The photographer from Kristin and Michael’s July 3 wedding is sending me pictures and I will post their story once I have those but for now, Kristin’s friend shared this fun video recap her friend made of the day. Such a great couple and this video really captures how lovely they were – enjoy!
Llama Gets Married! from Donkeymentary TV on Vimeo.
One of my amazing couples from last year has been featured in the The Knot magazine as well as in the Real Wedding section of The Knot Website! (And your guess is as good as mine as to why the wedding is in the Cincinnati site versus the Columbus one since the wedding was in New Albany!)
Below is the feature from the Fall/Winter edition of The Knot Ohio Magazine:
To see tons more pictures from this gorgeous wedding, click here!
A note: I am going a little out of order on my weddings but I am waiting on some things from some other weddings I have waiting to post (hint, hint Christy!) and then those will go up too!
The Story
Amanda and Keith are high school sweethearts who met at Delaware Christian and continued their relationship through their years at Cedarville College. They planned to get married right after graduation and before Keith started his MBA in the great white north (i.e. Rochester, NY). I actually met Amanda and Keith when I planned and coordinated his brother Eric’s wedding in Cleveland last year – always such an honor when I get to work with the same families again and a lot of fun because I get to see so many familiar faces!
Amanda and Keith were married on a beautiful spring morning with the kind of weather that wedding planners hope for and wish we could always guarantee our clients! Their ceremony took place at Berlin Presbyterian Church in Lewis Center. They were married by their high school bible studies teacher in a lovely ceremony that was full of personal touches. Before Amanda walked down the aisle to meet Keith, the screens on either side of the altar played a video of pictures of each of them growing up and their years of dating. I have seen a lot of slideshows in my day but something about when their slideshow was shown made it very symbolic – sharing their past with their guests and then inviting them to witness the start of their future.
They exchanged vows in front of the one of the prettiest stained glass windows I have ever seen – a giant wooden cross with a rainbow of stained glass surrounding it. The sun was coming through the window perfectly and made the entire room glow with the prettiest light – it was just gorgeous! Amanda and Keith also signed a copy of their vows as a physical reminder of what they promised each other that day. On the same paper were lines for each of their bridal party members. One by one, their bridesmaids and groomsmen joined Amanda and Keith in signing their vows as a sign that they would be supporting the newlyweds and helping them to uphold their vows to each other.
After the ceremony, the party moved to The Lakes Country Club in Westerville for brunch. Since this was a brunch wedding, Amanda and Keith didn’t plan a traditional cocktail hour instead they had a hot and cold bar – one serving smoothies and one serving lattes. They even had a signature smoothie and signature coffee drink for their guests to enjoy! Guests also had a great time in the photobooth – Amanda put together all kinds of fun props for the guests to use and those pictures served as their guestbook as well.
Guests enjoyed brunch in the tent at The Lakes with gorgeous flowers including some of the biggest, most fragrant peonies I have seen so far! Amanda and Keith chose not to have any dancing at their wedding but had a big table full of games to keep their guests entertained. They had a huge cupcake tower with two different kinds of cupcakes with raspberry or chocolate filling that guests were raving over! I will admit I had to grab one too – they smelled and looked way too good to pass up! It was a truly sweet wedding perfectly suited to this truly sweet couple!
Amanda and Keith are madly in love with each other and with life and with God and it shows in everything they do. It is so cool to see such a young couple so sure of what they want and what direction they are going – while the direction may change, I have no doubt in mind that they will follow whatever that path is together – hand in hand, laughing along the way.
Stay warm in Rochester guys and thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding – it was an honor and a pleasure!
The Elements
Wedding Coordinator: Emilie Duncan Event Planning
Photographer: Henry Photography
Makeup: Alison Feamster
Florist: Elegant Touch Events
Cupcakes: Suisse Shop
Reception Music: Stephen’s Audio
Ceremony Site: Berlin Presbyterian Church
Reception Site: The Lakes Country Club
Cocktail Drinks: Latte 2 a Tea
Photobooth: Clix Photobooth
The Pictures
Lots more coming from Henry Photography but here are a few teasers:
Had to include Amanda’s hanger in here!
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that my participation on the Board of Directors for Wish Upon a Wedding’s Ohio chapter. I am so honored to be part of this incredible organization!
Wish Upon a Wedding is a charitable organization that gives weddings to brides and grooms facing terminal illness. Our couples have quite often been together for quite a while or already planning a wedding but when faced with a catastrophic illness, priorities change. That is where Wish Upon a Wedding comes in – we give them a day, without any thoughts of existing health issues, while surrounded by their closest family and friends to celebrate LOVE. One day to forget that by their 3rd anniversary, one of them will be gone. Pretty incredible and really powerful. WUW was started in California in January of 2010 and has already spread to chapters across the country – we are getting things up and running in Ohio and hope to start granting wishes for deserving couples very soon! Keep your eyes open for our launch party in January and our Blissful Wishes Gala in November 2011.
Whenever I mention this to vendors and brides and random people on the street (I like to talk after all), the first question I get is “how can I help?” The answer to that varies by who you are:
For my fellow wedding vendors:
Sign up to be a Wish Granter – we’ll call on you to help make these special couple’s day amazing by doing what you do best!
Donate to the Wishing Well – donate 1% of your profits from one event or from the sale of your products to help fund weddings for our couples.
Donate your Services for Auction – In October and November, brides and grooms will be able to bid for wedding related services with all the proceeds going back to Wish Upon a Wedding.
For everyone:
Volunteer as a Committee Member - we have lots of roles for committee members to help us spread the word, plan events and operational needs.
Make a Monetary Contribution or Donate Airline Miles or Donate In Lieu of Favors/Instead of Gifts
Bid on Auction Items for Your Wedding – You need vendors for your wedding – why not bid on their services and benefit Wish Upon a Wedding at the same time?
Follow Wish Upon a Wedding on Twitter and Like Wish Upon a Wedding and Wish Upon a Wedding Ohio on Facebook
If you would like to get involved, please feel free to contact wish Upon a Wedding via at cwo or {877} 305-WISH.
I am so in love with this week’s Etsy Find! Paloma’s Nest created a sweet twist on the ring pillow – the Ring Bearer Bowl.
The wording is all customizable, with your favorite phrase, your date and names – nearly whatever you can dream up! You can also add silver or gold leaf rims to the bowl for a little extra sparkle. Since these have holes at the top to tie the rings, you can easily use this as a wall hanging or a Christmas ornament after the wedding. Love these!
Make sure to check out the bridal bouquet tiles and the adorable baby footprint bowls too!
Everyone we love leaves a hand or fingerprint on our heart – why not incorporate your husband or wife’s fingerprint into your wedding band?
Fabuluster will create custom wedding bands for you with your out of platinum, palladium, all colors of gold or sterling silver. The fingerprint can be inside the ring or outside depending on your preference – both are pretty cool in my opinion!
Their shop also has fingerprint pendants and charms and the CUTEST custom pet nose pendant!
If there is one prop that people seem to love for their wedding photobooths (also a huge trend right now), it is the mustache on a stick! They are quite fun – very cute for all ages and for some reason they seem to bring out the silly in most people more than just about anything else!
Super cute right? Want them for your wedding? Unsure of how to go about making them quickly and easily – I know no bride has a ton of time after all! Well Tara from Easy Makes Me Happy has a template just for you: Mustache Disguise. Have fun!!
If you have met me (or seen my picture for that matter) you know that I am not a size 2. I think the last time I was a size 2 was in grade school and believe it or not, I am comfortable enough in my own skin to be okay with that. I am never going to be a size 2 and I am okay with that too.
On my wedding day almost 8 years ago, I was smaller than I am now but I was still on the top end of the “normal size” bridal gown scale. Shopping for gowns was hard – all the bridal magazines showed skinny brides and the sample sizes in bridal stores were several sizes too small for me. I found something I liked but didn’t love and I think I rushed into buying it because the sample could zip up so I was able to get an idea of what it would ACTUALLY look like. Looking back, I think I looked beautiful on my wedding day but in all honestly, I would have likely kept looking for gowns had I been able to zip all of them up.
Now when I go shopping with my brides, I see some of them running into the same problems – unable to get a good idea of what a dress will truly look like or seeing them pushed towards gowns that do not flatter them or were made for someone with a much different body type. No one has really addressed the fact that 60% of US women are over size 12 (which is close to where the “normal size” bridal gown scale stops) and yes, they get married too so where are their dresses?
I was thrilled when Khris (the mastermind behind DIYBride.com) introduced Plumage – advice, shopping tips, plus size bridal and bridesmaid gown directories and real weddings for the plus size bride.
I will say that in my years as a wedding planner, one thing has become very clear to me: regardless of the size on a dress tag, EVERY bride is beautiful on her wedding day.
A head’s up to all you Big Ten brides – the addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten (as of this evening) could throw a monkey wrench into your plans. If you are getting married in the fall, in a city like Columbus (or Ann Arbor or East Lansing or Madison or Lincoln), you likely have taken whether the game that weekend is home or away into consideration and for good reason! Hotels fill up, certain places are off limits for pictures and some locations are off limits too (no weddings at the OSU Union or Blackwell Hotel on OSU’s campus on football Saturdays for instance). So, what does Nebraska joining the Big Ten mean to brides?
*2010 brides should be fine – no change to this year’s schedule as of yet but don’t freak out if the bye week gets filled in with the Huskers.
*2011 brides…throw the published schedule out the window because they are going to be some changes to it to accommodate Nebraska. The good news is the changes will probably come down the line relatively quickly. If you already have your wedding planning under way, just know that even if you planned your wedding on an away game weekend, you might wind up getting married on a home game weekend. Just be prepared to be a little on the flexible side and it will be fine.
My final thought on the subject: GO SPARTANS!!! And I will throw in a Go Buckeyes! for my adopted hometown of Columbus.
I have talked about M&J Trim before in my Bookmark Worthy Series. Love their amazing selection from the ribbon and buttons to the flower pins and crystals and…well, you get the idea. I was perusing their goodies today and noticed that M&J Trims has TWO blogs:
M&J Trim Blog – tons of DIY projects for including jewelry and home items. Lots of every day inspirations!
M&J Bridal Blog – projects, ideas and general prettiness abounds!
Hope you find something to inspire you!
