{the blog of Special Moments}
I was reading thru some of my favorite wedding magazines and ran across this great idea that a planner in La ( Lisa Vorce ) had done for a nautical theme……I wanted to share with the blog readers out there…… I have a great idea on a twist on this we can do at a Fabulous location……..
Anybody Interested ????????
We have decided to update the format of our blog…. There are so many great design blogs out there to give you inspiration and planning advice……
We are converting the Blog to a Monday thru Friday Blog… Each Day of the week will have a topic/theme and it is designed to have you the viewers be able to post things related to that day of the week…….
Friday will be fondly known as Featured Friday from now on…….
We figured one day had to show off our work…. Featured Friday is for us to “brag” about all the cool events we do…… The things featured can range from a certain aspect of the event to the entire event itself… If you like what you see, remember, we are only a phone call away….
Our first Featured Friday is Amy and Mike’s Wedding…..
Amy and Mike were married at Isla Del Sol Yacht and Country Club.. in December….. Beachside Wedding with the reception in their Ballroom with a fabulous water view for all guests to enjoy…… One of the elements of this wedding that stands out was the fabulous pink lighting used for the reception…. The other key element is the rose petal send-off at the end of the evening……..
Below is the little white book of vendors:
Photographer: Britt Mcallister
Videographer: Hearts Video
Minister: Rev. Virginia Bishop
Location: Isla del Sol Yacht Club
Florist: Izas Flowers
Ceremony Music: Amanda – The Pink Fiddle
Reception Music & Lighting- Josh- Inspire Entertainment
Ceiling Treatment- Concept Bait
Cake- Cakes by Carolynn
Linens: Connie Duglin Linens
Hair and Make-up- Michelle Renee Group
Here are a few of our favorite photos below:
All We can say ….. What a year for Memories in 2009…
Weddings, Grand Opening, Birthday Parties, Anniversary Parties, After Parties, Reunions, Conferences, Tv Appearances and Interns………
Enjoy Watching it as much as we did experiencing it!
Special Moments offers a planning package ( Treasured Moment) that includes complimentary use of all of our Decor Inventory. We are featuring the New White Benches in this blog post for you to get many ideas of what you can do with the New White Benches for your next event. This is a great plus if you are planning a Beach wedding… These benches each hold between 4 or 5 guests per bench…. Beautiful ,clean and a truly “Out Of the Box” way to have a wedding that people will talk about….. The Big Bonus is that you get to Use all 8 of the benches for FREE!!! if you choose the Treasured Moment Package for your Wedding Planning Needs… ( $ 250.00 ++++ Savings)
The photos below were supplied to us by Britt McAllister Photography and Rev. Virgina Bishop from Loving Unity…. Enjoy!!!!
What are your thoughts of the White benches?
David Tutera is one of our favorite wedding planners of all times…
Here is a great video we thought we would share with you on Using the Internet for shopping for wedding items…..You can see more of David Tutera tips at www.wetv.com
Click on the link below to be taken to the Video…
Tutera’s Tips: Using the Internet – Tips – WE tv Videos – WEtv.com.
Hilary and Johnny were married on the beach at the Don Cesar on June 14th, 2009. This location was chosen for their Destination wedding location because of the beautiful beach and many amenities that the resort has to offer for all of the guests. Hilary wanted to choose some traditional elements to be part of her wedding, where Johnny wanted it to not have the typical look. We decided on the Natural wood chairs from Coast to Coast Event Rentals to help with traditional but not, along with a burlap runner decorated with seashells and orchids. Then we came up with burlap bows with raffia accents to bring the natural but traditional look together. The father of the groom played the keyboard for the ceremony music and the Grandmother of the Groom sang a solo for the Sand Ceremony portion of the service. After the ceremony the guests enjoyed cocktails and appetizers on the Terrace while the Bride and Groom walked along the beach with the photographer to capture the Sunset pictures that brought them to Florida in the first place. After photos and introduction of the Bride and Groom , the guests enjoyed a dinner buffet and then started dancing the night away after the First Dance and Cake cutting. Thank you Hilary and Johnny for letting us be a part of your Sunny Destination Wedding in Florida.
The white book of vendors:
Location: Don Cesar
Photographer: Britt McAllister
Ceremony chairs- Coast to Coast Event rentals
Ceremony Decor/Arch- Special Moments
Bouquets: Flowers by Voytek
Cake: Cakes by Carolynn
Dj- Brian Berry- Frank Lebano & Company
Reception centerpieces: Special Moments
Below is a few of the professional photos from Britt McAllister for you to enjoy:
Nichole and Brandon came to us in May of 2008 and wanted an ” Out of the Box” Beach Wedding. Brandon did not want the arch, white chairs tiki torches, blah, blah, blah…. He was looking for unique and cool.. Nichole was looking for help, since they live in the Gainesville Area with creating a casual cocktail party reception at the St.Petersburg Yacht Club.
We accepted the challenge and started brainstorming on ways to make this all happen. We had 2 different ideas to submit to Nichole and Brandon for the beach wedding set-up. The 2 inspiration pictures are featured below:
After narrowing down the beach wedding set-up and finalizing that… We set out to start tackling the job of making the Yacht club ballroom a casual tropical cocktail party… FYI they did have a limited budget also…. We decided instead of having large round tables and chair covers and bows… we would bring in Bamboo chairs to give the tropical casual feel instead of the formal look that the chair covers and bows would bring. Plus large round tables encourage all of the guest to sit and wait for dinner… We then decided to do High top cocktail tables and some small round bistro tables.. We did have a few large round tables for the older guests and family that just did not understand the concept of mingling….. We did 3 different styles of centerpieces that all had a tropical feel and plenty of color, since Nichole had chosen Sunset colors for the wedding. We finalized the details with adding a Steel Drummer that was playing as they arrived for the cocktail party along with a polaroid photo booth station with tropical props for the guests to dress up and take pictures at their convenience.. The wedding and reception was a total success and we have developed a life long relationship with this wonderful couple and Mom also…
White book below of all of the amazing vendors that participated.
Photographer: Britt McAllister
Steel Drummer- Kenny- Calypso Sound
Dj- Chuck Weirich- TampaBayDj
Flowers: Delmas Flower Booth
Ceremony Location - Sunset Beach
Rental Chairs for Ceremony & Reception: Coast to Coast Event Rentals
Transportation: Tampa Metro Cars- Andy
Reception: St. Petersburg Yacht Club- Shannon
Cake: St. Petersburg Yacht Club
The professional pictures below were compliments of Britt McAllister……..
Below is the testimonial from Nichole’s Mother about our services at Special Moments:
Tammy Waterman with Special Moments and all of her staff made that one moment in my daughter’s life beyond special. She kept things flowing comfortably from the begininng to the end and even after. Her suggestions of vendors were awesome and she made sure my daughter stayed right on budget, right on time, and very relaxed throughout the whole year. I hope to use her and her staff again for my next daughter.
So, you have the weight of the wedding world on your shoulders, not to mention the expectations of family and friends, and best of all, the in-laws. One more delay in gown alterations, one more meeting with the caterer, one more critique of the wedding invitation, one more late vendor appointment. What is a bride (or groom) to do?
STOP and take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay.
The first thing you MUST realize about your perfect day is that no matter how much you have to do, or force others to do for you, there are some things that you just can not control. Maybe the flowers from South America are not growing as beautifully as usual from certain pesticides. Maybe the company that your baker gets its fondant from is running low on its special sugar. There are so many things that you can not make happen or keep from happening. But there is hope! Realizing this important bit of information can help you prepare yourself to roll with the punches. Take things as they come and then think of your options, which is the second thing you should do to keep calm in those stressful wedding situations.
That is right! You do have options. Believe it or not, your wedding day vision can be carried out a number of different ways. Perhaps your rental company is out of ivory cloth napkins, the ones you had your heart set on, but they do have more then enough cream napkins. Try them out and see what the cream looks like on the place settings before flipping out and threatening to rip up your contract. Maybe the place you had always dreamt of having your reception is already booked on the date you want to get married (which is much too important to change). Take the opportunity to look around and see what the area venues have to offer. You might just find a place you like much better, or has more to offer. The best part in all of this? No one will know (unless you complain to them) that you have to go to plan B or switch to choice C. Your guests will only see the final product, not all the little bumps in the road along the way.
Another thing you should pay special attention to is your organization. I find that what scares a lot of couples is that they feel like they are forgetting something or they are worried because 
they think things will not be finished in time. Staying on top of your organizational game will help you to relax and reassure you that you have got a good grip on things. How do you stay organized? Let me count the ways! Surly you have some sort of wedding planning checklist. Create a special calendar with your tasks on it and write when they are due by. Then take yourself seriously. Do not think to yourself, Oh, the invitations can wait another week. If you need to have your invites ordered by the 7th of June, then make sure they are ordered by the 7th of June! Or if you already have a planner/organizer that contains your entire life (like me) get a special pen (try picking one that is one of the colors you are using in your wedding) and write in all the tasks with that pen. That way you can easily see wedding-related tasks and have less of a chance of skipping over them. In the end, do whatever you need to stay organized. We all have our different ways, do what works best for you!
Although there are other things you can do to help stay calm and relaxed during the planning 
process, here is the last one we will talk about today. Do not forget the reason all of this planning and excitement is taking place! You are getting married to the love of your life, the person you will spend the rest of your life with! That should not stress you out at all. If you are feeling weighed down by wedding things, take a day or two off to just relax with your future spouse. No wedding planning. No post-wedding plans. No work. Nothing stressful. Do something the two of you enjoy together and just let yourselves rest. The time together should help you stay attached and remember the reasons why you are getting married.
Bottom line? Hire a wedding planner. Okay, okay, so I have a biased opinion, but lets be honest. Planning a wedding can (and should!) be fun. If you are feeling stressed or just do not know what to do, hiring a planner might just be the thing for you. A good planner should be able and willing to do just about anything wedding-related for you. Of course, there is a cost involved, but it is well worth it for piece of mind.
It’s good to give thanks. In wedding world, it’s especially good to give thanks in the form of a thank you note. What you should not do:
Send out mass thank you notes looking something like this:
“Thanks for coming to our wedding and for your generous gift. Love, Sally & Ed”
The only thing worse is not sending one at all (although if you send something like this, you’re not really accomplishing much).
Wait a year to send them out. People will wonder if you ever actually got the gift or if you got them and are just a particularly rude or forgetful couple. Your best bet is to get them out of the way as soon as possible! You can do it!
Think a verbal thank you is enough. For some people, saying thanks verbally is more than enough. But still, it is a nice gesture to send it in writing. It shows that you put some thought into it and took a little time to put it on paper.
With the should-nots out of the way, here are a few tips to make your TY note writing go a bit more smoothly.
1. Address the individual(s) the note is to
2. Say THANK YOU!
3. Mention the specific gift
4. Say why you love/like it and what you’ll use it for
5. Add any additional note or thanks you’d like to include
6. Close and sign your names
An example:
(1)Dear Hannah and Ryan,
(2)Thank you so much for the (3) Vera Wang wine glasses! We were so excited to receive them – we can’t wait to (4) use them at our first dinner party.
(5)Thank you also for coming from Chicago to share our special day with us. It was so great to see you again. We hope you had a wonderful time!
(6)Best wishes,
Katie and Connor
Above are some of our favorite Thank you cards for beach weddings. You can view these at www.mypersonalartist.com
Traditionally, wedding cake toppers were just little bride and groom figurines that didn’t have much 
personality. Some of them were made of cheap plastic which just didn’t look very good on the tops of gorgeously decorated wedding cakes. The good news is that you can now buy wedding cake toppers in hundreds of styles, particularly if you shop around on the Internet.
For example, if you are having a traditional wedding, you’ll want to pick a cake topper that is also very traditional, although you might want to avoid plastic figurines and opt for nicer ceramic ones.
You could also opt for something sophisticated.
You can purchase letters made of Swarovski crystals. 
They can be used as monograms or to spell out a word, such as “Love” on the top of the cake. However, these toppers can be pricey at around $100 per character.
different types of flowers, you can choose to create wedding toppers that are real or silk flowers 
matching your theme. Lovely silk roses or tulips can look beautiful on an intricately decorated cake, particularly one decorated with sugar flowers. One advantage of choosing silk flowers over real ones is that you’ll be able to keep your wedding topper as a keepsake.
of appropriate toppers, including castles, horse drawn carriages, or unicorns. On the 
other hand, if you’re having a more gothic-themed wedding, you can find cake toppers that look like crows, scary houses, gravestones, vampire couples, coffins, and bats. These dark-colored toppers can look amazing on a cake covered in dark red icing with black icing for the trimming.
Some couples prefer that their cake topper be more of a reflection of their personality than their wedding theme so they might want a more whimsical topper. For example, you can find a topper with 
a groom trying to escape from his bride. While not all couples will find such a topper funny, this might be a good choice for brides and grooms who can find humor even in the stress of their wedding planning.
Another option is a truly personalized cake topper. Today, you can have photographs of yourselves placed on hearts or other designs which are then used to top your wedding cake. Not only is your topper completely unique to your wedding but it will make a priceless keepsake of your special day. For the photographs, you might choose your engagement photo or another special picture of the two of you taken specifically for the topper.
