Highlights Included:
Purple, Gold and Ivory Color scheme- The bridesmaids carried bouquets of purple dendrobium orchids and Laine carried a beautiful bouquet of callalillies with purple centers. Purple uplighting accented the marble columns in the Music Hall Foyer reception. Linens were ivory with sheer gold embroidered overlays.

Floral Motif- There was a floral logo motif carried out from the invitations which was repeated in all of the printed materials and projected as a gobo pattern in the lobby above the escort table.

Desserts, Desserts, Desserts- For a family who loves desserts, we sure had a lot of them. In addition to the fabulous wedding cake, there were assortments of mini caramel apple pops, gourmet marshmallows, dessertinis, pot de cremes, chocolate dipped pretzels. The family provided homemade cookies.

Escort Cards- The guests receive escort cards for their table assignment tied to gourmet cake pops covered in edible gold glitter, white chocolate and purple accents.

Photo Booth- All guests enjoyed the photobooth. There were props inside the booth to dress up and have a ball while posing. Each guest received one strip of photos to keep and the other went in a signed keepsake scrap book.

Platter for signing- Laine’s mother hand painted a bride and groom on the center of the platter and guests were requested to sign around the picture. The platter will be taken to be kiln fired. On display around that were photos of the brides parents and grandparents on their wedding days.

Thank you to all of my wonderful vendors including Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, Studio-E band who rocked the house for the recpetion, Parkhurst Dining for the catering and gorgeous wedding cake, flowers by Squirrel Hill Flower Shop, Benack Lighting and Sound, Photography by Bea Nylias, desserts by Bella Christie, Steven Vance Strolling Violins who provided the string trio for the ceremony and pianist for the cocktail reception, videography by TJ Clark of Videomasters, and photo booth by DGM Photography.

Laine and Matthew Dancing

PERFECTLY PLANNED BY SHARI NAMED WINNER IN
THE KNOT BEST OF WEDDINGS 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA (JANUARY 31, 2012) – PERFECTLY PLANNED BY SHARI is pleased to announce they have been selected as a 2012 Winner in The Knot Best of Weddings, a special section in The Knot Pennsylvania magazine and on http://www.theknot.com/Vendors/LocalVendors/best-of-weddings/all-Pittsburgh/117#WCSWeddings from The Knot (NYSE: XOXO; www.theknot.com), the number-one wedding resource that’s most trusted by brides.

The Knot Best of Weddings 2012 provides a “by brides, for brides” guide to the top wedding professionals across the country, and is a must-have when it comes to selecting the best-of-the-best wedding resources. From New York florists and Seattle bridal salons to DC makeup artists, engaged couples will find detailed feedback on local wedding businesses reviewed by thousands of newlyweds who had great things to say.

“At Perfectly Planned, weddings are created to reflect the personality of the couple. From traditional to contemporary, a wedding brings family and friends together to celebrate in the BIG day. It is personal… it is significant… it should be perfect.
From the initial consult to the day of the event, Shari and her team work closely with the bride, groom and parents to stamp their identity into every detail.
When working with Perfectly Planned nothing is cookie cutter. Shari’s fresh outlook, new ideas, and industry experience put her on the forefront of Wedding Planning. So take a deep breath, contact us or request a quote, and rest easy knowing your wedding will be Perfectly Planned.”

# # #

About XO Group Inc.
XO Group Inc. (NYSE: XOXO; www.xogroupinc.com), formerly The Knot Inc., is a global media and technology leader devoted to weddings, pregnancy and everything in between, providing young women with the trusted information, products and advice they need to guide them through the most transformative events of their lives. Our family of premium brands began with the #1 wedding brand, The Knot, and has grown to include WeddingChannel.com, The Nest, The Bump and Ijie.com. XO Group is recognized by the industry for being innovative in all media – from the web to social media and mobile, magazines and books, and video – and our groundbreaking social platforms have ignited passionate communities across the world. XO Group has leveraged its customer loyalty into successful businesses in online sponsorship and advertising, registry services, ecommerce and publishing. The company is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange (XOXO) and is headquartered in New York City.

For more information, please contact weddingreviews@theknot.com.

They are fortunate to be receiving mild weather for Pittsburgh in January with an unseasonably high temperature of 40 degrees. Hoping for outside photos today.

We’ll post wedding photos soon.

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, Perfectly Planned by Shari was selected based on its stellar reviews from past newlywed clients.

Perfectly Planned by Shari is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Perfectly Planned by Shari for their continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.”

We are happy to announce that Perfectly Planned by Shari is one of the very best Wedding Planners within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/perfectly-planned-by-shari-pittsburgh/51297db784e0f9f6.html.

To learn more about the Bride’s Choice Awards™, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire™, the nation’s leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.

However, today, I want to share a new “SOMETHING BLUE”  idea for those wedding day shoes!  It’s the idea of simply just having your beloved bridesmaids write words of love on the bottom of your wedding day shoes in a bold blue marker.

There are some Greek wedding traditions that involve the idea of writing on the bottom of your wedding day shoes. There are a couple variations that I have heard of. The first one involves have the bride write the names of all her bridesmaids on the bottom of her shoes. The number of names that rub off at the end of night determine how many children she will have. The second variation is each bridesmaid writes their name on the bottom of their own shoes. The names that have worn off by the end of the night are destined to be married.

   Photo Credit: Pinterest.com

How can this be applied to event planning? For a bride planning her wedding, she can post pictures of bridesmaid dresses, wedding cakes, floral centerpieces and so on. Anything related to her wedding vision. She can then share them with her family, bridal party and wedding planner. I am working with a bride (who actually originally turned me on to this site) who keeps all of her inspirations on her page. Pinterest has been a wonderful tool because I refer to her pin board to see what she likes and read her comments on particular photos before we get together to work on her wedding. For example, before we went to meet with the wedding cake baker, I checked to see what she had posted so I would be able to correctly guide her and the baker through the cake tasting and design meeting to end up with a cake that met her vision. Just keep pulling photos and adding them and you eventually create a collage of images that provide the visual insiration for your event.

Their ceremony was held at the beautiful and historic Calvary United Methodist Church on Pittsburgh’s Northside and was officiated by wedding celebrant Sandra Monahan. Kelly and John were joined by a bridal party of 16, including close friends and siblings. The reception that followed was held at the Sheraton Station Square where Kelly and John received their desired pittsburgh scene. One entire side of the room was floor to ceiling windows which looked out along the river and the lit up downtown skyline. Highlights of the reception included fabulous, creative  and personal bridal party introductions by DJ Kelli Burns, first dance song “Lucky” by Jason Mraz performed by close friends of the bride and groom, Flashbox Video kiosk where guests recorded messages to Kelly and John and a candy buffet which coordinated with their color scheme of ivory, chocolate brown, dusty rose  and taupe. The reception was lit with ambiant uplighting alternating in dusty rose and amber tones. The true highlight was the warmth and revelry of the 240 wedding guests dancing and celebrating with this wonderful couple until the lights came up and they all continued on together to their after party at Station Square.

So, are you now wondering how to get started? Here are my top five tips for a successfully planned bar/bat mitzvah:

1. My number one suggestion would be to hire a professional event planner to assist you. As an event planner, I of course feel that everyone can benefit from my services, although I certainly know that many parents choose to go it on their own with the help of family and friends. If you are on the fence about whether to hire a planner, I ask you, do you want to enjoy the event and not worry about anything or do you want to be the one carrying the event file and clipboard and organizing everyone on the event day? Trust me, knowing all of the fires I put out, I would advise that you enjoy the meaning of the event, your friends and family who have come to celebrate with you and get to experience it rather than take on the stress and worries. Do you want to be the one to make sure the DJ has arrived, the giveaways are unpacked, the tables are set up in the right place, the dance floor is clean, the timeline is following the right order throughout the night, and so on?

2. Whether you have decided to hire a professional to help with the planning or have decided to go it on your own, don’t get overwhelmed. Start with the big stuff first-  Location, schedule, logistics, budget. I create a planning time table for all of my clients which outlines the planning priorities from the first month we start planning all the way through to the week of the mitzvah, in order of importance. This helps as a guide to keep them on track with order of priority, acts as a check list and helps to limit feeling overwhelmed by taking everything on at once.

3. Make the big decisions on your own as a parent, but ask your child for their input at some point. Most kids do want a voice when it comes to their special event. I intitially meet with the parents to find out their vision of what they want for the event and make sure all big “purchasing decisions” are approved by them before presenting them to the mitzvah child. Whether it be early on or midway through the planning, I like to interview the child to find out things about what he or she likes and doesn’t like as well as what they would like to include or not include. This can provide important information that sometimes even surprises the parents.

4. Engage the kids. I can’t stress this enough. Make sure the kids have something to do and proper supervision throughout the entire mitzvah day.  It is a must to plan accordingly to what will keep those kids entertained, engaged and satisfied. After all, nobody wants to deal with a poorly planned party where 100 kids around the ages of 12-13 are running wild and free. Also, don’t forget about properly planning  drop off and pick up of the kids. Make sure that is safe, organized and supervised.

5. Personalize your event. I don’t just mean branding either. Yes, for some mitzvahs we incorporate a logo, color scheme or theme, but what I mean by personalize is more about the overall vision and feeling. This should be established early on. Do you want a small intimate gathering that feels hamish and religious? Do you want a sophistcated party that appeals equally to adults? It is important to establish your priorities of what you want this to be for you, your family and most importantly the bar/bat mitzvah child and then work toward bringing that vision to life.

So, now you or someone you know is engaged. What’s the first step? Hire a wedding planner, of course. There are many out there, so it is difficult to choose. I understand. Here is my advice and five tips for selecting a wedding planner. After all, you do want to make the right choice as you will be working together for sometimes a year or longer during the planning process.

First, if possible, meet each other in person. To determine if you connect, it is often advantageous to meet face to face to get a sense for one another’s personality to see if you are the right fit to work together.

Second, make sure the planner gets to know you and your vision. To plan a personalized wedding, it is important to share information about your likes and dislikes as well as what is most and least important to you about your big day. Are you adventerous and outdoorsy? Are you a movie buff? Share that information because it will be helpful in the planning of the wedding.

Third, discuss the services that the planner offers. Make sure the planner can customize the planning services based around your needs. Also, many people think that because they have a wedding planner they will be less involved with their wedding. Not true. It is important to share with the planner how much help you are looking for and what decisions you want to make versus what you are comfortable having your planner work on for you. In my opinion, wedding planning is a team effort.

Fourth, confirm that the planner is accessible. You need to be able to hire someone who will be able to meet with you based on your schedule. For example, if you live out of town, you may need to coordinate planning during weekend visits. If you work during the day, your planner will need to be able to meet with you on evenings or weekends. Also, your communication leading up to the hiring should give you a good indication of communication and accessibility. Were your phone calls and emails returned in a timely manner?

Fifth, hire a professional. I can’t stress this enough. There are many people out there who think wedding planning seems fun so they put up a website and call themselves a Wedding Planner. Make sure your planner is experienced and does event planning as their full-time occupation. They should also be able to provide references from former clients for you.