Friday, August 27, 2010

History Lesson

Georges Claude was the first man to apply an electrical discharge to a tube of gas known as neon. What did he create... um mm hmmm. neon lights. You can thank him next time you are at a local dive bar and see one on the wall. Woot Georges.

F. Scott Fitzgerald. Author of the best book I have had to read in high school. To this day it is my all time favorite. The Great Gatsby. This book inspired me to study the 1920's. Which led me to my fascination of the art deco style of architecture and fashion of the 20's. I love F. Scott Fitzgerald. You Da Man.

Katja Kassin... Duh,, German Porn star! Everyone knows that.......right???

Anyways are you thinking that maybe our wedding will be inspired by 1920's art deco, neon lights and porn? Well it won't be. All of those above named achievers share the birth-date of September 24. A.K.A our wedding date...

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011... read it, remember it....

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The dress........:)



Well the designer. HA! Shane is a follower so clearly I will not post THE dress because I don't even know yet. I do know 100% that I will have a dress custom made by Wai-Ching. These dresses are AMAZING and 100% me. I would not even think of having a traditional gown. Not because I dislike them. I have seen a few that I love on other brides. But I have been a HUGE fan of these gowns forever now and I am SOOOOOO EXCITED to get busy with Chrissy on figuring out my design and colors. I think my girls will also have dresses by her. Just because they are that awesome and would go perfectly with mine. You can check her designs out here, Wai-Ching.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The Venue

Originally Shane had the idea of having the wedding ceremony in an alley downtown. I LOVED that idea. We were especially drawn to the alley next to Nicholson's on Walnut. As well as the alley behind the Contemporary Art Center. The reception would be at another location and in less then 7 days after he proposed I had already spoke to Jenny at Boost for meetings sake on Reading Rd. to set up a tour. Friday afternoon Shane and I went down to look at the venue. We knew we wanted something very urban and I have always wanted a loft setting. Unfortunately Cincinnati just does not have much of that. I even suggested having the wedding in Chicago! So anyways we went to Boost and instantly fell in love with it. It can accommodate our smallish wedding of 100 guests. We thought maybe having the ceremony on their rooftop deck would be cool but after looking at it we decided the noise and size would not work. Jenny at Boost showed us the other loft they have (Loft 100) they have not even rented the space out yet. It was PERFECT! This space is on a floor below the actual reception space therefore it was perfect. Still urban and lofty yet separate from the reception. Also less work for the Day of Coordinator I will hire in terms of dealing with an alley way clean up.
So back to Boost, once we have the ceremony the guest will take then go up stairs to the reception area where they will enter into the first space for a cocktail hour. This space is so awesome!
The dance floor will also be here but not used for dancing until after cocktails. We will also have a lounge are behind where the marble pillars are. It is not in the photo.

Once cocktail hour is over the guest will then be moved into the next room for dinner. We will be using long 6 foot tables for dinner and it is going to be amazing.
We will be removing the rug they have.
After dinner the guest will be moved back into the cocktail area for dancing and also have the option to go up the spiral staircase to the roof top deck or hang out in the loft upstairs and watch the dance floor.
This venue is everything I could ask for in a venue. It will provide a fantastic flow for the evening offering the guest a different space to go to through out the night. 
Crossing fingers that the casino will hold off on building until after the wedding! :) 

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The planning...

Well it took all of about 10 minutes for the planner in me to take over. Immediately I started talking about dates, venues, guest list, decor, and so on. Shane totally went along with it. (he is a planner at heart) I think he will be a very involved groom.  I tried  not to be too crazy, but I could not stop planning in my head. As soon as we got home, I did our budget, called the one venue that I like (in hopes that it will work) and booked our photographer. It was so hard to pick a photographer because I have about 5 favorites. I love them all so much. Each one has a very photo journalistic approach to their photography but they are all also very different. It came down to, Steph Carson, Tine Hoffman, Cindy Wagner, Bob White, and Daniel Michael. All of these people are down right awesome so this was hard for me. Especially since it is one of the most important things to me.  After thinking long and hard I chose Steph Carson. I love Steph. I love everything about this woman! She is an AMAZING photographer, so truly gifted. Plus she is also a super cool woman! I really should try to spend some off the job time with her. She is that cool. I am so excited to have her on my team of vendors. Well I am excited that she is my team... I have not booked anyone else.
This Saturday we will be touring Boost for our venue. (see I waste no time) We decided that we can keep our guest list low in order to accommodate an awesome venue. Boost is not a huge venue but it has a rooftop deck overlooking Cincinnati, so we shall see. Also Jenny at Boost told me they may close or move due to the stupid casino they are building downtown. UGH! I will be so sad. I so want a lofty type venue for this wedding reception.

The proposal...Sneaky little devil

Ok, so Shane asked me if I would like to goto L.A. as a birthday gift/ weekend vacation. Of course I said ok. I love to travel and I have never been to L.A. Unfortunately, after I thought about it, I was being very closed minded due to media and the preconception that L.A. was nothing but fake women, fake men, fake boobs, and a bunch of faker McFakerson's and tourists. BUT, Shane used to live there and he has very close friends there. So I went along with the idea. We stayed with his friends,  Jason and Michelle, who were AMAZING! (see it never pays to be negative).  So the first night we were there in L.A. Jason arranged for a visit to a place called Magic Castle. It was their friend Brandi's birthday so it was kind of a surprise, Shane is here for your birthday kind of thing. We went and it was fun! Basically you watch some magic shows, eat and have drinks. I know Shane enjoyed seeing his friends and hanging out with them. It had been a long time since he had seen them. I enjoyed meeting them all as well. Brandi was so happy and excited to see Shane! It was adorable. And honestly these people were so super sweet to me, the unknown girlfriend. They acted as if I had been around forever.
Saturday, Shane and I woke up at 6:30 AM (like we did everyday we were there, stupid time zones). So we got up and went for coffee and headed up the coast to a beach he knew of. It was a great drive, lots of amazing beach front homes. When we got to the spot he knew of we walked on the beach, and saw some baby seals ( i say baby but I think they were adults. They were so cute and playing in the water, so in my head I think baby). It was actually pretty cold, like 55-60 degrees so the visit was somewhat short lived. We went back to Jason and Michelle's because we had plans for Jason to take us out on a Cessna plane for a short trip to Santa Barbara. That was all I knew. I also knew that the idea of a guy whom I really didn't know, flying me in a teeny weeny plane scared the shit out of me.  BUT, once again, I played along ( I am a team player apparently) and we all headed to the airport and met Brandi (who was equally as scared as I) and got into this 4 seater aircraft. I knew we were going to tour some vineyards and do some wine tasting so that was an incentive for me to go. (i think that was plotted). After we got up in the air, I was like WOW! this is not bad AT ALL! Jason was a great pilot and Shane's arm was a great grabbing tool. The view of California was BEAUTIFUL from the altitude we were at. We landed in Santa Barbara were we were met by our cab driver, that the guys, or Jason arranged for. He took us right to the vineyards. He even recommended which ones to go to. He was a good cab driver with stories and all.
So we got to the first winery which was Sunstone, it was beautiful. We got our tasting glasses and started tasting. I have never done wine tasting before so this was so much fun for me. The wine was excellent.  We finished our 6 samples and loaded up into the cab and headed to #2. It was okay. More of a fun casual atmosphere though. A bachelorette party was going on, in a not so cool kind of way.  The wine was ehhh.. the whites were ok but the reds were terrible. So anyways, jason could not drink since he was flying and I suggested that we get a bottle to take back so he could try it. We decided the 2nd wine we tasted at the first place was best. So we went back. Me, being a smoker (yuck I know I start Chantix tomorrow) said I would wait outside while they went in to get two bottles. So Brandi and I waited and in a few minutes the guys came out, wine in hand. Shane suggested that we go get some photos in this area that looks like it was a "wedding" spot. There was a terrible wire arch wrapped in dried grape vine and as we stood under it for our photo I said "Shane, if we ever get married we WILL NOT have one of these at our wedding." next thing I know he says, "well let's pretend we are getting engaged." as he gets on his knee. WHAT?!!?!?! I was absolutely blown away. So blown away that after I said "Shane! What? Really? and than hit him on the arm (jokingly of course)" I said "yes".  I had NO IDEA he had been planning this. I mean the chit- chat of marriage was going on, but I still did not expect it. I had showed him a ring I fell in love with. It was a black diamond in an antique setting. So AMAZING! And he totally listened, because that is exactly what he had in that little red box. I love the ring, I loved the proposal, and I love the idea of us having a life together forever.  So here are a few pics.
That is Jason and Brandi. So glad I met them and they were there to share this with us. 

This is us,  we look cool in head gear.

This is Shane asking me to marry him :) I guess I looked at Brandi and Jason wondering if this was for real. 
This is my amazing ring! Black diamond and it fits my personality so perfectly. I love it! 

Us...

we love photo booths. but  i doubt we will have one at our wedding. 


Intro to the Mr.

My boy, now known as the Fiance.. Is awesome. really, he is!  He is Shane, but I will come up with a amore creative name for him for blog reasoning.  He owns a hair salon. He is an amazing hair styler guy. He is F'n hilarious! The guy cracks me up. He is genuine, honest, reliable, creative, sexy, energetic, passionate, loving,supportive, and all around fabulous. I could not ever ask for a better fiance. This is him, my best friend and almost husband. 

INTRO..the brutal truth

Hi, I am Jen! If you are reading this, well you probably know me. Being a brand new blog and all it is not like it is getting mass publicity.
I am a wedding planner in Cincinnati, Ohio. I LOVE my job. I was never the girl who envisioned her wedding from the age of 4. Never played wedding, never thought of the perfect gown, flowers, or decor. None of that applied to me as far as I was concerned. The one thing that I did love was designing. I loved/love designing clothes, accessories, art, etc. That was what I was passionate about. One day a bunch of years ago as I was driving to my job, as a book keeper and it hit me. I was approaching the reading exit on I-75 when the words "wedding planner" came into my head. Huh? Where did that come from? I have never been in a wedding, never cared about them really. Never even seen the movie "The Wedding Planner". So why now? So I got to work and started doing some research. What does a wedding planner do? I spent days maybe even a few weeks reading blogs, looking at websites, looking at online courses offered and so on. I was intrigued. I was captivated. I was also disgusted. What the hell? How can some of these people be in the wedding industry when they have NO sense of style what so ever? Now i am talking nationwide here. (i don't want to piss off any local vendors :)) As a matter of fact I think Cincinnati of all places is pretty lucky to have the talent we have. Anyway, before I get off track, I decided I would give this wedding planning gig a whirl. So I did, and I was good at it from wedding number 1. I can honestly say I have yet to have had a wedding that I look back on and say what in the world happened. I can also say, that I am sooooo good at getting everyone else's visions. I can pretty much tell what the wedding will look like at meeting number 1. It is amazing and I love it. So with that being said, it is now my turn to have a vision! WOAH! WHAT? This is crazy to me. Crazy that I am having a wedding! It is also HARD! I have seen so many weddings and my style is so different then the majority of my brides. So even though I plan weddings, my own wedding will be so totally different then the weddings I am used to dealing with.
Alright, now you kinda know me so now I was to add a disclaimer....
*** this is MY personal wedding planing blog. Not to be associated with my career. I plan to be myself in this blog. Not the professional me but the real uncensored me. I will update daily with info from the process of my planning, decor, my frustrations, my vendors, bridal stress, budgets, DIY projects (which will be A LOT) pretty much anything and everything. If you do not think you can handle my sailor's mouth, my rocker chic demeanor, or me in general, well then don't read this blog.***
 

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