Marriage in A Castle... How Disney Perfect!

Breaking News Everyone!

Tokyo Disneyland Plays Host To Their 1st Wedding At Cinderella’s Castle!

Those of you who have always fantasized about having a fairytale wedding, will be pleased to hear that another couple has been married at a Cinderella’s Castle.

The first couple to take advantage of the chance to marry in this magical locale was Takayuki Abiko and his bride Mayumi Kagoshi who had their dream wedding on September 28th 2012. The bride, wearing a tasteful dress arrived in a red and white wedding vehicle where she was awaited by her groom, dressed in “classic Disney Prince” attire. Also there to greet the fair lady was their 50 guests and a full brass band! After being married in the decadent ballroom, the couple was then taken outside and treated to a “flower shower” and then they got to meet members of the Disney cast and other well-wishers.

                                  

We just hope your pockets are as deep as your imagination if you want a similar Disney Wedding, because a wedding like this in Tokyo costs $96,000  just to rent the space(not including a wedding dress or other wedding vendors) and $575 per plate.

When asked why they chose to marry at Disneyland, the couple said that they had visited the park numerous times when they were dating and that Cinderella’s Castle was one of the favorite places. When they heard it had become available for weddings, they jumped at the chance. Abiko said: “My wife loves Cinderella…so it makes me very happy to be able to give her the wedding of her dreams.”

How sweet is that!

Happy Planning everyone!

xoxo

Katherine

Pinterest: Friend or Foe?

Personally, I dub thee Foe. 

In a world where literally everything is at our fingertips and readily available at the click of a button, little is held back from women, newly engaged and soon to be engaged brides. As a Wedding and Event planner, I believe Pinterest is aiding a hand to ruining the wedding planning process. It isn't that I don't think the ideas of many Pins are adorable and wedding worthy, but rather that there is just too much dreaming that is taking place. I like to promise my clients a stress free (or nearly stress free) day. When a bride has arranged her entire wedding off of her Pinterest dream wedding board, almost anything can go wrong.




Pinterest is a land of pretty colors and beautiful pictures. So what do you think will happen if a bride sees 5 or 6 bouquets that she loves but then cannot pick which she prefers  Well, she is most likely either going to stress about it to the verge of tears (thank you wedding emotions) or she is going to seriously tick off her florist who will most likely be told to come up with a way to make more than 8 types of flowers look perfect combined in one.

And what if she has envisioned her wedding to be EXACTLY like the photo on Pinterest that displays an out of this world cascade of light due to the perfect combination of clouds in the sky and ratio of sun beams to bridesmaids basking in said sunbeams? She will either pester the photographer to an inch of their sanity attempting to tell them, a professional, how to do their job, or shes going to melt in a puddle of nerves because her chance to copy that once in a lifetime Pinterest shot has failed.


There are too many spots for error. Jut to clarify, I am not against Pinterest in any way. I actually am guilty of Pinning this and that. Am I saying don't copy and Idea you found? No. I am simply hoping to shed light on the probably actuality that your weddings reality on this pretty side of the world is different than the land of happy Pinning that one to many a bride has fallen privy to in Pinterest World. And if only to throw a tad bit more fuel on my fire for a position in this debate, please read the following article from Jillian Stafford, a former Pinterest Addict and submission author for BuzzMedia.com. You can read the article below, or click Here. :-)

"I heard about Pinterest at a wedding reception last year and within 24 hours, I was hooked. I had to pin everything: I grabbed every vegan recipe, organizing tip, cute outfit, inspirational quote, and makeup tutorial I could get my freshly ombre-manicured fingers on. Then, a few months later, I got engaged and suddenly it was time to add a new board.

As a proud member of the one percent of Pinterest users who didn’t already have a Dream Wedding board, I started a For Real Wedding board and began to explore the site’s “Weddings and Events” category. Within five minutes, it became apparent to me that I would need to locate a rustic barn surrounded by an endless field of wildflowers. According to Pinterest, that seems to be the only place people are getting married these days.

I began the search for my Rustic Bridal Barn immediately, and was shocked to learn that they aren’t readilyavailable in my area. Or any area outside of Pinterest Land, really. I was even willing to be flexible on the field of wildflowers. Undeterred, I settled on one of the squares in Savannah, Georgia.

Having found a location, it was time to focus on decor. According to Pinterest, brides are combing the shoreline for interesting pieces of driftwood and crafting their own elaborate centerpieces. I headed to the beach confident that some ready-made driftwood centerpieces would be there waiting for me to inscribe with our initials. Once again, shock and disappointment took over. I was going to need a new centerpiece plan.

By this time, my mother had joined Pinterest, and stuff got real. We met up at the fabric store after work to discuss varying shades of burlap, because every Pinterest Wedding is made of burlap. That’s why all Pinterest Wedding candles are contained in a mason jar: to avoid an unfortunate burlap fire. Confident in my mom’s position as Burlap Manager, I turned my attention to flowers.

I met with the florist to order my twee Pinterest Wedding bouquet,  showed him no less than 22 bouquets on my pin board, and requested that he artfully combine them. I required exactly eight cabbage roses and 12 peonies and absolutely no baby’s breath. I was undecided about bridesmaid bouquets, as nobody actually pinned photos of bridesmaids with traditional bouquets anymore. Instead, there was a contest among brides to see who could convince their lifelong friends to proudly carry the most ridiculous item down the aisle. I considered giving them each a kitten wearing a jaunty hat, but eventually settled on turquoise paper parasols.

Since all Pinterest Wedding photos are majestic and ethereal, I met with my photographer to discuss how we would make this happen. I planned the time of my ceremony around the sun’s schedule. I had to walk down the aisle at the exact moment when the sun would be in the ideal position to achieve what I now call the Pinterest Wedding Ethereal Lens Flare. Through some extensive Google searching, we determined that 5:00 p.m. would be the perfect time to wed. We scheduled a two-hour block of time prior to the ceremony for photos of my bridesmaids and I happily getting ready, gazing wistfully at ourselves in the mirror, and sipping our mimosas.

It might have seemed like my Pinterest Wedding was coming along nicely, but in reality the anxiety was mounting. Unable to choose between the two, I had an elegant cake surrounded by adorable gluten-free cupcakes. We had a candy buffet with a clever sign proclaiming “Love is Sweet.”  You see, every time I planned a small detail, I would see someone do it better, with more whimsy, on Pinterest.

A few weeks before my wedding date, I’d had enough of being out-twee-ed and out whimsy-ed. I developed acute bridal apathy and quit Pinterest in a huff. After going cold turkey, I realized that Pinterest only shows us the good side of weddings. It shows a glowing example of how weddings can look when everything goes as planned. In reality? It rained all day leading up to our ceremony. The rental company didn’t set up our chairs in the park because it was raining. Our getting-ready photo shoot time was spent with my bridesmaids yelling at the rental company and me obsessively checking the weather radar. The chairs arrived 20 minutes after our ceremony was scheduled to begin. The rain stopped, the sun came out for the first time that day, and we started our ceremony 45 minutes late. We walked through the mud, so our hand-painted burlap aisle runner looked like a used coffee filter by the time I got to see it, and the bottom of my dress looked like a tea bag.

But you know what? I was so overcome with joy that I did the ugly cry all the way down the aisle and through half of the ceremony. It was perfectly imperfect, and absolutely beautiful. My Pinterest Wedding turned into a Real Wedding, and it was the most wonderful day of my life."

Jillian Stafford is a yoga teacher and recovering Pinterest addict from Savannah, Georgia. You can find her on Twitter at @jillystaff. 

Happy Planning Everyone!

xoxo

Katherine

DIY: Rhinestone Garter

Oh My Stars and Garters!

Are you the type of bride who thinks that using a DIY for your wedding day will just be too difficult to manage? Well here is what I have to say to that! There are tons of smaller projects that you can take on to add your personal stamp to the big day without giving up hours of your time...or sanity. Keeping in line with our trend of scheduling a DIY every Friday, This tutorial from Ren Ariel Sano, the artist and jewelry designer behind All The Good Girls Go To Heaven, takes just four easy steps that you can complete in about an hour! (Yes, I have made one myself!)  Designing and wearing your own garter — even if just your future husband sees it if you are shy showing off your sewing skills — makes your special wedding day that much more special. It really is THAT easy! 

Materials

• Stretchy, lace ribbon (I found mine on bitsybands.com)
• Rhinestone appliqué ($6 and up at shinetrim.com)
• Needle and thread
• Hot fix rhinestones and rhinestone setter or iron (optional)

Step 1: Cut The Lace

• Make sure the lace you buy is stretchy so it won't fall down your leg.
• Measure the lace before you cut — the final product can also be worn as a headband, so measure accordingly.

Step 2: Sew

• Find the center point of the lace.
• Sew on the appliqué. 
• How about incorporating your something blue?

Step 3: Add Rhinestones

• Arrange the hot fix rhinestones around the appliqué.
• Once you finalize your design, set with an iron or rhinestone setter.

Step 4: Finish Up

• Turn the lace inside out and sew together.

Take a look at the finished product! How cool is that! Yay you!

Happy Planning!

xoxo

Katherine

Burning the Toast

My Toast!!! It's Ruined!

Wedding speeches should be witty, funny, full of laughs and end on a seriously romantic note! Unfortunately  every so often we attend a wedding where someone forgot to check their "speech content resulting in a long awkward pause before the uneasy, uncomfortable slow clap. To hopefully help those giving a speech or toast, here are the five quickest ways to ruin a wedding speech – show this to your groom and best man immediately… they have been warned!

Not being prepared

Maybe one-in-a-thousand people could pull off an improvisational wedding speech with some degree of success, but it’s unlikely that you will. When you haven’t prepared, what often happens is that the nerves kick in and between the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ you’ll find yourself grasping for things to say, or worse still, rambling on for an hour leaving a hungry Aunt Harriet to ask a bit too loudly when dinner will be served. 

Using inappropriate content

At most weddings, your audience will span three generations. Try to make sure that there is nothing in your wedding speech that you wouldn’t tell to your grandma or any young relations. Top of the list of things to avoid are detailed reviews of the stag party. Apply the rule that “what goes on tour, stays on tour.” rule and DO NOT forget that!

Forgetting your wedding etiquette

Each of the speeches has its own particular function and it is important to make sure your  wedding speech does what it’s supposed to. In many cases, months of planning will have gone into choosing the correct wording of an invitation, or the political implications of the seating plan (everyone knows that!) So if you come along and forget to toast the parents or fail to welcome the guests then you’re going to be in trouble. Do some research and make sure your speech complies with the etiquette of the day.

Too much "Dutch" courage

There is a fine line between getting some Dutch courage and losing control of what you’re saying and doing. It’s safer to abstain from drinking until you’ve done your speech, but at a wedding this can be hard, especially if you have to sit through a meal before the speeches. If everyone is nervous about the speeches, consider switching them to before the meal – that way everyone can enjoy a few well-deserved glasses of wine later.

Rehashing old jokes

You don’t need to be a professional stand-up comedian to write your own material, just collect a range of information on your subject and in time your wedding speech will take shape. Although it can be tempting, you should try and avoid rehashing the same old wedding gags – “It’s obviously been an emotional day, even the cake is in tiers,” is probably one of the more tired ones, but there are hundreds of others that will get you nothing but heard-it-before groans.

Happy planning!!!....and writing

xoxo

Katherine

Congratulations, Katherine and Tom!

Do I hear wedding bells?  Why, yes!  Yes "I do"!

The Paisley Press is thrilled to bring you piece of very special news as we announce the engagement of Paisley Events' own Katherine Jacox to the wonderful Tom Ford, who could not be a more deserving choice for our beloved founder.

Congratulations on your engagement, Katherine and Tom!  We wish you only the best that life has to offer as you plan your big day.  We'd wish you good luck and lots of patience, but we're pretty confident that Katherine's got this planning business under control!

Royal Weddings...2.0

They're all over the Palace.....I mean Place.

While doing some web-browsing, I stumbled across another royal couple! Now I, and I am sure many others, know that there are still royal families in other countries other than England, but I will not be the first to say I know where and who they are. I have never sought them out, nor memorized their family lineages all over Europe like some can with Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. But this past Saturday, while my team and I were witness to the marriage of Shannon and Tom Denihan, the Crowned Prince of Luxembourg married a Countess of Belgium....I had to google where Luxembourg was....

Crown Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, 30, and Countess Stephanie of Belgium, 28 were married in Luxembourg’s Notre Dame cathedral this past weekend in a wedding that opens our eyes to the realization that royal life is still booming! 

Elie Saab created a custom couture gown for Princess Stephanie. The A-line gown featured silver lace, an illusion neckline, 3/4 length sleeves, and a mega-sized train.

At 13-ft, Princess Stephanie's train was four feet longer than Kate Middleton's...not that it's a competition or anything.

Princess Stephanie wore her hair in a simple updo and accessorized with a royal tiara.

Princess Stephanie's hanging bouquet of white orchids is much more extravagant than Kate Middleton's who carried small and subtle bunch of lily of the valley.

Princess Stephanie had two attendants who were dressed in peach colored gowns with a slim silhouette. In 2011, Pippa Middleton stole the show and was catapulted into fame when she wore a white Alexander McQueen as Kate's attendant.

The children in the ceremony wore pastel colored outfits of blue and orange (the national colors).

Crown Prince Guillaume and Princess Stephanie were officially wed on Friday in a civil ceremony at the town hall. Stephanie looked demure in a creme colored Chanel suit.

Although we all cannot be royal, it doesn't hurt to dream!!!

Happy Planning!

xoxo

Katherine

Nail Fashion....Just a Minor Detail

Nail Fashion....Just a Minor Detail

As a bride, you’re envisioning every detail of your wedding to be thoughtfully planned out, right down to your wedding nail polish. Here’s a round up of some of the new nail trends as well as tried and true favorites for brides.

For the Bold Bride
A sparkling gold nail polish could rev up your style. If you like gold accessories, the SEPHORA by OPI 18K nail polish may be the right dazzling accent for you. SEPHORA states that it is embellished with real gold flakes and prevents chipping. You just have to be willing to pay $30 for a bottle of it.

For the Girlie Girl Bride
Just add a little glitter to a pink polish and you have got instant sparkle for your special day. You can also use a glittery polish with the new holographic effect to take your sparkle up a notch and go full princess status.

For the Natural Bride
A french manicure is the traditional style for brides to wear, and it’s also a good choice for a bride who likes a more natural look for the day. You can go to any nail salon and have this done, and feel pampered at the same time.

For the Romantic Bride
The classic ballet pink is a traditional bridal nail polish color, and there is a wide array of this beautiful shade on the market. If you’d like to add a little something extra, you could try a scented nail polish like Revlon’s Cotton Candy. According to Revlon, each shade takes on a fruity scent when it has dried.

For the Something Blue Bride
If you have decided to honor the “something blue” tradition, you can do it in a less traditional way and wear it on your nails. Since blues range from a Tiffany Blue to Sparkly Sea Foam Blue, it’s easy to find a shade that fits your style.

For the Trendy Bride
The hot nail trend for 2012 has been caviar nails, they are basically little micro-beads stuck to nail polish that give your nails a 3D effect. You can buy the kit at SEPHORA for $25 or do it yourself with any nail polish and some craft store beads. I’ve even attached a DIY video for you to give it a try!

Happy Planning!

xoxo

Katherine

What Time is it?

Q: Want to make sure that the first dance, toasts, cake-

cutting and other activities proceed in a timely manner at 

your reception? Are there any specific guidelines to 

follow!?

A: It depends on the length of your reception, but you’re smart to plan ahead and not leave details to chance. A great party has what’s called “flow.” Naturally, with a reception lasting four hours or longer, you can schedule things at a more leisurely pace than you would for a shorter event. And once you've mapped out exactly what you and your groom would like to do at your celebration, you can notify your maître d’, DJ and other wedding pros about your preferred activities and the times they should occur. Keep in mind that your reception site manager and wedding consultant (if you have one) can assist you with advice on planning and pacing. To help you get started, here’s a basic rundown of scheduled events for a four-hour reception:

Hour one:
Bride, groom, attendants and family members pose for wedding pictures. The receiving line is formed as the bridal party arrives. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are served.

Hour two: 
Guests take their seats for the first course, kicked off by a champagne toast that’s usually offered by the best man. Others, such as the bride’s father or maid of honor, may also say a few words. Some couples prefer to have their first dance now, followed by the father-daughter and mother-son dances.

Hour three: 
If they haven’t already, the bride and groom may enjoy their first dance. This is also the time for other noteworthy dances. The main course is served, and guests mingle and dance.

Hour four: 
The cake is cut and served. The bride tosses her bouquet, and the groom tosses her garter (optional). Guests begin to leave.

Remember, these are just guidelines. You’re free to schedule your reception in whatever way you like. For example, some couples like to have their formal portraits taken before the ceremony and not during the cocktail hour, and some newlyweds prefer having a receiving line immediately after the ceremony instead of at the cocktail hour — so they can join the fun. Others decide to forgo the receiving line altogether and greet guests at their tables during the reception. Whatever you decide, plan your party in a way that’s most comfortable for everyone and most importantly, for you!

Happy Planning!

xoxo

Katherine

DIY: Polka Dot Veil

DIY: Polka Dot Veil

Keeping in line with our new tradition of weekly DIY Projects, here is one for a Polka Dot Birdcage Veil! I came across this little project while visiting greenweddingshoes.com. They are one of my favorite hubs for inspirations, DIY, real weddings and engagement ideas!

 *ALL RIGHTS GO TO GREENWEDDINGSHOES.COM AND  ONEHANDSPUNDAY.COM*

DIY created by Christy of One Handspun Day exclusively for Green Wedding Shoes. Check out more of her designs at One Handspun Day! Finished veil photos thanks to S’Wonderful Photography.

Making your own veil is so easy to do and it’s a beautiful way to add something personal to your wedding ceremony. And if you are not exactly graceful with a needle and thread, this is one of the most forgiving projects you will find because messy stitches are hidden among the tulle and ruffles – plus we’ve incorporated sweet polka dots! Big thanks to our DIY contributor Christy of One Handspun Day for this sweet DIY.

Materials Needed:

• Tulle

• Thread & Needle

• Scissors

• Acrylic Paint

• Pencil (eraser end)

• Wax Paper

Step One: Stamp Dots onto Tulle

Cover your workstation with wax paper and tape the corners to secure. Spread your tulle over the wax paper and secure as well. Use the acrylic paint and eraser end of your pencil to stamp dots onto the tulle. I spaced my dots approximately 1 inch apart and staggered the rows half an inch (you can place a ruler below the area you are stamping if the thought of eyeballing it makes you queasy). After you stamp each dot, allow the tulle to lift up from the wax paper so the paint does not sit between the spaces of the tulle and dry into solid dots. You just want the paint to dry on the tulle itself so you can still see through fabric when you hold it up.

Step Two: Cut Tulle

Once you have finished covering the tulle in dots allow it to dry for at least 30 minutes. Then cut down to size (mine was approximately 12″ long and 24″ wide). I wanted to give mine a little bit more personality, so I added a scalloped edge to one of the long sides.

Step Three: Sew Veil onto Comb

Sew one of the long sides of the tulle using a running stitch (approximately ¼” space between stitches). Pull one end of the thread and push the tulle with your other hand to gather the fabric into a slight ruffle. Secure the end of the thread to keep the ruffle in place. Sew the ruffle onto your hair comb, creating pleats as needed, so the entire ruffle ends up fitting onto the comb by the time you reach the end. Tie off your thread and make sure it is secure.

Once your veil is finished you can add embellishments such as feathers, flowers, brooches or jewels to the comb so that it coordinates with the style of your dress!

Happy Planning!

xoxo

Katherine