Happy Thanksgiving everyone. The house is clean, the kids are still sleeping, and the turkeys are still sitting in the brine. The day is off to a good start. I am looking forward to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while cooking. It’s a family tradition.

Yesterday, I showed you the behind-the-scenes preparation on the rehearsal day for one of our weddings a couple of weeks ago, today I am going to show you what we did on the wedding day.

First, we had to move the fish to the reception site.

After that, we dressed for the wedding day and went back to the reception site to meet the wedding party. (They were all getting dressed there).

Pre-ceremony preparations included pinning boutonnieres, reconfirming transportation, putting champagne in the limos, and taking the boxes of reception items and putting them in the reception room. We loaded the wedding party into their cars, left Kristin behind to finish organizing the reception items and Karen and I jumped into the car to head to the church.

Once at the church, we organized the ushers and guests began to arrive.

Here is Jenna with her dad just before her walk down the aisle.

Once the bride was down the aisle, it was time for me to leave Karen at the church so she could assist the wedding party during post-wedding photos and put them back in the limos for the ride back to the reception site. My associate Lindsay picked me up on her way to the reception site (we like to try to limit our carbon footprint) and we were off to finish setting up the reception.

Tomorrow, watch us put the final touches on the reception.

If you have questions on what a wedding planner does behind the scenes on the wedding day, post for me here or email me at susan.southerland(at)pwg.com. Also become a fan on Facebook by clicking here and follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

Your partner in perfect planning,

Susan

Today’s Real Wedding Wednesday is going to be a bit different. Our brides and grooms are constantly amazed at what my team and I do to make everything run smoothly behind-the-scenes. A couple of weeks ago, we even had to babysit fifty-five goldfish! Here is an inside (and humorous) look at what the wedding planner does during the hours leading up to your wedding.

After the rehearsal, Kristin, Karen and I spent the evening at a local superstore attending to some last minute details, including picking up the goldfish, developing some photos and purchasing 42 gallons of spring water for the centerpieces.

We took the fish and the water back to the hotel and filled some buckets with the spring water.

Then we put the fish (still inside their bags) into the water-filled buckets.

We waited thirty minutes so that the fish could get acclimated to the water temperature.

Then we released the fish from their bags into the buckets.

There they are… The fish are happily settled into their temporary home.

Our rehearsal-day work wasn’t finished yet… We went to the reception location to deliver a car load of items for the wedding, reviewed the wedding-day agenda and then finally, went to sleep.

Check back tomorrow to see how our wedding weekend adventure continued…

If you have comments or questions on wedding day preparations, the life of a wedding planner or using fish as part of your wedding decor, post for me here or email me at susan.southerland(at)pwg.com. Also become a fan on Facebook by clicking here and follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

Your partner in perfect planning,

Susan

Coming to us from Austin, Texas is a wonderful wedding story. Jodi and Alan were married on August 15th at a beautiful location called the Vintage Villas. With floral done by Bouquets of Austin, photography by Robert Lu with Robert Studio, and plenty of personal touches, I’m sure you will agree that this turned out to be a lovely wedding!

Here is Jodi’s story:

“Account of the wedding: Gosh it was so perfect and there is so much to tell. I am from England and that is where Alan proposed last year. Because of my English roots and love of tea, we decided to incorporate some of these touches in the wedding.

We chose the venue Vintage Villas because it is absolutely spectacular … it is located on Lake Travis in Austin and provides not only beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces but also has onsite accommodations for overnight guests.

In addition, we chose our colors to be a deep turquoise/Capri blue, with deep pinks and purples, and then accents of lime green.

The day of the wedding was sunny and warm. I remember waking up and being so excited to marry Alan and the day just went by SO perfectly.

In England, it is customary for the bride to carry a horseshoe down the aisle. My sister had brought me one when she flew in from England … it was absolutely beautiful. It was painted in pinks and blues and I wore it proudly on my wrist. Alan and I said our own vows which were extremely memorable.

During the reception, my dad, my brother, my sister, Alan’s brother, and Alan’s dad all gave toasts … there was lots of sniffling during the toasts.

Instead of table numbers, we named each table after a village in England that Alan had I visited on our engagement trip. At each place-setting there was a handmade teabag holder (two pink hearts laced together with green ribbon). The tea bags were specially ordered from England. In addition, on each table there were postcards from the various English villages; guests were encouraged to take a postcard and mail it back to us throughout the year.

After the toasts, Alan and I cut the cake and danced our first dance to “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. My dad and I danced to Kendall Payne’s song “ Daddy” and Alan danced to the Boys II Men song “Mama” with his mother. Because my parents were married 44 years this past September, and never had the chance to dance at THEIR wedding, Alan and I dedicated the song “Stand by me” to them and they both shared the dance floor.

After the reception, we all went back to the villa we rented and stayed up until 4:00 a.m. visiting with the guests. I remember looking around at several times during the evening and just wanted to pause time … For the first time in my life, I had everyone I loved all in the same place … it was AMAZING.

If you have questions on this or any other wedding related topic, please post for me here or send me an email to susan.southerland@pwg.com. Also become a fan on Facebook by clicking here and follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

Your partner in perfect planning,
Susan