Happy Wedding Day: Miranda & TJ

It’s finally here! We’re so looking forward to celebrating with you two tonight at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum!

{Image by Jade + Matthew Take Pictures}

Ask Andrea: who & how much should I tip on my wedding day?

Hey brides & grooms! I get this question from clients A LOT, so I figured it was about time for me to share my thoughts, and I hope I am able to make my fellow wedding vendors proud, and clear up a lot for all you planning couples out there. 

The first thing you should remember about tips is that they are never obligatory―they are supposed to be expressions of appreciation for a good quality service. That said though, unless the service was ridiculously terrible, would you walk away from a restaurant without leaving a tip? In my opinion, the same concept applies to weddings. It is customary to express your gratitude by tipping many of the people involved in making your big day an incredible one.

The second point to remember is to READ OVER your contracts. Sometimes gratuities are already included or added to the final bill. This is typically the case with vendors like the caterers or the company that provides the bar service. That being said though, if the wait staff was particularly awesome or the bartenders were doing a great job keeping guests happy, maybe the chef was able to honor a request for a food item they don’t normally offer, I think you are getting the point. If someone goes ABOVE and BEYOND wouldn’t a tip be a great way to show your appreciation?

This brings me to my third point. I’m sure that if you have done any sort of googling on this subject you have read “Don’t Tip the Owners” a few times. I’m not really sure what’s up with this statement…..I don’t know one small business owner who doesn’t appreciate being appreciated!!

FOR SURE tip anyone who is entertaining you and your guests for the evening like the band, your DJ, etc. As I mentioned earlier, when someone goes out of their way for you {like the baker makes those last-minute changes you requested, the dj takes the songs on your “no” list very serious, etc}―you should probably tip them. But remember, tips don’t have to only come in the form of cash, in fact, one of my favorite tips of all times was a spa certificate for a much needed after-wedding massage! A bottle of wine, gift card, or another tangible token of appreciation are just as nice.

I know I am a bit biased, but I certainly agree with this statement from REALSIMPLE.COM regarding tipping your wedding planner: “If you’ve sat with your wedding planner hour after hour and she’s knocked herself out to pull it all off flawlessly, you might want to add a personal thank-you note and small gift to her customary tip. If you’ve used her more sparingly, a nice personal gift alone should suffice.”

Please feel free to comment if you have any questions! Hope this helps!

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s day from GHEM!! If you’re in Savannah, enjoy the parade and stay safe! {image by Jade + Matthew Take Pictures}

St. Patrick’s Day Inspiration

Looking for a little inspiration to get your St. Patty’s day on? Head on over to The Sweetest Occasion to see what we dreamed up alongside Lavender & Honey Designs and Jade + Matthew Take Pictures.

{Image courtesy of Jade + Matthew  Take Pictures}

 

GIVEAWAY #2 Winners!!

Yep, that’s right, we said WINNER-S, as in there were two!! Congrats go out to Patricia & Miranda!! Look out for some pretty mail heading your way soon!

 

GIVEAWAY #2!!

Alright folks, as you may or may not know, to celebrate our branding re-launch this month, we are doing a series of giveaways! The second one is this awesome gold polka dot iphone 5s case with inlay from Rifle Paper Co.! So tell all your friends! Comment below from now until February 9th to be entered to win. The winner will be announced here on the blog on February 10th!

Introducing our new Re-brand Board!!!

We are so in LOVE with our new branding by Gracious Brands! Stay tuned for our new website launching at the end of February!

GIVEAWAY!!

Hey folks! To celebrate our branding re-launch next month, we are doing a series of giveaways! If you haven’t done so already, you need to head over to our facebook page and “like” us, then you’ll be entered to win this awesome print from Sugar Paper LA!!! Free stuff! Yea! and it’s one of favorite designs too!

If you already “like” us on facebook, well thanks! You can also be entered to win by commenting on the page or by giving us a new ratings for our services. You have from now until the end of January to be entered to win. The winner will be announced on our facebook page on February 1st!

GHEM Living: In Search of the Perfect Pendant Lighting

Lighting. It’s a tough subject for two reasons: 1. It’s expenive. 2. There’s so much to choose from!! The first light I’d like to tackle is the one for the living room. It will be above our couch and right in the center of our open-concept living space. I think it needs to be wide but not hang too low. Ideally it would also be affordable, any suggestions? If you look at the image below, note that it will hang from that hole in the ceiling on the top right. Don’t look at the color on the walls! we’re changing them to a light gray very soon! and changing the wooden roman blinds to a medium gray colored drapes eventually!

As we slowly make our new home our own we are finding ourselves always left with a bunch of questions when we begin to think about lighting. Do we want everything to coordinate throughout the entire house? Should we try to make something ourselves? What do we really want? I’m kind of thinking maybe a two-tiered drum pendant like the one pictured below:

I don’t know….too simple? I also like stripes! help! If you see anything or know of any good sites to check out please send them my way!

Real Weddings: Patricia & Ryan

Today I’d like to talk about our last wedding of 2013, the beautiful intimate wedding of Patricia & Ryan. Patricia contacted me early in the year and I could not wait to start working on their event! Below is the inspiration board that started it all.

The groom, Ryan, is a writer and editor and Patricia designs wedding gowns, what a dreamy pair, am I right? So the vintage books on the board are a nod to Ryan’s profession, the lace alludes to that of Patricia. They both love bourbon, dried flowers, and the cotton represents the south, where the wedding took place. The rope represents a bar called Rope, where they first met. From Patricia, “We had our first date on November 15^th at a lovely Italian restaurant in our neighborhood, second on the 17^th at a coffee shop, and third on the 19^th where we returned to the place that started it all: Rope… and we’ve kind of been inseparable since then.”

Meet Patricia & Ryan! Their three favorite things to do together: 1. Cooking together. 2. Morning coffee and reading the news. 3. Wandering around Brooklyn, where they live.

Remember how I mentioned that Patricia designs wedding dresses? well guess who designed her very own dress, yep, she did! and it looked fabulous on her!

Back to wedding day details! We enlisted the drink pouring services of Jacob Sanford, a fellow bourbon fanatic, to make delicious Brooklyn’s and Seelbach’s for the entire wedding party. The vintage coups and rocks glasses were provided by GHEM.

The flowers were also created by GHEM. We used silver dollar eucalyptus, blush garden roses, chocolate cosmos and chocolate lace, as well as some silver brunia and ivory lisianthus, to name a few of the stems. Deer antlers made their way into the centerpieces as well as into Patricia’s bouquet, a symbolic gesture to her father, who watched from up above on this special day.

Did I mention that we rented some awesome vintage furniture from Everthine Vintage? Well we did and Tori was amazing to work with! We had to do some shuffling around since the rain decided to join us for the occasion!

Following the sweet, intimate ceremony, the bride & groom cut into a delicious chocolate bourbon cake by Samantha Sanford, while guests continued to enjoy tasty drinks at the bar. Samantha also designed all the signage used for the event!

Following the ceremony in Green Square, everyone made their way to Local 11Ten for a delicious dinner. We love how we were able to transform the private dining room with vintage books and brown glass vases. We even incorporated bits of lace from Patricia’s dress onto the containers holding the centerpiece flowers!

Congrats Patricia & Ryan! and thank you so much for the opportunity to put together your wedding! Can we do it again next year? vow renewal maybe;)? {All images above – excluding the inspiration board images – courtesy of Jade + Matthew Take Pictures}