Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of joining Tina, Mate and their families on their wedding day in Cleveland and Eastlake. Since we were planning on 600+ guests joining us for the reception, I tried to predict everything that could go wrong. Luckily, nothing did (except for one of my lonely bathroom toiletry baskets being left in the men's room at the end of the night) and my team and I got to enjoy such a fun and lively wedding for some of the nicest clients! The ballroom didn't look too shabby either - I loved all of the blue, and the flowers were gorgeous!

I got to work with the "raddest" photographer again, Robert from Rad Productions. The Rad videographer, Adam, shot the video and I can't wait to see it. See RAD's work in the pics below...

You can see in the pictures how fabulous Tina, the bride, looked. These two are just two peas in a pod and I just know they will have a happy life together. I was so honored to be a part of their wedding day and I had a blast getting to know their amazing family and friends. I also got to work with Mary, Mate's mom, on the humongous dessert display table, where we even had desserts stored in the back as reserve for when we ran out of any of the 100 other desserts already displayed! This, as you may know, is a tradition at Croatian weddings. At the end of the night, I hugged Tina and Mate goodbye and when they told me how happy they were and how they were having the best time and didn't have to worry about anything at all, I felt such a feeling of satisfaction…I love being around engaged couples and newlyweds! I love what I do because it makes me feel and remember that all you need is LOVE!

I began working with Sarah and Mike about 6 months before their wedding to add some creative touches and hire all of the vendors. Sarah's color palette already included this beautiful blue and green, so we accented it with black and white...so gorgeous and sophisticated! We went all out for the favors and created this fun candy bar. Guests were up there all night, and I have to admit I had a good sugar high going on myself throughout the day! Sarah loves 80's music, so we named all of the tables after 80's songs and also used 80's songs for all of the big events: announcements, first dance (the acoustic version of Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper, so romantic!), cake cutting, bouquet toss, etc. After a nail-biting ceremony in front of the lake (because of the bad weather that was rolling in), we all went down to the ballroom for delicious food and drinks (Material Girl Martinis and Blue Lagoon Margaritas), good music and fun. Congratulations Sarah and Mike! It was truly a pleasure to work with you! These pictures were taken by none other than myself, and it shows why I am a wedding coordinator and not a photographer! Enjoy.

Kirkbrides now offers fine hand calligraphy for your invitations, placecards and other special stationary you may be using at your wedding. I've used calligraphy in the past for menus, table names, escort cards as well. Basic pricing is as follows but may vary by project.

Outer invitation address: $3.00 per envelope
Placecards: $1.50 per card

Available styles include Romantic and Old English. Kirkbrides clients receive a discount from the prices above.

Please call 216.288.4325 or e-mail info@kirkbrides.com for more information.

What a joy it was to me when a fellow wedding vendor, Bridget of Flour Girl, asked me for some creative and coordination help with her wedding on June 6. I've enjoyed working with her for over a year now and I put all of my efforts into making sure that HER day went just as we planned it.

Since her new husband is a baseball coach, they decided to name the tables after different baseball teams. We accented the tables with one of my favorite flowers (peonies), a gorgeous table runner and numerous bud vases and candles. My favorite part of the wedding was the dessert and candy buffet that Bridget treated her guests to. I think that I could have eaten every pink sugar cookie on the table!

The gorgeous day ended with a grand send-off with sparklers. Bridget and Marc had a fun and laid back wedding party which made our job even more enjoyable. Can't wait to get back to work on all of the wedding cakes!! Here are a few awesome images from the big day from Scott and Julie at Easywind Studio. Thanks guys!!!

All week long, the weather reports were calling for scattered thunderstorms on Saturday, May 31. I was hoping that somehow the rain would hold off for my bride and groom who were flying in from the Seattle area for their wedding day! After working with these two for almost a year to plan their wedding, these two have quite a special love story and it's clear that they are very dedicated to their relationship. Since they were already married two years ago right before they deployed to Iraq, Bethany needed her special wedding day in order to finally change her last name.

We really lucked out because it only rained ONCE that day, right after Bethany stepped into the limo to go out to the ceremony chapel. All of the caterers, florists and coordination team that were left back at the reception to set up the decor details in the tent began calling my cell phone saying a number of things including "I thought the tent was going to blow over!!". I, of course, was off at the ceremony and couldn't do anything but worry. That was the only time it rained ALL DAY and we ended up with wonderful weather.

As always, Scott and Julie at Easywind Studio were wonderful to work with and captured some great moments, as you can see below.

I spoke with Bethany after the wedding and she said that she had a vision of the wedding beforehand but it "exceeded" her expectations entirely. It made me so incredibly happy to hear that because if anyone deserved a romantic and perfect wedding day, it was Bethany and Michael. Congratulations!

I had the extreme pleasure of working with Bethany and Michael for almost a year on their May 31, 2008 wedding. They live in Olympia, Washington and hired Kirkbrides for full planning of the wedding that took place in Akron.

They have quite a unique and special love story. Here is the article on their wedding that appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal on Monday.


What a wonderful day we had! The weather report kept calling for thunderstorms but it didn't rain all day (at least where we were at). More pictures to follow shortly...

Exciting things are happening at Kirkbrides. Laura and Stephen are getting married on May 16, 2009 in Ohio and they hired Kirkbrides to plan their wedding! They live in New York City so of course it made sense to shoot their engagement session throughout Central Park. Scott from Easywind Studio made the trip to shoot the pictures. We are creating a "Moonlit Garden" theme.

Laura and Stephen - it is so fun to see you when you come into town and I always seem to laugh a lot! What a coincidence that we all attended the same college too!