Get Married

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I just got back from a fabulous conference in Florida with some of the top trend setters in the industry. Over the next few days I want to go indepth on some of the people and products I ran across. So let’s get started.

I rode in from the airport with the darling Stacie Francombe, CEO of Get Married. Stacie and I have met on other occasions but this trip gave us a chance to really connect. If you aren’t familiar with GetMarried.com you should be. What a great site.

Get Married is supported on the air waves with a daily TV show on Lifetime at 7:30 AM, EDT. TIVO it or better yet just watch it on line. I could spent hours watching the archived goodie on GM.

My favorite things on the site are the video quick tips. I could literally spend hours. The videos are beautifully done and not just fluff. The information is cutting edge and detailed. Click on the Planning tab and select Expert Advice from the drop down. Get comfortable, you will want to stay for a while. The Quick Tips are as billed, quick; there are just so many great ones that you will keep on watching. Yes, sadly I have found one more habit to consume my time. At least this is a good one.

Tomorrow for Flower Friday I’ll share what the amazing Preston Bailey had to say.

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Seating Charts and Table Layouts

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I work with a variety of different wedding professionals on the back side of weddings. By back side I mean the people that make all the magic happen before you or your guests ever enter the room. I help florists and caterers and planners and rental companies. There is one single tool that all these different types of pros use to keep it all together: a CAD drawing of your event.

A CAD insures everyone is on the same page; it helps keep track of counts on things like linens and chairs. It helps everyone visualize the space in advance so that on the event day set up goes smoothly with out everyone running around asking redundant where, what and how many questions.

From the brides point of view a CAD can greatly simplify the entire ‘who sits where’ ordeal. It is just so much easier to plan your seating when you can see it in scale and in situ.

Perfect Table Plan is one of the sweetest consumer versions I have seen. For the relatively inexpensive price of $34.95 you get a fully functioning CAD to lay out your room; a guest list manager and a great ap for writing your seating chart. Handy!

I love that you can play endlessly with the room layout until you get it just right. Add some tables to the window then just drag them around until you like the layout. Cool.

If you are doing your own planning, you really need the ability to work up a map/layout like this for your vendors. Not only will you be making their life easier, but in the process yours too.

In my never ending quest to help brides get their vision out of their heads and into there vendors, I highly recommend that you print out a copy of your layout and take it to all your vendor meetings. So much easier than trying to explain where you want the tables and which centerpieces you want where.

If a system like this is what the pros depend on why shouldn’t you?

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Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

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I read an interesting thread on one of my favorite blogs, Off Beat Bride, about how to keep control of your wedding if the parent’s are paying for it. The topic got me thinking about whose wedding it really is.

I know, I know; it’s yours. You have dreamed of it for years, that magical moment when your own personal Prince Charming meets you at the end of the most important Red-Carpet event of your life. It’s about romance and wonder and committing your life to another. Let me see if I can give you another perspective.

When my sister was in the throws of marrying off her too oldest daughters within months of each other she was a basket case and so were my nieces. She asked me one day how I had managed to pull off not one but two weddings with our mother, a noted diva with more than a few control issues, without fighting once. My answer at the time was simple,”Because I knew whose wedding it was.”

The first wedding was your standard country club affair complete with all of Mother’s friends on the guest list and her checkbook to finance it. I knew the minute she opened her wallet whose wedding it was and I went with that. This wasn’t about me or my groom; it was about my mom’s last send off to a daughter that she had raised. I think that as far as some parent’s view it, it is for them the “Big Reveal” kind of the attitude of “there, I did it and didn’t I do well.” I am not saying I agree with that attitude, I’m just saying what is.

The way I handled it was too let her know what aspects were very important to me and let her have free reign on the rest. Was it the wedding of dreams? Not mine maybe, but without a doubt hers. What was great about it from my point of view was that rather than dealing with every detail; we had a beautiful party thrown in our honor. It made us able to enjoy the sentiment and meaning of the day in a way I never could have if it I had been fretting over every detail. Not everyone’s cup of tea but this time it worked for me.

My second, much lower keyed affair was totally mine; in a park, in a sundress with less than 30 people. It suited us perfectly as a couple. In this instance, Mom knew whose wedding it was. She was the guest and I was the hostess. We did have one tiny spat about my choice of shoes. Many, many years later she picked up the phone to call and tell me that I had made the right choice to wear flats. That is a phone call I will always remember.

My point in all this is to really figure out what this wedding represents to both you and your mom. You may be surprised at how different your points of views are. Knowing the answer to this can tell you what direction to take; and honoring that may save you years of buried resentment.

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Wedding Wire Rocks

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Like you I am always on the hunt for great planning tools and wedding websites. In all honesty, I have to say that I don’t check out every new wedding-centric site that pops up. Most of them are just lame excuses for sucking advertising dollars off wedding vendors. They have a list of vendors, a few out of date articles on planning and little else.

Today I ran across one that is worth its pixels and is about to get even better. Wedding Wire is a relative newcomer to the game; launched in June of 2007 it has just been scarfed up by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Wedding Wire was created by a team of entrepreneurs including 2 founding members of Blackboard. This is not some lame site put together by a former bride to be or a former magazine ad sales person. These creators have some serious internet chops. As proof, take a look at how functional the tools they have created for brides are. In addition to wedding websites, budget tools and timeline planners they also have the coolest drag and drop seating chart tool.

The galleries look to be fairly large and are searchable by color as well as item. So if you search “purple” you will get everything, bouquets, décor, invitation, favors or anything else in purple. The events page is searchable by zipcode and event type. If you are looking for all the upcoming bridal or trunk shows in your area this is the place to look. The communities look a little thin still but I’m sure that will come with time.

With the additional resources available to them now that MSLO owns 40% of the company you can bet that the content will be just as top notch. If you love Martha Stewart Weddings, then this is definitely the wedding planning website for you.

This one really has me excited.

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More DIY Flower Ideas

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It’s Flower Friday.

The most often used search term that finds Wedding Dish is either ‘Centerpiece’ or ‘DIY Centerpiece’

I just happened to run across a video today on video jug on flower arranging so I thought I would see what else I could find.

First up- how about the 411 on how to grow those cool wheat grass centerpieces. You can get flower tubes at a floral supply store. Fill them with water, pop in a flower and stick the tube into your pretty little miniature lawn. It is also a great way to display escort cards; just stick them into the grass.Fun!

Then here is an unbelievably easy centerpiece that goes way beyond rose petals and a floating candle. If you look at it is exactly how we made the centerpieces for the Gala at The Special Event in January.

Last but not least, here is the how to on the boutonnieres for the men in the party. The technique is valid for nearly any combination of flowers, berries and greenery. Remember to choose flowers on the smallish side; no guy wants a full blown peony on his lapel!

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Live Journal

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Is anyone else out there a fan of the wedding planning group on Live Journal? Well I am. This has to be the nicest most helpful bunch of brides on the net, none of the snarky juvenile garbage that you find in some of the other wedding communities. If you have ventured into the communities at the Knot.com then you know what I mean.

You can follow them as they plan their weddings right along with you. The comments are almost always both amazingly helpful and supportive. You may only post or add comments if you are a member of the community. It’s open to all and you can join here.

The tag cloud for this group is huge; I mean there must be over a thousand* tags in it. It runs nearly the entire length of the first page of the archive. So if you can’t find something close to what you are wanting to know you must be looking for something really off the wall. I didn’t find a search feature though. If you know where there is one, let me know. *Ok so I’m a geek. I just ran a word count on the tag cloud and it’s only 996.

There are even links to other more specific communities like Bridal Weight Loss Support and Wedding Makeup.

Whether you are a bride or a wedding professional this is a must read. Just keep it nice.

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Oooooooooooo! Candy

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Are you having a candy buffet at your wedding reception? I think they are a lovely idea and I just ran across Candy Warehouse. What is cool about this site is that you can shop by color. Pink and orange wedding? No problem.

The secret to having a gorgeous candy buffet is for it to look abundant, like Willy Wonka set it up himself. Uh, ya…that can get pricey. Here’s a few tricks that might help.

Take a cue from the pros that do gift baskets, use fill on the large containers. Those pretty tall glass cylinders hold a heck of a lot of jelly beans but not if you take a smaller, shorter glass cylinder and place it inside, upside down first. Then you only need candy to fill around and above it. Unless you have 300 people at your wedding they would never have reached the bottom anyway.

If you are using baskets fill the bottom 1/2 with leftover Easter grass then put a piece of cardboard that you have cut to fit and wrapped to match on top before you add the candy. Remember, you are going for the look of abundance, not the real thing.

Group your containers close together and use lifts under them to add height at various levels. You can either wrap sturdy boxes in pretty fabric to match or drape all your lifts in tablecloths like caterers do. That helps with the look too. (Next time you are at a catered buffet sneak a look under the linen. You are likely to find such unlovely things as dish racks and milk crates)

Add some large things like Lollis and ribbon candy to expand the look. You won’t by any means need one of these for every guest, think of them as accents.

Use your guest containers as a part of the display.

If you happen to order any PixiStix or Sour Patch Kids you can always send me your leftovers. Teehee

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Design Center

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Check this out.

That is the Monumental Affairs Design Center.

“Located at Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, this newly designed boutique offers a unique location for anyone — from the newest bride-to-be, to the most seasoned Washington DC event planner — to make the necessary selections of china, linen, floral arrangements, invitations, entertainment and more for their catered affair, in one convenient location. The rich décor of the room showcases the most current linen styles and china patterns, in a colorful and inviting setting”.

Well, it about time! Why should you have to run all over town to put together the pieces of your wedding? A meeting at the linen vendor, followed by one at the rental firm, followed by one at the florist … but wait, will the flowers work with the linen? Back to the linen rental. Oh hell…I give up!

I have seen a couple of enterprises like this start up in the last few years. There is a lovely one in Marquette, MI of all places called the Wedding Emporium.

What a concept, event and wedding planning in one relaxed comfortable place. Shouldn’t it have always been this way? I mean, aren’t you busy enough without spending hours every week traipsing from appointment to appointment?

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