Thursday, January 31, 2013

Featured on Style Me Pretty

 
Hello All! Today we have some very exciting news! One of our 2012 weddings was featured on Style Me Pretty today! Check out the beautiful photos of Monica and Tim's wedding shot by Honey Honey Photography.
 
 
 
Thank you to Style Me Pretty for featuring our work! We hope to be seen on your site many more times in the future!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

A Word of Advice - Wedding Procrastination


Hello to all my lovely followers! 

Today I have some advice for you about procrastination. A lot of wedding stress and "disasters" are caused by procrastination. Everybody knows that procrastinating the wedding plans can cause chaos. Most brides don't do it, because they are excited to get going! You know who does it? THE GROOMS! I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "Why are you going wedding dress shopping 12 WHOLE MONTHS before the wedding?!". To that I say, there is no time like the present! For that matter, wedding planning and preparations take a lot of time...especially if you are planning on taking on DIY projects. Most people know that they should hire their vendors early on. That's the easy part. It's the small details that usually get pushed to the month before the wedding. Which leads me to today's word of advice...

Don't plan on leaving anything until the month before the wedding!

For some reason, no one ever listens to this advice. There's always escort cards to be made or final rental orders to be placed. The month leading up to the wedding is the most stressful time for a bride. The time for all of their hard work and preparation is coming to an end, and they are usually very stressed. This is the point where corners start getting cut and things get overlooked... as they should be! The month before the wedding should be all about celebrating and enjoying being a nearlywed. No bride should have to be worrying about details during this time. Here is a list of the only preparations that should take up time during the month before the wedding. They are...

  • Floral Mock-Ups - A chance for your florist to show you a sample of what your flowers will look like when it gets close enough to be able to use the flowers that will be in season.
Flowers by Pixies Petals
  • Schedule Finalizations - Making sure that your day-of schedule is exactly the way you want it and that your vendors are informed. Your wedding coordinator can help with this.


Planning Printables via A Pair of Pears

Last Minute Guest RSVP's - Not every guest will be able to tell you far enough in advance if they will be able to come to the wedding or not, and there are always last minute changes.


Invitations by Ladyfingers Letterpress

Dress Fittings - Bride, Bridesmaids, Flower girls, Mothers and Grandmothers of the Bride and Groom will all need to have their final dress fitting to make sure everything is perfect.


Everything else should be completed, packed up and ready to go! And yet, I have never met a bride (myself included) who was able to stick to this plan. In fact! Most bridal to-do lists don't even follow this rule. They wait until the last minute to suggest things like preparing for the honeymoon and setting aside tips for your vendors. No! No! No! Someone has to put their foot down.


In my experience, there are a list of 5 things that will end up on a Bride's to do list much later than they should be. If brides were able to avoid this list, then I can guarantee their stress would be manageable. So with that said, here is my list of the 5 most common avoidable last minute wedding stressors...

1. Paper Goods and Handmade Details - This includes escort cards, table numbers, programs, menus, signs and any other DIY details that will be decorations at the ceremony or reception. These should be done as early as possible, because they are definitely the most time consuming projects.

DIY Pinwheel Instructions via Wedding Chicks

2. Vendor Gratuities - Gratuities are the #1 item forgotten in wedding budgets. It is really stressful to have to add in that cost on top of the already full budget. Make sure you account for gratuities when you hire the vendor. Just think of it as a part of the cost of their services.

Accurate Wedding Vendor Tipping Guide via Ceremony Magazine Blog

3. Final Linen, Lighting, Flower and Rental Selections - Don't second guess yourself! Your initial instinct was probably right! Adjusting orders at the last minute can get expensive and incredibly stressful. Try as hard as you can to account for everything early on.
Photo via Style Me Pretty

4. Gifts for the Attendants and Parents - Make sure you pick out gifts before it is the last minute. If you are ordering gifts or having something custom made this can take a while. You don't want to have them arrive too late. Also make sure you account for gifts in the budget, because even small things can add up! You want your gift to reflect your appreciation and not be a last minute addition to the budget.

Attendant Gift Clutches Photo via Style Me Pretty

5. Song Selections - People never think about how difficult it is to pick the perfect wedding songs. Decide early on, so you aren't having to wait until the last minute to make up your mind. What's good about doing this early is that you can give yourself a break from listening to the music before the wedding so that it seems that much more special on the big day.

Top 15 Most Inappropriate Wedding Songs via Bridal Musings

With any luck, these small things will be able to be done ahead of time so that everyone can spend their time celebrating. Now, that doesn't mean don't do them... they are very important! It just means THINK AHEAD! And if you can't do that, then hire a coordinator (like me!) to help you take care of them.

That's my advice for today. Hope all you brides out there find this helpful! If you have any questions about wedding planning, feel free to send me an e-mail. I'm happy to help!

cassandradyane@gmail.com

Good luck planning ahead!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Real Wedding: Jacque & Carlton



Today's special feature is on a lovely couple named Jacque & Carlton who were married in May of 2012. Their wedding was held at the beautiful Leoness Cellars in Temecula, CA. It was so much fun working with Jacque and Carlton to make their day exactly what they had imagined! Here are some photos from their wedding...




Loved the boutonnieres of thistles and billy balls! Such a great take on the yellow and blue colors that were found throughout the wedding. The bouquets were mainly made up of daisies, roses and billy balls in shades of yellow and white, with a blue stem wrapping. The flowers were done by Sweet Petals.







Jacque and Carlton had the rolling golden vineyard hills as their ceremony backdrop. It was a beautiful backdrop for all of their guests to watch as they said "I do".




Going along with the theme of the vineyard, the escort cards were displayed on corks as guests walked into the barrel room of Leoness for the reception. Table numbers were drawn in chalk on wine bottles, as were the Mr. & Mrs. table markers.




Congratulations to Jacque & Carlton! I hope your first year of marriage has been wonderful!


Wedding Coordination by Cassandra Dyane Weddings & Events
Hair & Makeup by Beach Bridal Beauty
Catering by Slice of Heaven
Flowers by Sweet Petals
DJ and Lighting provided by Good Time Entertainment
Ceremony Music by Angelica Strings

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Hello Again



Hello to all of my faithful readers! I apologize in the blogging delay. The second half of 2012 was CRAZY busy, what with the majority of my client's weddings and then planning my own wedding extravaganza. But today I come back to you all with the promise of more blog posts to come! Over the last week I have been going through all of the photos from my fabulous 2012 weddings, and you are in for a special treat! Here is a little sneak preview of the weddings I will be blogging about in the coming weeks...


Monica & Tim


Sam & Ryan


Kaitlyn & Brian


Jacque & Carlton


Karina & Justin


 And last but not least...

Cassie & Justin
Photos by STC Photo

If you just can't wait to see more photos from these amazing weddings, you can check out our newly updated website! Browse through the gallery page and see some of the wedding magic that we created over this past year. Just go to...


Also on our website you will find our most up to date wedding coordination packages and the new specialty services that we will begin to offer now that is 2013! 

Guess what?! We are having a....



If you are newly engaged and planning on getting married in 2013 or 2014, you are in luck! During the entire month of January we will be offering a 10% discount on our services to those of you who book with us this month and reference our blog as the way you heard about us! Schedule your consult today!


One more order of business before I wrap up. I would like to take the opportunity to welcome a new team member to the Cassandra Dyane Weddings & Events family! Please help me welcome Ms. Kelsey O'Brien as our newest intern! 


Kelsey has been a long time friend of the business, and we are happy to welcome her on board!

I hope you are as excited as I am for the upcoming weeks of blog posts! I can't wait to get back in the game!

Happy blogging!