Luck was on our side when Annie and Charles married at the beautiful Hines Hill Conference Center in Peninsula, Ohio on September 24th. It was a rainy, gloomy week...even the day before we trudged around in our rubber boots to do set up but it was absolutely gorgeous on wedding day and this sweet couple deserved it! I met Annie and her dear mom, Barb when they were searching for the perfect outdoor venue. It just so happened that I had done a lovely ceremony at this venue in 2010 and I thought it would be perfect for them. Charles is an avid fisherman and as you can tell, the details certainly reflected this.

There were so many amazing details at this wedding. The family hand dyed the vintage napkins and table runners. One of the most interesting trends they opted for is the bride and groom meet and greet before the ceremony. I absolutely love this because it gives guests an opportunity to enjoy time with the couple and everyone is very relaxed before the start of the festivities. Annie dressed in a casual dress with cowboy boots before changing into her beautiful gown. After cocktails, guests enjoyed dinner under the tent which was catered by the wonderful people at Spice of Life Catering. There was a fire going with s'more ingredients and pashminas available. Dancing took place in the barn with desserts and late nite pizza.

Mary Wyar provided these beautiful pictures!

Here is a lovely note from Annie's parents:

Dear Allison,

Thank you for helping to make Annie and Charles' wedding perfect. Your quiet guiding expertise calmed all our nerves. From leading us to the Stone Cottage and the photographer, through the last week of phone calls to vendors and even to the quick last minute fix to the lighting in the barn (note: courtesy of Rock the House!), you made sure our vision was carried out. Thank you and Heather for loading the cars and the clean up! We truly appreciate everything you did. We will definitely recommend you and Kirkbrides to future brides. Hope we can work together again. We have two more daughters!

Fondly,
Barbara and John Derethik

I started working with Emily and her lovely mom Paula pretty early on for the July 30, 2011 wedding they were planning at the Hyatt at the Arcade. If you are an avid blog reader you know that we do quite a bit of weddings here as we absolutely love the architecture of the venue, the staff there as well as the number of options you have when creating your event layout.

With Emily in school full-time out of town, Paula and I enjoyed working on many of the plans together. Working with the Kleckas was a very happy, energetic and friendly experience which I wish I could duplicate all over again for 2012! They do have another daughter (who gave one of the classiest MOH speeches actually) so I have my fingers crossed. :)

Anyway, we designed this wedding from start to finish with a soft pink, plum purple, ivory and gold colors in mind. They loved the vintage feel to things but didn't want to go too overboard. There were so many lovely touches to this wedding that many guests appreciated, which you will see in the notes below. Our vendors on this wedding included photography and video by Chris, Julie and Jared at Z Media, flowers and string lights by Grande Designs, cake by Flour Girl/Luna Bakery and of course our wonderful wedding venue of Hyatt at the Arcade in downtown Cleveland. This was one of the three weddings I had this year at St. Raphael Parish in Bay Village. What a wonderful church for a wedding!

Emily and Jeff are a younger couple and I have no doubt have found lifelong partners in each other. You will enjoy these stunning pictures from Z Media as well as seeing how beautiful and perfect Emily looked in her wedding dress, which looked like it was custom designed especially for her! Congratulations you two, I wish you nothing but the best in all the years to come.

A note from Emily and Jeff:



































A note from the Mother of the Bride:

Valarie,

Emily called me first thing Sunday morning upset that she didn't get a chance to thank you. You will be hearing from her after the honeymoon but in the meantime -THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

The entire day was unbelievable. From the prelude music at the ceremony to the last dance, Emily and Jeff's day was magical!

The Old Arcade looked spectacular and the guests had never seen it look so grand! The out-of-towners, including Jeff's mom, could not say enough about the venue and how beautiful it looked! I wish I could tell you all the compliments I received but they are too numerous. We were all so happy and the joy was contagious!!! The band kept everyone on the dance floor all night and when they finished the crowd started chanting , "One more set! One more set!" It was so fun!

Bernie outdid himself with the floral and the light strands. Jeff's mom loves flowers and was so pleased with the centerpieces and arrangements. They were perfect! In addition, I never saw the altar at our church look so beautiful! The way Bernie incorporated our family prayer book into Emily's bouquet was flawless and the bouquet was perfect for the vintage style Emily loves.

I could go on and on! Your staff was so helpful, courteous, professional and unobtrusive. This was such a large wedding yet it didn't feel that way because everything went so smoothly. We are so grateful for your help in making this the most memorable day of Jeff and Emily's lives! Thank you!

Sincerely,

Paula Klecka

A note the Mother of the Bride received from one of their guests (that she shared with me):

Paula:

Just want you to know that you and Marc put on the best wedding we have ever attended! You outdid yourself. Every detail was perfect. What a beautiful ceremony, music, flowers, family wedding pictures (great touch), food, band, dancing slippers…but the place card note from Emily (with Calligraphy by Paula?) was the nicest tough I have ever seen. Also, Emily’s dress was spectacular, as was yours!

We had a blast! I hope you can relax a bit this week. Hope to talk to you soon. Thanks so much for including us.

Another note the Mother of the Bride received from a guest:
Hi Paula!

Jim and I left for a little vacation on Sunday so I haven't had a chance to touch base with you about the wonderful wedding. As a 2-time mommy of the bride, I'm always captivated by weddings and watching the magical moments unfold. There were many magical moments to witness last Saturday!

Just for fun, I'm sending you a list of the "little things" that perhaps you thought may have gone unnoticed and some that were completely obvious but well worth the mention:

• Emily and Jeff: What a darling couple!!
• Emily's dress was stunning and fit her like a glove. Elegant in every way!
• You!!!! You looked absolutely beautiful! So did Marc:)
• The flower girls....so sweet!

• Each bridesmaid's dress was unique, as were their bouquets

• Speaking of bouquets....the flowers were absolutely fabulous at the church and at the reception
• Jeff walking his mom down the aisle. Nice touch!
• Mary's smile....she was so happy
• The readers:) Jujy was so honored!
  

• The programs ~ the jewel on top was repeated at the reception as the table assignments were placed in the frame filled with similar jewels.
• The golden branches on the alter repeated throughout the reception. They matched the golden wood on the chairs.
  
• The personal touch of having Emily and Jeff write a note to the guests on the table assignment cards must have been very time consuming but was a lovely touch! Hope you didn't have to re-assign anyone once those notes were written!
• The music . . . . everywhere!!! The music at the church was the best I've ever heard and I've been to lots and lots of weddings. The band at the reception was fun and really great!
• The candy bar....yummy!
• The dancing shoes. Such a good idea. It allowed everyone to dance the night away without the worry of sore feet.
• The venue......super cool. Love the pic that Juge took of Emily and Jeff's first dance. Really cool birds eye view.
• The new in-laws! What a fabulous family!
• Just watching all of you enjoy every minute of this beautiful start to a brand new family.... the Jeff Joines family:)

I'm sure this week has been a little quiet for you. Sometimes it's a bit of a letdown after all the swirl of events that lead up to the wedding. We've been thinking about you and Marc and just want to thank you for including us in this most special event!

It's hard to believe a warm July day is possible when I woke up to frost this morning but Sherron and Margeaux had a beautiful wedding day! Sherron and Margeaux knew exactly what they wanted for their outdoor Hillbrook Club wedding and I was so excited to execute their wishes! Margeaux had an amazing color palette of orange, chocolate and green selected. It was a gorgeous combination, especially with the natural settting that surrounded us on wedding day! I can honestly say that Margeaux looked like a model that day and Sherron should have been on the cover of GQ. I fell in love with their beautiful pictures by Catherine McKinley. Their adorable flower girl and ring bearer stole the show as well. One of my favorite details was the pizza and soda as their late night snack....the soda was Orange Crush of course! It was such a pleasure working with such a laid back, and fun couple. Here is a very kind note from the couple:

Dear Allison,

Thank you so much for everything you did to make our wedding a dream come true. It was all so beautiful and we really appreciate all of your hard work throughout this process. It truly was the best day of both of our lives and we could not have done with without you. The beautiful touches that you added to everything made our day amazingly beautifull!!

Thanks,
Sherron and Margeaux