Abbie from Candlelight Creations

Hey all!  I’m Abbie - I am the manager & Wedding Invitationist for Candlelight Creations – Cards & Invitations.  

Well, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on your engagement, or for knowing someone who is getting married or just really loving weddings.  I know from experience how exciting this time can be.  And I also know how exhausting it can be as well.  I coordinated my entire wedding myself and loved every minute of it, yet I could have used someone who has been down the road I was about to venture to help my dream wedding come to fruition the way I dreamed.  That's why I wanted to start working in the wedding industry. 

In today's fast paced world, it can be quite impossible to get everything done that needs to get done, even if you do have 6, 18 or even 24 months to prepare for your BIG DAY.  Not to mention the whole experience can be quite daunting.  So, my passion is to help brides and grooms transition into marriage in an as smooth and delighting adventure as possible.  I realize that I’m just handling the invitation aspect, but I promise to carry out my duties in helping couples be as stress-free as possible even in that task.

I first got started making invitations when I was planning my own wedding.  I’m very artistic and free-spirited and I wanted to create something truly unique and special to add a special touch to my invitations, just as every other aspect of the wedding.  I got so many compliments.  My sister even suggested that I start making my own cards and invitations to sell.  So, I did.  That was five years ago.  I loved doing it so much; I went on to become a certified Wedding Consultant through Penn Foster College.  I have always loved weddings, every aspect.  Now I really feel well equipped to help brides and grooms in a way I’ve always wanted to.

The idea of the invitations that I make is to let your guest know exactly who you are just by looking at the invitations.  I want them to breathe everything that you and your future Mr. (or Mrs.) are and love.  And that's exactly why I made my own wedding invitations.  I just wasn't happy with my options in the Wedding Invitation market. 

With the invitations that I make, you get to pick out exactly what you want.  They can be as formal or as eclectic as you wish.  They can be small or large, sparkly or transparent, black and white with pink diamonds or have an antique look with your own picture and a "treasure map" to your reception site.  Whatever it is that you and your fiancé/fiancée are interested in or even something you always dreamed you could be, that can be incorporated into your hand-made, personalized wedding invitations. 

And as I said earlier, five years ago when I was planning my dream wedding, I wasn’t happy with my choices for Wedding Invitations in the Wedding Invitation market.  But, I must say, the Wedding Invitation market has come a long way.  There are so many different choices out there.  There is something for everyone.  Which is why I’m proud to announce that Candlelight Creations is now selling commercial Wedding Invitations from three very sound, well-established companies; Carlson Craft, Stylart & McPhersons. (I’ll be sharing more on those companies in the future.)

I’m very confident that at Candlelight Creations we have something for everyone.  I would love to talk to you or just have you browse through our Invitation books.  We are located inside Prelude Photography at the Great Lakes Mall, Mentor.  I hope to see you soon…and until then you’ll be hearing more from me here at the Wedding Showcase Wedding Blog.

 My best to you,

~Abbie~

Congratulations, Heather & Jeremy!

Hello, Blogosphere!

Matt and I had a great time shooting Heather and Jeremy's wedding this weekend! Despite the scattered showers and the limo's flat tire (!), their energy and excitement carried the event with that special magic that can only happen on a wedding day. Talk about a charismatic bride and groom - smiles and mushy stuff all over the place! :)

These are the couples we have the most fun with; the ones who are having fun themselves, dancing, talking to their guests, and truly enjoying one another and their wedding day. We love the couples who can go from silly to sentimental in a second... because that's how we are. We love the goofy stuff, but we're suckers for that whole "Your life has changed for good now because you've found The One" type stuff, too. (You know it's true, Matt, don't try to act like it's all me being sappy during the first dances. Or the father-daughter dances. Or the mother-son dances... :p)

We wish them well on their honeymoon and beyond, and look forward to getting started on their wedding album!

Cory

Quail Hollow Bridal Show

Hey, good times at the Quail Hollow Bridal Show last weekend.

It was a nice turn out and always good to hang out with fellow showcasers, Jesse and Debi as well as seeing Mel and Pat's set up. Very pretty.

Special thanks to the Quail staff for keeping everything flowing smoothly and providing awesome food!

-Matt

Flower Girls

Flower girls are so cute but petals in a basket are so "been there, done that" plus a lot of churches dislike the mess of cleaning up all the petals. I always love coming up with new ideas for the little ones. 

Silk flowers on a barrette or as a pomander ball are great for the 1-3 year olds because they are pretty and durable. If your flowers girl is 4 to 6 years old, my favorite is the magic wand - this is a wand that has silk flowers and streamers in a ball on the end and the wand is a wooden dowel wrapped in ribbon to match the wedding party.

Another favorite for this age is the hair garland. We make a halo of flowers and ribbons sized to fit the little girls' head. The garland can be fresh or silk and we add combs to the band to make it easier to secure the flowers into her hairstyle. For the 7 to 10 year olds, we are at the awkward age - too big for little girl items but too small to be a junior bridesmaid. 

My favorite solution to the challenge was a garland/bouquet combination we did for a fall wedding. The wedding party had 2 flower girls. We created two small bouquets with a floral garland between. The girls walked down the aisle holding their bouquets with the garland draped between them. After the pictures, the bouquets were separated from the garland. The girls kept their little bouquets and the garland was used to decorate the head table.

- Pat, A Classic Florist

Melanie's Display

Yo Melanie (our rep from Sun Rental, she'll be blogging soon)

Just wanted to say we had moved your photo candy bar display up front and it's getting some nice comments. Of course we'll do a free shot at our studio to use on the Candy Bar wrappers. But people are talking about the display, not just for weddings, but for communions, parties, special events, etc.

Hopefully they're calling you about it. (Check Sun Rental out HERE)

Later,

- Matt

Cake Masterpieces

Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Debbi Stanicki . . . Debbi owns and operates Cakes to You and has been making cakes for almost 40 years. Her part of this blog will begin with cake decorating trends. Here's the first part of that: 

CAKES have gotten quite a bit more attention today, than in years past. Wedding cakes seemed to be the only cakes that create excitement before. However in the last few years, Ace of Cakes and the Cake Boss have created masterpieces for any occasion.  Their influence has brought worldwide attention to the unending possibilities that can transform the average cake.

Their cakes are usually engineered to include heavy supports and mechanisms. These cakes are usually covered in fondant. Fondant is a sugar dough that is rolled out and laid over the cake to achieve an extremely smooth surface. Fondant, modeling chocolate and gumpaste are used to form figurines and various decorations to decorate these masterpieces.

You may have seen these techniques used on the Cake Challenges on the Food Network where contestants compete for $10,000!  They are usually given a theme to create their cake designs around. Not only do they have height, width and time restraints, but they also have to move their cake to a display table after it is created. Moving it is always the most tense part of the competition. There have been many catastrophes. However, they are allowed to take the cake back to their work station, fix it and move it again. The judges for these competitions are very particular. Cakes are judged on creativity, technique and neatness of the work station.

What a delicious undertaking!

- Debbi

Wedding Season Kicks Off Next Saturday!

Yeah, we've done a couple of weddings since January, but the season really kicks off May 1st for us with Kara and Joe. Then the DOOR starts.

What I mean by that is on my office door I have little cards with each wedding we have booked. So at a glance I can see where we're at with weddings, what dates are still open, what months might need help, etc. So throughout the blog, if mention the DOOR, I really mean The schedule of upcoming wedding booked with Prelude Photography, but it's easier to just say the DOOR.

:)

- Matt

A Bit About A Classic Florist

Hi, I'm Pat Deschler and I am the florist featured in the Wedding Showcase. I have been a florist for the last 5 years but have loved flowers my whole live. My grandmother got me hooked when I was a little girl. She would take me to the botanical garden in St Louis. It's still my favorite place to visit whenever I get back there.

When I was working in corporate America, I always designed flowers as a hobby, for myself and friends and family. Since I've been a florist, I have loved working with the brides to create unique designs just for their wedding.

My brides always tell me I ask more questions that any other florist they have talked with. My shop does 20-30 weddings a year but we try to keep each one a personal relationship with the bride and groom. The thing I like best is the couples who come back to me year after year for anniversaries, new babies, and birthdays.

I Love to Cry at Weddings

I'm Cory, a lead wedding photographer at Prelude Photography, and I love to cry at weddings. Yep, like the song.

No matter who's getting married, there's always some point during the day when I will cry. Sometimes it's when I see the look on the groom's face when he sees his bride for the first time. Sometimes it's when the couple kisses for the first time as husband and wife. Often it will be during the father-daughter dance, and even every once in awhile, at a little kid who has stayed at the reception way past their bedtime and has conked out on Daddy's shoulder or a row of reception chairs.

I think we cry at weddings - at least, why I cry at weddings - because we are witnessing what is considered the biggest commitment you can make to someone: the promise to love them forever, be there for them always, be their family. I mean, how can you NOT get all teary when you're honored with an invitation to be part of such an event?

People may think that wedding photographers would get kind of numb to the emotion of that after a time... after all, we usually don't really know the couple past our professional relationship, and we've been to so many weddings that we've pretty much seen it all. But I'm here to say it's not true! Being connected with other people is part of photography. Being able to capture those authentic moments, look at a photo and see how much two people love each other just by the looks on their faces... is amazing.

It's really the reason I'm a photographer... to celebrate the amazing things that happen in our lives, and find the extraordinary in the ordinary. To connect with people, and help them connect to each other.

I'm not always a sap, I promise... but I figured on a wedding blog, where I'm supposed to introduce myself, you should know why I love what I do. We'll get silly later. :)

Have a great day, and check back for more wedding words soon!

Cory

Welcome to The Wedding Showcase!

Click play to view a sampling from each of our vendors...

What a way to start a wedding blog, a proposal in our store! A few days ago, we had a nice couple get engaged in our store, on our red carpet. I’d post the pics we took for them, but I want to give them a little time to tell their friends and families. So more on that later.

Anywho, WELCOME to The Wedding Showcase Blog. The WEDDING SHOWCASE is a network of seven different - and elite - wedding vendors, all of whom have a mini-home within Prelude Photography at Great Lakes Mall. We had our grand opening at the end of January and figured it was time for our blog to get out there, and here it is.

I’m Matt, the owner of Prelude and the guy that put together The Wedding Showcase. Our goal in putting the Showcase together was to create a "One Stop Shop" for wedding services at the mall. We know there's so much running around involved when you're planning a wedding, trying to find the perfect vendors for the myriad of services needed to execute a memorable, beautiful wedding. So we figured, why not take the running around out of the picture, and bring some quality businesses together to present a smorgasbord of reputable vendors to choose from in one location?

We loved this idea so much, we moved our portrait studio into a larger location and dedicated half of our display area to The Wedding Showcase.

Now don't think I'll be monopolizing all the fun over here - our other vendors will be writing in this blog from time to time, as well, to give you insights into their specialities. We'll all share tips, samples, fun stories and more about running wedding-related businesses and working with today's brides.

And who are these other vendors, you ask? They are:

Jesse from Jesse Webb Entertainment, an established local DJ company

Pete from Viewpoint Weddings videography

Debbie from Cakes to You wedding cakes

Pat from A Classic Florist

Melanie from Sun Rental

Abbie from Candlelight Creations, who provides invitations, favors and more

and

Nichole from Frosting Accessories, who designs custom bridal jewelry!

We’ll also have some past and future brides writing about their wedding experiences in general... and who knows what other fun we might come up with!

I’m sure that’s plenty for the first blog... more to come soon. In the meantime, I'll invite you to check out Prelude's website here.

See you soon,
Matt