Just a Day in the Life of a Mom with Twins

Let's be honest,  we’d love to make our wedding day a spectacularly affair. We dream of breathtaking styling and fabulous details, but that dream can be a little overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing.  Here are fifteen tips from a wedding planner to give you a leg up on the whole wedding planning process. 1. Set a budget and stick to it Be realistic when you sit down with your husband or bride-to-be and discuss what you can afford. Sure, everyone would love to have a royal wedding but is that practical? Start your list with your "must haves." Perhaps flowers are an essential to throwing your garden themed wedding or you'd rather spend a little extra on your guests experience so you rent a photo booth. While there is no right or wrong way to throw a wedding, going beyond budget will hurt you in the end and could cost you much more than you expected.  2. Don't be afraid to show some backbone Keep in mind that this is your wedding and what you says...

Today's blog entry is going to be how to prepare to meet with your wedding vendors. This could be your Photographer, Videographer, Florist, the Bakery, the Venue, anyone that is going to play a part in your big day.  If you don't prepare yourself for the meeting you're about to go into it could lead to a lot of awkward silent moments, fumblings of words and ideas, you could potentially forget to tell them something really important about your day and you remember hours after the meeting has already occurred. A great vendor is going to be someone who knows how to keep the conversation flowing, they're going to ask a lot of open ended questions (not just yes or no answers) and they're going to want to find out as much as they possibly can about you within the timeframe that is allowed. Not all vendors are like this, I had a Photographer one time who was just really laid back, and waited to be given direction instead of doing his own thing, so as the Wedding Planner ...

I asked my girls if they would be my bridesmaids shortly after I got engaged. Looking back on it now, after going through all my wedding planner training and helping out other brides during their special planning time I would have definitely done this differently for my girls. I would have given them a cute box with a bridemaid related book instead with some sparking juice and something cute that went along with our colors and wedding theme. But alas that did not happen. Of course I think of all the great ideas AFTER I get married....Oh well I can help out other brides in this area, right? So I asked all my girls, called them if I didn't see them face to face and asked if they would honor me by standing next to me as I say my vows. Everyone said yes! :)  At our rehearsal we gave our bridal party their thank you gifts. We both made bags of goodies for them. The great thing about working at a beauty company is that we get tons of stuff for free. I have bags and bags of it. So I bro...

Our Story - How We Met Late one night in 2010 I had heard enough about this Eric guy from one of my friends. "Who is this guy?" I finally asked and my friend gave me Eric's number. We exchanged texts for a few months until the end of July when I was working at the ULTA out in Orland Park, a few blocks down from where Eric worked at Advance Auto. We agreed to finally meet in person and while nothing earth shattering happened that day, I had a feeling this guy would be a part of my life, I just didn't know how big... Eric and I continued to hang out and get to know each other, but Eric had made it very clear, "I don't want a girlfriend. I'm not looking for a girlfriend. I just want to be friends." And that was fine with me! Imagine my surprise on November 6 when Eric said "I'd like to see where this goes, do you want to be my girlfriend?" While I never expected him to ask me that, I was glad he did because I had started to develo...

One question I get often as a Wedding Planner is "What is in my Emergency Bridal Kit?" As a built in service for my brides I provide them an Emergency Bridal Kit on the day of their wedding. This kit includes personal care products, first aid, pain relievers, tools - anything you think you MIGHT need on the day of the wedding. These kits are custom made for each bride as no wedding is ever truly the same but most kits have a common core list of items. Because I have a wedding today I thought it would be a great idea to show you what's in Today's Bride's Emergency Kit.  Tools: Pliers Wire Cutters Measuring Tape Screw Drivers of various sizes (Flat Head & Phillips) Hammer  &/or Mallet It's amazing how many times you can say "I wish I had a screw driver or tape measure with me for this..." It's better to just be prepared because you never know what you'll be called to do or what will need some fixing. Personal...