Published in High Country Wedding Guide, Winter 2009
It’s the most romantic day of your life, a day when all the stars align and time stands still. So why not savor this moment in on e of the most beautiful places on earth? There are so many reasons why a bride should select the High Country for her perfect day. Whether on a mountain with a sweeping vista backdrop or a quaint country inn, the High Country provides year-round scenery and a variety of mountain settings to choose from. The climate here is pleasant most of the year, with spring-like temperatures throughout much of the summer months. The local people are a warm, friendly and hospitable a group of folks as you will ever find.
Over the past couple of decades the High Country has grown in reputation and distinction as a premier destination wedding location. Home to Appalachian State University, alumni brides return here to carry out their dream wedding day in a place where so many other lifetime memories were made. Summer residents bring family and friends to the High Country for their son’s or daughter’s most special day. Once their guests have had the experience of coming to a wedding in the mountains, they don’t forget.
Part of the credit for our area’s great reputation goes to the professionals who pay attention to each detail. The High Country wedding vendors are top-notch pros whose years of experience and artistic styling make each wedding a unique experience. Award winning photographers, top of the line floral designers, and accomplished wedding planners have helped to orchestrate a wide range of wedding themes as diverse as a Wizard of Oz themed wedding on top of Beech Mountain to a gala event at the White House. Adding to the list of vendors who make for a storybook romantic wedding day are the musicians creating a pure, clean sound from a mountain dulcimer or a Celtic harp, or a classically-trained string trio playing “Claire de lune” before your anticipated entrance down the aisle to the spiritual resonating sound of a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace while escorting your guests away from your outdoor ceremony site. These are the nuances that help to make your wedding a special and memorable event.
The setting of your wedding event can vary greatly. The High Country resorts and inns are staffed with experts in the wedding industry that know all the ins and outs, ups and downs of wedding fare. Staff event coordinators work with couples in the planning of every detail of their day, from accommodations for family and friends to a stay for a night or a week. Entertaining out-of-town guests when in our area is a breeze. The choices abound for golf, hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway, kayaking-canoeing-tubing down the Watauga and New Rivers, visiting the many area attractions such as Tweetsie Railroad, Mystery Hill, Gem Mining, and the Blowing Rock, keeps kids of all ages entertained. Shoppes on the Parkway features top designers and brand name store outlets. The boutique shops in Blowing Rock, Boone and Banner Elk offer one of kind merchandise. Time and again brides with their gal-pals and also the guys can enjoy venturing out shopping or enjoying a game of golf or a hiking, bike riding, or white-water rafting.
For catered wedding events the vendors in our area will bring you the best of the best whether it is organic vegan options to your favorite country-cooking classics. For a more elegant gourmet cuisine, you will find the choices are plentiful and the caterer’s anxious to please their client’s discerning tastes.
Sculptured wedding cakes, groom’s cakes, floral draped cakes, and cup cakes make a statement and a great photo op when cutting the cake. The artisan cake bakers here in the High Country will surprise you with their skilled and tasty wedding master pieces.
As stated earlier the High Country area has grown over the past couple of decades as a premier destination wedding spot. Each bride-to-be has her own unique style, taste, vision and heartbeat to bring to her wedding. Weddings are like fingerprints, no two are alike. All the vendors, innkeepers, and specialized wedding consultants keep this in mind, and as frequent as weddings are up here, every about-to-be married couple is treated as uniquely special. As you travel the highways of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway itself, or the back roads, the High Country can provide as many options as your heart can dream of for your wedding day.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Five Points For The Day Before Your Wedding Day
Published in High Country Wedding Guide, Winter 2009
The most important day of your life is tomorrow and you are either excited and confident, or frayed and frazzled. How well are you prepared to handle crunch time?
Organization
Whether you choose to hire a wedding planner, a wedding day coordinator, or to handle all the details yourself, the key to a seamless event is organization, organization, organization. The day before your special day will demonstrate how well you have organized. If you are a highly organized individual this will be second nature. If you are not, then by all means find someone who can help you stay on top of everything. “My fiancé’ and I are both highly organized people. We knew to pay attention to every detail and double check ourselves”, says Jeannine O’Grody, who recently married at her father’s mountain home in Banner Elk. Her guests commented they were invited into a scene out of the Great Gatzby. Jeannine, her fiancé John, and their wedding planner executed every detail with a keen eye.
Preparation
The day before your special day will reveal how much you thought through the details. Appointments booked in advance for yourself, your bridesmaids, and family members will help keep the day in order. No item is too small to be considered. The misconception that a smaller event doesn’t need as much attention to the details as a large one is just that, a misconception. Often the smaller events can be in greater need of a sharp eye to detail. Advance preparation for seating arrangements, transportation for bridal party and guests, overnight accommodations, gift bags, party favors, hair, makeup, and nail appointments all booked in advance will make a smoother eve of the wedding day.
Back up
Don’t neglect the backup plan. In fact, let your backup plan have a backup plan. On the day before the wedding this assures that you can relax knowing that all your bases are covered. If you keep in mind Murphy’s Law that anything could go wrong, will, and have a plan of action, you won’t feel the need to chew those freshly manicured nails. This plan also includes your vendors. When booking your vendors don’t be afraid to ask your wedding planner, wedding officiate, florist, photographer, musician or DJ if they have someone to step in should something unforeseen prevents them from personally fulfilling their contracted obligation to you. Even if they do have someone to step in, it doesn’t hurt to keep a backup plan to the backup plan in mind. One bride recently shared that she wasn’t all that happy with the results of the pre-do from the stylist she hired. Although she had a backup stylist, this bride used the free time she had the day before the wedding to scout for a couple of other stylists. This bride scored in finding the right hair stylist, and with that important detail out of the way, she was ready for any other changes she needed to make.
Flexibility
How well can you adapt to change? Are you ok with punting in the home stretch? This is where you can find out whether you will perceive your wedding event as a success or disaster. Changes are inevitable. If you can go with the flow and be at ease with change, your guests will never know the difference. They will never know that the caterer called the day before and stated that the side vegetable will be Brussels sprouts instead of the braised asparagus. It may not be what you wanted initially, but in the overall view of what is the most important, the vegetable side dish is the least of them. Remain flexible and everyone will think you are the most gracious of brides. Expect hiccups, last minute changes and adjustments. It makes interesting conversation and it’s the stuff of which memories are made of. If the organization and preparation are tightly in place, then the last minute challenges are not nearly so worrisome. On one other note, according to Linda Ford of NC Dreammakers Weddings, “Don’t be a stickler to the clock. Be aware the day before that a timeline is necessary, but it too can be adjusted.”
Time Out
Finally, remember your wedding day is the launching of the marriage and not the marriage itself. You and your future spouse need to take time together to be alone, even if it is only thirty minutes. This is the person you are planning to spend the rest of your life with , and you both need to make the time to touch base, connect, regroup and refocus for a little while on the eve of the biggest day of your lives. All the countless hours, days, weeks, and months of planning will pale in comparison to the reason the two of you choose to spend your lives together.
The most important day of your life is tomorrow and you are either excited and confident, or frayed and frazzled. How well are you prepared to handle crunch time?
Organization
Whether you choose to hire a wedding planner, a wedding day coordinator, or to handle all the details yourself, the key to a seamless event is organization, organization, organization. The day before your special day will demonstrate how well you have organized. If you are a highly organized individual this will be second nature. If you are not, then by all means find someone who can help you stay on top of everything. “My fiancé’ and I are both highly organized people. We knew to pay attention to every detail and double check ourselves”, says Jeannine O’Grody, who recently married at her father’s mountain home in Banner Elk. Her guests commented they were invited into a scene out of the Great Gatzby. Jeannine, her fiancé John, and their wedding planner executed every detail with a keen eye.
Preparation
The day before your special day will reveal how much you thought through the details. Appointments booked in advance for yourself, your bridesmaids, and family members will help keep the day in order. No item is too small to be considered. The misconception that a smaller event doesn’t need as much attention to the details as a large one is just that, a misconception. Often the smaller events can be in greater need of a sharp eye to detail. Advance preparation for seating arrangements, transportation for bridal party and guests, overnight accommodations, gift bags, party favors, hair, makeup, and nail appointments all booked in advance will make a smoother eve of the wedding day.
Back up
Don’t neglect the backup plan. In fact, let your backup plan have a backup plan. On the day before the wedding this assures that you can relax knowing that all your bases are covered. If you keep in mind Murphy’s Law that anything could go wrong, will, and have a plan of action, you won’t feel the need to chew those freshly manicured nails. This plan also includes your vendors. When booking your vendors don’t be afraid to ask your wedding planner, wedding officiate, florist, photographer, musician or DJ if they have someone to step in should something unforeseen prevents them from personally fulfilling their contracted obligation to you. Even if they do have someone to step in, it doesn’t hurt to keep a backup plan to the backup plan in mind. One bride recently shared that she wasn’t all that happy with the results of the pre-do from the stylist she hired. Although she had a backup stylist, this bride used the free time she had the day before the wedding to scout for a couple of other stylists. This bride scored in finding the right hair stylist, and with that important detail out of the way, she was ready for any other changes she needed to make.
Flexibility
How well can you adapt to change? Are you ok with punting in the home stretch? This is where you can find out whether you will perceive your wedding event as a success or disaster. Changes are inevitable. If you can go with the flow and be at ease with change, your guests will never know the difference. They will never know that the caterer called the day before and stated that the side vegetable will be Brussels sprouts instead of the braised asparagus. It may not be what you wanted initially, but in the overall view of what is the most important, the vegetable side dish is the least of them. Remain flexible and everyone will think you are the most gracious of brides. Expect hiccups, last minute changes and adjustments. It makes interesting conversation and it’s the stuff of which memories are made of. If the organization and preparation are tightly in place, then the last minute challenges are not nearly so worrisome. On one other note, according to Linda Ford of NC Dreammakers Weddings, “Don’t be a stickler to the clock. Be aware the day before that a timeline is necessary, but it too can be adjusted.”
Time Out
Finally, remember your wedding day is the launching of the marriage and not the marriage itself. You and your future spouse need to take time together to be alone, even if it is only thirty minutes. This is the person you are planning to spend the rest of your life with , and you both need to make the time to touch base, connect, regroup and refocus for a little while on the eve of the biggest day of your lives. All the countless hours, days, weeks, and months of planning will pale in comparison to the reason the two of you choose to spend your lives together.
Tips On Choosing Your Wedding Flowers & Decor
Published High Country Wedding Guide, Winter 2009
Whether it’s a large round bouquet, a long spray of roses, a small poesy of peonies, or a single stem, the flowers are the accent pieces to the look of your whole event. How to choose the right look color scheme and style will depend on what your personal taste, style and budget. You can be prepared by finding pictures from magazines, photos from weddings you have attended, or even something right out of a garden to help define what your personal taste and style is. This will help the florist know the direction in which to go. “I always ask a bride to bring pictures with her or something from magazines to show me what she would like her ‘look’ to be”, says Carolyn Clement of Millefluers, a leading floral designer in the High Country.
· Budget
Every florist will want to know right off the bat what the budget for flowers will be. This will give the florist and you some parameters in which to work when designing your bouquets and table arrangements. The general rule of thumb is the flowers should be about 8% of the overall wedding budget. You want to factor in an extra 10% for cost overruns (meaning those little added ingredients such as hard to get flowers, trellises, or other accessories.)
Some floral designers will have a minimum price point. There is no sense spending an afternoon with a designer if your budget doesn’t meet their minimum price point requirements. A retail florist can offer a more affordable price, but they may not be able to offer the accent pieces for which you are looking. A floral designer may have a higher cost, but the embellishments, added touches, and unique accessories can make it worth the extra dollars.
· Style
Once you know how much of your money you have to spend and the color options you are choosing, your next step will be to choose the style you would like to have. There is a difference between a florist who has a retail business catering to more than weddings and a floral designer who has a more customized approach to the bride’s tastes. “As a designer, what I am looking for from the bride is to hear her heart. I want to listen to her thoughts and ideas and I want to learn the vision she has for her wedding day. I want to collect all the parts and pieces and give them back to her in that one single moment”, says Sheri Furman of Bless Your Heart located on Hwy 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock. Since tastes are still very subjective, and each floral designer has a signature look , why not request a portfolio of past events to see if that signature style will complement your own vision.
· Other Décor Options
Some added elements that can really create the “Wow” factor to your wedding and reception site include such details as colored linens, chair coverings with colored sashes, or chandeliers utilizing tea candles. For outdoor tents, draping the tent poles in fabric creates a softened look and adding flowers to the tent poles makes the atmosphere pop. How about adding colored swags over the top of the tent for a dramatic and romantic touch? Include lighted floral chandeliers to take the ambience up a notch or two. All these special effects will make for a visual appeal that will mark the event as uniquely yours.
· Important Questions to Ask the Florist
Some questions to ask your florist include asking whether they are familiar with the locations of the ceremony and reception. Are there height restrictions for the table or buffet arrangements? What are the policies that may prevent free reign of design for the florist? What are the cancellation policies, deposit requirements, deadline dates, and additional costs of added accessories? If there is some unforeseen circumstance, how will the contracted work be carried out for the event?
For outdoor weddings the climate can play havoc with keeping flowers fresh looking. Also keep in mind anticipated arrival time of the flowers and where to have them delivered if the wedding site is different from the reception site. Coordinate the arrival of the bridal party flowers so that there is no hold up with the photographer if pictures are taken before the ceremony.
· Additional floral items to consider
Besides the bouquets, table arrangements and boutonnieres, other floral touches can include pew markers, memorial arrangements, door sprays or wreaths, cake flowers, rose petals for the flower girl, rose petals for tossing at the bride and groom upon departure, and the smaller tossing bouquet at the end of the event. These should be added into the overall cost of the flower budget.
It is not uncommon to use the arrangements at the church altar for the centerpiece arrangements on the buffet at the reception. Or the bridesmaid’s bouquets can be dropped into a select vase and become a table arrangement for key tables. The same holds true for the tussie-mussies or poesy bouquets. These can decorate the guest sign-in book and/or cake table.
For late day events candlelight albeit votives, tea candles, pillars or floating candles adds sparkle, elegance and romance to the overall style of your event. The use of candles can help defray some of the cost without losing the beauty of appearance, and everyone looks better in candlelight as well.
(Side bar)
· Boutonnieres, corsages, tussie-mussies, and poesies, who gets what and who pays for which?
Tradition holds that the grandmothers are given a corsage to wear, but today’s grandmothers often prefer to carry a small poesy bouquet for a more fashionable touch.
Tussie-mussies are another small but elegant miniature bouquet given to the honoraries to carry as they are coming down the aisle. Proper etiquette states that the groom or his parents pay for the boutonnieres, corsages, and the bride’s bouquet.
Whether it’s a large round bouquet, a long spray of roses, a small poesy of peonies, or a single stem, the flowers are the accent pieces to the look of your whole event. How to choose the right look color scheme and style will depend on what your personal taste, style and budget. You can be prepared by finding pictures from magazines, photos from weddings you have attended, or even something right out of a garden to help define what your personal taste and style is. This will help the florist know the direction in which to go. “I always ask a bride to bring pictures with her or something from magazines to show me what she would like her ‘look’ to be”, says Carolyn Clement of Millefluers, a leading floral designer in the High Country.
· Budget
Every florist will want to know right off the bat what the budget for flowers will be. This will give the florist and you some parameters in which to work when designing your bouquets and table arrangements. The general rule of thumb is the flowers should be about 8% of the overall wedding budget. You want to factor in an extra 10% for cost overruns (meaning those little added ingredients such as hard to get flowers, trellises, or other accessories.)
Some floral designers will have a minimum price point. There is no sense spending an afternoon with a designer if your budget doesn’t meet their minimum price point requirements. A retail florist can offer a more affordable price, but they may not be able to offer the accent pieces for which you are looking. A floral designer may have a higher cost, but the embellishments, added touches, and unique accessories can make it worth the extra dollars.
· Style
Once you know how much of your money you have to spend and the color options you are choosing, your next step will be to choose the style you would like to have. There is a difference between a florist who has a retail business catering to more than weddings and a floral designer who has a more customized approach to the bride’s tastes. “As a designer, what I am looking for from the bride is to hear her heart. I want to listen to her thoughts and ideas and I want to learn the vision she has for her wedding day. I want to collect all the parts and pieces and give them back to her in that one single moment”, says Sheri Furman of Bless Your Heart located on Hwy 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock. Since tastes are still very subjective, and each floral designer has a signature look , why not request a portfolio of past events to see if that signature style will complement your own vision.
· Other Décor Options
Some added elements that can really create the “Wow” factor to your wedding and reception site include such details as colored linens, chair coverings with colored sashes, or chandeliers utilizing tea candles. For outdoor tents, draping the tent poles in fabric creates a softened look and adding flowers to the tent poles makes the atmosphere pop. How about adding colored swags over the top of the tent for a dramatic and romantic touch? Include lighted floral chandeliers to take the ambience up a notch or two. All these special effects will make for a visual appeal that will mark the event as uniquely yours.
· Important Questions to Ask the Florist
Some questions to ask your florist include asking whether they are familiar with the locations of the ceremony and reception. Are there height restrictions for the table or buffet arrangements? What are the policies that may prevent free reign of design for the florist? What are the cancellation policies, deposit requirements, deadline dates, and additional costs of added accessories? If there is some unforeseen circumstance, how will the contracted work be carried out for the event?
For outdoor weddings the climate can play havoc with keeping flowers fresh looking. Also keep in mind anticipated arrival time of the flowers and where to have them delivered if the wedding site is different from the reception site. Coordinate the arrival of the bridal party flowers so that there is no hold up with the photographer if pictures are taken before the ceremony.
· Additional floral items to consider
Besides the bouquets, table arrangements and boutonnieres, other floral touches can include pew markers, memorial arrangements, door sprays or wreaths, cake flowers, rose petals for the flower girl, rose petals for tossing at the bride and groom upon departure, and the smaller tossing bouquet at the end of the event. These should be added into the overall cost of the flower budget.
It is not uncommon to use the arrangements at the church altar for the centerpiece arrangements on the buffet at the reception. Or the bridesmaid’s bouquets can be dropped into a select vase and become a table arrangement for key tables. The same holds true for the tussie-mussies or poesy bouquets. These can decorate the guest sign-in book and/or cake table.
For late day events candlelight albeit votives, tea candles, pillars or floating candles adds sparkle, elegance and romance to the overall style of your event. The use of candles can help defray some of the cost without losing the beauty of appearance, and everyone looks better in candlelight as well.
(Side bar)
· Boutonnieres, corsages, tussie-mussies, and poesies, who gets what and who pays for which?
Tradition holds that the grandmothers are given a corsage to wear, but today’s grandmothers often prefer to carry a small poesy bouquet for a more fashionable touch.
Tussie-mussies are another small but elegant miniature bouquet given to the honoraries to carry as they are coming down the aisle. Proper etiquette states that the groom or his parents pay for the boutonnieres, corsages, and the bride’s bouquet.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Green Valley Weddings
After 25 years working in and around the service industry, and 15 of those years in what I call "wedding world", I found I absorbed a wealth of information that needs to be shared with "soon-to-be-brides". Everything from places to book for your reception to how to select your flowers, to budgeting and organization will be shared. I have already been published in the new
annual High Country Wedding Guide Magazine which made its debut this winter in time for the 2009 wedding season. I am already in preparation for the next issues articles to come out later in the fall of 2009. It is my goal to help soon to be brides with ideas, planning, and solutions to their planning dilemmas. I will post my articles in the next few days so be on the lookout.
annual High Country Wedding Guide Magazine which made its debut this winter in time for the 2009 wedding season. I am already in preparation for the next issues articles to come out later in the fall of 2009. It is my goal to help soon to be brides with ideas, planning, and solutions to their planning dilemmas. I will post my articles in the next few days so be on the lookout.
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