Jill & Matthew's Rustic Rock Fall Wedding!

How They Met: These adorable darlings met when Jill posted an extra ticket to Ryan Adams on Craigslist. Matthew was the first one to respond that he wanted it, and they ended up sitting next to each and chatting through the concert. They exchanged numbers after the show and couldn't stop chatting that night. The rest, as they say, is history.

Their Theme: They chose fall colors for their September wedding and labeled each table after a concert they had been to together. It fit perfectly with the rock-club venue of the Bottom Lounge, in the West Loop of Chicago.

Thanks: These guys were super mellow and very crafty (they made all the candle holders out of wine bottles! All of them!!). We are so happy to have worked with them on their incredibly special day. Love you guys!

Upgrading Awesomeness

One of the best things about getting married is that most people get super excited for you and want to give you free stuff. Yep. FREE!

Never underestimate the power of mentioning "we're getting married this weekend," or "this is actually for my wedding," or "we are so excited to be spending our honeymoon here." You can get everything from free upgrades (check out the suite with 2 bathrooms!!! that we got upgraded to over our wedding weekend) to freebie additions (free eyebrow threading with a bikini wax) to just plain freebies (a bagful of airline snacks & mini liquor bottles from a stewardess) just by mentioning the "wedding" or "honeymoon" words.

Especially if you're on a budget, you have nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. Just make sure that you're super sweet, sincere in your excitement and don't expect anything - people can sense it when you're trying to get something out of them. But drop it into casual conversation - you never know where it will take you. (Penthouse, anyone??)

The Dog Days of Weddings

If you have a pet that holds a special place in the heart of you and your partner, you may have started considering involving that pet in your ceremony. Some people enjoy the option of having said pet as a ring-bearer or a best man or having them accompany a mother or guest down the aisle.

If you are going to involve your pet, here are some things to consider:

- Where will the pet be prior to the ceremony? (Waiting in the wings with the bridal party? Mingling amongst the guests?)

- How will the pet get to/from the ceremony?

- Who will signal the pet to his/her cue?

- Is the pet trained/well-behaved/socialized enough to be amongst a crowd of people and follow his orders - especially if those orders are given by someone other than the bride or groom (as they will most likely be kind of, um, busy)?

- Will the pet stay still during the ceremony? If not, where will he/she sit during the ceremony?

- Will the pet have any special attire? (Some people enjoy a full matching wedding party outfit for their involved pet. Others choose a more simplistic, natural look.)

- Are there any guests with allergies or fears of the kind of animal your pet is?

Pets are adorable and loveable, but sometimes a wedding just isn't the place for them. Other ways to include them are photos of them on the walls or as part of the centerpieces. Or they can be part of the favors (i.e. cat-shaped cookies with the bride & groom's name on them, your dog's photo on the magnet with your wedding info printed on it, etc). If your pet can't be there in "person," don't despair - there are plenty of options!

Wedding Hair

Magazines, blogs, people will tell you: do a run-through of your hair with your stylist prior to the big day. All well and good, unless you're a) on a budget and b) your stylist is any good and costs more than $20 for the run-through. So what then?

My advice: book a normal cut or color with your stylist sometime before the wedding. (Chances are, you're going to need some kind of hair appointment in the 6 months prior to your wedding.) Make sure before you go in for your appointment that you've done your research on a couple of styles you like and at least know if you're going to have some kind of hair piece or veil. Try to do a version of the style you're thinking about when you go in. Bring your veil or a photo of your hair decor with you as well as a photo of the style you were trying to replicate. Before you get started on your normal appointment business, spend 5 minutes briefing the stylist on your thoughts for the big day. Obviously, this doesn't take the place of a full run-through. But it gives your stylist a heads up and allows him or her to steer you clear of any hair disasters that are going to leave you sorely disappointed.

Note: make sure you give your stylist an extra tip on your normal hair business appointment in consideration for their expertise and consultation. It's a nice gesture, good karma and will help motivate their memory of your discussion.

RSVPs: Do Not Do This

Please, please, please: learn from my mistake. I thought it was ingenious to add this little "__ # Attending" box so that if one member of the couple couldn't make it they could fill out the right number.

Wrong.

This little box has served for nothing but migraines and countless awkward conversations beginning with "we'd love to have you bring your kids/flavor of the week/paid escort, but we're keeping the wedding intimate due to venue size and it's just not feasible."

Next time my fiance and I get married, I'm definitely NOT including that box and definitely AM handwriting in every invited guest's name into the M__________ line. A friend of mine did that and she definitely had FAR less people calling to ask about bringing uninvited guests and NONE that just wrote them in like hobos. Sheesh.

Vinyl Record Bowl Centerpieces (or Fuck the Flowers)

As you may have noticed from a tweet last week, I am completely obsessed with record bowl making. What prompted this, you may ask. I'll tell you: flowers are freaking expensive.

If you are planning a wedding, a wake, a large-scale mother's day event or an epic apology, you may already know this.

If you are, as I was, a novice to the whole floral industry, it may shock you to find out that if you want anything beyond what the Piggly-Wiggly is carrying that day, you will be asked to pay in first-born children. Because of a long story that I will not bore you with here, I am obliged to have flowers for my and my bridesmaids' bouquets. I selected a single rose "bouquet" for each of 3 ladies. The total was $60. For 3 roses. Yup. And that is CHEAPSIES, friends.

Because I am not a millionaire nor insane, I decided that there had to be a more budget-friendly and interesting non-floral centerpiece that I could create. Knowing my and my boyfriend's love of music, as well as our black & white theme (sidebar: why does anyone NEED a theme? isn't getting married enough?) a friend of mine suggested vinyl record bowls.

I have been obsessed ever since.

So I thought I'd help out and post some instructions in case you too want these little babies on your tables - event, home or otherwise.

RECORD BOWL INSTRUCTIONS*

* Each oven is different. I recommend trying with a record you don't mind ruining first, then moving on to the "real" record(s).

(If you do not have a cookie tray, line your oven rack with aluminum foil before beginning.)

Pre-heat the oven to 210 degrees Farenheit.

Place your record on a ceramic bowl that is large enough for the record to balance on easily but still small enough that the record will be able to hang over the edge a bit as it gets warm and plyable.

Place the ceramic bowl on a cookie tray or the aluminum foil. If you put it on the cookie tray, put the cookie tray in the oven. (If you put it on the foil, your bowl is already in the oven. And if you need me to point that out, you should probably have some supervision.)

Keep the record in the oven for about 5-8 minutes. KEEP AN EYE ON IT. Seriously. Once the record starts folding down towards the cookie sheet or foil it is plyable.

Remove the cookie sheet/ceramic bowl from the oven. Place it on a towel or safe surface. Use a small ceramic mug or bowl to press down in the center of the record so that the record falls inside the ceramic bowl and folds up around the smaller mug or bowl. (See photo at top of this posting for what it should look like.)

Let it hang out for about 10 minutes until completely cooled.

Bowl made.

Hope you enjoy this!!!

(p.s. my boyfriend is totally singing "feed my breast" to the tune of beauty & the beast's "be my guest" while i write this. ladies and gentleman: the man with whom i will be spending the rest of my life.)

Hotel Blocks (aka the Bane of My Existence)

Lesson of the day from yesterday: no matter who tells you they won't be able to make it when you send out the save the date or that they'll be driving and not spending the night near your wedding - don't believe them.

Chances are, they will change their minds. And then you wind up with your mother calling you long distance from another country (or state) where she lives crying that she didn't book the room in time and now they're out and you have to call the hotel and negotiate more rooms, if that's even possible, because the insane amount that you set aside is now sold out and she will be on the street unless you do something.

No pressure.

So, please. Learn from the error of my ways. If you think 5 people are going to show up, book 40 rooms. And make sure you are not responsible for paying for any of them. (Just in case it swings the other way...)

60 Days

Here I am... slowly losing my mind.

About 8 months ago I got engaged to a kick-ass dude - someone that thinks my inappropriate jokes are hilarious, my Patsy-and-Adina velour sweats that my mom gave me are flattering, and that I am just generally a genius. The whole engagement thing took some getting used to as, for the most part, I just figured I'd just live with my boyfriend forever and not bother going through the legal and financial rigamarole of the wedding process. That went out the window pretty quickly - especially when I was staring down the barrel of a heart-felt proposal.

So I tried to change my tune: I've been to weddings. I've been IN weddings. Weddings are fun, they're a reflection of the couple that's getting married, a celebration of- oh, who am I kidding? Weddings are the reason I never wanted to get married. They are a total hassle, completely nonsensical and make everyone you know - and even those you don't - completely insane.

Despite my career as a producer - live events and otherwise - I was not prepared for the emotional insanity that would ensue with my family, my boyfriend's family, my friends, my parents' friends - you get the idea. So far I've had my mother add at least 1 additional couple to the guest list each week for the last 2 months, my boyfriend's cousin call to inform us that we must have mislabeled the invitation and she will in fact be bringing her 7 children, and a dear friend (who's getting married 2 weeks before me) ask me to move my wedding to Spring of 2011. I shit you not: people get crazy.

On the plus side, I have managed to, thus far, use my producing skills to negotiate the shit out of vendors' services, my coupon-clipping penchant for procuring discounts on wares and my DIY craftiness to learn and make most every decoration in the venue. Still, with the last two months being where the budget tends to fly out the window with the "let's just get it done - what's another $200" mentality, I've decided to start documenting the chaos. Hopefully not only to keep me in line, but to help anyone else that might need an idea or two.

60 days and counting (as per www.theknot.com checklist - an obnoxious yet annoyingly helpful tool for anyone planning a wedding).

There has to be an easier way to throw a wedding. And I'm determined to find it.