A Moment to Remember Wedding and Event Planning

Wedding coordinators help brides de-stress
Mother, daughter business partners have Gresham office
By Anne Endicott

The Gresham Outlook, Oct 23, 2007

Weddings used to be simple affairs. Just a bride and groom, some family, friends and a church.

Times have definitely changed. And so have the choices and decisions facing couples on their way to the altar.

“That’s why you want a wedding planner,” said Beverley Gravett, event planner and owner of A Moment to Remember. “It takes a lot of planning and time and so many of the details are overwhelming to brides and their mothers. The entire process can get rather emotional!”

Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it – wearing the perfect dress on the biggest day of your life, never knowing the cake arrived late.

If floating through your wedding day without any thought to pesky details is part of your idyllic bridal vision, a wedding planner is your Fairy Godmother.

Gravett, together with her daughter, Jeri Callaway and granddaughter Amanda Callaway, offer a complete menu of wedding services at their downtown Gresham office. From a “blueprint” of ideas for do-it-yourselfers, to an all-out assault on wedding day coordination, the trio will manage all the particulars.

According to The Wedding Report, a market research company for the wedding industry, more than 2 million couples tied the knot in 2005. Naturally, with that many brides-to-be competing for popular locations, photographers and musicians, planning a wedding transforms into a whole new dimension of detail orientation and time.

And with the national average cost nearly $30,000 for nuptials, couples are also seeking ways to stretch their matrimonial dollar.

Recent trends show brides and grooms are willing to pay for a unique and individualized wedding, but with demanding careers, lack the time to maintain long-term planning.

“We consult with the bride to see what she wants,” Gravett said. “We go out and interview vendors, florists, photographers and bring back recommendations. She can book things herself, or we can take care of the legwork and do the stress.”

Gravett and Callaway routinely talk with bridal salons and other wedding vendors, enabling them to assess the service providers who best suit the bride’s needs. Their familiarity with the most sought-after locations, best photographers and creative floral designers, gives them the ability to act quickly on bookings or suggest alternatives if the bride’s first choices aren’t available. And by keeping abreast of bridal trends and expenses, the mother-daughter team is also better able to assist a bride in keeping within her budget.

“We always tell brides that the reception, as a rule, will be 50 percent of their budget,” Gravett said. “And there are certain sites where everybody wants to get married. So the first thing to do is book the wedding and reception site.”

The Internet has added another element to wedding planning, providing a network for learning and buying. The click of a mouse can bring up anything from exotic wedding location destinations to message boards, where brides upload photos and share how they marked their move from Ms. to Mrs.

It’s also been a boon for Gravett and Callaway, who have been contacted by brides seeking less traditional locations for their vows.

“People are getting married everywhere,” Callaway said. “Art galleries, parks. You can rent a huge loft and transform it into anything. Couples just want everything to be their own.”

A lavish loft setting wasn’t the plan for Jessika Holm’s September 2007 wedding. The Southeast Portland resident, who knew Callaway, wanted a more intimate backyard affair and asked for advice.

“(Jeri) was really helpful,” Holm said. “I didn’t have to go to her, she pretty much brought everything to me. I couldn’t find save-the-date cards I liked, so Beverley just designed one for me on the computer. They have a lot more resources to turn to and the time to do it.”

Holm commissioned Gravett and Callaway to get her wedding plans off the ground. They provided several vendors to choose from, assistance with invitation ordering and even helped correct a mistake made on her envelopes.

Holm called her wedding “beautiful,” but said it was hard to be the bride and planner as the day unfolded.

“Let them run the show the day of the wedding,” she recommended. “We had to think, ‘OK, now it’s time to cut the cake’ or get everybody together for pictures. You are stressing about what comes next and can’t enjoy yourself.”

Despite the stigma that hiring a wedding planner is an unnecessary expense, Holm said working with Gravett and Callaway was actually a savings.

“When brides are working on a tight budget, it’s hard to know what to do,” she said. “A consultant knows what to do and takes that stress away by helping you work within your budget. I had no idea how much they could do for me. They helped me find a DJ, which I never would have found on my own. I had so much else on my mind!”

Any former bride will tell you that pulling off a matrimonial union makes a presidential inauguration look like dress rehearsal for the senior prom.

“Planning a wedding takes a lot of time,” Callaway said. “We want brides to enjoy their wedding and not worry about the little things.”

I have worked with this wedding vender a few times and they are GREAT!!! FUN!!! and keep the party moving...