Bigger and Better….

Well, the time has come - we've moved onto bigger and better website "things".

After years of painstakingly doing the website by myself, I finally made the VERY intelligent decision to hand it over to a professional…and boy, did that decision pay off!

Our new website officially hit the web yesterday and it's glorious!   Part of that new website is a brand new blog - a blog that is now fully integrated into the BDP home site.
New Blog - http://www.beautifuldayplanning.com/News.aspx

So check it out - I promise you won't be disappointed.  Bookmark our new site and we'll see you on the flip side!

~ Jennie ~

Why I'm Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

On this awesome holiday, I wanted to take a second to thank each and every one of you for your support.  You've helped me make my company into more than I EVER thought it would be!  I always expected to do maybe 10-15 weddings in a year, always be solo, and just have a nice small following.  But 2013 marked our best year yet - 31 weddings, 2 events, 2 planners and 4 interns!!  I had NO idea that my company held this kind of potential, but now that I know it does - I'm RUNNING with it!  Let's keep going and make 2014 even BETTER!

Like everyone else, I look forward to this Holiday as a reminder to be thankful for what I have.  So here it is, here's what I have that I am most thankful for…

- My awesome, supportive, loving husband who is always ready to help out (even if it means being my assistant on New Years…) and more than ready to step up and take solo care of our children Every. Single. Summer. Weekend.

- My beautiful, rambunctious, loving daughters.  They keep me on my toes, keep my world in line, and make me want to strive to do better every day.

- Yes, even my two crazy black labs… Let's face it - they were our first "children" and will also hold special places in my heart.

 - Nicole.  Without Nicole, my company wouldn't be what it is today.  She was my first intern, my first side kick, and my first official employee.  She does AMAZING work and I'm hoping to hold onto her for the rest of her life. :)

- Our Interns - all 4 of them did awesome this past year.  They made Nicole and my jobs easier - and kept us company during long setups, long drives, and even longer weddings.

- YOU!  Like I said, our fans and our support system is why we do what we do - and we couldn't be successful without you!

- Coffee.  I don't even need to go into detail on this one - most of you understand (especially if you're a mother).

This list goes on and on and on… but I'm not honestly sure how many of you are actually reading it on Thanksgiving but go back to EATING and thanks for sparing some of your time.  That, and the fact that my "littlest" blessing is now getting up from nap, means it's time to sign off and get some good food myself!

So again, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone - let's make it the best one yet!!

~ jennie ~

Wedding Trends

January 2014 will mark my company's 5th Birthday and the start of our sixth year in business.
Throughout these past few years, I've watched trends emerge, change, gain popularity, loose popularity, and come full circle yet again.  Here's just a sample of a few of these trends…and where I think we're going for 2014!

Trends of Weddings Past:
Chocolate Fountains!
Photo Booths
Wedding dresses that featured accent colors (not just your Grandma's white dress!)
Purple… if you got married in 2011 or 2012, you had like a 75% chance that your wedding colors included Purple.  Bonus points for using shades of purple as your only colors!

Trends of Weddings Present:
Photo Booths
Video Booths (gaining steam…)
Vintage Weddings
Rustic Weddings
MASON JARS!!  Centerpieces, favors, place card holders, hanging with candles, let's see how many crazy uses we can come up with for these things!
Including color into your wedding day style in other ways (example, shoes)

Trends of Weddings Future: (My guess at least)
Photo Booths (I just don't think they're going anywhere)
Continuation of the Rustic Theme
Continuation of the Vintage Theme
Explosion of the use of candles…candles...and MORE candles!!
Strolling Dinners
COLOR!  I see more brides getting away from the muted, "traditional" wedding colors and expanding into new territories!
Non-traditional head pieces…not just your normal veil any longer!


Let's see how "right" I end up being for this coming year!
~ Jennie ~

The "Fall"-ing Trend

Five years ago, when I started Beautiful Day, wedding season was wedding season....May thru August.  After August, things settled down and we go to “relax” a little before it picked back up the following Spring.  I mean, it’s not that we didn’t have ANY weddings, but we weren’t running like chickens with our heads cut off every weekend.  That my friends, has changed.

The past two years or so has seen a drastic shift towards Brides “Falling for Fall”.  I mean, let’s face it, we live in Michigan - you’re going to wonder about your Wedding Day weather no matter what time of year you choose.  More Brides seem to be realizing this and starting to appreciate the colors and beautiful scenery that a Michigan Fall can provide.  Coupled with the latest trends towards Rustic, Cider-Mill themed and colored weddings, and it’s really no surprise that more and more brides are moving into the cooler months.

Now I’m not sharing this trend just as an “FYI” (although it is an FYI, you’re welcome) but also as a heads up.  If you are one of these newer Falling for Fall Brides, get your vendors booked now!!!  Years ago getting married in September / October / November meant you could wait a while to book your vendors and venues and still have a good choice.  Not so much any more.  October of 2014 is currently in the lead as our busiest month next year... yes, that’s right - even more than May...or June..or July.....

Sara & Don, Beautiful Day Planning, October 2013

So, my Falling Brides, get those vendors booked now!!  And while you’re at it, contact Beautiful Day to see how we can help make your Big Day perfect!

Hey, did you see we were featured online again?

Can't remember if I posted this or not, so thought I would again just to be safe. :)

Big thank you to Shannon with Clicking Through Life Photography (www.clickingthroughlife.com) for helping to get us all published!

Nina & Brett's wedding came out AMAZING and I'm so glad we are able to share it with all of you!  Over a year of planning, a lot of man-hours and a wonderful vendor team really pulled it all together!

Check it out!
http://fabyoubliss.com/2013/10/11/purple-and-gray-wedding-historic-meadow-brook-hall/

Day of Saves

Let's face it - even the most well planned weddings & events have things go wrong.  In fact, in 5 years of doing this, I can count on one hand the number of times I haven't had to use the emergency kit during a wedding.

Below are just a sample of some of the issues we've encountered in the past few years.  And guess what - many of the clients didn't even KNOW that these things had happened.  That's right - past clients - one of these incidents could have been YOUR wedding!

Beware of falling centerpieces.

30 Minutes before the reception begin, one of the 6 foot tall floral centerpieces crashed down onto the table, resulting in a whole lot of broken dishes and one gigantic mess!  On closer review, we realized over half the centerpieces were leaning and threatening to take the same tumble.

While on the phone with the florist, we quickly removed all of the other centerpieces so we wouldn’t have more ruined tables.  The venue’s staff quickly replaced the linens, and dishes, while we got the florist to rush back to the site to re-secure every centerpiece.  The evening went off without a hitch.

Who forgot the guest book?

During setup of the reception, we realized that the guest book wasn’t with the other reception items the couple had dropped off at the venue.  We touched based with the Bride’s mother, who confirmed that the book had been left at home.

No problem, quick run to the nearest Hallmark, and we had a whole new guest book ready to go before the guests even arrived!

The heel-eating floor grate.

We’ve got everyone lined up in the church’s entranceway, ready for the procession.  Just as the music begins, the first bridesmaid steps into the floor grate and her heel stuck...and I mean STUCK!

I quickly got onto the ground, took the bridesmaid shoe off, pulled the floor grate out of the floor and had to use all my might to get the two unstuck!  Unfortunately, the tip of her heel came off in the process but a quick dab of crazy glue from the emergency got that fixed and she was on her way down the aisle!

The sunset is beautiful, until it blinds half of your guests.

During dinner the beautiful sunset was shining in the floor to ceiling windows of the reception room.  The only problem with this beautiful site is that half of the guests were being blinded by the light!

One quick discussion with the manager of the hall, and one VERY tall waiter later, and guests were back to being able to see what they were eating.

Because the slideshow doesn’t work without the AV chord.

The Bride & Groom had prepared a wonderful photo slide-show to be played during their cocktail hour.  We had everything we needed - except they forgot the AV chord.

We were able to run back to the main hall, find the band and get a hold of the required chord.  When the guests and couple arrived, the slideshow was going playing away.

Monograms include your new last name, not your old one.

This couple had a photo booth that came with bookmarks with their new monogram on them.  However, it wasn’t the new monogram - it was the bride’s maiden name!

We got on the phone with the company, had all new bookmarks printed and spent a few rushed moments cutting them all and replacing the old monogram with the new one!

You mean the flower girls can’t drop petals?

Right before leaving for the ceremony, the couple found out that their church would not allow their flower girls to drop petals while walking down the aisle.  They were prepared to just have their flower girls walk down with empty baskets.

We ran to the local florist, got some matching flowers and using the emergency kit, created a beautiful and simple hand-tied bouquet for each of the little ladies.  After all, they couldn’t be without flowers as well!

Would you have the tools to hide that bodice?

Before the reception, one of the bridesmaids ruined the front of her dress; stained it beyond repair.

Some scissors, a needle and thread, and quick sewing and we created a draping out of her shawl that totally hid the ruined portion of the dress - while looking like it belonged there.

Save yourself the stress and headaches and ENJOY your wedding day!  Hire a Beautiful Day Coordinator today!!

Re-brand Update

If you're a fan of the BDP Facebook Page then you already know that we are currently working on a whole new Beautiful Day look, a whole re-brand of the company!

Although I love my current logo and marketing materials, I feel like the business has grown out of them.  We've become larger, more productive, and have increased 200% over the past two years.  I'd like to keep that trend going and in order to do that, I thought it was time to get an updated, more professional look for the business.

Currently, our new logo is DONE (No, I'm not going to show you yet, but if you check out that FB page above, you can at least see a sneak peak) - our business card designs are due this week and our new web designers have been kicked off on creating the first professional BDP website (to date I've always done it myself).  I am SO excited for these improvements have no doubt it will help us better serve our current clients, and help us attract even more business in the near future!

You're going to begin seeing the re-brand transition in the next month or so - as soon as the new website is live, we'll share it with all of you!  I hope you like what you see - a cleaner, more modern look for BDP!

One of the BEST...again!

I'm very proud to announce that Beautiful Day has won 2nd place in the 2013 Click on Detroit 4 The Best Competition!  This is quite an honor and something we were SO excited to find out!

2013 has been a great year for us, adding all of the following awards to our list of achievements!
Winner, Detroit A-List's Best Wedding Planner
Runner Up, Click on Detroit 4 The Best, Best Wedding Planner
Wedding Wire Bride's Choice Awards (Top 5% of ratings Nation-wide!)

I also want to take a second to congratulate the following vendors for their placements in the 4 The Best Competition!  We are lucky to have such wonderful companies as part of our preferred vendor list!
Inviting Friendz, 3rd Place for Invitations
Dream Limo, 1st Place for Transportation
MeadowBrook Hall, 1st Place for Venues
Zara Creative, 5th Place for Videographers
516 Cinema, 3rd Place for Videographers

And a HUGE Congrats to Mike Staff Productions who won ALL of the following:
1st Place, DJs
1st Place, Videographers
1st Place, Photographers

Thanks for all of your support!

A night on a Detroit rooftop

Margie & Alec have a love of Detroit.  This is one of the main reasons why they chose to host their wedding on the top of the Madison Building downtown.  The venue was astounding!  A beautiful, older building that had been modernized and provided stunning rooftop views of a lot of the city.  The event was casual and comfortable and centered around their guests having a wonderful time...and having wonderful food!

Even better, there was a Tigers game the night of the wedding, meaning the newlyweds and their guests were treated to a professional, Olympic-sized portion of Fireworks!  Not a bad way to end your wedding reception!

The groom, a Chef, and his new bride were very focused on their guests having a wonderful time.  And this, of course, meant having wonderful food!  The very talented 2 Unique Events catered the event, doing various Detroit-theme stations for the guests to enjoy.  The food was amazing, the presentation unique, and everyone really enjoyed this style of a strolling dinner.

This couple is a great reminder to all couples that it's your wedding - you should have it your way!  There were no assigned seats - no tables and chairs at all in fact - the dinner was strolling, the food continued throughout the evening and there was very little pressure to remain on a time schedule.  The couple was relaxed and, I think, truly enjoyed their wedding day!  We couldn't have asked for more!

 

 




Thanks to these WONDERFUL vendors for helping make the day perfect:
Denise Hohf & Staff, The Madison Building
2 Unique Events
Ready Life Photography
DJ Lauren Hood
Detroit Bus Company

The funniest thing I've seen happen at a wedding

Last Friday I was thrilled to be involved in coordinating the wedding reception of Jen & Joey.  The couple is from New York but wanted to hold their wedding near their families in the Metro-Detroit area.

The reception was held at the Palazzo Grande in Shelby Township and had some stunning details.  From the amazing watermelon carvings supplied by the venue, to the couple's favorite Polish beer, the guests were treated to a night to remember.  Jen's polish heritage shown through with a Polish tradition of a bread ceremony during their entrance and the very talented Polish band, Rytm.

And that band is actually the inspiration for this blog post - the funniest thing I've ever seen done at a wedding.  After the garter and bouquet toss was done, Michal (the main MC of the band), asked for 8 volunteers for a dance-off.  Of course the majority of the volunteers were groomsmen, but they were all good sports - especially when the paper bags came out.  That's right, this "dance-off" had a twist - each of the dancers would have a paper bag over their head so they couldn't see what the other dancers were doing.  The bride and groom would then walk around and tap out dancers, leaving one that would be titled as the best dancer of the group.  The premise sounded entertaining but really kicked up a notch when the band started to play Footloose from their speakers.  Of course all of the dancers went crazy and were bringing out some really interesting moves.  It was really entertaining but only got better when they got down to one dancer left.  See, the poor groomsmen couldn't see so he had no idea that he was the last man standing... so to egg him on Michal was telling him that they were down to two people that they had to break out their best moves to win... so the groomsmen just starts going more and more crazy.  This carried out for a good 30 seconds, when the bag was finally removed and the groomsman realized that he had been busting a move all alone for quite a while.  Let me tell you, I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard and I didn't even know the guests or people involved in this classic dance off!  Well played Rytm, I like it!

Thanks to these wonderful vendors -
Palazzo Grande
Rytm Band
Meg Vancamp, Photographer
Wafaa, Florist

A Weekend of Weddings

This weekend marked a first for us - the first time Beautiful Day had a wedding Friday, Saturday AND Sunday!  It was a great weekend, and Nicole and I were so honored to be involved in all of our couple's Big Days!

Each will have their own blog post, but here's a little preview of our three amazing, three very different weddings from this weekend!  Blog posts coming soon about The Polish Wedding, The Arabic Wedding & The Jewish Farm Wedding.

Friday ~ Mr. & Mrs. Teague
Congratulations to Joey & Jen, who celebrated their union with a wonderful reception at the Palazzo Grande.  It was a fun-filled, wonderful affair that included one of the best Polish bands I've ever heard!

Saturday ~ Mr. & Mrs. Abdelmomen
Congratulations to Monica & Ahmed!  This wonderful couple was married at the Muslim Unity Center and had an amazing reception at the Byblos Banquet Center in Dearborn.  Let's just say this couple is adorable, their guests were SO excited to celebrate and I had the best humus I've ever had in my entire life!

Sunday ~ Mr. & Mrs. Wall
Congratulations to Rachel & Logan, who celebrated their Jewish ceremony & reception at the beautiful Cobblestone Farm in Ann Arbor.  Their guests were treated to some amazing scenery and details for this wonderful Sunday afternoon affair!

Wedding in the Woods

This past weekend I had immense honor of being able to help coordinate the wedding of Jenny & Steve.  The couple, New York residents, planned the wedding from the Big Apple to be held at Jenny's Mother's house in Bloomfield Hills.   They knew that coordinating a wedding at a private residence would take some work - especially with a lot of DIY projects and the Mother of the Bride doing all of the flowers.  I was so happy to be able to help bring their dream to life.  Jenny, Steve & Elaine (Jenny's mom) did such an amazing job on the wedding and I was so excited to share photos of some of the details on our Blog.  So here they are, enjoy the Woods-land Themed Wedding in the Woods...

When Cali comes to Michigan

When California's own Monica & Rob initially Skyped with me back in August of 2012, I was taken immediately with their creativity and resourcefulness.  Monica does graphic design and besides working for Google, Rob dabbles as a blacksmith!  This, my friends, is a recipe for a great wedding!

We worked on these nuptials for the better part of a year and all that hard work paid off!!  The baroque-inspired florals (from Kevin Miller of Twigs & Branches...of course) were an AMAZING focal point in the Raisin River Room of Weller's Carriage House in Saline and all of the little details came together SO well.  It took me about 2 months and no less than 20 bakers to find someone capable of creating the bride's tiered Swedish Princess Cake and countless other hours and phone calls figuring out a way to hang twinkle lights over the dance floor in a venue that won't allow anything to be fixed to walls, ceilings or floors (including chords).  But I have to admit, the details made this wedding - almost as much as the couple's DIY projects - from their very own working letter press, to the hand-fordged wedding rings (remember, Rob's a blacksmith),  to their completely creative wedding website and Monica-created invitations!  I can't wait to see the professional photos... but, like always on these recent-wedding posts, my iPhone photos will have to do...for now. 

East Grounds, Weller's Carriage House

Path down to the ceremony space

Swedish Princess Cake care of Trifles

Bride's Bouquet

Weller's Raisin River Room

Thank you to the following vendors for making my client's day SO perfect!
Florals - Twigs and Branches Floral
Cake - Trifles
Venue - Weller's Carriage House, Raisin River Room & East Grounds
DJ - Elite Entertainment
Photography - A Girl In Love
Videographer - Elite Entertainment

Kelli & Brian's Rustic Chic Wedding 7/6/13

Last weekend I got to travel to Port Sanilac and Deckerville to help coordinate the beautiful rustic-chic wedding of Kelli & Brian.  The bride, an event planner, did a TON of DIY projects and turned out a beautiful, unique event!

The venue was amazing - Inner Circle Estates of Deckerville.  The Estate is comprised of a beautiful house, amazing grounds and more "interest" areas than you could ever image!  Guests began with cocktails near the pool and peacock (yes, I said peacock) and could walk around the house and over to the barn to see the other animals.  Dancing was setup near the outdoor patio and stone church and dinner was served on the lawn under a beautifully constructed wedding frame tent.  Guests could also enjoy tours of gardens, a dip in the pool (yes, a guest went in the pool in their dress clothes), or cigars on the brick patio overlooking the trees.  I have to thank the entire staff of Inner Circle, especially Denise, for their hard work and dedication - they were amazing to work with and I hope I get the chance to be there again!

And although I don't have any professional photos to share, yet, I still want to highlight the photographer that Kelli found for her Big Day.  I had never worked with Glass Jar Photography before but was immediately blown away by the work that is highlighted on their website.  They have a very unique feel to their photographs and they fit Kelli & Brian and their wedding perfectly.  They are a husband-wife team based down South that love to travel so much that they do almost all of their weddings "on the road" each year.  You'd think this would be expensive, but even after travel to Michigan, their packages are comparable to most middle-range photographers based out of Metro-Detroit.  Check them out and I look forward to sharing some of their photos of this wedding in the near future!

Escort Cards - Each guest had an individualized slip of paper with their name

Cocktails

Guest "Book"

Vintage Photo Booth 

Thank you to the vendors!

Inner Circle Estates, Deckerville

Glass Jar Photography

DJ Kurt Lewis

Faulkner's Catering

Crown Party Rental

Great Bakes Cakes

A librarian, the biker maker and 88,000 square feet..without the tent.

Back in May, 2012 I was fortunate enough to meet with a wonderful couple - Nina and Brett - and Nina's parents, Colleen and Alakh.  I was so happy when they decided to use Beautiful Day to help plan their June 2013 nuptials and we got right to work!  Throughout the following 13 months, we amassed a rock-star team of vendors to help create the perfect personalized wedding day.  One of the goals of the wedding was to find unique ways to incorporate the couples occupations and passions - Nina's job as a children's librarian, and Brett's hobby of building bikes.  I was THRILLED with the outcome and am so excited to share the details of their Big Day with you!  The location and details were so impressive that I think my blog post would be more justified with fewer words - and more photos... so please enjoy my post and another to come when I receive the professional photos!

The back of the amazing Meadow Brook Estate

As usual, I have to thank my AMAZING vendor team that made this all possible - you all stunned me, the families, and the couple with your creativity, professionalism and absolute dedication to your work.  We couldn't have done any of this without you, so THANK YOU a hundred times over!

Meadow Brook Hall

Twigs & Branches Floral

Clicking Through Life

Mike Staff Productions, DJ and Videography

Cakes Our Specialty

A Simple Ceremony, Officiant

Luxe Event Linens

Colonial Events, Lighting

Aristocat Transportation

Shutter Booth

Beautiful Day Planning, LLC

Detroit's BEST...Again!

I am so excited to announce that I just found out that Beautiful Day Planning has been named the 2013 Best Wedding Planner by the Detroit A-List Competition!

This is the second year in a row we have won this prestigious award and Nicole & I couldn't be more excited!!

Next up is the Click on Detroit 4 The Best Competition.  Look for poles to open soon!

I also want to say CONGRATULATIONS to some of our preferred vendors who also placed in the Detroit A-List Top 5!

Twigs & Branches Floral, 2nd Place - Flowers

Clicking Through Life, 5th Place - Photographers

Mike Staff Productions, 1st Place - DJ

Laura Amadeo Sugar Artist, 1st Place - Cake

Dream Limo, 1st Place - Transportation

Wilson Luxury Limo, 2nd Place - Transportation

Aristocat, 5th Place - Transportation

Inviting Friendz, 5th Place - Invitations

Shutterbooth, 2nd Place - Rentals

Meadow Brook Hall, 1st Place - Venues

Colony Club, 3rd Place - Venues

Villa Penna, 5th Place - Venues

Zara Creative, 2nd Place - Videographers

Mike Staff Productions, 4th Place - Videographers

Ready....Set.... GO!

I realize I've been bad about blogging lately and I apologize.  I could give all kinds of reasons why but hey, it really just comes down to one - I've just been insanely Busy (yes, with a capital B!).

However I am thrilled to announce that Nicole & I are up to 23, 2013 Weddings & Events, the vast majority of which are going to occur in the next 4 months.

So here's the good news... We are blogging those weddings so you'd had better get ready because the BDP Blog will be blowing up your news feed soon!

Ready?
Set?
GO!

Wedding Tips

So you're planning a wedding and you think you've got everything covered.  Chances are good that you do have everything you need and that you are ready!  However as a wedding planner I can offer a few tips to make your final prep work easier, the wedding more memorable and take some post-wedding stress off of your shoulders.  After all...that is my job.

Pre Wedding Prep 
Sticky Note Seating Chart
So you've got your RSVPs and now all you have to do is plop people down at tables, right?  So you pull out your layout and your pen and start writing people down; only to realize that those two people can't sit together and now there's one too many at that table, and one too few at this other table and you need a place for two people together but you only have one setting left.  Soon your nice neat layout looks like a football play diagram for the Super Bowl...yikes!
Reality is your seating chart will change again and again...and again!  So let's do something a little less permanent.  First start by writing all of your guests names on a sticky note.  Then get a poster board or a bunch of sheets of regular lined paper and write down table numbers.  Now you can place each guests name at a "table" with the freedom to move them over and over again.  You can adjust tables easily, move multiple people around and get a good visual of who your tables will include!  Plus side to this as well is that you can write down names as the RSVPs come in and be continually working on the seating chart, saving yourself that last week headache!

 


During The Big Day
You've Got It Covered...Right?
You've prepped, you've made lists and you've got every last detail figured out, right?  LIke most brides, you may have everything done ahead of time but once you start listing out everything that needs to be done the day of the wedding, you start to realize that you need about 10 more hands and arms than you've got...and if you can figure out how to make yourself be two places at one time, that would be very helpful.  So who's going to bring the programs to the church?  And you HAVE to make sure the license gets there...and home in one piece.  And the rings.... And the Hall just told you they won't setup your intricate favors like you thought they would, so some has to go ahead to the hall and do that.   Like most brides, you're going thru that last minute "Um... who does all this stuff?!" feeling.  I've got good news - you can pay a small fee to hire a day-of coordinator who will take care of ALL OF IT!  It'll free your family and friends and will be the best money you spend on the wedding!
The biggest complement I get is when I receive a call or a visit from a wedding guest and soon to be bride right after one of our weddings.  To hear her tell me..."wow, I didn't know I needed you until I saw everything you did" is music to my ears.  Because yes, you don't know everything there is to do until you're at the end of your rope!  So for a small fee ($450-$600 is a drop in the overall bucket of a typical wedding budget) you can have piece of mind and actually ENJOY your day!  Sounds worth it to me...

I paid for those!!
The day has gone wonderfully, everything was beautiful and you've enjoyed yourself totally and stress-free (because you hired that day-of planner, didn't you?!).  You look around the almost empty hall near the end of your night and one thought hits you... wait a second, I spent thousands of dollars on these flowers and they're just going to throw them out?!  That's right... I hate to tell you this but all of those wonderful flowers are usually tossed as soon as you walk out the door.  You paid for them, right?  So why not enjoy them and let your guests do the same?!  Give them something to remember - send them home with flowers!
Ahead of time ask your florist to make sure your flowers are created in such a way that they can be taken home.  So even if they're in a nice rented bowl, the florist can create the actual arrangement inside a plastic container that can be taken home with guests.  So as people walk out the door, have them take the flowers home to enjoy them (but leave the rented vases or bowls, please!).
You'll be amazed to see how beautifully they will look in other people's house and it will give them wonderful, fresh flowers for days after the wedding is over!

After The Wedding
The Dreaded Thank You Note....
You and your new husband or wife have had the time of your lives and now you've sat down in your new place and opened all of those gifts and cards and are blown away by your guests generosity.  Before you start planning what to do with your new-found riches, you realize with disdain that you have to write a whole lot of thank you notes....
Let's face it, something like 99% of people don't really enjoy having to sit down a write 100+ thank you notes.  Your hand cramps, it takes up a lot of time and you think you've gone cross eyed by the end of it all.  And etiquette says you only have 3 months to get them all done (Not a year like some myths say!!).
So tip #1 - set a daily goal.  Tell yourself you will write 5 notes per day.  It wont' be overwhelming, they won't blur together and you'll be surprised just how quickly you will get them done.
Tip #2 - you know who's coming to the wedding and chance good that they're bringing a gift.  While I would stop short of telling you to pre-write the actual thank you (because yes, that is tacky), why not get all of those envelopes out of the way?!  There's no reason you can't have those done ahead of time -then you can just write the note, slip it in and it's ready to go!
Just remember - try to send all the notes out at once - not as you get them done.  You want all guests to receive them at the same time so just make a pile and let it accumulate until you're finished.  (Another reason to get them done in a timely manner because who wants to look at that sitting on their counter for a year?!)

Hope these tips help you on your way!
Jennie :)