February

It's February and that makes me smile!  Why?  Well because that means we are heading in the right direction...I know there is tons of snow on the ground right now and it's been the coldest winter in a long time but there are only 19 days until March and 39 days until Spring!!!!  I am working on a February wedding which is going to be very beautiful also with an amazing couple and family and am  getting very busy with my Spring brides and grooms.  It always feels good to see the new trends and colors of the season and then the tried and true ones that are always in but with new freshness....I absolutely love it and love helping my couples ideas and dreams unfold.  And then to help make it their reality on the wedding day.....

My word of advise to you all is to remember that you are marrying the person you will love and be with forever and to take time in each day and make it a priority to tell him or her how special they are to you.  Don't let the business of  planning your wedding take 1st place....

Stay warm and be happy today!  

Happy January!

The Christmas decorations are packed away (well most of them) and it's a new year!  Looking forward to all of the adventures ahead and building relationships with my brides and grooms for 2013!  I get so close to the couples by the time their wedding day arrives and then in a flash it's over and I'm removed from their daily calls, emails and texts.  I am thankful for facebook as I try to be friends with each and keep up with the many adventures ahead for them as husband and wife.  I am so excited when I see that they are expecting, buying a house, etc. and am their silent prayer partner praying all good blessings in their marriage and life ahead.

I am always asked for advise on how to tackle planning a wedding.  In the beginning it can be very overwhelming when you are looking at everything all at once.  But stay calm and make a list of what needs doing:
Wedding Planner
Venue
Ceremony Site
Dress
Begin compiling guest list
Photographer
Videographer
Florist
etc.
...and then just check things off one at a time.  Try not to do everything at once because that is exhausting and if you just keep moving forward, you will have all of the vendors booked and you will not be super stressed out.  There will be plenty of time for all of the details so don't even think about that in the beginning.

I hope you all have a wonderful planning process!!!

Wedding Season!!!!

Wow, I see I haven't written in a long time....I have been doing a lot of organizing and detailing with my upcoming brides. It is really going to be an amazing season. Of course I say that every year. But once I begin meeting with the couples and see the ideas they have it gets really exciting. Steve's daughter Christa is getting married this Fall too so it will be a great time for her and her fiance Taylor. She graduates from Grove City College, PA in May and then already has a great job with Honda as a mechanical engineer! Taylor will be done with graduate school in Mississippi in August, just in time for the wedding and they will be living here in the Columbus area!

My photographer son, Jeff Konczal/jkonczal.com just left the Suburban News to pursure his own photography full time. Did I mention that he won an award for the best newspaper photographer in Ohio! I am so excited for him as he ventures out as a full time business owner. He has a great eye and is able to see and capture so much detail. He is so good at capturing the story behind his photographs. Of course I'm his mom and some could say I am prejudice but judge for yourself and check out his work!!!!

Easter is over so I can have my husband back! As music director of a church with a thriving music program he is so busy during the months leading up to Easter so now life is back to normal for awhile and I'm so thankful. His dad started and pastored a church in St. Charles, MO 50 years ago and it's the church that Steve grew up in. We are heading there the first weekend in May for a big celebration! I'm anxious to meet all these people I've heard so much about!

Steve Banks & David Tolley Concert!!!

http://www.snponline.com/olentangy_valley_news/front/So finally my husband Steve and another accomplished pianist, David Tolley are teaming up to do their very first concert on Sunday, January 29, 2012 at the Columbus Museum of Art's new theatre at 4:00 pm. They have been playing together for quite some time and everyone has been bugging them to do a concert together. They will play movie themes, popular, inspirational, and classical so it will be great for everyone. Hope to see you there!!!

Happy 2012!

Well here we go again - a brand new year - a clean slate and all the opportunities are mine. It's so energizing as well as intimidating! I am trying to reflect on the things I have learned over the last year...some good and some bumps in the road but all in all a great experience. Had a wonderful wedding season last year and reflecting on the brides, grooms and families I had the privledge of helping. It's amazing all the different personalities, likes and dislikes. From my princess bride in April to my bride with the biggest heart ever in November I was enriched by them all. They all have a story to tell and as much as my main purpose and mission is to see that their day is as close to perfect as humanly possible much of the time it's me that is affected by their love for each other and their families. By the time their wedding day is upon me I feel like they are family to me. The saddest part is that once their wedding is over, even though we say we will stay in touch we get busy and lose touch! It's always great when I am coordinating a close family member or friend of one of my brides wedding that I get to see them again.

This year my weddings beigin in March! Early season! I have made many friends already as the planning is underway for most. What's also very exciting is that this year my step daughter, Christa will be getting married! Her wedding is booked for September 9, 2012...soooo exciting! Taylor is a very wonderful guy originally from Ocean City, NJ-I spent 13 years of my childhood vacationing just a little north of his home. So Steve and I are planning a trip out there this coming summer. His family was here for Thanksgiving and we had a great time!
I have included in this blog some pics from this year. Steve's big 5-0, Christmas with my family and the 3 orphans from Lativa that my daugher, Amy has been hosting for the Christmas season, son Andy with the grandkids and daughter Jodi with her horse, Trance. Neither were able to make it home for the Christmas party this year. Watch my website for updates to my wedding pictures from last year! May God grant each of you the very best for 2012 and may your faith grow more each day!

August 2011

I always wonder how we get to the end of summer so fast - I was at Target today and saw all of the mom's and kids frantically getting ready for school with supplies and clothes and then I stopped at a garden store and was bombarded with Fall decorations! It seems like summer just started. Don't get me wrong, I love Fall and really all seasons but just love the simplicity of summer - flip flops seem to be just right for anything, walking out the door without finding a coat or sweater - but time marches on.....I had the saddness of 2 couples this year break off their engagement...They were both so sweet and I enjoyed the work I had done with them but they decided for different reasons that it just wasn't right...I can't imagine how hard that would be but as everyone tells them - better to make that decision now than later after they are married and possibly have kids. Divorce is very hard - feels kind of like cutting off an arm or leg and that lasts the rest of life....Those 2 couples will find happiness in their future as individuals and I am sure will be able to look back later and see that it was the right thing for them. As the old saying goes, hind sight is 20/20!

I have a lovely bride next weekend and look forward to her day. Actually they have all been amazing and fun this entire season and I am already working with some 2012 brides that are doing some awesome things as well. One next May is having a New Orleans style wedding with a jazz band and choir. I will love that!

My husband is building me an office space and it is almost done and ready to move into. I am so excited! I tore a pic out of a magazine in 2005 and kept it in a file. He is so amazing and has been doing it without any experience or direction. These day's we have the help for this kind of stuff from u tube and the internet which is great. I will post pics as soon as I am moved into it but it is yellow and cream with beadboard and shelves - very cottage. Then he will be also adding space in the loft next to the office as a studio so I can meet with brides and grooms up there right next to the office. But I'll warn you now grooms - it's pretty girly!

Marriage 101...God's Way

Hi everyone! Just got home from a wedding and it was awesome. Another bride and groom that had been dating since high school which is always so sweet...pretty colors of buttercream, ivory, green and salmon...roses, gerber daisies, cala lilies, and so many others. There they go beginning their lives with all choices ahead of them. How do we as parents tell them to love each other beyond measure and to go into their marriages with their eyes wide open and after marriage with their eyes mostly closed....to each others faults that is....

I guess now I am talking as a parent...not just a wedding planner....I can't help it. I am a parent of 5 and have learned by experience and want to help others know the preciousness of their marriages. No it is not easy at all...but it's not that hard either, to put each other first and wow your spouse with niceness, selflessness, and love unconditional...

Wedding are a big business these days and I am part of that. But each bride and groom I have the privilege of working with will be prayed for from beginning to end and then after the wedding when I am not even a thought on their minds, they are on my mind for a long time, when life and a lack of time gets in the way. My prayer is that each of you will always remember why you got married in the first place and keep your love for each other alive in the ups and downs just like your vows stated!