Invitations!!!

I think the little details are just as important as everything else. When planning your wedding do not forget that your invitations and the EXTRAS should all feel as though they are from the same event. Set the tone of your day with your invite and carry the design throughout...Do not skimp on wedding programs or other print work because they are all the little details that make up your perfect day!!! Here are some gorgeous wedding invitations and EXTRAS we have done for our clients. Let us know what you think!!
This first invite is Fiesta Inspired!

November Wedding invitations.....Proves you do not need brown when marrying in November!!!

Ranch Wedding

Argyle Wedding...the Extras... Event guide, Dinner Menu and Bar Menu

Beautiful color scheme!! Check out our very popular Reverse Pocket Invite! You can also see how we matched the Dinner Menu and Rehearsal Dinner Invitation.

Here are the Extras that we made for our client. The Extras...Table numbers, Escort Cards, Bar Menu and Dinner Menus...It was an AMAZING spring wedding!!!

Gift bags!!! We included a Map, Postcards, Bottled Water, Mexican Pralines, and the bride's favorite tortilla chips Julios with a jar of Hot Sauce.

Hot Pink and Black....Check out this Save The Date, Wedding Invite and Round Dinner Menu

Beach Wedding!!!! This boxed Invite was so fun to create!! Grand Cayman wedding and yes that is a wooden invite!!

Here is the Save The Date we did for this Destination Wedding to Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman Island Guest Bag Itinerary

Instead of a traditional guest book we made postcards that the guests filled out and we mailed to the couple before leaving Grand Cayman. The couple were greeted to postcards when they arrived home from their honeymoon.

Here is another example of our Reverse Pocket Invite.

We carried the design throughout...Wedding Programs

The Extras...Dinner Menus, Thank You cards and Reserved Table signs

Call us for an appointment so we can create your invites and extras for your Perfect Day!

Melissa & Ben - St. Anthony Hotel

St. Anthony Hotel - Photos by Dos Kiwis

Melissa and Ben hired us for our Day of Planning Services.  We had a great time working with this couple!  They chose to have their wedding on St. Patrick’s Day.   Melissa wanted an elegant event not over run with green. She chose cream and gold tones with touches of green. Melissa and Ben put lots of personal touches into their wedding. They had a custom made cake topper that resembled the happy couple, a different photo of the couple was at each table to mark the table number, & Melissa’s aunt made beautiful paper flower napkin rings for guests to take home. Guests got to see family photos from past generations at a custom built photograph wall. To bring in St. Patrick’s day, the couple provided themed props for their guests to use during the dancing. This group danced the night away! Fun & exciting!!

Ceremony: St. John Luthern Church 

Reception Location: St. Anthony Hotel

Photographer: Dos Kiwis

DJ: Holtz Entertainment

Cup Cakes: Cathy Young

Building our Street Team!!!

Wedding season is upon us and we are looking forward to some amazing events this year.

We have a great opportunity for college students wanting to gain experience in the event industry.

Email us at info@thefrenchconnectionevents.com or call us 210.349.8301 if you would like to be apart of our Street Team!

Wedding Shower - this time it's for me!!!!

Our wedding shower is today...I am so excited!! I have to force myself to not get up do a million things to prepare. I keep saying today is for you and Scott!! Difficult when you are the one used to organizing, planning and being in control of EVERYTHING!!!

6 of my friends and family have come together to spoil us with this shower and I have no idea what they have in store for us. The only detail I know is that it is New Orleans themed as it is a Honeymoon shower. Yep, we are headed to New Orleans for our honeymoon! But other than that I am clueless.

We decided to have the shower at our house because we feared we have too many people wanting to bring kiddos etc and didn't want them to feel unwelcome. Ha! It turns out no one is bring children!! The good thing about that decision was it forced us to push hard and get our back yard finished!! Our yard has been under construction since March 2010!! I need to post before and after pics...we went from a yard with lots of lawn area to one that has almost every inch of it covered or utilized. We added a pool, a pool house and a new basketball court/pad. Now when the grass turns green it is going to look amazing!! I can't wait. Scott put in a lot of hard work to get everything done for today. I love him!!

My dad passed away a little over two weeks ago. It has been a difficult time pushing through the flood of emotions but my wonderful friends and Scott have really helped me so much that I am feeling a lot better. Of course there are moments when I feel a bit sad but they are brief as I am forcing myself to focus on all the wonderful things that are going on in my life.

I have had so much fun planning weddings for 100's of brides over the years and now I am relishing in the process for myself!!

I will post pics soon and let you know how it all turns out! And hope the girls like the shower gifts I made them. They turned out super cute!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

San Antonio Weddings Fair

On January 8, we particiapated in the San Antonio Weddings Fair at the JW Marriot. It was a wonderful event for everyone involved. We had the opportunity to meet brides from all over Texas!

Half the fun was designing and putting up our wonderful booth!

We created beautiful paper flowers to decorate the space. There were these large flowers decorating our main table, interspersed with glowing candles. We also had small flowers in moss that gave off a wonderful, organic feeling.

We put together and designed these beautiful frames with pictures of our weddings. The individual pictures were framed with creative chalk designs!

How to Juggle Wedding Planning with Your Career - eleGALA.com

How to Juggle Wedding Planning with Your Career

by eleGALA.com Photograph by: The French Connection
Ensure your professional life doesn’t suffer while you’re in wedding-planning mode…
Planning a wedding is essentially a full-time job, and if you’re already a busy professional, guess what? Your workweek doubled the moment you said “yes,” and the delicate balance between your professional and personal lives is in danger of collapsing. So how can you juggle your career and your wedding without losing your sanity?
Your Daily Planner is Your Best Friend
Getting organized is the best way to avoid missteps and their accompanying headaches. Appointment books or electronic planners are literally the bottom line when it comes to organizing your work and personal life. There it is, right in front of you, a complete visualization of your day, week, or month. Use iCloud or your Google account to sync all your calendars so when you enter an appointment in your phone, it automatically shows up on your computer and tablet. You can also color code all of your entries so you can easily differentiate between work and wedding.
Stay Organized
If you have a method of organization that works at work, use it for your wedding. Take control of your all checklists with an organizational system you can stick to. Google Docs is great because you can access it from any computer, Smart Phone, of tablet, but if you aren’t a tablet toting, spreadsheet-loving bride then an old-fashioned three-ring binder will definitely work.
Divide and Conquer
Surfing the ’net for bouquet ideas while on the phone with an important client is generally a bad idea. Instead, segment your day into times when you are solely focused on work and solely focused on the wedding; letting one intrude on the other can slow you down. Designate your lunch hour for calling vendors or 30 minutes in the afternoon to look for dress ideas. If you’re taking time out of your workday, plan ahead to arrive early or stay late to make up for any lost time.
Maximize Free Time
You’ve got a lot on your plate, so what was once “free time” may now have to be used more productively. Try to swipe some items from your to-do list after hours. Instead of vegging on the couch during Grey’s Anatomy, use this time to multitask. An easy chore like addressing save-the-dates or organizing your Pinterest boards can be done in your pjs without missing any of the action on TV.
Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate
Your fiancé is your greatest untapped resource; divide wedding-planning tasks evenly between the two of you. (It’s his wedding, too, you know.) Then delegate even further. Accept help from anyone who offers, especially bridesmaids. Give small tasks to immediate family members or bridal attendants (key word is small – don’t turn former friends into resentful full-time wedding planners).
Hire a Wedding Planner
Sure, we know you can do it all on your own, but do you really want to? Lower your stress level by hiring a professional wedding planner. If you don’t want to give it all up, consider talking to a professional about how they can help with the parts that feel overwhelming. Most wedding planners offer a whole slue of services from décor design to simple day-of coordination, so you can pick and choose what services suit your needs.

Take a Break
Kicking up your heels as your task list exponentially expands may sound a tad indulgent, but allowing yourself some time to rejuvenate is essential to avoid burnout. Some downtime will even make you more efficient. Have you ever tried going for a morning run without a good night’s sleep the night before? The same applies here. What activities comprised your free time before the career versus wedding juggling act seized your soul? Reading? Hiking? Painting? Don’t let those activities slip; take that time to yourself and enjoy the relaxation that comes with doing something that you enjoy.

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask
So you’ve organized, compartmentalized, multitasked, delegated, and rejuvenated, but you still find that there just aren’t enough hours in the day, and your work is suffering. Don’t ignore the problem and hope it goes unnoticed. Schedule a meeting with your boss to discuss your situation. Avoid blanket complaints about being too busy and unfounded requests for time off. Instead, present the problem and possible solutions. Explain the job duties that are suffering, and share with your boss ideas for how you can accomplish them more efficiently.

Erin and Kolby- Crystal Elegance

After dating for two years, Erin and Kolby tied the knot on a beautiful summer day. The event was held at The Marquardt Ranch in Boerne, Texas. The ceremony was held outside, under a clear, blue Texas sky.
The French Connection designed the event, including the beautiful flowers. The aisle of the ceremony was decorated with shepherds hooks with a balls of roses and crystal. As well, there were ivory and champagne rose petals lining the sides.
Custom-made signs led the guests around the grounds.
Crystal chandeliers hung from the impressive, mature trees that flourish on the grounds. They added an elegant detail to an outdoor event.
While the guests waited for the ceremony to begin, they were treated to a delicious beverage station to help keep them cool!
The French Connection designed the custom menus and reserved signs for the reception tables.
The centerpieces for the dining tables were created with ivory, champagne, and pink roses in clear vases. The tall vases included hanging crystals, recalling the outdoor chandeliers. A dynamic look was created in the diningroom by alternating between tall and short centerpieces.

A special thanks to Bend the Light Photography for such beautiful photos of this very special event.

"The Knot" Best of Weddings 2012

We are so grateful and excited to be picked as a "Best of Weddings" vendor by "The Knot" magazine, yet again!
Thank you to all of our brides for helping make this possible!

Monday and Tuesday of this week we joined in with the 15th Annual Kappa Kappa Gamma Tablescapes at the San Antonio Country Club. It was so much fun and really exciting to see some of the creative designs from some of our peers in the industry. Proceeds from this year's event will benefit Seton Home, a residential faciality that provides shelter and support services for homeless pregnant or parenting teens and their children.

We called our table Simple Abundance. The design was unique but still attainable... Let us know what you think of our table!
Pictures below

Ropin Dreams!

We are thrilled to have participated with last weekends event for Ropin Dreams. For those of you who have not heard of this organization please check out their website. www.RopinDreams.com

For their silent auction we donated a basket full of items we contributed along with items donated by some our generous vendors.

Our basket raised $210 for this organization that is dedicated to bringing a day of smiles to the child who faces daily challenges due to serious illness or injury.

We want to give a special THANK YOU to the following vendors who contributed to the basket:
-Don Strange Catering
-You've Got Paper
-Alamo City Liquor
-Page Barteau Catering

Ashley and Bryan: A True San Antonio Wedding

Ashley House and Bryan Jones were married September 24, 2011 at the beautiful Margarite B. Parker Chapel at Trinity University.





For their reception they chose Pearl Stable. This was the perfect location because guests were able to go upstairs to the lounge area and also outside on the balcony. The weather was so perfect that day that many guests chose to spend time outside.







The best part of the wedding was all the creative freedom we had. The bride gave us some ideas and let us design everything! And with the help of Pizzini Design's colorful floral, we were able to bring the event to life!



In honor of the bride's new last name, the guests were given Jones Soda as wedding favors. They were able to choose from 3 different flavors, with 3 different pictures on them. This was a hit with party guests because of how unique it was!


The guests were so pleased! Everyone kept saying how the wedding was so "them".

Nancy and Andrew Taft

Nancy Bustamante and Andrew Taft were married August 6, 2011 in the stunning Chapel of the Incarnate Word. Their reception was held at JW Marriott.
They had a string quartet for the ceremony and the Groove City Band for the recption, all provided by Allegretto Music.
The bride and groom, along with family and bridal party, arrived in style thanks to Star Shuttle and Charter, and Rolls Royce Limo.

The elegant floral was provided by Castle Hills Floral

This life-like Barcelona Jersey groom's cake was done by Ultimate Cheesecake Bakery

The couple and their guests ended the night being serenaded by mariachis.

All photos by: Gary Gibson

Who Pays For What - Tips from eleGALA.com

Wedding Budget Etiquette - Who Pays for What?

tips from eleGALA.com
photos by: Perez Photography

Learn which side of the family is typically responsible for which wedding costs and the tradtional wedding budget etiquette.
Tradition states that the bride’s parents are responsible for fronting the bill for the wedding reception; these days, the bride’s parents, groom’s parents, and the couple themselves all contribute to the wedding pool.

That said, it helps to come to the budgeting table prepped with the traditional list of which side pays for what. These conventional “rules” can then be adjusted according to your financial situations:

Wedding Costs Paid by the Bride and/or Bride’s Parents:
Ceremony rental fee
Bride’s dress and accessories
Ceremony flowers and décor
Bouquets for bridesmaids and flower girl

Photography and videography
Engagement party
Bridesmaids’ luncheon
All vendor services for reception, including food, beverages, décor, and entertainment
Groom’s ring
Invitations and stationery
Transportation for bridal party to and from ceremony and reception

Wedding Costs Paid by the Groom and/or Groom’s Parents:
Marriage license and officiant’s fee
Groom’s attire
Bride’s bouquet, boutonnieres for ushers, and corsages for mothers and grandmothers
Honeymoon travel
Rehearsal dinner
Bachelors’ dinner
Both of the bride’s rings

Costs Incurred by the Wedding Attendants:
Their own attire, including shoes and accessories
Bridal party hosts bridal shower and bachelorette party
Groom’s party hosts the bachelor party