This past weekend, Kasey from Bliss and I took a roadtrip to Cincinnati and had the pleasure of coordinating a fellow planner’s wedding!  Alison from Aviva Events married her longtime love, Seth at the Contemporary Arts Center.  It was a beautiful day and I was honored to be a part of it – I will try to borrow some pictures and post them for soon.

One of my favorite discoveries from the day was the prelude music which was provided by the outstanding DJ Toad.  Seriously, he was amazing – the dance floor wasn’t empty for a second all night.  And he travels to Columbus.  Just saying.

If you weren’t listening very, very closely to the prelude music, you likely would not have noticed it wasn’t your usual music.  There was no Canon in D, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring or Trumpet Voluntary.  There was ‘Nightswimming’ by REM and ‘Today’ by Smashing Pumpkins but I am willing to bet that most of the guests didn’t realize they were listening to instrumental versions of those songs.

A group called the Vitamin String Quartet has taken songs from just about anyone you can think of – from 311 to Adele to Elton John to Metallica to Radiohead to The Cure to Van Morrison – and done instrumental versions.  If you have always wanted to walk down the aisle to ‘Like a Prayer’ or ‘Jane Says’ but didn’t want your parents to flip out and grandma to have a heart attack, look no further!  Vitamin String Quartet has you covered.

A quick search iTunes produces literally thousands of covers of songs available – if you aren’t a classical fan or are looking for an interesting alternative to the traditional prelude and processional music, you must check out Vitamin String Quartet!

You may remember that I currently serve as the Wish Granting Chair for the Ohio Chapter of Wish Upon a Wedding.  We grant wedding wishes for couples facing terminal illness and other life altering circumstances.  We give them a day – one day to forget existing health issues, while surrounded by their closest family and friends to celebrate LOVE.

The majority of the costs of these wedding wishes is gifted by the amazing, phenomenal, fantastic vendors who serve as Wish Granters but there are other expenses that aren’t covered.  You can help us cover those costs and score some great deals or a once in a lifetime event (Like a 1 hour phone consult with Preston Bailey or Drinks with Randy Fenoli from Say Yes to the Dress in NYC?) and help us keep granting amazing wishes like these in Ohio and across the country:

Linae and David:

Jon and Alyssa:

And our next wish taking place on November 13 in Columbus, Danae and Derrick:

Just visit Bidding for Good to see all the auction items and help us continue to grant wishes for these deserving couples!  You have until October 31st so get to bidding!

*Thanks to Carmen and Pugh Photography, Corey Ann Photography and Picture the Love for the pictures!

Weather can be tricky in Ohio – especially in October!  You never know whether you will be dealing with freezing rain or blazing sun or something in the middle.  Sometimes we get lucky and get a perfect fall day and this past Saturday we had a perfect day for Valeri and Bill!  It was sunny, clear with a light breeze and nearly 80 degrees for their wedding day.

The Athletic Club of Columbus was the location for the happy couple’s nuptials.  Nicole Dixon captured the day in still photos and Steve from Studio Z filmed the whole thing.  A few pictures from Nicole (you can see more on her blog here):

I will share more of this gorgeous wedding when I have pictures and video!  Big thanks to Val and Bill for trusting me to help them with their day and letting my team and me be a part of it.

Yes, I used an exclamation point in the title because this is a big deal – to be honest, I am stunned.  Priscilla of Boston has announced that they are closing their boutiques and all their dress lines will be retired.  This includes all bridal gowns and bridesmaid gowns from Priscilla of Boston, Jewel by Priscilla of Boston, Platinum for Priscilla of Boston, The Dress by Priscilla of Boston as well as Melissa Sweet, Reverie by Melissa Sweet and the Vineyard Collection.

So what does this mean for brides?  It depends on whether you have placed an order or not.

*If you have already ordered a gown from any of POB’s lines.  You are fine.  POB is going to fill their orders and make sure that their customers are taken care of.  If you have any questions, just call the bridal salon you ordered from and don’t freak out!  POB has said you will still get your gown!

*If you had your eye on a gown from any of POB’s lines but hadn’t ordered.  Sorry but you will not be able to place a custom order for any gowns – this includes brides and bridesmaids.  Keep in mind that there will likely be a flood in the consignment market of sample gowns from different bridal salons looking to get rid of their sample gowns.  Lucky for Columbus locals, we happen to have an AMAZING consignment shop right in downtown Worthington called LuxeRedux.  They happen to be our neighbors!  Give LeAnn a call and see if she can’t help you.  Also, keep an eye on their online boutique – good chance some gorgeous gowns from POB will be popping up soon!

For more answers, Priscilla of Boston has a list of FAQs on their website.

Personally, I am saddened by this news – I have had brides over the years wear POB or Melissa Sweet and they were lovely dresses with beautiful detail and styling.  I have a bride wearing a gorgeous Reverie skirt next year and I know how excited she was when she found it.  The bridal industry is losing a jewel with the closing of Priscilla of Boston.

If you follow me on Pintrest (which you should really be on because it is fantastic and addictive) then you might have seen these pictures of back drops for cake and sweets tables pop up in my pins:

The one on the left is just 12×12 sheets of scrapbook paper with rings connecting them – the one on the right is a kajillion individual paper circles glued together.  Both would be very cute for a wedding but I couldn’t help but think that the one on the left, while easy, was a little too plain and the one on the right, while gorgeous, was too complex.  Such a Goldilocks issue!

That brings me to today – I was wandering around The Container Store and saw these little pretties (forgive the camera work these were taken on my phone):

 Cute hanging panels that connect with little rings.  Each package has 4 panels and costs only $9.99.  Buy a couple of packages and you have a fantastic (and super reasonable!) backdrop for a cake or sweets table.  You can find them in store if you are lucky enough to have a Container Store nearby (they are in the dorm decor section) or online: Decor Screen Panels.

I think these would be just right! Goldilocks would be thrilled.

When I first met with Mollie and Kevin, they told me they wanted a low key wedding hitting all the important points but didn’t want much of the pomp and circumstance. They were married in Mollie’s childhood church in Delaware and had an afternoon reception at a barn built in the early 1800′s with a tent set up nearby. Casual, low key, comfortable and just what Mollie and Kevin wanted.

The wonderful Jennifer and Jonah Otchy were our photographers for the day and they captured it beautifully!  Lots more pictures and details to come but for now a sneak peek!

I think the pictures show how relaxed and happy they were all day which I love!  Thanks to Jen and Jonah for sharing pics!

Nancy and Doug were married on a picture perfect summer day at her childhood home in Lancaster.  The house dates all the way back to the early 1800′s and it and the grounds hold special meaning to the bride and her family.  The day itself was very much about Nancy and Doug and their guests – everyone had a fantastic time and how could they not?  There were so many fun and unique details including a champagne tasting before the ceremony, a sno-cone machine, s’mores, a groom who went swimming with the guests, a beer tasting from Rockmill Brewery, a bride who never left the dance floor and a video booth in the old outhouse.  The awesome Karen Evans captured the day beautifully – a few preview pictures with more pictures of the fun to come!

The whole day was intimate and playful and all about the bride and groom and their guests which is exactly how they envisioned it.

Standard rule of thumb for the industry says that about 75-80% of your guests will RSVP yes to your wedding.  I used to use the same rule of thumb but now insist that if a guest is invited, there will be room for them – i.e. no inviting 200 people to a wedding venue that can only hold 160.

Why do I insist on this for my couples?  Because of Lindsay and Nick’s wedding.

Lindsay and Nick were married on private property under a gorgeous tent overlooking Bass Lake in Cleveland in July of 2006.  The invited guest list numbered 184.  We reserved a tent that would hold 160 plus a dance floor – a generous cushion or so I thought.  Lindsay began to get a little worried about 5 weeks before the wedding when literally every one of their RSVPs were yes.  I assured her that most of the time the yes responses come first with the no responses coming in later and not to worry – the nos would be coming!

I was wrong.  I was so very wrong.

When all was said and done and all the RSVPs were in they had 179 guests attending.  They had a 97.3% positive RSVP rate.  5 people said no.  FIVE.  Our planned for tent wasn’t large enough, we had to order more tables and chairs and a bigger tent!  We also just had to hope it didn’t rain because the property barely had enough room for the bigger tent unless we wanted to seat guests on an embankment and there was no nice wide aisle if we had to seat people at their tables for the ceremony!

On wedding day, it rained (and a mini tornado came through the day before during set up – that’s a story I only tell over drinks!) so the ceremony had to be held inside that tent with guests seated at their tables – it was cramped and the aisle wound through the guest tables and it was humid and muddy but everyone had a GREAT time which in the end is all that matters!  I was thankful that we were at a location that allowed us to up-size everything at the very last minute.

Go ahead and plan on 75-80% of your invited guests attending but remember Lindsay and Nick and budget and space plan for 100% to be on the safe side – you just never know what could happen!

The vast majority of my clients don’t do a receiving line but occasionally a bride and groom either want to have a traditional receiving line at the church or their parents insist on it.

Truth be told, I try to talk people out of receiving lines or releasing rows for the simple reason that they are a huge time monopolizer and tend to be impersonal. Most of my brides and grooms realize they will have more meaningful interactions with their guests if they circulate at the cocktail hour or go from table to table after dinner to greet their guests. The conversations are not as rushed, your guests don’t feel like cattle and you can say more than “thanks for coming” which is all that a receiving line allows because there are 180 or more other guests staring you down, standing in uncomfy heels and too tight suit coats to shake your hand!

Obviously, my advice is to skip the receiving line but if you really want one or a parent is insisting, make sure you allocate enough time for it in the timeline! My rule of thumb is assume it will take on average 10 seconds per person for each guest to move through the line. 250 guests? That receiving line is going to take just under 45 minutes. See why I recommend greeting guests at other times?

We spent Saturday back at The Darby House for Lindsay and Kevin’s wedding – we had perfect weather, a really wonderful couple and a great time!  Kimberly Potterf Photography captured the day and was nice enough to share a little sneak peek – there are lots more coming (just wait – there was a lot of pretty!) but here are a few of my favorites to hold you over:

I. Love. This. Picture.  This was at the very end of the night – people were dancing around them and the dance floor was packed but Kevin and Lindsay were so lost in each other…so incredibly beautiful and EXACTLY what I hope for every one of Emilie Duncan Event Planning’s couples.

Big thanks to Kimberly for sharing so quickly!!