A Wedding Officiant's Perspective: Reverend Clint Hufft

If you recently watched the "I do Redo" wedding contest on KTLA, you saw non-denominational minister Reverend Clint Hufft in action. You also might have seen him a few years ago when he officiated the wedding of Trista and Ryan of ABC's "The Bachelorette". He has also done weddings for Amber Event's clients, and he's not only a fantastic wedding officiant, he is a dream to work with! Prompt, kind, professional.....you name it, he's got it. Rev. Clint took a few minutes to answer the questions in the series that I am doing. Enjoy!

Q. Who are you and what makes you fabulous?

A. My name is Reverend Clint Hufft, non denominational minister. My only goal is to give each bride and groom the opportunity to create amazing memories of their wedding ceremony. Each couple is "hands on" during the ceremony creation process. They have complete freedom to write their own vows or choose elements from a large collection of wedding ceremony content. Every detail of the ceremony is discussed: text, location, logistics, family, fears and dreams. Hopefully, nothing will get in the way of the magical, mystical, intense romantic connection at the moment where their beloved becomes their spouse.

Q. What is it like working a wedding WITHOUT a wedding coordinator?

A. The stress level on the couple, family & friends is higher. Little, forgotten details get in the way. The entire day doesn't flow as smoothly. Molehills sometimes become mountains.

Q. What makes a coordinator good?

A. Kindness, efficiency, attention to detail without forgetting the primary goals. A bit therapist, producer, people mover & expert.

Q. Do you have any funny wedding stories?

A. The Sunset Restaurant in Malibu is a beautiful location where ceremonies happen on the sand, yards from the surf. There is a public access road between the restaurant and the beach. At the beginning of a wedding ceremony a few years ago, I was welcoming the guests and sharing what the bride and groom had chosen for their introduction. At the most specific moment, when I was taking a breath, a pickup truck drove by and one guy yelled at the top of his lungs, "Don't do it!". The timing couldn't have been more precise. Fortunately, the couple thought it was very funny, started laughing, which gave the guests permission to laugh. Great moment. "America's Funniest Videos" opened their Valentine's episode with that clip.

A Wedding Day from the perspective of a Wedding Planner (part 4 of 4)

The Reception
Right before we open the doors, I station one or two assistants by the escort card table and the entrance in order to assist guests find their cards and their table. I wrote a blog about the importance of providing your coordinator with an alphabetical list of guests and their assignments that I recommend reading.

It takes 5-15 minutes to get guests seated depending on how many guests there are and whether they were able to find their escort card during cocktail hour or they have to find it on their way to the ballroom. If we are doing a grand entrance with the entire bridal party my assistants have to round them up as guests are finding their seats. If only the bride & groom are doing a grand entrance I just keep them hidden as guests won’t go ANYWHERE if they see the bride or groom! I always feel so bad pulling my couple away from their guests, but we just can't get anything happening until they are hidden!

Once the guests are seated my assistant runs to tell the DJ or Band that we are a GO! for the Grand Entrance. We open the ballroom doors and the reception begins. Once the activities start happening, I make sure that everyone gets their cues for their toasts, etc. Rarely during the reception is the room left without myself or one of my assistants keeping an eye on everything. When the reception starts I cut my staff down to one or two assistants. I talk to the Banquet Captain throughout the evening to make sure that they are ready for things like the champagne toast and cake cutting, and I check in with my clients at least every 30 minutes. After guests are served their entrees I check with the Captain to see when and where the vendor meals will be served. When our meals are ready I let my clients know that the vendors will be out for about 15-20 minutes to eat. This is usually the first time I sit down since I had breakfast that morning. Getting back up hurts my feet and legs so I’ve started taking an aspirin or two around the reception start time.

Once all of the big activities such as cake cutting are finished and guests are dancing, my assistant and I start discretely packing up items so that when the reception is finished, we have almost everything packed and loaded either in the bridal suite or a family SUV. A checklist of all personal items is kept and either a family member or bridesmaid signs off stating that they have seen all of these items packed and secured.

When the reception ends I’m usually around for about 30-45 more minutes to say goodnight and make sure everyone is ok. Once I get home I pour myself a glass of wine and fill a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes. I find that soaking my feet in ice water takes away all of the swelling and soreness and I’m good to go the next day!

And that, my friends, is a wedding day from my perspective.
To see a 5 minute video of me actually working a wedding click HERE.

Photos by Mi Belle Photography

Style Me Pretty presents: Mallika & Steve's wedding at Eucalyptus Lane

Today is like Christmas morning for me! The incredible Abby Larson of Style Me Pretty has featured Mallika and Steve's wedding today! The photographer, Suthi Picotte of Picotte Photography, and I have been sitting on the images until we got word that this wedding was going to be published on Style Me Pretty. Now I can share!

Mallika and Steve's wedding was May 31, 2009 and was the LAST wedding to be held at Eucalyptus Lane in Ventura. They had an original wedding date in August but were told in March that Eucalyptus Lane was shutting down and they had one date left. They hired me in a panic to help them pull together their wedding and give them the confidence that they needed. Mallika designed the wedding with the help of the incredibly talented Holly Vesecky of Holly Flora. Mallika grew up in Hindu /Yoga Commune and Steve grew up Catholic. They combined their beliefs and had a touching ceremony that included a red string strung around the entire ceremony site (I had the privilege of tying the string after Mallika walked down the aisle) that was later cut up and tied to the guests wrists as a symbol of the community they created.

For images right away, you can see the pictures at Style Me Pretty. I'll post some here shortly.

Vendors:
Command Performance Catering
Picotte Photography
Holly Flora
NYC DJ's
Simply Flawless Makeup Artistry
Couture Cupcakery
Red Cheese Photobooths

And a big thank you to my always awesome assistant, Krista. I could not have done it without you! (the photos below are of us "testing" the photobooth. We have to make sure it works, you know)

A wedding day in the life of a wedding planner (part 3 of 4)

The Ceremony & Cocktail hour

When guests start arriving I bring one of the assistants to start answering their questions and I have the bridal attendant round up the family and bridal party for lineup. Ceremonies usually start 15 minutes after the invitation time (30 minutes in the Jewish culture and up to 1 or 2 hours in some of the middle eastern cultures!) unless we are waylaid by guests lost in traffic.

Once the musician’s are cued, we start the Processional. I stay with the bride and we don’t open the doors until she is ready. Once the door closes behind the bride I high-five the closest assistant and race to talk to the Banquet Captain about the food and cocktail hour. I keep one assistant to watch over the ceremony and to text me (or radio me) when it ends.When the ceremony ends I run back to the doors to congratulate my clients and lead them to a private area where they can have some appetizers, champagne, and some deep breaths. Many times after these 10 or 15 minutes they want to see the ballroom and I love the look on their faces when they see it for the first time! Most of my clients see each other before their ceremony, but if all photos are not taken prior to the ceremony the entire cocktail hour has to be used for pictures.

If all photos are done the bride & groom can either join their guests for cocktail hour or just spend some alone time together. During cocktail hour I speak to the MC and Banquet Captain to go over the flow of the reception and the timing of the food. My assistants are finishing up details of the reception such as the candy bar, favors, or candle lighting. The photographer uses these last few minutes before guests come in to take detail shots of the reception. Once we announce that we are seating for dinner a bridesmaid or assistant and I usually bustle the bride’s dress in preparation for the reception.

Photos by Callaway Gable

A wedding day in the life of a wedding planner (part 2 of 4)

Pre-Ceremony Set up

If my car is not packed already, my husband helps me load it up with my emergency kit (a 60lb suitcase) and all of the bride’s personal items. I get to the venue between two and three hours before the invitation time depending on the amount of set up involved. Usually I have a bridal attendant assigned to the bride who will arrive earlier to assist the bridal party with whatever they need (and to be my eyes and ears). I have a powwow with the assistants who are working with me that day (as few as 1, as many as 6 depending on the complexity) to go over the flow and things to be aware of that day.

Photo by Alex Morgan of Blue Silver Photography

Vendors start rolling in asking tons of questions and I feel like the air traffic controllers on the runways flagging planes in. The assistants start on ceremony set up first, then move to cocktail hour set up, and finally reception. Sometimes the set up is not finished until minutes before the guests walk through the door. One of my pet peeves is for guests to see ANY sort of set up, so I start walking through the areas giving call times. 20 minutes! 10 minutes! Florists are usually scrambling to get the ceremony finished and I’ve been known to keep guests out of the ceremony area so they don’t see somebody’s khaki’d backside unrolling the aisle runner! Throughout all of this set up time the bridal assistant has been keeping the bride on time, herding the bridal party around for photos, and keeping me informed as to whether or not everyone is happy. If someone is not happy I jump to fix that.

Once family arrives things become chaotic and the train is barreling full speed ahead toward a wedding! Everyone has a question or concern and I try to stay in the area to address his or her needs.

In between family questions, I talk to the ceremony musicians to make sure they have their cues, I pass the marriage license off to the officiant, and I make sure that all set up is ready for the ceremony.

(Interesting story about the wedding in the photo: the Chuppah that you see above was made by a relative and had ZERO weight to anchor it down. It was a windy day and it started lifting up like a balloon and we almost had to have the groomsmen walk it down the aisle. Thankfully, one of my assistants thought to wire it to the trees with some of the wire in my emergency kit. It worked!)