Grand Jour Events is in The Knot Michigan Spring/Summer 2011 Magazine

In the latest The Knot Michigan magazine The Knot has a new section called "Planning Secrets". They contacted me asking me who some of my favorite vendors are and planning secrets. I am featured as a Lansing Planner. I am so honored to have been asked to help with this article. I love that I am able coordinated weddings from Lansing to Detroit and back to Ann Arbor....plus everywhere inbetween.

 Here I am on page 30

Your Reception Site Manager/Coordinator IS NOT Your Wedding Planner!!!!

Recently I’ve had several brides inform me that their reception site told them they do not need to hire a planner because their in house coordinator can offer the same services as an outside coordinator. I love my job as a wedding planner/coordinator and will do everything in my power to make sure my brides and grooms have a stress free perfect day but it’s very upsetting that these sites are trying to talk my brides out of hiring an “outside coordinator”.

Your reception site in house coordinator may go by one of the following names banquet manager or hall coordinator. Basically they are the “go to” person for the reception site.
It’s very disappointing that some site managers don’t see the benefit of having an outside wedding planner because I have worked at so many reception sites where the mangers are excellent and appreciate having an extra set of hands. They understand that we have all been hired for the same purpose and that is to make the brides/grooms dream wedding come true.

I just had a potential bride tell me how excited she was to work with me and would be mailing out the contract shortly but the next day she spoke with her site manager and informed her she was about to hire a planner. Well the site manager did not like the idea of an outside planner and in return the couple decided not to hire me because they believe the site manger would perform the same duties as I would without paying having to pay the extra cost.

I think this is very unfair to the bride and groom because I am not just there for the reception. I work with my brides for months leading up to the wedding. We meet several times prior, we create a detailed timeline of exactly how the entire day will go, not just the reception portion. I have never met a site manager that goes to the hotel to make sure the guest can find the shuttle, that calls the limo if they are late, or that packs all your reception items up at the end of the night then packs them up into a assigned vehicle. I once had a groom that ran out of cigarettes and I went to the store and bought him more...I can guarantee that the site manager would not do that but since I’m working for the bride and groom I will do whatever it takes to make sure my bride and groom are taken care of no matter how silly it may sound.

As a reception site manager they may feel like it’s not necessary to have an outside planner and they can handle everything on their own but really I’m just trying to make their job easier. My assistant and I are they to help with all the set up or whatever else needs to be done. I’m not there to take over.

Maybe the reception site manager has worked with a poor planner in the past but it’s really unfair for them to tell brides not to hire a planner when some planners, like myself love what we do and we strive for the best and accept nothing less.

I hope this has helped a little for the brides that are still debating whether or not they should hire an “outside” wedding coordinator.

Hong and Mark 12-31-10

Hong and Mark had their ceremony at St. Andrew Dung Lac in Lansing. Their main reason for hiring a coordinator was to make sure everything went smoothly at the reception site since the reception was over an hour away. Their reception was held at Cheery Creek Golf Club in Shelby Township.

Cherry Creek is beautiful! I LOVED the reception room. Just look at all the windows. It was picture perfect.

Their table numbers were adorable.  I loved seeing all their pictures and I even saw guests walking around to the different tables to check out all the pictures.

The cake was provided by Nancy’s Creations. It was gorgeous and tasted wonderful! This was the first wedding that I have had that had a cake from Nancy’s Creations but I highly recommend them! The sugar flowers on top are amazing!

 Close up of the flowers

The centerpieces. I am so excited that not only Hong loved he centerpieces but so did the guests…why…because they are from Grand Jour Events : ) I love working with flowers and I am very excited to  now be offering this service to my brides!

 Hong had two different centerpieces which I thought looked great in the room.

 The candy buffet. No other words can explain it other then amazing!

 The kids loved the BIG candy bars!

 And we can't for get about the chocolate fountain. Plus their late night snack was carnival food. They had elephant ears, hot dogs and soft pretzels...yummy! There was so much food! The guests defiantly left full.

 I loved that Cherry Creek set up a projector to broadcast the ball dropping.

Hong and Mark had some great vendors including Sean from All Night DJs. He was awesome and kept the dance floor packed all night long. They also had an amazing photographer, The Camera Chick. Not only is Sandy a great person but her work is wonderful! Below are a couple of sneak peaks that she sent over.

 In the picture below you will see the bride Hong on the bottom left had corner. Yup that's her in the blue dress : ) I loved the blue dress. The guest in the picture are all the guests that made it until 2011.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Congratulations Hong and Mark!!!!