Clover and Bee | Contributor

Clover and Bee, the newest source for inspired style and design for the Midwest wedding, is also a resource guide and daily blog. Rebecca Bednarz invited me to contribute to her labor of love, which I am thrilled to be a part of. I will be writing for Clover and Bee on a monthly basis, with my first edition up this week.

If you are planning a Midwest wedding, you do not want to miss all Rebecca brings together for Clover and Bee readers. I look forward to seeing you over there!

Happy Thanksgiving from Pearls Events

I have been in holiday mode for at least a couple of weeks, listening to Christmas music and (successfully!) resisting the urge to put up our holiday decor. Now that it's finally Thanksgiving Eve day, I'm ready to shut off my computer and enjoy the long weekend free of appointments, email and work in general. My email out-of-office WILL be on after 2pm today.

When we have dinner with my family on Thanksgiving, we share what we are thankful for prior to dinner. Since we will be spending the day with my in-laws, I wanted to share what I'm thankful for this year with my readers...

• My husband who goes to work everyday while I continue to build this business.
  
• Our dog Olive who makes me smile each day.
• Healthy families. Between us, Greg and I have five parents, seven grandparents, nine siblings and two nephews who are each healthy.
  
• Pearls Events clients - former, current, and potential all make my work life fantastic. Working with some of the most amazing women as they plan their Michigan weddings is a blessing.
  

What are you thankful for this year?

I will be back on Monday with some fun news about an awesome blog I'll be contributing to on a monthly basis!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Drawing copyright 1908 B. Hoffman]

Pearls Events Loves | Silhouettes

I have been a fan of classic silhouettes for quite a while. When our talented graphic design suggested using our silhouettes on our business cards last winter, I was all for it! Kate and I each have our own on our business cards, and I think it's a fun, personal touch that doesn't look like every other business card out there.



So, how do I share my love of silhouettes with our readers? I disclose a talented source! I've been checking out Etsy for unique holiday ideas and last Saturday, I came across a great little shop, Le Papier Studio. It is one of the many stores that offer custom silhouettes, but it caught my eye right away, because the wide variety of items offered.

Vana's yearly calendar (above, left) is absolutely delightful and having this on my wall all year would be fantastic! I also love her idea of turning an engagement photo into a silhouette (above center & right) for your save-the-date. What a unique idea to share with your friends & family!

When we start expanding our family, I absolutely cannot wait to order a custom family piece for my wall. And if I have the space, ordering the cute couple on the Vespa is number one on my wish list.

Will you be doing any of your holiday shopping on Etsy? If so, what stores should I check out?

Weekend Eye Candy

How could I NOT blog Betsy and Jeff's photos from their Manistee, Michigan wedding? Betsy's cousin is my (awesome!) neighbor and was also one of Betsy's bridesmaids. After hearing about some of the details over the summer, I could hardly wait for Lotus Photographic to post the preview. Last week when the images popped up in my gReader, I was absolutely giddy about the VW Beetle getaway car. If you've been reading for a while, you might remember I have had a 1975 yellow Beetle for over ten years!

Congrats Betsy & Jeff!

All images copyright Joshua Martin for Lotus Photographic.

It's All In The Details | Wedding Fonts

Ever since meeting Deborah Nadel at Engage! 09 :: The Encore, I've been lusting over beautiful calligraphy. So much so, that I am searching for a beginner's class so I can address envelopes more gracefully. Recently, I've fallen head over heels for Kathryn Murray's work (above) used throughout the latest edition of Southern Weddings magazine.

Since hiring a calligrapher is not an option for most brides, finding a font that you love is a great alternative. From the invitations & ceremony programs to escort cards & thank you notes, there will be many printed items, so why not pick a font that reflects your style? I would advise sticking to two or three different fonts that work well together.

Please, meet a new favorite, Adios Script. A huge THANK YOU to Andrea for sharing this lovely font with me.

How you do find a font you love? I suggest peeking at DaFont for starters. There are hundreds of fonts and most, if not all, are free to download for personal use. If you're looking for something for commercial use, like a logo, I advise checking out Veer, which is chock full of great options. Veer fonts are not free, but ones like the gorgeous Adios Script, above, is only $99 - which is much cheaper than hiring a calligrapher.

Since I'm not a font connoisseur, I did a bit of research by polling my Twitter followers. I received some strong opinions and here's the short list of fonts that are overused. I will admit I just downloaded Chopin yesterday and happen to love it, but to each their own!

Scriptina, Zapfino, Papyrus, Comic Sans, Copperplate, Edwardian Script, Lucinda Calligraphy, Rage Italic, Chopin, Porcelain, Voluta Script and Bickham

Happy font shopping!

Forcing Fresh Flowers

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have caught that I recently planted 150 bulbs in our yard including tulips, crocus, and daffodils. I love fresh flowers, and planting bulbs is an easy, relatively inexpensive way to enjoy my favorite, tulips, for a few weeks come warmer weather in May. Naturally, I need to wait until spring to enjoy them, so in the meantime, I planted paperwhites inside to tide me over.

Forcing flowers indoors has been a new thing for me in the past few years. For the last three years, I have planted an amaryllis, but this year I switched to paperwhites for two reasons. The first reason is because I've heard they smell lovely, and secondly, I like to change it up a bit.

Because it takes a while for the bulbs to take root, grow and bloom, I would not recommend doing this for your wedding centerpieces, however I do think it'd be a fun flower project to try for bridal shower centerpieces. Find a pretty pot and some flowers you want to enjoy and get to work planting. Of course, it will take precise timing to get the blooms to open at the right time. Iowa State University put together a great document if you're interested in planting a mini indoor garden of your own this winter.

Enjoy your winter blooms!

Welcome to Planning Season

I spent the weekend in Chicago visiting my insanely talented sister, Victoria. Upon arriving home Sunday evening, I decided to take Monday off for a fall cleaning spree, which is always therapeutic for me.

Oftentimes, people wonder what I do in the off season and I will be honest and say there isn't much down time. There are two seasons for Pearls Events - wedding season & planning season. Our final wedding of 2009 was October 3rd, and our first 2010 event is May 21st and I am already well into planning 2010 weddings with our clients.

While cleaning, I purged, filed and started checking things off the long to-do list. One thing I have been meaning to do for quite some time is update our personal photos around the house. We don't have too many frames (I'm not a fan of clutter), but there were a few that need to be updated. I worked on this personal project yesterday, which lead me to the question about wedding photos...

I cannot believe how quickly time flies. Greg and I have been married just shy of 2.5 years, and to tell you the truth, it seems like yesterday I was choosing a reception location, hiring a photographer, and narrowing down cake flavors.

Since our wedding photos are absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself, it is difficult to tuck them away in an album, but it's time to display some photos from after our wedding. We have fabulous shots from our July road trip which I will be picking up this morning.

So, my question to you is how long do you keep up the wedding photos? How many is too many?

And for your viewing pleasure, the photos that will replace what's currently on the walls. Please remember I am not a professional photographer by any means. These were shot by both me & Greg with our Nikon D60 and I used CS3 to color correct to the best of my ability!

On our way to Devil's Tower National Park we spotted a full rainbow in Wyoming

An old barn somewhere in Montana

A forgotten church in Montana & a waterfall in Glacier National Park

A glacier lily in Glacier National Park

Lake Louise in Banff National Park

MWEP Meeting | November 30 2009

It's that time again - time for the bi-monthly Michigan Wedding & Event Professional Social in Grand Rapids. If you're an event professional in the West Michigan area, we would love to have you join us for this free event at Corez Wine Bar.

Who | All area wedding & event professionals
What | November Social
Where | Corez Wine Bar, 919 Cherry St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
When | Monday, November 30th, 7pm
Why | To get away from work and socialize with others in the industry
How | RSVP via Facebook or email [aletha @ pearlsevents . com] to attend. There is absolutely NO COST to join us.

Feel free to pass this on - the more the merrier!

Weekend Eye Candy

Christina and I have worked quite a few of the same weddings, as she is a member of Quartet441. I have been enjoying all the unique details of Christina & Jon's October 24th wedding shot by Jill DeVries. I love Christina's fur jacket she borrowed from her grandmother, and the Andy Warhol shot has moved to my short list of favorite wedding portraits. Who can resist a little pop art?!

The wedding was held at Calvin Christian Reformed Church, with a reception following at San Chez. The gorgeous flowers are by Events by Ludemas and all of the bridesmaid dresses are from J. Crew. Christina's lovely veil was from Birdcage Veil and the fascinator was handcrafted by Kate De Koster. And who could forget the yummy caramel, nut & chocolate covered apples which were lovingly made by Deanna Noteboom of Gourmet Galleria right here in Grand Rapids?

Thanks to Jill DeVries for sharing this wedding with Pearls Events!