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I thought I would share the dates that I am currently booked, so that if you are looking for a specific date, you will know if I am available or not. I will update this as I book more weddings. Dates taken:

• January 26th, 2008
• February 16th, 2008
• March 8th, 2008
• March 15th, 2008
• April 26th, 2008
• May 10th, 2008
• May 17th, 2008
• May 23rd, 2008
• June 14th, 2008
• June 21st, 2008
• July 5th, 2008
• July 11th, 2008
• July 12th, 2008
• July 26th, 2008
• August 2nd, 2008
• August 3rd, 2008
• August 8th, 2008
• August 9th, 2008
• August 16th, 2008
• August 23rd, 2008
• August 31st, 2008
• September 6th, 2008
• September 13th, 2008
• September 20th, 2008
• October 18th, 2008
• October 24th, 2008
• November 1st, 2008
• November 29th, 2008
• December 19th, 2008
• April 4th, 2009
• May 2nd, 2009
• May 8th, 2009
• May 16th, 2009
• May 22nd, 2009
• May 30th, 2009
• June 6th, 2009
• June 19th, 2009
• June 27th, 2009
• July 11th, 2009
• August 8th, 2009
• August 15th, 2009
• August 21st, 2009
• August 22nd, 2009
• August 28th, 2009
• September 6th, 2009
• October 3rd, 2009
• October 10th, 2009
• December 12th, 2009

Aimee and Jay were married at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. It is an absolutely beautiful church! Due to my wedding the day before, I was unable to attend the rehearsal - my assistant Shawn went in my place and did a great job remembering all the details! The couple had a HUGE processional of 34 people which included primary sponsors, parents, cord and veil bearer, ring bearer, flower girls, bridal party and of course the bride and her parents at the end! It was quite the task pinning on everyone’s bouts and corsages prior to the ceremony and making sure the bridal party was set to walk down the aisle - I got several dress stains out and bobby-pinned the flower girls’ headpieces that just did not want to stay put!

Once the ceremony had begun, we went to the Somerset Inn where the reception would take place. Aimee had asked that we assemble the placecard table in the star shape seen above, which we did after quickly alphabetizing the placecards so guests would be able to find their names. The centerpieces, personal flowers, and ribbon (phenomenal idea!) were all done by Clever Bumblebee Creations. I will definitely be using the ribbon idea in the future, it looked great! We had to set the cocktail hour up in the lobby of the Inn instead of outside due to a thunderstorm, but other than that everything went pretty smoothly!

Aimee and Jay had surprise after surprise throughout the evening - the first being two videos that her father had emailed me prior to the wedding to play after the couple’s slideshow. The videos were congratulatory messages from Aimee’s family members in the Phillippines that could not make the wedding! The next surprise was from Aimee - a song to her new husband, sung by Aimee with the guitar played by Jay’s father! I think the entire room was in tears after that, it was just beautiful. The final surprise was not the greatest - the banquet event order (BEO) for the evening specified a $9 dessert buffet. Well, apparently, the Inn offers two $9 dessert buffets, and instead of putting out the requested sundae bar, the couple were surprised with a sweets table. It looked great, but was just not what they had ordered. Fortunately I got hold of the manager for the event and she brought out some sundae fixings to add to the table, assuring the bride and groom that they would not be paying for the dessert at all. I will definitely make sure to be more specific when inquiring about details of a BEO!

Aimee’s bouquet along with a bridesmaid bouquet were shipped off to be made into a painting the Monday after the wedding - and I am sure it will be a beautiful one! Her flowers were very colorful and stayed very nicely upon arrival in California, where they were placed into a press for 6-8 weeks! To have your bouquet turned into a painting - contact Betty at: betty@curly-art.com!

The cake was done by Sweet Dreams Bakery and though I did not get to try it, it looked great! Other vendors the couple used were Tom Downey from Mike Staff Productions for DJ services, who did a great job keeping the dance floor packed. They also used Mike Staff for videography, and I am very excited to see the final product from that as I haven’t worked with their videographers before! Their photographer was Breakfast With Adam,and from the pictures on his blog it looks like he captured some great moments - especially in the rain!

For their table numbers, they used photographs for the year that that number represented! Since the guest count ended up a bit lower than anticipated, the extra table numbers were used as decor out in the lobby. Toward the end of the night, Shawn and I brought all their personal items up to the hotel room so they wouldn’t have to worry about it and said goodbye to Aimee and Jay. Congratulations on a beautiful wedding you two, I can’t wait to see your video and all the pictures!

I arrived at the hotel Tammara and Scott were staying in at 3:15 the day of the wedding, to make sure the guy’s got their bouts pinned on and that everyone was ready to go! I was originally supposed to stay until the guys got into the limo (their timeliness was under question), but had to hurry over to the ceremony site to help the florist since she only had about 45 minutes to set up before guests started arriving.

The ceremony was held at All Saints Angelical Chapel in Howell. Tammara used all of her own decor and flowers from Gudi at Petals of Brighton to decorate the space - including about 60 candles on the altar. Tammara had ok’ed the use of the candles previously, but when we started setting them up there were some arguments as to whether or not they could actually be lit… I worked it out so that about half the candles were lit, and you really couldn’t even tell - it was beautiful!

The processional went very smoothly, complete with the girls walking straight out of the limo provided by Millenium Limousines into the front doors of the chapel. The only mishap was on the part of the best man, who forgot to put the ring in his pocket when he left the hotel… Fortunately a relative was able to go back and get it in time for pictures! After the ceremony, I packed up all the items brought in by Tammara and headed over to the reception to get things finalized there!

As guests walked into the room at the Crystal Gardens in Howell, they were greeted with these adorable jars of m&m’s guiding them to their table. My one recommendation from this though - write the full name of the guest! When there are several Mrs. Smith’s, they will not know which one to take… They also had a signing mat out for guests to sign as an alternative to a guest book.

The candy buffet was a huge hit! It was practically gone before the grand entrance as guests were filling the chinese takeout boxes to the brim! There was plenty of food all night,with the addition of a chocolate fountain, wedding cake, and late night pizza and coneys - no one left hungry! The cake had each guest’s name written on it, a very nice personal touch!

I worked with their photographer, Roland Young, for the first time. Their videography (which the couple decided on last minute) was done by John at Trifoot Productions. I am excited to see both when they are ready!They worked very well together as well, which is always important.

I loved how Tammara decided to put the groomsmen in ivory and the groom in brown - it was very cool and unique!  Overall the wedding went very smoothly, guests were having a great time out on the patio, and it all got packed up at the end of the night and put into two designated vehicles!

Congratulations on a beautiful wedding Tammara and Scott, and congratulations on the soon to be Landon Scott!

I arrived at the First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor at 2pm to make sure flowers arrived on time, and to coordinate pictures with the guys so that they did not see the bride as she arrived. Patty, the coordinator at First Pres, was wonderful to work with both at the rehearsal and during the ceremony itself. Viviano’s brought the flowers shortly after my arrival, and since they were almost all hydrangea we decided to pin them on as close to the ceremony as possible to prevent them from wilting (hydrangea needs tons of water to stay nice).

The guys arrived pretty much on time and moved to the outside of the church for some formal shots. The girls were a bit late, but we still managed to get them all ready to go for a 3:30pm ceremony start time! Their photographer was my favorite vendor of the day (once again!) Amanda Williams. She goes to great lengths to get the shots, from creative display of rings and programs to getting on the floor (or ground, or street). After the ceremony, I assisted her in getting family together for formal shots, grabbed the ceremony items that would be re-used at the reception, and left to start setup there!

Their reception took place at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor, in the main ballroom. Viviano’s did a wonderful job with the manzanita branch centerpieces interspersed with hydrangea ones, but one thing to be careful of if you choose this option is that the branches are sturdy enough for the hanging candles, and that they don’t burn the branch they are hanging from! It was all fixed before guests walked in, of course! I set out all the votive candles and lit them, and also took care of a little head table tablecloth mix-up (it was ordered as three rounds, but the head table consisted of five smaller rectangular tables…).

The bridal party arrived at 6:45pm, and I met them outside Weber’s to gather bouquets and take drink orders before the grand entrance. The bridesmaids bouquets were very wilted, but fortunately Terrah’s looked phenomenal! She had me send it off to be made into a painting so I was glad it still looked great throughout the night! We met DJ Jim Coffman from Party Doctor outside the ballroom to line up for the grand entrance, make sure names would be pronounced correctly, and hold purses and uncomfortable heels for delivery to the head table after entry! He did a great job keeping the dance floor packed all night and had a few great songs up his sleeves as well!

Weber’s Inn makes their own cakes, and theirs was cut right after the grand entrance. The night went very smoothly except for some broken glass on the dance floor (dancing with alcohol is always trouble), everything ran on time and Weber’s was great about helping me pack up vases and personal items at the end of the night!

Congratulations on a beautiful wedding Andrew and Terrah!

Tracy came to me two weeks before her wedding looking to see if she needed a coordinator to help her out the day of. I can’t believe everything she was planning on doing herself! I picked up her personal flowers (which were just stunning) from Lily’s Garden at 1:15pm and brought them to her house where her bridesmaids were just finishing (!) up with the last of the programs. From there I brought all the vases, orchids, stones, programs, table “numbers” (they were really places the couple has traveled), petals, flower girl baskets, Polaroid camera and film, kid coloring sheets (wonderful idea) and sparklers with me.

My assistant and I arrived at the Michigan Union at 2:30pm, and it took about 30 minutes to even make it upstairs due to another wedding happening down the hall in the ballroom and only two available carts. I got a ticket while parked in the loading dock, which I am intending to fight because one should be able to unload in a loading dock, right? Anyways, once in the room, we began placing stones in the vases, filling them with water, submerging orchids (she got them for $1.80 a stem online), and placing floating candles on top. The final result was very elegant and pretty, and votives and orchids were also placed around the centerpiece.

At 5:15, Tracy and Neil came to see what the room looked like - they were very happy and Tracy looked so amazing! Shortly after they left we followed to the Michigan League courtyard for the ceremony. When we got there, the flower girls got their baskets, the bridal party (which consisted of sets of families) lined up in the walkway outside, and Tracy and her family were hiding behind door #2. Their officiant was Mary Stevens of Lifecycles, who did a wonderful job. The Four Seasons String Trio played the ceremony music.

Their photographer for the day was Dorothy Gotlib - she did an amazing job capturing the mood of the day! Her and her assistant were very easy to work with and unobtrusive the entire time - I hardly noticed they were there which says a lot because I am definitely looking for those things! Dorothy stayed until after the toasts, and then Tracy and Neil relied on friends for the remainder of the moment-capturing - they got some great ones!

Neil played his sax for the first half of the first dance song, and then the piano player Scott Gwinell took over from there - it was beautiful! After that song the piano playing ended and their iPod took over for the remainder of the evening. During the cake cutting I had a tech come in to fix the sound (it was perfect timing), but overall it went pretty well to use the iPod and guests were on the dance floor most of the night. Their cake was done by Decadent Delights (actually 4 individual cakes) and they tasted amazing! Guests were going back for seconds and thirds!

At a previous meeting with the Union staff, we had determined that the two weddings going on were not getting out at the same time and that Tracy and Neil were set for their grand exit. Just to make sure, I decided to ask that night - and I am glad I did! The two weddings would be over at exactly the same time, so we made sure to get the exit going at 10:45 to prevent guests from the other wedding from ruining the moment. My assistant and I made sure everyone was aware of where they were going, and lined them up outside on either side of the Union steps. They each got one or two sparklers, and we had to light them at the same time because once lit, they only burned for two minutes! It worked out incredibly well, and Tracy and Neil made their exit down the steps and into the getaway car before 11pm!

Back inside, I made sure that everything of value (cards, gifts, cameras etc.) was brought home with parents of the couple, and everything else stayed for pickup the next day. The Union staff packed it all up - which is wonderful and rarely done by a hall! I also brought the cake stand with me to return to their baker, as Tracy and Neil left for Germany for a year a few days after the wedding!

I wish you two the best of luck, have a wonderful time in Germany and congratulations on a beautiful wedding!

After Vicki’s May wedding, she sent her bouquet to be pressed and made into a painting. The artist is my mom Betty (reached via email at betty@curly-art.com), and she does an amazing job! Her company is Curly Art - a website is in the making and will be posted as soon as it is up. For now, here is a photo of Vicki’s bouquet painting! Congratulations Vicki!

I opened up my copy of Brides Michigan today to see Amanda & Matthew’s wedding featured! So exciting to see a wedding I coordinated in the magazine - congratulations you two!!! Amanda did a wonderful job planning her wedding down to the finest details, and I came in to make sure it all happened as she had planned it - I was amazed at everything she had thought of to tie the room together! Her photographers from Jessica Johnston also did a phenomenal job capturing the feel of the room!