Where are they Now? - Beth and Bobby!

We had the honor of being a part of Beth and Bobby’s wedding almost 7 ½ Years ago, in September of 2009! We are so Happy that we got to take the time to interview Beth and Bobby and see where they are now. This Blog is a must read; you are going to love hearing about their first dance song, wedding advise and all the amazing places they have traveled!

Questions about the Wedding: 

Flowers By: Neil Lesson

Q: What was one of the things that you disagreed about the most about the wedding or during the planning? When you look back now and think it was silly?
A: I pretty much did all the planning. He didn't really have much input and trusted my judgement, so we really did not disagree about anything.

Q: How did you feel the day after your wedding?
A: I remember thinking…I cannot believe it was over?!? I spent a year of my life planning this one day and It went so fast.

Q: How did you feel the day of your wedding? Example, calm, overwhelmed, emotional, like a natural host?
A: Super Calm. My bridesmaids kept asking me if I was ok as I am generally not a 'calm' person. We were on time, actually ahead of schedule, for everything. We had plenty of time for pictures and just hanging out. I really thought I would be running around like crazy the day of, but it was the exact opposite.

Q: What was your first dance song and why did you choose it?
A: We did the Cha-Cha to Lady Gaga's- Just Dance…which included a standing back flip by my husband. We picked it because quite frankly, who wants to watch 2 people slow dance to some sappy song that is only special to the two dancing??

Q: What do you wish you would have spent more time/money on or less time/money on when planning the wedding?
A: Looking back I wish we would have spent less time and money on everything. A more intimate affair with about 50 of our closest family and friends vs. 300 acquaintances and random family that we have not seen in 5+ years would have been way better all around.

Q: What is the one thing you wish you would have done differently?
A: Downsized everything, especially the guest list.

All Wedding Photos for Beth and Bobby By: Spencer Photography

Q: What did guests comment about most after the wedding was over?
A: The candy bar, the flowers (Thanks Neil Leeson) and the DJ's (Thanks Marino Brothers). I must admit, I loved all 3 as well. I have yet to attend another wedding that rivaled my flowers, candy bar and DJ's.

Q: Did you have a wedding cake? If so, were you nice about feeding each other, or did one of you smash it in the others face? (uh-oh!)
A: We did have a cake, a beautiful one actually. My husband was on his best behavior but I attempted to smear it on him. I wasn't very successful.

Q: What advice do you have for brides planning their wedding?
A: Just breathe. Everything is going to be ok. The things that are not ok, you probably won't even know about :)

Questions About Now: 

Q: How did you celebrate your first anniversary?
A: While honeymooning in Bora-Bora, we met another couple from Dallas, TX that was also celebrating their honeymoon. We hit it off and decided to make sure we stayed connected. For our first anniversary, we all decided to celebrate together on the Amalfi Coast in Italy for 2 weeks. We have celebrated our anniversaries together ever since. We have been to Italy, Ireland, Costa Rica, St Lucia, and Aruba to name a few. We also get together multiple times each year to just catch up.

Q: Does married life feel different to you?

Cake By: The West Side Bakery

A: Not really, it is still pretty comfortable in terms of a relationship and we are still really busy with our careers.

Q: Most exciting thing that’s happened since you’ve gotten married?
A: We have had a lot of exciting things happen, but it just seems like everyday life to us. My husband was featured in Forbes Magazine and I won CFO of the Year from Crain's Magazine.

Q: Have you moved since the wedding day?
A: Not yet, but we are in the process of building a new house. We should finish and move by October 2017.

Q: How have your careers or family changed?
A: We now work together, something we vowed never to do.

Q: Have you traveled anywhere fun as Mr. & Mrs.?
A: We are so fortunate and travel a lot. We have been to Portugal, Bora Bora, Moorea, Italy three times, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Aruba twice, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, a Silver Seas Cruise (the best vacation ever), Prague, St. Lucia, Los Cabos and many more. Did I mention we are super blessed to be able to travel?

Q: What have you learned about weddings or planning that you didn’t know before going into it?
A: That everyone considers themselves experts, from cousins, to random friends, to strangers. I finally had to tune out other people's opinions as they were driving me crazy and causing me to second guess what I knew I really wanted.

Q: What advice do you have for newlywed couples?
A: Where do we start…although we are so happy together and our wedding was fabulous, we wish we would have done something on a much smaller scale. I was so obsessed with every little detail. Today, I couldn't tell you a single thing that I worried so much about!

If you are going to hire a planner, even if it is just for Day Of Coordination, bring them in sooner rather than later. Things that I spent days pondering, Brandi had solved in 2 minutes. Planners know this industry. They live it, breath it and die for it. There is an extremely high chance that they have encountered whatever it is you are struggling with or stuck on. If you are like me and have Type A-OCD when it comes to wedding planning, it will save you so much time and effort to have her, especially sooner rather than later..

Beth and Bobby!

WWW- Wedding Wisdom Wednesday- End of Night

Have a game plan for the end of the night.  You aren't going to want to have to figure anything out as midnight rolls around on your wedding day so have someone that will.  Plan ahead of time where your gifts, cards, decorations and any other personal items (toasting glasses, serving utensils) are going to go.  If you don't have a planner to handle this, you'll have to designate someone responsible.  If you do this ahead of time, you'll be able to relax knowing everything is taken care of and nothing will end up lost.

My Interview on Planner Wire

Check out my interview with Serenity Knutson, Editor in Chief of Planner Wire.

Click Here
http://www.plannerwire.com/article_template.cfm?aid=1749&sid=30

What do you think of the interview, have any feedback or even better/different answers, let me know!

The Secrets behind Vendor Selection (that no one talks about)

After, what I would consider, a substantial amount of time in the industry, I think I have some advice on vendor selection that may be helpful to brides.  This may or may not be information that you would have previously considered or even thought about.  While I am not trying to say that it is typical of vendors to be untruthful about their abilities, in the day and age of "anyone can be anything with a good website", you need to be more careful.

1- ASSOCIATIONS: If your vendor belongs to an association, that is wonderful!  First thing you need to do is find out what it takes to become a Member of the association, in order to understand how "wonderful" that really makes your vendor.  Some associations just require a payment.  Yes, that is it.  Your DJ can be "certified by the "Amazing Wonderful Awesome DJ Association of America", and all he had to do was pay them $100.  While other associations have a lengthy review process and even referral requirements.  Find out which one your vendor participates in.

2- REFERRALS: Another thing that usually helps with choosing a vendor is referrals.  Some vendors just have "quotes" on their website, while others will offer you the numbers of several clients to contact.  Keep in mind, NO ONE, is going to give you the phone number to an unhappy client.  You'll need to know what matters most to you before you call, so that you have specific questions for the client.  "Were they on time?"  "How long did setup take?"  "How do you know the vendor or how did you find the vendor?"  "What type of attire did they wear?"  Sometimes even a simple "When did you last work with the vendor?" may bring up surprising information, such as "Eight years ago" and in that case, you might want to find someone who can offer useful, up to date, referrals. 

3- PHOTOGRAPHY: I am not referring to photographers.  I am referring to the photos that some vendors use on their site that have been provided by photographers.  A florist can do "okay" designs but when working with an "amazing" photographer, those designs/centerpieces/arrangements come out looking spectacular.  I'll be kicked out of the Wedding Planner Club for this one, but even some wedding planners can provide pictures of events that they worked, but that doesn't mean what you see has anything to do with what they did, sometimes they didn't even coordinate the vendors OR their work.  A Wedding Planner can work with great vendors to create a great day, that you CAN tell from a photo.  A Wedding Planner may not be able to create the design, color, creativity, layout and themes that you see, that you CAN'T tell from a photo.  Sometimes, if you are inclined, it is okay to ask Planners what part they had in the design of certain photos.  Don't count on your Planner to be able to create 6-story high centerpieces OR to even be able to setup place cards JUST because they show photos of those things.

I know, I know no one wants to hear this awful truth but it must be told.  I have researched many "Wedding Planner" sites and some of them, after investing time and energy to review, are nothing more than someone who has seen Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner, one too many times.  You can't tell JUST from someone's website, so do your research.  Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures and the "I love you" quotes from clients.

I'll continue to expose the secrets of vendor selections (that no one wants to talk about) as the months go on, eventually you'll be able to sift through the Flash Sites and fancy blogs and find what matters!

Buttons & Rain

I had a fantastic wedding this weekend, fantastic bride, even fantastic MOB (although I seem to be getting quite a few of those lately). I went into this wedding thinking that I had very little to confirm, because the bride had done such a detailed job of planning with me, that we had covered every single thing, that could possibly be covered prior to a wedding reception. It is always that time, when you are most relaxed that those sneaky wedding mishaps surprise you.

The wedding started to severe thunderstorms. It was an outdoor ceremony but fortunately the back up option that was available was absolutely amazing. The rain was bad enough that the umbrellas that I had, weren't even staying down, or helping in the least bit. Thankfully, I had umbrellas!

The father of the bride was about as nervous as I've seen them and low and behold, as I pray that nothing goes wrong for him, his suit buttons just POP off. Yes, really, they just popped off. He comes to me, with 2 buttons in his hands and ask me what I'm going to do. Well, I've got a sewing kit, so I sew them back on, just in time for his photo shoot with the family to start. Then, the brother of the bride shows up with buttons in his hands as well. Unfortunately, this is about 10 minutes before the ceremony and I have NO time to sew. I do, however, have safety pins, so after a few attempts, I manage to pin them in SO secretly that no one will ever notice they are there. YAY.

There were several more minor mishaps, but those were the ones that I could easily point out without complicated detail. I handled each situation, with no problem and without the bride having to ever sweat one minute of it.

I think it just goes to show you that no matter how much you plan, something WILL happen and if I'm not there to help, you had better have SOMEONE that has readily available sewing kits, safety pins and umbrellas and then hope nothing else goes wrong...or you could just hire a planner and save yourself the worry.

The "Wedding" Economy

I think that with all the talk about the bad economy it is important to mention that being a Wedding Planner hasn't taken much of a hit. The reasoning behind this is very simple. Clients are now taking on MORE responsibility with their weddings. They are learning to make their own favors, design their own centerpieces, hire less experienced vendors at a cheaper rate. All of this leads to the need for someone to oversee everyone and everything.


It isn't much fun to make your own centerpieces and then spend your entire wedding day setting them up and I can assure you that no Mother of the Bride wants to spend her day doing that either. That's where I come in handy. You can save all the money you want being creative and trying new things but in the end all of that is a pretty scary venture if you don't at least pay someone to oversee it.


Client's have hired "friends" or "relatives" to do their music, cake, etc...while you can absolutely save money doing this, these are the people that need the most assistance in their services. Again, that's how I can help my clients SAVE money by SPENDING money on me! I think this post seems to be more of a commercial for my services, but really I just think the idea is important to understand. Taking the less expensive route is only safe when you have someone to make sure it turns out like you have planned. Of course, you can always have a relative/friend do that but the 2 things to consider are this-

1- Do you want to lose that special time with your mom, sister, aunt on your wedding day because they are running around like crazy trying to setup your wedding in time?

2- Anyone that you trust enough to handle your wedding will be someone will probably be someone that you want involved in your day, not involved in WORKING on your day.


Good things to think about when you are debating the cost of a coordinator. Don't make Aunt Jane miss out on your wedding over a few hundred dollars. Hire someone to work and let all you guests relax.