I Do Dash is September 8th!

The New York Wedding Boutique is proud to announce the first ever I Do Dash - a 5K race where brides, grooms, and their family and friends can have fun running/walking together and possibly go home with some great wedding prizes! There is also a post race party with food, music, and a chance to meet some of the New York Wedding Boutique members.

As a New York Wedding Boutique member I have donated a free one hour consultation where you can sit with me and pick my brain on all things wedding. This is a great opportunity for brides and grooms to talk with a professional wedding planner and take home all kinds of advice and suggestions to make their big day even more special. All prizes from the I Do Dash are transferable so come out and support your favorite engaged couple and try to win them something fun for their big day!

Date: Thursday September 8, 2011
Time: 6:00 pm
Where: The Crossings in Colonie
Cost: $20

Register online at www.areep.com or by clicking HERE.

Or for more information visit the New York Wedding Boutique blog for race details and an updated list of prizes!

See you on the starting line!

Lewicki Wedding - Sneak Peek!

Jennifer and Eric Lewicki were married in Queensbury on July 23, 2011. Their photographer Jessica Painter sent me this sneak peek image to hold me over while she works on editing the rest. Thanks Jessica! Here's a great pic of the beautiful bride, the handsome groom, and a killer pair of shoes. Ladies how badly would you like a pair of these pretty pink pumps???

Stay tuned for the full wedding recap to be posted soon!!

Kate and Shawn share a guest entry on the NYWB blog!

Kate Loveday and Shawn Owens are getting married in June 2012 at Birch Hill and I have the distinct pleasure of being their wedding coordinator! Kate has Celiac Disease and needs to stay 100% gluten free in everything she eats, including her wedding cake. Check out her guest blog entry on the New York Wedding Boutique site where she shares her story and her solution to her unique food situation.

Click here to read Kate's NYWB blog entry!

Connolly Wedding - July 22, 2011

Ali and Jon Connolly were married in Lake George on July 22nd of this year. Their wedding fell on a super hot weekend but you would have never known if you looked at the bride and groom, their families, or any of their rocking vendors. This couple exuded style and grace and their cool demeanor helped everyone around them to feel the same way.

I first met Alexandra and Jonathan after Ali's mom hired me back in the fall of 2010 to coordinate their big day. As a couple they were worried less about the small details and more about the idea of having a fun day for their family and friends that really felt special to the two of them. Having selected the Diamond Point Community Church as their ceremony space and The Sagamore Resort as their reception location they were already well on their way for a stunning event. Add in the positive energy and laughter of photographer Gerry Raymonda, the floral graces of Finishing Touches, and the musical stylings of TS Ensemble and you have yourself a stellar wedding concoction. Let the party begin!

Living in Florida but having ties to Upstate New York this was a true destination event for not only the bride and groom but everyone involved. I had an absolute blast working with Ali and Jon and Ali's mom Mary to finalize and fine tune all of the small details. You truly can't find better people in this world or better families to work with. Ali and Jon's wedding was so much more than a 'job' for me - it was a chance for me to mingle and mix with amazing people and have a ton of fun throughout the day. The bride even 'forced' me to share in a glass of wine with her before she would allow me to leave. The picture of us below proves it! And of course I humbly obliged. :)

Honestly weddings like this bring me back to the sole inspiration of why I do what I do. Thank you Ali and Jon for letting me share in your big day!!

Landi Wedding - Sneak Peek!

Mr. and Mrs. Landi were married in Averill Park on a beautiful sunny July day. Danielle is a super bubbly positive ray of sunshine and Dan is the rock that keeps her grounded. I think this sneak peek photo from photographer Rita Ann Maloney shows the dynamics of this fun couple perfectly!

I hope you enjoy this for now but make sure to check back - a full wedding recap will be up soon!

From last weekend's mother of the bride... :)

"Shannon--our British houseguests are gone, flower arrangements distributed among folks in Middletown Springs and the rest of the wedding vases, linens and paraphernalia packed away. It's past time for my sincere thank yous. I am almost embarrassed to write given that I caused the greatest catastrophe of the day (forgetting to deliver the linens; so much for Mrs Organization--ha!) but thank you enormously for the tremendous save and then getting to our home with adequate time to direct the ceremony. You were calm and poised when I had nearly lost it. Thank you for carrying out all the table set ups, candle lighting, place card setting, a year of emails, the advise about the musical surprise, the quick thinking when the rain began to pour, the direction of the DJ, and your wonderful organization at the end of the night carrying things to our car. All that--and then you had to drive to Albany. You are amazing!"

Thank you Suzie! It was truly my pleasure to be a part of Kate and Jeff's wedding - you have a beautiful family and I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of you!!

Bachey Wedding Sneak Peek!

Mr. and Mrs. Bachey were married just this past Saturday in the beautiful countryside of southern Vermont. This wedding had so many crazy awesome details and I can't wait to share them all with you! In the mean time here is a sneak peek image from their amazingly talented photographer Erica Ferrone.

Swoooooooon!

Taliaferro Wedding Video Sneak Peek!

Lindsay and Brett Taliaferro were married along the shores of Lake George on June 18, 2011. I had the distinct pleasure of planning this day with Lindsay and her mom from start to finish and they were absolutely a hoot to work with. Lindsay and Brett's ceremony took place in the historic Grace Memorial Church in Hague and their reception was at the beautiful Inn at Erlowest in Lake George. Alisha Clark and John Tegan of Clark+Walker photographed and videoed their day and captured the amazing grace and charm of their Adirondack wedding.

Please enjoy the sneak peek trailer of their wedding video.

A little note that just came in from the mother of the bride from last week's wedding :)

Shannon and Nicole,

It is difficult to find words that express the relief I felt the day of Alexandra's rehearsal and wedding day, thanks to you and your AMAZING work.

I was so impressed by your professionalism, attention to detail and the utmost care that you gave Alexandra, Jon and the wedding party. I truly was able to enjoy my daughters wedding, thanks to you.

I would highly recommend you and your staff to any and all who ask me about a wedding planner.

As you saw, the wedding was PERFECT! It truly was a "Fairy Tale Wedding". I hope that you enjoyed yourselves as well. I had more guests say to me that it was the best wedding they had ever been to. That made me feel great! Ali and Jon so enjoyed themselves, and that was my goal. We will be talking about this special day for a long time to come. I have a large family as you saw, and it will be extremely difficult to top this wedding!!

Thank you so much Shannon. Best of luck to you in planning your future weddings. I trust that they will be all organized just like Ali and Jon's.

You are the BEST!!

Destination Wedding Spotlight - Lake Placid

The Adirondack Park is an amazing national and natural treasure situated in the northern section of New York State. The Park itself is the largest national park in the country and is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, nature lovers, and those just looking to get away somewhere quiet for a little while. Within the Adirondack Park is a tiny gem in the town of Lake Placid. Perhaps best known for being the site of not one but two Olympic winter games, this town is the perfect blend of cute and sweet and quiet and beautiful. What better place to host your destination wedding than in a place like this?

There are several amazing venues in Lake Placid so there are several options for the style and size wedding you are looking to host. The mountains and the view of Mirror Lake are the true draw for this area so outdoor ceremonies are an obviously perfect choice for more couples. And with so many activities to offer it is a great place to make a whole wedding weekend for you and your guests. From athletic activities like hiking, biking, and kayaking, to more relaxed adventures like touring the Olympic facilities or checking out one of the local breweries, the Lake Placid region truly has something special for everyone in your group. And it is a true year-round destination - the spring brings hikers back to the trails, the summer has people out in town and on the water, the fall is breath taking with the foliage and crisp air, and in the winter you can enjoy world class skiing at Whiteface Mountain. There is not a bad time to get here and bring your friends and family along with you.

Here are some photos I've taken during several trips to the area. Please tell me these aren't the most amazing views and picturesque towns you've ever seen!

Makes you want to head up there and say I Do??

Wedding Planners in Action!

Beth and Lawson were married at The Sagamore in July of 2009 and if you are a WPP blog stalker then you know this couple well. Their wedding was incredible - 38 guests, one long dining table, and more flowers, chandeliers and fabric swags than I have ever seen before. This wedding was featured in the Fall 2010 issue of WellWed Magazine for good reason. It was seriously impressive.

I have to admit this is a bit of a supersized Wedding Planners in Action post but it's only because the photographer is amazing (the one and only Tracey Buyce) and loves to snap pics of all kinds of moments throughout the wedding and because the florist (David Michael Schmidt of Renaissance Floral Design) came armed with his own camera and caught a lot of the behind the scenes footage. But hey, pictures are fun, so here are a bunch to share with you!

Photos 1-6: Tracey Buyce Photography
Photos 7-9: David Michael Schmidt

Invitation Sale!

We are so excited about our new Save the Date album that we decided to celebrate with an invitation sale! Choose from any of the selections from our Save the Date album or any of our other invitation albums and receive 10% off your order. Consultations are free so make your appointment today!

Offer good on new invitations orders. Purchase needs to be made by September 1, 2011. Discount taken up to $100 off. Call to schedule your consultation.

Recap on Groomsmen Attire

While the girls have the whole spectrum of colors to choose from, guys are typically limited to a few colors of formal wear - black, tan, chocolate brown, navy blue, and light and dark shades of grey. In 2010 I saw a pretty consistent run of traditional black tuxes, although a few guys mixed it up a bit by choosing a tan tux or a dark suit.

What's more interesting to look through than the color of their tux is the color of their "accessories" - the vests, ties, and boutonnieres that each set is wearing. You can see a popular choice is for the groom to wear white or ivory under their jacket and for their groomsmen to wear black, but some couples mix it up by adding in some colored vests and some even go with a printed tie. For the flowers the guys almost always get a matching flower that is featured in the bridesmaids' bouquets, and the groom gets one that matches a flower that the bride is carrying. If you can match the wedding photos in this post to the ones in the last post (about my 2010 bridesmaids dresses) you can see how the colors of the flowers and the rest of the guys' attire have been selected to be perfectly color coordinated with the girls.

To give you a rundown of the groomsmen attire from my 2010 events here are a few of my favorite photos to share.

Title Photo - Belathee Photography
Photo 1 - Elario Photography
Photo 2 - Jennifer Mardus Photography
Photo 3 - Gallery 9 North
Photo 4 - John Seakwood Photography
Photo 5 - Out of the Ordinary Photography
Photo 6 - Jessica Patch Photography
Photo 7 - Gallery 9 North
Photo 8 - Niki Rossi Photography
Photo 9 - Dan Cooper
Photo 10 - Tracey Buyce
Photo 11 - Bailly Photography