MYTH: I Don't Need a Wedding Planner!

           Let's face it, a lot of budget conscious brides and grooms think that winging it will save them a lot of money rather than hiring someone like a Wedding Planner to take care of their big day. Well in most cases this is NOT TRUE! Actually there is a huge chance that you will end up going above and beyond your initial budget with a lot more stress and headaches to deal with.

What we would like to do today is discuss your options. Yes, you have options when it comes to a Planner. The two main options are a Full Event Wedding Planner and a Day Of Wedding Coordinator.

What's a Full Event Wedding Planner?

• A Full Event Wedding Planner is there from the beginning to the end and changes with every bride. No wedding, bride, or groom are the same so each wedding planner must be flexible and innovative to meet their needs. They begin with vendor referrals, tastings, budget creation, month to month timelines, contract bargaining... you get what I'm doing here. They do it all! They even clean up for you after!

What's a Day Of Coordinator?

• Day Of Coordinator isn't really the best way to describe this crazy busy position. It's more like Month Before Planner! They basically play catch up on all things planning. They call all of your vendors and confirm dates, times, quantity, logistics, etc. They direct your rehearsal and show up on your big day with all "just in case" items. They then orchestrate the whole day from the rose petals down the aisle to when the DJ announces your send off.  

What Would Fit My Wedding Best?

I highly recommend that every couple have a professional help them whether it is through the entire planning process or right down to the day. 

Advantages to a Full Event Wedding Planner:

• Stress Free Planning- With a good professional, you should just be able to point and choose and they will make it happen.
• Vendor Referrals- You are a first time (and hopefully one time) buyer with all of your wedding vendors so if you are budget conscious they aren't really willing to work with you on price. Planners refer tons of brides and will have a better chance of persuading vendors on price because of that built relationship.
• Vendor Variety- These Professionals know people in the business and are more likely to have a better take on who is a good investment and who you should pass over. They will help you find the best vendors for the best deals.
• Keep You on Track- If you are trying to stay in a certain budget they will do all they can to keep you there. They are not afraid to set boundaries with you on choices because they have your best interest in mind. Your happiness is the most important part of their job because it leads to recommendations and further use. 

Advantages to a Day Of Coordinator:

• Double Tap, Double Check- Coordinators will make sure all of your decisions are doable and being executed by your vendors and you. If anything is wrong they will have it fixed before you even know, leaving you stress free and ready to get hitched.
• Your Guests Are Guests- In most DIY weddings, guests usually end up lighting the candles, calling the vendors, moving tables, setting up and tearing everything. They don't get to enjoy themselves as you had hoped they would. With a Coordinator, they wont have to worry about anything because the Coordinator will do all of this and more!

Some Things to Consider

      Consider this. A Wedding Planner wants your business whether the full event or just coordinating the day. Don't be put off by the price tag. Be honest when meeting with a planner and discuss your concerns, you may be surprised by how they respond. 

GOOD LUCK, GOOD WEDDING!

Guest Book Alternatives: Written Off The Pages!

Guest books are one of the most important things for a wedding! You always want to know who helped celebrate your special day but just a book can get rather boring and worn out. Here are some unique ideas for guests book that are far from boring!

This is a personal favorite of ours here at Evan Grace! Everyone loves a good game of Jenga so why not remember your wedding day and all who shared it with you AT THE SAME TIME! Each guest signs a Jenga piece! This obviously makes for a cute ring picture too! 

A photo book is becoming more popular with each wedding that we do! Each guest gets into a photo booth and has their picture made and each guest gets a copy and then the other copy goes into a book where you sign beside your picture! These pictures are always a nice touch because you can always tell your guests were having a great time! Our last wedding we did the bride and her mother influenced us to join them in there and the pictures were priceless! 

We have actually done this for a wedding as well! This is a canvas that can be made into a hanging picture after everyone has signed it. This is more of a guest book that could be displayed in your house after all of the wedding festivities are over! 

I actually LOVE this idea! This is a dictionary! What happens is each guest picks a word that they think describes the couple, circles, arrows, or high lights it and then signs there! This could get pretty risky though so be aware of your guests and how they would handle it! 

Puzzle pieces are fun too! This can be really cute if you make the puzzle pieces into an actual picture! You can use one of your engagement pictures and blow it up and make it into a puzzle! 

Finger prints are always a fun guest book especially if you have children involved or invited to the wedding! If you signed with your finger print the couple would know exactly whose print it was! Below are multiple different versions of this book and they are all AWESOME! 

This is just a different version of a photo book! You have to be careful with this one though to make sure you don't miss anyone!!! 

This is a display guest book as well! It's a shadow box! Every guest signs a little wooden heart or whatever shape you choose and drops it in! 

This is a great way to remember everyone that was at your wedding but also to get everyone's birthday's down! I know I have a hard time remembering birthdays so this is a great way to get everyone's at one time! 

The globe is really fun! Your guest could pick out wherever they wanted to sign and hopefully the world would fill up with love! :) 

We hope you choose something AWESOME as your guest book! :) Bring Originality! 

The Peveich Wedding! Photographed by Katy Cook!

Welcome to Belmont Abbey! 

Poppies out of Concord, NC put together this beautiful bouquet! Poppies always does amazing work which is why they are one of our preferred vendors! They really personalized this beautiful bridal bouquet! :)

This was such a good idea to showcase the rings! I love this shot! 

Less is more! This bride kept the aisles free of decorations! Everyone's eyes were on her, just how it should be! 

Exiting the church as a happy newlywed couple! Katy Cook captured this moment perfectly! 

The reception was located at Byron's South End with Best Impressions Catering! It's a beautiful space and with the right decor it turns into something magical and this bride knew exactly what to do! 

White hydrangeas and branches were used for the centerpieces! Everything was kept simple and elegant and it really expanded the space!

Owls were the theme of this wedding so owls were everywhere! If you notice there are owls on each seating card and there are little white owls around the centerpieces! EvanGrace made each seating card and put together the table labels as well! Those cute little love owls on the seating cards were specially designed for the couple by Sweetest Beginnings. Our lovely bride gave every table a different love story couple like Romeo and Juliet, Gatsby and Daisy, and many more!

The bridal parties table was set up a little differently! Small bundles of hydrangeas were used for centerpieces which were also provided by Poppies! This is such a neat way to photograph the table! Katy does some fantastic work!  

A guest book is always a must! Instead of using a book they wanted a canvas! Sweetest Beginnings put this canvas together with a tree and an owl couple sitting on a branch along with Megan and Michael's name and wedding date! This is just a little more personalized than a book! 

Now time for some dancing! This picture speaks for itself. This was a beautiful moment captured during the Father Daughter dance. 

This groomsman and his lady seem to be having a great time! Virtual Sounds brings the party! You are guaranteed your guests will be dancing with these guys!

If dancing wasn't your style corn hole was there too! 

Weddings should be fun! Megan and Michael definitely knew how to throw a great party! We wish the newlyweds a long a happy marriage! Congrats Megan and Michael Peveich! :D

The Chidester Wedding In Pictures by Cassie Leigh Photography!

 Welcome to Brakefield at Riverwalk in Rock Hill, SC! 

This red was the stunning for-front for Ashley's Elegant Theme. We made sure that all of the reds we used at the wedding were about to match Ashley's gorgeous shoes! 

I love this shot! It's so unique! Every girl needs enough hairspray to last the entire day! Cassie Leigh Photography captured this shot beautifully.

Geoff obviously has a love for motorcycles! This is definitely a man's picture! This was also their get away vehicle at the end of the night! How fun!

Here is one of our all time favorites, a Cassie Leigh Classic! Maybe Ashley was peeking out to look at Geoff taking pictures on the motorcycle! Who knows, but this is a beautiful shot! She found that beautiful champagne belt and fingertip length soutache veil at our Bridal Shop!

It's official the rings are on! :) 

Family Fun!

Reception Time! This cake is simple and elegant thanks to Desserts By Dawn! It was a clean cut gorgeous three tier cake which was accompanied by Mickey Mouse shaped rice crispy treats at each seat! Bistro catering provided the delicious food! They had a scrumptious cocktail hour filled with a fruit and coffee bar followed by a fully mouth watering buffet. The Bistro Staff was on point!

Let's Dance! Virtual Sounds provided some great tunes and made it a great party! They got people up and dancing without compromising the elegant and sweet feel of the night!

Sparklers for the send-off! We handed out these picture grabbing sparklers to finish off the celebration! This wedding was beautiful and we wish the best for Ashley and Geoff! :D

Party Fun for Birthday #1!

First birthday's are becoming more and more important and this one was definitely a night to remember! For Dean's first birthday we transformed the backyard into this beautiful dining area! We coordinated with Classic Party Rentals to get the round tables, table linens, and chairs for us! The hydrangeas and vases were done by Poppies which make the blue and green theme really pop off the tables! 

Best Impressions out of Charlotte, NC provided some amazingly delicious food! Anything that you could've thought to have at a party was there! Chicken tenders, grilled cheese sandwiches, BBQ on a biscuit, cucumber and tomato salad, fruit skewers with melted chocolate, hamburger sliders, and homestyle macaroni and cheese! It was truly elegant taste with such simple dishes! 

This cake is obviously for ONLY Dean! This "smash the cake" cake was designed by Desserts by Dawn. In keeping with the blue and green theme, she used different blues and a pastel green to compliment one another! Doesn't this look yummy! Mmmmh Mmh!

Smash It!!!!! 

A candy buffet from Sugar Pops is always a great idea! Featured in this particular buffet was sour belts, gum balls, rock candy, m&ms, and jelly beans! All the candies stayed color coated blue and green as well! The cupcakes and cake pops were done by the amazing Dawn from Desserts by Dawn! 

This is just another shot of the candy buffet! This is a little closer so you can see what it REALLY looks like! So yummy! 

At the end of the night we collected some of the nights fun, but didn't know they would all be kind of intricate and crazy! You haven't seen some of these before! Twisted Dog Productions provided a balloon artist and a face painter! What you see here are an elephant, teddy bear, a turtle, a pegasus unicorn, and a fairy sitting on a mushroom all made of balloons! For some of the children he made cows, monkeys holding bananas, chainsaws, butterflies, ducks, motorcycles, and even a hermit crab! Professor Twist and Myka Angelo are pictured below! 

At the end of the night, the happiness of our client and the party guests were our main concern and we succeeded! Everyone enjoyed themselves and had a nice relaxing evening with family and friends! 

A Wedding Fairytale: Joy+Amber Photography

The Sanders/Tate wedding was a beautiful all white affair. The accented color was purple, so purple flowers were used to really make the color pop off the imprinted white linens covering all the tables with delicate powder purple napkins at each setting. 

This picture is so beautiful! The purple and white flowers surrounding the rings really give off the color theme of this wedding. Poppies Floral Designs did a wonderful job with all the flower arrangements for this wedding! 

For their candy buffet we worked with Sugar Pops out of Mooresville, NC! Using jellybeans, rock candy, gummy bears, and more, they put together a lovely color coordinated candy buffet that was pleasing to every type of candy lover! 

We organized a clean cut escort card table with a specific name card for each guest with just enough flair to match the rest of the decor for the reception. 

Custom monogrammed champagne flutes to toast to the beautiful bride and groom and their fairytale wedding! 

This awesome football jersey cake design was done by Desserts by Dawn! This was a custom designed cake for our professional football player grooms cake! The jersey's have Tate for both names and the wedding date in the numbers! How cute?! The best part was actually the chocolate filling! Yum! 

Flower petals lined the aisle on both sides for our brides grand entrance! 

Wedding Consultant Stephanie helped pin the boutonniere on the father of the groom. We do most of the pinning for the groomsmen and fathers, because if not us who would?! 

All that matters is the moment when the stunningly beautiful bride comes walking down the aisle with her father and brother at her side. It was a breath taking moment and Joy+Amber captured it perfectly!

The bridesmaids were gorgeous in these powder purple dresses! The darker purple petals in their bouquets make the color stand out beautifully! 

The coolest thing about this wedding was the butterfly release! A live butterfly was released by every guest at the end of the ceremony symbolizing Brittney & Brandon's new beginning together! Such a cool and unique way to start their life as husband and wife! 

This particular butterfly took a liking to Brittney! We carefully took this butterfly out of it's package and put it on the bouquet so she could get some really great pictures! This shot is perfect for a wonderful memory of her wedding and the pretty butterflies! 

Joy+Amber used the natural lighting in this room to create a casual elegant setting. This couple is really shown in their element as both look relaxed and poised in front of the camera! 

Virtual Sounds did a wonderful job creating a personalized picture slide show on crisp HD TVs with amazing sound and lighting for the newlyweds entrance! 

The purple up lighting was done by Virtual Sounds which really set the mood for that first dance! These DJs really know how to make your reception a party! They make sure your guests are up and moving by teaching new line dances and sometimes even joining in! 

This beautiful and clean cut designed cake was a great accent and kept the theme of purple and scattered butterflies! 

Let's Make A Toast! 

We must all remember that after all of the planning, flowers, cake, and dancing the best moment at a wedding is when the bride and groom share a genuine heart-felt kiss and express their love to share in each others lives. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Tate!