Angel Bride #7 - Tina

I actually found Tina - she'd placed an ad on CL - the saddest little ad I've seen. They had the venue, an old church in Brea - very dark, dim, and gothic looking. Not at all what she'd envisioned for her wedding day. She just wanted to make it something even close to what she was hoping to have.

It took a few attempts to get ahold of them, and it was actually Kyle that called to make sure it wasn't a cruel joke. It took a little convincing, but we got them to come in, and I told them to take a look and they could use whatever they wanted. They didn't want anything for the reception, just the church.

Kyle was very excited, but poor Tina was incredibly overwhelmed and couldn't come up with anything solid to ask for. This was a big turning point for me - I realized so many things thanks to Tina and I can't thank her enough. I realized that 1)what seems to me to be just 'stuff' at time and 'no big deal' ISN'T just stuff or no big deal to someone who has nothing; and 2)that I need to not reveal the 'closet' until after we have gotten through the haze or realizing that someone really is offering to help and really isn't asking for anything in return but a picture (well, okay a thank you is always nice, too). So the first trip came and went - they came back again with help this time - they came back two more times as a matter of fact and by the last time, she was smiling as she tried on veils and tiaras!

We got them loaded up with all the pretty stuff - they came back a few days later with tales of a lovely wedding and many new additions to our Fairy GodMothers Closet as well as the important lessons I got from them. Thank you so much Tina & Kyle

Angel Bride # 6 - Daisy

Oh my gosh - Daisy and her fiance Phil came to me through my dearest friend Kim Turcotte - an amazing floral designer with a heart the size of Texas! She has an organization called Weddings on Ice and together we decided that we wanted to give a wedding away - she put an all call out through the Register, ran a contest for a military couple. Being the proud wife of a retired marine (Semper Fi) I was sooo in from the get go. We had our first couple who were both active duty - we were so excited! Sadly the conflict of last year called them both to deployment but we already had the date set!

Fortunately for us, Phils sister saw the all call and sent an amazing, loving heartfelt letter to Kim telling us the story of Phil, Daisy, their love, him going into active duty and their wanting to be married prior to him going so that he could know solidly that his wife and son were taken care should anything happen to him during this deployment.

Oh, this was amazing we though - and thus the planning began - I handled the couple, Kim handled just about everyone else. I reached out to my dear friend Rev. Ogannes Agayan (www.idowithyou.com) and asked him how he felt about performing a wedding - ON ICE! shared their story with him, and he was in!

Kim and I met with the couple to discuss details of what they'd like to see happen, told them of all the regulations of the arena that offered the venue for the wedding, revamped how we were going to do everything..... wow, a wedding on ice - capacity crowd, televised, young couple... what were we thinking? I could see the disappointment in their faces - 2 minutes for getting on the ice, 2 for the ceremony, maaaybe 3 and then 1 to get off - regulation says there can only be 6 minutes between hockey periods. Aye Carumba batman -

So....back to Rev. Ogannes I went, asking him if we could do a second, much more intimate, relaxed ceremony - a do-over - just for Phil and Daisy. Of course he proclaimed. To see them smile and be happy again was such a blessing!

The dress - oh the most amazing dress! and I am so very proud to say that it came from my very own FGM Closet - a brand new gown I purchased not a month earlier, never been worn or even tried on - I pulled them all out for her to look at and see if one spoke to her. We found one that would work, it was 'okay'. We talked about her style, her dream and I suddenly remembered having one more gown hanging at home. A quick phone call, in comes the gown, I opened it and her eyes lit up! This was the one!

The wedding day - wow is an understatement! The arena approaches me with a photographer who's going to shadow me around for the day - me?? okay whatever keep up. We talk, she snaps pictures, we get Daisy ready, she's (Maya, I think)silently snaps away - time for the big reveal to the mom - she got it on film - amazing! Such a wonderful day!

About a week later I get a call from her editor - they want to interview both myself and Daisy to write the article that matches the photos - the little pictorial spread had grown. Daisy's quote? "Next to the birth of our son, it was the best day of our lives". The article was published in the April 25th edition of the Inland Living Magazine!

Here's to Phil and Daisy!

Thanks to my dear friend and colleage A. Michaels Photography for the use of the photo!

Angel Bride #5 - April

April is one of my brides who needed rental stuff but had no budget for the normal route. She saw one of our ads on good ole CL and responded with her list.

We put together a package deal where basically everything you need for 150 people, we offer it one of two ways - if you have $350.00 you can 'rent' it - if not, you can 'borrow' them. We ask that you take care of them and also contribute something else back to the FGM Closet. If we have volunteers or team members available we will offer to go help set up and tear down if they want or need it. But sometimes? they just need the stuff and want to do it themselves, which we fully support.

Her wedding colors were something that we didn't have in stock, so I bartered my fees for fabric with one of my other clients who was already ordering organza in bulk. We made overlays and chair sashes to match her colors.

Delivery was fun - the first batch was delivered no problem, but they forgot a few items and we were still finishing up making the linens. So we made a second trip for delivery - bumper to bumper traffic! Arrived to drop off at 10pm although we left at 5:30pm.... (minor route detour there)

I heard back that the wedding was gorgeous, got pictures in my inbox and a major contribution back to our closet - thank you so much April and your wonderful mom, too!

Angel Bride #2 - Kortney

I just love Kortney! I met her through her posting on Craigslist - she posted not long after Kerrys third update to her ad on CL - this would have been in August. Kortney believes not only in pay it forward, but doing so in advance! She came and helped with Kerrys wedding preparations on more than one occasion - came and worked my first bridal show with me and worked the December 5th wedding with me -and even brought a friend! I was so inspired after hearing that Kortneys fiance' Charles lived in Vegas, wouldn't be moving out here until not too long before the wedding, so she was doing most of the planning on her own - and all of the money was coming from them as well.

The venue that was offered to her was a lovely older church that isn't used for weddings and receptions very often, but it was perfect for what they needed and wanted. The folks at Grace Bible Church in Fullerton couldn't have been more accommodating!

Many wonderful people from Team Angel came together to make an special day amazing - Kitty put on a spread not to be beaten for an unheard of price she'd seen Kortney working at all of my events and said - "Oh we need to take good care of this girl!". I was so excited to learn that Rob had stepped in and taken on her wedding - he is such a sonsummate professional that is pure joy to work with! Michelle from Mire La Chancla jumped was IN and made a gorgeous pair of Havianis. Will would have been there but had already been booked on that date - but the photographer she got was excellent and took some amazing photos.

It was a beautiful wedding - filled with many of lifes precious moments to include a family ceremony to include Gabi and a father daughter dance that would melt your heart.

Kortney, Charles and Gabi - thank you so much for everything you've done for us here and for allowing us to be part of your amazing day!