The last few weeks have been pretty hectic (in a good way!) around Stella Event Design. We’ve been busy working on a new website design, a blog re-design, attended a workshop in Chicago and are working on getting our interns ready for the upcoming wedding season. Not to mention we have some amazing weddings coming up that we’ve been excitedly working on!
Last week I spent 2 days in Chicago for Blogging Bootcamp with Liene Stevens of The Smart Planner. Monday night I had the pleasure of spending a lovely dinner with 3 lovely wedding professionals: Erika of E-Vents, Ami (the Elizabeth 1/2) of Elizabeth Anne Designs, and Kathy of Perfect Solutions. Wonderful ladies and an absolutely delicious dinner of french-vietnamese cuisine at La Colonial on Rush Street.
Tuesday was spent in an all day workshop learning how to make this blog a better and happier place for all of our wonderful readers. In the next week or so we’ll be launching our newly designed blog which will not only be much lovelier than this one, but more importantly, will be easier to navigate and find what you’re looking for! So if you’re in the mood to check out all of our planning tips, they’ll be only a click away!
2010 Bride Mandy emailed and asked, “How can I keep people from bringing kids to my reception? I really want an adults only reception. Can I put ‘no kids’ or ‘adults only’ on the invitation? My mom and I are going back and forth on this and I’m just not sure what to do!”
Mandy,
There are a few things you can do to give guests the hint that kids aren’t allowed and avoid the “no kids” wording, or to cope if kids do end up at your reception.
- Use inner and outer envelopes on your invitations. While it’s a bit of added expense, the inner envelope can be used to write out each persons name invited, and this is a great place to let people know their children are not invited as well. For example, your outside envelope would say, MR AND MRS ROBERT FRANKLIN and your inner envelope would say BOB AND MARY, so they will know little Susie is not invited.
- Let a few key people know of your choice, such as parents, aunts and uncles and bridal party members. That way if people get their invitations and aren’t sure if their children are invited, they can ask a friend or family member.
- Lastly, prepare for the inevitable. People MAY bring a child or two to your reception, or you may be faced with the dreaded phone call of a guest calling and asking to bring little Susie…it’s going to be harder than you think to tell Mom her little one isn’t invited. Hire a few sitters and set up a children’s room at the reception (complete with snacks, coloring books or toys) or at the hotel guests are staying at.
Hope that helps Mandy! Keep the questions coming and as always, we’ll do our best to give you some tips to tackle your wedding dilemma’s!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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(picture via etsy)
I love coming across fun and unique ways to set a wedding apart, and if it lends entertainment for your guests as well, even better!
Check out these Wedding Trees from Melangerie on Etsy. The colorful tree will entertain your guests by showing them who’s a family member, childhood friend, co-worker, etc., and they are coordinated to your wedding colors! This would look awesome framed and set at your escort card table, or you can even have these printed into custom place mats. Perfect for a fun and funky wedding reception, and I know I would personally sit and look at these all night!
What are you doing to make your wedding unique?
Megan O’Hara
2009 Event Assistant
Our team is completed with Megan O’Hara, who will be working with Stella Event Design this summer as an event assistant. We got the chance to meet with Megan in St. Joseph in February and knew her personality and excitement would be a great fit for the rest of our team.
Megan is joining us from Miami University in Ohio where she majors in Mass Communications and Marketing and has previous experience planning social events for campus organizations. Megan will lend her organizational and design skills, as well as her contagious enthusiasm to our 2009 events and we’re happy to have her.
Welcome Megan!
Brittany Johnson
2009 Event Assistant
We couldn’t be happier with the ladies we’ve chosen to assist us this summer as 2009 Event Assistants! Brittany Johnson is a communications major at Taylor University and will be on-site to assist us at many of our weddings this summer.
Brittany has been involved in organizing events for Acting on Aids on her campus and really struck me with her excitement and enthusiasm to be involved hands-on in events. I’m looking forward to sharing all that we do at Stella Events with her!
Welcome, Brittany!
Mary George
Event Associate
Mary began assisting with events during our 2008 season and will continue to bring her atttention to detail, organization and passion for weddings to our 2009 events! Mary will assist with full-service weddings in 2009, as well as offering Day of Coordination services.
Mary has a degree in counseling and enjoys one on one interaction with brides and grooms, and working with them to make their day stress free and comfortable. Mary lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her husband Brandon and her son Liam.
We are so excited to have Mary take on this role with the Stella Event Design team!
I have been so busy the last month I haven’t even had time to make some really important announcements!
We’ve officially completed our 2009 team and I’m really excited to introduce you to the completed event team. Next week I’ll be introducing our event associate and our summer interns, and we found some really great matches for the Stella team!
We still have spots left, so if you’d like to be a part of this amazing shoot, contact jessica@stellaeventdesign.com as soon as possible to secure your spot!
We’ve teamed up with LVL Photography and Ben Pancoast Photography to help bring a marathon curtain call photo shoot to Southwest Michigan on Saturday, May 2nd and Sunday, August 30th in St. Joseph! We’ll be bringing together a group of couples, 2 amazing photographers, and some of Southwest Michigan’s most beautiful locations to create a one of a kind photo shoot to capture you in your wedding dress one last time! Have pictures taken solo in your dress or bring along your new husband–it’s up to you!
Details:
When: Saturday, May 2nd or Sunday, August 30th
Where: 2 amazing locations in the St. Joseph area
What you get: Hair and makeup service, a photo session with a photographer in 2 different locations, and all of your digital negatives!
Cost: $175 ($75 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot!)
We’ll be able to take a limited number of couples, so contact jessica@stellaeventdesign.com as soon as possible to reserve your spot!
Next week I’m starting a few new weekly features! Feel free to contribute some ideas, we’d love to hear from you!
Reader Inspiration::Share a photo or idea you’re using in your own wedding planning
Etiquette 101::Send us questions on etiquette (or anything!) and we’ll answer in a post for all readers
To submit questions or inspiration email jessica@stellaeventdesign.com!
