Blog

Amaka and Nnamdi were married Saturday at St. Valentine’s Parish in Redford. The ceremony was scheduled to begin at 1:30pm, at which time about 15 people were at the church, none of whom were part of the bridal party;) So, we waited to send everyone down the aisle until 2:10pm - and it quickly filled up after that!

I couldn’t have done it without my team! Johanna arrived at the Diamond Center (at Rock Financial) at 11:30am to get the bouquets from Fabulous Events and drop them off to Amaka and her bridesmaids at the Novi Sheraton. She stayed there to make sure everything was going as planned while Gene and I headed off to the church!

The pre-function space at the Diamond Center was set with a mixture of food from the Diamond Center (catered by Epoch) and traditional Nigerian food. I tried the puff-puffs, they were very tasty!

The room was decorated by Fabulous Events, who I worked closely with throughout the planning process. Bill is amazing, and made Amaka’s vision truly come to life! The decor included chocolate spandex chair covers and tablecloths, gold satin sashes and napkins, votives, low centerpieces with oranges and reds in a gorgeous spray and tall branch centerpieces with hanging red flowers and dyed water. He also provided decor for the cake table and pre-function space, it was beautiful!

Lighting was provided by The Lighthing Guy, and included wall washes in red and amber, a gobo on the dance floor and the wall, and pin-spot lighting on each of the tables to make the centerpieces really pop!

Cakes by Stephanie provided the cake, and as always it tasted absolutely fantastic! They had a few sheet cakes in the back, with a total of four different flavors plus a cheesecake for guests to enjoy! The cake itself was a blend between two photos Amaka had sent me, and this captured her vision perfectly!

Amaka had her hair let down for the grand entrance, and later in the evening she also changed into her traditional Nigerian gown for a re-entrance! There was a balanced mix between the Nigerian traditions that should be included in a wedding celebration, as well as some of the standard wedding traditions to appease the younger generations.

The videography for the evening was provided by John from Trifoot Productions. John also created an engagement video for Amaka and Nnamdi that was played during the reception! The photographer was Marco Antonio with an assistant - they were troopers for staying late to catch all the important moments!

Congratulations on a gorgeous wedding Amaka and Nnamdi! It was a pleasure working with both of you, and I wish you all the best for your new life together in Texas!

My husband, Gene and I recently brought our Boston Terrier Phoebe to Mod4 for some doggie/family portraits! It was a lot of fun and their new studio is awesome! Here are some more:

Mod4 is a husband-wife team that also takes phenomenal wedding photos. They have outgoing, fun personalities that could get even the shyest couple to enjoy the camera!

Another cool thing Mod4 does (for those that dare) is boudoir pictures for your future husband - check out some samples on their website!

I will end with another photo of my Phoebe, she is the cutest!

I recently had the honor of meeting Cassandra and Jeremy for the first time on one of their trips back to Michigan from DC - I will be coordinating their October wedding! While back, they also took engagement photos with the wonderful Dionne of The Shooting Gallery - aren’t they amazing?!

I just love the new balloon trend that has been happening lately for engagement shots - they are so darned cute!

Yao and Chris were married last weekend at Island Park in Ann Arbor, which makes me a little sad, because now I don’t get to work with them any more! It was a beautiful day for a wedding, and so personalized to the two of them with Beatles songs guiding them in and out of the ceremony. Panache provided all the music for the wedding, including a trio for the ceremony, a jazz duo for cocktail hour and dinner, and a DJ for the party!

Steve from The Wedding Connection officiated, and to bring in some of Yao’s Chinese heritage, a crane ceremony was included. Yao made 170 red cranes which were passed out to each guest as they were seated, and during the ceremony Steve had them all place a wish on the cranes for Yao and Chris as they were collected by some of their friends.

The reception took place at the Gandy Dancer in Ann Arbor - and it looked amazing! MPE Events set up the decor for the event, including chair covers, sashes, centerpieces, votives, lanterns, and a white panel by the dance floor with a red gobo and uplighting. Yao provided table numbers, menus, the place card board, and a polaroid guest book that I set up (and my intern Johanna did a great job manning the guest book!).

The night ran very smoothly, and everything was on time within 5-10 minutes. Guests were able to choose among three entrees, including teryaki steak with wasabi mashed potatoes, ginger encrusted salmon with jasmine rice, and lemon chicken with jasmine rice. The couple wanted to bring an Asian influence to the dishes, and those were decided upon at out tasting several months back - it was delicious!

Cakes by Rubina provided a small cake to cut as well as dozens of cupcakes to be passed with other mini desserts throughout the after-dinner hour. Yao made the cake topper you see above. Everything was caught on camera by Linda Wan, a local photographer who was just wonderful to work with throughout the process. I think she loves timelines more than I do!

Epic Motion provided videography services (3 camera-men!) and I can’t wait for the trailer they are putting out soon - it will be shared! The captain’s table was set for 21, and included dates of the bridal party as well. This is always a nice touch if possible so no one feels left out at a far-away table!

Kristina from the Gandy Dancer was wonderful to work with - if I could, I would do a wedding there once a month! She is incredibly attentive and gets bonus points for spending time with me figuring out the right napkin fold for Yao’s menus!

Congratulations Yao & Chris - you guys are wonderful people and I wish you the happiest life together! Stay in touch!

I have been working closely with Amaka over the past year to plan her wedding, which is taking place in just a few days! It has been fun and crazy at times, since she lives in Canada and only came into town a few times during the process!

On one of those trips, her and Nnamdi took engagement photos to get to know their photographer, Marco Antonio, a bit better. I love the results!

Courtney and Jason are two of the sweetest people I have ever met. They are also some of the luckiest people - as their ceremony was held right between two storms on Friday! The timing was perfect - a 4:45pm ceremony at the Van Hoosen Farmhouse grounds (which started a few minutes late due to some stragglers!) followed by a 7pm reception. Pretty much as soon as guests entered the banquet room, the downpour began again!

Their photographer, Beth Merritt, was great to work with (although she says she is no longer doing weddings…) and had a beautiful slideshow up later on at night for the guests to look at! The videography, DJ and lighting were provided by JD Entertainment for the reception at Club Monte Carlo in Shelby Township.

The main issue of the day was weather, which fortunately went our way! Other than that, my intern Johanna and I set up the sashes, off-center runners (I love how they turned out!), favors, place cards, bathroom baskets, a third of the centerpieces (Petit Fleur did the rest), candles, guest book, card box, napkins, cake table decor and toasting flutes.

There was a gap between the ceremony and reception, which was great for getting the last of the sashes tied, but guests never really listen to when you tell them to get there. Several people were upset about not being able to get in right away (over an hour early), and it’s never fun to be the bad guy!

The cake was done by Sweet Dreams, and it tasted absolutely fantastic. Courtney and Jason got to take home an entire sheet cake in addition to the top layer! At the end of the night I stayed to pack up sashes/runners, centerpieces, gifts, and all the other items they wanted to take home with them!

Congratulations on a beautiful wedding Courtney and Jason! It was wonderful working with you both, and I hope Mexico is amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wedding Channel is currently running a competition to find the best bridal blog out there - nominated by brides! First, I have to be nominated by one of my lovely readers (please?). Once that takes place, you can second, third etc. the nomination. Then they pick the finalists! If you have a spare minute or two - thank you!

 

 

As a wedding planner, I get dozens of emails each week from vendors who want me to refer their products to my clients. Of course, I love all the great ideas! However, I cannot possibly look at every new photographer, baker, invitation designer etc. that is out there - it would take all day.

Yesterday in the mail, I got this cardboard “envelope” from Synecdoche Photography. They had emailed asking for my address to send materials, which usually results in my receiving generic business cards and maybe a brochure. Clearly this stood out, as I have photographed their materials and am now blogging about it - this is how to present yourself!

Not only is the packaging presented in a very interesting way, it is also very informative (I am a planner - I need to know your pricing structure so I know if you are a good fit for my client). It includes cards to hand out, blurbs about the photographers, and a thank you. We all like feeling appreciated - add a Thank You! In addition, it includes a statement that their materials were printed on recycled materials, which earns a huge plus in my book.

 

Now, that is perhaps not a reflection of the photographs themselves. However, Synecdoche absolutely set themselves up for the right first impression, and my willingness to take a look at their blog and see what they are all about. Thank you!

I love looking at Tifany’s blog from Gourmet Invitations, and all the new gorgeous designs she comes up with! I was very excited to see this one, because Amy and Ryan will be doing coasters for their September wedding, and these ones look amazing!

I love the idea of a seating chart doubling as a signature mat! As long as you have a strong easel to lean it up against (wouldn’t want it falling over as people sign it!).

These valet tags are stinking adorable - how fun is it to get in your car at the end of the night to see that hanging on your mirror!

This napkin wrap with the menu has got to be one of the best ideas ever! I bet Tifany will be making lots of these in the future…

Last year, the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market was selected as the venue for a fundraiser for Ozone House. Jenny and Arthur saw the event, and fell in love with the space! When they contacted me in February of this year, I was ecstatic to help them become the first bride and groom to celebrate their wedding in the Farmer’s Market space!

Jenny and Art did a lot of the work, including all of the invitations, place card tags, fabric panels to block the public street and the orange barriers, table numbers, wine bottle candle holders, moss table runners, card box, and surely several other things that I just can’t think of right now!

They also had some amazing vendors on board. For the first time in my experience, we ran out of plates - that many people went back for seconds (and thirds)! A Knife’s Work did an amazing job with the food. The florist was Lisa Waud from Pot & Box; they were perfect! Their photographer, Kara Purtell was wonderful to work with - I cannot wait to see some of the professional photos! Colonial Events was my personal hero of the day - after delivering the rental items they stayed to help me hang the dance floor lights!

Jenny looked gorgeous in her Monique Lhuiller gown, and Arthur’s suit was perfect for the occasion. After dinner, the hora got everyone out on the dance floor! Shortly after that was the cake cutting - all desserts were provided by Cakes by Rubina, and the guests went through them very quickly!

Congratulations on a beautiful wedding and reception Jenny and Arthur - it was a joy working with you both!