Jackie and Nathan gets married!

As a wedding planner, it is my job to care about the details, schedules, and other things that normal people wouldn't really care about.  But I feel like it's my job to remind them that sometimes these little details don't matter, and what really does is that you're marrying your best friend, and that you will have all your friends and family there to witness it. 

Jackie and Nathan's beautiful celebration of marriage reminded me of what is most important about weddings.  It's not the flowers and the food, but it's the company and the memories.

I first got a call from Jackie, who was referred to me by the awesome Kelly from the Down Town Club.  Jackie told me that she was leaving the country the next day, so we'd have to meet in February when she returned.  Little did I know that everything was going to change for them and their wedding plans.

Shortly after they returned, their original June wedding date was pushed up to March, and Jackie and Nathan planned their wedding in a few short weeks.  I remember those few weeks being crazy.  Jackie and Nathan were going their friends' weddings on the weekends and living at home to be with her father during the week.  I remember going to her parents house for a meeting and they had literally just pulled up to the house from a weekend away for a wedding.  Despite everything they were going through, they were both so amazingly graceful.  She was incredibly strong and later at the wedding, I would see that it was a trait that ran in the family.

So the time came and it was wedding day.  It was a rainy Sunday in March, and I came to the hotel room with Cindy Guessford and Jen Cleary, her second shooter.  It was calm, and I remember thinking that this day will go smoothly even if it kills me.

Jackie bought her gown in Thailand during her trip with Nathan.  I think he may have been the first groom to actually see the dress before the wedding. 

The ring shot is on a book of Philadelphia found in Jackie's Omni hotel room.

Much of the day was up in the air.  Her father did make it to the wedding, but he rested in a private room and came out when he was ready.  We knew this day was very important to him, so we wanted to do all the special moments when he was able to watch. 

The ceremony was a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony.  Nathan's sister is a rabbi and she officiated the ceremony alongside Jackie's rabbi that was present at her bat mitzah years before.  I love Jewish wedding ceremonies and one of my favorite details is the walking down the aisle with both parents.

It really is a wonderful way to pay respects to both your parents in raising you, by having them escort you down the aisle together.

The highlight of the night was when her father stood up from his wheelchair to dance with his daughter on her wedding day. 

It was such a touching moment and there wasn't a dry eye in the touch.  This wedding was a very joyous day but it was also a day rooted with deep emotions.  To see all their friends and family come to be a part of this wedding in such short notice was a testament to the relationships Jackie, Nathan, and their families keep in their lives.

The evening ended with prayer and prayer books (Benching).  Nathan's younger brother stepped in and led the prayer.  All guests are encouraged to pull their chairs up to the bride and grooms table.  Red and White are poured into separate glasses, then poured together to symbolize creation of new life.  The bride and groom then each drink from this glass of combined wine. 

This amazing day was made possible by the wonderful vendors on hand.

Thank you to Cindy and Jen for the beautiful images from this wedding.  They had the hard job of capturing all the moments of the day. A lot of my vendor friends are awesome, but Cindy really floored me with her professionalism and creativity.

Also, thank you to Papertini for coming in in such short notice and creating the chuppah and the centerpieces.

Her and her team were true profectionists and their work was great.

Special thanks to the Downtown Club for being so accomodating.  Their staff and event coordinators are so easy to work with.  Always a great time to be had at their venue.

And of course, very sincere thanks from the bottom of my heart to Jackie and Nate for allowing me to be a part of your day! 

In memory of Dr. Martin Cohen.

Angela and Matt - Down Town Club

We celebrated our last wedding of 2009 with Angela and Matt.

We started the day at Penns View Inn.


Angela has this amazing hair piece. I loved it so much!

She also had a blusher, and I especially loved this image. Angela had a beautiful gown that was absolutely stunning on her, with a vintage hair style and hair jewelry.

While Angela finished getting ready, I popped over Matt's room to help with their boutonnieres. Matt received this gift from Angela.

The ceremony took place at the Arch St. Meetinghouse in Philadelphia, which is a Quaker place of worship. At the front of the meetinghouse, stood the chuppah, and the ketubah was signed, and glass was broken during the ceremony. But the most meaningful of all, was having their good friend from law school officiate their wedding.

They had a custom made aisle runner. It was beautiful. I usually don't like aisle runners in fear that the bride may get her heels caught and fall. But this aisle was just too pretty not to use! I made sure we had it affixed securely to the floor.

The bridemaids held unique nosegays, created by Leslie of Whimsical Welcomes. All the girls wore different dresses. We love different dresses!

I went straight to the Down Town Club with intern Bree, while Tasha stayed behind at the ceremony to make sure everything went well, and items were packed up.

After the ceremony, the new Mr. and Mrs. Epstein walked around the city with their wedding party. The threat of rain didn't scare them off.

I loved Angela's coat she wore over her dress. It was so glamourous, yet looked so warm! I think one of the advantages of getting married in late fall and winter is being able to wear beautiful shawls, coverlets, and fur coats.

Jeremy Evans Thomas, their photographer, found some unique places for them to rest their feet (or rain boots).

Yes, it rained on their wedding day. BUT, it did not rain during portraits. It rained during the ceremony and rained just as they were walking into the reception. But the rain is pretty and they were good sports about it.

They had 3 different types of centerpieces, some included candles.

They had red uplighting, and a monogram gobo. Lighting and music provided by 4MostSound.

The cocktail tables had these adorable pieces, made of legos. It was so creative!

The lovely couple were all smiles that night, as they should have been! They're married! They were engaged since their last year of law school - finally two years later, they were finally married.

The guest book was an adesso album with polaroids. Bree and I took polaroids as the guests filed into the Down Town Club for the reception. Guests then signed a personal message by their picture.

In the middle of the guest book table, Whimiscal Welcomes made a tree centerpiece. If you looked closely at the tree, their initials were carved into it.

This is the tree that eventually ended up in the front seat of my car that night.

Towards the end of the night, Angela presented Matt with his grooms cake. I guess he really loves the Phillies! (The cake was a masterpiece by Night Kitchen Bakery).


It was great to end the season with such a great fun wedding! Congratulations to the Mr. and Mrs. Epstein!

Angela and Matt get married at the Downtown Club!

This past weekend, I came home from a wedding with this...

Yes, that is a tree, or part of a tree, in the front passenger seat of my car. This is the "most random thing I brought home from a wedding." But we'll get to that later.

It was early 2008 that I first met Angela and Matt, who were both third year law students back then. They had just gotten engaged and were about to book a venue, and somewhere along the line, they decided they needed a wedding coordinator! Almost two years later, their wedding day finally arrived, and the day could not have gone any better.

Please do not mind my iphone images. The photographer was the great Jeremy Evans Thomas, and I will recap again once the images are processed. Until then, please try to enjoy my photos which do not do their wedding any justice whatsoever.

The ceremony took place at the Arch St Meetinghouse where Jewish wedding ceremony components were integrated into their otherwise nondenominational ceremony. Their friend, Karl, who was ordained online, was a great officiant.

Whimsical Welcomes set up the chuppah and pew flowers.

I remember as Tasha and I rolled out their aisle runner, we were caught off guard by the monogram on the aisle runner. We had no idea! It was beautiful.

The weather man promised scattered thunderstorms, and I worried that my no-rain-on-wedding-day streak would finally come to an end. But the weather gods must love cHill Weddings because it barely drizzled after the ceremony, allowing Angela and Matt to walk to their reception venue and get portraits along the way.

After the ceremony, cHill Weddings headed over to the Down Town Club, where we were greeted by Kelly and staff. What a great team of people to work with (and food was aplenty and delicious)!

So here's the beautiful tree that ended up in my car.

Whimsical Welcomes created this escort card centerpiece. It was so unique, we loved it! Their initials were carved into the tree, and adorned with two small pomanders.

Angela made these cute leaf escort cards. You can open them up, and inside was your table assignment. Guests loved them.

The escort card table also had the Adesso Photo album and two Polaroids. Bree, the intern, and I manned these and took picutres of guests as they came off the elevators. Guests loved looking at all the polaroids! And I think Angela and Matt will forever love having these cute images of all their guests. *

Angela and Matt had 4 different type of centerpieces:

It was great working with Angela and Matt. They brought me in as their Day of Coordinator, but since we met so early on, I feel like we've been working together forever! I was happy to refer them to some of my favorite vendors.

Vendor Roundup:

Day of Coordinator : Christina and Bree of cHill Weddings, LLC

Photography: Jeremy Evans Thomas

Ceremony Venue: Arch St. Meetinghouse

Reception Venue: Down Town Club

Flowers: Whimical Welcomes

DJ: 4 Most Sound
Hotel: Penns View Inn

Makeup: Bella by Design
Groom's Cake: Night Kitchen Bakery