Mikaela and Ryan - May 12, 2012

Mikaela and Ryan were married at 11 North Pearl on May 12, 2012.  This couple is very special to me because of the connections I have to both of their families.  If you remember back in the fall of 2010 I was the wedding coordinator for Mikaela's brother and sister in law's wedding - Tonya and Ryan at The Inn at Erlowest.  You may recognize Ryan (the brother) in the photo of the ceremony below as he served as the officiant for these two love birds.  You may also recognize the maid of honor in the photos below - yup that's Erin, WPP intern for this year.  Plus the fact that the best man and brother of the groom is a friend of mine, well you can see how the connections keep going and how this wedding had some very personal significance to me.

About two months before their big day I got an email from Mikaela's sister in law Tonya, my former bride from two years ago.  She wanted to know if I could help these two out in their final stages of planning because the stress of the home stretch was a little more than they wanted to handle on their own.  I instantly jumped up and down with excitement to know that I'd have the chance to not only work with this family but I would get to see them all again!  Mikaela and I began a set of regular meetings and formulated the perfect game plan to get everything done in that final stage and ensure that she and her fiance Ryan would experience the wedding they had been dreaming of.

I loved all of the personal details that Mikaela and Ryan put in to their big day.  The bride loves the color orange and went bold with bright orange dresses with the bridesmaids and complimented that with dark charcoal suits for the guys.  At the reception they used wine bottles as their table numbers and decorated their tables with orange napkins and floating candles with bright orange kumquats submerged inside.  Instead of allowing their guests to clink their water glass to make them kiss they laid orange hula hoops on the dance floor and made guests go up during dinner and hula hoop in order to get them to smooch.  They added a personal element to their cupcake stand by choosing a fun cake topper that described the couple to a tee.  Ryan is a hockey fanatic and Mikaela is his number one fan, as you can see in the picture of their custom topper.  Super cute!  Just outside the venue there was a cigar roller who was a big hit.  Who wouldn't want to stand in a tux or a dress on Pearl Street puffing on a cigar?  And if a cigar wasn't your style they invited guests to take home bags of orange cotton candy as a sweet treat to end the night.  All of these little touches added a ton of fun and enjoyment for them and their guests.

Unfortunately I was booked for another wedding that day and was not able to be there at their event but I had an amazing team of vendors on this event so I knew everything would go smoothly once I handed the game plan over to them.  First the photographer super duo of Jason Hupe and Erin Coker, also known as Gallery 9 North, were on hand to document all of the day's events.  Thanks guys for sharing these awesome photos with me!  This couple also had videographer John Tegan of Nuvue Cinema and the music mastermind of Mike Garassi from Music Man Entertainment to rock their reception out.  The team at 11 North Pearl were totally on top of their game and did a wonderful job with the set up and design and also with the food and service.  Central Market Florist did all of the personal wedding flowers, and as a fun surprise to their guests they had the Magnet Man on hand to set everyone up with funny props and backdrops and send them home with magnets to remember the special night.

Thank you Tonya and Ryan (brother) for bringing me on this to wedding with your family!  Mikaela and Ryan, I wish you nothing but the best in your new life together.  See you around town!!  xoxoxo

Amy and Stephen Review WPP

Amy and Stephen were married last month at Pat's Barn in Troy.  I served the role as wedding day coordinator for their event and could not have had a better time working a wedding.  Amy and Stephen might be the nicest people I've ever met, and their families were some of the nicest families I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Not surprisingly Amy took the time to post a review of my services online and I gushed at all the nice things she had to say.  Thank you so much Amy and Stephen!  Best wishes for what I know will be the best marriage ever!

To read more reviews from past clients CLICK HERE.

"Shannon Whitney and Weddling Planning Plus helped us with the preparation and "Day Of" coordination for our wedding in June. I cannot say enough good things about Shannon and would highly recommend working with her.

Shannon was EXTREMELY well organized and I knew that we were cut from the same cloth and that we would work very well together as soon as I received the very detailed, multi-page Wedding Day Itinerary that Shannon put together after our first meeting. From that point on, I really just let Shannon run the show and she did a spectacular job. Shannon thought of so many details that never would have dawned on me (oh, right, of course we will need speakers outdoors if we want people to hear the music during the outdoor cocktail hour!) and she worked directly with our vendors to take care of everything so that we didn't have to think twice about any of it. 

Shannon is a true pro - I get the feeling that she has seen it all and, consequently, she is prepared for anything and everything. She arrived at our house on the morning of our Wedding Day armed with an emergency kit and ready to deal with anything that we threw at her. My favorite part was seeing my mother a little frustrated with how the sleeve of her dress kept slipping off her shoulder and watching Shannon whip some double stick fashion tape out of her bag of tricks and and get my mother sorted out! 

Shannon was professional, pleasant and extremely graceful under pressure. She also did a great job of helping me to keep my nerves in check during a little bit of the down time that I had between finishing up with hair, make-up, etc. and leaving for the church. I was starting to get pretty anxious and antsy and I will be forever grateful to Shannon for her calming presence and her reassurance. 

I cannot stress how highly I would recommend Shannon. Thank you, Shannon Whitney!"

Wedding Planners In Action! Anna and Andy 4.28.12.

As you saw from yesterday's post Anna and Andy were married at the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs, NY on April 28, 2012.  A lot went into the planning of this event (even though there is no photo documentation to prove it, lol) but there are lots of photos from the wedding itself and of me running around coordinating various aspects of the day.  You can see what things look like during bridal prep time - me and my team checking in with the bride, making sure her dress is hung and ready, checking out her bouquet, and steaming any of the bridesmaids' dresses that need a little de-wrinkling.  Then we check in with the guys, make they are happy and ready when the limo comes for them, and then we were off to the Casino to assist with Anna and Andy's first look.  I pin a lot of boutonnieres (as you can see) to make sure the guys look their best, and there is even a shot of Ginny lint rolling Andy's tux right before the ceremony.  My favorite sets of pics are the ones that follow that, as I brought Anna into the ballroom to do a grand reveal with her.  Watching her series of expressions as she saw her reception space for the first time is priceless, especially the thumbs up she shot over to her floral designer, David of Renaissance Floral Design.  And of course I would never let anyone try to figure out how to cut a wedding cake on their own so you see a quick image of me walking the bride and groom through that, as well.  See, we are there to help our brides and grooms through every part of their big day!

Thank you to Matt and Leah Bailly of Bailly Photography for sharing these images with me!  

Anna and Andy - April 28, 2012

Anna and Andy were married at The Canfield Casino on April 28, 2012.  The couple came to me a year prior looking for my help in planning their event.  I worked with them on every detail from the venue and vendor selection down to deciding on their table linens and the color of the stationery text.  But my journey with this couple didn't just start in 2011, I actually went to high school with Anna and we ran track and cross country together.  So needless to say this was a very special wedding for me and I couldn't have been happier by the way everything came together.

This wedding was all about glamour and fun.  There were a ton of fun details, like Anna's custom made wedding dress which was actually two different dresses (a top from one dress and a skirt from another dress) that she had specially made for her.  She also wore fabulous Badgley Mischka teal shoes for that something blue (check them out below, they are gorgeous!).  They did a first look outside the Casino with their bridal party peeping through the windows from inside.  They had a Jewish ceremony and instead of a typical chuppah that stands on the ground they used a hand help chuppah that the groomsmen and two of the bridesmaids held during the ceremony.  To start off the reception Anna and Andy danced their first dance to a fast song that they had specially choreographed.  It was s show stopper!  Because of her family's heritage guests were invited to sample vodka during the reception and celebrate in true Russian style.  And at the end of the evening a retro late night nosh station came out with sliders and onion rings and shakes - it looked and smelled incredible!

Anna and Andy live in NYC so almost all of their planning was done long distance.  They wanted a very classy and timeless event, something the was elegant and fit with the old Hollywood glam feel of the Casino.  I brought them to David Michael Schmidt at Renaissance Floral Design and with David's guidance we created a color palette of creams and ivories with pops of golds and soft blush tones.  The girls wore dark blue and carried shades of purple flowers which added an additional punch of color.  The pictures below can certainly attest to the beauty of this event.

Speaking of photos, my good friends Matt and Leah Bailly of Bailly Photography were the photographers extraordinaire on this event.  Anna and Andy have a unique sense of humor and Matt and Leah pulled so many fun moments out of them that day.  Great job as always you two!  Also on this vendor team were the New York Players who rocked the dance floor all night.  Seriously there was not a single dull moment in this party!  Mansion Catering provided the most delicious food I've had in a long time, along with the beautiful wedding cake and their always stellar service.  My man Will Beyer from NuVue Cinema rocked the videography, Time Capsule Photobooths provided a super fun attraction (and take home favor!) for guests during the reception, Alayne and her team from Make Me Fabulous made the girls soooo incredibly beautiful, and Premiere Transportation provided the limo and shuttle service.  

This is a super sized blog post because I just couldn't whittle down the photos and wanted to show you all of this event's awesomeness.  Thanks again Anna and Andy for trusting me with your most special day.  Congrats and best wishes for much success in all that you do!  Xoxoxo!