Wedding Parties Show Off Their Wild Side!

With all the protocol and decorum associated with weddings, they are still a day of fun and celebration.  For a lot of couples, having all their favorite people in one place is somewhat rare, so you better take advantage of all the photo ops!  One way is to stage funny groomsmen, bridesmaids and complete wedding party photos complete with props and silliness.  As always, make sure to give a heads up to your planner and photographer.  Here are a few I found online that had me cracking up, enjoy!

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Introducing Felicity C Weddings LLC Consultation & Gift Certificates!

I have wanted to be a wedding planner since I was 15 years old.  I love the logistics (it takes a special person to utter that phrase), all things wedding and most of all, I love helping people.  I have been so blessed to work with so many great clients and their families in the 2.5 years since I started my company.  But I still understand that hiring a wedding planner is not a financial option for many couples.  Couples who still need direction and professional assistance in perfecting their wedding vision.  

Well, I have found a solution!  I am super excited to announce the introduction of the professional consultation service for Felicity C Weddings LLC!  I am offering my planning services by the hour, so that I can meet with couples to discuss the specific areas of wedding planning that are giving them the most trouble.  It could be overall organization, wedding budget, contract review, vendor selection, site visits, decor choices, ceremony and/or reception logistics, timeline of the day, etc.  I will also be offering my planning documents a la carte to the hourly consult clients.  The consultation prices are $65/hour for phone or skype meetings and $75/hour for in person meetings.  Please see the FCW website for specific details.      

In addition to the consultation, I am also adding gift certificates!  Let your friends and family buy a portion or all of your package for you!  Of all the gifts on your registry, wedding planning should be on the top of your list- this is an incredible gift from a bridal party or the groomsmen.  Or if you are reading this and know of a recently engaged couple, give them the gift of peace of mind.  This applies to all clients; consultation, day of coordination, partial and full planning.

As a special discount to introduce these exciting additions to Felicity C Weddings LLC, I am offering a discount for anyone who contacts me and purchases in the month of December!  $15 off your first hourly consultation fee and $20 off any gift certificates!  This discount is not advertised on my website, so it will only be honored for those who mention it when contacting me.  Spread the word to family and friends then please contact me at felicitycweddings@yahoo.com to get started! 

When The Unexpected Happens- Why You Need A Planner

The foundation of wedding planning is logistics.  I like to say that I am in the business of solutions; that even if it is not my fault, it is my problem to solve.  The most accurate description of what I do is being a client advocate, making sure that everything and everyone involved is working for the best interests of my clients.  The day of your wedding you want to be calm, excited (yes, both at the same time) and enjoying every minute.  Peace of mind is priceless, knowing that if any issue comes up, you have a professional to handle it before you even know about it.  It is my job to have all the resources to pull together my client's vision.  Here are few true stories (mine included) of how a planner saved the day when the unexpected happened on a wedding day. 

I recently had a bride whose makeup artist had a huge family emergency the morning of the wedding.  The makeup was supposed to start at 7am for a 12:30pm ceremony and I got a text at 7am from the bride that the makeup artist couldn't make it.  After making a few calls, I secured a makeup artist who I had the pleasure of working with on another client wedding.  She turned her whole day around to come help my bride.  With the late notice and travel time, makeup started at 9:30am, 2.5 hours later than scheduled.  Thanks to working well with all the great vendors, I managed to catch up to the original timeline by cocktail hour and my clients had a gorgeous wedding day.   

My own image, camera phone 



Rain is what presented a huge problem for this couple, whose wedding site was on top of a hill and the only road up was a muddy mess which almost cancelled the wedding!  This smart couple had a planner that helped them move their entire wedding to a new venue, an industrial warehouse, and transformed the space with all the incredible vendors in a matter of hours!

The 411: Tipping Wedding Vendors

Anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows the importance of tipping, but in life there are so many other times to tip.  In the service industry, 15-20% is the standard range for tipping; your waiter, your hairdresser and at the nail salon too.  But who gets tipped at a wedding?  And how much?  And when do you tip them?  Here is a quick cheat sheet to make sure the everyone is taken care of ahead of time so you can enjoy your day.

There are many articles about tipping, but the most concise is the one I found on Martha Stewart Weddings.  Martha gives a breakdown of who gets tipped and how much which is to say that not every vendor expects a tip.  Vendors that own their own business and contract a specific fee such as photographers, videographers, florists, and wedding planners do not expect to be tipped.  The best tip that you can give these vendors is a great referral and/or a testimony for their website or a website like OneWed that allows brides to give vendor reviews. 

The vendors that do expect gratuity are: officiants, musicians (bands but not DJs), site staff, catering staff including catering manager plus servers and bartenders, stylists, make up artists, delivery people, hotel concierge agents and drivers.  Each vendor has a separate rule and some may put wording in their contract about gratuity so always read the contracts carefully.  For officiants you can make a donation to their organization separate from their fee, musicians who work independently booking shows should receive $20-$25 per person, delivery people, hotel concierge agents and drivers are all in the same group that should be tipped $5 minimum, and stylists as well as make up artists should receive the same as a regular appointment, 15-20%. 

The caterers & site staff should have a section regarding gratuity in their contract.  It is either included in the final price or it is not.  Gratuity is NOT the same as tax and different vendors separate gratuity from service charge so if you have any doubts, definitely reach out to your contact to confirm.  Or better yet, ask your wedding planner to confirm with the catering & site managers.  Confirm if the chefs are tipped separately from the wait staff, since this can vary from company to company.  Tipping for catering staff can be handled two ways; the tip can be 20% of the food and beverage total only or you can set an amount per server, starting with $20 per person.  Catering managers and site coordinators receive more, $50 is a good starting point and make sure you adjust if there is more than one catering manager. 

Last but not least, once you decide how much you are giving to each vendor at the wedding, put your payment along with a thank you note in a envelope and seal it up.  Make sure you know if the vendor is expecting the tip in cash or by check, specifically for caterers who may have a policy to tip their servers in cash the day of the event.  Write the name of the recipient on the front of the envelope but not the amount and give the envelopes to your planner.  Oh wait, you don't have a planner?  Here is the website of a great one ; )



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Don't wait until the last minute

to calculate tips! Source