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Kristin and Matt were married at Mill Race in Northville last Friday. The ceremony was beautiful, and all decor was provided by the bride and her parents - including the reception centerpieces! They did an amazing job with everything, and it came together wonderfully. The only “rescue” needed was a needle and thread from my emergency kit to sew back on Kristin’s brooch which had come a bit loose!

I had the opportunity to work with Monica Byrne from Images of Style by Monica for the first time - and it was a great experience! Other vendors included Randy Parker from Mike Staff Productions, and Classic Confections provided their delicious cake. A family friend provided videography services.

I arrived at the Fox Hills Lodge earlier in the day to get all the setup completed prior to the ceremony. That way I was able to help make sure the photos happened on time, that the chapel was cleaned up, and that everyone had what they needed before I was on my way back at 5 o’clock!

Guests all arrived early to the reception (they usually do when a gap is built in!) so we started the bar 15 minutes early to give them something to do while they waited for appetizers to come out! I passed around Kristin & Matt’s guest book throughout the evening to make sure it got signed by almost everyone - they had put together their own using some engagement pictures. Dinner was wonderful, as was dessert, and the evening ran perfectly on time!

Congratulations Kristin & Matt - I hope you are having a wonderful honeymoon and a Happy Halloween tomorrow!

Shutterbooth is offering a discount in honor of Halloween - $200 off your rental cost! This is a great solution to the favor dilemma (yes, people will actually take their photos home rather than leave a trinket unwrapped on the table), and a great way to entertain guests who are not tearing up the dance floor all night long!

Sandals Honeymoons are among the best around, and if you are looking for all-inclusive, theirs is hard to beat! Of course, if you’d like to start the honeymoon with the wedding celebration itself, and bring along your closest friends and family, a destination wedding might be for you!

The resorts have long offered Preston Bailey decor packages, and now they are introducing Martha Stewart to their collection as a wonderful replacement. Choices include Vision in White, Seaside Serenade, Island Paradise, Flutter of Romance and Chic & Natural.

Liz and Mike were married last year at Wellers in Saline, MI. Their photographer, Tiffanny Francisco, took the adorable shot above. Congratulations Liz & Mike on your first year as husband and wife!

I worked with Candid Memories for the first time on the 10th of the month for Tabatha and Marlon’s wedding. After the wedding, I asked them to do a little interview with me to educate the general public about their service. They jumped at the opportunity, and here is the result!

Q : You rent digital cameras (among other things) to weddings replacing disposable cameras. I can say from experience I NEVER recommend disposable cameras at weddings. So why would I recommend Digital camera rentals instead?

A: Most wedding consultants cringe when I say this, but disposable cameras were a great idea, they were just limited by technology. With digital cameras you get better quality pictures, more pictures (up to 195 per camera) and your pictures are hosted online so all your guests can see them.

Q: Ok, so the pictures are better, but what do you do with a bunch of Candid Pictures, especially considering a bride will have a professional photographer onsite too?

A: Professional pictures tend to feature a lot of posed pictures of the Bride and Groom and their immediate family. That’s what they are supposed to do, but what about the other 200 guests you invited? An album full of Candid Pictures can be assembled easily and affordably (even onsite!) and can sit on a coffee table to enjoy every day.

Q: Digital cameras are much nicer then disposable cameras, but are they too nice? What do you do to prevent cameras from disappearing?

A:There are two reasons people steal disposable cameras. They take a great picture and they want to be able to keep it, or they take an embarrassing picture and they don’t want you to see it. With digital cameras you can delete embarrassing pictures, and you can view, download and purchase all the great pictures online. There is no reason to take the cameras!

Q: Lets talk about price point. I can buy a digital camera for $5.00, and you rent digitals for $20.00 Why the price difference?

A: First better cameras cost more money, the $5.00 disposables don’t take the same pictures that a $10.00 camera does. Also, you still have to pay to develop pictures sight unseen, and you need to pay even more for a CD.

Q: I have seen a lot of disposable cameras sit on tables unused. Do guests actually use these cameras?

A: Heck yeah! Guests have no incentive to use disposable cameras. What do they get out of it? Digitals are fun. Each camera holds 195 pictures. Some cameras get 20 or 30 shots, but some guests go crazy and fill the cameras up.

Q: You can do onsite Wedding album as well right?

A: Yes! These albums need to be seen to be believed! The bride and groom leave with a wedding album the day of the wedding! Its incredible. Basically you can do two albums

1. Guest Created Wedding Album- We provide a 100 page 4X6 album that sits next to the printer. Guests are instructed by a Candid Memories Rep, the DJ or the wedding planner, that it is their job to fill this wedding album. It’s a living document that evolves throughout the day.

2. Guest Book- This is best done with Candid Memories representatives on hand. We take pictures of all the guests at the wedding and have each couple or group fill out “best wishes” cards that give the guests the opportunity to leave the bride and groom a short message. This usually fills half the album, with the remainder of the album filled with pictures from the wedding and Ceremony.

Q: I would consider this to be an add on service. How do I squeeze this service into a budget among all the other necessities?

A: I understand that no bride is going to chose our service over a DJ or a photographer, but we have several different price points and several different levels of service. We can fit into most budgets! Pictures are one of the only tangible items to survive the day.

Q: I would put Digital Camera Rentals in the same category as photo booths. How do you think your service stacks up to them? They are incredibly popular.

A: We are simply a more complete service. And on top of that we enter the market at a much more attractive price point! With Candid memories we get guest shots, as well as pictures on the dance floor, grandma doing the shuffle, cutting the cake, and all those great family group shots. Guests can leave with a full sized 4X6 image in a custom photo folder. They can view and download those pictures for free as well as purchase enlargements on our website. They get more for less!

Being a wedding planner in the Metro Detroit area is a wonderful experience - there are so many amazing venues to choose from and to show clients! Tabatha and Marlon came to me with the idea of doing their wedding and reception at the Westin Hotel at the Detroit airport. I have always wanted to do a ceremony in their amazing lobby - and working with Carolyn Almassy again was a wonderful experience!

What could make the experience even better? A bridge to take the bridal party across the lobby’s pond of course! The Westin recently decided to construct this beautiful bridge from the elevator side of the lobby (where the bride comes down from her suite) to the ceremony side. Fabulous Events added the lanterns you see here, and the result was breathtaking!

The ballroom was decorated in part by Fabulous Events, and in part by TwoFoot Creative. We handled all the centerpieces and most of the personal flowers, with the exception of Tabatha’s bouquet and a few other flowers done by Flowers by Heidi. I brought 3 assistants with me to manage the event - and needed all of them!

Everything ran very smoothly once the wedding was under way. One of the highlights of the evening was Candid Memories, who provided digital cameras to each of the tables and hosted a station where guests could print out the photos they took as well as sign Tabatha and Marlon’s guest book!

Congratulations on a beautiful wedding you two, it was a pleasure working with you!

Every month, the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) Michigan chapter puts on a meeting at various locations throughout the Metro Detroit area. Last Wednesday, the meeting took place in Howell! Our first stop of the evening was to sample wine at Howell’s Main Street Winery. They bottle their own wine, making it an excellent place to shop for favors, wine for your wedding, and great gifts for the bridal party. For rehearsal dinners, you can even have guests bottle the wine that will be served at the wedding!

Next up was the historical All Saints Chapel, an adorable little chapel right next door to the winery. Their packages range from $175-590, depending upon how many guests will be attending (up to 140) as well as how long you need the chapel for.

Finishing up our evening was dinner catered by Crystal Gardens at the Howell Opera House. A presentation was given by the Livingston County Convention and Visitors Bureau to educate ABC members about the venues available in the area as well as all the activities that out of town guests can experience.

Emily and Andrew were married on June 27th, and decided to have Emily’s bouquet turned into not only a painting for them to enjoy, but also two parent paintings that they will give as Christmas gifts to each of their parents!

Betty of CurlyArt used a 16×20 canvas for Emily and Andrew’s painting, incorporating the invitation, paper used to wrap the invitation, as well as her flowers. For the parent paintings, 8×8 inch canvases were used.

Congratulations you two - these are gorgeous!

The second session shot by Karl Ko was that of Katie and Matt. They went with the nature approach out and about in Ann Arbor, in the Arb and then at Hill Auditorium where the couple met.

Matt and Katie are planning a wedding in Traverse City next summer!

Thanks again Karl!

Errin & David were married on the 26th of September at Holy Name Parish in Birmingham, followed by a wonderful reception at the Northville Hills Golf Club. Their photographer was from Mike Staff, who just sent me a few of the images to share!

The nice thing about working with a company like Mike Staff is they have a person in the office dedicated to editing all of the photos after each event! This often translates to a much quicker turn-around for the final product.

I still can’t get over how gorgeous the arrangements from Flowers by Heidi were!