Jenn & Billy's Wedding - June 6, 2009
On June 6th I had the privilege to work with Jenn and Billy as their wedding coordinator. It was a full weekend for Mike and I (he was the photographer at this one). We headed down to Maryland on Friday afternoon so that I could direct the rehearsal that evening. After a couple practices everyone seemed to figure out the order for walking down the aisle and the ushers seemed to understand their duties of escorting some of the guests as well as laying out the aisle runner. So we headed to the rehearsal dinner where everyone was able to relax and have a good time. I even finally got the groom up to make a short (very short) thank you speech! Good job Billy! :-)
The next morning started bright and early! The wedding was being held at Billy's parent's farm so everything had to be brought in for the wedding and ceremony. The tent, chairs, and tables from Eastern Shore Tents & Events had arrived earlier in the week and were already set up. However, the 100 chairs for the ceremony still needed to be set up (ended up there were 130 of them)! Spent the morning and early afternoon setting up favors/place cards, table names, and more! It was a lot of work but it all turned out beautifully! Had a few scares that morning, such as the missing linen napkins and the late cake, but we found them both! And thanks to the bride's step-father for the great idea to secure the aisle runner for the ceremony!
As the guests arrived many of them went straight to the reception tent to stay out of the sun. As 3:30 neared I directed everyone to the ceremony location. The ceremony was beautiful. It was overlooking gorgeous, rolling hills. The bride's dress was fantastic with the touches of blue! And the bridesmaids dresses were also great!
The reception was fun and the band kept people on the dance floor. I had made a detailed schedule for the band and they remarked at one point that they were amazed that I kept everything right on time! The food was delicious and everyone seemed to love it. The bride and groom were very fun people! They decided to liven things up...and surprise everyone...by pulling out their guns and the groomsmen's guns and shooting at some skeet! Everyone came out to watch and everyone seemed to have a blast. And it made for some excellent, and unique, pictures!
One highlight of the evening were the fireworks. The groom's sister, Alison, contacted me a couple months before the wedding to let me know she was going to surprise the couple with fireworks. Jenn and Billy were to know nothing about it. There were some hitches that night...like not being able to locate the fire marshal...but he was found and the fireworks ended up going off and it was such an awesome show! And the couple really had no idea about them! I'm so glad it was kept a secret! And I'm so glad for Alison that they ended up perfect! I know she was so looking forward to surprising the couple!
I also got a great comment from the caterer who said he normally dreads working with wedding planners but he really enjoyed working with me as I was so relaxed and on top of things! Thanks Wernie!
I like to learn something at every wedding I plan or coordinate. Leason learned at this wedding: alphabetize the place cards before the wedding day...not the morning of! Especially when you've got around 100 of them on boxes of Hershey kisses!
Here's a sneak peak at some of the pictures:
Directing the rehearsal.
The gorgeous dress! Loved the blue accents.
The ceremony - overlooking the rolling hills. Such a view! They got a red aisle runner from the rental company and then the ushers laid down the white runner just for the bride.
They used boxes of Hershey Kisses as the favors/place cards. They decided to be unique and name each table as a vegetable or flower since Billy does farming. We then bought seed packets and put them on each table so the guests had to match them up.
I just love this picture of Jenn in the wheat field! The photog actually made the whole bridal party get in and got some great pictures out of it.
The farm provided some great and unique backdrops for the photos.
First dance as husband and wife. Note the awesome lights in the tent! This picture doesn't do them justice.
Even the bride shot a gun! I was impressed!
The casings from the bullets provided a great setting to take pictures of the rings.
I love how the cake almost mimiced the details on Jenn's dress.
One of the highlights of the night...surprise fireworks thanks to the groom's sister!
And finally the happy couple! Aren't they a gorgeous couple?