Baltimore Wedding Planners Affairs With Elegance Blog

Today Is Wedding Day!

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:01:23 +0000

Today is Piyumi and Tom‘s wedding day. We are excited for this wonderful couple. They have guests coming from as far as California to witness and celebrate their nuptials. Thankfully, Hurricane Earl will not ruin their outdoor ceremony. A wonderful vendor team has been assembled so I know this wedding will be awesome!

Real Wedding – Tiffany and Ronald

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:16:55 +0000

Tiffany and Ronald were married Saturday, May 15^th in downtown Baltimore. I really enjoyed working with this fun couple. Our meetings were filled with laughter and plenty of conversation.

The fuchsia, purple and apple green color palette was infused throughout their wedding. Their ceremony and reception were held at the recently renovated Hotel Monaco. The wedding party walked down the aisle to an instrumental Led Zeppelin version of Stairway to Heaven. The Bride was given away by her grandfather.

The weather was wonderful on their wedding day so they were able to take wedding photos all around downtown Baltimore while their guests enjoyed cocktail hour. Also during that time, the ceremony room was “flipped” for dinner. After dinner and dessert, the dance floor was packed the remainder of the night. I think it’s safe to say a fun time was had by all.

It was such a pleasure to work with Tiffany & Ronald and all the wonderful vendors.

The Bride’s bouquet

After being pronounced husband and wife

A few formal shots inside the hotel

Then it was time to head outside to get a few photos around downtown

The ballroom setup for dinner. We alternated floral centerpieces and candles on the guest tables

Wedding cake

Bouquet Toss and Dancing

Vendor Team:

Wedding Planning – Affairs With Elegance

Venue & Catering – Hotel Monaco

Photographer – Daniel McGarrity Photography

Flowers – Radebaugh Florist

Cake – Sugarbakers Cakes

Music – DJ Harvey Dent

Makeup – MRM Designs

Invitations & Escort Cards – Wedding Paper Divas

Wedding Dress – Betsy Robinsons Bridal Salon

Men’s Suits – Men’s Warehouse

Hair – Xscape Hair Studio

The Wedding Rehearsal – who should attend and why

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:53:43 +0000

I’m often asked by my clients who should attend the wedding rehearsal. The short answer is anyone who has a role in the actual wedding ceremony but I thought I should elaborate a little more.

Bride & Groom: Of course, you two are a given for attending the rehearsal since you are a key component to the ceremony. You will need to practice the processional, being given away, when to hand off the bouquet, etc.

Grandparents and Parents of the Bride & Groom: They will also need to practice their entrance for the ceremony, lighting the unity candle (if applicable), where to sit once down the aisle, etc.

Wedding Party: Your wedding party consists of maid/matron of honor(s), bridesmaids, best man, groomsmen, flower girls, ring bearers, etc. They are your supporting cast and will also need to practice walking down the aisle (together or separately), where to stand, the recessional, etc.

Officiant: The person who will marry you should attend the rehearsal. They will need to know how they are walking in and with whom (groom and best man, groom, best man & groomsmen, etc.). They will be able to explain various points in the ceremony to the bride and groom based on your ceremony program.

Singers & Musicians: They should attend the rehearsal for a couple of reasons. You and your wedding party will want to practice walking to the actual music you’ll walk to for the processional. The soloist or singers will have the opportunity to sing and get comfortable with the musical accompaniment and sound system.

Readers: While their role may seem smaller in comparison to those listed above, they still should attend the rehearsal. They will need to get comfortable with the microphone and sound system as well as know where to sit to easily make their way to the front to read a scripture or poem.

Hostesses & Ushers: They usually greet your guests, hand out programs, seat guests, etc. While this probably doesn’t require much direction, it’s nice for them to attend the rehearsal so that they know exactly where to be, what to do and the tasks you’ve chosen for them.

Accessories For Wedding Shoes

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:13:22 +0000

If you’re looking for a way to jazz up plain wedding shoes then you have to visit Erica Giuliani’s website. They have a fabulous collection of shoe accessories and the best part is that you’ll get to use them AFTER the wedding to dress up some of your other shoes.

The “classic” in silver

The “bulky chain” in silver. It’s also available in copper which would be great for a fall wedding

The “zipper trim“ shoe clip

{photo source: Erica Guiliani and The Shoe Dish}

Happy shopping!

Running of the Brides – Summer 2010

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:33:31 +0000

Recently we’ve seen a lot of activity on our blog of brides searching for upcoming “Running of the Brides” events held at various Filene’s Basements. So we thought we’d post the remaining dates for this year.

Chicago, IL – One N. State Street
Friday, July 23, 2010 — 8am to 9pm

Washington, D.C. – Mazza Gallerie
Friday, July 30, 2010 — 8am to 9pm

Boston, MA – Hynes Convention Center
Friday, August 20, 2010 — 8am to 8pm

Cleveland, OH – Harvard Park Shopping Center
Friday, August 27, 2010 — 8am to 9pm

Check their website for helpful tips if you plan to venture out to one of the sales. Good luck and happy shopping!

Wedding Planner Portfolios and Photo Galleries

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:30:00 +0000

I’ve been hesitant about writing this post but felt that it was necessary. I visit other wedding planners’ websites as I meet new people at various networking events, conferences, etc. While the majority seem professional, a small few make me question their skills and ethics. I cannot count the times that I’ve gone to a website page titled “Portfolio” and seen stock photos or photos from other planners. Recently I visited a local Baltimore wedding planner’s portfolio page and found photos used in a rental linen company’s catalog. So I flipped through my catalog (which gives photo credit to the photographers and event designer) to see if they were indeed the owner. Sure enough, they were not!

Dictionary.com defines portfolio as pieces of creative work collected to be shown to potential customers or employers…as in “the artist had put together a portfolio of his work”, “every actor has a portfolio of photographs”. Webster.com defines portfolio as a selection of a student’s work compiled over a period of time and used for assessing performance or progress. Both definitions suggest that the “work” is your own not someone else’s.

In my opinion, this practice is misleading to a prospective client and totally unethical. So here are my suggestions to both brides/grooms and wedding planners:

To brides/grooms: If you schedule a meeting with a wedding planner based on things you saw in his or her website portfolio, print out those photos and take them with you to the consultation. Make sure you ask to see their portfolio. A creditable planner will present it without you asking. If you don’t see ANY of the photos included in their website portfolio, there’s a good chance they weren’t theirs to begin with. If you do see some of the photos, ask questions such as which venue did the event take place, how many guests, how large was the bridal party, etc. They will know the answers if they actually worked on that wedding or event.

To wedding planners: Using stock photos as decorative pictures on your website is somewhat acceptable however, including them or photos of someone else’s work in your website portfolio is not. The potential client will assume it is your work. I understand that when you’re first starting out you may not have your own photos to include on your website gallery. So instead, do not include a page on your website for a gallery until you do or include the page but say “coming soon”.

This is just my two cents. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Hoping Guests RSVP No

LaKendra - Affairs With Elegance — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:23:21 +0000

I recently met with potential clients who were in the beginning stages of their wedding planning. During the initial meeting we discussed their preliminary guest count. They planned to invite approximately 190 people to their wedding BUT hoped only 115 would actually RSVP yes. That means they expected 75 guests (roughly 40%) not to attend their wedding. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve heard this.

Some couples do it because of budget, some because of limited space at the venue they’ve chosen and the list goes on. Let me just say this is not a realistic way to handle your guest list. There, I said it…and here’s why.

Venue: if your venue can only hold 125 guests with a dance floor but you invite 190 you run the risk that you’ll end up with more guests than your venue can accommodate. You will have to figure out what to do with the “additional” guests. Where will they sit? Will you have to call and disinvite some who have already rsvp’d yes? Will you have to change your venue? Talk about stressing out during your wedding planning!

Budget: If the budget for your wedding reception can only accommodate
115 guests, you’ve invited 190 and let’s say 150 people rsvp to attend your wedding, you could have a financial disaster on your hands. Will you have to cut back on other items for your wedding? Will you have to ask parents for additional funds? Will you have to take out a loan? Or again, will you have to disinvite some who’ve already said they’re planning to attend your wedding?

Moral of the story is…you cannot create more space where there is none and you can’t always add additional funds to your budget. So plan your guest list accordingly.

Happy planning!