Programs!

Developing a program can be a daunting task. Here's a little breakdown of things to keep in mind as your create yours!

Although a program can contain as much or as little detail as you wish, here is a general guideline of what can be included:

A Title page

"The Marriage Celebration of...."
Date (All types out..."The Twenty-Fifth of June Two Thousand and Nine")
Ceremony location

Wedding Participants:

Officiant
Parents of the Bride
Parents of the Groom
Wedding Party
Readers
Musician...etc.

The Ceremony:

Prelude (songs - titles, composer listed)
Processional (songs)
Opening Words
Readings (mention titles)
Wedding Vows
Exchange of the Rings
Pronouncement
Blessing
Recessional (songs)

Optional Inserts:

Explanation of traditions (religious, cultural, family, etc.)
Thanks
Dedications

Include fun details & facts about each person in your bridal party - how long you have known them, where they live, etc.

If the two of you will be moving to a new home around the wedding, include your new address somewhere in the program

If you have a deceased family member or friend, you can include a dedication:

"We dedicate the flowers with us at the alter in
loving memory of....who are not here to celebrate our
special day with us"

"We dedicate our ceremony music (or a specific song)
in memory of...."

Fill space at the bottom/inside cover or back with favorite love or wedding appropriate quotes

Display the wedding programs in a unique & lovely way!

Be sure your program ties into your wedding style/theme/colors

Lauren & Andy

I love that I'm getting caught up on TC wedding posts! Here's another one for you :)

I first met with Lauren and Andy on a cold evening..starbucks was closed so we moved out meeting over to Joseph Beth's. I knew it was Lauren as soon as she walked in...she's a classically styled girl with a hint of sass. She told me all about the tent wedding to be held on her parents' farm in Kentucky. I was immediately enthralled with this event! I was ecstatic when they called to book their date. I truly believe that Lauren might be the nicest, most genuine person I have ever met. She and Andy are just good people.

I was so excited for this wedding that I made my fist inspiration board about it. During the big snow storm of 2008 I designed this:



Here is an updated board with photos from their actual wedding. The fabulous pics are by Chad Engle out of Kentucky. I think she totally acheived her desired look & feel for the event.



The wedding was amazing!! All the little details really stood out and you could totally feel all the love everyone had for the bride and groom. Oh and it was sooooooooo darn hot!! I thought I was going to die as I set up the tent. But by the time the reception kicked off everyone had cooled down and were ready to hit the dance floor!

At the end of the night I saw Lauren come out in a new white halter dress and when I asked about her wedding dress she said "oh red wine got spilled on it so it's soaking in the bathtub". Cool as can be...see, kind, positive and just a joy to be around :) Thanks for allowing us to be a part of it! Oh, and thanks for returning the votives!! Much love!

More of J&J

Here's some professional shots from Jennifer and Jason's wedding in September. These are from their photog's (White Imagery) blog. You can see the (not so) fab shots I took of the details here. Hopefully Jennifer will let me know when all the pics are in and you can actually see the details in all their glory. Hope you guys had a great time in Jamaica!

Love this shot!

Stunning, huh?! Jennifer was adamant to her photog that she wanted to take shots downtown Hamilton - grimy streets and all. He wasn't too sure about it but did it because it was what the bride wanted. Didn't he get some amazing shots? Lesson learned: stand your ground!

Cindy and Brent

I had the absolute pleasure of first meeting Cindy and Brent last December. It's hard to believe that it's almost been a year since that first meeting. I remember the meeting so clearly..Cindy kept laughing and nodding her head and Brent kept asking me questions and inquiring about what exactly I would do if they decided to hire me. So typical for their personalities :) Love it!

From that meeting they became like family to us. Cindy and I 'talked' (email, voice or text) everyday. I went with her to pick out bridesmaid dresses (killer deal at Ann Taylor! Good work!), taste cupcakes (and make the flavor decision since Cindy struggles in that department) and hosted her for many late nights working and reworking centerpiece ideas. What started as a package providing a little extra help we soon advanced to full 

planning. And I'm so glad we did! I simply adore Cindy and her personality matches mine so well...we're both goofy yet serious and not afraid to express our opinions. This was one of those weddings that I cried during the ceremony...I felt like it was my friend up there getting married. And then I cried because it meant that we were 'breaking up' and Brent got to have all her time. So sad...

Anyway - enough back story for all (3..) of you readers out there. This is the first wedding that we were lucky enough to get paired up with Kortnee and Ted from Simply Timeless. Kort shot our wedding 2 years ago and we quickly became friends. I tell Rick all the time that I am so spoiled when it comes to photography because I compare everyt

hing to Kort's work. Her coloring is unlike any others that I have seen. Her work is not only cutting edge but it always tells such a story. Raw emotion..that's what Kort calls it. You can totally see Cindy's personality shine through her pictures. And at the end of the day that's what we all want...beautiful pictures that reflect how we felt on the most memorable day of our lives. So 20 years from now our future children can look thr

ough our wedding pictures and say "mom you look so happy" and you can reply "that's because I was (am) honey". Simply euphoric, Simply Timeless. Wow I'm cheesy :) 

On to some pictures!

OK so if you ever thought about why a bride and groom would want to take their photos before the ceremony look through the series of the next 3 photos. First Cindy is in the limo on her way to seeing Brent for the first time....

She sees him and is overwhelmed with love...

They embrace...

And then laugh at each other for crying.

Sorry guys...you just don't get those shots when your first meeting is when you walk down the aisle. Most ceremony locations aren't set up to get those pictures. Plus you have time to get tons more photos and my reasoning goes on and on...I won't bore you here with all of them :)

The photo above and the one below are good examples of the 'raw emotion' 

shots Kort and I are so fond of. 

Seriously..look at that sky! Stunning!!

Love love love this photo!

And this, my dear readers, is one of the many resemblences of my own wedding and Cindy's. The bride out on the dance floor leading the booty dancing. Gotta love it!

Brent & Cindy - it was one of the best experiences of my life. Thank you for being such an amazing couple. Brent - thanks for putting up with me and Cindy. I promise I kept the budget as low as possible. Cindy - there are not enough words. Basically don't ever break up with me for real. I'll see you at the club :) Love you guys! Congratulations!

Kort - thanks for taking such amazing photos and truly capturing all the aspects of this wedding. You guys are the best!

If there was no budget.....

I would have had this amazing set up in the lounge of my after party. Life is so unfair.

This was the set up for the after party at CMC's 75th Anniversary Gala. While we will all probably agree that it was stunning I wish I had some pics of the dinner set up room - you would have gasped out loud! Oh the things you can do with a little money...

The pic above is 24hrs after the event - notice that the entire room was draped in white fabric. Please let me be a millionaire so I can throw a TC Anniversary party like this.....

The Perfect Pair

I had the pleasure of being the ceremony coordinator for a wedding this weekend at CMC. They had a fall theme and it was gorgeous! Even though we didn't coordinate the entire evening I wanted to share some pics. The bride is from New York and visiting an orchard is a family tradition. They love their pear wine so they decided to incorporate the pear throughout their wedding. Their favors were bottles of the pear wine and pear scented candles (smelled sooo good).
Perhaps I am weird but I just love the look of fresh seating cards all lined up and ready to go. They look so clean and show the promise of all the fun that's sure to come!

Glendale florist made the fab centerpieces - they were there first thing in the morning and stayed until the end of the ceremony, Talk about personal attention! They mixed short and super tall centerpieces. Seriously, they were massive! They looked amazing!

Welcome Justin!!

As you all probably know, family is very important to me and Rick. That being so, I just had to share the newest addition to our family.

In between a wedding and my sister's 30th birthday my best friend welcomed my new 'nephew' into the world! I had the honor of being the back up quarterback in the delivery room - thanks girl for allowing me to be there and fabulous work John! Mad props to my 10/4 couple Sarah & Bill for understanding my anxiousness and allowing me to get to the hospital!

And of course I designed the birth announcement :) Welcome bebe Justin!

DIY Possibilities

On my latest cruise of the Internet I found I Dream of Letters.
Her calligraphy is absolutely beautiful! You can find more of her work at her Etsy Shop. What really caught my attention was her recent post on the ultimate personalized invitation. If your a DIY bride this idea is completely do-able. Yes it may take a little longer to print one invite at a time but it won't cost more and it will make a HUGE impression! See below for her post :)



{Take a close look.... there is something very unique about this wedding invitation! The bride who asked me to address her invitation envelopes also asked to have each of her guests names written on the actual invitation itself. This idea was borrowed from a vintage Emily Post book.

As a successful writer and a woman of social position in her time, Emily Post's most notable publication was published in 1922, Etiquette - The Blue Book of Social Usage. Her "Blue Book," which was the American standard of etiquette for decades, was reported to be second only to the Bible as the book most often not returned or stolen from libraries! Emily Post believed that the key to good manners was to always keep in mind the feelings of others and act accordingly with good form of speech, proper social behavior and "charm of manner".}

Blog I love!

Happy Monday Everyone!
I'm always on the lookout for a blog that I like and I recently stumbled upon The Ritzy Bee.
It has lots of ideas for those little details that are so important on your wedding day. Plus they have great freebies every week. I am absolutely in love with this Friday's freebie - The Bella Bella Co. couture correspondence note cards. Definitley head over there and download those notecards! And it's ok for me to use cards that say "the Mrs" 2 years after actually becoming a Mrs..right?!

Delicate Details

I know there are a lot of you no-flower brides out there but this is just too special not to share. These fabric-flower bands will be a hit with bridesmaids. Give them out at the shower or rehearsal dinner. It is also the perfect alternative to a traditional MOB corsage. Subtle and sublime!

What on what?

Lampshades on wine glasses!

I came across this great versatile and inexpensive centerpiece idea at Charles & Marie which could accent any type of style. Use a wine glass as a tealight or LED tealight holder, place a mini lamp shade on top and voila you have a decoration piece for any wedding or event.

Fun, easy and fantastic.