I find myself very fortunate to be able to do what I love and what makes it even better is knowing that by doing what I love I can also give back to my community. Wish Upon a Wedding allows me to do just that – be a part of an amazing organization geared toward making people’s dreams come true, all while working in the industry I adore! On Sunday I was honored to be a part of setting up and attending our inaugural gala for the Wish Upon a Wedding St. Louis Chapter, the Blissful Wishes Ball. And man oh man, was it a FABULOUS night! So let’s get to it!

Many of us know several wedding friends that are actively involved in charitable organizations across the St. Louis area, from Wish Upon a Wedding to the Gifted Wedding. There is an organization out there for everyone to support! But I wanted to take a few minutes to recognize a friend of ours who is go above and beyond the call of duty. He and his wife are not a part of the St. Louis wedding industry but they truly are setting the standard for giving back and taking a stand against cancer.

Hey, hey St. Louis and surrounding areas! I have great news to share with you from the Wish Upon a Wedding St. Louis Chapter! We’ve finalized logistics for our inaugural black-tie gala, the Blissful Wishes Ball, and we couldn’t be more excited to share the details! Are you ready for this?!?

Join us for a night of dinner, cocktails and dancing at the Starlight Roof at the Chase on Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 6:00pm! If you’re familiar with the Starlight Roof at the Chase, you know what an amazing VIEW and amazing space it truly is, so you won’t want to miss out! More details are being finalized daily along with specifics on all of the wonderful vendors (wish granters) donating their goods and services to make it all possible! Check back frequently as I’ll be updating this blog post with a current list of those vendors!

You heard me right, Wish Upon a Wedding St. Louis made it’s first appearance at a bridal show – the St. Louis Perfect Wedding Guide Bridal Show at Windows on Washington in downtown St. Louis to be exact! Before I go any further, I MUST send out a very, very big thank you to Kassaundra and Adam from St. Louis Perfect Wedding Guide for donating a booth to Wish Upon a Wedding St. Louis! It was such a generous offer and we appreciate it more than I can say!

Kristin Weis, our board secretary, and I were on site for the four hour show to promote the organization, and I must admit the turnout and response was fantastic! Not that I would expect anything less from St. Louis! While many brides and their families had never heard of Wish Upon a Wedding, they certainly left more informed and eager to help out!

Remember that fabulous Wish Upon a Wedding Launch Party we had here in St. Louis just about a month ago!?! Well now that we’re officially launched here in town, things are only getting started! We still need everyone’s continued support to make the Wish Upon a Wedding St. Louis Chapter a success!

Right now we’re prepping for our gala, one of many Blissful Wishes Balls taking place around the nation as part of WUW’s official Month of Giving! If you haven’t already marked the date for the St. Louis Gala, it’s Sunday, November 14th!

It happened one Wednesday night in St. Louis at Lumen Private Event Space, and in fact it happened LAST night! The Wish Upon a Wedding St. Louis Chapter was officially launched last night and it was a huge success! Wedding industry professionals from all over the city came by to show their support at the Caribbean-chic themed event! It was truly AMAZING! A heart-warming and emotional speech from chapter president, Lacy Branch, topped off the night right!

If you made it out, and we know about 160 of you did, we appreciate it! If you missed out, we hope you can make it to our annual Wish Upon a Wedding black-tie gala on Sunday, November 14, 2010! Now, check out some of the amazing pictures from last night!!

It’s almost time! June 16th is the Wish Upon a Wedding official Launch Party in St. Louis, Missouri! The board and committee members have been working their tails off to put on a great celebration for the organization in our town and we hope you can make it! The Launch Party theme is Caribbean Chic and the location is Lumen Private Event Space, so you know you’re in for a treat! We’ll have complimentary grill stations from some of St. Louis’ finest caterers and island cocktails that will cool you off for the summer, so you won’t want to miss out!

If you haven’t been to Lumen yet, now is the time to check it out! For some great pics, see below.

On the off chance you haven’t heard already, I wanted to take a moment to write about something fantastic coming to the wedding industry right in our own backyard – here in St. Louis. It’s Wish Upon a Wedding and it’s exploding nationwide right now! Founded in San Francisco in January 2010, Wish Upon a Wedding is the world’s first wedding wish granting organization. What’s great about Wish Upon a Wedding is that they base their work on the “concept that two people in love should never be denied the chance to marry their soul mate, even if they only have months (or weeks) to live. Their primary purpose is to serve as a charitable foundation, dedicated to providing weddings and civil union ceremonies at destinations across the United States.”