Rebecca and Fergus - June 14, 2014

Rebecca and Fergus were married in Skaneateles, NY on June 14, 2014.  They live in the Pacific Northwest but traveled to the Finger Lakes region to say their I Do's.  They rented a farmhouse just outside of town and invited their close friends and families to be a part of their day.  With the assistance of Fergus' two daughters, this bride and groom transformed that day from two single people into a beautiful family of four. 

Rebecca has an amazing sense of style and you can see her creativity and her attention to detail in all of the gorgeous design and decor elements.  Working with a palette of corals and pinks Rebecca delicately built a wedding design that was so fitting for a summer farmhouse wedding.  They had a welcome table with copper mugs for each guest, fun striped straws and cocktail napkins at the bar, and a custom painted corn hole set with both the American and the British flag on each to tie in the international aspect of their relationship.  Instead of a wedding cake they had key lime and chocolate peanut butter pies on pink pie stands and with the cutest little flag sticks decorating them.  And for the reception tent they chose to do all long farm tables with gorgeous lush floral garlands down the center.  Each place setting had vintage china plates and silverware wrapped in a napkin. Tied to the napkin was a wooden dessert fork with phrases on them such as "Yum and Done" and "At First Bite".  No detail was missed!

Weddings don't always bring me as far west as the Finger Lakes so joining me on this one was a group of vendors I had the pleasure of working with for the first time.  Caly Doran of Calypso Rae Photography took all of these amazing photos and was able to capture all of Rebecca and Fergus' wedding details so sweetly.  Food was provided by the Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse and the rentals were from Hank Parker Rentals.  The gorgeous flowers came from Fleur de Lis, hair and makeup was done by Andrea Ashby, and the guests rode shuttle buses from S&S Limousines.

I had such a great time working with Rebecca and Fergus and meeting all of their family and friends.  Thank you both so much for including me in your day!!

~ Shannon

McKenzie and Kyle are Featured on WellWed!

McKenzie and Kyle's wedding is featured on the WellWed blog!  Lead Planner Ginny Beigel coordinated their at-home wedding last fall and the photos taken by Heather Bohm Tallman are some of my favorite wedding images ever!  Thank you WellWed for giving this wedding some well deserved exposure!

Melissa Received A Great Review From Kristen and Sean!

Photo by Tara Wiley Photography

Melissa coordinated Kristen and Sean's Saratoga National wedding on April 28th of this year, and this happy couple just left the best review of Melissa online!  

I need to begin by saying that I truly don't know what I would have done without the help of Wedding Planning Plus for our wedding. We worked with wedding planner Melissa Jacobsen from WPP as our "day of coordinator" and I can't say enough great things about her, or about how truly grateful I am to have had her help. Not only did Melissa provide great vendor recommendations, but she was there for the most integral parts of planning and nailed down every detail to every minute of the day with each and every vendor. With little help from us Melissa was able to draft a wedding day itinerary, contact every vendor to coordinate their schedules for the day, and then on top of it she was there to make sure everything ran smoothly and on time - and it definitely did! It took such an extraordinary amount of weight off of our shoulders not only on the wedding day, but on the weeks leading up to the wedding where all the small details start to finally come together. As a now "experienced" bride I can't explain how crazy those final days before the wedding can be - particularly when you are planning from out of town - and I don't know what I would have done without the help of WPP and Melissa. Take my advice....I never thought in the beginning that I would need the help of a wedding planner, but trust me, you NEED the help of a wedding planner! Melissa was excellent to work with. She was extremely kind, intelligent, organized, professional, and just overall great to have around! Even all of our family and friends that worked with her that day commented to us on how great she was to work with. 

Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend Melissa and the WPP team to any bride!

Katie and Brendan Left Us Some Love!

Photo by Gallery 9 North

Katie and Brendan left a super sweet review of me online!  Thank you guys so much for these amazingly kind words!!

"I truly don't know where to start with what to say about Shannon. I'm sure that a review won't capture our gratitude and awe of what she did for our entire family. To cut to the chase, hiring Shannon was the single best decision we made during the wedding planning process. I literally cannot imagine going through it without her, she was so instrumental at every turn. From recommending vendors that perfectly suited what we were looking for (and our budget) to just plain keeping us all calm and on schedule... she does it all with grace, kindness, professionalism and expertise. I would say that we were a bit of a non-traditional couple and were looking for something different than what we viewed as "cookie cutter." Between this and my own history of event planning, I didn't think we needed a wedding planner. Boy, was I wrong! And I'm so glad that my family (Shannon has already worked at 2 other family weddings) convinced me otherwise. Shannon doesn't view her couples or their weddings as cookie cutter in any possible way. What was perhaps most impressive about Shannon was her ability to listen to what we really wanted and make suggestions, sometimes when we ourselves weren't even quite sure of our vision or how to get there. Shannon was instrumental in helping me find every one of my vendors as well as our venue. She answered countless random questions and every piece of advice was spot-on. She is committed to helping you realize what you want while also remaining amazingly grounded in what weddings are really all about. And let's just say, it's a lot easier to focus on what weddings are really about when the logistics and details run smoothly, like ours did. We're in awe of how much we enjoyed our own wedding, and that's thanks to Shannon! She helped us coordinate getting 170 people to and from our venue, kept our ceremony and reception perfectly on schedule, and subtly dealt with any issues that arose. We've received an incredible amount of compliments about the wedding. A few guests remarked how well-organized and smooth everything was. Quite a few said it was the best wedding they've ever been to and a couple of particularly enthusiastic guests told us it was the best night of their lives!! I just feel like Shannon set us all up to have the night of our lives. She made sure we were logistically and mentally ready, that our vendors were set and allowed us to get to a place where the details and stress of planning a wedding (which was soo much more complex than I could have possibly imagined) faded into the background and we could focus on what was really important. We can't thank you enough Shannon. Thank you for all the good work you do during this incredibly important yet nerve-wracking time in peoples' lives. It means the world to have a calming, competent and trustworthy person lead you through it!"

Katie and Brendan - June 7, 2014

Katie and Brendan were married at Fasig Tipton in Saratoga Springs on June 7, 2014.  Their wedding day could not have been more beautiful with the perfect combination of perfect summer weather, top notch vendors, and a wonderfully fun group of guests on hand to celebrate.  And at this venue, where there are horse stables and an auction center, the environment created its own magical environment for these two to say I Do.

It just so happens that the day of Katie and Brendan's wedding was the Belmont Stakes which this year was the final race to see if there would be a Triple Crown winner.  Before the ceremony the guys headed to bet on the ponies and were likely the sharpest dressed men placing bets at the OTB that day.  Katie kept her day more simple by relaxing with here girls and getting beautified at the hotel.  Katie's dress was a gorgeous layered look with soft lace and a simple silhouette.  Once everyone was ready we scooted them to Fasig Tipton to do their first look before guests arrived.  Once the ceremony was done the partying began and everyone had so much fun roaming the grounds and enjoying delicious food, great music, and even some s'mores roasted at the fire pit.  

I had the pleasure of meeting Katie in the fall of 2010 when I coordinated her cousin Neil's wedding at 11 North Pearl (remember these guys?).  She was a bridesmaid in that wedding, and she was a bridesmaid again in her cousin Betsey's wedding which I coordinated at Wolfert's Roost in the winter of 2012 (Betsey and Brian's wedding).  It is such an honor to me that three sets of couples from the same family have chosen me as their wedding coordinator, and I have been able to come back into their lives and see the couples and their growing families at each of these weddings!  I have officially run through most of the kids on the O'Connor DeChants family but I'm hoping they get creative to keep me around because I'm not ready for this ride to end!

I worked with an All-Star team on this event, including the photography team of Jason and Erin from Gallery 9 North.  Thank you guys for sharing these images with me!  Catering was provided by Mazzone Hospitality and I worked with Lindsay and Pam for the third time this season.  They rock!  Speaking of rocking, Body and Soul kept the dance floor packed all night, and the crowd gave one of the most energetic requests for one more song at the end of the night.  No one wanted the party to end!  All of the beautiful flowers and tablescapes were done by Jordy Baker of Heavenscent Florals.  Lauren and Jeremy of LaRose Media ran video of the event (which I can't wait to see!).  Rentals were provided by Rain or Shine, hair and makeup was done by the uber talented Jen and Chris from True Grace Makeup, and guest shuttles were provided by Upstate Transit.  Lastly, the ceremony was performed by Judge Tom Breslin and the ceremony and cocktail hour music was provided by string musicians from the New York Players.  

Thank you Katie and Brendan for not only bringing me in to your wedding day but also welcoming me back into another special moment in your families' lives.  You are two amazingly wonderful people, and if I hope I get to the west coast someday to visit!

xoxo,

Shannon