I had the recent privilege as a wedding planner/coordinator to do the Day of Management (DOM – the new buzz words or term for coordinating the ceremony and/or reception) for a most beautiful couple.   The bride’s name means “Certain Fortune” and the groom’s name means “The Lord is my God”.  I believe the truism that comes from merging the two names together in a phrase:   When the Lord is my God, then I will certainly have good fortune.    And that is exactly how Destiny and Elijah’s entire wedding day progressed.

     The ceremony was at the beautiful Lime Spring Farm in Lancaster and the day was simply gorgeous.  Blue skies prevailed and for a summer day, the temperature and low humidity was easily bearable.  We just couldn’t complain.

     The bride had done an incredible job at planning the entire wedding.   She pulled it all together with a few late nights in the final week, but she did a wonderful job just the same.  I had been brought in to just hold the whole event together and add my leadership, moral support, attention to detail, and last minute troubleshooting, so the bride and her mother could RELAX. 

     Ahhhh.  Relax.  Who would think that this could be done on your wedding day?  Well it can.  Professional planners and coordinators with their many, many weddings under their belts are in business for exactly this purpose.  More brides-to-be are hiring us these days for “DOM” from the rehearsal to reception.    In this case I stayed on even longer and helped the mother of the bride pack up all the odds and ends after the reception that are so often forgot about.  Such as, all the extra favors, the knives and cake top, all the memorabilia at the escort table (pictures, sign in books, decorations), and packing up components of the centerpieces that were purchased or rented.   Not in this case, but sometimes bride’s don’t put a trusted family member in charge of transporting the gifts back to the residence, and the tired mom and dad are left in a near heap of exhaustion lugging everything back and forth to their car 
while hoping there will be enough room left for them after everything’s loaded.

     I think if I were pressed to name the least fortunate part of the whole event, I’d have to say it was the 21.3 mile drive from the ceremony to the reception at Shady Maple Banquet Facility, East Earl, PA.  And with that being said – it wasn’t bad at all.  :-)

  The guests got a nice sized head start to the reception which allowed them time to devour virtually all the wonderful hors d’oeuvres before the bride and groom, photographers and myself could arrive.   

Speaking of the photographers – I surely enjoyed working with the husband and wife team of Matt and Nat from MNT Photography.  They came to the rehearsal to get a lay of the land, and then gave it their all when taking pictures.    The photos from today’s blog are all courtesy of this professional team, but please visit their website link above for a full display of their shots from Destiny and Elijah’s wedding.

I have added two pictures from my own camera of the photographers at work.   No one can say that Nat doesn’t go all out to get the best shots, in her pretty dress and all.

 Finally, check out the vibrant plum, or aubergine, colored vests that adorn these handsome young groomsmen with the  tuxedos they rented from my “all things wedding” retail  showroom, Celebrations! in Ephrata.   They were a perfect match to the dresses.

It’s always sheer joy to receive notes of thanks from the brides and their mothers.  I humbly share the following  formal testimonial from Destiny’s mother, shared with her permission . . . 

“Wow! I can’t even begin to express our gratitude for Renee Kopp and her outstanding service to us during our daughter’s rehearsal and wedding day. Renee truly went the extra mile to cover all the fine details that are so important to a bride and her mother. Prior to the wedding, Renee assured me that I would be able to relax and enjoy my daughter’s wedding and that is exactly what happened. Her services were beyond my dreams. Renee knew exactly what to do with each and every challenge and/or detail that was falling between the cracks during our special day. Not only was she prepared to cover our oversights with her emergency kit, but she was also extremely proactive in addressing detail that could have created a challenge BEFORE it became a challenge.

“Renee and her services are well worth every penny spent and more. She is professional, efficient and extremely pleasant to work with. Because of Renee, we had sooooooooo much fun and our day was perfect. Our guests raved about our wonderful wedding and reception with some guests even stating it was the best wedding they’ve ever attended. All credit goes to Renee who so thoroughly covered for all of the “imperfections” and/or “oversights”, thereby providing an opportunity for the bride and her mother to be relaxed and have fun in spite of not sleeping much the week and day before the wedding.

“Our sincere thanks for your excellent management and communication skills, your heart to serve and your ability to multi-task and be in many places at the same time, always exactly where you were needed when you were needed and your ability to keep everyone relaxed and laughing in spite of the overwhelming task to pull it all together.   I profusely thank you from the bottom of my heart for making our day extremely special and fun and memorable.”