Wedding Festivals January Bridal Expo

If you walked in my office right now, you would be shocked. I’m in a mess trying to get ready for the upcoming Wedding Festivals Show at the Hyatt this Saturday. You would not believe how much behind the scenes work is done before a show. It is hard work, but I enjoy doing the shows. It is such a great way to meet new brides and new vendors. There is so much excitement in the air at every show we do.

If you’re planning to attend the show, here are a few tips.

1) Wear comfortable shoes. This is not the time to dress up in heels. You are going to walk a lot.

2) Type out your name, address, email (set up one strictly for the wedding) and wedding date on address labels. This way instead of filling out hundreds of entries for prizes, you can just stick on a label.

3) Make a quick tour through the area first, decide which booths you want to spend some time at and go back to these booths when they are not crowded. The best time to talk to a vendor is actually during the fashion show. If you already have your dress, skip the show and go have some one on one time with vendors you are interested in.

4) Don’t bring your whole wedding party with you. You, your Mom and your best friend are plenty. If you can convince the fiancé by all means bring him along. Most shows now days have a men’s area with cigars, beer and chairs and there is always food to taste.

At the show on Saturday we will be in booth #100. Be sure and stop by to say hello.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone that helped make this such a special year for Willrich Bridal and Special Events.

I've Been Tagged Again

I have been tagged!!

Looks like another round of tagging is going on and I have been tagged by Dantzler Designz . I am supposed to list 7 random or strange facts about myself. Why is this always so hard? I’m sure my friends could give you seven weird things I do in a matter of seconds.

Ok, here’s what I can think of:

1. I was born on Valentines Day, so I’m a real sweetheart.
2. I love old movies, especially the Thin Man movies. Myrna Loy is the person I want to be when I grow up. When I die and go to heaven, it’s going to be like a black and white movie, I'm going to sit in one of those beautiful clubs with Cary Grant and watch Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance.
3. I have a huge doll collection and of course my only child was a boy.
4. I have a parrot named Ringo.
5. My cat’s grandmother was two time national grand champion, but she is just my beautiful baby.
6.My favorite part of the wedding is when the bride and groom are announced into the reception.
7. I have water skied practically my whole life.

Ok, that seven. Now, I am suppose to tag someone else, so I am tagging

Yvette at http://www.photographybydennis.com/ .

If you want to read some other really great blogs that’s owners have been tagged, check out:
Laura - Soiree Special Events
Cynthea - Art and Soul Weddings & Events
Carey - Lasso'd Moon Designs
Kimberley - Parisian Events
Liene - Blue Orchid Designs

Terrica - Once Upon Your Wedding

Dimitra Designs Bridal Emporium

As a wedding planner I get invited to a lot of cool things and on Thursday I was invited to the grand opening of Dimitra Designs Bridal Emporium. If you don’t already know Dimitra’s has moved into a new building across from Krispy Kreme on North Pleasantburg Dr.

I was met at the door by Diane Richey, of Wedding Invitations and More, who has a vendor space in the new building. Diane graciously handed me a glass of wine and took me on a tour of the store.

I have to say the new 15,000 sq. foot building is beautiful with thousands of wedding dresses, prom dresses and mother of the bride dresses to choose from. Each type of dress has its own section with dressing rooms for each area. They have a designer section that starts at $1000 and goes up.

I also understand there are plans in the future to have photography, hair and makeup available in the salon for brides. To learn more check out Dimitra Designs

Cutting The Cake

Let’s talk about cutting your wedding cake. Cutting the cake is one of the highlight moments of your reception. Not only is it a great photo op, but it is based on years and years of tradition.

Brides will plan with great detail, the exact moment the cake is to be cut (tradition is near the end of the reception, but in recent years that has been moved to just after dinner). They plan the song to accompany the cutting. They spend hours picking out the perfect knife and server pieces. But when the time comes to actually cut the cake, they look at me in a panic. What do I do? How exactly do we cut this towering confection?

Well the normal practice is to cut the bottom layer (unless this layer happens to be fake). Pick a spot on the backside of the cake for the best picture positioning. If there is ribbon on the cake, find where the pin is and remove the ribbon from the area you plan to cut. Tradition states that the bride’s hand goes on the knife first and then the groom’s on top. Photographers prefer, as do most brides (and I) to have the groom’s hand on the bottom and bride’s on top, so that the bling of that engagement ring and wedding ring show in the pictures. Take the knife and go close to the edge of the next layer of cake, point the knife straight down and cut a small slit. Then lower the knife and cut the sides of your slice. Take the server and slip it under the cake slice and slide it out. Place the slice on a dessert plate or napkin. Remember you only need a slice big enough for two bites.

Tradition declares that the groom serve the first bite to his bride signifying his desire to provide for his bride. Then she feeds him. Hopefully, all this is done while avoiding the whole smashing in the face thing.

Spring 2008 Colors

Ever wonder what colors will be hot next season. Trying to decide on a hip cool color scheme for your wedding? Well here is the place to look. Pantone is the world renowned expert on color trends. Go to their website and check out their trends section. You can find out what the colors for spring 2008 will be for the home and fashion industry. With colors like Snorkel Blue how can you go wrong?

Part 7-What Does A Wedding Planner Really Do?

Clean up starts the minute the bride and groom walk out the door. We start collecting everything we brought to the wedding for the bride. The sign in book, pens, left over favors, bubbles, napkins, flutes, cake set (make sure this is rinsed off) are all collected and repacked in boxes to go in the pre arranged car.

While the car is being packed, we start moving all the centerpieces and candles onto one table so the site crew can start breaking down tables. The mother of the bride comes in and decides what she wants to do with the flowers. Most weddings the vases are just rented so flowers must be removed from vases and put into some sort of container if the mother wants to take the flowers.

We run a quick check through all the rooms and make sure nothing has been left behind by the wedding party. Then we gather up our items, the emergency kit, the steamer, the timelines, etc and make sure it is all packed in our car.

At this point, we are all exhausted. We’ve been on the job for over 12 hours, most of that time spent on our feet. We say goodbye to the site crew, make sure the florist or rental company is on the way to pick up his rentals and trudge to the cars.

Just one more perfect wedding completed. Nothing to it…. yeah right….

Part 6-What Does A Wedding Planner Really Do?

Once the first dance is danced and the minister says the blessing, dinner begins. At this point, we begin moving the wedding gifts from the reception area to a pre arranged car. Since the gifts were going in the parents car and they had not remembered to give us the key, one of the team members goes to find the key and the rest start stacking gifts. Linda on my team is the world’s best car packer. She can get what seems like an impossible amount of gifts packed into one car.

While they pack the car, I stay in the reception and make sure the bridal couple has everything they need. I also try to get them away from guests and seated so they can at least eat a quick bite of the food.

Once my team returns, it is time for toasts. The best man is scheduled to do the toast, so we go remind him, tell the DJ and remind the videographer and photographer. We make sure the bride and groom know, so they are in the room. In this case, the best man did have his speech prepared, in some cases they don’t and we quickly run over a few things they can say.

Once the speech takes place, and the guests are completing dinner, it is time for the cake to be cut. Once again, we must remind the bride and groom, DJ, videographer, photographer, find the parents so they don’t miss anything and let the caterer know. The DJ makes the announcement and I go with the bride and groom to the cake table and tell them exactly how to hold the knife, cut the cake and serve each other.

We then flow seamlessly into the father/daughter dance. Ok, it flows seamlessly only because we have covered this with the DJ, photographer, etc. You get the idea.

After the dance is over, the DJ opens the dance floor for guests and for the first time, we get a moment to relax. At this point, we go in shifts to get a bite to eat. Those not eating are stationed by the doors to direct guests to restrooms, answer questions and make sure nothing goes wrong.

Next it is time for the bouquet and garter toss. Again, there is the whole remind everyone, bride, groom, videographer, etc, that it is about to take place. We locate the throw bouquet and hand it to the bride. We run the single guys out of the bar, so they are available.

More dancing follows and we begin packing the car for the bride and groom's get away. We load their luggage into the car, get the food the caterer has packed up for the bride and groom and move the car to the entrance.

By this time the party is winding down and the DJ announces last dance (with a reminder from us). While the last dance is going on we are making sure everyone knows the bride and groom are getting ready to depart. By everyone, I mean Mom, Dad, photographer, videographer, etc. Once the last dance finishes up, we have the DJ announce to the crowd to move outside to tell the bride and groom goodbye. We have two team members stationed at the doors handing out bubbles and favors to the leaving guests. I remove the bride and groom from the room (otherwise the crowd would never move outside). Once the guests are lined up, we send the bride and groom out to the sounds of a cheering crowd and masses of bubbles. As they are driving away we are rushing back in to begin the clean up part of our job.

More tomorrow……

Part 5 -What Does A Wedding Planner Really Do?

As the guests arrive for the cocktail hour, I make sure that the wait staff is butlering the drinks, that food is being replenished, keep an eye on the time and keep in contact over the phone with the team member left at the church to help with pictures. We need to know exactly when they leave the church so we can move guests from the cocktail hour to the reception area just before the wedding party arrives.

I make a quick last minute run through of the actual reception area checking to make sure any flowers brought over from the ceremony site are correctly placed and everything looks perfect. I also meet quickly with the band to make sure that they have my timeline and we go over any questions they have.

I try to snap a few pictures of the setup before the guests actually go in the room. Since the bride and groom will not arrive before the guests are let into the room, I think it’s nice for them to have a few pictures of how it looked beforehand.

As soon as my team member from the church calls to let me know they are on the way to the reception, I jump into action. I let the caterer know that the bridal party is on their way. We let the band know we are going to open the doors to the reception area and we move as a team to the doors of the reception area and invite the guests in. We try to have everyone out of the cocktail area and in the reception area before the wedding party actually arrives. Sometimes this can be just like trying to herd cats, but we get it done.

The wedding party pulls up to the site and we start lining them up to be announced in. Not an easy job with people wandering off to try and find their husband or wife, going to the bathroom or worse yet heading to the bar. The bridesmaids flowers were being used as part of the centerpieces on certain tables (to save on money) so we had to quickly gather these up and send two team members to slip in and get the flowers on the tables, hopefully before guests notice that some tables had no centerpieces.

Also, we have to get the bride's dress bustled. I always tell brides to have someone that knows exactly how to bustle the dress. It never fails that this person is no where around. So my team is up under the dress trying to figure out the bustle.

Once everyone is set, we signal the band to begin and open the doors. Everything goes perfect. Bridal party goes in and circles the dance floor. The new Mr. and Mrs. are introduced, and begin their first dance. We meanwhile are finding Mom and Dad and getting them ready to make their welcome speech to the guests and finding the minister to be ready to say the blessing.

Everything goes off without a hitch and the reception begins….

More tomorrow.

A Christmas Wedding

This past Saturday, Willrich Bridal was lucky enough to be the planner for a beautiful Christmas Wedding. This was Rebecca and Jeremy’s wedding at Edwards Road Baptist Church. They are one of the sweetest couples I have met. It was a joy to work with them. Rebecca wanted an elegant Christmas theme and that was just what she got. The ceremony site was done in poinsettias, 80 of them to be exact.



It was breath taking to say the least. The bride and bridesmaids carried white and green bouquets that once again Dave McMillan of Memories by McMillan created.



The reception was held at the Younts Center at Furman and everything was so elegant. Table arrangements were Christmas with a modern twist. Red and white roses and tulips with snow covered branches topped the tables and buffet.



We put together a candy bar that was a huge hit for the favors.
Congratulations Rebecca and Jeremy!