August 7th, 2010 was a magical day for a wonderful couple, and not just because it finally wasn’t 100 degrees in St. Louis, but because several local vendors banded together to make dreams come true! Lauren and Karl tied the knot in front of about 140 guests at St. Joseph’s Church in Clayton and topped the night off with a ROCKING reception at An American Place downtown!

I wanted to share a few of the snap shots I took during the wedding day, but I promise more fabulous photos will be coming from the very talented Robert George soon!

As all of my event planning professional friends here in St. Louis approach yet another wedding weekend in the Lou, I feel the need to throw some advice into the wind for all those blushing brides out there! Your wedding is a once (or twice) in a lifetime experience, one that you should enjoy and savor for as long as you can! For many of us, the wedding bug only hits once and therefore you must take advantage!

If you’re feeling a little stressed, so much so that you are putting your big day at risk, I highly recommend taking a small chill pill to keep it all together. Besides, it’s pretty likely you want to remember your wedding day as one of the most memorable events in your lifetime, and I don’t mean memorable because you spent the whole day freaking out!

If you live in or around the St. Louis, Missouri area (or the Midwest region in general) you know that we tend to have some vicious and unpredictable summers. If you’re planning a wedding in St. Louis, well, you know that you absolutely need to be prepared between the months of June and August for some serious heat! We’re talking 90 to 100 degree weather here!

So, if you’re thinking an outdoor wedding might be in your future, be sure to throw out some goodies or appropriate time frames to help your guests make it through the day. They’ll thank you for it, and you’ll probably thank yourself when you put on the fabulous dress, get your hair done and apply all that gorgeous make up!

I know, I know! You were probably expecting me to say something more along the lines of “planning your wedding is like running a marathon!” Well, you’re right. And if I could RUN a marathon that’s exactly what I’d compare it to. HOWEVER, right now I can run two miles (especially when there’s a 100 degree heat index outside). So yeah, for now you get the “two mile” analogy – planning a wedding is like running two miles. It takes a lot of stamina to keep you going and a lot of drive to complete it!

Everyone knows there is a lot that goes into planning a wedding, but sometimes, people forget just exactly HOW much there really is! That’s why it takes a good training strategy to make your wedding a success, and well to make it enjoyable!

Coming from my project management background, of course I would think that having a wedding plan is a definite must for your wedding day planning process. Why you ask? Because it’s an easy way to keep track of all the tasks you need to complete for your wedding day and the time frame in which you hope to complete them. I know it seems completely lame and maybe even a little redundant, but it really can help!

If you’re like me, when you have a busy day, week or even month coming up, I make a task list of every detail I need to accomplish. And I LOVE my lists, it’s quite a weird obsession actually!