A Lovely Summer Wedding

In the Spring of this year I was asked to come alongside the planning efforts of a marvelous young couple here in town - Amy Marie Adams and Mark Hann - to help coordinate the rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and reception for their June 1st nuptials. Amy Marie currently serves as the Executive Assistant at Blood:Water Mission so we've gotten to know each other through our shared work there. I was honored to be asked and very much enjoyed helping them with this important day.

The couple tackled all of the planning details, and I came in towards the end to execute the events to allow them to enjoy themselves and focus on each other. The rehearsal dinner was catered by Chef's Market and held in the backyard of a home of some dear friends. Underneath a tent and shade trees guests enjoyed mingling with each other and dining on the delicious food. Both the ceremony and reception the next day were held at Cedarwood plantation, a lovely facility just outside of Nashville. The ceremony itself was held on the large grassy lawn at Cedarwood while the reception took place nearby on the tented patio. Both were lovely and went off without a hitch - including the couple's beloved dog Sunshine who served as the official ring bearer.

Below are a few images of the day just to give a glimpse of how beautiful it was and what a great job Amy Marie and Mark did in planning it. I was pleased to come alongside them to keep things running, to keep everyone calm and to handle the little details behind the scenes. Here are Amy Marie's thoughts she shared in a thank you note sent from their honeymoon in Hawaii:

"Dear Jamie,

Thank you so very much for everything you did last weekend. We were so thankful for your presence and your ability to tactfully and quickly handle every problem. We will gladly refer you to everyone we know!

Much love,
Amy Marie and Mark"

2008 Begins: Celebrating Blood:Water Mission's Efforts in Africa

In February of 2008 I had the wonderful opportunity to once again support the ongoing efforts of Blood:Water Mission by planning their annual fundraising banquet. This year we hosted the event at Rocketown in downtown Nashville and welcomed over 200 guests for the evening. We decided on a theme for the banquet - "An Evening of Gratitude and Giving" - and set about making arrangements accordingly.

Working with the staff of Blood:Water and their generous volunteers we tackled the multitude of various tasks necessary to pull off the event. I decided on the overall look for the night - natural, earthy colors in brown, copper and ivory. To serve as the centerpieces and to highlight the work the organization does I hung images of their accomplishments on small tree branches anchored in copper pots. These pots allowed each table to have a good look at how and where money is spent and donations are put into action on the ground in Africa. I oversaw development and design of the invitation, program and donation response cards (see below for example). I also had the opportunity to work for the first time with an amazing catering company - Chef's Market (http://www.chefsmarket.com/). The folks were absolutely wonderful to work with and provided us with delicious food as well as a fantastic layout on the banquet tables.

One fun project I had the chance to work on was deciding on the favors to hand out to the guests that evening. With Blood:Water's blessing I ordered several boxes of Fair Trade Certified chocolate bars from Ghana. Each bar was then wrapped with a color picture we printed out and affixed with double-sided tape. Thus each guest received a chocolatey treat along with a momento of Blood:Water's work.

The evening was hosted by Donald Miller, author of several books including Blue Like Jazz, and saw performances by both Jars of Clay and Hanson. Several speakers shared their thoughts on Africa and the work being done there, challenging everyone present to continue to support the efforts of Blood:Water Mission. It is always a pleasure to work with the staff and volunteers of this amazing organization, and February of this year was no different. I was pleased and honored to contribute in a small way to their ongoing work in Africa.

More Pictures from the December Wedding

Ben Frank was the amazing and talented photographer capturing images at this wedding. He has kindly agreed to share some of his pictures from that day. To see more beautiful shots of Jena and James from their December wedding please visit this site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benfrank/sets/72157603814294736/

An Amazing December Wedding

In the Fall of 2007 another young couple invited me to be a part of their big day. Jena Lee, whom I had gotten to know as the Executive Director of Blood:Water Mission through our past collaboration, and her fiance James Nardella asked me to help them plan their December 30th wedding. Since both the bride and groom would be incredibly busy with day-to-day life including work, graduate school and international travel over the next few months they needed a reliable wedding planner ready to take on the burden of handling the details. I was incredibly pleased to come alongside them and share in the excitement of making wedding plans from beginning to end.

Over the next few months we collaborated as we tackled a variety of arrangements - scheduling travel for their guests and family, creating the overall look they desired, interviewing and working with vendors, setting up a bowling outing the day before, planning the rehearsal dinner, deciding on a menu with the caterer and most of all - maintaining a focus on being married, not just getting married.

Jena and James decided to hold their ceremony and reception in one location so that everyone could be together at all times. Fostering a sense of community among their family and friends was key. Together we created a floor layout for both events in the lovely Jamison Hall inside the Factory at Franklin. The ceremony was held in the round with the couple up on a small stage with the pastor while the wedding party and guests encircled them.

As soon as they said, "I do" and had toasted everyone with champagne we did a quick changeover to clear the dance floor so the celebration could begin. A full band took its place and provided music for the next few hours so that Jena, James and their guests could enjoy this wonderful day.

Another Birthday Party

Once again I had the joy of working with Greg and Jennifer Bays in October 2007 to plan a small birthday party for Theo as he turned two. They decided to do a small event at home so I created the invitation and made decorations by hand. Since Theo is all little boy I decided on a truck and construction site theme. I decorated a white paper tablecloth and yellow balloons with truck tracks by using a small toy truck and a rubber stamp pad. I also purchased a couple of larger toy trucks which were used for the food on the table including crushed Oreos with gummy worms in one to simulate dirt! Of course, it was served with a toy shovel. I also decorated each paper napkin with the truck tracks to keep the theme going. What a great way to celebrate with this young family!

Cool Wedding with People Who Are, well, Cool

In September 2007 a sweet couple approached me to handle the coordination of their wedding. Shara Katerberg and Max Hsu got married here in Nashville in a beautiful ceremony on September 22, 2007. Shara did an amazing job handling all of the details for the various events, and I came alongside her to run the rehearsal and the ceremony. It was an amazing and memorable wedding that I was pleased to play a small role in.

These two are just the coolest. Their pictures reflect it better than I am able to describe...

Helping an Amazing Family

In August of 2007 I was approached by a dear family in need of assistance of a different sort. Dane and Maggie Anthony enlisted me to handle logistics management in their efforts to free their son, Eric Volz, who was wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit and was imprisoned for over a year. In coming alongside the campaign they had previously begun I was tasked with providing administrative support, managing organizational efforts and handling anything else they needed. I monitored the online campaigns and took care of details that had become a burden for the family in that difficult time. It was literally an anything-they-need sort of project, and I was incredibly honored to have served in a small way.

Thankfully Eric is free now! If you would like to learn more about his story and his ongoing work on issues of justice you may visit his website at: http://friendsofericvolz.com/.