Month: July 2018

We know, we know: You are a master of organization, and you have this wedding-planning thing totally under wraps. You are hiring your own vendors, crushing every target on your planning timeline and tracking the process in elaborate color-coded spreadsheets. Good for you! But have you considered what will happen when it’s your actual wedding day, you’re just about dressed for the ceremony, and your sister delivers the bad news that the florist has eloped to Fiji?

Even for those who go DIY in the planning stage, professional help can be a godsend on the day itself. Planner Jazmin Portnow, with Anyvent Event Planning, remembers a wedding she coordinated where one important thing turned up missing. “There was a miscommunication between the bride and the catering team,” she says, “and they didn’t have napkins.” Nonplussed by someone’s panicked suggestion to use paper towels, Portnow managed to arrange for a last-minute linen rental—and rendezvous with the vendor on the roadside, miles from the reception site—without the bride ever knowing what was happening. “I told her afterward, and they laughed about it,” she says.

Whereas a full-service wedding planner joins the team early in the planning stages and typically helps contribute to the aesthetics of the design, a day-of coordinator comes on board later and makes sure your vision is executed as smoothly as possible.

Like several other local planners, in addition to full-service planning, Anyvent offers day-of and month-of packages specifically for couples who want help only in the final stages of planning. These services include a consultation at the wedding site to make sure the layout will be practical and not just visually pleasing. “People get obsessed with Pinterest boards,” says Portnow. “I’m kind of there to play devil’s advocate”—tactfully pushing back, for example, when couples propose putting a seating chart next to a door, where it will create a bottleneck in the hallway.

A day-of coordinator also takes responsibility for physically setting up decorative and personal items on the wedding day, serving as the day-of point of contact for vendors—a real boon if you don’t want to be on the phone—and handling unforeseen emergencies. “You can’t even dream of the things that happen,” says Portnow. “You need somebody in your corner.”

Anyvent charges $1,095 for day-of planning services and $1,550 for month-of services, both of which also come with plenty of phone and email support, creating an itinerary for the bridal party, coordinating the rehearsal and making sure your wedding gifts get to the right place at the end of the night.

“Some people think ‘My aunt or my friend can do it,’” she says, “but that’s taking away from their experience. Have somebody behind the scenes who has your back.”

Buy a few extra bottles of bourbon when you snag the one you’ll bury* before your big day. This summertime cocktail from The Imbible author and Alley Light bar manager Micah LeMon practically sings “Virginia wedding” from the first sip, making it an ideal signature cocktail for your reception.

Says LeMon, “If you’re having a wedding in Charlottesville in the summertime, it would be a shame not to use fresh peaches. And if you’re getting married in general, you’re committed to a certain degree of impractical idealism and hard work. Nothing would be more evocative of these themes than featuring an egg white cocktail with fresh, local fruit picked in season—one that has to be muddled, built, dry shaken and wet shaken individually. If you’re not a fan of the hard work, don’t get married; if you’re willing to roll your sleeves up, you’ll be surprised that the hard work is worth it.”

Here’s how to do it right.

*FYI: It’s Southern tradition to bury a bottle of bourbon to ensure good weather on your wedding day. Bury it exactly one year out, or on a day with weather you wouldn’t mind having. After you say “I do,” dig it up and enjoy.

Bourbon Peach

Serves one

2 oz. Buffalo Trace Bourbon

1/2 oz. lemon

1/2 oz. egg whites

1/4 cup peaches, macerated

Angostura bitters (garnish)

Rinse peaches and quarter them, taking out the stones. Measure quartered peaches and toss
with sugar. Calculate the amount of sugar to use by multiplying the amount of peaches by half; e.g. if you have 8 cups of quartered peaches, toss with 4 cups of sugar. Let the peaches macerate for at least an hour and try to use them within a day. Muddle peaches in a shaker, then build
the cocktail in the shaker, too. Dry shake then wet shake. Decorate with bitters.

Describing love is hard. Describing the love you and your partner share in front of a congregation of family and friends? That’s hard enough to render any author speechless—even UVA creative writing professor and distinguished poet Lisa Russ Spaar.

When couples ask Spaar for recommendations, her go-to, she says, is poetry. “Everything looks like a love poem, depending on how you read it,” she says.

Spaar’s daughter, Suzannah, will be married this November, and while Spaar hasn’t yet been asked to pen a poem for her daughter’s wedding, there are a few moving pieces on her list of recommendations.

Song of Songs 2:10-12, King James version of the Bible

“My beloved spoke, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away […].

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”

Passage from Letters to a Young Poet
by Rainer Maria Rilke

“I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.”

“The Shampoo”
by Elizabeth Bishop, lines 13-18

“The shooting stars in your black hair

in bright formation

are flocking where,

so straight, so soon? —

Come, let me wash it in this big tin basin,

battered and shiny like the moon.”

“Blessing the Boats (at St. Mary’s)” 

by Lucille Clifton, lines 1-9

“may the tide

that is entering even now

the lip of our understanding

carry you out

beyond the face of fear

may you kiss

the wind then turn from it

certain that it will

love your back”

It goes without saying that planning a wedding is stressful. And, on the day of the big day, the nerves are at an all-time high. Enter Liz Reynolds, who in 2014 started offering a yoga service to keep the jitters at a minimum.

Reynolds had recently moved to town and, as a former professional dancer turned yoga/meditation/movement teacher, wanted to bring yoga to the Charlottesville community without opening “yet another yoga studio,” she says. “Plus, many of my friends were starting to get married and I immediately recognized how stressful the process could be for them.” Zen Bride Yoga was born.

The service brings the yoga to you—mats, props, music and essential oils included—for a 60-minute class. And it’s not just for the star of the show; the bridal party is invited, too.

At Rebecca Vauter’s wedding in October 2017, about 20 of her friends and family attended the class, an all-levels vinyasa session.

“It was the perfect way to start the day,” Vauter says. “Relaxing and fun at the same time.” She says Reynolds created a calm, friendly vibe—just as it should be.

“The practice of yoga is meant to connect us deeper to living moment by moment and to help us remember our true nature,” Reynolds says, “which is pure love.”

Though never featured in formal wedding photos and usually tucked behind closed doors during the reception, the humble sheet cake has long played an important role in wedding planning, and for good reason. Sometimes referred to as a “kitchen cake,” a sheet cake can be prepared alongside the main, multi-tiered wedding cake, called the “cutting cake,” and the combo offers several advantages.

“For weddings with larger guest counts, it can be pretty stressful for the caterer to quickly serve the guests after the bride and groom have cut the cake,” says Gerry Newman, owner of Albemarle Baking Company. “With a sheet cake, they can have 100 slices plated and ready to go, so everyone can be served at once.” A sheet cake can match the cutting cake’s flavor or be entirely different, and typically goes without the elaborate embellishments of the main cake.

Beyond the strategic benefits, the cost savings due to the sheet cake’s simpler design can be significant, potentially halving the wedding cake bill. “My sheet cakes are made of three layers, just like the main cake,” says Kathy Watkins of Favorite Cakes in Charlottesville, “but because there is no decoration, it’s priced per serving below the more complicated and detailed wedding cake.”

Designing and building the main show cake is an incredibly labor-intensive process. “For me it’s not necessarily artistic,” says Newman, who bakes one or two wedding cakes per weekend during the busy spring and fall seasons. “I’m a technician—I know just what I need.”

Even so, an experienced chef can spend six or more hours mixing, baking, assembling and decorating the cake, plus additional time corresponding with the clients and transporting the finished creation—carefully!—to its final destination. For couples on a budget, the secret sheet cake can make that dream cake possible.

Having been in the bridal industry for half a decade as a hairstylist, Brianna Adams was used to getting asked the same questions: “Where can I find pretty hair accessories?” or “Which piece will look best with my hair?” In other words, it was an easy transition from styling to retail, when she launched Mood and Muse boutique in spring of 2017.

The shop—which is online-only (for now, though she says she has plans to open a storefront eventually)—features all things moody and romantic, from regal crowns with custom metal orchids to whimsical pins with flowers, crystals and pearls.

But the selection doesn’t stop there. Mood and Muse offers adornment for the body, too.

“I just wanted to create a beautiful space filled with unique, handmade hair pieces, lingerie, robes and any other accessory a bride would need for her wedding day and honeymoon,” says Adams, who still works full time as a freelance wedding and editorial hairstylist. And, she notes, she wanted each piece to be distinctive, even if that meant straying from the style of a more traditional bride. “My selection is for the romantic at heart, the whimsy and the boho.”

If you’re looking to add some greenery to your wedding venue, congratulations on your good taste—every space can benefit from some leafy décor. Plants and trees can refresh the eye and add texture and scale, helping you customize your site to the size and feel of your event. Not only that, greenery can be a much more affordable alternative to flowers. Herbs, succulents and leafy garlands are right on trend.

You’ll have no trouble finding ideas online about which plants to use and how to place them. Etsy sells tiny 2-inch potted succulents, a fun idea for favors or table décor—or you can pot your own in little glass jars saved from your recycling.

If you don’t want to purchase lots of plants, consider renting them. Milmont Greenhouses in Waynesboro offers a great deal on rented plants—25 percent of retail cost. (If Milmont delivers to Charlottesville, there’s also a $40 delivery fee.) The most popular rentals are hanging ferns, ficus trees and palm trees—prices for these range from about $5 to about $18 apiece, depending on species and size, and they’re yours for the whole weekend.

Get creative

What about containers? You can get creative with ways to hide plastic pots; one Etsy vendor offers decorative wraps, or find inexpensive containers at IKEA or Anthropologie. The wedding blogosphere is full of ideas—upcycled aluminum cans making a casual arrangement of plants on a tabletop, even mini terrariums holding air plants that guests can take home. Milmont also rents ceramic containers at the same rate as plants.

You can use plants to line the aisle at your ceremony, to hide anything unsightly at the reception site or to fill in extra space if your venue is a little too big for your number of guests. Garlands can spice up everything from tabletops, to chair backs, to the ceremony aisle, to the posts holding up an outdoor reception tent. Large plants can also dress up a doorway when placed on either side, or define the spot where you’ll take your vows.

For many brides, greenery is even replacing flowers in the last bastion of tradition—the bridal bouquet. Try eucalyptus, rosemary or jasmine vine.—EH

The dreamy vision of a beautiful outdoor wedding goes hand in hand with the reality of weather risk, but both soaking rain and punishing sun can be managed with a little insurance by renting tents in advance of the big day.

“Rain is a factor that can’t be ignored,” says Lee French, project manager for Skyline Tent Company. “The function of a rain plan is both to provide you with what you need and to give you budgetary forecasting, so there will be no surprises.”

Tent companies like Skyline offer options for any size wedding, from a small backyard ceremony to an event hosting hundreds at Montalto, and plans can include not only the overhead covering but also walls, draping, flooring and raised platforms, and even climate control. Drone photography of the location paired with software templates of the various tent pieces can give clients a good idea of how the installed layout will look on the ground.

As with all insurance, there is a premium for tranquility. Clients put down a deposit of between 25 and 50 percent of the tent plan’s cost (which can start at around $1,500 for a simple framed tent) to reserve the equipment, and then keep an eye on the forecast ahead of their event.

“We like to take the entire rain plan and turn it into a switch,” French says. “The client has until about three days before the event to either flip the switch or leave it down.”

While the bride and groom can avoid the upfront expense and roll the dice on the weather, a last-minute scramble can be costly, especially during the May/June and September/October peak wedding seasons when much of the equipment is spoken for. “I wouldn’t advise [waiting],” says French. “There’s a lot of value to a confirmed rain plan, and no substitute for peace of mind.”

Choosing the perfect officiant is another great way to put a personal stamp on your ceremony. But if you’re planning to ask a friend to officiate your wedding, in Virginia there are a few rules.

First off, throw out the internet ordination your friend spent 20 minutes obtaining; they aren’t recognized in our area. Now that you’ve done that, you have two routes: You can get a minister (ordained in a church of a legitimate denomination) to present her certificate of ordination and a letter of good standing to the clerk’s office for review. Once it’s approved, you’ll receive an order from the court to perform the marriage.

The second possibility is for laypersons who want to officiate a wedding—your friends, family, boss, basically anyone you choose who isn’t a member of the clergy. To get certified, call the county clerk’s office and ask to make an appointment with the judge to obtain a one-time officiant order. You’ll meet with him, answer a few questions about the wedding and your relationship to the couple and then pay a $52 filing fee, all of which allows you—one time only!—to perform a marriage anywhere in the Commonwealth. One thing to note here, says county clerk Llezelle Dugger: You must get the one-time officiant order in the Virginia county where you reside. (In other words, if you’re flying in your best friend who lives in Australia and expecting her to perform the wedding, you’re outta luck.)

It’s one of the first questions any planner asks: “What’s your budget?” But before your wallet starts nervous sweating, take a cue from Anyvent Event Planning’s Jazmin Portnow and newlyweds Ellen and Joel Loeshelle on how to cut corners (and where to splurge).

Splurge

Good food + good music = great time

“Having good food at our wedding was a no-brainer,” says Ellen. “We adore Charlottesville and are obsessed with the local food scene.” With the help of Harvest Moon Catering, Ellen and Joel sourced as many local items as they could, which the couple says came at a cost. They also hired UVA a capella group Academical Village People for a surprise performance during the reception.

“Entertainers set the mood for the entire event. Food is part of the experience,” says Portnow. “Everything else can be beautiful, but people talk about cold food or if there wasn’t enough food for years to come. It’s money well-spent.”

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Centerpieces aren’t the center of attention Portnow says many of her clients, like the Loeshelles, forego flowers. A mid-August wedding means major wilting, and finding alternatives is a good way to trim the budget. Portnow often recommends reusing statement pieces from the ceremony and repurposing them for the reception. And the Loeshelles DIYed centerpieces with flowers and herbs from Trader Joe’s, and filled bread baskets with loaves from Albemarle Baking Company.

“We needed to serve bread anyway, so it seemed like a natural fit,” says Ellen. “Some of our guests took the potted herbs home as favors at the end of the night. The loose blooms saved us a ton of money.”

Splurge

Remember how much a photo is worth. Some of Portnow’s couples “don’t care about photography,” she says, but Portnow still recommends a good photographer.

“It’s the only thing that you get to keep forever,” says Portnow. “I don’t know if people really understand that value.”

Ellen and Joel didn’t compromise on a high-quality, experienced photographer for their August 2017 wedding. That is, once they settled on who they’d use.

“We had a hard time agreeing on a photographer,” Ellen says. “Once we found one we liked, we worked hard to make it fit in the budget.”

 

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Nobody cares about napkins Portnow says rentals and extras like premium linens or chargers can quickly add up to $7 a person, which makes a big difference at a 150-person event like Ellen and Joel’s Castle Hill Cider wedding. They chose to let the venue’s barn and surrounding landscape speak for itself.

“On Instagram and Pinterest, you’re seeing overdone images, like $100,000 weddings or a styled shoot,” says Portnow. “At the end of the day, no one remembers how your napkin was folded.”