Getting Kiddos Down the Aisle

A couple months ago I was asked to start blogging for the Woman's Hosptial's Mommy-Go-Round Blog. One of my first posts hit in the middle of Spring or, as we think of it, wedding season! So, I shared my thoughts on getting young kiddos down the aisle through my personal experience of getting my own little wild woman down the aisle at Jennifer's wedding. She was right around 18 months old...so of course, hilarity ensured! Please enjoy this "repost"! 

XOXO

Rachel 

As a wedding planner, I’ve seen my fair share of ceremony bloopers. From the best man forgetting the rings to bridesmaid trip-ups and even officiants mispronouncing names… you name it, I’ve seen it! My favorites, however, revolve around child participants. Oh how those flower girls and ring bearers can steal the show with their adorable little tactics!  

Well, it was all fun and games until my Lily was asked to be a flower girl when she was just about two years old. Will she wear the dress? Will she walk down the aisle? Will she show her tail (literally and/or figuratively)? Before my eyes flashed every screaming child from years of weddings. I was stressed out before I was done expressing my gratitude to the bride for asking her. I now completely understood the looks of terror on the parents’ faces beforehand and the several glasses of wine they would down afterward. While I had a few tricks up my sleeves to get strangers down the aisle…this was personal. I approached this little challenge with vigor and determination. Lily would be the most adorable flower girl…if it killed me. So the preparations began…and while rocky at times…worked! With wedding season currently in full bloom, I wanted to share our experience with our terrible two flower girl!

Before the Wedding

We talked “wedding” often. As soon as she was asked, we started talking about how fabulous weddings are and what fun they are to be in. She was so young that I’m sure she caught about .01% of everything we said but I was determined! We read books, colored pictures, and even sang made-up songs about the honor of being a flower girl. I’m sure she just thought her parents were cuckoo birds but on the off-chance it got her excited, we kept it up!

We practiced. We placed our dining room chairs into a make-shift ceremony, played some Canon in D, and had her prance up and down the “aisle”. Thankfully, we didn’t have to worry about her actually doing anything, like drop petals, so practices basically revolved around reminding her not to sprint whilst laughing like a hyena. My heart palpitations never let up…because she never walked down the practice aisle without the hyena-esque laughter. Oh joy…

We played dress up. When the dress arrived, I was so excited to have her try it on. It was a full and fluffy little dress that I just knew would make her look like an adorable cupcake. I made a big deal about trying it on and once she had it on, I kissed the visuals of her twirling around with a hug smile goodbye…because she screamed with discontent. She hated it. Again, oh joy…

Day-of the Wedding

We kept her happy. Oh, you want some goldfish? Here you go. Oh, you want some juice? No problem. Oh, you want to play on this iPad? Let me turn it on for you. Nap time was non-negotiable and that was about my only line in the sand.  Don’t judge…I was not going to have a screaming baby in front of all these people.

We kept her occupied. While everyone was getting dressed and having pre-ceremony photos taken, we kept her occupied with reading, coloring, and supervised exploring. I was actually a bridesmaid so we called in reinforcements. GranZee and Pops kept Lily as happy and as busy as possible! She was loving every minute of it…probably due to all the attention!

We bribed. Oh yes, we took it a step further from just keeping her happy…we bribed her with the idea of the biggest piece of wedding cake that could be cut and the promises of dancing the night away. Worth it.

Actually Getting Down the Aisle

Once the wedding started, I was a hot mess. Would she cooperate? I walked down the aisle as a bridesmaid, took my place, and held my breath. GranZee stayed with her until the very last moment and showed her where my husband was seated (on the end and as close to the front of the seating as possible). I heard GranZee say “now, walk to Daddy”. I’m sure everyone in attendance could hear my heart beating and if they couldn’t, they could see the terror on my face! While she took off at a speed that did not match the sweet and soft music playing…she made it and she was adorable!

Photo by Chantilly Wedding Photography

Whew! The much anticipated moment had past…the couple was successfully married…and now, I was allowed to relax and make good on my promises!

Photo by Chantilly Wedding Photography

Yep, that girl had her cake and danced the night away!

If your little one is heading down the aisle soon, my advice is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best! It’s a fun experience that your kiddo will probably love and so will you…afterward…with drink in hand!

{Haute Wedding} Jennifer + Theo

Theo was an amazing LSU student. He was uber involved on campus...never failed to impress...always energetic...basically, a walking example of everything you want in a student leader. So, when this rock star approached me before proposing to his girlfriend, I knew his wedding would be one for the books. Once Jennifer said yes, we got together and the planning began. Now, I adore Theo but once I started working with Jennifer...he was old news! Jennifer was a pure joy! Not only is she gorgeous, but her organization was impeccable and she approached every task with meticulous thought and care. She was a wedding planner's dream! 

Jennifer and Theo envisioned a well-organized, classic yet timeless affair draped in purple, navy, and silver. Each detail of their wedding was purposeful and their big day was a pure indication of their personalities and love. I basically drooled over the details the entire day! Their wedding ceremony was beautiful and watching their families come together during the reception in celebration was exciting to watch! 

The planning process and day-of with Jenn and Theo produced some fond memories that I will not soon forget! I share these photos from Genovese-Ashford Photography as a psedo-proud little momma! I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Williams, III...it will be great, for that I am sure! Enjoy!

Vendor Love:

Ceremony Location: St. John's Cathedral

Reception Location: River Oaks Catering and Event Center

Photographer: Genovese Ashford Studios

Videographer: BeBe Video Productions

Florist: Breaux's Flower Shop

Cakes: Gambino's Bakery

Rentals: Party Central

Transportation: Squires, Party Time Trolley, and Acadiana Courier

Paper: The Keeping Room

XOXO-Rachel

Wedding Planning Binder – Where to Start?

Turning it back over to Chelsey for her "haute point of view" on creating a wedding planning binder! Enjoy!

I’m a pretty organized person. Ok, ok, some may call me OCD. I like to say I’m detail-oriented.

My initial thought for keeping track of wedding plans was to use Pinterest for everything. I created a “fake” Pinterest account (which is top secret – sorry I just can’t share) so I could pin as many wedding-related things I wanted without annoying my friends. Honestly, I can’t take credit for that idea – my sweet friend and now bridesmaid, Alex, did this for her wedding and I thought it was brilliant.

After pinning band options, invitation styles and flower inspirations, I was utterly overwhelmed with my Pinterest boards and didn’t feel like anything was really “planned.”

After we booked the band – yes the band was the first checkbox I checked off – I didn’t know what to do with the signed contract. Knowing that I personally need a place for important documents like this, I set out to search for the perfect wedding planning binder.

I started on Google (where else). Searching “wedding planning binder,” resulted in links to The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner & Organizer, Wedding Wire’s Online Wedding Binder (which I came super close to purchasing) and many, many more. The thing is, many of the pre-made binders had tabs and information that didn’t apply to me. Plus, most were pretty expensive.

After asking lots of opinions, I decided to make my own, custom binder. The lost scrapbooker in me got very excited about planning a trip to Hobby Lobby and Office Depot for supplies!

Here are the supplies I splurged on:  

·         Fun scrapbook paper for divider pages, cover pages and anything else I feel like printing on fun paper. I bought this at Hobby Lobby (for 50% off, of course)

·         Plain white, 2 inch binder

·         One pack of 3-hole punched, page-size sheet protectors

·         Business card binder pages (when thinking of this now, I probably wouldn’t have bought this) 

·         Clear sheet protectors with index tabs (I inserted cute scrapbook paper into these sleeves to make my dividers have a little more personality)

·         Two binder zip pouches (to keep pens, sticky notes, etc.)

·         Index card pocket (to hold small receipts)

·         Ring-shaped Post-it notes (I know, I know)

·         Colored ink pens (why not)

·         Small, one-subject notebook (with three-ring hole)

Here is how I chose to divide my binder:

1.      Guests – a place to keep final our guest list, invitation logistics/ideas, wedding party contact sheet for day-of, etc.

2.      Ceremony – for all of the church logistics, program planning, reading selections, music, etc.

3.      Flowers and décor – because my mom is our florist, I grouped these together – it basically should be named “mom,” but this seemed more official J

4.      Attire – here’s where I keep fabric samples, receipts, photos of dresses, seamstress contact information, etc.

5.      Vendors – for all contracts, important correspondence from vendors, vendor contact list, etc.

6.      Other Important Stuff – this one’s a catch all for:  

a.       Budget checklist – this is an evolving Excel sheet on my computer, so I may print at the last minute just for keepsake. On The Knot app, I used their budget formula as a starting point to know how much I could spend on individual items.

b.      Gifts for others – receipts for bridesmaid’s gifts, ideas for welcome baskets and any other gift-related expense/idea.

c.       Day-of Assignments – my wedding is unique in the sense that my very large family will be taking part in the logistics. Here, I’ll keep all individualized to-do lists that I’ll create for each family member (along with a thank-you note, of course) to keep things running smoothly on April 11, 2015!

I didn’t include a printed calendar in my binder for a variety of reasons. The most important is that I’m using The Knot app on my phone as my checklist. From the app, I can add things to my calendar on my phone. I know myself and I know I wouldn’t take the time to write anything down on a paper calendar if it’s on my phone already. So, if I would have included it, it would never be accurate and who needs that?

I have also been using a print out of Real Simple’s Wedding Checklist quite a bit as a guide to what I can’t forget to do. It helped me decide how to organize this monster binder and gives me great satisfaction when I check things off with a good, old-fashioned ink pen.

And that’s all, y’all. My binder will probably evolve a bit as the planning continues, but it’s a start that is working for me so far.

So, let yourself be 12 again and go shopping for “school supplies” to create your own wedding planning binder. I admit, it’s pretty fun to see it all come together. 

Welcoming Chelsey to the Truly Haute Blog!

Welcome to Chelsey’s wedding series! One of our Hauties, Chelsey, is engaged and getting married on April 11, 2015. We thought that our readers could garner a lot of helpful information through Chelsey’s wedding planning process, so she has offered to share her experience with you. On our blog, we’ll be sharing this bride-to-be’s planning updates and tips, and we hope what you'll read from her will help you plan your big day. Read on to meet Chelsey and discover she and Robert’s heartwarming engagement story.

March 8, 2014 was epic. It was my 26^th birthday and I started my morning with the Varsity Sports running group for a run and yoga in the park – a perfect Saturday morning, if I do say so myself.

I made plans with a few friends to eat dinner at Restaurant IPO downtown around 7, so I spent the rest of my day just hanging around the house, doing random things. Robert played golf.

When he gets to my house to pick me up, he was early. He asks if we can leave a little early for dinner because he had an errand to run on the way to the restaurant. The errand was for his mom. Side note: his mom scrapbooks…a lot. It’s pretty amazing (he has 13 scrapbooks of his life to date).

He told me that he needed to snap a picture of Pleasant Hall, a building on LSU’s campus. His mom was working on catching up his books through college and Pleasant is where Robert worked as an undergrad. It just so happens that it’s also where I worked with Robert my freshman year of college. Although I thought it was strange that we had to go take this picture right before dinner, everything else about his story made perfect sense and was completely, 100% believable.

As we drive into the Pleasant Hall parking lot, I pull my trusty Nikon camera out, hang it around my neck, and start snapping pictures. Robert takes the camera from around me and starts snapping photos himself. Then, he puts the camera down and in what feels like one move, gets down on one knee!

I looked at him in disbelief and the sweet words he said are all a bit blurry to me, but you can guess what the outcome was.

I think I said “Are you serious” about 100 times too many. I may have interrupted him about 10 times too many. He asked, “Did you say yes?” With a laugh I said, “yes, of course, yes.”

Robert said with a smirk, “Don’t mind Dana over there taking pictures.” I look in shock as I see my sister’s friend, Dana, documenting the whole moment. I run and hug her while she’s shaking about as much as me.

In the car, 20 questions start.

•          How long have you been planning this?

•          Who knows about it? My sister?

•          Who am I supposed to call right now?

•          When did you ask my dad?

•          Do your parents know? Can we call them?

•          You get the idea.

I called my sister. No answer.

I called my parents. No answer.

By that time, we were already downtown for dinner, so I figured I’d tell everyone at Restaurant IPO.

We parked on the street near the old Little Village. At a door right before Restaurant IPO, in one breath, Robert says “Let’s make a stop right here first.” Before I had a chance to question it, he opens the door and there stands my family, his family and a handful of our sweet friends. Even Aubree and Gracie made it to the party.

It was seriously the most perfect day ever. Better than I could have ever imagined with a person sweeter than any words could ever come close to describing.

It’s one of those days where you get a little sad that it’s over. I wish I could bottle up every bit of that moment and keep it forever. It’s the surprise I never thought could be pulled off. It’s the goosebumps I’ve never felt before.

It’s the perfect question from the perfect person at the perfect time in the perfect place with every little detail playing out perfectly. 

{Haute Wedding} Ali + Jack

Moons and moons ago I was Miss LSU-USA turned adviser to the pageant and title holder. This fabulous opportunity allowed me to meet some truly beautiful girls with kind souls and an enthusiasm for my alma mater that was contagious! Geaux Tigers! One of those gorgeous girls was Ali. When she approached me about helping with the planning of her wedding, I didn't even have to think twice...count me in! 

We had a blast!

Ali and Jack's wedding was the perfect celebration of their love and personalities...very traditional, very sweet, very classic...with a dash of fun! Those elements are wonderfully showcased in the photos by Tremaine Photography and Morgan Anderson. Enjoy!

Yes...Miss LSU married an Ole Miss Rebel! A wedding divided!

Vendor Love: 

Photography: Tremaine Photography and Morgan Anderson

Ceremony Venue: Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church

Reception Venue: Federal Ballroom

Cakes: Haydel's Bakery

Flowers: Meade Wenzel

Caterer: Capdeboseq Catering

Rentals: Event Rental

Band: Bobby J and Stuff Like That

XOXO-Rachel