Yum!

So I'm totally stealing this idea from my awesome wedding coordinator (I really hope she doesn't mind...) but I just had to share these super cute mini fruit icecream/sorbet treats from St. Clair Ice Cream in CT.

I'm thinking of ordering 3 or so for each guest to serve as an intermezzo course. Imagine one each of these little fruits -- strawberry w/ strawberry sorbet, pear w/ lemon sorbet, and a peach w/ passion fruit sorbet -- served in an old-school champagne glass on top of mint leaves. Something like this:

Nifty, yeah? Now if I can just find a couple of brides willing to offer the same course during their meals, we can save a TON by ordering in bulk. Interested?

UPDATE TO THIS POST: I just contacted this company and the gentleman who answered the phone was quite possibly the rudest sales associate I have ever had the displeasure of talking to. So unless someone else is willing to work with them so that I never had to speak with them again, it looks like I won't be having their treats anywhere near our wedding.

And we're done!

Whew! That was one marathon photography session.

We just got back from our engagement photo session w/ Steph Carson and we're exhausted. I can't imagine how Steph and her photojournalist feel after shooting a wedding all day Saturday in the heat, traveling back into the city on Sunday, shooting a warm-up session, then doing ours....

The day started out w/ a marathon shoe shopping expedition this morning to find the perfect fuschia shoes to go w/ the new Herve Leger dress. After scavenging through about 12 stores on Broadway this morning, I finally found them at The Shoe Box - a pair of Courtney Crawford, fuchsia patent leather slingbacks with 5" heels. THEY ARE AWESOME!

After finally finding the perfect shoes, it was time to head out to to prettify myself w/ nails, hair, and make-up (to clarify, I'm not REALLY a diva - if I had any make-up or hair skills myself, I would have done them on my own. Sadly, I don't. *sigh*).

I won't mention the hair place b/c my experience was less that stellar there, but I will talk for a minute about my MUA - Amy Eidelman. She was fantastic! My make-up was amazing, and it stayed put even in the sauna that was NYC yesterday evening.

Then, when a scheduling snafu on my part (apparently I was too busy to remember that the Met would be closed on Sunday evenings so we couldn't do pics on the rooftop garden :( ) meant that we had to switch locations, she stayed for the entire shoot, trekking w/ us around the east side and into Central Park, helping to carry our bag, touching up lipstick that had rubbed off (everything else stayed put - amazing considering how hot it was), and helping me transfer between shoes and flip flops (I didn't want to ruin my brand new Courtney Crawfords walking through the mud). Again, this woman is amazing! If you're still looking for a MUA, definitely give her a call - her work is phenomenal and her rates are very competitive.

And Steph was, well, simply amazing. I knew we loved her work, but I didn't know exactly how it would be to work with her. Once we actually got started though, I was immediately put to ease. When the scheduling snafu happened, Steph suggested we just take some pics around the area instead of travelling somewhere else, so we were able to get a few "grittier" urban shots before heading into the (semi)dry park. Her eye for lighting and creative angles just can't be matched - I'm getting antsy sitting waiting for our proofs already!

And for those who are wondering whether or not to do e-pics, definitely go for it. We've haven't seen our proofs yet (just a few shots that Steph shared w/ us via her digital camera), but we are soooo very glad we did it. We had a lot of fun, we got to know Steph really well, and she got to know what does and doesn't work for us photographically-speaking - which will hopefully help us get better pics on our wedding day.

Engagment Picture Look

Yipes! It's here! Engagement picture day. I guess I should have posted this weeks ago, but here we are...

When we booked this day w/ our photog months ago, I told myself I had PLENTY of time to find an outfit. But now today is here, and I'm realizing that I (a) don't like any of the shoes I have, and (b) I have no appropriate jewelry. Aackkk!

FI decided he wanted to dress up for the event, so jeans and a cute cami were immediately thrown out of the window. Not to be discouraged, however, I turned this into an excuse to buy a pretty, sexy new dress from Saks. ;)

And here it is:

It's a Herve Leger (forgive the lack of accent marks) and there was the BIGGEST issue with it arriving yesterday. I spent the bulk of the day on the phone with Saks and Fed-ex trying to see precisely where the package was, and finally Fed-Ex had it specially courriered over around 8 p.m. - only 8 hours after it's original guaranteed delivery time.

So... I have the dress - hurray. But I'm not yet sure what shoes I'll be slipping into. I'd like something bright for a nice pop of color, but I'm sorely lacking in the brightly colored shoes department aside from my AWESOME lime green d'orsay peep toes. Those are for the wedding, though. *sigh*

So, I'm off now to look for some shoes (perhaps fuschia?) and perhaps a nice necklace or some earrings. Wish me luck! :)

Are you coordinated?

Sorry for slacking off as of late. All this bar studying has kept me pretty busy. But there's only so much New York Practice I can cram into my head in one day, so here I am.

I wanted to talk just a little bit about choosing a day-of-coordinator, mainly because my local knot board has been inundated w/ requests for DoC's over the past couple of weeks.

So, why should you hire a DoC? What do they do? How do you pick one?

If you're like me, you've spent months planning your wedding - carefully researching vendors, picking your colors, your flowers, your invites. And when the big day rolls around, you want all of this planning to come together exactly the way you envisioned it. This is where a professional day-of-coordinator comes in. Hiring a DoC means that you get to hand your vision over to someone who knows EXACTLY how you want things done, and will ensure that they're done that way, without asking your friends and family (who should be enjoying this day with you) to set up your centerpieces.

So what precisely do day-of-coordinators DO? In my (I'll admit) rather limited experience, it seems like most will provide an initial consultation meeting to get the "feel" of your wedding day and then will disappear until about a month (or possible a week) before the big day, when you be able to contact them more frequently to arrange all of those last minute details. Generally, DoC's will: run the rehearsal if requested; offer time management during your day, keeping you, your party, your guests, and your vendors all on track; decorate your ceremony and reception site the way YOU envision it; handle payment for vendors; gather and transport gifts and other items; keep in touch with vendors throughout the day to make sure things run smoothly; and handle any issues that arise so that you don't have to. Some wedding planner provide less, and some provide more (e.g. my DoC provides a couples massage before the wedding w/ a licensed massage therapists, and permits you to use her design inventory - saving you $$$ in creating centerpieces), but they all seem to fall somewhere along these general lines.

And how should you pick one? Personally, I think the single most important thing that you should consider when picking a DoC is their personality, as in "how well do your personalities mesh"? You will more than likely be spending the ENTIRE day w/ the person, perhaps even more time than with your photographer, so you should know that you will feel comfortable having her (or him) around you all day. That being said, I suppose that there are a few other important things to look for as well:

• What is their experience like? In other words, how many weddings have they done? How many of they done as a professional (many coordinators start out doing this "on the side")?
• Do they have references? If they do - CONTACT THOSE REFERENCES!
• Precisely what service do they provide?
• How have they handled "emergencies" in the past?
• Do they have additional staff? How many? How experienced are their staff?
  
• Do they have any other weddings booked for the same weekend or *gasp* for the same day?
• What is their cost? It's no good to get your hopes set on a particular planner if they are WAY out of your budget.
  

Also, I've heard a lot of DoC's touting that they belong to this professional organization, or that professional organization, and while being able to network within your profession is important, I don't personally think that this is that big of a deal. When I looked into all of these organizations myself, I realized that the cost to join is EXHORIBITANT, particularly for a new wedding planning professional, and the benefits they receive are minimal - for instance, the "training" provided to members could just as easily be gained by working at a few weddings - so if you're already out working as a planner, you've already been trained. I guess what I'm trying to say is please don't let someone's membership in any organization they can join just by forking over a lot of money be your guiding factor in picking your wedding planner. Pick them based on their skills and their ability to deliver, NOT on whether or not they belong to a specific organization.

As a final note, if anyone is looking for day-of-coordination (or full coordination) for their wedding in southwest Ohio, you should definitely look into Kristen Kloth with Tres Chic Event Planning. We hired Kristen after only meeting w/ one DoC - she was that good. And she has been sooooo helpful, even a year out. Her work is fabulous and her prices are incredibly reasonable - trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Happy coordinating!

How I Got My Gown

Shopping for my gown wasn't the horror that others had made it out to be, but it wasn't the fairytale *gasp* *tear* *this is it* experience, either.

I actually ended up going to 5 different places, multiple times, before I finally worked up the courage to plunk down the Amex for a deposit: Wendy's Bridal (Cincinnati, OH), Bridal and Formal (Cincinnati, OH), RK Bridal (New York, NY), Adrienne's (New York, NY) and the ever-popular Kleinfeld Bridal (New York, NY).

I thought I knew exactly what I wanted - simple A-line, no lace, a little beading, no poufy skirts, and no mermaid/trumpet gowns - but found that some of my requests really didn't do a lot for my body. My first shopping experience (at Wendy's) was HORRIBLE, and I actually wrote off dress shopping for a bit because of it. RK Bridal was just as bad, if not worse - I say avoid that store like the plague! My experience at B&F was a lot better, if a bit tame in terms of pushing my creative options, and then I actually found my "bridal style" at Adrienne's in NYC. If you've never been there, go! The owner is actually a dress maker, and has a knack for knowing what you'll look great in - and actually uses real pins instead of plastic binder clips to fit samples to your body so you know what the dress will look like on you.

Here are some of the gowns (the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly) that consultants pushed my way:

I finally found "my" gown at Kleinfeld Bridal (a fellow knottie made me go) and went WAY over budget, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE my dress. I didn't exactly cry when I put it on, but I knew I wouldn't be happy in any other gown once I saw myself in it. I brought my knottie friend and FMIL back the next day w/ me, and worked up the gumption to put down the hefty 60% deposit.

Done, done, and done! Now I've just got to wait the 9 months for it to arrive...

[Images: Christina Wu, Jim Hjelm, Melissa Sweet, Paloma Blanca]

Buff Bride - well, sorta

So I finally did it....

I joined a gym. The increasing tightness of my jeans and the pics of my arms during my latest trip to Kleinfeld's finally convinced me that I needed to start working out. Well, that and the fact that walking up the six flights to our apartment was making me a little winded.

While I'm primarily concerned w/ feeling a bit healthier, I have to admit that looking better in my gown and for our upcoming epics and my *hopefully* upcoming b-pics is also high on my list of priorities.

So I walked into my local, friendly Equinox Gym (yeah, I'm one of those people) and promptly surrendered of a large chunk of cash in exchange for my first and second months membership, and 3 months worth of personal training. And today was my first training session.

After an hour of cardio, weight training, and some uber-painful stretching, Molly finally gave me the okay to leave, with the understanding that I'd be back three times a week for the next few months.

Sexy mermaid gown, here I come! :)

Oh, and if any of you are interested in joining the obsessive-compulsive bridal work-out club (i.e. interest in joining Equinox), I just rec'd another email from them letting me know that they'll waive the outrageously expensive initiation fee (it's the price of 4 months membership!) if you join by May 31st. If so, leave a comment w/ some contact info (this is where that fake email might come in handy) and I'll send you the code.

Flowers?

And now on to florists. Flowers are definitely not my "thing," though apparently I do have a taste for the expensive when it comes to floral design. I wanted to stay as far away as I could from roses, and use primarily mini callas, and cymbidium and dendrobium orchids.

We were only able to actually meet w/ one florist - Katie Elfers - while I was in Cincinnati, but we were so blown away by her that I don't feel too terrible about not meeting with more. I found Katie through some fabulous recommendations on the Knot, and once I saw her website (go there! - it's AMAZING!) I knew we had to meet her. Her designs seem very fresh, creative, and modern - things I was definitely looking for in a floral designer. Katie agreed to meet w/ me on her day off (because of my smushed schedule) and so we drove down to a small coffee shop (Reality Tuesday - I highly recommend them for their yummy sandwiches and fair trade-only coffee policies) in Kentucky.

SIDE NOTE: Anyone who thinks they don't need a professional-looking website to get business, take note - we knocked several florists off of our list because their websites were a bit shoddy looking, and we refused to talk at all to DJs who didn't have one. A fantastic website doesn't necessarily mean that you're a great florist/DJ/etc., but it does tell me that you care about your company, and about presentation - two things that I want our vendors to care about on our wedding day..

Back to our meeting. Katie was fantastic. I'd sent et her quite a bit of information before our meeting (she asks you to fill out a form describing your wedding and I had given her access to my planning bio) and she had definitely looked over all of it before we met. She had examples prepared for the look I was going for, and was very upfront about what would work (and what wouldn't), and was incredibly knowledgeable about floral design (at one point I pointed to some greenery in the photo of the bouquet I want - see below - and Katie was able to immediately spout off its name - pretty impressive).


And she was very quick to respond to my questions and concerns. Less than 48 hours after our original meeting, I had a VERY reasonable quote in my hand (a quote, I might add, that was THREE TIMES LESS expensive than our second choice - Benken's Florist). So reasonable, in fact, that I felt a little uncomfortable and ended up asking her for references - which she promptly provided. Her past brides have nothing but glowing reports about her, though, so it looks like we'll be definitely be booking w/ Katie.

If her future work is anything like her past and current work, we'll be worry-free when it comes to floral design on our wedding day.