AART Event Planning: A Special Happy Anniversary!!

If you know and follow us, then you know our love for weddings and planning them. You would also know my love for fall weddings! So it made sense that when I planned my wedding, it had to be in the fall....October 7th to be exact. Yep, today is my anniversary! Happy 6 year anniversary to my amazing and supportive husband. Want to know what a very own wedding planner's wedding looks like? Here's a look at what I did 6 years ago.

Planning the perfect wedding is always the first and only thing on a bride's mind. You do not have to have a huge budget, just a lot of creativity and an open mind. So you pick a date, colors and a theme and then the real planning begins.

Dave and I each come from a big family and have a lot of close friends. So having them all there was a no brainer. And so was picking the venue. The Graycliff in Moonachie NJ was the perfect choice. The ballroom was just renovated and the food is amazing. We knew how impressive the cocktail hour would be. We couldn't have been more excited!

If you know me, you know red is my favorite color and with having a fall wedding, it fit in perfectly. There were red in the bouquets, invitations and in the programs. And with accents of gold and ivory, everything had tied together beautifully.

I couldn't have been happier with my hair and makeup! Jan from The Plaza Salon in the Garden State Plaza did an amazing job on my hair and Jessica from Trish McEvoy made me look and feel incredibly beautiful!

For the ceremony, it was always a dream to get married outside and since The Botanical Gardens in Ringwood had a very special signifigance to Dave and I, we knew that there was no other place to have our ceremony. You can imagine our sadness when the rain had came through, but that didn't stop us! We just made sure that the ceremony was shortened before the storm really came in. And boy did we finish just in time!!

It was time to continue the celebration at the reception. Our 200 guests were greeted with champagne and then whisked away to the cocktail hour. Afterwards they were brought into the grand ballroom. Before we made our entrance, we surprised our guests with a special video put together that featured pictures from our childhood as well as from the years of when we were dating. It ended with a recap of our ceremony from that day, a special surprise since the ceremony took place on a Friday afternoon and we knew not many of our guests would not have been able to join us at that time. Immediately after, we had our first dance as husband and wife to Bryan Adams "Everything I do, I do it for You" and then it was non stop dancing! Our amazing band Opera 3000 played everything from, 50's to Spanish to Hip Hop! They had the dance floor packed the entire night. Following some wedding traditions as in the garter and bouquet toss, guests enjoyed the wedding cake filled with chocolate and peanut butter (because reese's peanut butter cups are me favorite!) along with an amazing dessert display featuring a chocolate fountain. Yumm!!

It was an amazing night filled with all of our loved ones. We were lucky to have an incredible photographer, Figtree Productions, and videographer, Ambiance Video, that helped capture all of the special moments that we go back and look at year after year. Since then, we have had many more wonderful memories including the birth of two amazing and beautiful children! Here's to many more years of love, health and happiness!