Holiday Weekends

Holiday weekend weddings have pros and cons. You’ve got an extra day for the festivities plus, it’s easier to host a Sunday wedding (if it is a holiday that lands on a Monday), which is often less expensive than a Saturday one would be. However, costs of travel and hotels are higher on the lakeshore. Also, having a holiday wedding might adversely affect your wedding guest list. Some families have standing holiday weekend plans or traditions that they’d prefer not to disrupt. Suggestion: Try having your wedding inland like in Kalamazoo. Hotels usually are cheaper than on the lakeshore.

Weekends before/after the holiday

Remember that many holidays are on a Monday or like Independence Day falls on a specific date, not a specific day of the week. With this said, avoid the weekend before the Monday holiday and either before or after Independence Day, whichever is being observed that year.

Sunday Weddings

Sunday weddings may be less expensive in some ways but more in others. For instance the reception venue may give you a break on having a Sunday reception but other vendors may charge more because they will have to bring in extra staff or they are not usually open at all on Sunday’s. So remember that it is never cut a dried.

Friday & Saturday, July & August Weddings on Lake Michigan

Friday & Saturday weddings are most popular. Saturday being the first to fill up. Remember that July & August are the most popular time for tourists and the most expensive time to get married on our lakeshore. The lakeshore is bustling with festivals, holidays, tourists, and summer vacations in July & August each year.

To make your planning more relaxing and less stressful, call us here at The Organized Partner. We know the area, the schedules, the vendors, and can help you plan the perfect wedding.

Today, our first day back after the holiday, I would like to Introduce TOP TIPS for 2012.  TOP TIPS was developed to make it faster and easier to share information thru abreviations. (TOP = The Organized Partner). We will share both wedding and travel tips throughout the year under this name to help you become more informed and getting information faster and easier when looking to plan a fabulous wedding, honeymoon,family vacation, or group travel. So stay tuned and subscribe to our blog to stay up on the latest!  Many more things are coming your way…….

This week I would like to start off by offering 3 very important TOP TIPS to newly engaged couples all across the USA.

We get many calls from potentials clients that have spent hours looking for venues, talking to vendors, and still coming up with a lot of questions and frustration because they are not getting anywhere. I would like to share a few TOP TIPS with you that will help you when contacting us or any venues or vendors. Stay tuned throughout the winter to get more TOP TIPS but we will begin by offering the first 3 this week.

Ashley & Brett

TOP TIP #1

Budget - Getting started on the right foot – The Budget for your wedding is the first thing that you should establish BEFORE contacting any venues or vendors for your wedding. Begin by talking to everyone that is involved with any kind of financing for the wedding. Often times this is the bride and/or grooms parents as well as the couple themselves. Find out what and if they will contribute financially to the wedding. Some will say that they will pay for the flowers or others may decide they wish to pay for your dress or the cake. This is good except you really need a dollar amount. One persons cake could cost $150 while others could be upwards of $800. You really need to get down to the dollars and cents part of the conversation. Then you need to establish if you and your fiance can contribute all or any part to the wedding expenses as well.  We recommend that you take all funds and open a checking account for wedding expenses only. If the words “whatever it costs” or “how much do you need” come into the conversation, then you should ask for them to be more specific on what they can contribute, those are RED FLAG words to people in the wedding industry and do not help you or them. (don’t worry, you can close the account after the wedding if you don’t need it). This way, you know that you can add to this account as well as write checks out of it. Remember that not all vendors except credit/debit cards, so it is important to have a checking account that you can write checks out of and send to the appropriate vendor for deposits and payments. Once you have established a budget….., see TOP TIP #2 – Guest List

TOP TIP #2

Guest List - The guest list is the next very important item to complete BEFORE talking to any venues or vendors. It is important to know how many people you will be inviting in order to know what size venue or tent you need and many more items as you move along through the planning process. If a venue is too large or too small for your guest list, there is no reason to waste yours or the venues time in looking at them. Remember also that you may start out with a large list but have to cut it down a bit due to your budget. Honestly, so many couples and families feel that they have to invite everyone they know to the wedding and that just isn’t the best way to plan a wedding. Your wedding guest list should consist of the most important people in the bride and grooms life. You want to be surrounded by the people that mean the most to you, not everyone you know for some reason or another. For instance, your parents work friends are not neccesarily people that you know and are intimately acquainted with, so you may or may not want to add them to your wedding guest list. Let’s face it, weddings are expensive so you want to have only the closest people there to share it with you.

TOP TIP #3

Hire a professional wedding planner - Once you have completed TOP TIPS 1 & 2 above, contact us for a personal consultation. We will sit down with you and go over all of your thoughts and bring them together in a “big picture” format for you to relate to. We have more than 20 years in the event planning & wedding planning industry and specialize in planning fabulous weddings in the beautiful SW Michigan region including the amazing SW Michigan lakeshore area. We offer several services to help you with all of your wedding planning needs. As a professional wedding planner we will help you itemize your budget, locate the perfect venue, pull together all of the necessary and appropriate vendors, take you through the entire planning process, and so much more. We are an invalueable resource committed to helping you plan the most memorable customized wedding for you and your fiance’.

Stay tuned for more TOP TIPS to help you with more wedding planning and travel planning necessities and ideas. or if you have questions, give us a call, we would love to speak to you!

Summer 2010

Cheyenne & Kyle wanted an intimate but beautiful wedding on the beaches of South Haven.  We only met with them 1 time prior to the wedding to develop the “big picture” of what they wanted their day to look like. Then we took it from there to create a day they wouldn’t forget. Beautiful weather, fond memories, and  surpassed their expectations. That is our goal…. always. What a wonderful couple.

Here are some of the simple details we created for them:

Melissa Gregerson Photography, you continue to amaze me with your beautiful work.

Southwest Michigan has 82 miles,from Saugatuck south, of fabulous Lake Michigan shoreline that is full of small, quaint little tourist towns excellent for smaller weddings. With South Haven being the most popular for weddings in our opinion. When looking for a lakeshore wedding venue there is a lot to consider that most people do not understand.  These are unique areas and have unique situations. Some towns do not allow anything more than a quick ceremony on the beach not allowing any rentals brought in while others prefer only a certain number of people allowed for an organized event on the beach at one time.  There are places for outdoor receptions as well as indoor but it will depend on what time of year, how many guests, and more as far as if they will allow a reception there.  Most of our shoreline is owned by private individuals so commercial venues on the lake are very hard to find. Although if you have connections with the right people, you know the area, you know the rules, and are willing to negotiate and be flexible, there are some beautiful places to be had. At The Organized Partner, we know the towns, know the people, know the rules, and always negotiate so we can find you just what you are looking for. From the intimate wedding for 2 to the larger event up to 300, we can plan the wedding you are dreaming of. We specialize in outdoor tented events and we have more than 20 years experience to get the job done right. Call us today for your personal consultation! 269.760.9991

beautiful beach wedding

Beautiful Wedding on Lake Michigan

Beach Wedding, Tented Reception

This wedding was spectacular. Rita & Kristopher came to us to “do it all”. They are both physicians and did not have time to plan their wedding and didn’t know where to begin. We started by locating the perfect venue for their beach wedding with a tented reception, beauitful lawns, lodging, and fabulous views. Then we brought in all of the elements and just the right vendors for their needs for a beauiful and memorable day…. and what a great day it was!  We offered full service planning and design and loved every minute of it. Thank you Rita & Kristopher for allowing me to plan your wedding! Jody

All-inclusive Caribbean Style

The Organized Partner is excited to announce that we will be offering a whole NEW style of service in 2010 in addition to our Full Service Wedding Planning & Design services!  Please click “Pages” on the top of this blog to see what the “surprise” is all about or see our “services” page on our website! You will want to tell all of your friends about this one!

Fabulous Tented Wedding in South Haven

This wedding was fabulous. Planned in Sept 2009, we helped Roberta & Ben from concept to clean up to plan the rehearsal dinner & welcome parties, wedding & reception, and the farewell brunch the day after the wedding. We pulled together just the right team of vendors to customize services for  Roberta & Ben’s needs and we truly enjoyed our journey.