Caveat Emptor

For those of you old like me, you'll remember that famous Brady Bunch Episode, Caveat Emptor. Let the Buyer Beware!!

An email today got me thinking. A girls wedding day is one of the most important days of her life. She and her family put a lot of time and money into the planning. When they hire a planner they are putting their trust into that person to help them make all their dreams come true.

Unfortunately, the most asked question for me from a potential client is, "how much do you charge." When it should be, "Can I have a least 1 client reference and 1 vendor reference."

The planner-client relationship can sometimes last a year and within that time you form a bond. You are planning a sharing ideas, stories, sometimes a tear or two. This person you have put all your faith in, in reality is a complete stranger. Yes after several meetings and phone calls you do form a bond. But how much do you really know each other?

When looking for a planner, think about these questions when you go to your initial meeting.

• How long have you been planning?
• What venues have you worked with in the last year?
• What vendors have you worked with in the last year?
• Can I get one vendor reference?
• Can I get one Client reference?
• What professional organizations do you belong to?
• Who takes care of payment on the day of the wedding?
  
• Can I have a separate contract with my vendors?

These are just a few questions you should think about before signing a contract with any planner.
Remember, You are paying this person and if they don't like you asking these questions, you should probably look elsewhere even if you have to pay more for the service. You get what you pay for.

Good luck and happy planning!

Amy and Andrew August 1, 2009

Amy and Andrew were a pleasure to work with. This wedding was special for me, because the bride and her family lived out of town. This is always a challenge as a planner. You want to provide quality service and you are doing it mostly through email and phone calls. I requires trust from both parties and their families. I was lucky and had both.

As a planner you need to know your strenghts. Mine is organizing and planning, don't get me wrong I love design as well. But for this wedding I needed to bring in the professional, so we hired Lacy Branch Events to design the reception. The reception was held at the Warrenton Elks Lodge, it was a great space to design for.

Lacy and her team brought in lighting, fabric, linens, and flowers from some of the best in St. Louis. Parties and Props did our lighting, BBJ handled the linens, and Sister Flowers provided the flowers.

Amy was wanting to surprise her sweetheart by adding a personal touch for him. He is in the Service and he loves Medieval decor. So the design team was able to design a personal family crest as well as bring in a Suit of Armour. Pretty cool!!!

A special Thank You to Mr.and Mrs. Mueller, and Heather (Amy's sister). It was such a joy to work with them. The love and care they had for each other was amazing and they truly enjoyed the special day. Rain or Shine:]

Credits:
Flowers: Sisters Flowers
Design: Lacy Branch Designs
Linens: BBJ
Photography: Dearhart Photography

Peters-Heidemann Wedding May 1, 2009

Erin and Steve were a great couple to work with. They are a true love story.


Steve is very much the romantic, he planned out the engagement with great detail. He planned the whole day out, picked Erin up in a limo, took her to the Grand Basin in Forest Park. He had a photographer hiding in the wings to photograph the whole thing. When they returned to the limo he presented her with a handmade scrapbook of the making of her engagement ring,(which he designed himself). WOW, what a romantic. Not to leave Erin out, after the engagement she enrolled in a very intense workout regimen. She lost 40 pounds before her wedding. She looked amazing on her wedding day.

The wedding was just as romantic and Erin and Steve were involved with all the details. The overall feeling for the wedding was the couple themselves and how they love to do things together and the city they grew up in, Florissant. The wedding was held at Sacred Heart in Florissant. They had their rehearsal at a local favorite restaurant. The reception was held in the Grand Hall at Union Station. The reception favours were a late night snack of donuts from their favorite donut shop in Florissant.

It was an amazing day, and Erin and Steve were amazing to work with.

Head Table

Brides often ask me, "how can I add something different to my reception that no one else has done." My answer is, the Head Table.

The head table sometimes gets overlooked as space to add something different. Put your head table in with all of your guest tables, make it a large square or larger round then the rest to make it stand out. Use a spectacular linen, napkins, flatware, floral to offset it from the rest of the table. Have a specialty monogram put onto a coordinating fabric and hang it from the front of the table.

These are just some great ideas to have your reception stand out from the others. Your guests are sure to have the "wow" factor.