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North Haledon, NJ   March 4, 2010

 Wedding Wire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, recently announced that  Celia Milton, of North Haledon, has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for her outstanding work  as a wedding ceremony officiant.

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Celia Milton, who started her practice in 2005,  is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

Celia is a graduate of  William Paterson University and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.  She completed her training at the Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute in Montclair, NJ.  She was the recipient of this award for 2009 as well.

But you don’t want those little beauties to be naked!  Heck no!   You need Party wraps.  These are just the coolest idea; they are little decorative tiaras that you wrap around your finished cupcakes, giving them that formal touch, perfect for a shower or wedding. (Well, actually, they are perfect for all kinds of things; they come in holiday and baby designs too!)

Winter presents you with wonderful opportunities for color themes,(white, silver, blue, snowflakes; you get the picture…), musical selections (”Baby it’s Cold Outside”, “Let it snow”, etc…), the welcoming aroma of hot cider or spicy hot chocolate when your guests enter your wedding space. It gives your New Jersey Wedding Officiant (shameless plug alert) a chance to talk about winter as a time of contemplation and the subtle signs that the rebirth of spring is on the way. It provides your guests with a delightful break from the zen like quiet (okay, okay, I’m an optimist; maybe the grey slushy mess) that happens in this stretch before April will EVER show up!

So go buy those bridal white snowboots, reserve the four wheel drive white Jeeps, and make those plans!

You’ve thought about the ostrich feather centerpieces, ordered your bouquets, and stocked up on dollar store rose petals for your flower girls. But did you think about decorating your ceremony space? Grand cathedrals and gracious mansions may not need (or allow) much decor,but for many couples, the focal point of their New Jersey wedding ceremony (hey, you know I can’t resist a plug, lol…) needs a little ambiance. 

Now, I  know that your budget, whatever it is, is probably shrink wrapped around your wedding day needs already, so I figured I’d call in some expert help for this dilemma.

My colleague Kerry McCullough, was the perfect person to weigh in on how to have a beautiful ceremony space without spending a ton of money. After planning her own wedding, she realized that many other couples faced the same challenge that she did; how to create a memorable and festive celebration without rolling the change in the couch….She started  Maryland Budget Wise Weddings, a great website that helps brides on a budget to plan an affordable wedding in the Maryland area.   But many of her ideas span geography, and here are some that might just work wonders for your own ceremony space.

Making the Most Out of Your Ceremony Décor

You can do yourself a huge favor by selecting a beautiful setting for your ceremony so that you won’t have to over-do it with decorations.  For instance, public parks often have gorgeous gazebos on the water, in the mountains or on a beach.  It is very inexpensive to reserve these areas for a few hours/the day (usually around $100 or less). 

In these types of outdoor settings that have a nice backdrop, you can tie the whole thing together with a simple arch (rent for about $35) and some kind of arrangement to each side of the arch.  I recommend renting 2 plants similar to the ones below (rent a 4-5’ plant for about $30 each)…       

These plants are still tall and dramatic, but cost significantly less than the typical ceremony floral arrangement (usually $75-100 each).  You could also do something as simple as tiki torches with white ribbon around the base of the torch if it’s an evening outdoor wedding.

For the chairs/ pews, consider saving money by only decorating the first few reserved rows and the very last row (what people see when they first walk in).  You can also save a lot by using ribbon instead of flowers.  If you feel like something is missing, just slip one flower or some baby’s breath into the ribbon to give it a little more umph. 

If you are getting married in a church, consider doing it during a religious holiday season like Easter.  The church will be beautifully adorned at no extra cost!  If there is a choir loft, let some children drop silk rose petals on the new couple as they exit the church.  It’s a fun and sentimental extra touch. 

Don’t forget to transfer your flowers/ plants/ chair sashes to the reception so you don’t have to double-buy!

The modern, rustic/chic loft space was transformed with a crimson draped ceiling, mirrored balls and a fabulous ostrich feather arrangement for the bridal table.  The guest tables were graced by more feathers, combined with deep crimson roses for an elegant, sophisticated touch.  Candles everywhere, sparkling glassware and tables namd after famous screen stars completed the atmosphere. 

The ceremony was introduced by a hand shot video that Michael had put together, telling their love story. Then it was my turn to talk about their eighteen year partnership! We quoted passages from the movie, “The Notebook”, and Michael and Francine  read their vows to each other  from an antique velvet bound sketchbook.  We ended the ceremony by inviting their two beautiful children, Mikey (who was dressed in classic “40’s newsboy garb, right down to his  cap!) and Waverly to be part of a “sand pouring”.  Each color of sand symbolized their individual personalities, and the patterned vessel represented their lives blended together as a family.

After we did the “I DO’s”, the party started! From the first sip of their signature sangria to the last crumb of Renita’s incredible cake (topped with silk lovebirds), the evening was a rousing party; the perfect celebration for these Valentines!

(Oh, and you’ll all get to have a peek too; this wedding is going to be featured on TLC’s brand new show, “Four Weddings” this spring. I’ll keep you posted!

Now that would be fun enough by itself, for anyone lucky enough to get them as a gift of adventurous enough to buy them for ourselves, but it gets much better.  My colleague Lea Redmond, who owns a totally fun company called Leafcutter Designs  has designed a wildly cool project using these magnificent pencils. And I was lucky enough to be chosen as a participant.  And you all are going to be dubiuosly lucky enough to be part of it too, since I’ll be blogging about it every month!

Each month, she will be sending out 150 colored pencils and the 150 of us who get them will be writing with them, about them, about the inspiration each romantically named color gave to us.  And then she’ll post them on her blog.  It could only be more fun if there were chocolate involved….but…wait…there MUST be a pencil named “Chocolate!”

Here is my first month’s post, written with  a pencil named “Liz”;

A long time graphic designer, she got finessed into helping with her sister’s bachelorette invitations. Well, of course the expectations were over the top, and she knew she had to wow everyone…but little did she know that in addition to helping launch a new couple, she’d be launching a new business!  Her business has grown in all kinds of happy directions!  Now, in addition to wedding and shower invitations, Christine designs baby shower invites, birth announcements, birthday party invites and graduation announcements, so you could be friends for a long long time!  And what a great friend to have!  And as if that weren’t enough of a reason to visit her site, she’s running some great specials if you order by the end of February.  It’s a short month, so go there RIGHT NOW! You’ll be able to cross “order invitations” off your list!