We're on WellWed Today!

The Bigler Bridal Tips video I did on local wedding trends is featured on WellWed's blog today!

Running To The Altar!

Running to the Altar is a running group started by WPP in 2013 where brides and their girls can join up with WPP planners to chat about their weddings while getting great exercise and having fun!  All abilities are welcome - this is a no pressure group!  Now that it's spring we have lots of group runs planned.  If you're looking to get out and get fit join in on our Facebook Page!

We Have A Winner!!

After sifting through dozens and dozens of entries we finally have a winner of the Most Deserving Couple Wedding Giveaway!  Congratulations to Cuckie and Alberto who give so much back to their community and deserve nothing less than their dream wedding.  I am so excited for them and can't wait to get started on the planning of their big day!  

Here is a video of them celebrating their win - with a cameo of their dog Huckleberry!

Keep checking back to the contest's event page to keep up on all the excitement with their wedding planning!

Local Wedding Trends Video - Starring Shannon!

I recently paired up with photographer/videographer Dave Bigler to talk about local wedding trends.  I wanted to focus more on wedding trends here in New York's Capital Region to share with couples what is going on around in the local wedding market.  Hope you enjoy the video!  

To learn more about Dave and his services please visit www.davebigler.com

Now Hiring

We are currently looking for exciting and motivated individuals to fill the following positions:

-  Social Media Coordinator - Intern
-  Planner/Coordinator - Interns for the 2014 season

The Social Media Coordinator position requires an average of 15-20 hours of work which can be done from home, and a minimal amount of time spent working in the WPP office.  The length of commitment for this position is April through June.  

The Planner/Coordinator position requires attendance at weddings and events which mainly take place Friday through Sundays.  No additional office work is required, although there are opportunities to learn and experience wedding planning duties during the week.  The length of commitment for this position is April through November, although the season can be split for the right candidates.

Ideal candidates are college students or working professionals who have formal education and/or experience in the areas of event planning, communications, business, marketing, or other related fields. Prior experience is plus but is not required, and thorough training will be provided. 

If you are interested please e-mail me a copy of your resume and a cover letter explaining why you are interested in this position and what you hope to get out of the experience of working with my company. 

shannon@weddingplanningplus.net

All questions can also be sent to Shannon at the same email address.

We are gearing up for our best year yet and can't wait to add some fantastic people to our team!

Check Out Our New Website!

We are very excited to share our brand spankin' new website with you!  The new site has tons of photos of our recent weddings, full bios on all of our planners, and some awesome video clips to see our brides and grooms in action on their big day.  

CHECK IT OUT HERE!  And let us know what you think!

Sanju and Rana - September 19-22, 2013

Sanju and Rana were married on September 21, 2013 in Manchester, VT.  I spent so much time with these two working on all of the details of their Indian wedding celebration.  Their event started with a welcome party at their home in Sunderland on Thursday where there was a mehndi artist there making the most beautiful designs on the women's hands and wrists.  I even got some mehndi done but only because Sanju insisted!  Before the catered meal began Sanju and Rana participated in traditional Indian rituals to prepare the bride and groom for the upcoming wedding.  Then after eating guests mingled, sang, and kept warm next to the fire.

On Friday Sanju and Rana celebrated their Baraat and Sangeet at the Southern Vermont Arts Center.  In Indian culture the joining of a bride and groom involves a formal acceptance by the parents, and during the Baraat the groom and his friends and family form a parade of sorts to travel to the bride's location.  Although grooms typically ride on a horse during this part, Rana decided instead to arrive in a very elaborately decorated golf cart!  There was a DJ and a dhol player who lead the dancing guests across the grounds and over to the entrance of the Souther Vermont Art Center where Sanju was waiting inside with her family and friends.  The families greeted one another with garlands of flowers and light 'competitions' until it is time for the bride to be brought out to meet her groom.  After this Sanju and Rana held a private wedding ceremony to honor Rana's religious traditions, and then went inside the performance space to begin the Sangeet.  A Sangeet is a fun and spirited party where family and friends put on skits and dances to entertain the guests.  The performance space at the Southern Vermont Art Center was the perfect location for a Sangeet because there is a stage with theater-style seating and a large open floor space that was used for dancing at the end of the night.  We had a wonderful Indian caterer from New Jersey who made some of the most delicious food I have ever tasted!  Everyone really celebrated and enjoyed all of the festivities that night!

Saturday was the actual wedding day, and as Sanju is Christian she and Rana chose to have their wedding in a typical American style with a church ceremony followed by their reception.  Their ceremony took place at the First Congregational Church in Manchester, and the two of them were able to sneak in some beautiful first look photos right before hand on Equinox Resort's 1811 House lawn.  After the ceremony ended the bride and groom were whisked off in a vintage car and brought to the amazingly beautiful Hildene - The Lincoln Family Home.  Hildene is a historic property that was built by Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, in the early 1900's.  The home sits back into the woods and is surrounded on all sides by gorgeous views of the Green Mountains.  There is a stunning garden behind the home where Sanju and Rana and their guests enjoyed cocktails before heading down to the tent for dinner and dancing.  Sanju has an impeccable sense of style and attention to detail and if guests hadn't noticed this on Thursday or Friday they certainly got to be wowed by her esthetic on Saturday.  Sanju loves the color pink and she incorporated pink flowers, linens and pink uplighting to completely transform the way the inside of the Hildene tent looked.  The centerpieces were incredible with their loose blooms sitting inside a dark black vase.  And there's no way to not love the eucalyptus swags on the back of Sanju and Rana's chairs or the replicas of their cats that sat on the top of their wedding cake.  Every piece of the decor and design was carefully thought of and perfectly executed.  And with the gorgeous weather, delicious meal, and a famous club DJ there was no excuse for anyone to not spend their final night partying until the very last minute.

As if all of those events weren't enough, on Sunday morning Sanju and Rana hosted a brunch for their guests on the lawn of Equinox Resort's 1811 House.  I was impressed to see so many awake and cheery people after three days of partying!

Most people  are used to a wedding being a 5-6 hour event but these guys really know how to make the celebration last!  The planning involved in pulling this off was a massive amount of work but Sanju and Rana gave me clear direction all the way through and we put together quite the bash!  

All in all we sourced out:

FIVE different venues, involving three different floor plans
FOUR different caterers, which meant many many many decisions on foods and beverages
TWO DJs, one from New Jersey and one from LA
THREE florists/nurseries
FOUR locations for rentals, with a total of FOUR tents, and some rental items changing locations three or four times

THREE days of photography

TWO days of videography

TWO days of hair and makeup

And finally FOUR days of coordination by ME!

(there is a full vendor list at the end of this post)

I will admit that this event was a lot of work, but I can't even begin to describe how amazingly touched I was by the care and generosity of Sanju and Rana's families and all of their 200 guests.  Most of the guests were strangers to me and yet I felt as much a guest as a wedding planner all four days.  I had more people hug me, thank me, congratulate me, and offer to help wherever needed.  Every planning meeting we had at Rana's family's home in Sunderland came with bowls of fresh fruit and incredible hospitality.  Sanju and I spent car rides talking about all aspects of life and sharing a lot of personal stories with one another.  Sanju and Rana showered me with gifts all weekend, because they are the type who get more joy out of giving than they do in receiving.  And as I brought Sanju up to the entrance of the church she turned to me and said "I love you Shannon" right before walking down her aisle.  

When I left Manchester on Sunday afternoon I felt a sense of sadness that this wedding was over.  But the memories I have from that weekend, those places, and all of those incredible people, are ones I will cherish and keep with me forever.

Sanju and Rana, you are really special people and I am so glad that you not only found each other but that you found me.  This journey with you has changed me and I can't thank you enough for including me in such a big event in your life.  I will love you and think of you forever!!

xoxo,

Shannon

_______________________________________

Now for the photos!!

The Welcome Party

The Baraat and Sangeet

The Wedding Day

In all of my blog posts I give credit to all of the vendors who worked with me to make the event possible.  Here is a list of everyone to give credit where it's due.

The Welcome Party - Thursday September 19 - Family Home

Catering - Bistro Henry

Photographer - Lisa Rigby Photography

Rentals - Rain or Shine

Flower Decor - Equinox Valley Nursery

Mehndi - Aaquila Afzal

The Sangeet - Friday September 20 - Southern Vermont Arts Center

Venue - Jennifer Grigsby at the Southern Vermont Arts Center

Catering (food) - Moghul Catering

Bar Service - Bistro Henry

Photography - Lisa Rigby Photography

Videography - Wade Koch 

DJ for Baraat and Sangeet (with dhol player) - DJ Jassi of Dhol Fusion

DJ for late night dancing - Smiles Davis

Rentals - Rain or Shine

Flower decor - Equinox Valley Nursery

Flower garlands - Fancy Florist

Hair and Makeup - True Grace 

Transportation - Dufour 

Golf cart rental - Equinox Resort

The Wedding Day - Saturday September 21 - First Congregational Church and Hildene Estate

Church - Paula Albertsson at the First Congregational Church

Reception Venue - Sheila Burks at Hildene

Catering - Pangaea

Photography - Lisa Rigby Photography

Videography - Wade Koch

DJ - Smiles Davis

Florist - Nancy Bishop

Rentals - Rain or Shine

Hair and Makeup - True Grace

Officiant - Rev Wayne Bell

Ceremony Musicians - Dorset Trio

Ceremony Decor (potted plants) - Equinox Valley Nursery

Transportation - Dufour

Cake - Cakes by Irene (Irene Maston)

The Post-Wedding Brunch - Sunday September 22 - Equinox Resort's 1811 House (not pictured)

Venue - Ruth Whitelaw at The Equinox Resort

Florist - Nancy Bishop

Rentals - Rain or Shine

WPP is a Regional Choice Award Honoree!

We are excited to learn that WPP is a Regional Choice Award Honoree for wedding planning and coordination services.  The contest was run by the Adirondack-Albany Wedding Association and votes were cast by the public for their favorite Upstate New York wedding vendors.  

To see a full list of honorees CLICK HERE. 

Thank you to all who voted!  

Meet The WPP Team!

I have the absolute best team of planners working with me and I couldn't be more proud of the hard work they put in to make our couple's dream wedding come true.  We all got together for a photo session at Flowers By Pesha in Troy and photographer extraordinaire Lisa Kretschmann stopped by to take a set of photos of us.  Thank you Pesha and Lisa for such a fun night!

Here is team WPP!  To read all of our bios CLICK HERE.

This is me!

Lead Planner Erin Rossi

Lead Planner Ginny Beigel

Lead Planner Aissa Murray

Lead Planner Katie Whitney

Photo by Bailly Photography

Junior Planner Erin McKee

Junior Planner Melissa Jacobsen

Office Guru Kristine Brooks

Most Deserving Couple Dream Wedding Giveaway!

Wedding Planning Plus and Full Moon Farm are Giving Away a Dream Wedding!!

Introducing our Most Deserving Couple Dream Wedding Giveaway!

Wedding Planning Plus and Full Moon Farm are giving away a premium intimate wedding for 30 guests on May 3, 2015.

We couldn't be more excited to share this news with all of you.  What has been in the works for months now is finally ready to unveil to you - on the most romantic day of the year!

Do you know a couple comprised of selfless people who deserve a dream wedding day?  Have they volunteered for an important cause?  Given shelter to family or friends?  Had financial stress that put their wedding plans out of reach?

They may be the perfect candidate for a magic farm wedding

The winning couple is lucky to have this celebrity cast of vendors on board to complete their dream wedding day*:

Wedding Planning Plus - providing full wedding planning and day-of wedding coordination
Full Moon Farm - the perfect Upstate location for a farm 'I do'
Kleinfeld Paper - offering letterpress invitations and bridal stationery
Magnolia Bakery - our exclusive dessert provider
Angela Cappetta - documentary photography extraordinaire
True Grace - wedding day beauty experts
Carissa Ceremonies - the area's most personal wedding officiant
Tuxego - the Capital Region's resource for all things tuxes
Flowers by Ivona - for sweet bouquets and wedding day arrangements
Cotton Bride - supplying the dress(es) for the big day!

Entry into this contest is simple:

All applicants need to like the contest event pages on FB and Twitter
www.facebook.com/mostdeservingcouple
@FMFWPP
Then they need to private message the group on FB with a photo of the two of them plus a one-paragraph description of why they are the most deserving couple
Don't forget to message their request for the full list of the rules and regulations - all applicants need to read this before submitting.

Additional requirements may be needed.  Please see full rules.  

On April 1st the judges will narrow down the field to a few lucky candidates and final voting will begin from there.  One couple will be determined the Most Deserving Couple and win the wedding of their dreams!!!

If you are a deserving couple or you know one please be sure to jump on this opportunity before it ends!  Submissions close on April 1st so apply to win today!!


*Vendor involvement is subject to change.
*Full rules and regulations need to be read and understood before applying.  All applicants are proving they have read all of the rules upon applying.

Diana and Owen are Featured on Grey Likes Weddings!

Photo by Jen Huang Photography

Diana and Owen's Vermont farm wedding is featured on the popular wedding blog Grey Likes Weddings!  We are all so excited so see their gorgeous Vermont wedding get the recognition it deserves!  Check out the full feature HERE.