Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
We are sad to say we are toward the end of our fabulous trade shows. Boy this month has been a crazy, but a fun ride. Being out and about, we were able to connect with several of you. Some of you signed up for our 15 minute Chick Chat. CCP is all about helping brides, no matter what stage or budget. If you didn’t get a chance to sign up, please email us at info@circlecityplanners.com to get on the list.
As you can see, the pictures say it all. Wanted to give a special shout out to those venues who asked us to come in and help promote their space. CCP was on WISH TV promoting the Conrad show. Art of the Table had a record high fundraising event this year, way to go Gloria. My team and I presented, “LUXE Weddings on Today’s Budget” to over 150 people. The Omni we were asked to speak discussing “Wedding Disasters, Don’t let it happen to You”. And Last night we were helped Oak Hill with their show (one of favorite venues, I held my reception there). One more show to go at the Ritz Charles. We will be speaking there as well. You are more than welcome to join us that night, just RSVP to info@circlecityplanners.com. Boy, I’m wiped. It’s always a crazy ride, but I love socializing and getting out there mingling with you guys. Thank you for being so supportive.
Conrad Hotel, Platinum Bride

Art of the Table

Crowne Plaza

Omni

Oak Hill Mansion
We have so many exciting things going on this SPRING, it’s unbelievable. Keep checking the blog and facebook to see what we have in store this upcoming wedding season. Did you check out our article in Indianapolis Woman’s online? It’s a great article you don’t want to miss, finding reliable vendors in today’s economy, titled THE BIG DAY. http://indianapoliswoman.com/web-extras7.asp.
PS. Don’t forget to sign up for your FREE Top 10 Tips to Make your wedding Fabulous. Go online today www.circlecityplanners.com



Wedding Love,

T

BABY SHOWER

March 21, 2009
Kevin and Jill
It’s a girl (or soon to be in 6 weeks). Another CCP first………………

Mike and I were invited to attend our first client’s BABY SHOWER. Kevin and Jill were married in St. Kitts 2 years ago in April. Boy how time flies. Now she is due in 6 weeks, look at how amazing she looks. Just a little bump. So needless to say when we received the invitation for the shower, we had to RSVP right away. Jill and I go to lunch from time to time, we’ve been out to dinner with our husbands, and Kevin sold us the prettiest bar you’ve ever seen for our newly remodeled bar room. I have to say it’s the nicest piece of furniture in our house. Check out Watson’s now Family Leisure at http://www.familyleisure.com/ for the best bar furniture and pool tables. Okay, Kevin I gave you a plug J just kidding. Jen Foley (the Watson girl) hosted the party and my what a great job she did. Of course, I notice all the décor and theme at any event. It’s a bad habit of mine. It got a thumbs up. The french champagne was amazing especially with the gourmet pink sprinkled cupcakes. With the Purdue game on, the boys hung out downstairs while the girls watched Jill open presents. Look at all those presents, so many cute things. I remember all those little socks, I always lost one during my outings. I want to thank Jill and Kevin for keeping in touch and inviting us to see everyone again from the wedding. I cherish our friendship and can’t wait to see this new bundle of joy. They claim they don’t have a name, but she was never good at lying! Congratulations! I’m so excited for you.

Our New Client?

So I just had to post this. This was from a wedding we did 2 weeks ago at the Crowne Plaza. Bob from Indy Visual sent us this raw footage and I just cracked up laughing. She really,really, really wants to have Circle City Planners plan her wedding!!!! Enjoy the show!

AMAZING WEDDING PICS

Ok...we know that we already blogged about Whitney and Wes's fabulous wedding at the Crown Plaza Ballroom, but when we saw Jessica Strickland's AMAZING pics we knew that we had to post them for all to see. We hope that these pictures inspire you in your wedding planning!

The Bridal Survival guide: Mistakes you should avoid for the Perfect wedding.

Join Circle City Planners at the Omni Sevrin Hotel for a fabulous open house event! We will be sharing with you all the mistakes you should avoid to make your wedding faboulous. It is truly a bridal survivial guide that you won't want to miss. There will be top wedding professionals from all over the city there as well. If you are in need of some decor inspiration check out some of the professionally designed tables while you sample some of the Omni's delicious hors d'oeuvres! Don't forget to check out the mouth watering cake samples from Heavenly Sweets or one of the decadent cosmos from Olinger's Bar. There are so many great reasons to come down to the Omni Sevrin Hotel this weekend...we hope to see you there!

Location: The Omni Sevrin Hotel

40 West Jackson Place

Indianapolis, IN 46225

Time: 2pm-5pm

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Circle City Planners!

We here at Circle City Planners wanted to wish you a very happy St. Patrick's day. Weather you are Irish or not St. Patrick's day is a great day to get together with friends and family and have a good time!

Irish or Not...How to Incorporate Cultural Traditions into your Wedding.

St. Patrick's Day is a great celebration of Irish culture and traditions, but no matter what your background is, incorporating your family's heritage into your wedding can be a great way to personalize your event.

One great place to incorporate culture is through the food. Choosing foods from the country that you family came from is not only a great way to present your culture, but it treats your guests to something they might not have tried before. You can even apply the same concept to a signature drink! Drinks like white Russians, ouzo, margaritas, or sake are all fun drinks that can bring another cultural element to your wedding.

Another great way to insert some of your family's culture is through the decor. Hang some Chinese lanterns, or incorporate olives and grapes into your center-pieces. Choose flowers that are indigenous to the country or area that your family came from. Choose subtle cultural elements and display them proudly!

A third great way to incorporate culture into your wedding is to give favors that reflect your families' backgrounds. This can be nationality or even from a specific region of the country. If your groom is a southern gentleman you can give little jars of peach marmalade. If your family came from an island in the Caribbean you can give your guests little bottles of rum, or real cane sugar. The possibilities are endless as long as you use some creativity and maybe do a little research into your family background!

Whitney and Wes

Whitney and Wes
March 7, 2009
Crowne Plaza at the Historic Union Station

After thinking of past blog posts we have decided to come up with the FIRSTS in CCP history and start with those. So there were so many at this wedding, I have to share.

Whitney and Wes found each other just several years ago, but their history goes back to 6th grade. Wes has been in love with Whitney since the 6th grade (Carissa, the maid of honor, has the love notes to prove it). Finally after seeking out the love of his life, a light bulb came on, and they were united together. Last fall, the couple moved to Ormond Beach so Wes could attend Harley Davidson school (the best in the country). So needeless to say, Whitney and Wes have planned this wedding long distance. I have a lot of clients from out of the state. We call them destination clients. I’m working on getting more destination clients where I come to them in warmer climates like Mexico, Hawaii, etc. J. Anyway, how appropriate was the weather on Saturday for Indiana?! Here their new town is warm all year round and to host a wedding in March in our city can be considered risky. It was in the 70’s yesterday, pretty amazing. So it was 70 in March, the couple have known each other since 6th grade, those are two of CCP’s firsts.

We ran into some trouble along the planning, so we ended up holding the ceremony at the Crowne Plaza. It was absolutely beautiful (see pictures). It was the first time anyone has ever been married under the ball at the Crowne. I was seriously in AWE when it all came together. Julie and her team were busy working like little busy bees since Tuesday on location to create these awesome designs. Great job team!

Brian Whitis kept the dance floor pumping, Bob Ridge from Indy Visual added the idea of throwing rose petals at the couple during the recessional, Jessica Strickland was able to capture super cool moments and room shots, Megan and Cambrie (our yes girls) helped us run a smooth event, my new favorites from S and S Creations found my linens for me, and Chef Randy served up the best cuisine in the city. All and all it was a crazy night with lots of CCP firsts. Thanks for letting us be a part of this wonderful event.

I’ll miss you Kellie, Whitney, and Carissa!
Wedding Love,

T

Fabulous Night At Crowne Plaza!

Last night was one of my favorite days of the year, THE CROWNE PLAZA SHOW. This is our second time presenting at this show. It’s an exclusive show where the best of the best in the city come to showcase their talents and get to mingle with the brides. On top of the showcase, we design 5 different tables to show off our designing talents. Thanks to Darcie we were able to really pull off some great, hot new looks. And my favorite part of this show is they allow me to come in and present a topic of my choice. WOW, these people actually sit and listen to my presentation. I love it. I love public speaking, I have to tell you it might be in my top 10 of favorite things to do. Anyway with all the media playing up the economy, I thought I would entertain my brides by discussing ways to save money while designing and decorating your wedding HENCE, the LUXE WEDDINGS ON TODAY’S BUDGET was born. Some exciting news I have to share with you is we are now selling the audio (60 minutes) and the video segment from the presentation to anyone who is interested. The greatest thing about this product is the price. For $27.00 you can purchase the 60 minute audio and save hundreds even thousands of dollars by listening to my tips! That’s amazing. The products will soon by online, but in the mean time you can email my assistant Laurenne for more information (laurenne@circlecityplanners.com).

Special thanks to all my friends: Julie from Royal Creations, Megan, Cambrie, Jen from the Crowne (my peeps), Bob from Indy Visual, Dawn from Galleria Studios, Jennifer Driscoll from Jennifer Driscoll Photography, Jen from Card Inc, Brian from Brian Whitis Entertainment, and Chef Randy the exective chef at the Crowne (the best food in the city). And to everyone in the industry that just came out to support us, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If you are ever bored, just ask me to come over and give you a formal presentation. I enjoy speaking in front of anyone who will listen and look half way entertained (pets, small children, the eldery, your mom)

Circle City Planners goes to Hollywood!

OMG, so Darcie and I took a leap of faith and went out to the 1st ever ROCKSTAR WEDDING PLANNERS conference in Manhattan Beach, CA www.rockstarweddingplanner.com/live/.

The trip started out in Beverly Hills where I won a lunch at the IVY (where all the celebs hang out www.seeing-stars.com/dine2/Ivy.shtml) with 5 other planners and my mentor Ciara D. from Canada. I was able to go in CHANNEL and look around and shop at the SURLY GIRL store (http://www.shopsurlygirl.com/ love that place) High End. High Maintenance, who me? Trying hard to ignore all of the Mercedes and BMW that kept approaching valet, I kept my eye out the entire time for a celeb. The only one we saw was Kim Kardashian’s mom. WOW! http://tinyurl.com/bn2xqu. After lunch, we grabbed this great picture in front of the IVY! I walked over to meet the owner of the BRIDAL BAR http://www.bridalbar.com/ Harmony. You have to check out this site, what a cool concept. I wish Indianapolis would start something like this. Kendra, from the playboy mansion, is planning her wedding along side the Bridal Bar. What a great resource for inspirations, PROMISE YOU!

Starting day 1 of the conference, we had so many great moments. Our matching notebooks were filled with tons of new ideas and felt refreshed, ready to come home to share. I was ready to tackle the world. During lunch, we met the owner of Wild Flower Linen, Youngsong Martin, and was able to see the latest and greatest from her collection. Some of items are so new that they aren’t even available to rent. That was amazing to meet her (see our picture). That night I was selected to be in the hot seat. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. But right before I was up for the hot seat, my business idol Ali Brown (http://www.alexandriabrown.com/) walked into the room. I felt like I wanted to get up and tell her how much she has changed my life. Right before I walked up on stage, she pointed to my shoes and asked me where I got them. That was my celebrity moment in LA. J The hot seat really made me emotional, but also made me realize I love my business. Everyday is so new and exciting, no day is alike. If you don’t believe me ask my assistant, Laurenne. She never knows what she’s going to get herself into.

Day 2 was just as exciting as I decided to join the LEGENDS mastermind group, so it’s official I’m a ROCKSTAR WEDDING PLANNER. This was a big decision, but I’m so excited about my journey for the next year it’s going to be an adventurous ride.

That night instead of attending the VIP party, Darcie and I decided we had to go to Hollywood to see all of the hype from the Academy Awards. Check out our FACEBOOK video of Darcie walking the REAL red carpet. It was amazing. We had drinks at the Roosevelt Hotel (MTV The Hills is filmed there), walked the red carpet, and watch all the TV crews find the perfect spot. http://tinyurl.com/b6kvae Once in a lifetime opportunity and only $75 each way by cab.

The last day, we had to discover what Manhattan Beach was all about. We actually went down to the pier and started working. But you have to remember to us, working is FUN! We love our jobs.

Hope you enjoy all the new pictures, I know this is a long one.
~T