and had just started putting on the chair covers - it pays to start those early with a 304 person wedding! She showed me how to do a fold-over sash, and gave me some advice on linens provided at various metro Detroit banquet halls.

We started with the candle centerpieces and votives, which were mapped out by Vicki on a wonderful color-coded diagram (I love working with diagrams!). Then we ordered the place cards in alphabetical order and assembled those on the table provided in the lobby. Favors (Lindor truffles) were added to each place setting.

Once that was done, we convinced the hall that Vicki did indeed want her signing mat on a table rather than an easel, and they cleared the center table for us to put that down with some votives and an extra centerpiece. Stephanie and Rachel from Partridge Creek were great to work with! It looked great once the lights were dimmed and the candles were lit! They also filled that entire mat!

In addition to a third of the tables having tall centerpieces like the one above, Nicole from Westborn Market (who does very nice work!) also provided medium sized centerpieces on a third and smaller vases to go along the third of the tables that had tall candles.

I love it when couples choose to do varying centerpieces, it makes the room so exciting! The colors are great too. Here is a photo of the room all set up. The only thing that changed from this picture was the bride’s bouquet became the sweetheart table centerpiece (and is now being sent to CA to be made into a painting!), and the DJ table was moved to the back of the room to separate them from the Romanian band.

The DJ (Warner Broz) and band (Magic Sound) were phenomenal and worked very well together. I haven’t heard Romanian music before, so that was a lot of fun! The most hilarious part of the evening for me was when Vicki’s uncle busted out the flask, and started doing shots with every table that would agree to do them (complete with plastic shot glasses from his pocket):

As soon as I get some of the pictures from Inspired Art Photography (wonderful couple, can’t wait to see the photos!) I will post pictures of the bride and groom! For now, you can see a picture of Vicki’s bouquet, I can’t wait to see what the painting ends up looking like! Her flowers were gorgeous!

No major disasters happened at all, it went very smoothly and everyone complimented the food, service and how great the evening flowed (I will take credit for the last one!). Besides the tall vases (rentals), guests were welcome to take centerpieces home with them. Congratulations Vicki and Jason on a wonderful wedding, have fun in Jamaica and best of wishes with everything that may come!!!

Lindsay contacted me about a month before her April 26th wedding to help out with Day-of Coordination. Her and her mom were most concerned about getting the centerpieces from the ceremony where they were being dropped off, to the reception. Everything else in the Day-of package was just an added bonus!

One issue that was resolved the week of the wedding was a limo change. Lindsay had some bad feelings about the company she had originally booked, and decided to go with her gut and switch to Millennium Limousine a few days (!) before the event. Shortly thereafter, she learned that the company she originally booked had a limo repossessed! I strongly believe in going with your gut when it comes to wedding issues, they are usually very accurate feelings!

Lindsay contacted her church, the Historic Trinity in Detroit, about the fact that she had hired a coordinator. However, when I called to confirm all her vendors the week of the wedding, they informed me that they do not allow planners at all! I have never come across this before, but surely they had a bad experience at some time and decided to establish that rule. I managed to get them to agree to letting me come the day of the wedding, but not for the rehearsal. I usually like to attend the rehearsal to meet the entire bridal party and family, but in this case that was just not possible.

When I arrived at the church, I pinned the boutonnieres on all the guys, answered some quick questions that the church had for me regarding the order of events, and helped Lindsay mask a cat scratch on her arm with some foundation samples I keep on hand in my emergency kit. Once her dress was fluffed and she headed down the aisle, I headed to the Grosse Pointe War Memorial to set up the reception area!

At the War Memorial, I was told that there was not enough wine to take care of cocktail hour and pouring during dinner. The beer supplier would bring additional wine, but I had to figure out who would pay for it first! After multiple phone calls, I got them the credit card information they needed (and ok’ed it with the card’s owner, of course!) so that wine service could proceed as planned. Once that was done, I set up the centerpieces, menus, favors, and votives just in time for the guests’ arrival!

The only seating issue was a mixup with the parent table, which was quickly resolved by switching it around with the table in front of it (they were different sizes), and a couple of guests showing up that did not RSVP. Most weddings have a few no-shows, so we got them into their seats for an (almost) on time grand entrance!

Their DJ, First Class Entertainment, was great to work with. They were very on top of the timeline and considerate of the couple’s wishes - two very important traits! For photography and video, they used N.E. Productions. I have not seen the final product yet, but they were easy to work with and flexible with any changes that came up before and during the wedding! For linens they used Sposa Seating, and their baker was Sweet Dreams - very tasty!

Lindsay and Christian were involved in a lot of special photos and traditions due to their Greek affiliations as well as Christian’s military service. They are both of Norwegian background as well, and played a song especially for those guests who share their heritage! It all came together very well and kept the evening entertaining throughout.

Congratulations, Lindsay and Christian on a beautiful wedding! Good luck with everything in the future!