| July 28, 2011: visit our facebook page for daily blog, I just added a permanent link...and check out the new photos! |
| July 23, 2011: we did it...heat and all, I had a lot of help from a wonderful friend and we did all the weddings in the garden heat and all...I couldn't have managed alone...and the canopies really made a difference for the guests. 9 weddings today and 5 in the garden... |
| July 6, 2011: Bought 2 canopies for the garden...so now we have 30 seats under cover. I have been looking for a way to get some shade for your guests and finally found something that would work in the garden. |
| June 14, 2011: Been having a lot of people call for Monday weddings, I will accomodate you if that is the only time you can get married...I just found a cleaning person who works Sundays, so it will only be maintenance on Mondays now. And check out our new FAQ page! (I know, it took me forever to get one up and I have no real excuse as to why) |
| June 3, 2011: have a facebook page now...so check us out and "like" us... |
| May 20, 2011: Had a great couple who drove 4 hrs here from Michigan to get married, brought their dog Cowboy with them....he was a real sweetie and since Babar was in day camp we got to have him be their witness. Say hello to Angela and Eric Little! Babar is going to be so peeved when he gets home and smells Cowboy...I am going to get all kinds of grief for not letting him meet the other puppy. |
I love summer here in the garden...nothing better than a warm summer day and a bagpiper leading the bride down the aisle. You can actually hire him to play for you: Jeff Linn, The Highland Piper, (link to his website)...would love to have him here again...he walks in front of the bride playing her down the aisle and then walks the couple out...totally cool. |
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This is Penny and Nino...they were so adorable and our first garden wedding of the season! |
| April 25, 2011: Just finished the ads for the yellow pages and yellowbook...beginning October 1, 2011 my new hours will be: walk-in Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and evenings and Saturdays by reservation till 7pm. If you are considering booking a fall or winter wedding, please note my new hours. |
| April 14, 2011: got the garden mowed, weeded and chairs set up...now all we need is things to bloom... not much going on yet, give us another 2 weeks and it will look great! Here is a shot of what it looks like today. |
April 11, 2011: The garden is starting to bloom...been a long winter this year, and hopefully we will have a lovely summer with plenty of sun for our weekend weddings. I am going to be changing my open hours this fall...for those of you who don't know me, I do this all by myself and seeing that I will be 64 in a few months, I need to go to a 40-hr week, these 55-60 hour weeks are killing me...so starting in September (or maybe late August) you will see the changes here on the website and the new hours will be in the new phone books... |
March 17, 2011: Happy St Paddys Day! I am feeling much better (finally) and am ready for the onslaught of brides wearing green! (I broke out my green sweater for the occasion) The gardeners will be here this afternoon to get the gardens ready for spring! I am so looking forward to seeing everything in bloom again. And I will be adding a new addition to the back of the house soon...I am having a large sunroom built so that I have a place to entertain friends. I haven't had anyone over in 8 yrs since I started this business. I have no living room or den, just a tiny 6x8 porch that I had enclosed 2 yrs ago. Construction is a pain, but it will be worth it. |
| March 4, 2011: For those of you who actually read my posts...LOL...I will only be open tomorrow the 5th for the sign only's at 10:00am and then closed for the rest of the day...I have had a horrible cold all week long and need 2 days to recover. So have a great weekend and I will see you all on Tuesday the8th. |
| February 11, 2011: sorry, it has been a long, cold winter...and with spring just around the corner, I am getting excited to open the garden again. It is my favorite thing to see how big everything has gotten over the fall-winter and see all the beautiful blossoms pop out. |
| December 22, 2010: Happy Holidays to everyone! I wish you all a wonderful end to 2010 and a great beginning to 2011...2010 was pretty rough and I am praying that 2011 will bring health and prosperity to all. Peace, Vicki |
 November
16, 2010: we
got a great review from Columbus Bridal Critic!! click on their logo to
see all the wonderful things they said...(yay!!) |
| November 11, 2010: gorgeous weather! we have been doing weddings all week in the garden...standing room only! LOL...but this is too good to pass up, one last shot at summer! |
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Great weather this afternoon after a really cold start...36 degrees this am. BRRRRRRRRR... |
| October 12, 2010: Officially closed the garden chapel yesterday, put everything away for the season. Got the inside top of the gazebo painted and will get it finished next week. The leaves are all starting to yellow (or brown) and this morning it is cool and foggy outside. For those of you booking fall weddings, if the weather is nice and you want to go outside for photos in the garden, I am good with that...but no more weddings outside (unless it is very small and your guests don't mind standing). Thanks for another great season of garden weddings! |
| October 5, 2010: We we have 2 big weddings on 10/10/10...and have been blessed with great weather (unlike last weekend) so I am beyond happy that our last weekend in the garden will be beautiful. |
| October 1, 2010: beautiful fall weather...cool (and rainy) and tomorrow will be really cold and wet...now you all know why I try to close the end of September and not stay open "just one more week"...I have people who are upset that I don't leave it open all of October...it is because I don't want the weather to ruin your wedding day...LOL...and I am praying that we have better weather next weekend... |
This is titled: "And Toto too...?" click on the thumb for a larger version. More to follow.. |
And Kiyonna and her maid of honor...Counting down the days now till we have to close the garden, sigh... |
September 13, 2010: In case you haven't taken notice yet...I AM NOW TAKING WALK-INS ON FRIDAYS!! Since I introduced the $40.00 office wedding, I have had so many couples coming in on Fridays that I decided to just make it a walk-in day...saves me the trouble of holding spaces and saves everyone money...the $60.00 elopement ceremony is good that day...and the walk-in elopement package also. See you all on Friday! (and if you see anywhere I missed replacing Thursday with Friday, let me know...I am still fixing things...LOL) And do bear in mind that I am still taking reservations for Fridays and you might want to call before you come. |
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After yesterday and losing my wallet (am still trying to get all my credit cards and license restored) this was a welcome relief, had lots of happy couples here to make it all better.
All in all, a great day! |
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And this little cutie was a ring bearer in an earlier wedding (her grandparents got hitched), all in all it was a great day here at the chapel of love! |
| August 2, 2010: For those of you who have been following my blog, I have canceled my October vacation, I will not be able to do what I was planning, nothing horrible, just bad timing. So I took the dates off the top of the pages and I will be booking weddings that week. thanks. |
| July 28, 2010: I really needed this...I have been just sitting outside on my patio and reading (in between naps) I am slowly coming to the realization that I am getting older...I know now why people retire at 62. And I spent an afternoon adding the prices page...I am hoping that I have made it easier to navigate, I had so many people going straight to the "packages" page and not even looking at the chapels pages, so now they are all on one page with links to their pages. And hopefully, this will make it easier for people to find the chapel they want. Email me and let me know what you think. |
| July 20, 2010: last week before vacation...just 5 days to go. I can't wait! 8 days of doing absolutely nothing...I love all of you, but I need to not have to answer a phone for a week...see you all after my break. |
| July 16, 2010: crazy Friday...13 weddings today! Will let you know if I survive...I have an impinged nerve in my neck that is making me dizzy at the most inopportune moments...went to my chiropractor this morning and he fixed it, I am just hoping that it will stay in place long enough to get me through this day...ahhhh, the joys of getting older.. |
| June 20, 2010: I think I will refer to this as the "long hot summer" in years to come...I can't believe the heat (and without a break) this summer. Give me last summer again....it was so gorgeous. I was thinking of going to Lake Michigan for vacation, but I may postpone till the October shut-down and do something where I won't be out in this heat in July...maybe Alaska...LOL... |
| June 3, 2010: We will be featured on the 6am morning news on 10TV...set your dvrs! I can't wait to see this, it was so much fun having them here. |
| June 2, 2010: Anietra just left and the segment will air on Friday early...so set your dvr to record! I will post the actual time here as soon as they get back with me. I am really excited, they really filmed every inch of the place and I can't wait to see it...more later. |
| June 1, 2010: Anietra Hamper from channel 10 will be here tomorrow to interview me...had a great time on Friday the 28th with Carl who shot 3 of our weddings here. I will let you all know when the segment will run...and make sure that you check out the new virtual tours of all the chapels...I just had it all re-shot last week. Things are getting so big out there and I needed to update the garden, so I had them update all the chapels, even the elopement. |
click on the thumbnail for a large image of the beautiful (and tasty) rings... |
Everyone got to get married in the garden and it was just beautiful...I am just hoping that the weekends get themselves straightened out and we can have our rainy days on Monday or Tuesday where they belong. I am having the new virtual tour shot this month instead of next (like I usually do) because it has been so beautiful with the early spring that I don't have to wait and I want everyone to see how big the trees have gotten. |
| April 23, 2010: Yesterday was a total disaster! I have been using McAfee protection for 15 yrs and they got me good. Their latest upgrade trashed my entire system and the tech spent 5 hrs beating it back into submission... what a day....very stressful for me, not knowing whether or not I was going to lose everything...he pulled it out in the final minutes. Now, today is catch-up day, getting all of the work done that I couldn't do yesterday. arghhhhh |
| April 20, 2010: Can't seem to get a break here with the weather...been beautiful all week and then decides to be freezing on the weekends...still haven't had a wedding outside, maybe this weekend we will get lucky and it will be nice (and not raining). Keep your fingers crossed! And just an fyi...for 3 yrs we have planted flox at the front of the gazebo and it never takes off...and finally!! finally we have flox everywhere! don't have a clue what did it (maybe the 3 feet of snow) but I am so grateful... |
It is hard to remember what I started with and how barren it was out there for the first year, I have to go back and look at the old photos of our first weddings out there to see how far we have come. click here to see one of the first weddings performed in the garden in April 2006. There was no gazebo and very few trees, the landscapers had installed just 2 serviceberrys, 6 roses, and 4 small grasses...by May I had the 2 quaking aspens behind the columns and had added 2 magnolias (click here to see May 2006). It has been a long and arduous journey but well worth it, the garden is spectacular and just gets better every year. |
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I will have the garden open as of next Saturday, (the weather this week kept us from getting things done) and it is just gorgeous out there. |
| April 8, 2010: crazy day...the doorbell (which just happens to chime like Big Ben) which I have set to it's loudest so that I can hear it from anywhere in the house, decided to have a meltdown today and ring constantly...had a couple come over to book their wedding and they rang the bell, only it would not stop...I checked to see if it was stuck on the button...finally had to take it off the wall and cut the wires...it was 5 minutes of total chaos, the bell ringing, the dog barking (because the bell was ringing) the phone ringing and I was scrambling to find something to stand on that was tall enough for me to reach the %%^$#% thing! arghhhhhh.... Tomorrow, Phil is going to finish the garden pavilion and we will be ready to open this weekend...3 weeks early! yay... |
| April Fools Day!: What a great day to get wedded...no way to tell if I am really pronouncing you or if I had my fingers crossed and your marriage is null and void...hhehehehe... and you get this wonderful April Fools Marriage Certificate that I designed last year stating that I was only kidding when I told you that you are legally married! Let the fun and games begin! |
| March 31, 2010: got to love this weather...going to be in the high 70's and we are power-washing the parking lot, the gazebo and the arch...I am more than ready to get the garden open and see some plants in bloom! It was a really long winter and hopefully we will be able to open the garden early this year...if the weather holds I think we could open as early as next week or so...just need some of the buds to "pop" and give us some green... |
| March 22, 2010: Had a new section of concrete put in so that the bridal party has an easier time walking to the garden. We are calling it the "Bride-walk" instead of sidewalk...we used to have to give up a parking space so that we could line up the wedding party to walk to the garden, but now, they have a new 3.5 foot wide space to walk through to the garden. The grass is so green this morning, I can hardly wait for things to jump into full bloom! |
And we just did our first wedding with a cat! I mean the couple brought their cat with them...we have had lots of dogs, but this was our first cat... |
| March 16, 2010: Day started off with a bang...was running late, doorbell ringing, wrapped in towel grabbed box from mailperson...had 2 cars waiting already at 9:40. Ran back upstairs, got dressed and the doorbell was ringing again before I could get down the stairs...did a wedding, booked a wedding, bought the new advertising with yellowbook, sold rings, got a twitter account for the business...whew! and all before 11am...we are weddingsrusohio on twitter. |
| March 15, 2010: I am looking for someone mature to help on weekends only, must be able to multi-task, speak in public, be good with people; I need a very well-dressed woman/man who is already ordained or wants to be ordained to perform weddings here. They need to be available EVERY Saturday (and some part-time Friday). If you know someone or want to apply for the position, send me a resume and cover letter. |
| March
14, 2010: Woke
up this morning at 7:30...didn't remember that it was spring ahead time...got
downstairs and And yes, I will perform a wedding on a Sunday, I just charge an extra $200.00 to open the chapel on my day off. And I now have a partner in crime here at the chapel, for those of you who haven't met him yet, the adorable toy poodle is Babar and he is here helping me during the week...he goes to daycare on Saturdays when I am super busy. He just loves everyone and especially children. |
| March 13, 2010: Been getting requests to get this back up, so here it is. Seems people missed being able to see the transition (especially the garden). As you all have seen by now, I have closed on Sunday and Monday recently, I needed to close for the cleaning/maintainence crew to come in and get things done. They have always been here on Mondays, but they had to work around the weddings and it was time to give them and me a day to get things done. You can
still walk in if you absolutely need to, I am here most of the time
catching up on the bookwork, so just give me a call and let me know
you need me...I will be in my jeans and t's, but as long as you don't
care and don't mind people working around you, I am fine with doing
a quick wedding. It was a long winter and I decided that with the weather and the economy both lousy, it would be a good time to have the two big maples in the front removed. (basically, I was tired of the mess they made and wanted to finish my landscaping) Now, I have space to put in some smaller flowering trees that will give you more photo opportunities out front by our little bench. We are working on the garden pavilion now that the weather has gotten nice again, already have a bride who wants to get married out there next Saturday! And I love the wonderful things my brides come up with, this is Ashley (who is being married today) during her rehearsal last night in her Minnie Mouse veil (she got it at Disney World) and I just loved it! (click on the thumb for a larger view) |
turned
on the computer and was getting caught up with the bookkeeping when
I looked at the clock on the screen and it said that it was 9:52...I
totally freaked out! The atomic clocks all said 8:52 and I thought they
were confused...turns out that my computer was wrong..(after I reset
all the clocks and ran around like a mad woman) I have an 11:00 wedding
today and thought that I was going to have to skip breakfast so that
I could get everything ready....I finally checked the dvr in the kitchen
and it had the same time as the atomic clocks (had originally) so I
had to reset everything...