We received a phone call from a wonderful couple, who’s names are Lily and Brian, about eight months prior to their wedding date. They lived in California and were planning a destination wedding in Scottsdale, AZ at the Phoenician Resort. Instinctually, they knew they needed a wedding planner to alleviate some of their wedding planning stress that all couples get, especially when planning from afar. I had a great time speaking with them and learning what they had in mind for their wedding. They were extremely organized and had an incredibly detailed and accurate budget created right from the beginning. As a wedding planner, I can not stress enough how important it is to create a budget or have your wedding planner create a budget for your wedding very early on. This helps every couple stay on track and allows the bride and groom to make smart choices for what they really need/want on their wedding day. This also helps determine guest count and how many people you are able to invite to your wedding with out going over budget.
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By now we have all seen the video by the brilliant person who decided to attach a GoPro to a bottle of Fireball and pass it around their wedding. It’s fun, it’s different, it’s perfect! In a world full of selfie sticks and hashtags, incorporating technology into weddings in some way or another has become a necessity. It’s easy to do and the results are incredible!
Here’s a few ways that we here at BTS love!
This couple and their family will forever be in our hearts. We were fortunate enough to work closely with not only the bride and groom, but the brides mother and father as well. There weren’t many meetings where one of them was missing, which was so refreshing to see such a close family dynamic. The love and time that was shared during planning this wedding was a beautiful thing to be apart of. From our very first meeting, Kelli, the bride, had a small picture of what she knew she wanted her wedding to look like. It was torn out of a magazine and given to us for safe keeping:) We used this one and only photo for inspiration throughout the entire design process. It just so happened to be Lauren Conrad’s wedding, which was a fun fact but had no impact for Kelli as to why she chose the photo. Here is a digital image of the famous photo we were handed:
Almost 1 year ago, we were setting up for a wedding at The Phoenician when a lovely lady and her father peaked into the room. Turns out they were venue shopping for the bride’s upcoming wedding. The bride lived in Los Angeles and was only in town for a small amount of time. I took a break from set up and spoke with them for a bit. I talked to the bride-to-be, Suzanne, about what she wanted her destination to be like. She told be some awesome descriptions of a beautiful fairytale wedding she was envisioning. My mind immediately started brainstorming the perfect design concepts for this wedding. I had to get back to work so I gave them each one of my business cards and was totally hoping I would hear from her again. A few days later, Suzanne contacted me and we set up a time to talk on the phone in more detail about her wedding. She had toured a few properties around Scottsdale and was torn between a few of them. This is all very common. Choosing the right venue is a stressful part of the planning because it determines so much about the wedding. There are a lot of things to take into consideration like, pricing, food and beverage minimums, what is all included, end times, service fees, taxes….the list goes on and on. After deliberating a bit more, Suzanne decided to go with The Phoenician and we began planning and designing! After a few conversations, I was really able to pin-point Suzanne’s style. She is very romantic and feminine. She loves the color blush and really loved sequins linens. We shared photos on Pinterest and had a great collaborative effort on the entire design of her wedding. Suzanne was able to come out to Scottsdale a couple of times before the wedding, which was great. We scheduled her tasting and did a mock up of her flowers and finalized a lot of the details and design ideas in person. During these meetings, I got to know her a bit more. I found out she is a dedicated ballerina and practices quite often. I also found out that her fiancé was in a rock band and had tons of tattoos. I thought to myself, a ballerina and a rocker….what on earth could make for a better couple? The big day finally arrived and it was absolutely perfect. It was literally a fairytale in every aspect. This couple had amazing family and friends and everyone seemed to really enjoy the evening. Check out these beautiful moments captured by the super talented, Ben and Kelly Photography:
I received a phone call around 3pm in the afternoon. A lovely sounding lady was on the other end with a beautiful Russian accent. She said, “I need your help!” She was in her last weeks of med school and wanted to pull off a surprise wedding for her family. Her parents, and her fiancé’s parents were coming to town for her graduation, which was the perfect time to surprise them with her wedding. We were so excited and honored to be apart of such a special occasion but also a bit nervous as time was not on our side. We had 3 weeks to pull this off. As wedding planners, we can make just about anything happen but there was one aspect to this wedding that was going to make it just a bit more challenging. The couple wanted to do an interfaith ceremony. The bride is Roman Catholic and the groom is Jewish and they wanted both a priest and a rabbi to perform a ceremony. The flowers, food, decor, and photographer I figured would be no problem, but finding a priest and a rabbi who would both participate in a wedding, under the circumstances that the couple would not be taking any prior classes or attending any meetings, was going to be the tricky part.
In honor of Cinco De Mayo, we had to post about this lovely couple’s fiesta inspired wedding. This bride wanted everything in her wedding from the food, music, and decor to be influenced by her Hispanic culture. You would think we would see this theme a lot more often being Phoenix Wedding Planners, but it really isn’t as common as you would think.
For the last couple of years, when we are in wedding planning and design meetings with our brides and we ask gold or silver, we were almost always hearing gold. We were also seeing a huge trend in eclectic styles where brides are open to mix-matched metallic accents but lately, we are seeing a huge increase in silver. Silver and mirrors to be exact. We love the ever so classic silver touch to an elegant affair and are having a blast creating our new design boards to reflect these looks. Accenting with silver, creates a very timeless and sophisticated feel. It creates a look for your wedding that stands still in time, meaning when you look back at your wedding photos in 20 years, you will not be able to tell exactly which year your wedding took place based on the trends. Silver, ivory and white will always be in style and will never look dated. Here are some beautiful photos we found on Pinterest that perfectly show silver weddings:
One of our most attractive couples, inside and out, Lauren and Blake! We had the pleasure of working alongside this couple, and the bride’s mother, Iraetta, who had an amazing sense of design and always knew just what her daughter would like. Being wedding planners, we are fortunate enough to witness many different family dynamics. This family was exceptionally close-knit, always respectful of one another and very strong in faith. It was always wonderful to meet with them during the planning process and was incredibly beautiful to witness during the day of the wedding. Their wedding took place on the Orchid Lawn of the Phoenician and their reception was held in the Camelback Ballroom. The moments of the day were captured by Ben and Kelly Photography and Amore Films. We hope you enjoy! 
From our very first meeting with Desirae and John at The Café and Ice Cream Parlor, I knew we were a perfect match for their “tone on tone” Greek wedding. The bride, Desirae, new exactly what she wanted for her special day, down to the tinniest detail. She wanted her wedding to be all neutral colors and described her color palette as “tone on tone”. She had a wonderful vision and her soon to be hubby, was just as clear about the things he wanted incorporated as well. After a few months of planning, their big day was finally here. Desirae and John live in Canada and flew out a few days prior to their wedding. Desirae was so excited to see what we had in store for the design on her wedding. We remember John cracking a joke by saying something along the lines of: “Don’t get too excited, you haven’t even seen what they’ve done yet”. Desirae replied back with, “I don’t have to, I just know everything will be exactly how I want it”. This was such a memorable comment. I couldn’t be more grateful to be apart of such an important day for these two. I will forever be thankful to know that they put so much trust and faith in us to make their wedding dreams come true. Here are some of our favorite shots, from Ben and Kelly Photography, of their wedding day: