The Main Event by Memory Makers Event Planning, LLC

In the last few years a number of couples married quickly, perhaps because of military deployment. Now, they want to have a vow renewal ceremony to celebrate with family and friends or they want to solemnize their vows in their church. Older couples may choose to renew their vows on or near their anniversary or at another special time when family can be together. Planning a vow renewal ceremony is not the same as planning a wedding and that can create confusion, particularly for younger couples planning a church ceremony. Though some aspects are similar - repeating vows and a reception to follow - most aspects are somewhat different. Vow renewal ceremonies are usually more casual than weddings and often are attended by fewer guests than a typical wedding. The couple, not their parents, usually pays for the event. Depending on the situation and budget, the ceremony might occur in a church or it might occur at a family picnic, a park, or any setting of the couple's c...

Do you have friends who will become grandparents for the first time, who live near the happy parents and who will most likely care for the baby regularly? If so, you may want to have a grandparent's shower for them. This new trend offers an opportunity to share the joy of the new baby, not just with the parents, but with the extended family as well. Parents usually receive or purchase everything they need for baby. But when baby goes to Grandma and Grandpa's house, they often have to make due with whatever they have on hand. Outfitting the grandparent's spare room can make baby's visits more enjoyable and Mom and Dad won't need to bring everything with them each time baby visits. Plus, the grandparents will be delighted to be the recipients of a shower. If you would like to host a grandparent's shower, you might do it as a surprise and obtain gift ideas from the mother-to-be. Or, if you prefer to tell the honorees of your plan, they may have...

As we gear up for summer events, people begin thinking of things they can add to make their event unique. One of those things is sparklers. Originally available only near the 4th of July, sparklers can now be purchased year round from numerous web sites. Children love them and brides and grooms are increasingly including them in their wedding reception, but sparklers can be dangerous. You are literally playing with fire. If you decide to use sparklers at your event, first check with your venue to be certain they are allowed. Sparklers should be used outdoors only and not close to dry grass or any other substance that might burn. They can leave dark stains on concrete walkways and driveways, so, if possible, use them on grass, gravel or asphalt. If children will be playing with the sparklers, be sure they have adult supervision. If you plan to use sparklers at a wedding, choose ones at least 14 inches long. If you use shorter ones, by the time the last sparkl...

Is your non-profit, school or church seeking funding for a special event or activity? Have you held a silent auction in the past but found it time consuming to pick up the donations and, after all your work, the auction response was limited? If so, you may want to try AuctionFrogs.org. This on-line site allows you to create a cyber silent auction in connection with your special event or to raise funds before your event or for a special project.  By using this site, merchants who donate goods can keep the goods and then deliver them directly to the winner, eliminating time and storage space for the organization holding the auction. Cyber auctions also make your fund raiser available to a much wider range of viewers. You can contact friends and business associates around the world and ask them to support your event by placing a bid on-line. Auctionfrogs is the brain child of a Treasure Valley woman, so when you use it, you support both a local business and a w...

I was interviewed by a reporter for the New York Times for an article that appeared on April 4 about the role of the groom and his family in wedding planning. Perhaps it is more common out West, but most of my grooms are involved in the wedding planning process and have been for over ten years. In many cases the couple are professionals in their late twenties or their thirties when they marry. They make all the decisions together, and often they pay for the wedding themselves with little or no help from either of their families. The reporter was surprised when I mentioned the increasing involvement of fathers of the bride in the planning. Again, that has been occurring for the last eight or ten years. The fathers seem to be particularly interested in choosing  the location/locations and the catering. Sometimes they attend a few of our meetings with merchants. In other cases, they attend them all. The increasing involvement of grooms and dads refle...

The bride wanted to do something unique at her wedding reception so she decided to have the bouquet toss occur from an airplane. The couple rented a small Autogiro to fly over the reception at a particular time with a friend in the passenger seat to toss the bouquet to a group of single women waiting below. (An Autogiro is a Spanish-designed rotary-wing aircraft that uses a propeller for forward motion and a rotating, unmotorized rotor on top for lift. The plane looks much like a cross between a small two-passenger aircraft and a helicopter.) As the passenger tossed the bouquet, wind pressure caused it to fly backwards into the tail rotor, causing the plane's engine to catch fire and explode and the plane to crash. As the horrified wedding guests watched, the plane crashed into woods near a youth hostel where 50 children were staying. Both the pilot and the passenger survived, but the bouquet tossing passenger suffered facial and head injur...

She wanted a wedding that would be out of this world, but the couple was on a tight budget and the moon is over 238,000 miles away. So, the couple chose the best alternative and got married in the moonscape exhibit at Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. The couple and the minister stood in the barren Taurus-Littrow Valley, where the Apollo 17 astronauts landed in December 1972. The wedding party stood on Mars, another exhibit a few feet away. This was the Planetarium's first moon wedding, but it probably won't be the last.

Farmers Almanac has been around for many, many years. As the name suggests, the book was originally written to assist farmers with planting and harvesting. Want to know when the moon will be full? Consult the Almanac . Want to know the best days to cut and bale hay? Consult the Almanac . Today, however, the Almanac has diversified to include all types of weather forecasting and everything weather-related. A few months ago the Almanac ran a contest to determine the states having the best and worst weather for outdoor weddings. The results were all in fun and based on entries from the public, not on any scientific data. And the winners are ---- South Carolina, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, and North Dakota, assuming you don't mind the humidity in some of those locations. Texas was the big loser. Readers' stories included tales of freezing rain in April, flash floods, and miserably hot temperatures. No one from Idaho entered the contest. If they had, readers might have heard abo...

She came without an invitation; she left with cards containing cash, checks and gift cards. A Spokane, WA woman has been sentenced to 45 days in jail for felony grand theft for stealing gift cards and personal checks at a wedding in Lewiston, Idaho last summer. The theft was discovered when the couple opened gifts with family and friends, some of whom realized that their card and its contents was missing. Fortunately, one family member is a police officer and remembered seeing the woman, a former high school classmate, at the reception. He knew she was not an acquaintance of the bride or groom and she acted nervous when he talked with her and she left soon after. Family and friends gave police information about the stolen gift cards and stores were alerted to watch for them. Soon, Macys, Home Depot, Costco and other businesses reported a woman of the same description using the cards. In some instances, she produced a driver's license for identification. G...

 I've been hired to manage the local portion of a national training meeting. The meeting will be broadcast simultaneously to over 70 cities where business managers and invited guests of a national company will gather at local movie theaters. Renting the theaters and hiring local event planners to oversee the meetings will cost plenty, but not nearly as much as flying several hundred attendees to a central location and paying for their food and lodging. This method is also much faster and more efficient than sending one or two trainers around the country to hold meetings at individual or regional sites. The virtual meetings allow a new product and its marketing campaign to be rolled out to the entire company at once. Through the use of technology, my daughter-in-law, who lives in Scotland, is able to telecommunte to her employer in Wisconsin. Granted, with the time difference, there are challenges. To include her in staff meetings via S...

 I've recently returned from a week in the Caribbean. What a beautiful place! The water is turquoise; the beaches are fine, white sand. The palm trees are lovely. The temperature was mild and the water warm in early February. Most of the people were friendly and welcoming. If you are considering a destination wedding, you may want to think about having it at one of the many island resorts or hotels. Many offer all-inclusive packages that include the ceremony and a photographer plus a small reception for you and your guests. The Caribbean would also be a nice honeymoon destination, particularly if you like to snorkle or scuba dive. We particularly enjoyed Grand Cayman with its mix of tropical and European influences. It is a coral island, so the diving is excellent. Plus, there is the romance of the history of pirates on nearly every street corner.

The area's largest wedding show, attended by over 800 brides, occurred two weeks ago. Many of the brides became engaged during the holidays and one of the first things they will do is begin shopping for that special wedding gown. Choosing just the right gown can be fun or it can be stressful, depending on how it is approached. The following tips will help make the most of the experience without causing the bride to feel overwhelmed. Begin by looking through magazines and at web sites to get ideas of styles and to decide what features you do and don’t like. Don’t zero in on a particular style, however, until you try on a few gowns and know what looks best with your figure. You might be surprised. Limit the number of people who go shopping with you, at least initially. Too many people create distractions, take extra time, and each has her own opinion, making decisions difficult. Though in-put from others is importan...

Do you have a big event coming up and want to look sensational? If so, Knock Out Body Boot Camp may be the answer. The intense program combines fat burning exercise, nutrition counseling, meal planning help, and more to get you in shape quickly. Brides and their bridesmaids and moms can participate in a more intense Bridal Knock Out Body Boot Camp to help all of you look gorgeous in those revealing gowns. Those who follow the diet and exercise plan can expect to lose one dress size per month as you burn body fat and resculpt your figure. To find out how you can look your best, call Brett at 208-863-8072 or send an e-mail to knockoutbodybootcamps@gmail.com . Sessions are open to both men and women and are held at various locations in the Boise area to best fit your schedule.

I learned today that a story about the wildlife that occasionally makes an appearance at our Idaho weddings, and one wedding in particular that occurred a few years ago on a nasty 110 degree day at Ste. Chapelle, are included in a new book. OMG! Wedding Stories will hit bookstores in late spring and Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for it now. The book contains funny and unusual wedding stories, many about wedding plans gone awry. If you enjoy a light read and you like everything weddings, you will enjoy this book.

If you are engaged or about to become engaged, you won't want to miss the 30th annual Wedding Party Show next weekend, January 9 and 10, at Boise Centre on the Grove. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $5 at the door. Over 100 merchants will be on hand to help with all your wedding planning needs. Gift certificates valued at $1,000 will be given away after each fashion show. Shows are at noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Ten gift certificates, each valued at $100, can be redeemed with participating merchants, helping significantly reduce the costs of your wedding. The show started thirty years ago when two local business women, one the owner of a bridal salon and the other the co-owner of a rental center, decided that Boise needed a wedding show. They pitched the idea to other business owners and the show was born. Initially it was held in the ballroom of a local hotel with about 30 merchants particip...

I answer etiquette questions on a couple of web sites. From time to time we receive questions about gifts, usually from people wanting to know how to tell their guests what to give them, but occasionally from people confused about gift giving in general. Take a look at a few recent questions (grammar and spelling are exactly as the question was submitted): “How do we ask for no gifts because we have a small house but instead for people to bring cards and insert money into them to help us on our 2nd honeymoon cruise?” “How much money should be given by a couple attending a Saturday evening wedding reception?” “I have a question about a couple who eloped and after the elopement registered for gifts and had a bridal shower. Now almost two years later they are having a ceremony in the Catholic Church with a reception. They want money now from the same people who gave them wedding gifts after the elopement. Would like to know what is right.” “My best friend was invited to my daughte...

Do you get stressed just planning one or two holiday events for family and friends? Then, be glad you don't work at the White House. According to staffers, preparing for a White House Christmas "is the single most mentally and physically challenging thing you can do." Preparations begin several months in advance. It is common for staff members to work 80 to 100 hours per week baking, cleaning, setting up, tearing down, decorating, redecorating, and attending to all the other tasks aassociated with a large party. In the weeks leading up to Christmas President and Mrs. Obama will host 28 parties and receptions attended by as many as 50,000 people. Many of the events will occur during the week, leaving weekends free to spend with their daughters. The first family will send approximately 200,000 Christmas and Hanukkah cards. One feature of the decorations is a gingerbread house, but not your ordinary gingerbread house. The "official" one weighs 390 pounds. A ban...

Are you thinking of having a New Year's Eve party? There's still time to invite family and friends to a casual get-together, though you may need to have it at your home, since most facilities are already booked. A casual party might include deli trays from your favorite grocery store or Costco. Just be sure to order them ahead. Costco has tasty desserts or you might order pies from Marie Callender's or pick up cookies or brownies at your grocer's or from Pastry Perfection. Or, you can order take-out from your favorite restaurant. Be careful about serving too much alcohol; perhaps a champagne or sparkling cider toast at midnight would be sufficient. You don't want your family and friends to greet the new year with a trip to the poky and you can be certain the police will be out in force. If you serve only a small amount of food, you may not need seating for everyone. If you want seating, ask family members to bring folding chairs. Alternatively, you may still b...

photo compliments of Idaho Botanical Gardens Its that time of year again, when the Idaho Botanical Gardens host their annual Winter Garden Aglow event. The entire garden is transformed into a wonderland with thousands of colorful lights. The event runs Thanksgiving day through Sunday, November 29, then December 4 through January 10, including Christmas and New Years Day, from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Admission is charged and hot beverages are available for purchase. New this year, the Garden has added a party tent where wedding ceremonies and family and corporate events can be held. Though it may be too late to schedule your special event this year, the Garden would be a unique venue for your company party or your organization's holiday get-together next winter.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching and, with it comes the annual company holiday party. Chances are you will be invited to at least one party and perhaps an additional one with your spouse or significant other. The economy has changed the way businesses hold their parties, but the etiquette issues remain the same, whether the party is a formal dinner or a potluck. You should plan to attend the party unless you have a valid reason not to; consider it a work obligation. Remember, your supervisors will be watching your behavior and that of your spouse or SO, so be careful. You want to impress, not depress. Some businesses hold their parties immediately after work or during a long lunch break. These parties are often attended only by employees, but be sure to find out. If your spouse or SO is invited, be certain to get all the details - date, time, location, and dress code. If the meal will be a potluck, find out what you are expected to bring. Don't bring your children unless t...