Dinner at the Chef's Table

I just wanted to say many thanks to the Hyatt Regency Greenville, who invited Willrich Bridal to tour their updated facility and have dinner at the chef’s table. Erika, the Catering Sales Manager really did a great job on the event. They met us at the front door with valet parking and a red carpet rolled out. We were then introduced to the whole executive staff and handed glasses of champagne. Then it was off to the kitchen to sit at the chef’s table which was set up beautifully with our name cards in tiny silver frames (that we got to keep), flowers, linens, chair covers, the whole works. Those of you that know Richard know what a foodie he is and believe me he was in heaven. We had three different wine choices, which were wines made especially for the Hyatt and we were the first to taste. We were served chipotle and sweet potato soup, warm goat cheese pockets on field greens and pan seared sea bass with three tomato lobster salsa. We had wedding cake for dessert provided by Linda, at Old World Cake. It was heaven.

Oh and the invitations we received to the event was actually a small cake made to look like a wedding invitation. It was beautiful.

After dinner we toured all the changes that have been made recently at the Hyatt. The carpet in the ballrooms and lobby area has been changed to a blue and brown, circle pattern. It is very modern looking. The guest rooms and suites have all been redone in the same blue and brown tones. I have to say it is very very nice. You really need to check it out.

Thanks again Erika!

I Promise Not to Say “I told you so”.

This is for all those brides and their mothers that read my blog that have no intention of hiring a planner (and I know you are out there.) Let me tell you just a few of the reasons why you might want to reconsider this.

1) I hear people say I don’t need a planner; my site has a really great one. Well there was a great one at one of the popular sites I was planning a wedding at too, but she left, in fact they have had three different site planners at this particular location in the less than the year we have been planning this wedding. This happens all the time. You don’t want to have a planner that you can’t rely on to be there. You want someone there your big day, that knows how you want things to run.

2) Remember a site planner’s loyalty is to the site she works for and not you. Most sites will have more than one wedding going on at the same time. If you think she is going to spend all her time with you, you’re wrong. When you’re in the middle of your reception trying to find your site planner to tell her the lights need to be dimmed, or the air turned down, or the cake cut, rather than enjoying yourself and not having to worry about anything, I promise not to say “I told you so”.

3) "Well I have a friend of my mother’s, a cousin, my best friend; etc that is going to act as my planner and make sure everything is perfect that day", you say. Ok, first of all being the planner at a wedding (if you are really doing the job) is a long, hard job. You are on your feet nearly the whole day, you don’t get to eat with the guests (you’re busy making sure all the guests have what they need and are happy). You’re not on the dance floor having a good time, you’re making sure the DJ is playing the correct songs and that he knows when to announce the next event. Not to mention you are chasing down the videographer, photographer, and parents of the couple to make sure they are all ready for the next event. At the end of the evening the planner will be packing everything up for the couple and taking it to their cars. Believe me this is not a job you give a friend. They won’t be your friend for long.

Just something to think about!

Video of the Trash Your Wedding Dress Event

Here’s a link to the Greenville News video that was done at the Trash Your Wedding Dress Event. Check it out. I am so excited to have been part of such an important event.

Fun at the Falls Park

We had soooooo much fun today at the Trash Your Wedding Dress Event in downtown Greenville, SC. It was an absolute ball. The photographers and videographer got some beautiful shots. These are just a few of the ones I took with my poor little camera. When I get some of Dennis and Yvette’s, I will post them.

The girl’s posed for pictures at the Hyatt in downtown Greenville, then rode the trolley down to the West End and played in the water at Falls Park. We draw quite a crowd, including a reporter for the Greenville News. They even did a video interview with me, so watch for it. We had lunch at the park and a speaker from the American Cancer Society came and spoke to the girls.

We had signs explaining the event and reminding women to get their exams. So many people stopped and talked to us about the importance of this and what a wonderful creative way it was of getting the message out there. I hope we will be able to make this an annual event.

I Made The News!

Ok, I am really excited. Our event “1st Annual Trash Your Wedding Dress Event” got huge press coverage yesterday. Here are two different articles that were in the Greenville News yesterday. Both articles were really great. If you haven’t had a chance to read them, you should.

We have booked all the brides we can handled at this point, since we want to make sure each bride has one on one time with the photographers. It is so rewarding to plan something like this for such an important cause.

Hopefully, I will have some great pictures to share with you next week.

Trash The Wedding Dress

I just wanted to remind you that this weekend is the “Trash the Wedding Dress” Event. If you are planning to attend, you must be registered by Wednesday morning. http://www.idoinsc.com/ It should be a really fun event. We will meet at the Hyatt, which has donated a room for you to change in. Memories by McMillan is providing flowers for each bride. Photography by Dennis & Yvette will take a few pictures at the Hyatt and then we will catch the Trolley down to the West End. There we will take pictures and video (Oasis Videography) at Falls Park until 12:00 when we will go to the Overlook Grill for lunch. After lunch we will have dessert provided by Holly’s Cakes. A speaker from the American Cancer Society will speak during lunch and hand out information for each bride. Also, the Greenville News will be writing an article about the event. You don’t want to miss it.

Remember if you don’t want to wear your dress you can always go to the Thrift shop or Nearly New Shop and purchase a dress to wear. We have several girls that are wearing their mother’s dress. Each bride will receive a CD of their pictures and a video of the whole event.

Ice Cream Reception - Yum!!!

Willrich Bridal helped plan the most fun wedding this weekend. The wedding took place at an old church up on Paris Mountain, South Carolina. The bride and groom, Ashley and Gareth were the sweetest couple; in fact the whole family was as sweet as can be. The reception was in their church’s beautiful social hall. It had a full kitchen which made it great for the caterer and even a fireplace for that special ambiance. This was a huge wedding, huge wedding party, and huge number of guests. So to save the budget, the bride had to think out of the box. It was decided to have an ice cream and cake reception. And not just any ice cream, this ice cream was from the Marble Slab and they had every candy topping you could think of to put on the ice cream. Everyone loved it. The caterer did a beautiful job setting it up. Everything turned out perfect .

Let Them Eat Cake

While we are on the subject of saving money, let’s talk about another area to save money that most brides and grooms don’t think about, the wedding cake. First of all, remember, just because you want the look of a tall six layer cake does not mean you have to spend that much money.

Most bakers offer the option of having some of your layers be fake. The fake layers are actually Styrofoam decorated to match the other layers. No one but you and the server will know. You purchase sheet cakes in your flavors that are stored and cut in the kitchen and brought out to the guests, who are none the wiser, saving you quite a bit of money.

But by far, your biggest savings comes when you give the headcount to the baker. Do not purchase cake for everyone that is attending your wedding. If you have 100 guests, purchase cake for 80 people. Taking 20 people off your headcount usually works out about right.

Remember your guests have just eaten a large meal and many will not want cake. So many people are dieting these days and won’t dream of eating that sugar and butter confection and some (like me) just do not like cake. I always feel so bad, when layers of cake are left over after a wedding. It is such a waste of money. Sure maybe your Mom will take some of it home with her, but hey if you want your Mom to have cake, go buy her a sheet cake from the grocery store, not a $5.00 a slice wedding cake.

A Tip To Save Time and Money

Ok, yesterday we talked about spending money, today we’re going to talk about a way to save some. As a wedding planner, I tell all my brides, when we are discussing menus that you might want to consider doing a duet plate for guests, rather than giving them a choice of two different items. A duet or duel plate is when you have a small amount of steak and chicken, or steak and fish, etc on the same plate. Two meat items instead of just one, a combo type plate. In the Greenville, Upstate, SC area I have found this to be no more expensive and saves you a lot of work.

Remember, if you offer the guests a choice, you have to have the choices listed on your RSVP card. You have to know which guest picked which meal. In other words, if the guests rsvp’s for 1 chicken and 1 steak, you won’t know which guest chose which meal. They have to list their names by what they chose. Make sure it is very clear on the RSVP that they place the name beside the choice. (Most people will just place a number or check mark and then you end up calling them back to find out.) The reason you need to know is that you will have to have some way of letting the wait staff know which meal each person chose. Most people do this by marking the place cards some how. Maybe print the steak people names in green and the chicken people in pink. Of course you always have the person that decides they want to change their mind when they actually see the other choice, etc.

So like I said, you can save yourself a lot of work and time and expense if you just go with a duet meal from the beginning. That way everyone has the same meal, you don’t have to have choices printed on the RSVP (saving money there) you don’t have to call people back when they don’t fill it out right. You don’t have to have escort cards, place cards and table numbers printed up (again saving time and money). Everyone can either just be assigned a table or just find their own seat.

Lots of brides don’t figure this out until too late, so I thought I would make sure you knew.

Priceless

Ok, I am all about saving money. I preach it all the time and with weddings there are a lot of areas where you can save money. But, and this is a BIG but, there is one area that I say spend that money baby. Spend that money on your portrait bouquet.

I know you can borrow a bouquet from your photographer and save, or pick up a silk one at your DIY store, but don’t do it. Have your florist make you a portrait bouquet just like the one you will have on your wedding day (only slightly smaller). Yes, I know it’s going to cost you around a hundred dollars, but this is the perfect trial run for your wedding bouquet. This gives you the chance to make sure you and the florist are on the same wavelength. You actually get to see, smell and touch the item that for most brides, next to the dress, is the most important thing.

I have actually had to chase down florists because the bouquet the bride got on her wedding day was nothing like she was dreaming of. Don’t let this happen to you. With the portrait bouquet you will get the chance to know that you need to tell the florist to make the wedding bouquet a little larger, or smaller or whiter or more colorful and he will have more than a month to get it right.

Cost of a portrait bouquet - $100.00
Cost of a thrilled bride on her wedding day – priceless

Target Wedding Collection is Available Now

Well it is finally here.

The Target , Isaac Mizrahi

Wedding Collection has been revealed. With prices starting at $89.99, how can you go wrong? And there is even free shipping. So if you are looking for a simple inexpensive wedding dress, check it out. They also have all the matching accessories for you, the groom and the bridesmaids.

Maybe you want a second dress to change into at the reception. One of these dresses might be just perfect, I know the price is.

Blumebud

I got an email from Whitney at Blumebox the other day, announcing a new product they have developed for weddings. It is called blumebud. It is a fabulous little bud vase and place card holder all in one. They come in an array of colors and styles that should match just about anyone’s color choices. Check it out.

Ann Taylor's Wedding Line

Ok, some of my bridal store friends are not going to be happy with me, but I just have to share this. Ann Taylor now carries wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses online. The prices are really good and the quality is excellent. You can get dresses with sashes, wraps, shoes, everything to match. They even have flower girl dresses and accessories for the groomsmen. You can coordinate your own colors online. Pick a dress color and then try different color sashes on the dress, all online. And the best news, you can return them (back to the order site, not to the stores) free. So if something doesn’t fit return it and try again with another size. Much better than expensive alterations and a no return policy you have at the bridal stores.