Cherished Celebrations » wedding planner

Sara + Chris {engaged}

Catherine — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:15:53 +0000

Have you ever met someone who knows exactly what they want? I mean someone who has a goal in mind and every decision they make propels them toward that goal or they don’t make that choice? I can tell you it doesn’t happen very often at all, but even less when you associate the word “wedding” with it.

I’m very fortunate to have met someone just like that in Sara! She has a beautiful vision for her wedding day and I’m honored to be able to help her realize that vision for her May wedding. I’ve been working with Sara for a while now, but recently, she sent me some of her engagement portraits.

All I can say is WOW! I cannot wait to see the wedding day shots from Krystal Kast! Here are a few of my favorites!!

All images courtesy and ©Krystal Kast Photography.

The Wedding Show 2012

Catherine — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:33:17 +0000

All I can say is WOW! What a fantastic show put on by our friends at Forever Bridal Productions!

Our Cherished Celebrations team began setup on Thursday afternoon on our beautiful booth. We wanted to give the attendees a lot to look at and a place to relax and be inspired when they were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of wedding information available. With a color scheme of black, white, and pewter, our tangerine and turquoise florals really stood out.

And they took advantage of our inspiration books at our front table! Let me just say that the Chameleon Chairs (thanks, Classic!!) were incredibly comfortable. And I mean incredibly comfortable! If they fit your style, I highly recommend looking into them for your wedding day!

Our Invitation Bar was another place brides and grooms liked to sit for a while and look at the samples. We had a counter height table and Chameleon bar stools there.

In the back, a fantastic shelving system from Classic held hydrangeas, favor ideas, more inspiration books, samples, and our client packages. We lit each cube with LED lighting for a subtle glow behind or under each item. We received many compliments about our design!

My favorite part is my new LED desk. Anyone who knows me at all can tell you how much I LOVE LED lights. And that’s a lot! Now I have a cool desk that lights RGB or rotates. (And my kids love it!) We scheduled appointments and showed specific wedding pictures at the desk. I think a new “must” in our bridal show booths will be a desk area – it was a great space!

We talked with so many great people this weekend! I can’t wait to begin the meetings that were scheduled and start work on all of your beautiful weddings!

And a very,very special Thank You!!! to the wonderful Megan Bugbee for the pictures!!

Happy Weddings, everyone!!

Megan and Harrison

Catherine — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:32:49 +0000

One of my first events in North Carolina, Megan and Harrison were married at St. Andrew’s in Garner and had their reception at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel downtown. Wonderful event with great people!

Another great product from Cincopa Send Large Files. Also will help with your nocturnal panic attacks.

Delighted to have worked with the following fabulous wedding professionals to create this wedding day!

Facility: Sheraton Raleigh Hotel

Photography: Positive Results Photography

Cake: The Cake Walk

Business of Brides 2010!

Catherine — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:03:49 +0000

So, this weekend I leave for the Association of Bridal Consultants annual conference in Phoenix! I’m very excited to see some old friends and meet some new ones!

I’ll get to see Sasha Souza again – always great to hear her speak and share her ideas! And, I get to meet David Tutera for the first time.

I’ll post pictures of all the great events as I can.

Catherine

Another Bridal Show!

Catherine — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 03:17:35 +0000

We are very excited to be a part of the Perfect Wedding Guide Bridal Show in Durham on Sunday! It’s our first time at the Durham show and we actually can’t wait. Got the linens today and our centerpieces and décor items are all set. Should be a really fun time!

We also have a table in the Wedding Inspiration Showcase. Some of our favorite favors (say that 3 times fast…). Hope we will see you there!

DIY vs. Paying a Professional

Catherine — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:21:12 +0000

So, I was reading Twitter this morning and came across this title: “…When to DIY, When to Pay the Pros.” I read the article from One Wed and absolutely loved it.

As a wedding planner, I actually really like when a bride adds DIY touches (or more than touches) to her wedding. It makes it so much more personal and unique – and you know we LOVE unique around here! I even like helping with florals or invites or whatever because I enjoy helping to make their vision come to life.

I think that’s why I enjoy doing day-of coordination. I love to help the bride that has created the event of her dreams bring it into reality. Now, that is in no way saying that I don’t like full service planning, because i do, it just is nice to approach a wedding with a different feeling.

So, the article at OneWed (follow the link!) says to really think about the day of your wedding while you work on your projects. And this is absolutely true! Who is going to take the 20 centerpieces in their car to the reception, set them up, fix the pieces that break (because they will), and most importantly – who’s taking them down at midnight when everyone is leaving? If you hire a professional to bring your vision together on your wedding day, you’ll be happier and have much less stress.

By the way, I’ll handle those centerpieces for you!

Catherine

And yet again…

Catherine — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:07:40 +0000

Well, it seems as if the best laid plans always go awry. Yep. It’s been since April that I’ve had a blog entry. Not much in the way of excuses, either. I always have something to say, but I guess not a lot of time to say it.

That’s going to change. I talk to people in the industry all the time and need to share their insight and information. So, my commitment is to become much more frequent! In that vein, I found a great article I’m going to share a little later.

Watch out, because I’ve got some steam behind me this time!

Catherine

PWG Bridal Show Recap

Catherine — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:02:24 +0000

As you all know, Cherished Celebrations had a booth at the PWG Bridal Show in Raleigh this past weekend. We had so much fun designing it and preparing for the brides.

When you have that much fun, the show has to be fantastic – and it was!! Gail and Jaime with the Perfect Wedding Guide do a great job every year with all of their bridal shows. Check out the pictures at the link above!

We met so many great brides (and grooms!!) and their families. People once again loved our “stress relievers”… I can’t believe how many people really wondered what was in those little bottles! (If you weren’t there, it was just M&M’s!)

So I managed to take pictures of our booth, but compeletely forgot the Inspiration Gallery tables. I’m hoping the fabulous Jerry Dillard of Jerry Dillard Photography managed to take some pictures of our tables. They’ll be coming soon.

So many great comments about our color scheme – not one we use often, but the pink/green shimmery fabric was just beautiful and I couldn’t resist building our display around it. People LOVED the LED lights, too. I keep trying to tell other folks that they are beautiful. Thank you all for proving me right!!

We had a lucky winner of the Colin Cowie book and Cherished Celebrations tote bag.

Congratulations to Erin Hill!

And also a big congratulations to Latesha who won our doorprize at the show. My friend, the fantastic Dr. Heather Sefried, the owner of Nirvelli Day Spa gave us a 1 hour Hot Stone Massage. Latesha was very excited when I gave her the gift certificate. Her friend told her it was from the booth with the “stress relievers”…

Let me know what you think of the booth!

Happy wedding planning!

Catherine

Showcase Inspiration for the PWG Bridal Show

Catherine — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:29:22 +0000

So, for this weekend’s bridal show, I am setting up 3 reception tables for an “Inspiration Showcase” – these will be done in a small, medium, and large budget format. I am very excited to be a part of the showcase and here’s a little hint and my “inspiration” for my tables.

Just two days left! Join us on Sunday, April 11 from 1-4 at the Marriott Crabtree Valley in Raleigh for the Perfect Wedding Guide Bridal Show!

Hope to see you there!

Catherine

Inspiration for the PWG Bridal Show

Catherine — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:09:40 +0000

So, yesterday I was doing a lot of visualizing of my booth in the upcoming PWG Bridal Show. It’s April 11 at the Crabtree Valley Marriott in Raleigh. (Click below for more info or to register!)

And as I was thinking, I was browsing the internet. I just happened upon this great site by Dessy and Pantone. Amazing stuff! So, instead of putting together a board like I usually do, I decided to try this. It’s a teaser about my booth for the show, too.

Tell me what you think! Next up is the inspiration for the Budget Showcase at the show. Yep, 3 reception tables decorated by Cherished Celebrations, too! I can’t wait!

Catherine