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Planning All In The Family

October 16, 2017

When I received the call from Sara Blanco and she asked if I remembered her sister Anna’s lovely wedding, I was taken back immediately to 10 years ago on the Four Seasons lawn. I also assisted Sara’s sister-in-law and brother Jerry on their beautiful Driskill wedding. I was thrilled to work with the Blanco family again for Sara’s wedding at Barr Mansion. Being a long time Austin wedding planner definitely worked in my favor with this wonderful family.

Professional details are coming, but here are a few from my past Blanco weddings.

Photo from Anna’s wedding by Ashley Garmon

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Photos for Sara’s wedding by SMS Photography

Blanco Sara pupBlanco Sara house

I can’t wait to see more photos from Sara and Marshall’s wedding with all the family celebrating.

It is such a blessing to work with family and friends of past couples.

Barbara

 

 

 

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Springtime Wedding at Omni Barton Creek

July 8, 2017

Wanting to get married in Austin during our peak spring or fall wedding seasons requires advance planning, which usually means planning more than a year before your preferred wedding date.  My favorite weather in Austin is in April and November. The temperatures are perfect, not too hot and not too cold. So planning with Erin and Graham began 14 months before their wedding.  We toured many of Austin’s indoor and outdoor options, but the only perfect fit was the pavilion at Barton Creek. They wanted a fun dance party and for their guests to enjoy great food and drinks.  Thank you so much to Henry Uribe for all his help on the wedding day and Diana M. Lott for capturing all the wedding fun.

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Having amazing vendors makes a huge difference, so thank you everyone for creating a wonderful evening for Erin and Graham.

Vendors:

Venue, catering, cake, and bar: Barton Creek Resort, Henry Uribe 512-329-4083

Rentals: Marquee Rents 512-491-7368

Florist: Bouquets of Austin 512-2572395

Photography: Diana M. Lott Photography 512-422-2803

Officiant: Pastor Stephen Bell

Ceremony Music: Barton Strings 512-743-4549

Reception Music: Jumpstart 512-923-7311

Drapery: Unique Designs, Yara 512-740-5291

Lights: Ilios Lighting 512-440-7045 Joseph 480-415-6628

Hair-Mandy Johnson and Makeup-Barton Creek Spa

Photobooth: The Photo Shoppe, Caleb LeGallery 832-779-0765

Happy Planning,

Barbara

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An Austin Wedding Planner’s Point of View

December 26, 2014

I am sure there are many excited couples out there that are newly engaged after the holidays with more to follow in the coming weeks. There are so many wonderful parts of planning your wedding day, but I wanted to give a few pointers on what will make your wedding run smoothly as well as making it enjoyable for you and your guests.

1.  Don’t over spend. Know your budget and hire a wedding planner. We know what is a
need vs. a want. There are many extras that are not necessary, but other items you really should not skimp on.  I am told often that hiring me was a couple’s best decision. You need someone who knows the ins and outs of planning a wedding. Be sure you connect with them and are confident they can take care of the numerous details ahead.

2.  We can’t assign seating for you since we do not know your family and friend associations with one another. There really is not a right or wrong answer whether or not you should assign seating at all. It is your preference. What I do encourage is that you at least reserve bridal party and family tables since they are usually socializing and don’t think about their seats. If you have a family members with 6-8 people in attendance, be sure you have a table for them so they are not upset when they can’t sit together at one table.

3. Font styles may seem very unimportant, but people need to be able to read your invitations, menus and their seating cards. Choose a large enough size so that it is not too small to read and don’t make it too swirly that they can’t tell a T from and S or F.

4. If you are watching your budget, consider an hors d’oeuvres cocktail style reception. You will not need to provide a meal for every guest, but be sure the invitation states “Cocktail Reception to Follow”. You can also have an afternoon event with lighter alcohol and food. You don’t need a really long event either. Having a 6:00pm ceremony, with cocktail hour and dinner followed by dancing can end at 10:30pm. You don’t have to dance until midnight.

5. Find a venue that fits not only your style, budget and location preference, but also the capacity. Do not rely on a formula of 70% or even 90% attending, be sure your venue can accommodate the number you are inviting.  Austin is a huge draw for your guests to attend your wedding and if you invite them, they just may come even if they don’t attend many family events. You don’t want to be in the situation of not having the space for your final guest count.

6. This is the time for you and your fiance to start your lives together, so please don’t bicker over small things. Come to an agreement on things and compromise on what doesn’t really matter that much to you. If you really love a color scheme or certain touches then stick with those ideas. If your fiance really loves certain music, then do what you can to make that happen. Learn to compromise with one another.

7. Don’t let the stress get to you. A lot of emotions escalate during the planning. Share this with your planner to see if they can find a solution for you or at least help you to not feel isolated. We want your wedding to be wonderful and as stress-free as possible. I see a lot of tensions rise between couples, with their parents and with their bridal party. This too shall pass. Hang in there and enjoy this time.

8. Listen to the experts. We know the venues and what the best flow is for the guests regarding the setup. Isolating a band in a separate room will not work as well as having the guests in the main room with the music.  We have experience with florists, musicians, bakeries, caterers, transportation, officiants, photographers, etc. We cannot recommend someone we have not worked with so while there are less expensive options out there that you may choose, we won’t be the one to recommend them until we know how they perform or deliver in product and services. You are welcome to hire a less expensive option, but we have seen quite a few disappointed couples that hired a florist that skimped on the volume of flowers or the caterers with less than stellar food and service.

9. There is no such thing as a quality day of planner. It is more of a phrase than an actual description. Having a consultant show up only on the wedding day with no prior time with you by phone or e-mail won’t make your day less stressful. Make sure the consultant is at least a month prior planner that gets to know your vision, timeline and communicates with your vendors. They need to know what you are expecting for setup and you are confident they can handle any complications the day of the wedding. We provide a wonderful stress reliever called the Wedding Advisor that gives couples access to us by phone and e-mail from the time they hire us until the end of their wedding so we can make vendor suggestions, notify you of local vendor sales and make sure the timeline flows. https://austinweddingcoordinators.com/services/

10. Be flexible in our wedding date. If you are planning short-term, consider a Friday or Sunday wedding. If you have your heart set on a spring or fall date, try to plan a year out or you may not have many Saturday options.  Holiday weekends are still big wedding weekends, including Thanksgiving Saturday, Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend.

I hope you are excited about your wedding and all that the coming months have in store for you. If you haven’t started pinning yet, create a wedding board for your style, stationery, and flowers. You can see many of our different boards http://www.pinterest.com/barbarasbrides/ with countless wedding ideas.

We’ve been working with Austin brides and couples on their weddings for over 20 years and we’d love a chance to assist you whether as a full service planner, day of consultant or something in between. You know what you need and we can bring it all together for you.

Best wishes on your engagement,

Barbara

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Planning a Fall Wedding at Pecan Grove

September 26, 2014

We are near that time of year when fall leaves start to turn, the rich fall colors are everywhere and the celebrations with family are on our mind. I truly loved being a part of Kelley’s wedding day and working with her sweet mom. There were over 300 guests that wanted to celebrate with the happy couple. The bride mixed her decor and centerpieces with a combination of fun fall pieces and Dia de Los Muertos. Thanks to Diana M. Lott Photography for such a great collection of photos that captured the details that day http://www.dianamlottphotography.com

Kelley 65610_10151725934021569_905148565_n Kelley 1385773_10151725930706569_1336165995_n Kelley 1450211_10151725931051569_494981095_n Kelley 1385368_10151725930886569_1127722134_n Kelley 733921_10151725931116569_1273309386_n Kelley 1381933_10151725930711569_1137871794_n Kelley 1391741_10151725930791569_1135319110_n Kelley 1383269_10151725931371569_318628348_n Kelley 1422401_10151725931776569_1115571221_n Kelley 1393792_10151725931726569_1843248387_n Kelley 1451517_10151725931811569_390759845_n Kelley 1454764_10151725931961569_187615_n Kelley 580769_10151725932016569_1126086513_n Kelley 923377_10151725932621569_390424564_n Kelley 1385595_10151725932896569_1156641766_n Kelley 521972_10151725932401569_221378681_n Kelley 1425589_10151725933096569_217461486_n Kelley 1454941_10151725933176569_1923717596_n

 

Thank you to our vendors for working with us to create a wonderful event.

http://www.bouquetsofaustin.com  http://www.marqueerents.com  http://www.transconsultants.com  http://www.michellespatisserie.com

Enjoy your fall,

Barbara http://www.barbarasbrides.com

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Spring Wedding Planning at Lakeway Resort

August 12, 2014

Jenny was such a fun bride to plan with. Very busy as most of our brides are, but her mom helped with many details to keep the planning on target. Jenny had a great vision of making the indoor facility at Lakeway Resort feel like a garden for her guests without the Austin heat we deal with in May. Thank you www.ashleygarmonphoto.com for the making the day even better with her humor.

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Thank you vendors for making this wedding so special:

Ceremony, reception and catering: Lakeway Resort Julie Stanfield, www.lakewayresortandspa.com

Ceremony music: www.arundelensemble.com

Reception Music: www.memphistrainrevue.com

Linens: www.marqueerents.com

Officiant: Judge Jon Wisser

Photographer: www.ashleygarmonphoto.com

Video: www.crescentvideo.com

Flowers: www.bouquetsofaustin.com

Bakery: www.sweetishhill.com

Lighting: Lakeway in house

Central Texas Photo Booth: 512-905-2711

If you are looking for an Austin wedding planner whether for day of help, full service or something in between give us a call to see how we can be of assistance for your wedding.

Happy planning,

Barbara

www.barbarasbrides.com

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contact us

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Thank you to all the amazing photographers that capture my weddings so beautifully: SMS Photography, Diana M. Lott Photography, Ashley Garmon Photo, Lauren Apel Photography, Jessica Scott Photo, Christina Carroll Photography, and Jenny DeMarco Photography

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  • This is the BEST cinnamon roll icing, made with five ingredients including vanilla and cream cheese. Perfectly rich, creamy, and ready in 10 minutes. | lecremedelacrumb.com
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