The Main Event by Memory Makers Event Planning, LLC

Nearly 3,000 athletes from around the world have arrived in Boise, Sun Valley, and McCall to compete in a variety of winter sporting events as part of the International Special Olympics. The opening ceremonies held on Saturday were amazing. The Idaho Center was sold out and you could feel the emotion as the athletes entered and the torch was lighted.   Irene Deeley of Woman of Steel gallery in Garden City created the huge cauldron and its rainbow-colored supports. After the ceremony, it was moved downtown to the Grove plaza for all to enjoy. What an awesome event this is and what an honor for Boise to host it.

Last weekend I participated in our largest annual wedding show in this area. Nearly 800 brides came through. In visiting with them and with other vendors, it was apparent that one way couples are reducing costs is by reducing the amount they spend on food. Several couples are choosing to have a potluck reception rather than hiring a caterer. Though it is considered bad manners to ask guests to help with the expenses of a wedding, which you are technically doing when you have a potluck, many people seem to be happy to help. I worked with one couple who had a potluck reception last year and it was a great success. The bride and groom provided the meat, beverages, and wedding cake and guests provided the side dishes. Before going this route, however, be sure your family and friends won't find it rude to be asked to bring a dish. Another trend we saw was people choosing to have a caterer or restaurant drop-off food, then having the coordinator and her staff oversee the buffet table....

We have all heard horror stories about bridezillas and mom-zillas, but a recent trend is the maid of honor-zilla. This is the person who is so focused on helping her friend/sister/cousin have a wonderful wedding that she bends all the rules of etiquette, courtesy, and even common sense to accomplish things her way, no matter how many people she alienates or whose feelings she hurts. She plans an extravagant shower that she can’t afford, then bills the bridesmaids and anyone else she finds handy to help cover the cost. She plans a bachelorette party, perhaps at a destination location, then expects the members of the wedding party to foot the bills. She orders people around, steps on toes, and generally turns into a monster, all in the name of helping the bride. Then, when the wedding is over, she wonders why her friends no longer speak to her. Perhaps maid of honor-zillas are a sign of the times. We are now seeing a generation of self-focused individuals who gre...

The recent downturn in the economy will have an affect on event planning and on the business of merchants who depend on special events for their livlihood. People still get married, have parties and business events no matter what the economy, but many scale back on the size of the event and on spending in general. As we have seen in past economic downturns, they will choose a less expensive location, less expensive food, and cut back on serving alcohol (a budget breaker at most events). Unfortunately, they may also eliminate the “luxury” services that can add to the uniqueness of an event. What can we as vendors do to keep clients coming through the door? First, look at your customer service. If it isn’t top notch, customers will either choose one of your competitors or they will forgo your service entirely. You need to add value in some way that makes you stand out from your competitors. In recent months we have seen vendors who arrived late, who had a poor attitude, and those who ...

We asked the caterer to provide tray-passed hors d’oeuvres during the cocktail hour, assuming that anyone in the catering industry knows how to serve hors d’oeuvres in that manner. Wrong!! Imagine our horror when the servers walked into the room (at an upscale venue) carrying large plastic trays used to clear tables. On each tray they had placed paper plates with one each of the four hors d’oeuves. A plastic fork was placed pitchfork-style in each plate. The servers walked around handing out their concoctions to the guests' horror. To make matters worse, later in the evening one of the servers, who had been carving prime rib, took off his chef’s coat and walked around in his undershirt. Less than a month later a different caterer sent only one employee to handle an event for nearly 100 people. The employee set three trays of hors d’oeuvres on a table then exited. When I asked him where the plates were, he said “They can use their fingers.” I then asked if he had brought plates ...

I just returned from a wedding reception held in Joseph, Oregon, a picturesque community in the Wallowa Mountains four hours from Boise. Planning an event to be held in a rural community four hours from the nearest rental center and three hours from the nearest caterer can be a challenge. It requires creativity and the assistance of numerous friends and family. The couple married at the court house several months ago. This was their "official" reception for family and friends from Illinois, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. About 125 guests attended. The reception was held at a retreat center located next to the city park and along the Wallowa River. The center included a large two story lodge with two kitchens and sleeping space for 32, large lawn, and an area away from the main building for a campfire. The couple and their friends erected a "tent" by placing an orange Forest Service parachute on metal poles. Tables and chairs were borrowed from the...

It has been awhile, quite awhile in fact, since I last posted. During that time my computer's mother board crashed, necessitating the purchase of a new computer. Of course, it came with a newer operating system which isn't compatible with anything, so that meant replacing much of my software and my printer/scanner. To complicate the situation, Microsoft has stopped supporting FrontPage, which is what I used to update my web site. They now offer Expression Web2, which is not as user friendly as FrontPage, so another learning curve. As if enough wasn't going on, I took two weeks out of the busy month of June to take my granddaughter to Alaska and the Yukon. It was a fantastic trip and well worth missing a couple of weeks of work. Now I am finding myself running in several directions at once. Suddenly a myriad of calls have come in for events in 2009 - woo hoo! I am also working with a local hotel to test the market for a new kind of week-end event package. Hopefully mo...

Are you on active duty with the military and want to get married? Your fiance/fiancee can't be present either? That's okay in Montana, the only U.S. state that allows double proxy marriages, but only in a few counties. For a fee, you can hire someone to stand in for both the bride and groom. To qualify for such a marriage, both the bride and groom must be U.S. citizens. In addition, either the bride or groom must be a Montana resident or be on active duty with the military. Several legal steps must be satisfied and the fee for a proxy marriage can be hefty. Double proxy marriages are recognized by all states except Iowa. Single proxy marriages can be performed in California, Texas, and Colorado, usually for active duty military personnnel. Colorado law, however, also allows for proxy marriages for those who are incarcerated.   So, if you are in the military and really want to get married, you might consider a proxy marriage. But a proxy honeymoon - I don't think s...

This past weekend I had my first winter wedding at Tamarack Resort in the mountains about 70 miles north of Boise. The ceremony was held in the Arling Chapel with the reception in the Arling Grange Hall across a cobblestone courtyard. There was at least 3 feet of snow on the ground and much more piled around where the roads had been cleared. For the photos, the bride skied the bunny hill in her gown. The groom and groomsmen wore kilts and they skied with her. The photographer secured some awesome shots. The ceremony was standing room only. We had a bagpiper hidden away to play for the wedding party's recessional. After they exited, he re-entered and piped the guests out and across to the reception center where a sit-down dinner was served followed by dancing. During the course of the evening we received many comments about the facility and how lovely everything was. Unfortunately, Tamarack Resort is now closed, so events like this will exist only in memory.  Photo co...

Every year between Thanksgiving and New Years our local botanical garden hosts Winter Garden Aglow , an evening event during which the trees, bushes, fences and other areas are decked in twinkle lights, totally transforming the look of the garden. This year on December 22 I had the opportunity to coordinate a wedding for a couple who created their own version of Winter Garden Aglow in the backyard of a private home. A grape arbor runs between the back door and the garage. It was covered in lights, as was the fence and the deck cover. Lights hung from the trees. The ceremony occurred in a small courtyard to one side of the arbor where a fire pit helped dispel the cold. The 60 guests walked out the front door of the home, around the corner, and through the gate into the backyard where they formed two lines under the grape arbor. Each held a battery-operated candle. The bride then walked through the line of guests and collected flowers for her bouquet from eight ladies. It began to sno...

October was the month for multi-cultural ceremonies. First, I planned and coordinated a vow renewal ceremony for a lady from Bulgaria. She and her husband, who is from here, married a year ago in Bulgaria at the registrar's office with her parents and sister, brother-in-law, and niece present. This ceremony was for his family and friends. While in Bulgaria, the wife had two gowns made, one for the simple ceremony there and a more elaborate one for the Idaho ceremony. The formal gown was very pretty and a bit different from our typical American gowns. It was two-piece, strapless, and laced up the back. The skirt had three deep gathers of fabric from just below the waistline to mid-thigh. The remainder of the skirt was organza with embroidery. At the end of a Bulgarian ceremony, a mother (in this case the husband's grandmother) breaks a loaf of wedding bread. She then dips small pieces in honey and feeds a piece to the wife and husband to symbolize always having food ...

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a wedding show. One of the new products featured at the show was custom-designed unity candles. A bride and groom can order a candle in colors to match their wedding. They can also customize the candle with a picture, poem, their names, or any other information they choose. The candles can also be used for anniversary celebrations, vow renewal ceremonies, and as memorial candles. The candles are available over the internet at http://www.unitycandles.com/ . If you are looking for something unique for your event, this may be just the item.

Want to add a bit of pizazz to your wedding photos and you don't mind damaging your gown? If so, you might consider taking "trash the dress" photos. This is a new fad created by wedding photographers to create unique, once in a lifetime, photos. When a bride is willing to get her dress wet or dirty, she may be photographed wading in the ocean or a lake, jumping into a pool or lake, sitting on a mountainside or on the beach, riding a motorcycle, rolling in the mud, or in other unconventional situations or positions that can harm her dress. This summer one of my brides was photographed playing in the fountain at the Grove Plaza in downtown Boise while wearing her gown, though she was careful not to get too wet. A photographer told me about shooting a bride who jumped into a swimming pool at a country club in her gown. The groom and several of the groomsmen then joined her. (If they were wearing rented tuxes, they now own them.) Another bride told me about her wedding in ...

On Friday I coordinated my third wedding this season at our outdoor Shakespeare Theater. All three were in different locations within the theater grounds and all were very different. The first, held on Memorial week-end in May, was held in a grassy area behind the amphitheater. The reception was held on the patio under a tent and inside the multi-purpose building. The second wedding occurred on a very hot 7-7-07 on the amphitheater stage in the bright sun. The play Arsenic and Old Lace opened that day, so we had to work around the sets. The reception was held at the Basque Center out of the heat. On Friday the most recent ceremony occurred at one end of the property in a clearing overlooking a pond. It was a small morning ceremony with about 30 guests. After the ceremony we went to a private club for lunch on their patio. In the evening, about 300 guests joined us at the bride's parent's farm for a reception. Three brides, each with different ideas and personalities,...

You are probably familiar with wedding web sites and other special event web sites. The latest trend is creating a blog for your event instead of or in addition to a web site. A blog will allow you to share the planning details for your family reunion, wedding, or other event and also share photos of everything from the location to the gown. By posting regular updates, a blog allows the opportunity to write about the details of the event as they occur. By doing so, friends and family both near and far away can share the journey with you, increasing their excitement and their feeling of involvement. Creating a blog is easy. If you can write a letter, you can update a blog. Creating a blog is also free, unlike the cost of many web sites. Give it a try for your next event. You may decide to make it a permanet part of your family's communication.

If you are planning an outdoor event you will want to visit http://www.bridalweather.com/ . This unique site, created by a professional meteorologist, can predict the weather for your event months into the future. The weather for a number of U.S. cities is available and more are being added all the time. The predictions are based on historical data.   Though the name of the site implies it is directed to weddings, the information can be used for any outdoor event, including family reunions, picnics, festivals, and more. If family and friends will be traveling to your special event, you can find travel weather information as well. Brides and grooms can also add customized weather information to their web sites as a unique touch.

This has been an interesting season, with a number of bookings on short notice. One of the most interesting was a 50th birthday party that occurred last week-end. The lady who was celebrating her birthday is a silent films afficionado and she wanted to have a costume party reflecting that era. The party was held at her home where we created a Prohibition-era speak easy, complete with a gambling den, secret password to enter, and two young men (her grandsons) with Tommy guns to greet guests as they arrived. After checking local resources for a casino party, the most reasonable option was to rent the tables and then hire actors from a local community theater to serve as dealers. One of them failed to show up, but those who did were most entertaining. The hostess said her guests had a great time and it was one of the most unique parties she has held. In the process of planning the party, I learned that theater companies are a great resource for many things, from actors who will h...

Over Labor Day week-end I had a wedding for 450 at Whitetail Golf Course and Club in McCall. The ceremony was held under a big tent on the golf course with the reception at Whitetail Club. The bride and her parents arrived at the ceremony by horse-drawn carriage. The couple left by carriage and traveled to the marina where they boarded a boat for their arrival at Whitetail. It was a most memorable day. This is booking season for next summer's events. If things continue to go as they are now, it should be another great year. Several new locations are entering the market and they are greatly needed. We look forward to more unique events like this one.

Planning a wedding in the mountains of Idaho is currently a "hot" media topic. Treasure Magazine , a publication of the Idaho Statesman, published a lengthy article on mountain weddings in their Spring/Summer issue. Two couples were profiled, both of whom were married in the Stanley area. I helped plan and coordinated one of the weddings and consulted with the bride on the other one. Several of photographer Chris Butler's photos illustrated the article. Another magazine, Idaho Resort Weddings , will be published in the fall and handed out at area wedding shows. The magazine will feature articles on planning weddings at several of Idaho's resorts. I wrote an article on planning a wilderness wedding. If you are thinking about planning a wedding in the mountains, you may want to look for both publications. Planning a mountain wedding takes a huge amount of pre-planning and coordination to make it happen successfully, but the results can be awesome.

This is the height of event season. Nearly every week-end is busy except for a couple this month. Since it was supposed to be 104 degrees on Saturday (it was actually 107), I will be more than happy to spend the day with company and not out in the heat. Calls are coming in for next year and it is looking like another great year. If you are planning a family reunion, wedding, or company event, don't wait to book a location or start your planning.