After the Diamond

Emergency Kits

2010-03-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

If you have hired a wedding planner for your big day, you can rest assured that they will bring an emergency kit. Hopefully, they will have the supplies to fix almost any problem (big or small). If you are creating your own emergency kit, here a starting list of things to put in it. This list is not meant to be all inclusive... but a place to start!

breath mints
black and white buttons
black and white thread (also need the color of you bridesmaids dresses)
mini sewing kit
rubber bands
corsage/boutonniere pins
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
Shout wipes
hand mirror
tweezers
feminine products
clear nail polish
dental floss
eye drops
floral tape
hot glue
hair supplies (brush, comb, spray)
lighter
lint brush

Inspiration Board

2010-01-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

Need a jump start on some creative ideas for your wedding? Create an inspiration board! It is so easy... all you need is an empty bulletin board, some thumbtacs and wedding magazines. Cut out what you like and stick it to the board. You can also add sample material from your dress or your bridesmaids dresses, paper for invitations, programs you have saved from weddings, ribbon, or anything else that can be tacked to your board. Carry this board with you to meetings with consultants, florists, decorators, bakers, and reception venues. This board will help your vendors get a feel for the tone you want to set for your wedding. This board may also inspire additional ideas for your big day!

2009 Reflection and a Unique Bouquet & Garter Toss Idea

2010-01-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

After the Diamond had a busy 2009 that included a destination wedding in Georgia, an outdoor wedding in October, and a wedding incorporating Brazilian traditions. We are excited about the weddings planned for 2010 and look forward to working with all of our brides and grooms.

One of my favorite blogs to read is Weddingbee (http://www.weddingbee.com/). One blog I was just reading was a unique idea for the bouquet and garter toss. If you are looking to toss up the traditional bouquet toss, consider doing a "bouquet pull". If you are worried about participation for the garter toss, add money or a gift card to your garter to get more participation. Additional details can be found at this Weddingbee link: http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/01/23/tossing-variations/#more-127092

Lighting

2009-01-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned previously that I think adding special effects lighting is the next big thing in weddings. Here is a photo I took that captures the lighting from Jonnie Beth and Doug's wedding back in October. You can also see Brooke and Joel's snowflake lighting by looking at the photos taken by Photo 98 below. If you have questions about the cost and/or vendors for this, give me a call!

Photography!

2009-01-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

Photo98 has posted some great photos of Brooke and Joel on their blog... check them out: http://photoblog98.com/!!!

If you are looking for photographers... consider asking them some of the following questions and always ask to see their portfolio!
- Does the photographer have an assistant? If so, does the assistant also take photos?
- What type of camera will be used and do they have backup equipment?
- How long do clients usually have to wait to see photos after the wedding?
- Will the photos be posted on-line? Can they be ordered on-line?

I will be adding a photo page to my website soon and posting photos from the photographers showing all the small details of the weddings. Stay tuned!

New Years Resolutions!

2008-12-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! As the new year approaches (only 12 hours left in 2008), I wanted to share my After the Diamond New Years Resolutions with you…

1. Keep my website up to date! Now that I have a new site, my goal is to keep it up to date with any new weddings and/or information I have.
2. Book 6 - 8 weddings in 2009! (One is already on the calendar!)
3. Update my documentation. I need to review some documentation and make some necessary updates and include my new logo on them.
4. Update After the Diamond Blog at least once every two weeks! I will include some wedding updates and photos from current clients, information on upcoming events in the areas, and some tips or fresh ideas for wedding and/or party planning.
5. Work with Julie (my assistant) on possibly expanding this business. More details to come throughout the year!

I hope you all set some manageable New Years Resolutions as well. If "having the best wedding ever (or event/party)" is on that list… give me a call and I will help you meet that goal!

Happy New Year!

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

I am not a fan of cold weather, but the winter wonderland wedding this weekend almost made winter my new favorite season. Snowflakes were the theme for Brooke and Joel's wedding. There were snowflake cookies, menus, and lighting. Brooke did a coco bar for her guests… which was a great idea considering that it was only about 20 degrees outside. Her blue and ivory color scheme added to the wintry feel.

The wedding was at the First United Methodist Church of East Peoria. Brooke looked stunning in a white strapless dress with a small amount of lace that wrapped around her just below the bust. She had a cathedral length veil edged with thick lace. Her five bridesmaids wore navy blue dresses, each one different. The groomsmen wore black tuxes with silver vests. Joel also wore a black tux but with a white vest. The church was decorated with a few Christmas decorations, oil candles in every window, and ivory poinsettias. The ceremony ran very smoothly and each guest was handed a sparkler as they exited. When Joel and Brooke came out just as the day turned into night, everyone lit their sparklers. I had been a little nervous about the close quarters and the fire hazard, but it turned out perfectly. I can't wait to see photos from this!

The reception was at the Embassy Suites in Peoria. Everything came together for the reception… the cocktail hour outside of the room included appetizers, a harpist, and quilt squares that everyone signed. Once you entered the reception room, you really felt like you were in a winter wonderland. White chair covers and linens with silver organza overlays made the room very classy. The centerpieces varied from a tall vase filled with silver glass ornaments, topped with a flower arrangement and sparkling silver branches to a centerpiece arrangement of simple white snowflake bags lit by battery operated tea lights. Silver glass ornaments were occasionally found and snowflakes were all around the walls with the special lighting effect. The photographers will be posting photos soon... watch for photos on their blog www.photoblog98.com! The room was unbelievable... truly a winter wonderland!

A big congratulations goes out to Brooke and Joel!

Holiday Season

2008-11-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

Tis the season… to throw a party! If you are throwing a Christmas party, New Years Party, or any celebration and are interested in ideas or help with coordinating everything, email me! I would be glad to help your party be the talk of the season!

Party tip: Evites and email invitations are extremely popular right now… and these are okay if your holiday party is less formal. However, if you want to add that special touch, invitations in the mail are the way to go. Everyone loves getting "fun mail" - well I know I do. It sure beats a bill, especially during the holiday season. Your invitations can be simple, homemade, elaborate, and/or themed. They can set the tone for your whole party. Get your invitations out about 2 - 3 weeks before your party!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Website

2008-11-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

My new website is up! A big thank you goes out to my husband who published it last night for me! I thought about buying a template but I couldn't find one that gave me everything I wanted. Unless I come across something in the future, my website will be as it is now - simple and informational. The only thing left that I have to figure out is how to add a calendar and some photos of the weddings that I have done. I will get to that in time. Check it out...
www.afterthediamond.com

Escort Cards

2008-10-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

Looking for a new way to display your escort cards? Instead of setting them out alphabetically on a table, you can take a piece of foam board, cover it in the fabric of your choice and line it with ribbon, If you tape the bottom of the ribbon down using double sided tape, you can place the folded escort cards in the ribbon. You can also frame the foam board to give it a completed look. It is adorable! We did this for Jonnie Beth and Doug's wedding... let me know what you think or if you have any other creative ideas for escort cards!

Calligraphy

2008-10-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in having your invitation or Save the Dates written in calligraphy? My assistant (Julie) is an artist and has been doing calligraphy for our clients and other brides. I have had some requests about this lately, so I thought I would post her information. Please email me if you are interested and I will give you her direct contact information. (Due to privacy, I will not put her personal contact information directly on this blog).

Calligraphy by Julie

$2.00 per invitation

for inner and outer envelope

$1.50 per outer envelope only

$1 for table names

Turn-around time is approximately 1 week

Additional quotes by request

In addition, if you are looking for some great gift ideas for the men in your wedding party, I stumbled across these signs. The groom in my last wedding ordered them for his groomsmen. They were awesome and all of the groomsmen loved them! The three signs below are all under $36. http://www.pubsignshop.com/page/P/CTGY/groomsmen-gifts
(p.s. I am in no way affiliated with this company, just noticed these signs and thought I would share).

I might even order some of these for Christmas gifts! :)

Walerius/Bryan Wedding

2008-10-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Jonnie Beth and Doug! This wedding was beyond imagination... it was so beautiful.

The ceremony was held at Sacred Heart Church in Peoria. The church is gorgeous inside and out. The ceremony was simple, elegant and sweet. Jonnie looked beautiful in her ivory wedding dress. The bridesmaids were so much fun to be around. They wore brown dresses that were very similar in style to Jonnie's wedding dress. Doug looked handsome in a tux. I had to tease him about the fact that he cleaned up so well. :)

The reception was right next door at the Pere Marquette. When you walked into the room, your mouth dropped open. The brown linens, gold chivari chairs, charger plates, lighting, and elaborate centerpieces gave a "wow" factor. When Jonnie and Doug saw the room for the first time with everything complete, they were astonished. The centerpieces consisted of willow branches, orchids, and hanging votives. When the candles were lit, you could see them hanging in the dim light all around the reception. It was beautiful. To top it off, there were 6 lighting trusses (4 on the dance floor, 2 by the cake table, and 2 when you walked through the door). These trusses along with the up lighting along all of the walls changed the feel of the room. The room felt warm and romantic. Needless to say, at the end of the night, I didn't want to take anything down. It was just too beautiful.

About the vendors...

Mark Lester Photography did an amazing job! How do I know already? Well, he surprised all of us by showing a slide show at the reception of photos that he had taken up to that point. I was amazed that he and his wife were able to pull something like this off. Many people were in tears watching the photos from only a few hours prior. Once he has all of them complete, I will see if I can get some to post! If you are looking for a photographer... be sure to check out his work! He was very professional and extremely talented.

The flowers were all provided by Owen Nursery. The did all of the centerpieces as well. Jonnie gave them a photo of what she wanted and they duplicated it. Jonnie's bouquet was also extremely pretty with the calla lilies and orchids. Sound and Light Creations provided all of the special lighting. They really went above and beyond and gave the room a entirely new look and feel. Jason Parkinson was the DJ. I worked with him at Ingrid and Brandon's wedding also... and I really enjoy working with him. He had the dance floor packed all night long! Beth Maxwell with Save the Date provided the linens. The linens were beautiful and Beth was able to meet some last minute changes. Finally, I have to say that the Pere Marquette was excellent with their service. They met all of our needs and the food was delicious.

Again, I can't say enough about this wedding. It was truly amazing.

Jonnie and Doug... thank you so much for allowing me to be such a big part of your special day. I enjoyed working and getting to know you both. I hope we see each other again!

Julie... thank you so much for all of your help with this wedding. I couldn't do it all without such a great assistant!

2008-09-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

I have my website ready to be loaded but I don't know how to do that part. I am waiting on my husband to teach me. Hopefully it won't be too much longer! I did get my business cards in the mail along with the matching magnets. I love them and I am excited to start distributing them.

Jonnie Beth and Doug's wedding is coming right up on October 4th! Everthing is being finalized this week! I am very excited about this wedding. There will be brown linens on the guest tables, green linens on the cocktail tables (cinched in the middle with brown material), gold chiviari chairs, gold charger plates, extravagent centerpieces, and upscale lighting. This reception is going to be gorgeous! I can't wait!

What else is different about this wedding? They are doing a snapshot guestbook… a polaroid camera will be available for the guests to get a photo and put it a scrapbook. Then they can sign next to their photo with a personal message to the bride and groom. They are providing wonderful and unique gifts for the wedding party… but I can't tell you what they are yet! They are also having green roses in all of the bridesmaids bouquets... very unique and pretty!

This is going to be a great wedding!

Business Cards

2008-08-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

I ordered business cards from Vista Print! I should get them mid-September. I am so excited. I also ordered magnets! Let me know what you think of the design and the logo! :)

This is the front of the business card and is also what the magnet will look like. The logo is the pink "after the diamond" font with the diamond as the 'dot' for the 'i'.

This is the back of the business card. I also ordered them as "glossy" so that there is a nice shine to the business cards.

Now... if I can just get my website finished. I want to redo it again so I can make everything similar to the design on this card. Hopefully I will have something out there before we leave for California!

Ingrid and Brandon

2008-08-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard that rain on your wedding day is good luck? If so, then we can all agree that according to this legend, Ingrid and Brandon will have lots of luck in their future. Saturday was a beautiful day. Yes, it rained but not until after Ingrid and Brandon were at the church where they would stay dry. It rained while they finished getting ready but stopped raining for pictures. Then it rained for the ceremony but stopped raining while the guests waited outside to blow bubbles at the newlyweds. Now… I call that lucky!

The church was beautiful, especially with the candles lighting the alter that the church provided. They were the most beautiful candle arrangements I have seen. In fact, I am putting those on my "to purchase" list. I would love to have those available for my brides to rent if it fits in with their style.

Julie and I arrived at 8:30 to start decorating the reception. By the time we were done, the room was beautiful. Beth Maxwell with Save the Date provided the chair covers and Scott with Sound and Light creations provided lighting. I believe that the chair covers and the lighting really added a new element to this room. Ingrid also had a beautiful, 3-tier ivory cake with sage green ribbon from Cake Connections. Julie had a lot of fun setting up her candy buffet… which was a huge hit. I heard guests continuously remark about how much they loved this idea. Ingrid's centerpieces were three vases of varying heights on a mirror. Each vase was filled with water and a floating candle. Around the mirror was a thick ring of fresh rose petals. They weren't spread out… but they were bunched together to form a tight ring. I loved it. I really liked the look they gave the table. If you ever want to do something similar, it takes about 1 gallon to cover 3 tables. We also spread the roses between each row of table name tents (used for the assigned seating), around the outer edge of the cake table and head tables, and on the cocktail tables. They were beautiful.

The ceremony and reception went pretty smoothly, however Ingrid and Brandon did have two "gentlemen" who decided to attend the reception without an invitation. Fortunately, one of the bridesmaids notices these two men enter the reception in their white T-shirts, blue jeans, and baseball caps. She immediately asked Ingrid if she knew who they were. When Ingrid realized they were "wedding crashers" she told me and I asked them to leave. They played dumb acting like they didn't realize they were at someone else's reception. I informed security and followed them out. I watched them walk across the parking lot to the Hampton Inn. After this, I had security call the Hampton to ensure they didn't "crash" a wedding there. That was the last we saw of them. Who knows why they came… maybe it was just to check things out or maybe it was to try and get free drinks. They could have also been after the gifts… specifically the cards. This is just a reminder to everyone… that you should always keep your gift table as far away from the entrance/exit doors as possible.

Overall, the ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. I enjoyed working with Ingrid and Brandon. Hopefully now that she might have some more time on her hands again, she will be able to get some more weddings on her own plate for her videographer business. She is EXCELLENT!

If you would like to see some photos of the wedding, Pam Cooley has some posted on her blog. Pam is a very talented photographer who is a lot of fun to work with. You can see some of these photos at http://www.pamcooleyphotos.com/# . (click on 'blog')

Finally, I just want to send out another big Congratulations to Ingrid and Brandon! :)

After the Diamond starts blogging...

2008-08-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

As a wedding coordinator, I thought that blogging would be a great way to tell about my experiences and share wedding etiquette, trends, and tips. Stay tuned! I will update this blog at least once a week with a new entry. If you have something specific that you think can/should be shared, let me know.

I am working on 3 weddings currently. My next wedding is this weekend in Peoria. The bride was actually my videographer in my wedding. She is an amazing videographer... check her out at http://www.whitelilypro.com . The biggest thing she has in common with my October client is that they are both bringing in lighting. I honestly believe this is the next big thing in weddings! I can't wait to see how both wedding receptions turn out. They are going to be beautiful!

I am working with On the Spot Studio to create a new logo. I have been so busy that we haven't made too much progress. Once we get the logo(s) created, I will be able to finish my new website layout. You can check out what is currently there at www.afterthediamond.com. I will post when it is finished! :)

I will be posting again soon with more updates regarding the wedding this weekend! Stay tuned...