Lorraine and David have only been engaged about 7 weeks - but they and I have hammered out quite a lot of their wedding plans already! One of their decisions was to use Kathleen Voss for wedding photography; above and below you can see two of the photos taken from their session - I love them! Kathleen’s blog with more photos can be seen here, she has a great personality and one of my favorite traits - she loves her job!
Cami and Steve had phenomenal weather for their wedding at Fox Hills in Plymouth, perfect for an outdoor ceremony! This was the first time I worked with Reverend Amor, who together with his wife did a wonderful job with the ceremony. They insisted upon coordinating it themselves, which left time for my assistant and I to pin on all the bouts and corsages, get people seated, make sure Cami was ready to go, pass out programs, and make sure everything was ready! Cami looked amazing in her dress, and the bridesmaids dresses (silver Jim Hjelms) were cute, definitely re-wearable, and had pockets!
Tifany from Gourmet Invitations put together the seating chart, and as always it looked great displayed outside the ballroom with engagement pictures and a guest book. She also made the table numbers seen in the image below, also noting that in leiu of favors, the couple had donated to the Michigan Humane Society. Cocktail hour was held inside the room, allowing guests to find their seats and relax a bit before the reception started.
The flowers were done by Nicole at Westborn Market. Half were low as seen above, and the other half were topiaries - all tying the room together very nicely. They were all take-home as well for guests who chose to do so!It’s definitely a plus to not have to take home and return vases the Monday after your wedding! Chair covers were provided by Affordable Elegance and had to be taken down and put into return bags at the end of the night. Other items that we packed up at the end included silver charger plates, the cake pillars, and all of Cami and Steve’s gifts and personal items - their parents’ cars were stuffed!
The cake was provided by Elite Sweets and it tasted wonderful. Photographing the wedding was Jen MacPherson from Amanda Williams Photography - wonderful to work with as usual! She took the final photo in this blog post, and let me join in on the close-up ring shots (see below).
Steve from JD Entertainment was the DJ of the evening, and he did a great job with a crowd that Cami warned me would be very difficult to get moving! I also had the pleasure of working with John from Trifoot Productions again - hopefully I will be able to post a teaser video on my site when he has finished some of the editing!
Congratulations Cami and Steve on a beautiful wedding day! It was an honor to be a part of it all, good luck in Chicago!
Bettie and Ryan got married on one of the rainiest Saturdays I have ever experienced! Fortunately for them, all the getting ready, ceremony and reception happened at the same place - the Masonic Temple in Detroit!It is a beautiful venue for a wedding, very different from your standard reception hall - which means you need to spend a lot less on decor to make it look beautiful! Due to limited time between the ceremony and reception, Bettie and Ryan decided to do a “reveal” before the ceremony in the Commandery room at the Masonic. There are some beautiful photos of their moments alone together on the blog of their photographer Nicoloff Photography!
The ceremony came together very smoothly, and only a few minutes behind schedule! A friend of the couple officiated, and the music was performed by Panache Entertainment, a company that always does a great job. The groomsmen and I did some quick gathering of family after the ceremony for about half an hour of photos before lining everyone up outside the Crystal Ballroom for the grand entrance!
The photos in this blog are courtesy of Bettie and Ryan’s DJ, Sara from Platinum Mix Productions. This was my first time working with her after hearing many great things, and she definitely lived up to her reputation! She does a great job selecting music, mixing songs together so they flow smoothly from one to another (so many DJ’s don’t/can’t do this!) and reading the crowd.
Ryan’s mom took care of half the centerpieces (seen above), while Mancuso’s Florist did the rest (curly branches in vases with LED lights). The room was absolutely stunning, and I love the addition of gold that Bettie used to create a very elegant and classic look throughout. Sposa Seating provided the gold pillowcase chair covers. Even the bouquets had gold-painted leaves!
Bettie chose the perfect dress for her figure, she looked so beautiful! It was a lot of fun to be a part of their wedding day, and it all came together very well. Congratulations Bettie and Ryan on a wonderful day, and the best of happiness in your future!
Allison & Matt could not have asked for a more beautiful day! The location they chose for the ceremony and reception also helped, Heavenly Scent Herb Farm in Fenton, MI has been crafted specifically for weddings. The gazebo really doesn’t need any other decor, and the only addition was seen later at night when candles and torches lit the walkway back up to the parking area. Since both ceremony and reception were at Heavenly Scent Herb Farm, Allison and Matt decided to see each other before hand in a special “reveal” moment with their photographer Ksenija Savic.
They had one of the coolest seating charts I have ever seen! I love old windows used for alternative means, and this made it very easy for guests to find their names and head to their designated table for the evening. Allison’s sister did a lot of the graphic work for the wedding, and it all tied together so nicely! My assistant and I set up the favors (popcorn balls hand-made by Allison’s mom!), head table decor, votives, table numbers, cocktail table flowers, and a few other details before everything got started.
The tent was rented through Heavenly Scent Herb Farm, and set up as 120×40ft. The linens were brought in by Matt’s mom, and one of the groomsmen acted as DJ for the evening. Catering was done by Bon Appetit out of Davison, MI and everyone seemed to very much enjoy the food.
The cake, which beautifully reflected both Allison’s dress as well as the subtle birds & branches theme, tasted amazing and was provided by French Confection. Everything went very smoothly throughout the evening and followed the timeline perfectly. At the end of the night, my assistant and I packed up everything for pickup onMonday, making sure any gifts, cards and leftovers were packed safely with Allison’s parents.
Congratulations Allison and Matt - you had a beautiful wedding and I am honored to have been a part of it!
I am often asked who my favorite vendors are. Of course, there are many vendors I have not yet had the pleasure to work with, meet with, or see in action and therefor I will not add them to my favorites (yet). For vendors I am familiar with, here is a list of favorites:
Photographers:
Videographers:
Invitation Designers:
Bakers:
DJ’s:
Tiffany and Paul got married at Silver Garden in Southfield and held their reception there as well. The chapel has very pretty stained glass windows, and with the added decor from their florist Flowers by Renee, it all came together beautifully! The DJ (Matt Candela from Mike Staff Productions) and I cued the bridal entrance perfectly as Tiffany walked in to the instrumental version of Bittersweet Symphony.
One issue that came up pretty early on in the setup process was that of folding the napkins. I made sure to ask Tiffany if she had confirmed the fold with the venue, which she said she had done. When my assistant and I got there, however, we were informed that they had not agreed to fold napkins and did not know how to do the fold that was requested. Fortunately, the groom and his men arrived early enough for me to teach them the fold, and they did a wonderful job folding, inserting menus and placing them on the tables!
We also had to fix the count on a few tables (this always happens) and adjust the table numbers slightly due to issues with the layout not being exactly as planned, but it all came together absolutely beautifully and the pink lighting just added so much elegance to the room!
Tiffany had a very detailed, all pink and brown candy buffet that was as usual a huge hit among the guests. These always take longer than anticipated to set up but are absolutely worth it! The bags had personalized stickers on them, and I made sure to put one together for Tiffany and Paul so it wouldn’t all be gone before they arrived! They also had mints for each table, donation cards to St. Jude’s, cocktail napkins and a slide show going in the lobby to make everything more unique to them.
The food at the Silver Garden was very good, and the staff was very quick to clean the tables afterwards to keep the evening flowing. Tiffany and Paul had their first dance and cut the cake right after the grand entrance as well to keep the party going!
We set up their memory table as well, which was the nicest one I have seen and very appreciated by the guests. A table was set with a setting for each person they wanted to remember, and their photo was included with the setting. A rose was placed on the table for each person as well.
Although they did not get married outside, Silver Garden does have a very nice gazebo that was used for photos and mingling during cocktail hour! Photos were done by Evan from Edwards Wedding Photography.
Once again I had to borrow the rings for a creative shot… and this is Tiffany’s bouquet which was sent off yesterday to be pressed and made into a beautiful painting! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Congratulations on a beautiful wedding Tiffany and Paul, it came together very well! Thank you for trusting me with your day!
Amalia and Andrew got married and held their ceremony at Cobblestone Farms in Ann Arbor on the 23rd of August. It was a beautiful day (despite thunder storm warnings) and the perfect location for their very down to earth, Martha Stewart inspired wedding. Amalia and her family are very creative - her father made the sign below as well as the wooden arch that the ceremony was held in front of! Amalia also crafted the flower arrangements and bouquets with help from the bridal party - I was very impressed!
The day started out very well, as I picked up everything from Amalia’s parent’s house and brought it over to Cobblestone Farms with help from their friend Annie who was a wonderful help all day. We set up the centerpieces on the tables, votives, place cards (which had to be laid down due to wind issues), and other accessories that created a more personalized day for Amalia and Andrew. As usual, there was some adjusting that had to be done with the table counts - this is why I always ask for updated diagrams! As a backup, we also set up the loft area for a “just in case” ceremony location.
Outside, we attached reserved signs to a few of the seats in front, set out the programs and aisle flower buckets, sprayed the chairs with bug spray (ants were attacking them), centered the arch, and made sure the cocktail hour started on time. No one wanted to be outside for it though because of how hot it was!The ceremony was performed by Suzanne Newhouse, who did a great job as well.
Amalia and Andrew hired a bluegrass band, Flatbellys, to play during the cocktail hour and ceremony (which took place in that order) - it was so much fun! After that a DJ took over - Frank from Sound Ideas Mobile Entertainment. They both did a great job, and the dance floor was pretty crowded all night!
I borrowed their rings for some creative shots…
The tables all had very creative names that meant something to Amalia & Andrew.
Their cake and other pastries were made by Alice Young, and it all tasted very good! At the end of the night a popcorn machine was brought out, so guests definitely did not leave hungry!
Annie stayed to help me pack up almost everything, then went to the after-party with the bridal party as I finished up. The couple had rented ceremony chairs, linens, and kegs through the catering company they had used, and according to the contract with said company, it was all part of the clean up that would be taken care of by the caterer. At the end of the night, however, this was in fact not actually done. As a company that does events at Cobblestone as often as they do, the rules should be very well-known. Any rental items that are left at the end of the night have to be moved downstairs and a form has to be signed off on saying that everything is good to go. The caterer was going to leave the chairs outside to be picked up two days later! This was of course impossible, especially since an event would be taking place there the next morning. They were also going to leave the kegs upstairs. They did end up moving the kegs, but the chairs were left to be taken care of by myself and the parents of both Amalia and Andrew, who were appalled. This was really the only issue that came up all evening, I am just sorry to say it was the final issue…
Overall, the day went incredibly smoothly, guests were happy, and Amalia and Andrew are now enjoying married life! Congratulations on a beautiful day you two, it was a joy being a part of everything and helping it all come together!
Debbie hired me a couple months before her wedding to make sure all her vendors were booked and to help her organize everything so that it would flow smoothly on her wedding day. I helped her with the florist (which you will here MUCH more about later), Shutterbooth rental, limo, DJ, photo location between ceremony and reception, linens and developing a timeline. During the planning stages, everything went very smoothly…
At the rehearsal, Debbie informed me that two of her side diamonds were in fact not real diamonds. This was discovered by a second jeweler they had decided to use for their bands, and this jeweler was in the process of replacing the false diamonds with real ones. The day of the wedding, I would be picking up her ring and band and delivering it to the ceremony location. The rest of the rehearsal went well (after the stragglers arrived), and I picked up a bunch of Debbie’s wedding items so she wouldn’t have to worry about them on the wedding day itself.
The day before the wedding, I called their limo company to change the arrival time for half an hour earlier - a message that was not relayed to the limo driver who showed up at the originally discussed time. The bridesmaids did get there on time, but no one likes to start the day out rushed!
The ceremony was held at the White House Wedding Chapel in Warren. It is a beautiful location, but it is a wedding factory and my complaint is always the same with places that try to crank out the most possible weddings in one day - they do not allow enough time before the ceremony for people to arrive, relax, take pictures, and enjoy the moment. It feels rushed from beginning to end when they kick you out for the next wedding. Other than that fact it was gorgeous, and the staff definitely helped make sure things started as on time as possible.
The florist arrived very early, about an hour before their scheduled time, actually! This would have been a huge problem if there was a wedding prior to Debbie’s, but they were able to drop the flowers off. The huge kicker here was that the flowers were, in fact, completely wrong. Debbie had even gone in to make sure that they would order exactly the right color! In doing so, a new contract was drafted up which did not include the fact that she wanted a cascading bouquet as originally discussed. She was understandably upset to see a hand tied bouquet on the wedding day, as well as some very fuschia (not hot pink) roses. I rushed down the street to a Thrifty Florist to get her some hot pink flowers to insert into her bouquet, but there was nothing I could do about the fact that it was not cascading. In addition to that, the forget-me-nots she wanted to symbolize her parents were white instead of blue. I will be encouraging my future clients to go see their flowers when they are supposed to come in to make sure they are correct!
The above monogram, used in Debbie and Clint’s invitations, was carried over to their Shutterbooth logo that printed out at the bottom of each photo strip. The Shutterbooth was a huge hit! A rep is there with the booth, and she fills out a scrapbook with everyone’s images (except those that were not so tasteful…) for the bride and groom to take home with them. Guests also get a copy as a souvenir of course!
The reception was held at Andiamo’s in Warren. The food was fantastic, the staff went out of their way to help me out with setup, and they were very responsive all evening. The bar didn’t carry the bride’s favorite beer, but when I explained who the order was for - they went to the restaurant side to get some bottles just for her! The linens were provided by Hana Ayer, who also does wonderfulwedding gown alterations.
Debbie loved all the personalized products, and they really added a lot to the wedding - matchbooks, cocktail napkins, votives with a monogram label for each guest, and the Shutterbooth made the wedding unique to them and created a very warm and welcoming atmosphere for guests as well.
The DJ was Marc la Rochelle from In Play Productions, one of my favorite DJ’s to work with. There was a battle between the generations all evening, requesting oldies and top 40 hits, but guests stayed until the end which is always a good sign! Photography was done by Precious Memories, who brought two photographers that were there pretty much all day! More of Debbie and Clint’s photos can be seen through the “online orders” tab of their website.
Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Debbie had 250 cupcakes done with roses in her colors by Elite Sweets. They tasted absolutely wonderful, and were a great favor for guests to take home with them at the end of the night! In addition to the cupcakes, they also had the most elaborate dessert table I have ever seen at a wedding - it would have been impossible to finish it all! Andiamo’s did a great job making sure guests didn’t go home hungry!
Congratulations Debbie and Clint on a beautiful wedding, it was so much fun to be part of your planning process and wedding day!
