A Look Back: 2009

I say this every year but this really was our best year yet! It was a whirlwind but it was fantastic in so many ways. I'm feeling truly blessed to have had the clients we did, met the people we met and traveled to the places we did.



January

Erica & Nate were married in Cleveland,OH. We created a wintery wonderland for them at the Renaissance downtown.



February & March

We spent these months working on the many details of the weddings to come in the summer months. I'm glad we had a little extra time because we produced some really beautiful weddings this year.
We were invited to be a member of the Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book
I also traveld to New York to visit a fellow friend/planner Preeti. I had the pleasure of assisting her with one of her largest events of the year - Sheetal and Jasons wedding. Everything about that wedding was fabulous - the people, the decor, the food!
Our three OSU interns offically came on board with us! Welcome Christa, Chelsea and Angela.



April

I headed to Indianapolis for Eventology. It was a great conference and I got to meet so many of my twitter friends in person.
The Wedding Skills Workshop officially launches!




May

Emily & Michael were married on May 23rd at St Catharines in Bexley followed by a stunning brunch recepetion at the Westin.

Erin & Trey were also married on May 23rd at Immaculate Conception

Karen & Phil were married at Our Lady of Victory on May 30th.
Our very first Wedding Skills Workshop: Floral Rescue was held on May 22nd at Rose Bredl in the Short North!
On a personal note - My husband was awarded the 40 under 40 award from Business First. I was so proud of him for being awarded this very special award. Maybe I'll be able join him as a 40 under 40 recipient in 2010?



June
We held our 2nd Wedding Skills Workshop: Attire Rescue at La Jeune Mariee on June 10th.
Wedding Skills Workshop also held a Finance Basics workshop at the end of June for 20 wedding professionals in Columbus.
I traveled to Grand Cayman in June to attend Engage!09 at the Ritz Carlton. I had never been to Grand Cayman and was so impressed with the wedding professionals I met there. It was also nice to meet and spend some quality time with some of my favorite people in the wedding business. If you are considering a destination wedding I'd definitely put Grand Cayman at the top of my list!



July
Stephanie & Jason were married on July 18th and had a beautiful pink and gold reception at the Hilton Easton.
The Wedding Skills Workshop hosted the Cake Rescue workshop at Bakery Gingham in German Village.
We travelled to Marion, OH for Lindsay & Jordan's July 25th nuptials. We had a ball with both Lindsay and Jordan's families. I've never seen such technically advanced toasts by Jordan's brothers!

August
Mindy & Chris had a one of a kind wedding on the roof deck of the Renaissance on August 8th
My husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!
Stacia & Josh were married on August 15th
The Wedding Skills Workshop hosted a PR/Marketing basics workshop at the Renaissance.
We put together a beautiful reception design for Sara Ann & Eric on August 29th
I also took G to Walt Disney World for his 3rd birthday with Shawn & my parents. It was the most magical trip ever. I can't wait to go back again, this time for Asher's 3rd birthday.
Our new blog launched this month as well. We love the new design and hope you do too!

September
Sarah & Dave had such a fun wedding at Cosi on September 19th
We planned the Victorian Village Home & Garden Tour's 35th Preview Event, held at a private residence in the neighborhood.
The Wedding Skills Workshop hosted a Ceremony 101 workshop at the Blackwell Hotel.
We were so excited to do a table top shoot for Bride & Bloom magazine as one of the featured coordinators.

October
This was our busiest month of the year!
Greg & Samantha were married October 3rd at Darby House in a beautiful outdoor ceremony.
Alex & Ryan were married at Franklin Park Conservatory in the Palm House followed by a tropical inspired reception.
We hosted the 2009 Knot Party for all of the wedding professionals in Columbus at Station 67.
Mandy & Steve had a green & black and "M" inspired soiree at Cosi.
The Short North Wedding Collective hosted the very first Short North Wedding Walk.
The Wedding Skills Workshop hosted Reception 101 at Event Source.
We created a fun fall NYC inspired celebration for Chloe's Bat Mitzvah
Michelle & Greg tied the knot at Hawk Gallery with a Chihuly inspired reception at the Crown Plaza downtown.

November
We were named Best of Wedding/Event Planners by the Knot Wedding Network for Columbus, OH.
Asher was born on November 4th at 6 lbs 12 oz!

December
We took this month off to recoup from the busy year and spend some quality time with our families!

Whew! What a year and I can't wait to share what we have in store for 2010. Stay tuned for images from our September and October events. They'll be coming soon and we can't wait to share!

We wish you a happy and safe New Year!

And the color of the year is....

Last week Pantone announced PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, an inviting, luminous hue, as the #Color of the Year for 2010.

I absolutely love this color. As if you couldn't tell by the colors of Bliss & That! I think it works well mixed with various other colors or as a stand alone color with varying hues. I feel like 2009 was year of the pink wedding, so I'm excited to see what we get to do with this color in 2010.

The Knot Party

In October we had the privilege to plan an industry event for the Knot Wedding Network. This was such a fun event to plan. Mostly because it was an opportunity to do something for all of our fabulous Columbus wedding professionals who work so hard for the wedding community all year long.

Station 67 was kind enough to host us. It's a great venue downtown that had the perfect "blank canvas" spaces for our event that we love. We set out to create a comfy yet stylish lounge where our guests could grab a cocktail, sit down and relax. It's rare that we all are able to get together and just talk. Most times we're emailing, tweeting and running into each other for brief moments at our events. We also made sure there were plenty of delish food on hand for snacking. One of our favorites was the Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream cart!

Our guests also took in the sounds of Crescent Fresh, a hip new band, as they lounged in the chic living room space. A fun photo opportunity was available for guests. Instead of the same old photo booth, we decided to mix it up a little and do a "Step & Repeat" -just like the celebrities on the red carpet. Everyone had a lot of fun posing for pictures and receiving a copy to take home with them.



The Lounge


We did a mix of tall and short cabaret tables


Our little white Fuji mum centerpieces with a touch of blue


Tall white dendrobium orchid displays that were lit from below


Our sparkling Paw Paw signature cocktail


Our second cocktail used a specialty apple cider native to Ohio


Ohio cheeses and Ohio apple display


Yes, that is bacon on that cupcake. So YUMMY!


Knot tote favors


Crescent Fresh


Kate & Dina with their swag


The whole Bliss Wedding & Event Design Team: Tracie, Kasey, Christa, Kelsey, Angela and Chelsea


A big thank you to all the vendors who helped make our night a smashing success!

Event Location: Station 67
Event Planner: Bliss Wedding & Event Design
Photography: C Studios
Catering: 2 Caterers
Floral: Rose Bredl
Linens & Furniture: Event Source
Entertainment: Class Acts Entertainment – Crescent Fresh
Photo Booth: ShutterBooth
Lighting & Draping: Variations
Cupcakes: Cupcake Yum.Yum
Ice Cream: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
Favors: Bakery Gingham, Lasting Impressions, Freedom Bakery & Confections, Event Source
Raffle Items: The Columbus A Renaissance Hotel, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, The Wedding Skills Workshop

I've missed you!

So I've been away for a little while. Most know that I was due in November with our 2nd little one and today I'd like to introduce you to him!





Asher Conyers - born November 4th at 9:30am

He was 6.12oz at birth and today at his 1 month check up weighed in at a whole 9lbs 12oz. No wonder I haven't gotten any sleep in the past month!

Here's a few pictures from his big arrival:

Happy Anniversary Lauren & Matt

Another wonderful client, another 1st anniversary!

Happy 1st to Lauren & Matt! Today marks one year since their beautiful wedding at St Joseph's Cathedral and reception at the Athenaeum. Congratulations! We wish you many years of love and happiness!

Below are a few of our favorite pictures from the big day.
















Images courtesy of Adam Lowe Photography

Good or Great?

This week I encountered several things that inspired this post. Each time I always went back asking to myself - why would you risk so much to only be good at something instead of really focusing on what you know and be great at it instead?

After discussing this with some of my trusted friends (and shall I even say advisers) it basically comes down to two things. First, the temptation to earn money doing many things is too great to resist. Second, they do not really have a firm grasp or strong understanding of what is really involved in the "secondary or add on services" they are/want to offer. The secondary/add services being defined as any services outside of the core function of the business or organization.

In an industry like the the wedding industry, we see this happening all the time. I'm not sure why, but the trend we commonly see is either DJ's offering planning services, venues offering planning/coordination services and bridal salons offering planning services. I'm really curious to better understand why these other entities feel that adding planning services is so easy? I know that when we are fully engulfed in our wedding seasons there is absolutely no time to focus on anything else but planning/executing the event(s) at hand. I would never think of offering to bake the clients wedding cake for them because I can bake a cake or bring my ipod for my assistant to play dj. That's just ridiculous!

I think it's fair to mention that also, these vendors who offer "planning" services should know that the professional planners in the area will probably not refer clients to you for several reasons. One "poaching" as one of my colleagues call it, is much too common place. Also, you entice unsuspecting and uneducated clients, that the services included in your $300 fee is comparable to our $1500+ fee for the same package/service. I can guarantee you it is not. There is a big difference between the services we professional planners provide and what the wanna-bes provide plain and simple. I highly doubt the wanna-be/add on planners spend thousands of dollars per year bettering themselves in education, conferences and networking with other planners to ensure they are on the top of their game and not just playing one. Pricing is a whole other post that I won't go into here.

So, my advice to any bride/groom reading this out there is this: Be very careful in who you choose as your wedding planner. Don't be fooled by the "add on" planning services you see offered by vendors who's primary focus is NOT in wedding planning and coordination. Do you want someone who thought they did a super awesome job planning their own wedding and now works for a dj/venue/bridal salon planning your wedding? I think not. There are true professionals out there for a reason.

The Short North Wedding Walk

Join seven of Columbus' premier wedding vendors for the debut of the Short North Wedding Walk!

Real Weddings: Lindsay & Jordan The Reception

We were in a very big high peak tent for the reception. With 300+ guests in attendance it needed to be big. As the evening progressed the orange and pink lighting became more rich and intense. It really added a layer of color and ambiance that the guests really enjoyed. Their cake was so adorable with the ruffles in the pink and orange. Guests received mini versions as favors to take home to enjoy. I really loved how the tent looked for the first dance. The lighting was perfect with the custom gobo on the tent ceiling. I will confess I've never experienced the number, length of time and level of creativity that everyone put into their toasts. I think we had 4 scheduled but ended up at 7 total - whew! They were all heartfelt and super creative. The "Becoming a Canadian Citizen Kit" presented to Lindsay from Jordan's brothers was a favorite of the crowd.













All photos courtesy of Ashley Justice Photography

Real Weddings: Lindsay & Jordan - The Ceremony

Lindsay & Jordan were married at the Marion Country Club at the end of July. This was such a fun wedding to work on. We had a great time with Lindsay and her mom Cynthia. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from their pre ceremony portraits and the wedding ceremony! I loved Lindsay's very ruffly dress and her pink shoes. They were perfect peeking out of her dress!

Oh and the bridesmaids dresses were so adorable with the higher waist and the little poof at the bottom. I wanted a dress just for me. : ) We ended up having standing room only at the ceremony. It ended up being such a beautiful day as you can see in last picture.












All photos courtesy of Ashley Justice Photography

Alert

Please be advised that we do not have an Internet connection today October 1,2009. If you have tried to reach us via email, please be patience and we will respond as soon as our system is back up and running. Thank you, Kasey

Wishpot Wedding Blog: Win a Kate Spade Handbag

Wishpot and Avelle the New Bag Borrow Steal (think Sex in the City) have teamed up to bring you our latest giveaway. Enter to win this fabulous fun red kate spade Designer Handbag! Retail value $429



Here’s how to enter:

Tell us or show us what you want to carry in your Avelle Designer Bag!
(Your fave accessories, your pets, your dreams, the kitchen sink and more….)

Tell : get 1 entry
for each response here, on Avelle FB Fan Page, or on Twitter RT #Avelle


Show: get 2 entries
post a pic of what you want to carry on Avelle FB Fan Page, or on Twitter


Share: Get 3 entries
sign up at Avelle, follow Avelle on Twitter or blog about this giveaway

Be sure to leave a comment on the Wishpot Blog with what you did. Giveaway lasts one week. We will draw a winner on Monday Oct 5th. Good Luck!

Thank you! And three entries each to these fabulous bloggers and Wishpot experts for helping us get the word out there:




About the bag: kate spade ‘Quinn’ Knightsbridge Croco Tote
The clean lines and elegant croc-embossed patent leather of this kate spade tote transition effortlessly from daytime to evening. Designed to fit snugly under your arm, it’s finished with an open top, goldtone hardware, metal feet, three center compartments, signature lining and interior zip and cell pockets. Dimensions: 12"L x 3"W x 9"H. 7" handle drop.

Bliss Real Weddings: Lindsay & Jordan

Lindsay & Jordan were married in July at the Marion Country Club. We had an amazing day (after mother nature decided to cooperate!). Here's little peek at what's to come next week in our recap of their wedding day!

Trend Spotting: Spring 2010 Color Report

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York was last week and we saw lots of amazing and beautiful designs make their way down the runway. As with each season, I love seeing the new color forecast for spring and it always makes me happy to see some of our spring wedding design color palettes on the list. I'm particularly fond of this pistachio color that Reem Acra used. It's so versatile. You can make it playful with brighter colors or tone it down with a more neutral color. Also, I could see this working great with patterns.

Bride & Bloom - We're Featured!

I was so thrilled to receive an email shortly after returning from engage!09 from my friend Leila at Be Inspired. She asked if I was interested in participating in the Bride & Bloom fall issue as a Featured Coordinator. Of course I would! I love the Bride & Bloom magazine! It's one of my favorites!

I won't lie and say it was easy. We were given a color palette of brown and free reign to create something fall-like and amazing. I knew that I wanted to incorporate feathers and a downtown feel. I called several of my favorite local vendors and asked if they were interested in participating and they all happily agreed! We were off and running with the "Fall Feathered Affair" theme that Amy and I dreamed up.

We had about a week to pull everything together and I couldn't be happier with the results! A big thank you to all of the vendors that contributed and to the Be Insprired team for sharing this opportunity with us.

Photography: C Studios
Flowers: Flowers On Orchard Lane
Cake & Favor: Jan Kish La Petite Fleur
Stationery: Seedlings
Rentals: Event Source
Linens: La Tavola
Location: Meyers + Associates Architecture 232 N Third St - 4th Floor

Vacation - Walt Disney World

Our offices were closed last week as we took our final vacation of the year just before fall wedding season starts for the Bliss Wedding & Event Design team....and the new baby boy arrives in November. I thought I'd share just a few of the 400+ pictures we snapped last week during our little get a way to Walt Disney World.

Grey turned 3 while we were there and I think it was the best birthday present he could have asked for. Meeting Mickey & Minnie were a highlight of course, but his birthday dinner with Tigger was a treat too.