Honest Ways to Alleviate Stress in the Final Stages of Planning Your Wedding

(Photo By: Brooke Photography)

Hello Friends ~

Especially those friends in the middle of planning a wedding...

First of all, please allow me to give you a virtual hug and a pat on the back. I understand planning a wedding is hard, it’s time consuming, and it never ends. It really is like having a second job, especially if you haven’t hired a wedding planner. So let’s talk about ways to alleviate some of that stress in your final stages, shall we?

 1. You can skip the cake tasting
It is a fun part of the process, but if you don’t have time, skip it. Request a phone appointment, email over some design ideas that you have, and select your cake flavor without actually tasting them. Chances are they’ll still be delicious, if you’ve chosen a reputable company.

2. Surrender the Party Favors.
Honestly, most of them end up being left on the tables at the end of the night and get tossed out anyways.

 3. Allow the DJ to Select Your Music.
Inform the DJ of the genre of music you like and let he/she do the rest. They know the songs that get dance floors moving.

 4. Let go of the seating chart and paper products.
If you didn’t hire a professional to design these for you (and you were planning on creating these items yourself) let it go. Open seating will be just fine.

 5. Stop looking at Pinterest!
Remove that app off your phone until the wedding day is over. The colors you have chosen are perfect, your dress is perfect, your guest book is perfect. Seriously, please do not torture yourself by flooding your brain with every wedding idea in the world.

6. Ask for Help.
Again, if you didn’t already hire a wedding planner, you still have time. Many planners (myself included) offer a “Final Planning” service. This will save you loads of stress and worry and will be an investment that you will never forget. This is meant to be a fun time in your life, let a professional help you bring this beautiful day to life for you.

Until next week,
Jennifer Starr
J.Starr Stylized Weddings

Collection of 2015 Professional Moments

Hi Friends, Family, Clients, Creative Partners, and Internet Peeps,

I have been missing blogging on here so much.  Please forgive me.  I hope to continue consistently blogging more in 2016 ~ who needs sleep right? In all seriousness it was a whirlwind of a year.  I hope to slow the train in this coming year, and really focus on doing less, but doing better, ya feel me?

 It was a BIG promotional year for J.Starr Stylized Weddings...which did amazing things for my business, that I'm incredibly grateful for.  However, this upcoming year is already filled with MORE bookings, therefore I'll be doing less promotional projects, AMEN.

Before I let this new year start....I did want to take a quick moment to reflect on all of the amazing celebrations that happened this year....(note, some are professional photos some as candids as I'm awaiting the professional ones to come in)


2015's Professional Moments:


Styled Phoenix Bride & Groom Magazine Bridal Booth

Styled/Coordinated the Grayhawk Cover Shoot for Arizona's Finest Wedding Sites Magazine

Styled/Coordinated the San Marcos Cover Shoot for Arizona's Finest Wedding Sites Magazine

Assisted Fellow Wedding Planners and Venues with a total 5 Weddings

Styled/Coordinated the Arizona Biltmore Cover + 4 Page Editorial Shoot for Arizona's Finest Wedding Sites Magazine

 
J.Starr Styled Wedding for: Lacey & Jarred

Styled/Coordinated the Chateau Luxe Venue Styled Photo Shoot

Launched New Website

 

Styled/Coordinated 3 Covers for Phoenix Bride & Groom's 15 Year Anniversary Magazine

J.Starr Styled Wedding for Ashley & Brian

 
Styled/Coordinated: Phoenix Bride & Groom Magazine Summer Bridal Booth

Styled/Coordinated:Seville Golf & Country Club Summer Bridal Booth

Served as Co Chair NACE Gala

Served as Event Chair for WIPA Summer Event

J.Starr Styled Wedding for Amanda & Nate

J.Starr Styled Wedding for Taylor & Justin

J.Starr Styled "Great Gatsby Styled" Bridal Shower for Marissa

J.Starr Styled Wedding for Cassy & Vincente

J.Starr Styled Wedding for Marissa & Michael

 

 

J.Starr Styled Wedding for Maryrose & Peter

And those my friends were just the professional "highlights"...I also mixed in many networking events, client meetings, vendor meetings, bridal open houses, was a vendor at the I.DO. Wedding Charity Auction, was the Featured Winter Designer for Classic Party Rentals Display Room, and was named "Style Editor" for Arizona's Finest Wedding Sites and Services Magazine Blog. 


In all honesty, creating this post has made me want to take a nap...wow, for like a long time. 

I'm slightly in shock that this was the year that I lived.. growing babies and growing a business. It was a wild and crazy ride, but I'm so thankful for all the many opportunities, amazing clients and creative partners I got to work with this year.  This just goes to show with the support of family and friends, many things are possible. 

I'm also excited to share at this point in time, I'm 60% of my booking goal for next year.  That means I'm only accepting a small handful of additional clients for the 2016 fall season!  There was honestly a time not that long ago that I worried I would never book a client, thankfully I didn't listen to my inner critic.

At last, but certainly not least.  I don't want this year to end without giving a big shout out, a hug and kiss to my biggest supporter, my best friend, my husband Justin.  Justin you are my "rock steady" I love you more than you'll ever know.  Cheers to an even better year ahead. 


Happy New Year Friends, thank you for allowing me to share my world with you. 

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Marino

On a warm Saturday in September, Nate & Amanda became husband and wife in front of all of their friends and family.  Amanda is true classic beauty and looked stunning in her lace-backed wedding gown. Nate looked handsome, always a relaxed smile upon his face. He had no doubts... He was ready. 

Together, they married at the lovely San Tan Elegante in Gilbert, Arizona. It was obvious that day that they were surrounded by many friends and family that loved and supported them. 

They said "I do" under an arch of greenery, dripped in soft crystals, candlelight and hanging white blooms.  

 Amanda was all aglow, and her bridesmaids looked striking in their vibrant blue dresses. 

The gentlemen all looked dapper, and made sure to keep the day light and fun as they cracked jokes all day long. 

The whole day was absolutely lovely.  Nate and Amanda had woven in so many personalized touches, including: a puzzle guest book (that represented their love story), personalized table names,  darling Arizona themed party favors (as many of the guests were from out of town). 

The Mother of the Groom made dozens upon dozens of homemade cookies and treats that were elegantly displayed during the reception. Guests were in heaven indulging in "buckeyes", "peanut butter cups",  and"chocolate covered ritz" just to name a few.

Such a bright and beautiful day for an amazing couple.

Congratulations Nate & Amanda!

The Creative Partner Team...

Event Planning: J.Starr Stylized Weddings

Venue: San Tan Elegante

Photography: Still Life Studios

DJ Services: AZ Celebrity DJ 

Floral: Renata's Designs

Wedding Cake: Piece of Cake Desserts

Specialty Linens: Southwick Linens

Officiant: Anthony Montana



3 Biggest Misconceptions About Hiring a Wedding Planner

 

1.) "I don't think I need a Wedding Planner."
 "I think I'm a fairly organized and creative person...I can plan my wedding and whatever I can't do on my own, I have friends and family to help."

Everyone needs and most importantly deserves a Wedding Planner. A Wedding Planner is the central nucleus of your Wedding Day. Without one, there is no guarantee that your wedding will run as smoothly as it would with a Wedding Planner. Plus, you want to enjoy every minute of that day. You don't want to spend your day answering questions from vendors or family members or guests.  An experienced Wedding Planner has planned hundreds of weddings and that wisdom is invaluable. Your family and friends also deserve to enjoy the day and not running around stressing about every detail.  Let the expert take great care of all of you. 

2.) "I can't afford a Wedding Planner."
"Weddings are expensive enough, why would I spend more money hiring a Wedding Planner?"

While Wedding Planners can be expensive, you will never regret the investment.  Wedding Planners will often times save you immense amounts of money in the long run.  Planners are well aware of the average price of all vendors and all things wedding related.  They can advise you on making wise decisions and educate you and your choices and options along the way.


3.) "I'm afraid a Wedding Planner will take over my Wedding".
"I want our Wedding day to be our vision, not someone else's."

A Wedding Planner will only help to best enhance your vision and serve as a huge resource.  Wedding Planners can help you to funnel through all your many ideas and stay on track so that you don't become buried and overwhelmed in all the details. 

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Mattison

Once upon a spring day on March 14th, 2015, two best friends became husband and wife.

Lacey ~ a fun loving, joke cracking, fun spirited beautiful woman.

and

  Jarred~ a warm, kind hearted, and caring handsome guy.   

On the day they married their personalities shined through every detail in the wedding.  The most important elements to them were:

1. Everyone have fun!

2. There be lots of surprises!

Lacey chose a dress designed by the famous wedding gown designer: Kitty Chen.  And yes, her dress was a light shade of pink, which she was thrilled about.   Her accessories also included hints of pink hues and sparkle, lots of sparkle. 

 

There was a lot of excitement and love in Lacey's hotel suite that afternoon while she was getting ready with her mom and all of her best friends surrounding her... . 

Lacey was nervously excited...she just couldn't wait to see her Groom.  

Entering Jarred's room was comical.  The Best man Tim was hard at work ironing away, another groomsman was in a mad search for his missing bow tie...eventually found at the bottom of his tux bag.  Jarred was concerned...concerned about the timeline, about the missing bow tie...but mostly concerned about his bride.  "Is she okay?" 

Finally it was time for Lacey and Jarred to have their "first meeting."  Lacey was on pins and needles...for as calm of a person as she naturally tends to be...this was a moment of sheer, nervous exhilaration. She had waited for this moment for a long time.   

And then their were two.... A team.  Ready to embrace the most magical moments of their life.  Ready to spend the rest of lives together. 

 

They were ready.... it was time. 

She was ready for him to continue always sitting next to her (never across) and holding her hand.  She was ready for him to continue telling her that "she's amazing."  He was ready for her to continue to always think about him, more great kisses, and always being together.  These things wont change, they will just mean more as time goes on. 

Their ceremony was "Whimsically Glam" in every sense of the word.  There were pinwheels, balloons, polka dots, and many sparkles.  The guests were happy and excited.  Every member of the Bridal Party truly had immense amounts of love for Lacey and Jarred and it showed. 

And Lacey had her balloon....a giant pink balloon with white polka dots. And Jared had her.  

And on that day, we heard them say.....

"There's nobody else, there's nobody else." ~ Lacey

"Life is good baby, life is good.  I love you." ~ Jarred

Everything in the room had a meaning behind it, each detail.  It was important to Lacey and Jarred that the details were personalized.  Their cake topper included their dog, Wrigley.  Their table signs included photos of them, and each number represented something significant to their relationship. 



Entering the Grand Ballroom guests were awe struck by the sparkly, fun, and quirky details.  The Bridal Party sat at a stunning, long feasting table in the middle of the room draped in blush sequin linens. 

The tables were topped with light, romantic flirty flowers spilling out of bird cages, antique oversized windowed photo frames, with touches of pinwheels throughout the room. 

But there was one thing slightly confusing about the room....it didn't have a dance floor?  Hmm....Lacey and Jarred knew this would be puzzling to their guests. 

Awe... but wait.  Just after their beautiful dinner was completed... which by the way was "breakfast"...yes they served their guests a decedent array of comforting breakfast foods! Why? Well because they love breakfast, and why not?

As dinner ended Lacey and Jarred slipped away... And positioned themselves on the other side of the ballroom (which had been divided by an air wall.)  



And all of a sudden....their six piece band started rocking out, and the dividing wall started magically opening... And their was Lacey and Jarred, SUPRISING all of their guests with an additional room, entirely decorated with a LIVE BAND (The most important element to Jarred) and all of the sudden, Lacey and Jarred began dancing their first dance (choreographed) to the song "You are the Best Thing" by Ray Lamontagne.  The crowd went wild... Circling around them in amazement. 

Pure magic.  The band's talent was truly unbelievable, they brought such energy to the room!

And of course the surprises didn't stop there... There was an additional photo booth, a gourmet donut bar... and endless amounts of fun. 



The party rocked on all night long.  Everyone had a unbelievable time... Great dance moves, flowing libations... And incredible live music.   

And this was their day.  A day that Lacey and Jarred will always have as "theirs".  All that know them well... know that the party and fun for them has only just begun. 



Creative Partners:

Venue: DoubleTree by Hilton - San Tan Elegante

Photographer: La Bella Vita Photography

Videographer: Richard Talbot Productions

Florist: Renata Hodl

Hair & Makeup: Tiffany Moore

Musicians: Lucky Devils Band

Officiant: Marco

Desserts: Piece of Cake Desserts, Darling Donuts

Photo Booths: Kylee
Wedding Planner/Designer: J.Starr Stylized Weddings

{Guest Blogger} Bridal Fashion Debut Experience

 

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

            My name is Emily! About two months ago, the lovely J. Starr hired me as an intern for this summer. She gave me a fair warning right off the bat that the internship would be at sometimes crazy one, filled with twin girls, wiener dogs and occasional chaos. But she promised it would be a fun one, and so far, she has kept her promise.

            Jennifer asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog today and to tell you all a little bit about my experience at the Bridal Fashion Debut, the Arizona Bridal Show that took place at the beginning of June!
 

 

         The show started with set-up day, which was that Saturday.  I had never been to a bridal exposition so I had no idea what to expect. Upon first arriving at the Phoenix Convention Center, all I saw was booths. Rows upon rows of booths. There had to have been hundreds of them with signs advertising florists, photographers, venues, caterers, DJ’s, and a strange amount of Brazilian Waxing and hair removal studios (I was especially not expecting that!)

            Jennifer was there to design two of these booths; one for Phoenix Bride & Groom Magazine and one for Seville Golf and Country Club. We first made our way to the Phoenix B&G booth, along with Dawn, who works with the magazine (and is a TON of fun to work with!).

            I had no idea what the plans for the booth were. All I saw were about a billion pink, white, and gold balloons (small exaggeration), and about a thousand of the newest editions of the Phoenix Bride & Groom magazine (not an exaggeration). I knew that the theme was a party, since it was the 15^th anniversary of the magazine (Congrats Phoenix Bride & Groom!) Jennifer immediately had me get started on creating a super cute paper tassel, while her and Dawn began blowing up balloons.

After a while, we had a beautiful, glamorous white tent set up, and amazing, clear, hollow tables, which we filled with balloons. We stacked tons of copies of the Phoenix Bride & Groom magazines on them for brides to take home. It came together absolutely beautifully and getting to see the transformation was really exciting.

These tables are such a cool concept! Table by Kool Party Rentals

While we had been working on that, Jennifer had been buzzing back and forth between that booth and the Seville booth. I headed over to check that one out and found a similar white tent going up. Just like at the PB&G booth, I had no idea what the plans for this one were. But, I started noticing some really pretty arches, Astroturf, amazing hedges, beautiful linens and sets of chairs being brought in. I realized that she was creating an actual ceremony similar to one that would be available for couples at Seville.

            This booth came together quite easily. The only little hiccup was that the tent was not quite the same size as the booth, but Jennifer thought quickly on her feet and came up with a slightly altered design plan that was just as amazing as the original. It was incredible! It was unlike anything else at the convention. I wanted to get married there!

The ceremony set-up at the Seville Booth!

Isn't it beautiful? (Lovely Linens by Southwick Linens, Florals from Blume Events, Rentals from Classic Party Rentals)

   

We were all very confident that the two booths would be a success at the show.  Set up was over at 6 p.m. that night, and it was just barely 5 when we were informed that our beautiful, glamorous tent at the PB&G booth was going to have to come down (due to some visibility concerns) . Jennifer tried to convince the manager of the show to let us keep it (or modify it a bit), but unfortunately, the tenting had to come down.  We then arranged for the tent to be taken down later that evening. However, they were going to leave the white draping in the back up so that it wasn’t just black. We unfortunately couldn’t be there when the tent came down, so we left and hoped that it would still look as beautiful in the morning as it did when we left that evening….

Fast forward about 14 hours…

The day of the Bridal Show, we arrived at the convention center extra early in the morning so that we could make sure the Phoenix Bride & Groom booth was still as amazing without the tent as it was with the tent. We rushed to our booth, only to find out… the draping at the back of the booth was accidentally taken when they took down the rest of the tent. We were left with the plain black draping.

            We were all a bit stunned at first, but Jennifer quickly came to a decision on how to spruce it up; we were going to create a "balloon wall" on the black draping. It was a party after all! Kendall (Jennifer’s other intern) and I quickly got to work on that while Jennifer checked with the Seville booth to make sure everything was perfect. Kendall and I rocked out that balloon wall in record time, and luckily, it still looked absolutely amazing!   

            By then, it was about 8:45am, and the V.I.P. brides would be arriving at the show in about fifteen minutes. We started taking some marketing photos of the two booths, as well as all of the lovely people who work for each of the companies. (Jennifer let me use her husband’s super fancy camera to take some pictures, and I am not going to lie, it was pretty fun!)

Jennifer and the lovely ladies from Seville!

And there she is again, with the three PB&G covers that she coordinated and designed! Aren't they beautiful!?

And there's Kendall and I in the booth! (That's me on the right!) I think it turned out really fantastic!

By the time the clock struck 9am, we were ready to rock the show! Jennifer, Kendall, and I set out on an adventure of our own. We made our way through the show and Kendall and I watched as Jennifer did her thing; networking and talking up almost every vendor in the place! I was amazed at how on she was during the whole show. We handed out some amazing J. Starr cookies that Kendall had made, (which were amazing, by the way).



P.S. Isn't that sequin tablecloth amazing? You could say I'm obsessed!

Here's the lovely Dawn Peterson and Kristen Butler of Phoenix Bride and Groom Magazine

 

 

Kendall and I also got to walk around the show on our own to see what we thought and meet some of the vendors. (We were mostly interested in sampling as many cakes as possible. Shh, don’t tell Jennifer!)

            Soon, we decided to call it a day for the J. Starr team, and let everyone run the booths on their own. We headed home and I was left with a cool swag bag, aching feet and a new impression of the words bridal show. In the end, I realized that that weekend was a very good lesson on an important part of this industry; be ready for things to go wrong. After realizing that, I think it’s safe to say I am spending the summer learning this lesson from the best of the best!


Thank You for Reading,

Guest Blogger: Emily
J.Starr Summer Intern