Holiday Inn-oying

Has it ever taken you a half hour to make a hotel reservation? Jesse's wedding is coming up this August, and he and his fiancee blocked a group of rooms for their guests at a Holiday Inn, where their reception is. I think that's great--it will be so nice for out-of-town guests like me to just go upstairs after the reception. No one has to worry about drinking too much. No one has to worry about getting lost in a strange city.

However, the phone number Holiday Inn says to call to make reservations (1-800-465-4329) is, I am pretty sure, a call center in India.

I'm ok with that. Usually it does not make a difference to me. But they must have trained these people to keep you on the phone as long as possible. The lady I talked to insisted on reading me the details of the hotel and signing me up for their Rewards Points program (it was free), and after I booked the reservation, I got tricked into listening to a promotion for a $199 vacation at Disney World.

The real problem was that, since the wedding group rate was only available for the night of the wedding, they had me book two separate reservations--one for each night. It was absurd. I don't want to worry about having to change rooms and I want to have to re-check-in. Plus, they had the non-wedding group rate at $119/night. Online, it's $87. I pointed this out, and the lady dropped it down to $99/night. I agreed to that at the time, because I was in a hurry to get somewhere.

This morning, though, I decided to call the actual hotel in Nebraska, cancel my reservations, and redo it online. I pressed the button "2" to be connected with reservations and...it sent me back to India. This time I explained how frustrated I was, and said I wanted to redo my reservations. The guy I spoke to said that the $87 was the "nonrefundable advance purchase rate," meaning they would charge my credit card now (instead of after we checked out) and I can't back out and get a refund. I said that was fine, and he canceled the Friday night reservation and edited my previous reservation to cover both nights at the $87/night rate.

Lesson learned? I don't know. I think you want to try to book with the group rate if you can, because I think the bride and groom get some kind of deal if enough people book with them. And, as my friend Claire points out, if you're in the wedding block, you sometimes get event info and a welcome package in your room.

But I'm not sure how to avoid getting transferred away from the actual hotel's phone line. Maybe I should have called the actual hotel, and pressed "0" instead of "2" for reservations. There are so many, many benefits to having a wedding at a major hotel chain, particularly for out-of-town guests like me. But do all major hotel chains outsource their reservations?

Photographer = booked!

Yay! After much searching, Derek and I decided on:

Events to Remember.

• The owner, Aaron, is so personable that we talked for two hours. I felt like I was his only customer.
  
• And, he has no problem communicating through email! I had no idea how nice I would find this, but it's great.
  
• He was able to create our own special "package": $2950 for 9 hours of coverage, a 30-page album, a high-res dvd of all of our pictures, an engagement session, 2 parent albums, and a proofbook. From what I'm seeing, that's a pretty good deal.

Here are the other photographers we looked at:

Birch Photographers

• Met with Nicole, she seemed very nice.
• Package pricing can be found here.
• If you go with Birch Photographers and President Tuxedo, you get a $300 discount on the photography.
• Their standard albums weren't leather-bound; they had a photo cover. It was cool, but I like leather-bound better.
  
• Here's what bothered me about them: they contacted me after I entered a contest to win a package from them. Then, they kept calling me about tuxes afterward. That was annoying.
• I didn't get the personal feel from them that I got from Aaron. The lady I met with was a manager--I didn't meet with the photographer. I would have gotten to choose from 6 photographers, but it just felt so impersonal. There were too many gimmicks--for example, if I booked by June 30th, I would get a second photographer thrown in for FREE. Well, it's July now, and they still have that promotion going on...with the deadline being a month later.

Precious Memories Photography

• We didn't actually meet with anyone from here, but they looked reasonable in price and they got an award from theknot.com.
• I didn't like them because I found a picture on there of a groom pretending to smack his new wife's butt. That just turned me off right away.

Grant Isaac Studio

• He was expensive (started around $4000 for packages with an album), but he was Derek's friend and we would have considered him. However, it turns out that he and his wife might be moving to North Carolina!

Fotografz Wedding Photography

• I liked this guy because he had a lot of experience in Birmingham, but he was just too expensive (starting at about $4000 for packages with an album covering 8 hours).

So there's the scoop on photography. Now, on to the florist drama! And boy, is there drama. You just wait until you hear the issues that I never knew existed. Also coming soon: bridesmaid dress shopping. Stay tuned.

Love Love Love...

Swedish Crown Princess Victoria's on-the-shoulder wedding gown. Simple, elegant, grown-up.





I hope this style catches on.

Photo from CNN.com

The centerpieces for my June 4, 2011 wedding unveiled!

A few weekends ago, Derek and I decided to do a little experiment. I'm a big fan of potted flowers; I used to work at a garden store and I really don't like seeing cut flowers die. Derek is a big fan of not wasting money. So what to do for centerpieces? On May 15th, we bought some pots from Meijer--Derek wanted this dish style as opposed to a deeper pot, because he was adamant that the guests be able to see over the centerpieces to talk to each other. The pots are made by PSW Pots and made out of recycled material. The bigger one is shown in the color beige and is 10" in diameter; that pot was $3.99 at Meijer. The smaller one is in the color dark charcoal and is 8" in diameter for $2.99. I like the look of the dark pot better, so I think we'll go with that shade for the wedding, but Derek and I decided to do a mix of sizes.

We filled the pots with Miracle-Gro Potting Mix from Meijer.

We bought a flat of petunias from Bordine's Nursery, which was $15/flat on May 15th (remember they go down in price as Memorial Day passes). We mixed the colors called Deep Blue and (I think, but I'm not sure) Baby Duck Yellow, which is pretty close to our wedding colors. The 10" pot has eleven seedlings in it, and the 8" pot had seven.

I think they look great, don't you? Here's the "before" picture, so you can compare:



A few notes:

• We grew these from May 15th to June 4th in Michigan, so we had our fair share of both crappy weather, and really good weather
• These pots have no drainage holes. That is what we wanted--we didn't like the idea of dirt spilling through to the tablecloths at the wedding--but just remember that, if you do this, to watch the pots when it rains. If there is sitting water on top of the soil, gently tilt them so it can drain out.
• If you like the idea of the "Sky Blue" petunias that are out there, they aren't really that blue. They are more of a lavender. These Deep Blue petunias look bluer in the photos here than they really are--they are really a dark purple.
• Petunias need full sun, so keep them outside until the wedding
  

Peter Pan Inspiration Board

For those of you who are new to the blog, we like to "design" wedding schemes, called "Inspiration Boards." It's a compilation of ideas we think would make a cool wedding aesthetic. This one isn't for my own wedding, it's just for fun.

I've been meaning to do this one for a long time! Here are my ideas for a Peter Pan inspired wedding--a Tiger Lily bouquet, a pirate ship centerpiece, and skipping the white dress in favor of a frock in the hue of Wendy's signature nightgown. Another idea that I couldn't fit in here would be an invitation with a night time photo of Big Ben on it.

Top Row: color scheme from the Brides.com Color Studio, Tiger Lily bouquet off Flickr, Starry Night by Van Gogh, "Tinker Bell" dress by B2 Style # B3091 in honey dew
Bottom Row: Image from Brilliant Sunshine, "Wedding" gown by Belsoie Style # L3009 in powder blue, Pirate ship from piratemerch.com, John's top hat from Hats in the Belfry

Wedding band = booked!

Hey everyone! Derek and I had such an exciting weekend, and I'm gonna tell you all about it!

About a month ago, my mom started to get nervous about the wedding band. I was in those final few weeks before law school exams, so I couldn't really do anything, so my mom started calling around. It seems like the best way to do this, by the way, is by referral. Turns out she was right to be nervous. The first band she called (the band that played at my brother's friend's sister's wedding), happened to be booked more than 13 months in advance of the date! So this made my mom more nervous. But she eventually found a few more that were available June 4, 2011, and we decided to go listen to Chateau, which, incidentally, just won an award from theknot.

We emailed/talked on the phone back and forth with the director/manager Sid, and he said we could come watch them at a wedding at the Cherry Creek Golf Club in Shelby Twp., MI, as long as we were quiet and unobtrusive and dressed appropriately. So Derek and I headed off to "crash" our first wedding! (We get life points for that, right?)

Derek was worried that any band that wasn't a swing band would only play 2000s pop music, but when we walked in, they were playing "Sweet Caroline." Then they played "Build Me Up Buttercup," and I think Derek was sold. The band seemed to really keep party going very well, and they played a good variety of songs.

This little old couple struck up a conversation with us, too. I think they were a little tipsy because the husband mentioned four or five times that he had seen the band play before. They tried to get us to have a drink, but, being polite music-spies, we refused.

Anyway, Derek said "Yes" to the band (for the record, I like them too. I was more worried about Derek because he's kind of particular about his music), so I talked to Sid the next day. He said they were totally willing to learn "Little Surfer Girl" for me and my dad. He said he thought they could learn "Teach Your Children Well" for Derek and his mom, but he was wary of it because it's more of an acoustic guitar song, and the last time they learned a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song, it took them a very long time and no one ever requested the song again. But he said he'd try, since they have a year. And if they can't, they can play it on CD--apparently this is common (they have a DJ to play during the breaks).

The basic package, then, is $4650 for a 6 piece band, which, from calling around, is a GREAT deal--I haven't seen anything else under $6000 (see below for some other packages we found--prices are never posted online, and it's frustrating, and I want to give readers an idea of what they're looking at if they want a live band).
You get four hours of band time (the DJ plays during breaks), and up to one hour before the music starts, they will handle all the introductions and MC stuff. Sid said we could add more time, but usually this is enough. He also said we could add a saxophone for $450, but it's really not necessary.

Derek and I talked about it, then talked to my parents (they have graciously offered to pay for the band). Everyone said yes, so I let Sid know ASAP, and we're set!

* The wedding we spied on was at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Shelby Twp., MI. It's a beautiful facility--the reception hall opens onto these beautiful rolling green hills. The older gentleman we talked to, who liked to express his amazement at the cost of weddings these days, said that he heard the food was around $100/plate. Major downside: TWO weddings going on at the SAME TIME! And they weren't even on opposite sides of the building--they were right next door to each other. I would die!

**Other bands we talked to:
Intrigue
8 piece band @ $6500
11 piece band @7500
Based on 4 hours with full band, 2 twenty minute breaks with DJ service, Introductions, First Dance, & cake cutting

The Dan Rafferty Band
$6500 for the "jazz group" which is either a 5 piece band with keyboards, sax, bass, guitar & drum or a 3 piece with keyboards, sax, and bass.
This is for 6 hours with the jazz group, DJ and full band.
Willing to learn any new songs.

Hey all,
Haven't updated in a while, Lily and I got busy, and we apologize. However, we expect to pick it up soon, with more interesting research and articles about our experiences with weddings! I've got one wedding to attend this summer, and two in the fall, so you can bet I'll have a lot to say.

As far as my wedding goes, nothing much has happened since we bought my dress last month. It looks like we're going to check out some bands in the next coming weeks--one is already booked for June 4, 2011! I don't think we should panic yet, though. This one we're going to see next week, Chateau, sounds like it'll be pretty good.

Here's a wedding predicament for you to think about. My cousin booked her venue at an outdoor location for this coming September, only now, the Catholic priest who was going to do the wedding has told her that Catholics generally can't get married outside. I knew that was the case, but I assumed the priest knew and just agreed to do it outside anyway--plus, some dioceses are more liberal than others. I know my Catholic aunt was allowed to marry my Jewish uncle in a hotel, and Father Burke presided, saying anything was better than losing a Catholic.

So what do you do in this situation? Should they stick with the venue (Waters Mill, in Dahlonega, GA) and get a Methodist or Episcopal minister (the groom is not Catholic; my cousin is), or move the wedding to a church?