Those who made this wedding possible....

There are soooo many people that need to be thanked - and I fully intend to thank each and every one of you! From the get go I said it takes a wedding community to make a wedding like this for 7 couples possible.

I need to start with the Angel Bride Dream Team, for without whom none of this is possible - they are the very core of what we do.... and consist of:





These people are the core of the Angel Bride Program, and I love them all dearly! I HAD to list my logo too, because my staff at ETM is all volunteer - they give and give without expecting and it's amazing.

I love you all dearly and can never thank you enough!

The Big Day - Come What May....we did it!

Saturday, December 18th, 2010..... the day started for me at 4:00 when I did a quick check of email (in the dark so as to not wake the others that slept in the living room with me) only to find that not one, but two photographers and a makeup artist were no longer available. Taking into consideration the week I've had, nothing phased me anymore- I'd come to realize that this day was going to happen regardless - and it was all larger than life and as a human it was beyond my control. Throwing caution to the wind one last time, I went to craigslist and facebook - my two best communication methods beyond this of course - and put my plea to the world. Almost immediately I had a photographer - okay, one down. I continued reaching out until about 5 when the alarm went off. Turned it off and layed back down on the couch for another hour or so.

Got up, sent a text to Chara, who thought she might have been lucky and found a venue for the receptions to take place. Turns out it could not be ready in time, so we ended up with no venue for a reception for all, not for lack of trying however.

We set about picking up all the items that had been donated - this included food donated by Kittys Catering in Huntington Beach, sodas, cases and cases of them (by a kind and generous donor who wished to remain anonymous), eggrolls, cookies donated by Jacks Bakery of Garden Grove, cupcakes courtesy of Albertsons in Fountain Valley and of course the amazing Couples Cakes courtesy of Artistic Cakes in Fountain Valley. As we worked our way down our checklist checking mail and text as we heard the phone go off - one by one the missing people came to us, referred by facebook friends and strangers. It was amazing and magical - but of course it would be! Nothing about this process has been anything less than such.

Quick phone call to the local dance studio that rented it's small dance hall to us for a song for our bridal ready room. All set and ready to go - excellent!

3pm
We arrived at the Cathedral to began the setup on site - the staff was welcoming and things came together quickly. They are a very well oiled machine and we were so humbled, honored and happy to work with them. Friday at rehearsal they told us that while they have done six weddings in a day, never at one time. Watching them work you would never have known that! Our bridal parties began to arrive - the excitement and nerves evident in the smiles. As if the big guy was smiling down on us, the rain let up a bit as the brides began to arrive. Gowns up in the air as they traversed the parking lot dodging puddles, big ole smiles on their faces! That was so awesome to see!

4pm
I learned that there was a film crew on site interviewing the brides - very cool! What a treat for them (I learned later it was the Register). A quick check in to make sure all was good and off I went to answer more questions, get boutaineers on male bridal party members and seat guests.

4:50
Cathedral staff starts gathering and lining up the bridal parties for six of our couples (the 7th is on the freeway in traffic) A bit of confusion about the whereabouts of one of the marriage licenses, a quick trip to the hotel and all was great - nerve wracking but great. I snapped a quick picture of the grooms along with our Pastors for the day - Rev. Dr. John O'Keefe, Rev. John Ogannes Agayan and Crystal Cathedral Staff Pastor Bruce Goodrich.

Still hoping couple number 7 arrives in time.....and then learned our bride was not
even dressed. Oh, dear.

5:00 -
Holding for the friend to arrive back with the marriage license from the car. Our runners deliver it to Kari and we are good to go - queue the organist, and Canon begins. The bridal parties all walk into place as we get the brides lined up and fluff their trains. The music changes and on go the fountains up the center aisle -loud, dramatic and simply breathtaking! Up go the brides, one by one to their grooms, all beaming with smiles and a sense of accomplishment - quietly standing in the back of the church (okay I will admit, not so quietly - I always cry at weddings, especially Angel Bride weddings). Pastor Goodrich welcomes the crowd and says - well, here we are - who'd have thought? and the gallery broke out into spontaneous applause. Very cool I might add.

Still no 7th couple, only via text updating as they made their way to us. The ENTIRE ETM crew sans myself and the two girls downstairs clearing the bridal room is outside (in the rain) on standby to run the missing bride into the room.

5:20
Our missing couple arrives, but neither the marriage certificate (they're already married) or the gown is not with them - the gown in another car! Oh MY goodness! Ok, well if they hurry they can have their marriage blessed.

5:45
Pastor Goodrich asks the grooms to kiss their brides!!! Reverends O'Keefe and Ogannes pronounce each couple individually and the gallery erupts into loud cheers!

Sometime around 6:30 or so I finally had time to speak with the camera crew and actually enjoyed having an on camera interview - was asked afterwards to take some pictures with one of our brides, which I happily did!


Our 7th couple? Well the bride got dressed and amongst alot of confusion we got them up to take pictures. Rev. Ogannes was kind enough to perform a blessing for them at another venue later.

As everyone left, we divided up the food we had been given amongst them, gave them their cupcakes and couples cake - and sent them on their way with a smile on their faces and a warm sense of accomplishment in ours.

A day that could have been incredibly sad for our couples turned out to be, I believe something they will remember for a very long time!

Heres to you all - thank you so much for allowing us to help make your weddings happen, and thank you for your encouragement and kind words as we worked our way, together through a very trying and tenuous week. May you all have more happiness than you can imagine, more laughter than should be legal, and long lives together!

The final week....

The final week of any wedding is stressful, it's inevitable and just part of the process, right? Muliply that times seven and you'll have an idea of this last week for us as we worked to finalize all the details for these 7 simultaneous weddings.

When we started out on this journey, we knew it would be challenging, but never in our wildest dreams did we imagine just how challenging the final week would be. It started like any normal week, until Monday morning I received a phone call at work that my mama, a very special member our our ETM team, had been rushed to the hospital! I spent the day with the family, trying my best to keep up with the questions of the brides, planners and vendors while keeping tabs with doctors, nurses and family members. (Mom is on the mend, although still hospitalized though.)

Got home from the hospital to check emails to find a couple inquiries about rain plans. Sent a quick email to the event organizer to inquire about rain plans to soothe nerves of the inquiring brides and then went to bed after a very long day.

On Tuesday the decision was made to cancel Benefitall, due primarliy to the rain - no doubt a difficult decision for the organizers after all the planning put into the event; unfortunately, that decision also eliminated the venue for these 7 weddings, now just four days out. At the time that I should have been finalizing delivery times of the donated tables, chairs, linens and food - I suddenly found myself scrambling to try and find another venue able and willing to house these weddings - there was just no way I could call these brides and cancel or ask them defer without trying to find an option. That would be just so devastating to them, and I couldn't do it without giving it everything I could to save it. I just had to try - I gave myself 24 hours and began emailing, and had my team start calling. I emailed the other planners to let them know of the decision and got on the hunt! Between us all, we called hotels, restaurants, showrooms, office and warehouse realtors; one of the first emails I sent out was to the Crystal Cathedral who'd inquired about working together with our Angel Brides program next year - the second was to Lori @ the Register to see if she might be able to get a quick post up seeking help. I emailed Jennifer Bjorklund @ Channel 4 for the same thing - she was out of the country, but forwarded message to her editorial group; many people had space, no one had space they could, or would donate. Running out of time.....

Then along comes Kari Moeller and the Crystal Cathedral. They opened their hearts, their doors and welcomed our couples into their main sanctuary - their staff volunteered their time and helped us to take what could have been a tremendously sad day and turn it into something our brides will remember forever.

Kari, Pastor Goodrich, and Volunteering Staff members, from the depths of my soul, I thank you!

A Wedding gown for All! - What a beautiful day it was

When our story was aired on Channel 4 news in October, it resulted in my phone lighting up the moment it was done. The very first call was from Sharrell Martin, a designer in LA -she wanted to become involved. Two days later, she calls me and tells me that she's got a few gowns for us - 20 to be exact. Many of them brand new with tags!

Sharrells career prohibited her in being as involved as she originally wanted to be, and she was so saddened to not be able to have the girls come to her studio to try on the gowns, but we were still able to obtain these amazing gowns yesterday! They are beyond words! We immediately got them hung and sorted by size and began making the phone calls to our brides that they could come try them on!

I had the great honor of meeting Sarah, her mom and sisters - Aleksa and I sat and listened to the ooohs, ahs, laughter and giggling as she tried on the gowns until she found the one that spoke to her. She now makes two brides have now brought their moms, sisters, friends, and dreams and have walked away with a smile the size of Texas and a wedding gown that just sparkles, shimmers, and further restored a feeling of hope that was once fleeting dream is truly coming true in just 22 days, as one of them reminded me today! Of course we took pictures of them and sent them to Sharrell so she could experience the joy that she brought to others, even if from afar.

It was a beautiful day!

"I feel like Santa"

What a thing to be quoted on....lol but I'm okay with it. I can only imagine what Santa must feel as he spreads holiday cheer around the world. What I experienced for three days, as I worked my way through the list, leaving non descript messages to please call me back - and then working my way through the typical questions - is this for real? it sounds too good to be true...what's the catch?

Last Friday, Aleksa and I had the honor of being part of in person notifications for two of our local couples. First was Nicole and Scott - they were nominated by Nicoles sister Missi, who along with their dad, called a family meeting to get Nicole and Scott there - this crazy woman with red hair walks up to them as they're gathered waiting to go into the restaurant and starts blabbing about I'm a wedding planner, blah blah - and then OH by the way, you've been nominated AND selected. Here's a sample of your invitation you're getting married in four weeks! Aleksa was recording and you didn't really hear much until the entire group of 20 or so? roared, applauded, cried, hugged, and experienced more joy than should be legal - oh that was me. The best part was when Nicole's mom could not believe that the wedding date was set for THIS December! We left them to enjoy the rest of their dinner and family night, got in the car and headed to our next stop - Amber and Wesleys. As we're on the 405, my head was just clearing and Aleksa and I were figuring out how we felt about what just happened...my phone rings and it's Lori (Basheda). I told her we'd just told the first couple and she said that's great - how did it go? I say OMG it was amazing - I kinda feel like Santa Lori - they were sooooo happy!

We arrived at Wesley and Ambers Townhouse to find Ambers mom, Patti, waiting for us in the street - she's so excited to tell them the good news - now, picture this - they are upstairs expecting moms boyfriend (who they've just been told is going to propose to her that night)as a rouse to keep them there instead of going to the grocery store with Wesleys dad for Thanksgiving food. We walk up the stairs and find Amber on the porch with Wesleys dad and Bryce, Amber and Wesley's son. Amber walks into the house with a puzzled look on her face (later she told us that she went in to tell Wesley that there were these two ladies walking in with her mom, NOT the boyfriend). Patti invites us into the house and despite her best efforts not to give it away, she starts crying. Poor Amber is trying to figure out what's going on, why is her mom crying and these women in her living room, one with a phone in her hand pointed at them... so I introduce myself as a wedding planner, blah blah, and as I get to the part about the which couples were selected, Patti cries out, "YOU GUYS WON!" Immediately, the room goes into a quiet stupor, everyone was so completely surprised. Bryce was smiling (cause grandma told him about it already) - even Wesley's dad could not fight the tears anymore. They were so excited and their home was filled with a joy they thought would not come. Will upload the video soon.

This feeling of joy, I learned over and over as I made my phone calls throughout the weekend (one I returned during my wedding last Saturday). One of our brides to be honred didn't recognize my number so she wouldn't answer the phone no matter how many times I called - until I sent a message saying PLEASE call me - I have amazing news - 'who is this'? was the response. "I'm the one you wrote to about getting married at Angel Stadium, please call me I have great news"....my phone immediately rang and it was her! She was at a family gathering at his familys home - so I asked her to put the phone on speaker. More joy -

What an absolutely tremendous, overwhelming experience this has been and continues to be not just for the couples and their families, but for all of us involved too. We thank each and every one of you who've helped to make this possible for these couples!

The BIG Announcement is here!

Over 75 nominations from all over southern California were submitted! Your stories were heartwarming, heartbreaking and inspiring - I have cried many tears for each of you. Some of you don't even know you were nominated by a loved one - I wonder what your reaction will be if you are one of the chosen? What a tough tough decision to pick only 10 - thank goodness the decision was not mine alone to make! Several people have had the joy and honor of reading them all and have submitted their top choices. We contacted our now friends Lori Basheda of the OC Register and Jennifer Bjorlund of NBC4 to let them know we are ready to announce - and now for the news. Benefitall Director Sharon Girulat released this:

Thursday, November 18th, 2010, Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Benefitall Angel Bride Couples Announced: Sharon Girulat, of SG & Associates, and Erin Taylor, Angel Brides Founder of Events TaylorMade, joined together at Angel Stadium, to announce the couples selected for the Angel Bride Weddings to take place during Benefitall. Benefitall is a full day of gifting for all Southern Californians, scheduled for December 18th, at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.


The Angel Bride selection committee independently reviewed all submissions and jointly selected the ten most deserving couples, ensuring representatives from each of the counties. The selection process took into consideration not only the 'desire' for a wedding and the couple's situations, but the degree to which the couple sacrifices for others in deference to their own needs. The lucky couples are:

Orange County:
Nicole Parks & Scott Krochmalny
Amber Gulla & Wesley Christy
Colleen Kelly & Terry Saurwein

LA County:
Christine Ramirez & Edwin Carranza
LaShawn & Todd Barnett
Jeremy Hayes & Judith

San Bernadino:
Sara Gonzales & Alfredo Saldana

Riverside:
Susan Armitt & David Riha

San Diego:
Trinidad McGee III & Josephine Felaca

USMC - Camp Pendleton:
Erin Boucher & Brandon


Visit www.benefitall.org for details and to register for Benefitall as an individual, business or non-profit, volunteer, donor or participant. There is no fee for the all-day family-oriented holiday event. Ball@benefitall.org or 949.485.5098, Inquiries welcomed.

We have contacted all the area papers for the regions - OC Register, Press Enterprise, San Diego Union Tribune and the LA Times and will keep you posted as the stories break - or if you see them first, let us know!

Congratulations to our 10 amazing couples!

What an amazing response!

To say the response has been good would be the understatement of all understatements! I have never been so touched, moved and humbled! There are parents nominating their children - sisters nominating one another; cousins and in some instances almost strangers! I cannot wait to share some of the stories! The selection committee has their work cut out for them that is for sure....if it were up to me, I would grant them all of course - and who knows? perhaps over time we will indeed be able to do so. But for this event we can only select 10. ONLY ten, she says like that's a small number :)

The response from vendors has been equally as humbling - within minutes of the story airing on Channel 4 my phone quite literally lit up with emails, texts and missed calls. We have been very fortunate to have so many wanting to be part of something so magic and inspiring.

In less than one month - 20 days to be exact - we will be notifying our lucky couples of what is in store for them. I wonder if they have any idea of what we've been able to accomplish so far - and it's no one person - it's the work of many individuals inspired to give what they can to make a dream come true.

If you know of a couple who has given up hope of their dream wedding, we are still taking nominations. Use this link to nominate them:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e3212mt9gey3aj5i/start