What I’m Loving!

Celebrations by Amy Bacon was recently featured in The Wedding Chronicle for local wedding planners.  
We were asked to share what we're in love with right now ... colors, flowers, and details. 

They quoted a section of our submission but we wanted to share the entire piece with our readers. 

Colors:        As a general preference, I LOVE the color pink so of course when a client says that they want to use it in their wedding, I automatically agree with them. Pink is such a fun, love-inspiring color that can be taken many different ways. Hot pink shades can show off the couple’s rebellious side when used with black and white; blushes and peaches can add to the feel-good nature of the reception; and coral can be mixed with so many other colors to add an element to the design that otherwise would have been missed. Sure, some guys feel that pink isn’t manly so they may not be keen on having it be used (after all, it’s their day, too!) but because of my experience with planning events, I make sure I point out how pink can be paired with masculine colors (i.e. navy blue, charcoal grey) so that they don’t feel left out of their own event. Regardless of when in the planning process a bride tells me her color scheme (start of brainstorming or even as soon as a month before the Big Day), I love being able to help couple’s achieve their wedding dreams, and colors, especially pink, are an easy way to accomplish this.

Flowers:      Being in a business where knowing all different shapes, types, and varieties of flowers makes it difficult to be able to pick just one that I love. Okay, I’ll be honest, I can’t pick just one! However, I do prefer working with flowers that possess unique textures. Going against the grain and using flowers that don’t stick to the norm of being smooth, contained blossoms adds in a little extra “oomph” to the design to make it distinctive and stand out in pictures. While peonies are temperamental and finicky to work with, the fluffiness of their many petals fill the space of any arrangement they are in, and aid to the beauty of a glowing bride. Working with flowers like hybrid tea roses can always add elegance to any event, but why not bring in a whole new element by featuring dahlias instead? I don’t like the idea of planning and coordinating the same event over and over again. A great way to help my brides have their wedding be special and distinctive is by encouraging them to pick textured and individualistic blooms for their wedding arrangements. Every bride is different; so should their wedding!

Details:        Many people focus on making sure they have a family heirloom, a friend’s cake, or any other personal elements they covet at their wedding. I agree that all of these are great to have, but a detail that I think that must be present at a wedding is a theme. The theme doesn’t have to be specific like Winter Wonderland but a couple (and their planner) needs to know what the theme is so that they stay on track with the look and feel they desire the event to exude. Celebrations by Amy Bacon is working with a wonderful couple right now whose wedding will be this upcoming February and they are pros at bringing this detail into everything about their ‘I Do’s. The bride and her Maid of Honor came up with the fantastic theme of Vintage Glam that they always have in mind when deciding what to use and what to leave out. From the beautiful multi-sized lanterns on the tables to the amazing sequins, chevron linen for the cake table, they’re matching the sophistication of times now passed with the contemporary pops that are in vogue today. Knowing what you want for your wedding and being able to voice this to others can be the difference between missing the mark of what you had pictured and getting more than you had ever imagined when all is said and done. Even if a couple does not know how to voice specific ideas for their wedding, as I work with them I am able to develop a concrete phrase for all involved to cling to throughout the process so as to bring their vision to life. My team and I pride ourselves on being able to see a couple’s vision and knowing just how to make this must-have detail shine as much as their love for one another as they start their new life together, as long as they both shall live.

Name of Planner: Amy Bacon

Business Name: Celebrations by Amy Bacon

 

Website URL: http://www.CelebrationsbyAmyBacon.com

Client’s Perspective: Lynn, Mother of the Bride

Image provide by http://www.ClassicDigitalPhotography.com

Erin called me on Easter Saturday 2011 and told me that Shane had proposed at the Tucson Reid Park Zoo, that she had accepted, and that she was a "hot mess"!  We knew it was coming, though, as Shane and Erin had recently visited us in Hawaii.  Ron and Shane went deep sea fishing one day, and Shane was gentleman enough to have "The Talk" with the father of his intended bride about a month before the actual proposal. At first, they planned on a two year engagement.  Six months after becoming engaged, they realized they wanted to get married sooner than that and so they decided over Thanksgiving 2011 to get married in May 2012.  Then we jumped into planning mode!

My daughter Erin was a full time nursing student in the months preceding the wedding, while I was a stay-at-home mom with a lot of flexibility in my schedule.  As a result, it made sense for me to step in and do a lot of the wedding planning and tasks for her. My husband is an Army officer, and so I often see things from a military perspective after having been an Army wife for 18 years.  In the military, there is the role of an "XO", an executive officer, who is in charge of executing the decisions made by his or her commanding officer. When it came to planning Erin and Shane's wedding, I regarded my role as being Erin's XO.  I looked at everything I did as a service to her, and hopefully I didn't overstep too badly! Today's technology (especially the internet) made planning from afar very feasible! Possible but difficult.  

Image provide by http://www.ClassicDigitalPhotography.com

The overall vision of the wedding - a morning wedding followed by a brunch - came solely from Erin.  I like planning and organizing things, and was fairly comfortable in finding the major vendors and reception space. It probably helped that I grew up in Scottsdale and was familiar with many of the potential reception venues. When Erin and Shane toured the Scottsdale Plaza and saw the gazebo area, they both fell in love with the setting.  Shane said immediately afterwards that it was the first place they had toured where he could picture them getting married. Erin and Shane liked the idea of having the ceremony and reception at the same location, and having it at a hotel where our out-of-town guests could stay for maximum convenience. Having the reception at Remington's was perfect, because they don't open until 5:00 pm on Saturdays, and we all really liked the idea of having an exclusive reception space versus mingling with the general public. The brunch menu was one that appealed to all of us, and in fact the quality of the food truly surpassed our expectations.  Finally, the Scottsdale Plaza charged a reasonable price for their upscale brunch; the cost of the ceremony site itself was particularly economical.

I definitely shared opinions and suggestions with Erin; I'm a pretty normal mother in that regard!  Many choices were determined or modified by our budget limitations, but I can honestly say that she made all the final decisions, particularly the major decisions. Despite having much of the key details decided and squared away, I began to worry about the many tasks that go on during the actual wedding day.  I knew I didn't want to be running around like the proverbial headless chicken when I should be focusing on the importance and joy of the day. My brother got married about a year before we started planning Erin's wedding, and he and my sister-in-law used a wedding coordinator.  At first, I didn't understand why they felt the need to hire help, but they too were planning from long distance, and it quickly became apparent just how many details and tasks that their coordinator was handling for them.  Their wedding went beautifully, and they attributed the success of their day, in part, to their coordinator.

One of my specific anxieties about the wedding was that our wedding officiant really didn't want to do a rehearsal.  We love the minister who did Erin's wedding, and he makes a very eloquent argument as to why he has found rehearsals to be pointless.  But all I could do was recall my brother's wedding just a year earlier, and the fact that all of us in the wedding party had regarded the rehearsal as being the key reason the actual ceremony went so beautifully the next day.  So I really loved the idea of having a day-of coordinator who embraced the idea of a rehearsal and treated it with the importance we thought it deserved.

Erin was very open to the idea of hiring a day-of coordinator, and when we were together over Christmas break, we agreed to explore the possibility. She and I called Amy together and spent about an hour getting to know each other over the phone. Amy asked such intelligent and insightful questions that both Erin and I were quite impressed; it became obvious that Amy was professional and extremely experienced in her field.  By the end of the conversation, Erin and I just nodded at other to verify what we were both thinking:  that this was the right person to help us with our day-of coordination! We hired Amy on the spot.

Amy proved to be a tireless sounding board for our many questions and concerns, both big and small.  It was a blessing to be able to call her, or e-mail her, and consistently get a prompt response. There are two things about our experience with Amy for which I am especially grateful.  First, she truly became our advocate, working tirelessly and passionately to coordinate Erin's wedding to the very best of her ability.  Second, she always maintained a sense of joy, enthusiasm, and confidence about the wedding. Erin also verbalized how much her stress level decreased once we hired Amy.  We knew that one of the important jobs of a day-of coordinator is to handle the unexpected emergencies or surprises that come up during the day.  By definition, these challenges are almost always unexpected, and have the potential of derailing a very important event. Erin said that she felt like we had an "insurance policy" for the wedding once we hired Amy, because we were both confident that she could handle, to the extent reasonably possible, any surprises that arose on the day of the wedding.  Even better, we felt like her careful planning and timeline coordination would itself prevent some of these challenges from arising in the first place. The timeline itself coordinated all the countless details of a wedding into a logical and useful format – and provided, for example, contact information so that the vendors, the family members, and the wedding party could all reach one another if needed.

Image provide by http://www.ClassicDigitalPhotography.com

Amy and her team seemed to be everywhere on the day of the wedding, taking care of the numerous details that the rest of us were too busy to do. They were the ones: who ran to Starbucks for the wedding party; who offered to get medicine for a sick flower girl; who ran to Men's Warehouse to pick up shoes that had been left out of an order; who placed the wedding programs on each guest's seat; who pinned on the corsages and boutonnieres; who provided ice water to our vendors on a hot day; who made sure the bride and groom had something to eat; who prevented my daughter's wedding cake from getting accidentally contaminated with an allergen. In fact, I am positive that I don't even know everything they did on our daughter's wedding day, but I know that they worked tirelessly to make sure things went as smoothly as humanly possible.

I would encourage parents to enjoy their very special and unique role as parents of the bride or groom.  It is likely to be an emotionally intense day, not only because you are watching your precious child get married, but because you are surrounded by a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of loved ones from across the country. My husband and I were able to better enjoy the day, spend more time with our guests, and experience less stress as a direct result of hiring Amy and her team to help us with the process.  There are just too many moving parts involved in a wedding for even an organized and detailed-oriented bride (or mother of the bride) to supervise and manage singlehandedly!  So even if the concept of hiring a wedding planner is a new one for parents, I would encourage them to keep an open mind on the subject and see the many potential benefits of hiring some degree of wedding coordination help.

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                   Blog Written by Patrice Klaum | Planner and Writer for Celebrations by Amy Bacon

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

 

It’s your wedding day! You’re excited to take that walk down the aisle and dance towards your party, hand-in-hand as Mr. and Mrs. To make sure that everything goes smoothly and that potential crises are averted, it is important to allot enough time to get ready with a little bit of wiggle room for emergencies and to avoid rushing. No matter how much planning you do, something will occur that you hadn’t accounted for. By scheduling out your day with time to spare, you allow for this to happen without it ruining the order for the day. By hiring a day-of coordinator like Celebrations by Amy Bacon, you can rest at ease knowing that event planning professionals are by your side with their expertly formulated timeline to keep your special day running as closely to plan as humanly possible. Scheduling hair and makeup to take as long as it would on a normal day, everyone getting ready at the same time, forgetting about mingle time, and not allowing yourself the luxury of a cushion are all timing issues that should be avoided so that your stress doesn’t grow on your wedding day with each tick of the clock.

1) Schedule pampering time for your hair and makeup appointments: Most ladies wear makeup and do their hair fairly frequently but normally not quite as elegant and particular as on their wedding day. As a bride, your hair and makeup need to look better than anyone else’s; after all it’s YOUR day. You should be one of the first in the chair so that you stylist can take her time at perfecting your look and altering along the way as is fit. You need to allow an ample amount of time to have your hair and makeup done because let’s face it, the way you look on your wedding day is the best you’ll want to look for the rest of your life. You’ll see pictures of yourself as a bride on nearly a daily basis. Do you really want to see a picture and think, “I wish I’d had more time to get ready”? By designating extra time to be pampered, you will be better able to enjoy the day and to feel relaxed. Your heart rate will be racing at what seems like a thousand miles an hour; you’d don’t need the added stress of running behind to add to it at all.

2) Staggering dressing times: Getting ready together is half of the fun of wearing gowns (and tuxes) on the Big Day! Seeing as everyone’s outfits come together can build up the anticipation for the day and make it even more memorable. However, having all of the wedding party get dressed at the same time can cause stress and, to be frank, some crummy pictures. You should be the last one (out of bridesmaids and close family members) to get completely dressed. The photographers will be snapping away as your dress is zipped, laced or buttoned, and different angles will be used to get just the right shot. You don’t exactly want your MoH to be helping you into your Cinderella shoes while she’s in pajama pants, or your dad to be in his college sweatshirt while he kisses your flawlessly blushed cheek. By scheduling for everyone else to be ready before or finishing up as you start to add the final touches, you allow the spotlight to be on you and to make the moment picture perfect.

The guys’ prep time matters, too! The groom and his attendants won’t need nearly as much time to prepare and for good reason. They simply have to suit up and fix their dos to be ready to rock down the aisle. Because of this, they should not start getting ready until after the ladies have. This will help to avoid having the guys be dressed and prepared to get the show on the road…while the girls are still in their monogrammed robes and slippers, mimosas in hand. Most guys are left waiting for their girls to get ready for a weekly date; they shouldn’t have to do the same for the most important date of their relationship. Nerves will be high; tensions due to scheduling should not.

3) Allow enough time to mingle with and greet your guests: You’ve just been introduced as husband and wife, and it’s time to start the party. Drinks will flow, food will be served, and conversations will flutter. If you don’t make time to enjoy all that your reception has to offer, you’ll miss out on visiting with the people who made an effort to celebrate such a special day with you. Before kicking off the reception’s “activities,” make sure you talk to each guest and thank them for joining you at your wedding. Not only that, but many guests will grab your arm as you float about the room to congratulate you. If you assign time to visit each table, you won’t find yourself thinking, “I could have sworn that I saw him/her here but I didn’t get to talk to them all night.” It will also help to ward off the longing feeling you get staring at the dance floor as your great aunt compliments you on how delicious the food was for the fifth time. Either organizing a receiving line, attending the cocktail hour, or circling the room as guests eat are all perfect ways to schedule out time to greet guests while simultaneously enjoying your own reception.

4) Give yourself a “clock cushion”: Cushion room can help alleviate stress, even if all other fore mentioned suggestions are ignored. Just as anyone who has planned a party knows, at some point the party will fall behind or jump ahead of schedule without any warning. By putting cushion time into your wedding timeline, you allow this to happen without throwing off the whole day. Whether the limo arrives at the venue a little early or the priest’s homily runs a little long, you won’t have to worry about being “off of schedule” because you technically won’t be. This will aid in the on-going struggle of avoiding anxiety and distracting from what really matters: YOU’RE MARRIED!

One of the most important effects to scheduling some cushion room? Extra time alone for the bride and groom. If you have every minute of the planned to a T, you won’t have any time to sneak away as a couple. You just took the biggest step in your relationship that you have ever taken and have promised to love each other for all time. That’s a lot to process! You’re officially husband and wife and you don’t want to spend the first 10 hours of your marriage surrounded by other people. Plan in cushion time so that you and your honey can have time as Mr. and Mrs. in peace.

It may seem silly but timing can often make or break a wedding. Unfortunately, accidents happen, emergencies come out of nowhere, and unplanned issues arise that can’t be put off until later to deal with. Timelines help keep everyone on track and remind people what to do next. If you hire a wedding coordinator (like Celebrations for Amy Bacon), they will likely prepare a detailed and expertly spaced-out timeline for you. Planning every detail to couples’ special days is what they do for a living; trust their expert timing skills and enjoy every minute of your day. Don’t let the little things get to you or the next thing you know you’ll be pulling away in your limo and you won’t be able to remember half of your reception. Arrange your wedding so instead of musing ‘Where did the time go?’ you’ll think ‘That was the time of my life!’

                                                                     Blog written by Patrice Klaum

Reviews from Wedding & Candy Buffet for Celebrations by Amy Bacon from WeddingWire.com | 5.12.12

We love receiving reviews from our Brides.  Every now and then a groom will even log onto Wedding Wire and share a few kind words.  We were overjoyed when not only did the bride praise about her Wedding and Candy Buffet on 5.12.12.  In addition the MOB and the FOB took the time to share their experience too.

Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

This wedding was filled with love and details.  The bride and groom were busy with school and finals and MOB and FOB were out of state.  Planning meant endless emails and phone calls for months.  It led to a fabulous friendship that will be treasured for years to come.  These parents were such a pleasure to work with and you could just feel the love they had for the daughter.  It's an honor to call them friends!

Erin with her father Ron
Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Review from Father of the Bride - Ron

5 out of 5 STARS

I would rate a 6.o on Value if I could. Amy is a clear future star in this field. She is totally committed to her clients and the other vendors involved in the wedding took the time to pull me aside and say that she was the single best coordinator that they have ever worked with. High praise indeed. She can meet the clients needs and also make the vendors that she coordinates feel special too. It created an environment of all family at the wedding, not family and vendors. Her candy bar was elegant and tasty and was well liked by the guests. I have several Daughters and it seems that we have our coordinator all set.

The stunning Mrs. Zink
Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Review from the Bride - Erin
5 out of 5 STARS

Think of Celebrations by Amy Bacon as wedding insurance.

No matter what goes wrong, she will correct the problem. In fact, she and her team are so efficient that you probably will never know that the problem happened until after the event is done and you are thrilled with her work. If you are willing to spend so much money on a wedding, how can you NOT have insurance?!

We hired Celebrations by Amy Bacon for our wedding on May 12th, 2012. We hired Amy Bacon for her day-of services as well as for her beautiful candy bar, and ended up getting SO much more than we paid for. She always emails back within 24 hours and is both sweet and professional. One of her personality traits that I most appreciated is her ability to immediately assess the needs and wants of the bride (and bridal party) and respond to them. She always made sure my voice was heard, and she'll never know how much that meant to me. She was an intermediary in conflict when needed, she was a jack of all trades that preformed every necessary role you can imagine. She has an easy-going demeanor and an ability to calm tensions and solve problems.

On top of bringing THREE assistants to help out in our wedding, her touches throughout the wedding were felt. When I forgot my something borrowed and something blue, she was prepared to lend me a blue anklet. She came prepared to the wedding with a "wedding emergency kit" that my bridal party and I used many times throughout the day. She brought "bride" and "groom" signs for our sweetheart table. She surprised my husband and I with an amazingly decorated bridal sweet for the wedding night. I could go on and on.

Don't look any further. Hire Celebrations by Amy Bacon and you will be thrilled beyond any expectations you may have had!

MOB Lynn with her daughter right before the ceremony.
Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Review from the Mother of the Bride - Lynn
5 of 5 STARS

I am the third person to be writing a review concerning Amy on the same wedding! My daughter (the bride) and husband have already weighed in, but I wanted to write as well.

Neither my daughter nor I lives in the Phoenix area currently, and we became overwhelmed at the thought of handling all the wedding details ourselves. We loved the idea of a "Day Of" coordinator and started researching options.
My daughter and I spoke to Amy on a joint telephone call. We started the phone call thinking that we were just gathering options, and ended the phone call absolutely knowing that we wanted Amy to handle my daughter's wedding day. Why? Well, Amy was personable and professional, and she rapidly started asking such intelligent and insightful questions that it became obvious how gifted she was at her job. By the end of our conversation, we didn't even have to discuss our mutual decision to hire her on the spot; our only concern at that point was whether Amy would be able to work us into her deservedly busy schedule!

As the mother of the bride, I worked quite a bit with Amy due to my daughter's various time commitments as a student. Amy became our partner in planning and executing the wedding. She was a tireless advocate for us in countless ways: recommending vendors, offering suggestions, and calming anxieties. When we ran into a sticky etiquette situation, Amy not only clarified what the appropriate etiquette was in such a case, but she offered to call up the involved parties and diplomatically solve the problem.

Although Amy has a full schedule, she has the gift of making her clients feel special and important. She genuinely loves weddings and is excited about helping to plan and execute them. Her enthusiasm was much appreciated, as I'm sure vendors in this industry become a little jaded about wedding and brides. We ran into at least one vendor like that, and it put a bit of a damper on our excitement to have her act almost bored at our plans. It might have been that vendor's five hundredth wedding, but it was my daughter's first . . . and Amy always remembered that and acted accordingly.

Amy was truly invaluable in producing a detailed and thoughtful wedding day timeline for the entire wedding party as well as the vendors. The timeline alone was a work of art, and no doubt represented many hours of work. It coordinated all the countless details of a wedding into a logical and useful format - and provided, for example, contact information so that the vendors, the family members, and the wedding party could all reach one another if needed.

I loved the way that Amy interacted with our vendors. She was always polite and professional, and genuinely wanted to make them comfortable. For instance, she contacted our vendors ahead of time to firm up logistical details and timing. That is to be expected. But Amy went the extra mile and inquired about any allergies or food intolerances that our vendors might have, so that we could be sure they were fed appropriately on the wedding day. It is that kind of thoughtfulness and attention to detail that makes Amy an absolute genius at what she does. It is no accident that two different vendors took us aside at the end of the day and told us that Amy was probably the single best wedding consultant they had ever had the pleasure to work with!

Amy conducted a thorough and professional rehearsal the day before the wedding that resulted in a more relaxed and polished wedding ceremony. By the end of the rehearsal, everybody knew exactly what they would be doing during the ceremony. This is an important service, and one that is often being skipped by today's officiants. I've been in two weddings in the past 18 months, and am absolutely convinced that both of them went so much more smoothly because of a good rehearsal the day before!

Amy and her team seemed to be everywhere on the day of the wedding, taking care of the numerous details that the rest of us were too busy to do. (Thank you, Angel and Patrice!!) They were the ones: who ran to Starbucks for the wedding party; who offered to get medicine for a sick flower girl; who bought heel inserts so that a bridesmaid's new shoes would fit; who ran to Men's Wearhouse to pick up shoes that had been left out of an order; who arranged the escort cards at the reception site; who placed the wedding programs on each guest's seat; who pinned on the corsages and boutonnieres; who provided ice water to our vendors on a hot day; who offered us breath mints; who made sure the bride and groom had something to eat; who prevented my daughter's wedding cake from getting accidentally contaminated with an allergen. In fact, I am positive that I don't even know everything they did on our daughter's wedding day, but I know that they worked tirelessly to make sure things went as smoothly as humanly possible.

In summary, Amy is a talented, experienced, hard-working wedding consultant who is excellent at what she does. She is also a kind and generous human being who will genuinely care about you, your family, and your wedding. We consider ourselves very blessed to have found her, and wish her the enormous professional success that she so richly deserves.

Here are a few more of our favorite images from the day ....

Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Amy Bacon with Mr. and Mrs. Zink
Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com

Amy Bacon with Mr. and Mrs. Gagliano
Photos by Classic Digital Photography®. www.classicdigitalphotography.com