The Sixth Course...or "Midnight Snack"

Wedding trends catch on quickly and I love to tweak them and make them personal for each bride. One current trend that has been here for several years now is the idea of a "sixth course" or "midnight snack." After the dinner is served, and the cake is cut guests are wanting a tad bit more as they dance the night away or head home to bed.

Offering a table of "Cookies & Milk" is the perfect solution! At Katie and Gate's wedding we did these great personal packages of milk and square donuts (the new Square Donut place was newly opening just in time) for each couple to take on their way out. It was a great send-off.

Here are a few other ways my brides have taken this trend and made it their own: a candy buffet that is color-coordinated and full of all of their favorite candies. A "Groom's Table" (Bari Kuhlman's idea) where the table is full of all of the Groom's favorite snacks: nachos, hot dogs, pizza...etc. Mini pizzas and Coke to go. Papa John's bread sticks or McDonald's cheeseburgers (I'm not kidding, at my good friend Melissa Coyne's wedding several years ago and pre-Lauren, on the McDonald's Campus in Wheaton Illinios at a certain time in the night servers appeared with trays of cheeseburgers...it was fantastic)...cupcakes, cookies, and even a whole buffet of Sugar & Spice treats have been on the list of "sixth courses" or "midnight snacks" that I've helped with.

It makes perfect sense to me and it's one more way to put your mark on your wedding day and share a little extra something special with your guests!

Working a BFF's Wedding

It's tricky being in this biz as time goes on...especially in a small town where you have many friends, lots of interns and hundreds of former students. Why? Because when one of them gets married I'm tempted to utter the words..."pro bono." And, frankly, I've made promises to several of my earliest interns (Angie, Emily and Rachel) who I fell madly in-love with like little sisters that I would ABSOLUTELY do their weddings as a gift to them when they got married.

It's hard to be both a friend and a planner on the day of the wedding but I managed to do just this for my friend Kate Fleming's wedding last summer. She insisted that I be "a guest" at some point during the day and I love her for this.

This got me thinking about all of the relatives and friends that get called on each weekend to be "the planner" or to take care of the details for the bride. It's tough, really tough to do both. Many times I have seen brides (who have not hired a planner), and their families setting-up the reception or tearing it down, managing the details of the ceremony, or stressing about place cards and unexpected guests. Each time I see this I want to step in and tell them that that's not what they are supposed to be doing on their wedding day...but, guess what? I was that bride! I was my own planner and I started my business many years ago with the notion that I would be the planner that I never had.

Splurge. Give your relatives, your friends and yourself a big break and hire a planner to take care of all of the little details for you...you deserve it!

A Tribute to the 107 Girls I've LOVED!

It recently dawned on me that in the six years I've been a wedding planner I have helped coordinate 107 weddings to date. It took some time to calculate and the number may be off by one or two weddings in either direction but it's close.

In preparing for my upcoming move to San Francisco I've been reflecting on the weddings I've been a part of in Bloomington and it makes me smile. I wish that I had kept better notes or even a journal so that I could read the pages and go back to each day. Instead I am reminded at current weddings how many weddings I've been a part of and how important my role has been at each when I run into a former bride who is now pregnant with her second child, or an usher who says very simply: "you are so calm."

My wedding this weekend was my favorite kind of wedding in Bloomington; it was (literally) the marriage of two local families. When this happens in a small town the whole town is there! The room was a fashion show, guests happily cocktailed way past the cocktail hour, and I got many, many hugs from girls I've helped in the past. It was a hard room to leave when my job was done.

My next adventure in wedding planning will take me to San Francisco where, once I land on my feet, I will be exploring the exciting possibility of opening a social butterfly studio there. Poised and ready to join me are my baby twin sisters who live in the heart of the city and who are over the moon about me moving closer to them; we will be a team of three. I'm leaving behind a brand-new owner, Hannah Trowbridge who will be taking social butterfly in her own direction. She is currently busy, busy, busy booking Bloomington weddings for 2009 and beyond and looking forward to putting her stamp on the Bloomington Wedding Scene.

I'm proud of what I've accomplished and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to "fall in love" 107 times with brides who have personally asked me to help them on their special day. Each one has left a mark and I will forever be grateful for the chance I've had to share a most special time in their lives with them.

Stay in touch!

Pat

The SECRET...is out!

One of the very first decisions you'll have to make will be WHERE to get married and WHERE to have your reception...location, location, location!

I get asked often for new and different venues especially from local brides who want to do something completely different than all of their friends...different is hard in a small town with only so many options when it comes to venues but how about SECRET?

There is something really fab about that word isn't there? I don't even have to tell you more, you'll take it, right? Well, the best is yet to come! The SECRET Garden at the IMU is the most romantic, perfect, secret place to get married in Bloomington...well, at least one of the most romantic, perfect, secret places to get married (ask me for a list of other places that are way too secret to name here now...).

On a beautiful, sunny (this is the tricky part with this venue) Summer day there is really no better place to be than in the courtyard right outside of the IMU. What's better? Bari Kuhlman helps you with a gracious staff, equipment, and even Peach Bellinis if you want it which were absolutely perfect after Josh and Vanessa's courtyard nuptials my very first wedding season. Guests were greeted with tasty tapas and Peach Bellinis right after the recessional.

This shot was taken from an IMU hotel room, be sure to put this on your MUST HAVE SHOTS List for your photographer if you choose this location. Have Bari coordinate with the photographer to get into an open room for this amazing perspective on your special day!

"The Devil's In the Details"

Just finished up a long meeting with a bride. It still amazes me how long wedding talk can go! My "one-hour consultations" which I used to market like crazy are never one hour, more like two or three...and they can very easily turn into an overnight conference if we let it.






Lets face it, there is a lot to talk about! And, when brides get into my studio they are surrounded by samples and inspiration so the creative juices start flowing and one thing leads to another, leads to another and another and so on...(sorry to the number of Grooms who I've seen glazed-over looks from and who have had to excuse themselves to walk down to get a coffee from the Bakehouse because they just couldn't hang with the big dogs).

Just what is it that we're talking about? The details of course! And, there are LOTS of them! I thought I'd use this blog post to tell you about some of my favorite little details and how they can come together for an entire event.




The "theme" (and there doesn't always have to be one) is PINK. Katie loves pink and she has a Groom who is okay with it too. So, everything is PINK, PINK, PINK! The Thai silk tied around each handmade program is pink. It came from the Groom's mother. Pink napkins and chair ties coordinate with the pink shredded paper in each clear favor box holding a wedding cake candle wrapped in pink ribbon with a matching pink/black tag (of course!). The guests' place cards are pink adorned with a diamond jewel atop each one. Pink flowers are on top of each table cake (that's right, each table had their own cake). Welcome boxes delivered to hotels the day before the wedding for out-of-town guests were wrapped in pink ribbon with a matching tag.

You get the picture, everything was PINK! Whether it's a color, a fabric, a design, a motif, a favorite memory, your wedding monogram, or even your favorite book, movie or play...anything can inspire us to chat for hours about the details of your wedding day...anything!






Yes, this is a wedding I helped design...the one you see in the Bloomington Country Club ads! So, SO pretty in PINK!

Stopping Time...On Your Special Day

One of the best parts of being a wedding planner (and there certainly are many great parts) is that you get exposure to a vast array of ceremony types. I've been involved with both secular and non-secular weddings and I've seen everything, trust me. But, my favorite wedding ceremony by far is the Jewish Wedding. Rich in tradition the Jewish Ceremony is a beautiful, meaningful wonder to watch and I believe there are many aspects of this ceremony that we can all take away and incorporate whether we are Jewish or not.

I'm sure you've heard this from married friends a million times, "my wedding day whizzed by..." I certainly tell brides that this is the case and I remind them that they should take time to enjoy every second while it's happening.

Part of the Jewish Ceremony includes something called "Yichud" which happens immediately after the glass is broken and the recessional is over. The couple goes into a secluded room and takes time together before the party begins. I love this concept! Too often I see couples rush down the aisle, rush to the reception, rush through their first dance, the dinner, the toasting, and so on...and before they know it the entire day is over.

Stop time on your wedding day. Make arrangements to meet for breakfast. I'll never forget Amy Watkins' wedding day morning when I was rushing about town and I found her leisurely enjoying a sunny al fresco breakfast with her groom at Bloomington Bagel Company...what a smart girl! Do photos BEFORE the madness begins and set-up a special time to see each other for the first time and steal away a private moment for just the two of you. Sneak away in the middle of your reception and head up above the party (my favorite thing to tell couples to do if they are in Alumni Hall, sorry Bari, don't kill me!), is to go up to the balcony and watch their reception from above for a few minutes...not too long, you don't want to hold up dinner or miss any mingling!

You get my point. You are the boss of the timeline and the order of events. Things can't happen without you. Take time, just a moment, to enjoy each other privately on your wedding day...I promise you'll thank me later.

All the World is a Stage

Okay, so it's the English teacher in me...or is it? This time it was pure fate that I crossed paths with Angie and Matt who have a background in theater and who had visions of a "Midsummer Night's Dream" Wedding. Really, they did. It just so happened that I had just finished competing in a tabletop competition (with Preston Bailey as the celebrity judge and a team that I put together of only the very best pros in town) and our table was...would you believe it: "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

I was fully prepped for this assignment and Angie (who is still one of my all-time favorite brides) saw this as a sign from the Universe...needless to say for those of you who really know me, that was ALL she had to say, I was in!

With the perfect venue: Deer Park Manor we created an event that used every inch of the venue space and stretched our imaginations to pull all of the very best aspects of our Shakespearean theme into 'play' (pun intended)...after all "all the world is a stage" right? I created a "ceremony in the round" for them, which frankly sounded great when I pitched it (and OF COURSE Angie loved it!) but then when my team and I went to actually set it up it was trickier than I thought.

Guests fanned themselves with handmade programs and wrote well-wishes to the couple and hung them on branches. Long feast-like tables adorned with jeweled-toned linens in moss, gold and burgundy flanked the outdoor tent. In the middle of each table was a lush bed of moss and other forest dwelling plants like ferns and mushrooms. Who else would we call on to create such a madrigal feast but Alexa from Lemley's Catering who brought a whole pig! Menu cards were hand stamped with a hot wax seal (I still have the scar to prove it) and napkins were casually gathered with grapevine at each place.

Oh, and I cannot forget the cake...one of Lisa Farkas' masterpieces for sure...it was right out of the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings with all of the tender forest flora the bride requested and it was on top of a very specially made cake plate which was made by the bride's uncle out of a tree trunk...

That's me and wonder intern Emily Williams, Wedding Cake Cutting 101...