This is me!!! Kathy Piech (pronounced "peach") Lukas

For the past 16 years in southern Ohio (specifically, Dayton and Cincinnati), I have been leading my life and living my dream of planning special events. For eight of those years, I've been planning weddings under my company, Your Dream Day. The thing I love most about my career is the impact that I can have on such an impact on a specific chapter of people's lives -- the time when they plan the next nuptial chapter  -- and help them enjoy the process of planning a wedding. Planning a wedding is supposed to be fun!

This time last year, my husband accepted a new job as City Manager of Brunswick, Ohio. This meant that I was going to have to move to Cleveland. CLEVELAND?!?!? The only people I know in Cleveland are my in-laws! After taking a deep breath, I decided that the best way to learn about Northeast Ohio (including Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, and Canton) was to blog about every wedding professional I've had the chance to meet, information about  the products and services they offer, their style and pricing -- pounding the pavement so to say!

I hope all couples and wedding professionals in Northeast Ohio will come on this journey with me!! These blogs are not paid endorsements -- it is merely crediting the gracious wedding professionals that opened their doors to me and shared with me what they do (and love)! My hope is to find everyone -- the big players, the home-based professionals, the legends, the well-kept secrets, and the like. If you are a wedding professional that would like to be featured on this blog, please contact me on our Facebook Page wall (www.facebook.com/yourdreamdaycafe) or Twitter Page @yourdreamday and we'll feature you on an upcoming blog.

Let's get this party started!!!

Each Tuesday at noon, Your Dream Day will have a Tuesday Tweetchat for brides which will offer wedding planning advice on specific topics. Today, we had our first tweetchat entitled "Setting a Wedding Budget and Sticking to It."  Brides and vendors alike are invited to participate in these open discussions.

Next week's topic, "Tips for Attending a Bridal Show," will feature tips and tricks from some of our favorite wedding vendors that participate in bridal shows all over Cleveland. These tips are relevant to brides everywhere, so the more the merrier!

Participating in the tweetchat is easy and simple:

1) You must have a twitter account. If you don't have one, sign up at www.twitter.com http: href?>2)">www.twitter.com
2) Visit our room at 3)">tweetchat.com/room/yourdreamday
3) Sign into tweetchat using your twitter account on this page. Click on the upper right hand corner and select "sign in." This will redirect you to twitter's sign in page.
4) Once you have signed in, twitter will redirect you back to the @yourdreamday tweetchat room.
5) Transcripts will always be available on this page if you aren't able to attend a specific tweetchat when it's happening.

We hope to "tweet" you there!!

Depending on the time of year, you may need a little bit of additional help to make your wedding guests more comfortable when Mother Nature decides to make things a little chilly, or a little hot & humid.

If you are having an event in a place without a/c, or an outdoor wedding reception under a tent in July, August or September, I always recommend that you reserve a commercial unit. Your tent company (like Everything Tented, All Occasions, or Lasting Impression) can take care of reserving this for you. Some companies, such as Aggreko, will let you book a unit months in advance and offer you a no penalty cancelation window up to three days prior to your event. However, if the week of your event you are trying to reserve an a/c unit because you've discovered that it will be 116 heat index outside on your wedding day, the much-desired a/c unit is much harder to come by.

Last summer, I had three days to track down an a/c unit for a cathedral that had no air conditioning. The temperature outside was 116 degrees heat index. Using two diesel trucks, we pumped air conditioning into the church through the stained glass windows for three hours prior to the ceremony, and as soon as photos were done after the ceremony, we dismantled it. The father of the bride didn't think I'd be able to get the temperature cooled down. When we did, he actually mentioned me in the toast!

The same goes for heaters. If you are planning an event in November through March, you may want to consider putting some heaters on hold. I have an indian wedding this March and we are reserving 20 outdoor heaters for the Barat (the procession where the groom rides in on a white horse.) By using the heaters to create a heat tunnel, guests will be able to enjoy the outdoor procession without getting a chill. These are the prettiest heaters out there, and you can rent these from Eventsource (offices in Cleveland and Columbus).


These options do come at a price. With air conditioning, the size of the unit is based on the amount of space you need to cool and the amount of fuel required to run the unit. The same goes for heaters. However, you must take into account that if guests are uncomfortable or putting their health at risk, they may simply not attend your wedding. A cross breeze, combined with the shade a the tent gives, may be enough to cool your guests. It may not.

Happy Presidents Day to all!

Today's topic is for those brides having a wedding over a long holiday weekend. As soon as you know your wedding date, be sure to mail out "save the date" cards or magnets. Your family and friends will tend to plan their family vacations around long holiday weekends, so make sure you can give them as much notice as possible about your weddng. In addition, make sure that you set up a hotel block of rooms for your wedding guests as far in advance as you can. Hotels tend to book up more quickly during long holiday weekends that other times of the year.

You should also consider a community event or a college event, like family weekend, a holiday in this respect. Hotel rooms will be a hot commodity that weekend, so make sure to check the community calendar and see if there are any other touristy events happening the same weekend as your wedding.

Need help setting up a hotel block? No problem! Your Dream Day Cafe can take care of setting up a hotel block for you at no charge. Just tell us what part of town your wedding will take place in and we'll give you up to three options for your wedding hotel block, the rate we were able to negotiate for your guests per night. In most cases, when you fill that block, you'll get one complimentary room for that night. Call or email us for more information!

If I had a nickel for every time a bride tells me that she is a 'visual person,' I'd be a millionaire!

We always try to do a mini mock for our wedding planning clients. We'll get samples of linens, chargers, napkins, chair covers or chivari chairs from local rental company; have your florist create a centerpiece; and create table numbers, placecards, menus, or whatever other printed pieces you'd like on the table. This gives you a chance to see what the table will look like on the wedding day. It also helps your vendors better read (and correct, if needed) the vision of your wedding tablescape.


mini mock


Actual wedding day tablescape by Marti Thompson, photo by Daniel Michael.

The best time to do a tablescape is at your catering or reception hall tasting, or if you have an event (like a bridal shower) planned for that weekend. That way, you can use the flowers again. Your florist may also have a bridal show that she can use at her booth, or can reuse the flowers in another arrangement for someone else. However you decide to plan that part of things, make sure to give your florist at least three weeks notice so they can order the fresh flowers for you.

Are you considering a photo booth for your wedding reception? During the next few weeks, Your Dream Day Cafe will have a photo booth from Boothographers at its Valley View office. Every bride, groom, couple or wedding vendor coming into the Your Dream Day Cafe can try this booth out for themselves and have a souvenir photo to take home with them. Here I am trying out the booth for myself with Today's Bride's Rachel Yagl, who stopped by to drop off some of their magazines for us. Thanks to James Koorey for shooting this on your I-Phone and posting it to our Facebook Page!!

Congratulations to Michelle King, the winner of our Things Remembered Facebook page contest. Michelle shared with us on our page, http://www.facebook.com/yourdreamdaycafe, about the thing she remembers most about planning her wedding. It was the day it all began -- the day she got engaged!

In her own words:

"The thing I fondly remember is the day I got engaged to my best friend, Jon. It was Christmas break and we were vacationing in Savannah, Georgia with his family. The place was beautiful and romantic but unfortunately it rained every day we were there. On our last day, it was beautiful out and we decided to go to Forsyth Park and get some pictures in front of the fountain. As we were posing Jon... mentioned he was hot, took his jacket off and got down on one knee. I was speechless. I remember his dad was so surprised he had trouble holding the camera still. "What are you doing," he exclaimed. In front of everyone he asked if I would marry him and without hesitation I said yes and leapt into his arms. Later, I found out that everyone in the family knew about it except me. My mother and father were on pins and needles waiting for the call. Finally the last day we were there they got it. Jon’s favorite city in the south now holds a special place in my heart too."



Michelle is the winner of a beautiful set of toasting flutes, serving set and ornament from Things Remembered. Huge thanks to Things Remembered for this beautiful giveaway! Things Remembered, whose corporate headquarters is located in Ohio, has more than 600 locations nationwide and is a great resource for personalized wedding items like frames, toasting flutes, serving sets, jewelry, flasks and cufflinks. For more information, visit www.thingsremembered.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thingsremembered, and on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/TRemembered



Congrats Michelle!

Yesterday wasn’t just Valentine's day, it was our grand opening day! Today is the launch of BridalBites.com, the official blog of Your Dream Day Café, and everything weddings in Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown and Northeast Ohio! This daily blog will showcase area venues, vendors, trends, tips and tricks to make your wedding planning FUN and keep it real. (Remember, planning a wedding is supposed to be fun, so relax & enjoy all these bites of information!)

To celebrate Valentine's Day, Your Dream Day will be producing a bridal gala on April 22 at the Marriott Key Center from 10 to 3 p.m., and the guest hostess will be Ms. Diann Valentine, of weTV's "I Do Over." Each month leading up to the event, we will give away two tickets ($40 value), 2 front row seats to Diann’s presentation and a chance for you and a guest to meet Diann backstage on 4/22. To enter, click here. You may also purchase tickets by clicking here. (Get the Valentine's Day connection now?)

Your Dream Day Café, located in Valley View, offers a complimentary resource library that is open year-round to brides in Cleveland and the surrounding areas. Pick up magazines, tickets to upcoming shows, attend Wedding 101 classes presented by the area’s top wedding vendors, and flip through our vendor resource library, all with the help of a wedding concierge. Your Dream Day Café is a laid back and relaxed environment for planning your wedding, and is modeled after places like The Bridal Bar, I Do Boutique and Dayton Wedding Connection. Your Dream Day Cafe (www.yourdreamdaycafe.com) is owned and operated by wedding planner Kathy Piech-Lukas and Your Dream Day LLC (www.yourdreamday.com), a two-time Knot Best of Weddings winner and four-time Bride’s Choice Award recipient. Your Dream Day LLC has three locations in Ohio, is a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants, International Special Event Society, and the Better Business Bureau, and has planned more than 150 weddings in Ohio since 2004.

Our address is 7735 Granger Road, Valley View, Ohio, and we are open 12 noon to 8 p.m. M-TH, and 12 noon to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. All other times are by appointment. (Although our address is Granger Road, our office is in Canal Center Properties and faces Canal Road. Use the entrance on the corner of Warner Rd and Canal Road. We are the second building, located in the same building as NECA. Our big sign will be up next month.) You can reach us toll free at 866-698-7841. Please stop over to say hello and grab a free cup of coffee when you register as our engagement gift to you!

Coming up this week on Bridal Bites.com

Freeze Frame bouquet preservation opens its new Cleveland showroom.

Coming up next week on BridalBites.com:

Mock Monday Tablescapes from Lasting Impression and L’inique.

Tuesday Tweetchat with Kathy Piech-Lukas about setting a budget & sticking to it!

Spotlights on Chagrin Valley Entertainment, Marriott Key Center and Boothography

Have a great idea for a topic? Let us know by sending an email to yddc@yourdreamday.com.

Happy Planning!! J

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.