A one-time thing

Friday August 8, 2008 (Part 2)

Prologue
In the midst of our discussions about designing her escort cards and favor tags, Mia got some bad news. Her day of coordinator fired her. I didn't even think that was possible. Keep in mind this was a month before her wedding. The coordinator even went so far as to say it was because another bride had hired her for one of her more expensive packages. Who does that?!

She was in a bad spot. As an 08/08/08 bride, she was going to be hard-pressed to find a replacement. Recalling my own DOC drama last year, I told her that I would "help" if she couldn't find anyone else. I was partially hoping she would find a qualified coordinator. As luck would have it, she didn't. When she emailed me to ask if my offer was still good, I quickly replied "yes". Inwardly, I was a bit panic-stricken. I AM NOT A COORDINATOR. Sure I have been the go-to-gal for many a wedding, but I am not deluded enough to think that makes me qualified to be a coordinator.

Thankfully, I have a lot of helpful friends. As I mentioned in previous post, my dear friend Paola is a highly competent and successful coordinator. She graciously sent me a copy of her one of her very extensive timelines. I filled in the blanks and felt a little better. My other friend Jeannette agreed to help me the day of the wedding with all the small details. Lastly, another friend Keren offered to let me spend the night at her house. The wedding was in Ventura which was about 1.5 hr away from my house. I was ready to go.

Day of the Wedding
Poor Jeannette had caught a summer cold and I was flying solo. The wedding was scheduled for 5pm. I grabbed a lunch of champions at Weinerschnitzel. Didn't get the memo? 2 corndogs are the thing to eat before working a wedding. I arrived at the Ventura Beach Marriott at 1pm with all my gear in tow. I had 6 cases of mason jar favors, a bridal emergency kit, and other miscellanea.

The four hours leading up to the ceremony went by in a blur. Because it was a hotel wedding, I was fortunate to only have to oversee the setup. I didn't have to do any of the heavy lifting. I did do a lot of running around. Here's a peek at some of the details I oversaw.






The ceremony was beautiful and went off without a hitch. I only watched a small portion of it because I was attending to some reception details. This also saved me from the waterworks that I am prone to have at ceremonies. Here are a few shots of the ceremony.

The new Mr. & Mrs. M - Mia & Gian!

We got the reception started and I finally got to take some breaks. I got to eat and chat with the knotties at my table. I went back and forth between my duties as a coordinator and my time as guest. The reception had some nice personal touches such as a slideshow and Father-Daughter Salsa dance. This crowd partied hard and the dancefloor was rarely empty. Here are some photos of the reception.

Mia with the girls from the knot

My tasty dinner - Petit Filet with Crabcake Tower

Gian's sister, her husband and various nieces and nephews getting down

Knotties partying it up

Mother of the Bride and Mother of the Groom showing the crowd how it's done

Me chatting with Danielle and Katie.
Proof that I was actually there. I looked so disheveled that I refused to be in anyone's pictures.

It was a beautiful celebration. I was glad to have been a part of their day. It was both exciting and exhausting. I was so pooped that I slept most of the day Saturday. After this one wedding, I'm sure I'll stick to design work. I'll leave the coordinating to the professionals. Congrats again to Mia & Gian!

Special Thanks to Mia's awesome vendors who made my job easy and the day go smoothly.
Venue: Ventura Beach Marriott
DJ: Matt at Slater Entertainment
Florist: Shell's Petals
Cake: Jana's Creative Cakes
Officiant: Ken Craft of Dream Day Weddings
Photographer: Dave Luchansky of A Candid Affair
Videographer: Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills