Tonight I leave Cleveland and drive to Lexington to start the next chapter in my life.

New adventures are a good thing and I intend to embrace my new life with arms wide open but I am sad to leave a city that I have adopted as my own and that I love.

People don’t give Cleveland enough of a chance. I really believe that. I also think that Clevelander’s need to give it more of a chance too. It is a great city with so much to offer, if only it would believe in itself more.

Someone asked me why I am going to miss Cleveland. Not an easy question to answer in a few trite lines but more than anything it will be the people that left imprints in my life – I will miss my vendors, my brides and grooms. I will miss pictures at Voinovich Park, The Blue Bridge and the Italian Cultural Gardens.

I will miss our little house in Solon and the crazy neighbor lady who always mowed her lawn in a housedress and slippers (often with curlers in her hair).

I love Cleveland and I will miss it terribly. I consider myself lucky to have had over 2 years here. So, thank you Cleveland…you made me feel very much at home.

“Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten” – Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

Granted, it has a very limited selection but Lane Bryant has added a Bridal Collection to their website.

Only 4 dresses at this point but they also have accessories and lingerie. It can be hard to find that perfect bra for under the gown if you don’t fit in the department store range so this could be a nice option.

I LOVE the long satin bridal gown – gorgeous and a fab bargain at only $149.50.

Now they just need to add even more pretty gowns and some fun, frilly things. Not a bad start though!

Reason #2075 not to have the Bachelor Party on the night before the wedding: Your wedding could be delayed due to flight schedules.

A recent wedding was delayed 3 hours while the groom tried to catch a flight home from Florida. How did he the groom wind up in Florida on his wedding day when he should have been in Virginia? The best man put the very drunk groom on a one way flight to Florida as a prank.

NEVER have the Bachelor Party the night before the wedding – unless you book a round trip ticket for the groom ahead of time.

(this DID actually happen to a coordinator friend of mine in VA recently)

Jennifer and Chris were married on the coldest day of the 2005/2006 winter. It was one of those days that when you walk outside, the cold physically assaults you. It hurts to take a deep breath so you take shallow breaths and hurry for shelter. The entire event was in one spot but to get from the ceremony to the reception, you had to walk outside which made for a chilly start to the evening.

Chris was by far the most involved groom I have ever worked with. I have planned weddings in the past where I met the groom a few weeks or even days before the actual event but Chris was my main contact. It was fun to see the wedding come together from the groom’s perspective and what he worried and thought about and how it differed from a bride’s point of view.

Jennifer was a gorgeous bride. She was also one of the most calm brides I have ever seen. No nerves, no worries, no outward flutters – if she did have them she hid them beautifully. I actually managed to not cry when I first saw her in her gown but I had to walk away – Jennifer yelling at me that I was supposed to be the rock and telling me I wasn’t allowed to cry helped too.

Justin, the best man and Chris shared a room the night before the wedding. Since they have been friends
“since kindergarten and best friends since 5th grade”, Justin confirmed that Chris has always talked in his sleep. So what was the groom saying the night before his wedding? I am very proud to say that he was apparently practicing his lines – he kept repeating “I Do!”

Pictures of this gorgeous couple to come from Jonathan and Jodi at New Image Photography.

“If you must…”

Randy’s best friend Dave, who is also one of my closest friends, has a serious crush on Rachel Ray. I mean serious. He is the only man I know who will schedule time around watching RR marathons on the Food Network. He wants nothing more than to listen to her be a dork and talk about olive oil. Smitten, smitten, smitten.

I think she is cute and she passes the test that my girlfriends and I use when discussing celebs: Would we be friends with her? (You know you do it too.)

Paris Hilton? Not on your life.
Angelina Jolie? Not so much because I am afraid of her.
Rachel Ray? You betcha.

Anyway, I have 4 or 5 of her cookbooks and cannot wait to get back to a real kitchen so I can actually make some of the fab recipes she is always squeaking about. In the meantime, I found a fun blog called Cooking with Rachel. Subtitled: Debbie & Diane’s quest to cook all 366 recipes in “Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats”

Yet another blog to add to the daily collection. Yum-O!

For your Valentine’s Day reading pleasure, I give you The History of Conversation Hearts. For the record, I think that “Fax Me” was a stupid addition to the phrases, but that’s just me.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope everyone will be spending the day or at least the evening with someone you love! And yes, 4 legged someones count too.

“The 1,000 guests mill under a marquee that’s the size of a cricket field and help themselves to a 42-dish buffet. The sides of the tent are crimson chiffon, the ceiling is black satin inset with sequin stars, and the drapes and the throw cushions are gold and amber silk. The place is heated by 20 gas burners and illuminated by 25 chandeliers, 40 lanterns, 66 spotlights and 288 candles.”

Any place that calls THAT a “modest cocktail party” knows how to do weddings.

Letter from India: Land of the Wedding Planners

The latest numbers on wedding costs are out and the average wedding cost has increased more than 100% since 1990 to $27,852. I always take these numbers with a grain of salt – a wedding in NYC does not cost $27K neither does a wedding in my hometown of Holland, Michigan (where it’s Tulip Time in May). One will cost a lot more, the other a lot less – I’ll let you work out which is which.

One factoid for you – 2.3 million Americans will be getting married in 2006, that works out to 44,230 weddings every weekend.

More info at the link: Wedding $eason

Weather Channel Weddings

You still cannot order up the perfect weather for your wedding but The Weather Channel’s online site has a new feature dedicated to weddings. Tools like a weather predictor, sunset calculator, honeymoon weather forecast look pretty useful – especially if you are planning an outdoor or evening wedding.

One of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself is, “Do I want to be ‘right’ or do I want to be happy?

(Taken from the 2004 Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff page a day calendar)