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Queen of Hearts Blog
525,600 minutes of 2012
by Mark Kingsdorf, Master Bridal Consultant
OK, I admit it…I’m a RENT HEAD, that’s where the 525,600 minutes reference comes from… but ‘Seasons of Love’ is somehow appropriate for wrapping up a year filled with love and amazing blessings for our team.
We started off the year as a new team – our merger with Eventricity got off to a booming start. Adding Phyllis’s planning and design experience to our team and the resources of Beth, Mia and Katie helped us expand our creativity and organization. Getting to spend some hands on time in the design room and work with flowers again was a great renewal for my creativity.
March took me to Sao Paulo for the launch of the Association of Bridal Consultants in Brasil. The planners and wedding professionals there could not have been warmer and more hospitable. Truthfully, it was interesting as I was presenting in English, it was being translated into Portuguese… I tend to speak quickly, talk with my hands and have a very dry sense of humor. I had the BEST time, LOVED the food and made some amazing friends.
Our twelfth year brought us more wonderful couples – everything from beautiful boutique weddings to grand scale weddings with 400+ guests; couples from across town, across the county and around the world.
We worked with couples on Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, non-denominational, interfaith, and multicultural and multi ethnic weddings.
We worked with the 6th bride from a close knit circle of friends, the sisters of two previous brides and watched a bunch of our previous couples give birth to beautiful babies.
Our couples’ accolades won us acclaim from several wedding industry sources; our weddings were featured in Philadelphia Wedding Magazine, Style Me Pretty, Brides Café a number of wedding industry blogs. Rebecca was featured as an expert in Philadelphia Weddings and we were quoted across the industry.
We worked with hundreds of wonderful Wedding Professionals again this year; old friends whose work we have come to know and enjoy, and lot of new faces to the industry bringing a fresh feel to many events.
Our team continued to grow, learn, and expand our creativity – we were blessed to continue our relationship with Wish Upon A Wedding. We worked with AMAZING couples and wedding professionals who have changed our lives; and for that we’ll be eternally grateful.
As 2012 comes to a close we look forward to 2013 – the blessing the year will bring, the lives we will touch and especially those people who will touch and chance our lives forever.
Happy New Year and we wish you an AMAZING 2013!
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Megan + Michael- City Hall Ceremony
By: Rebecca Richman
Megan and Michael were married at City Hall with Amanda from Love Me Do Photography serving as their only witness and of course on hand to take some fabulous pictures! They had fool’s gold rings as placeholders for the ceremony and then went to Old City Tattoo to get the real deal tattooed on!
This was just the start of their incredible wedding union because they followed it up a few weeks later with a reception at Terrain at Styers! Stay tuned for the reception post, definitely one you don't want to miss!
All photos taken by Love Me Do Photography
for love’s sake
Paramour – it comes from the Old French –par amour – for love’s sake.
Paramour, located in the Wayne Hotel is just that; for love’s sake… you can tell that the renovations, the beautiful details, intimate space and menu are a labor of love.
Located in the heart of the Main Line, Paramour and the Wayne hotel are the perfect location for an intimate boutique wedding.
Ceremonies could be hosted in any number of local churches or on site in their intimate parlor, the restaurant it’s self has wonderful intimate seating and the seasonal menu featuring local ingredients is AMAZING.
Their bar area is perfect for a cocktail reception
And their private dining room is a wonderful space for a rehearsal dinner, shower or intimate reception.
On a visit earlier this summer for lunch I sampled some wonderful seasonal treats
Their fall seasonal menu looks wonderful as well
For more information on intimate boutique weddings visit their website: Paramour Weddings
And be sure to stop by and explore their restaurant and wonderful wine list.
Jakie + Steven’s Union League Wedding
We love working with fun couples, and Jackie and Steven were no exception to the rule.
Their love of music and outgoing personalities created a very memorable wedding for their family and friends as well as our teams from The Queen of Hearts and Eventricity.
For Jackie and Steve it was all about fun details…
Great food
And, beautiful decor
We had the best time working with both Jackie and Steve and it shows…
See more images of Jackie and Steve's wedding by Shea Roggio as well as the 'Coming Soon' trailer by CinemaCake filmmakers on our Recent Wedding Gallery
Rebecca ROCKS!
We love when our team gets glowing reviews like the one Rebecca got from the bride's mother after Saturday's wedding at the Union League!
I just want to thank you for everything. I think we had the perfect wedding. I'm so thankful to you and your assistants. It wouldn't have worked without you. People were having such a good time and were so complimentary about everything from the ceremony to the candy bar and everything in between. Your calm demeanor and confidence helped calm any anxiety anyone had I believe. I certainly hope you are available when Kelsey and Robin are ready because I wouldn't think of having their weddings without you. If there are any details to wrap up please let me know.
Fondly,
Dawn
SWEET!
Congrats Rebecca, Kristin and Shoshana – GREAT job!
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When The Groom Chimes In…
by Mark Kingsdorf, MBC
For a long time I have said that grooms, in general, have a very different life experience and expectations when it comes to wedding planning than their brides.
“Grow up, buy a ring, rent a tux and show up” is my stereotypical comment when I joke with brides about the groom being involved in the planning…
Recently our team assisted an AMAZING couple with their wedding day at the beautiful Morris House Hotel in historic Old City, Philadelphia.
Loved the couple, loved the beautiful details, and loved the wedding professionals…But, what I NEVER saw coming was the following online review from Matt, the groom:
‘This is a review from the Groom:
Attention Men – you need a wedding planner!! I was skeptical at first if we really needed a wedding planner, but I was sure glad we did. Mark and his crew did an outstanding job coordinating the details and day-of planning for our wedding. The Queen of Hearts crew allowed our wedding to run smoothly and the problems we did have were quickly addressed by Mark and then rectified. Without the QOH team, we would have had to do a lot more scrambling and coordination on the day of. Obviously, the day goes by very quickly but it was vital to have Mark and his team present to handle the details. Without QOH, I (the groom), would have had to do much more coordinating on the day of. Let's be real guys, we don’t need to do that! We have a lifetime of trying to make our beautiful brides happy. Queen of Hearts was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding and I would recommend them to anyone.’
How cool is that? Thanks Matt!
Congratulations to Matt and Brielle!
We’re excited to share some of their wedding images by MKPhoto
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Thank You for Your Service!
by Karen Peterkin, PBC
In honor of Veteran's Day just passing, I wanted to honor two very special military personnel: my clients Francesca and Nick!
Nick is currently serving in Afghanistan and Francesca just recently moved back from Kuwait to her new post on the West Coast.
While they were home for R&R in October for a few days, they not only got these beautiful engagement photos done, but we also used a full day for venue visits, narrowed down a list of caterers, Francesca had an appointment with a bridal salon, and we lined up Francesca's wedding day hair and makeup.
Whew!
Thank you to the talented Jennifer Baumann for these fun images! http://www.jenniferbaumannphotography.com/blog
We love to honor our military men and women every chance we get. It's now a personal honor for me to help them as they plan their wedding for next year… from very far away!
Thank you for all you do, Francesca and Nick!
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We’ve Got It in the BAG!
More and more couples are providing Welcome Bags for their guest from out of town…it’s a great way to welcome them to your wedding celebration….
And a nice touch at the end of the night, returning to your hotel room after a long night of partying!
Here is a beautiful Welcome Bags we recently produced for a client’s wedding:
This beautiful bag contains all of the basics: A personalized sticker with your name and wedding date, a welcome letter, bottled water, something crunchy, something salty and of course chocolate!
We’re happy to personalize them with some of your favorite treats. Other popular ideas are our ‘Philly Treat’ bags or “Jersey Shore” treats. We LOVE creating fun, personalized, “out of the box” welcome bags.
Contact our Eventricity office at 215-886-0202 to chat about placing an order for Welcome Bags
Here are a few Welcome Bag related tips:
- We suggest one bag per couple – two bottles of water and two sets of snacks still fit nicely in the bag.
- Keep the treats nonperishable and prepackaged items. We LOVE soft pretzels; however they tend to not remain fresh for your guests.
- Include in your welcome letter some of your favorite restaurants, bars and shopping near the hotel.
- Keep all of the bags the same, delivery by hotels is challenging at best so keeping them all the same keeps things from getting too confusing.
- Most hotels distribute the bags at the front desk as guests arrive
- Some hotels will place the bags in a guests room after check in, as room assignments may change – in this case expect that there may be a per bag charge as extra Bellmen need to be added to do this
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“It’s OK, we found it cheaper.”
As professional wedding consultants our job is to have our ears to the ground, we hear the good , the bad and the ugly…
When we refer wedding professionals to our clients we've done our research – we know the quality of the product or service we are recommending as well as the customer service of the companies.
On occasion things even go wrong working with good companies – it's important for us to know that the people we work with stand behind their products and will do everything they can to rectify any issue.
On RARE occasions we have couples, who 'found it cheaper' – yes, we know that sometimes the people we refer to are NOT the cheapest. But we know they have amazing products and services and stand behind their work.
Let's talk about limousines, for example – I'm sure couples can find cheap limousine companies…
How'd you like to have this show up on your weddings day – 'Oh, that's not the one they had in to photo' …sorry, they used stock photos, not their own cars.
We meet with all of the limo companies we deal with, we know what the cars will look like, how their drivers are dressed, and what their customer service will be like.
What about a DJ – ya we know there are REALLY cheap DJ's out there…. How will they dress for your wedding? How does their set-up look? Do they have back-up equipment?
How'd you like this guy to show up at your wedding reception?
SERIOUSLY!
Take away the wife beater and put him in a suit – do you want that set up at your wedding reception?
Sometimes, the old adage 'you get what you pay for' is really true…
When you hire a professional wedding consultant trust that we have done the research and we're recommending people who will do a great job for your wedding!
Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants Featured on Style Me Pretty!
We're so excited to share this beautiful wedding that was just published on Style Me Pretty! Special thanks to all of our event partners, Ashley Bartoletti Photography, Robertson's Flowers, the Hyatt at the Bellevue and EBE's Paris. We loved working with this special couple and loved all of the amazing details incorporated in this "Great Gatsby" inspired affair!
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