Benchmarks 2009

Once again, Merry Me had the opportunity for involvement with a great organization called Benchmarks. This organization supports the Women's Care Center of Elkhart County. We love being part of an event that allows creativity through the arts. Despite the state of the economy in this area, the event was packed with great people, willing and ready to give!

The Merry Me team designed and created "Tea for Two". We thought it was most appropriate since we love planning and designing parties. We are proud to report that our little tea party raised upwards of $375! We can't wait to be part of this again next year and appreciate this awesome opportunity!

Make-Up Party at Camellia's

I love this... and the ladies did too! We wanted to do something a little different for our bride this past weekend. So when she asked us for suggestions on 'something the ladies could do while the guys had their golf outing', this was it! We were thrilled to offer a make up party at Camellia's The Makeup Store in Heritage Square, Granger. Gabrielle, an amazing make up artist and one of our preferred vendors, shared with me this new concept they were about to unveil. Here's the idea: You reserve their party space and get the opportunity to learn some basic "how-to's" in make up application; Discover new tips, tricks and trends; Try out the newest colors and much more. What a very fun 'girly-thing' to do. You even have the option of sipping champagne and enjoying hors' douevres. Like the idea? We did. My bride did. We love coming up with new ideas and we enjoy sharing them with you.

Michigan Vineyard Wedding

We loved working with this couple! Merry Me joined in on the planning just 4 weeks prior to their big day and filled the role of "Finishing Touches and Day of Planner". They were struggling with some last minute logistics as well as trying to pull "the look" together. We enjoyed the challenge and came up with a fabulous look that exceeded their expectations, but NOT their budget.

Setting: Willow Harbor Vineyard, Three Oaks Michigan

Color Palette: Deep and pale purples with shades in between, slate gray then adding lime green to add the pop.

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan!

Getting the Groom to do some of the To-Do’s before the I Do’s….

From the moment we are asked those four little words we start thinking of everything that needs to be done for one of the biggest days of your life. Before you know it, you have a to-do list a mile high of things that you need to take care of before you become the Mrs., While Most brides count on the their mothers or their bridesmaids to help with all of the tasks at hand…. don’t forget the person who most likely asked you to be in this situation in the first place, Your Fiancé!

The Groom may feel one of two ways… he may want to be apart of all aspects of the wedding from budget to flowers OR he may feel he asked the question and now it is your “job” to plan your wedding day—it is the day that every girl dreams about her whole life, right?

So how do you get our groom to take part in the wedding planning without him even knowing it? Here are some ways to get him involved while allowing you to cross off some of your To-Do’s

Simple To Do lists. Don’t fill his inbox with millions of e-mails, texts, or phone messages of individual tasks that he needs to do RIGHT NOW. If you do this he may feel overwhelmed and that is the last thing you want. Instead look at your to-dos and make a separate list, for your eyes only, of some of to-do’s before the wedding that you think he might enjoy doing. If he is excited about certain parts of the wedding, this is a perfect time to get him involved. Maybe the band is very important to him… ask him to do a little research online and show you a few he likes? One thing to keep in mind is what you may want finalized in a month may take a guy a little longer… so if you want him to get back to you sooner than later you might want to give him a heads up before hand. Just make sure you have the time to make these decisions.. some do need to be made right away depending on the length of the engagement.


The Honeymoon. What guy would say no to a little research online to plan one of the best vacations of his life? Remember how much time college guys put into planning the best spring break ever? If that does not seal the deal that he will plan the most amazing trip for the two of you… I don’t know what will!


His Buddies. Like bridesmaids, groomsmen also play a crucial part in your big day… while the groomsmen may not exactly enjoy stuffing your invitations or help pick the table arrangements, groomsmen do a lot. For example did you know that the best man should deliver all of the checks for any remaining balances to the vendors the day of the wedding? Here is another way the groom can get involved, getting the best man and the groomsmen organized… because we all know getting a man to be at not only the right place but at the right time is a job!

Of course there are areas you know he has to be apart, just keep in mind that he may not, like being involved in finding items for the wedding registry, getting a marriage license, and making a speech (make sure to give him a heads up on this one— once again, don’t wait until the last second)

And as a reminder to both of you, don’t forget to smile, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride…. of your life (together!)

Posted by Chanell Cochran
Merry Me Details and Decor Specialist

Many thanks to Groom Groove for some pointers for the Groom… take a minute and check out www.groomgroove.com and DO send this to your future hubby’s inbox—he might enjoy it!!

7 Reasons Why to Hire A Wedding Planner

7 Reasons Why to Hire a Planner?

So often brides and grooms think hiring a planner is a luxury suited only for celebrities and those gifted with endless budgets. O how false this idea is. A planner is your symphonies’ conductor, magically orchestrating theme, budget, stress levels and your dream event all into perfect harmony.

From Magazines to Magnificence
So you have thumbed through every magazine on the shelf, and tore out every page of every idea you love. It is a great start, but now what? This is just one of the many magical things a wedding planner can do for you. Together with you and your ideas, she can make masterful setting combining the hodge podge of magazine clippings and internet finds that line your wedding folder. It is here where a planner can be most efficient in finding ways to make the theme of your event come alive and stick to your budget while doing so.

Beware of Budging Budgets
Whether your wedding is $3,000 or $300,000, you need a budget. “A budget will give you perspective and center you.” Beginning your processes with a realistic number and sticking to it is very hard to do when you have a million ideas from Platinum Weddings rolling around in your head, but not a platinum budget. A planner is the key to optimizing your budget to result in the most fabulous event. A budget and a planner will help curb your impulse to randomly purchase items that have no rhyme or reason, and allowing those funds to be better used to create a more ideal experience for your guests. In addition, having an experts’ guidance to show you where your dollar is best spent, is a valuable tool to have in your back pocket. Your planner is a third party personal accountant that can help you make rational decisions to create your dream event, with out putting you or your parents in the poor house.

Inside - Out…of Town
With so many couples that have moved out of town and want to pursue a dream wedding back at home, a wedding planner becomes the essential go between to make sure not a single detail is missed with the long commute. Your planner is your eyes, ears, and legs about town as you plan your wedding from afar. With today’s technology; digital cameras, email and internet, you can plan your wedding from across the country when an experienced planner is at hand. She is armed with all of the knowledge and tools to be able to communicate key information and suggestions to create an exceptional event!

Unique You
Michiana offers so many unique and historical venues rich with tradition and, yes, specific regulations to abide by. A local planner has experiences and longstanding relationships with the venues, and their managers, that will ensure nothing less than a smooth event for you. From the majestic Basilica, and the rich tradition of the Campus of Notre Dame to the Historical Oliver Gardens and the Vineyards of Harbor Country, having an experienced planner by your side will make sure no detail regarding the local venues is missed.

Details, Timelines and Etiquette ...oh my!
With magic wand in hand, your planner is the fairy godmother of weddings. She not only offers valuable experience and advice in wedding etiquette, but also is key to keeping the wedding timeline moving. Who, what, when and how is the best way to address issues with out stirring up commotion? Every bride needs a liaison to keep emotions and relationships in check during the stress of wedding planning. In addition, timelines and checklists are an important key to keeping perfect pace to result in the perfect wedding. A planner will help you develop, orchestrate and keep track of all timelines and lists, with out missing a beat.

The Venue Event Manager
“When the event manager from your venue tells you they can do your wedding planning, they are not lying. They will do everything under the sun to oversee everything they are ‘responsible for’. However, they are ‘not responsible’ for 90% of the details that go into your wedding.” Venue managers are experts in their field, and are a valuable source of information when it comes to set-up and running their venues. However, when it comes to pulling together all of the other details that go into planning your wedding, some brides are shocked when things go wrong. “They thought their venue person would be on top of things. Not necessarily. If they have several events that day, they can’t be held responsible for letting you know your flowers haven’t arrived or your Best Man is held up in traffic. Imagine walking into a bald room instead of the floral intensive ballroom you paid for. Your wedding planner is your overseer. Their job is to make sure everything arrives on time and complete. If you have 15 tables, 13 centerpieces just won’t do. They will get the florist to fix it. If the videographer does not show up, they should be able to find a replacement for you. Things happen, but it is your wedding planner’s job to see that things are fixed and end up perfect”

Fabulous Not Frazzled
“Wedding planning and the events that lead up to your day will be stressful. You should have one job only, keeping yourself relaxed and living in the moment. You need time to take in and enjoy this special day. Be with your loved ones. Be happy. Be kind. And mostly, be assured that your wedding is going to be the most fabulous day of your life.Yes, all weddings have glitches. And yours will too. But your wedding planner will make sure you never have to deal with or see them. You may never even know anything out of the ordinary happened. And that is the sign that you are a genius at wedding planning. You started out with great ideas, hired a wedding planner to bring them to life, and sat back like a pampered princess on your wedding day accepting all the accolades that you deserve.”

(Excerpts and quotes from; Why to Hire a Wedding Planner by Luxurious Wedding Etiquette & Protocol Expert, Claudia Lutman)

Vendors Beware

A note to fellow Event Industry Vendors:

In the past 2 weeks, Merry Me has been targeted by two different email scam attempts and we would like to share some of the details to help avoid any of our fellow vendors falling victim to such attempts.

The two emails we received were from Jessica Farrell and Gregory Davis, both requesting our services to plan their upcoming weddings….both of which are only just a few short weeks away and are being planned from overseas.

Jessica Farrell’s first email reads:

From: Jessica Farrell

Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 05:16:29 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: We need you for our day !

Hello, How are you doing? Thriving!!!

My name is Jessica Farrell , from Enfield in middlesex UK (England ).. We will be coming to IL after my shopping trip with my Husband David Rodin who's French by nature to start his new work with the Coca-cola Co. in Chicago . And just before then we will be getting married on the 27th of June , 2009. We need a good wedding planner to take care of our wedding both reception and ceremony. We require the best for the best memories for we & our children in future and as a matter of fact we have budgeted 25000$ for this special event.

Also, the ceremony and reception event will be taking place in a location and we are expecting at most 50 guests on the day of our occassion because most of our families in Europe and in the United Kingdom will be present for the occassion.

Also, we would like you to know the reception and ceremony will be taking place @ 1 location which the ceremony event would be in a garden location or outdoor while the reception takes place indoors, we are still about to make reservation though but we are making progress with that.

Please let us know if you're able to help.

Sincerely, Jess & David

We responded with several questions to this first email, and started dialog with Jessica. She responded to most of our questions, and in detail…..this was starting to look like a very promising opportunity for another event on our calendar for the year. After being prompted to learn more about her and her future husband, she had offered a fabulous story of how they had met when she was tending to her sick grandmother and other very creative details. However, we were very skeptical through out the entire email correspondence. It wasn’t until Cher decided to Google Jessica Farrell’s name was it realized that she has hit several vendors through out the entire United States, and not just in the wedding industry. Abruptly, we put a stop to the correspondence and thankfully did not ever take this as far as receiving any funds or deposits.

The second email we received was from Gregory Davis, his first email read:

From: Gregory Davis gregdaveis7@gmail.com

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:50:23 +0800

Subject: WEDDING

Hello,My Name is Mr Gregory Davis i need an experienced wedding planner whowill handle my wedding and arrange the reception dinner for a group ofpeople who will be attending the wedding ceremony.The wedding is expected to hold on the 11th of July 2009 and 50 to 70guests are expected to attend. As i do not know what the guests mightchoose for their meals and drinks, i will make a prepayment as initialdeposit for this booking via credit card once availability isconfirmed by you.All checks and balances will be made with you on 15thof June which is the final day of the booking, You are to arrange fora a venue for the wedding a place for the reception ,Videography,Music Entertainment,Photography,cake and flowers.If there is any these items that is beyond your capability, you let usknow so that another company can handle it. Get back to me with yourresponse as we don't have much time with us so that we can process ouraccommodation within the region more convenient for you and us.


At this point, we were a bit more sensitive to this type of email, and assumed immediately that it was yet another scam. Googling once again the senders name, the results came back with “scam” written all over it. Again we abruptly responded to the sender with threats of turning them into the authorities.

How do these scams work?

As with most email scams, the potential client/contact is located outside of the states and is requesting services (planning, photography, ect..). With very little dialog, the potential client offers to send a very sizeable deposit to retain the services you provide. When you receive the deposit it is usually even larger then agreed upon. From this point, the hope is you deposit their check. Once the check is deposited the next request is for you to send the additional funds they had sent you to another vendor, usually in another country and most likely Canada. During this time, the funds are deposited and available in your account….but the funds they had sent you were fraudulent, either a stolen or counterfeit check, money order or even treasury check. It will take up to 21 days or more for the bank to realize that the funds are unavailable or even fraudulent….and when they do, they will withdraw it back out of your account. In the meantime, you have already sent a sizeable amount of funds to another vendor requested by the scammer (and in the end, IS the scammer). You are out money, they are rolling in the money…and essentially, you unknowingly laundered a fraudulent check.

How to protect yourself?

1. Be aware of any out of town requests for your services.
2. Ask for a phone conversation prior to signing contracts.
3. Ask for SS# or NI# (National Insurance number, Europe’s version of SS#) and tell your potential client that you do a credit check on any clients outside of your immediate area.
Offer to have the potential client send the funds and a signed contract to your attorney’s office, where all of your contracts normally are sent to. (even though it may not, if you are suspicious, this is a quick way to see if they respond, most scammers really don’t want to deal with a lawyers office)
4. Google is your friend! There are many sites out there that offer information from other victims, or almost victims, from these scammer’s names and all of their aliases.
5. Check out: http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/



Thankfully, we were not a victim to this scam; however, too much of our valuable time was spent working with this potential client. Hopefully, our time and energy will save you a bit of time in return, and ultimately, keep you from being scammed.

Cheers!

Merry Me Staff

Marvelous Michilah and her first Events with Merry Me!

Recently, Merry Me began our official internship program and happily welcome Michilah Miller to our team. Michilah has worked two events with Merry Me and has done an exceptional job at every task assigned! We are so proud to have Michilah on our team, and look forward to keeping her around long after her internship is over!

Vasya’s 5th Birthday
The first event Michilah was involved with was Vasya’s 5 year birthday celebration, held in the grand ballroom at the South Bend Marriott- Downtown. The theme was a blend of Vasya’s love of extreme sports and High School Musical. With only 2 weeks notice, the Merry Me Team had just a short time to pull off this extreme event for forty energetic kids! Targeting every resource and using our preferred vendor connections, Merry Me was able to create and deliver invitations, collect and track RSVP’s, organize the venue and entertainment, and create an overall exceptional event. Michilah’s key role in this event was managing one of the extreme sport stations, and making sure each child had a safe and memorable time. Michilah and the rest of the Merry Me team is due endless kudos for pulling together and orchestrating this “extreme” event!

Hughes-Bulgrin Wedding - March 21, 2009

Michilah also was on board for her first Merry Me wedding and has become an expert at chair rosettes! The Hughes-Bulgrin wedding, on March 21, was the perfect blend of Celtic charm and simple elegance. The reception was painted on the perfect backdrop of the Palais Royal ballroom in downtown South Bend. Simple, but stunning, the floral centerpieces atop porcelain cake plate adorned each table and were magically lit with pin spot lighting from above. Romantic candlelight was spread through out the venue; in every window sill, and on every table, offering a warm ambiance mirroring the warm emotion of the friends and family attending in loving support for the new couple. In the upstairs balcony the bride and groom offered a quaint lounge area with furniture groupings and coordinating colors to match the wedding theme. A special touch was added at the guest book table, where wedding photos of the bride and grooms parents and grandparents were displayed, surrounded by candlelight and a magnificent floral piece to pull the entire theme together. Merry Me was involved in the entire planning of this event, as both bride and groom lived out of town. From planning, time line management and vendor coordination to décor, design and floral, the Merry Me team is grateful for the opportunity to be have been part of this couples special event.

Again, much thanks to the entire Merry Me Event Team, all of our venue event managers and staff at the Palais and Marriott for assisting in the incredible success of both of these events!