This Wedding Wednesday, we wanted to introduce you to the lovely Heather, better known as The Majestic Planner! We met up for lunch recently and talked about all things wedding and I have to tell you that she’s a brilliant woman full of vision!

There are a lot of people out there who can help you with your wedding. They may be called day of coordinators, planners, consultants… it can get confusing! So I asked Heather to share exactly what she does as The Majestic Planner.

Many people think of an event planner/coordinator and think of someone who plans banquets or weddings but that is it. They have no idea what is all entailed in the title, so after reading this blog, you will know exactly what I do.

~ Did you know that a traditional wedding takes more than 250 hours to plan?
With our busy lifestyles, constantly going, working, etc. it can be extremely hard to find an additional 250+ hours to plan your wedding. I help take a bulk of the hours off of you so you get exactly what you want without having to sacrifice and locate the extra time.

~ Who will establish your personalized planning timeline?
Whether you have 2 years or 5 months to plan your wedding, each wedding and event needs its own personalized planning timeline. I provide each of my clients with one, meeting their needs for their specific event, this way each aspect is gone over, nothing is missed and you do not have to rush getting things done.

~ What about newspaper announcements, your engagement photo shoot, and Save the Dates?
Do you plan on having your engagement and wedding announcements in the newspaper? What about your engagement photos and Save the Dates? I will schedule your appointments, such as the photo session, as well as can remind you about, make and/or send out your Save the Date announcements.

~ Who will manage your budget?
One of the major impacts on events is the budget. No matter what your event budget, I provide each client with their own personalized budget tracker and keep track of it for them. This allows them to see where the money is going, how much is left, and where they can spend a little extra if desired.

~ Who will help you with choosing your colors, themes and decorations?
Although some brides have picked out their colors and/or theme already, some have no idea where to start. I can provide assistance with color and theme choice as well as creative decor ideas. Whether vintage or contemporary, there is no limit to the creativeness I can assist you with.

~ Are you ready and organized to make your guest list, pick out the invitation style, address the envelopes, and keep track of RSVP’s?
I do this too!! To make your life easier, you can have them RSVP directly to me, or you can forward them to me so you do not have to keep up with every number for every small detail.

~ What about keeping up with contracts for vendors, making sure they do what you wanted, and delivering their final payments?
From accompanying you to vendor appointments, to referring highly recommended vendors for your event, I personally make sure the vendors do exactly what they are supposed to do from being set up in the right spot to making sure the DJ plays all the right songs. No need to worry about the final payments at the last minute either, as you can give them to me to be delivered so you can truly enjoy your day.

~ Who will help you with the menu for your reception?
A very important part of your event is the food. From menu selection to tasting and ordering, I will be there with you every step of the way.

~ What about styling your wedding?
Wedding party dresses, table settings, centerpieces, and decor, nothing describes this other than your wedding style. Each event has its unique style that sets them apart from everything else, and with a strong sense of fashion I am able to benefit you in this area as well.

~ Do you only have your venue for a short time, and you do not know how you will get all the festivities done in that time frame?
Do not worry! I make your day-of timeline so all festivities will be just the way you wanted with more than enough time for everything. If something causes the timeline to get behind, I adjust accordingly so you enjoy your day and still get everything you dreamt of.

~ Who is going to set up your venue on your big day?
From decorating and setting up to making sure the flowers, food and cake are delivered and set up exactly as you imagined. Your friends and family can enjoy your big day with you, and leave the details to me.

~ What about your rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner?
It is imperative to have an experienced professional walk everyone through the ceremony at the rehearsal. This will give the Bride a piece of mind so she knows everyone knows what they are doing, and the party can be more relaxed knowing what to do. Following the rehearsal is the rehearsal dinner. If you need plans to be made for the dinner, I can also make these plans for you and your wedding party and family.

~ Who will make sure YOU are happy and YOUR day is all about YOU?
The end result is that your event is essentially about YOU! From making sure the bride has everything she needs, to helping her calm down, dry tears, kindly kick out occasional people if needed (yes, believe it or not this can happen) and relieve stress, I am here to make your day all about YOU!!

To sum it up….An event/wedding planner/coordinator is a mediator, consultant, sounding board, decorator, stylist…an organizer, artisan and a financial adviser all rolled into one.

Ultimately, I am one person with a large variety of titles and duties which fall under one category….Event Coordinator / Celebration Specialist.

Matt and I had the privilege of being guests at a wedding this past weekend! It was the wedding of one of Matt’s close high school friends, Eric. The high school friends were on their annual football trip when Eric announced the date of the wedding. I booked our flights the instant that Matt told me. A spring wedding in Maine?? We are sooooo there!

We had such a great time at Eric & Anne’s wedding, and we decided that weekend that when it comes to weddings of our friends and family, we would much rather be there as guests instead of working! So if you’re planning a wedding, you may want to consider keeping your friends as guests and not wedding vendors!

We learned a lot by being on the *other* side of a wedding. It was interesting to see things from the point of view of a guest, and we had a few observations that we think brides & grooms and wedding vendors should know:

If guests are traveling, a reception the night before is a great idea
We traveled a long way to attend this wedding, so it was very nice that Eric & Anne planned a reception for everyone on the eve of the wedding! Weary from a long day of driving and flying (and driving some more), we were thrilled to see them and some of our other friends!

Flash during the ceremony is very distracting
We tried not to worry about what the photographer was/wasn’t doing right (we were just there to have a good time) but when they are walking past the front row and using flash during the ceremony (even when there is plenty of ambient light) it is a big distraction. These are things we don’t do, but if you are a photographer and you’re doing this, the guests want you to know that you’re taking away from the ceremony!

Cocktail hour is a must
After the ceremony, we were in full party mode! Fortunately, Eric & Annie made sure there was a cocktail hour in between the ceremony and reception, so we headed over and met up with our friends while they took photos. It made things flow nicely, and with wine in hand and conversation flowing we didn’t feel like we were waiting around. Note to the reception venue… guests would love you to welcome them and point them in the direction of the cocktail hour when they arrive!

Guests want to sit with people they know (or people they would like to get to know)
This may come as a surprise, but I’m actually pretty shy! So I was relieved to know that we were sitting with people we knew at the reception. Even in the past when we haven’t known the other people at our table we’ve been placed with people who are cool like us. What can I say? No matter what table we end up at, it always ends up being the *cool* table! : )

Everyone loves the Cupid Shuffle
Eric and Anne banned line all line dances from their reception. Even though we still danced, we really wanted to do the Cupid Shuffle. Technically they didn’t put that song on the “Do not play” list, but the DJ wouldn’t budge. Bummer! We’ll just have to do it in our living room… to the right, to the right, to the right, to the right…

That's my hubby dancing with Eric's grandma!

Guests want to talk to you, and they want a picture with you
Your guests came to your wedding to see YOU, so make sure you get a chance to talk to them! They also got all gussied up (Anne’s words) for your event, so chances are you are going to be asked to be in A LOT of photos that night! This is one of my favorite pics of the whole evening!

We had such a great time, and we’re looking forward to going to more weddings as guests in the future!

We’d like to thank our friend Katrina at Made of Honor Weddings for featuring us on her vendor spotlight over the weekend! We had fun answering the questions! Thanks so much! : )

By Matt Tundermann

A number of years ago, my parents decided to start Summer Brook Valley Farm Alpacas as a side business. Alpacas, for those who don’t know, are part of the Camelid family and are raised in the U.S. for their fiber, which is higher quality than sheep’s wool and hypoallergenic. What started with a mother and two baby boys (babies are called crias) living on another farm has grown into over half an acre of cleared land, a barn, multiple paddocks, and over a dozen alpacas, two baby doll sheep, and two guard llamas.

Most of the alpacas are a little skittish, although one, Aurora, loves to give kisses (if you lean over towards her, she’ll touch her nose to your nose). The newest additions to the farm are perhaps my favorites now; little Cocoa and Cookie, the two baby doll sheep. They’re short and squat, have small, cute little faces, and make the loudest “Baaaaa” sounds you ever heard.

Sometimes it’s weird thinking of my parents owning and running a farm, but it’s also fun to wake up, look out the back window over the snow-covered fields, and watch these funny, furry creatures walking around. It’s especially funny when we let the puppies out and all the alpacas, sheep, and llamas come running out of the barn to stare at them.

If you’re ever in Connecticut, you should head to Middletown to visit the farm!

This week’s “Music Monday” comes from Matt’s playlist!

Admittedly, I’m not the most knowledgeable person about music. While I played in marching and concert bands for most of my life from elementary school through college, the theory, language of music, and even the basic titles and band names have always eluded me. Which leads me to a musical comedy trio from Australia, “The Axis of Awesome”.

The “4 Chords” song explores the similarities between many of the most popular pop and rock songs in history. The Axis of Awesome show how four basic chords can be used to create most of these songs. “4 Chords” is an amazing and hilarious spoof that exposes the irony of how easy it can be to create an “instant hit”.

There a number of different version of “4 Chords”, with several updates including the most recent pop hits. This version, from a concert in Australia, is one of the latest versions and quite possibly the funniest!