A Planner plans: Keeping up with the Joneses

...and the Petries and the Williams'.

One would think that being a professional wedding planner, planning your own wedding would be a breeze. NOT.

The thorn in my side as of late has been the guestlist. Having watched many of my clients go through the struggle of keeping up with invitations and addresses and herds of people, I figured I'd be proactive and send out an email shortly after getting my little sparkly requesting addresses.

Slight problem.

That was about a year ago and apparently for many of my guests, many changes have occurred over the last year. Atleast 10% of our invitations now require replacement addresses (yay for the booming economy and the successes of house hunting) and though I am thrilled with all of the new locations we'll have to visit post wedding, for the purpose of invitations this is not a good thing.

Lucky for me, we have two of the most amazing vendors on our team LeTrice of LePenn Designs and Kathleen Turnure of Elegant Hand Calligraphy for all Occasions. These two ladies are two of the most patient women I've ever met. I've been fortunate enough to correspond electronically with both over the planning process, especially LeTrice. Over the last few months we have exchanged hundreds of emails regarding changes to our stationary and most recently the need for additional....everything.

As we prepare for invitations to hit the stands (smile) tomorrow, I've learned a valuable lesson. One last reminder to your guests to inform them if their addresses have changed, will not hurt. Lucky for us, LeTrice sent extra blank envelopes and Kathleen was prepared to step into action when we needed more.

Awesome right?

And because I just couldn't stand to wait for another post....here's a sneak peak of what our guests will be seeing in their mail very soon...




Happy Friday!

Congratulations to Entwined Studio

Just wanted to send a quick congrats to the fab duo behind Entwined Studio, Matt and Angie, who were recently featured in New York Magazine. Not only do they have an amazing eye for detail, they are seriously two of the nicest people i've ever come across.




When searching for a professional photographer, a small component of the qualification is their ability to shoot. The larger component,the personality and the sense of ease that you have when working together. When you have accomplished fulfilling both of these, you're sure to have a winning combination. Mr. Charming and I are so delighted to have them document our wedding day.

Congrats Matt & Angie. We wish you much continued success!

A Planner Plans: Sweets for my sweet

Confession time. I am OVER wedding cake. Seriously over it.

I think after a certain number of years of exposure, just like anything, the novelty wears off. For me, that is the story of me and cake. I can't stand it. I can appreciate it, but give me a Viennese table full of brownies, cookies and pies and my heart is content.

So when it came to the great dessert debate, I realized Mr. Charming and I had a huge difference of opinion. Mr. Charming loves cake. Not just any cake but chocolate and not your average chocolate but roll over with your stomach cramping for ganache overdose chocolate. For him there was no other option.

I however, dreamed of s'mores. Roasting marshmallows, graham crackers and a bite sized morsel of chocolate along with a variety of cheesecakes.

Insert problem.

We arranged for our venue to offer s'mores but after months of consideration, decided it was just too messy.

So it was back to square one. Since I was obviously losing the battle on cake, I compromised and agreed to a small cake. 2 tiers, nice and simple, or so I thought.

I contacted Jen of Hudson Cakery soon after agreeing to serving cake at the wedding. Jennifer and I worked together on Bethany & Chris' wedding and I really just adored her. When we started developing options for the cake, she made it very well known, the possibilities were endless. Cake soon became yet another thing on the ever growing to do list.

This past week, Jen made a house call and brought with her what I affectionately refer to as sin on a spoon. Seriously. For tasting purposes, we were given a chocolate cake with oreo filling, chocolate chip cake with chocolate filling and an almond cake with vanilla filling, all with vanilla buttercream frosting.

I.DIE.

I seriously sat grinning ear to ear and confessed that I was totally wrong. Not only did we HAVE to have cake, we had to have lots of cake.

Our final selections, chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate and a layer of peanut butter and almond cake with a layer of cherries and a layer of crushed almonds. Add to that a variety of cake balls including cheesecake, red velvet cake, carrot cake with cream cheese icing and s'mores cake, and you have yourself a very happy Mr. Charming and #Giddyplannerbride.

This is Jennifer.


Samples of each cake. Are these not huge?


Cake pops (melted a bit in transition but delicious nonetheless)



I was wrong and I'm glad I was. Not only am I now looking forward to the cake, I'm now practicing a serious amount of restraint to not eat the entire sample. They were huge. In a good way!

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A Planner Plans: Cold Feet

Selecting my dress was easy. Way to easy. I went dress shopping by myself, narrowed it down to three options and then returned to the two salons with my mother, future mother in law and my maid of honor and anxiously waited for their approval. Easy breezy.

What was not so easy was what I would wear on my feet. I searched for months for the perfect shoes. Yes, months. I went to the Nordstrom near me so many times, I started making friends with the workers. I must've tried on every stiletto within a 20 mile radius that I could find in a shade of blue. You see, if I knew nothing else, I knew that my something "blue" would be on my feet.

After exhausting all possibilities both locally and on the web, I eventually gave up. Mr. Charming and the rest of the world would just have to accept that I was defeated by the possibility of shoes that only lived in my dreams. That was until I saw these:



Uggs Bailey Button Deep Cobolt Blue. I DIE.

You see, second to my obsession with jeans, runs my obsession with Uggs. I love my Uggs. Wear them as much as I can all year round. Yes, I'm one of those people. I love how comfy they feel, how warm I stay and I feel they are just the perfect compliment to a pair of skinny jeans or a cute winter dress. When I saw these in Nordstrom I took a double take.

Could I get away with Uggs under my formal gown? Would everyone think I was insane?

I decided to keep looking but something in me always brought me back to that same place. One day, I took Mr. Charming to the mall and asked his opinion. In typical Charming fashion he said "Who cares what other people say. You like them, I like them on you and it's about us." Just like that, I was $199 poorer.

Since my purchase I haven't exactly received a ton of support on my Uggs decision. My mother actually begged me not to wear them so much to the point that I picked up these beauties, as a backup:



BC Footwear women's bicycle built for two flat.

Though they are cute, something about them just doesn't feel "genuine" to me. Even with the replacements in hand, I still think back to my Uggs tucked under my gown, keeping me cozy and offering a little since of normalcy on an otherwise intense day.

I haven't actually decided which pair will make their debut on the big day. I will probably need until then to decide.

Did you have any small things drive you absolutely nutty during the planning process?

Today is Jennifer and Randy's wedding day!

This weekend was a huge weekend for POSH!

Yesterday we had the honor of working with Valerie & Frank and Jennifer & David. Collectively, the weddings included 580 guests, 19 band members; 2 lighting companies, 4 photographers; 2 videographers, draping installations, 6 limousines, 3 motorcoaches, 1000s of candles and a combined POSH staff of 9. It was quite the evening.

Today on 10.10.10 undeniably the most popular wedding day of the year, we have the honour of coordinating an amazing wedding for one of my favorite couples of the season. I have been working with this lovely couple for almost a year now and look forward to seeing their vision come to life.

Happy planning and a special congratulations to all the 10.10.10 couples today!

A Planner Plans: Green Eyed Monsters

We were unable to post on Friday because we were coordinating the wedding of our amazing couple Joan & Vincent. Now that their wedding is complete and they are luxuriating on the beach in Mexico, we are a bit back to normal (until this weekend's three weddings).

I've hesitated to right this post. Everything in social media tells you to remain positive, not to focus on negative, not to "bash" vendors or downplay products. The reality is however, people sometimes suck.

Yesterday I cried.

I consider myself a strong person. My greatest accomplishment, next to Chris, is never settling for no. I graduated with an MBA because someone challenged me to. I dual majored the summer before my Senior year to see if I could. At 23, I purchased my first home and seven years ago started this business which I love. I pride myself on being strong and yet I cried.

Hard tears.

I've told myself a million times not to let the planning get to me. Our wedding planning has taken a bit of a back seat as my priority and focus is assisting my clients. Mr. Charming and I work on limited time. We've worked hard, very hard, to ensure our guests remember the experience at our wedding. The emotions of the day. The joy that we share. That they get a true glimpse into our reality.

When the green eyed monster reared it's evil head into OUR situation, I found out that I am normal. Just plain normal.

I see it a million times with my Brides and I finally became that girl. With my couples, it's easy. I play defense. You will NOT contribute unnecessary stress to my brides. That scenario is easy. In my own life, not so much. I let people "get to me" and try to rationalize it when the truth is, people sometimes suck.

I can not offer much in the way of comfort, but wanted to let other Brides in similar situations know that with wedding planning, you find out who you're true supporters are. You find out who values you and who genuinely supports your relationship. It's a blessing and a curse. The good thing is, in the end, the only people left in the room will be the ones on your team. Rest assured.

I recently posted the phrase on facebook and today I've decided that like my good colleague Mark Kingsdorf, it's going up on my wall.

If you are IN a wedding and you are NOT the Bride or Groom, REALITY check: IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. AT ALL.

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