December 13, 2007
‘Wedding planner to the stars’ focuses on details, details and also details
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"I drive my kids nuts with their parties," she laughed. "It's details, details, details."And yet, it's those "details, details, details" that make a wedding -- or any event for that matter -- planned by Weiss special.
"They don't want their wedding to look like another wedding," she said of her clients. "We're always trying to find ways to make it unique. It's hard when brides and grooms are on the circuit -- they're sometimes going to 10 weddings a year."
But, according to Weiss, there are endless ways to personalize a wedding, and one of her favorites is through special foods and recipes. "It's nice to add something from the family," she said. At one wedding reception, she served matzah ball soup as a first course. "We put little recipe cards above the serving plate," she recalled. "The bride, that's what she remembered growing up. It was her way of pulling her grandmother in."
Which is fitting, Weiss said, because a harkening back to heritage is something she has seen more and more of lately with her rock star clients, especially the Jewish ones. She notes, for example, the renewed popularity among Jewish couples of the bride circling the groom seven times.
"A lot of them are being considerate to the guests and doing programs that explain all the Jewish traditions: what the chuppah is, why we drink from the same glass of wine, why we break the glass. I think that's really nice," she said.
Still, the most pronounced wedding trend Weiss observes has nothing to do with cakes or colors -- it's the involvement of that formerly silent partner: the groom. "I'm not doing one wedding where the groom is not involved," she said. "I used to meet them at the wedding. A lot of brides and grooms today are older. They're getting married in their 30s -- some of them are paying for it -- and they both want to be involved."
As for her professional advice for couples undertaking the endeavor as a team, Weiss cautions them to remember that "the key word is compromise. It's a big lesson in the relationship."
Then again, having a top-notch wedding planner like Weiss, who has more than 15 years' experience under her belt, does help to smooth out any kinks.
"It's not only about the wedding," Weiss said of her role. "It's my responsibility to try as hard as I can to make planning the wedding a great experience."
For more information, visit http://www.mindyweiss.com/ and
http://www.owensla.com/
Reprinted courtesy of World Jewish Digest.
Lisa Keys is a New York-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the New York Post, The Forward and other publications.
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