 Hello Moms! Your son or daughter just got engaged! How fun! How crazy! How overwhelming! You are going to have a crazy couple of months ahead of you in the planning process so we decided to collect a list of roles that you will have from now until “I Do”.
Mother of the Bride You have always dreamt of this day when your little girl would find the love of her life and walk down the aisle! Be sure to remember that this is her wedding and she may have some crazy ideas, but you will have to be supportive throughout the stressful process. Here is a list of “Mother-of-the-Bride Roles” for you to keep in mind while she is planning away! - Come up with a budget you are comfortable with early on in the process - Make your guest list and keep in mind that it is not ideal for your daughter to meet anyone for the first time at her wedding! - Be supportive! Times have changed and there is a lot of added stress that comes from planning a wedding. Be her rock when she needs it! - Hire a planner! It is definitely a smart move - mostly because if you don’t have someone there the day of the wedding to help, you may be doing it all and not enjoying the day the way you should. - Be available. There are lots of meetings and decisions that have to be made and you are most likely going to need to be by her side when she makes them. Be sure that you can make yourself available for her when needed. - Get to know the next lady who's role we are going to talk about below. The more you are on the same team, the easier the planning process will go! Mother of the Groom Your son found the love of his life and now the planning begins! We have come up with a list of things for you to keep in mind throughout the planning process! - Make your guest list and keep in mind that it is not ideal for your son to meet anyone for the first time at his wedding! - Be Supportive! Let your soon-to-be daughter or son-in-law live their wedding dreams even if it was not what you would had in mind. - Find a great rehearsal dinner venue and include your son in the process. - Find a beautiful Mother of the Groom dress and be sure to ask what colors would be appropriate. - Enjoy the process. Because it is not your daughter getting married, if you have a daughter, you really need to take a bit of a back seat on this one. When they wants your help with the wedding planning process, they will ask for it, but be sure they know you are available! - Get to know the first lady that we talked about above. The more you are on the same team, the easier the planning process will go!
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 When planning your wedding there are many different vendors you have to research, talk to and book - a florist being one of them. Florists usually range from a more affordable option such as a supermarket to a higher end professional florist and everything in between. As there are so many ways to research and find your florist - there are also a number of different factors to consider when choosing your florist. Check out our list below of topics to consider when finding your florist on Cape Cod.
Budget Your budget should be considered when you are looking into any of your vendors, but when finding your florist it is always a good idea to have a number in mind of what you expect to spend on your flowers. If you present that number to your florist ahead of time it can be easier for them to recommend certain flowers, bouquets and centerpieces that would fit in your price range. Past Weddings Most florists will have hundreds of photos they can show you of past weddings they have done. Really look through their website and social media accounts to see that they have done pieces that fit your vision. If you are looking to go a bit outside the box, be sure you see photos in their portfolio that are fun and different, which shows you that they can really accept any challenge and are not always working with roses and hydrangeas! Work with Your Vision As I mentioned briefly above, you want to make sure that the florist you choose is willing to work with you on your vision and can already ensure you that what you are picturing in your head will be your final product. Ask if they can show you something similar to what you want to do - either in photos or with flowers they may have on hand. Personality When booking any vendor for your wedding, be sure that you enjoy their personality. You will be in contact with them many times throughout the whole process so you want to make sure you enjoy having conversations with them! You also want to make sure you feel that they are invested in you and that you can trust them to do their job. Also be sure they show confidence that they can get the job done! Know Flowers and Alternatives When you start to look for your flowers on pinterest or instagram and on other wedding websites, you may find yourself in love with tulips, but with a September wedding it may not work out. Be sure that when you meet with a florist and you tell them what flowers you are envisioning that they can tell you if they will be in season on your wedding date. And if not, they should be able to tell you alternatives for those flowers that would still be beautiful, but would save you money! You usually can get most any flowers at any time of year, but it depends on if they can get the flowers locally or if they have to shop them in from around the world! Read more on Inspired by This: 10 Questions to Ask Your Florist Before Signing on the Dotted Line I've Postponed My Wedding...Now What? 5 Tips on what to do now that your date has officially changed4/29/2020
1. Communication is key! Now it is time to officially let your guests know of the change. Here are a couple of options based on where you are in your invitation process: If your wedding invites have already been mailed: Contact your guests ASAP. Start with those that RSVPd YES and ask them to update their RSVP with you. After you have a revised headcount of the YES list, you can then extend to those that said NO to see if they can make it on the new date. We recommend emailing or texting your guests to get the word out asap. Update your website as well. You could even create a cute graphic of you and your fiancé to attach to the email and keep the JOY in this new plan! If your wedding invitations have been printed: You can work with your stationer on options for re-printing or sending a new piece to update your guests. You can also do this digitally to get the word out asap - an email works with a link to your updated wedding website or if you prefer to mail something, our friend from Els cards has some great FREE options available! If you have designed your invites, or are working on your design, but have yet to print: Ask your stationer for their recommendations for sending out invitations during this time. Seeing that your guests already received a save the date, you may want to alert them via email first and then send out your invites with the new date. Here is an example of an email that one of our clients sent to their guests: Dear Family and Friends, In light of the Coronavirus Pandemic, and with an abundance of caution, we have decided to postpone our wedding to NEW DATE. Many details are still in the process of being worked out and will be updated on our website as soon as they are available. If you have any information about hotels add it here! Needless to say we are so sad that our country is facing this horrible crisis and are praying that we all come through this as quickly as possible. So please take care of yourselves, stay safe. We love you all and can’t wait to celebrate! 2. Review Your Wedding Vision If your new wedding date is a different season, do you need to change your entire wedding vision?? We understand the urge to change with season or if you feel a new direction is what you need to “move on” from your original date. However, we believe that your wedding should still emulate you and your other half and if that means spring colors in fall, then go for it! Anything goes this year - we can’t wait to see bright colors in October! If you still feel you need to make a change, there are small ways to adjust the wedding, like considering new flowers that are in season for your new date or adding a color to your color palette that can add a new layer to your wedding design without starting from scratch! Either way, we know your wedding plans may look different but will still have the most important parts...you and your other half! 3. Revisit Important Planning Dates and Appointments During this process you may have also had some important dates on your calendar that revolve around your wedding planning, like tastings, hair and makeup trials or dress fittings. Review your calendar and see if you still have appointments that need to be updated and contact your vendors to change the date. Also, if you have scheduled any in person meetings between now and mid May, you may want to connect with that vendor to see if they would rather do a video call instead #stayhome 4. Shifting Stays If your guests have booked their accommodations and you had a room block in place, check in with your hotels about shifting your block and the current reservations to your new date. If your guests have yet to make their reservations, update your wedding website with new room block information and we recommend suggesting they secure trip insurance for peace of mind! Honeymoon plans in place? We recommend reaching out to a pro to help with your options, Susan Peavey Travel. 5. Celebrate Your Original Wedding Date
You have had your original wedding date set with a heart around it on your calendar for a long time, so why not find a way to still celebrate together! Here are some ideas we have on how you can still make this day special while you are home. #alonetogether
Happy New Year and New Decade! We love to take a minute after the holidays and festivities settle, to reflect on all the wonderful things we accomplished in 2019. It was such an amazing year for us here at Cape Cod Celebrations and once again we cannot express how grateful we are for the support and love we receive from friends, family and vendors in the industry. Here is a look back at some of the fabulous things that happened in 2019!
We were recently asked to share our thoughts on the "unplugged ceremony" for a recent blog post from our friend Christine of Salty Broad Studios. Talking about social media and the wedding ceremony and getting ready for the first weddings of the season in a couple of months got us thinking it's no better time to talk about social media on the wedding day. Here are tips for maneuvering the "etiquette of digital" when you are a guest at your friend or family member's wedding. 1. Pick Up THE CUES:
2. Remember FOMO IS REAL:Consider guests who may not be able to attend the wedding due to any number of reasons. Some couples are up against room maximums or budget constraints and may not be able to invite everyone they would like to their wedding day. Keeping details like venue and time under wraps, is a good way to help your friends out and be sensitive to those who may not be able to attend. 3. Wedding Planning has it covered:Keep in mind the wedding couple have most likely been planning for a long time. Many couples put a lot of thought into who will be their photographer and videographer for the day of. The professionals do their best to capture all of the moments the couple wants on the day of as beautifully as possible. Look out for the professional vendors especially during the wedding ceremony, it's sometimes hard to work around your cellular device in the ceremony aisle or grand exit!  Photo: Price Burr Phtography 4. SAVE SOME FOR LATER:Love live streaming every moment of your day? Maybe take a minute and step away from the device and take in all of the details the wedding couple has created for your guest experience. Also, your friends may want to be the first ones to share live moments of the wedding day or pick and choose which moments from the wedding they want to share. #latergram is a thing and we're all about it! 5. Make it nice:The lighting is off, the picture is blurry? Keep those images for yourself. Be just as selective as you would be on your wedding day when choosing images to share, the wedding couple will thank you for it! Still not sure?
Happy New Year! We love to take a minute after the clock strikes midnight to reflect on all the amazing we had in 2018. It was such a wonderful year for us here at Cape Cod Celebrations and once again we cannot express how grateful we are for the support and love we receive from friends, family and vendors in the industry. Here is a look back at some of the amazing things that happened in 2018!
Next up on "Cape Cod Couples Tell All" - meet Annie & Brian! Jamie had the pleasure of working with them in 2017 at Chatham Bars Inn and it was a weekend to remember! Even though it has only been a year (Happy Anniversary!) we thought it would be fun to catch up with them and get their thoughts on their Memorial Day Weekend wedding! Enjoy! Cape Cod 1. What made you choose Cape Cod for your wedding? Cape Cod was actually a special place for both of us. Annie’s parents honeymooned on Cape Cod in 1974 and she spent the summer at their house in Harwich for her entire life, and always envisioned getting married on the Cape. Separately, the year before Annie and Brian met, Brian’s parents discovered Chatham Bars Inn and decided it was a great place for the family to come together for Labor Day. Once Annie and Brian started dating, Labor Day on the Cape became a joint family tradition, and, three years later, Brian proposed at Chatham Bars Inn, with both families present, over Labor Day weekend. So, getting married on the Cape was a fairly obvious decision! 2. Why would you tell future brides and grooms to get married on Cape Cod? The Cape is an “almost” destination wedding. It lets guests be fully focused on the wedding, but it is not too far away from Boston, New York, and other major cities. So it is easy to get to but still feels remote and special. Further, there are so many fun things to do on Cape Cod! We had a blast putting together our website full of recommendations, and sending guests on various trips on the Saturday of our long weekend wedding!
All Photos by Bello Photo Your Wedding! 1. In a three words, how would you describe your wedding? Us. Love Yellow 2. Was your wedding exactly what you had envisioned? It was even better! We really wanted it to feel down to earth and rustic, yet classy and true to the Cape. We also really wanted to take care of our guests and make sure that everyone had an amazing time (particularly because every single person had to travel to be there!). 3. What was your biggest concern in planning your wedding? Honestly, we were just really worried about making everyone happy. We didn’t want anyone to feel excluded or bad, and we wanted to create an environment that made every single person feel like they were part of the fun. We also had a lot of moving pieces, so we were always worried about everything coming together coherently! 4. What was your favorite part of the planning process? What was the most difficult part? The most difficult part was definitely the guest list! It is never fun to prioritize some people over others, and we were doing that across our own friends and our families. Our biggest piece of advice is that if there are 1 or 2 people on the line invite them! You will never regret having them, but you might regret not inviting them. Our favorite part was thinking of all of the personal details – what song we would walk in to, getting customized “Brannie” corn hole, etc. We really liked taking the formula and making it scream “us”. 5. What was your favorite part of the wedding? It is a tie. The first look was definitely a highlight. It was the only time that day (until we got back to our hotel room at 2 am!) that we got to spend alone together, and it was just really fun to take a pause and laugh about the whole ordeal, eat some ice cream (we did our first look at Schoolhouse Ice Cream in Harwich!), and then to pile my wedding dress into our car and drive to CBI, and show up for the actual thing together as a team. We also just had SO much fun after dinner at our wedding when we totally let loose and danced with our friends and each other and just celebrated! 6. Looking back, would you change anything about your wedding? If so, what and why? This is super minor, and probably speaks to the fact that there is not really anything we would change. But, if we could change one thing, it is that it was REALLY cold at the (outdoor) ceremony, and we wish we had asked the groomsmen to give the bridesmaids their jackets…both because then the girls would not have been actively shivering the whole time AND because that would have made for some pretty cute pictures! 7. Who was your favorite vendor? Ummmm, Jamie Bohlin and Cape Cod Celebrations, obviously. I mean, in all seriousness, Jamie and her team made wedding planning a joy. I had so much fun working with Jamie and she made all of the decisions feel very manageable. Working with her and her team was hands down the best decision that I made in the whole process (other than marrying my husband, of course!). But, if I have to pick a vendor other than Jamie, I think I would say Kate Mann and team at Chatham Bars Inn. Honestly, I was really nervous when we selected the venue that the wedding would feel “cookie cutter” because they do so many, but in the end it felt more personal and true to my husband and me than most other weddings we have been to. We could not have done this without the dedication of Kate, the Chef, and everyone else who listened to our vision and absolutely made it happen. 8. What do you think your guests would say their favorite part of your wedding was? All of it?? I mean, everything except for the cold ceremony! People really liked our pre-dinner dance set, because it broke up the eating between our long cocktail “hour” and the dinner. They also just loved the band and the dancing in general. 9. How would you title your wedding? “How many fun things can we squeeze into one weekend?!”
Wedding Planner 1. Why did you decide to hire a wedding planner? Honestly, Chatham Bars Inn actually required that we have a coordinator because we were doing a tent wedding. I think we would have wanted a planner anyway, just because there were so many moving parts, but I didn’t start seriously looking until I had to. 2. For upcoming brides, why do you think it is important for them to consider hiring a planner? This was literally the best decision we made. She did many things for me (and I was in grad school so had a lot of time, so I wasn't really offloading to her, she added value beyond that). Most importantly, she:
3. What was it like working with a planner? What was your overall experience like? Jamie is so down to earth and straight forward that working with her was incredibly easy! My experience felt like Jamie gave me a high level “work plan” (as in, we should be thinking about flowers, photographer, and a band this month), I gave her some thoughts about my vision for those things, she came back with some options, and I overanalyzed each option and made a decision. She let me be controlling and picky while making sure I checked all of the boxes and helping me find vendors and ideas that really fit with my vision. It just made me feel like no balls would be dropped, but I could still plug in as much (or as little) as I wanted to. 4. Why would you recommend Cape Cod Celebrations over other companies? I can’t imagine a better thought partner than Jamie – she is smart, funny, thoughtful, and totally “gets it” when you explain your vision. Also, she knows EVERYONE!!! She used to work at Chatham Bars Inn, so she easily navigated working with them, and she clearly has fantastic relationships with all of the other vendors. I can’t tell you how many vendors absolutely raved about Jamie in side conversations – I just think that by working with her you get a leg up internally because she is amazing AND you get a leg up externally because all of the other vendors love her and will work with her to create your vision.
Wedding Advice 1. What advice would you give other brides about planning a wedding?
2. What was most helpful to you in the planning process? Jamie and her timeline. I had my own timeline, but she knew when things had to get done in order to be right for the wedding, so made sure that we didn’t miss anything along the way.
How’s married life!? Amazing! In many ways, very similar, but in many ways much more chill and familial. We have a puppy now – who is AMAZING – and learning about each other as “parents” has been a whole new adventure! We love being a pseudo little family and finally just stepping back and saying, hey, if all we want to do on Friday night is cuddle our puppy and watch Star Wars, let’s just do that! View All of the fabulous photos of
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Plan. Relax. Enjoy.At Cape Cod Celebrations, your vision is our brand. Learn more about how we can help you pull together your beautiful Cape Cod Wedding. Archives
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