Perfect Touch Custom Weddings

Perfect Touch Custom Weddings in Wichita, Kansas offers both bridal consulting services and wedding officiants (this is great for girls who don’t already have a minister, rabbi, or justice of the peace on hand!). They provide many different services for brides – each according to the type of assistance she needs and size of budget with which she’s working.

Officiant services are $125 for most dates, and Perfect Touch has many officiants available. There is a $35 additional fee if a bride chooses to have a rehearsal and a $50 additional fee for weekends in June, September and December.

Consulting service are available by the hour and in both full service and “day of only” packages. The “day of” packages (more like hiring a “director” to keep things running smoothly the day of your wedding) range from $500 to $1,100. Full-service packages (handling planning details, vendors, budget planning, etc.) are available at three price ranges depending upon the amount of service needed, with rates at $1800, $2800, and $4800. They won’t try to pressure you into a package you don’t need, but instead will customize your package to the vision you have for your wedding.


If you’re still not sure if you need a bridal consultant, Perfect Touch offers an informative, no obligation initial consultation at only $35 - a great way to get your feet wet!

Here are a few words from certified bridal consultant Ronni Johnston:

“What sets us apart, besides our training and membership with the Association of Bridal Consultants is our generous benefits program. Our package services include wholesale pricing on ANYTHING we can buy like invitations, etc; the use of our inventory at no fee; and vendor discounts. So our brides are organized, stress-free and saving money all the way through their wedding!”



Visit their website for more information on services, pricing, availability and to browse their gallery!

You can also contact Ronni directly at PerfectTouchKS@aol.com or by calling (316) 524-3131. Their office is located at 330 S. Pattie in Wichita.

Wichita KS Wedding Ceremony Venue: East Heights Methodist Church

East Heights Methodist truly has one of the most beautiful sanctuaries in Wichita. Though many churches in Wichita do not offer their facilities for non-members' weddings, East Heights does. This shot from the outside shows the elegant stonework and gorgeous columns on the outside (the corner of Douglas and Crestway in College Hill). The next photo (taken in the 60s - sorry, it was the only one I could find!) is a shot of the santuary from the balcony. This room is much larger than it appears, and the columns lining the perimeter are breathtaking. It really does look like something right out of a movie!

Speaking of movies, do you remember Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner? East Heights has the most amazing Wedding Coordinator I have ever worked with! Like J.Lo's character, she comes alongside her clients with as much enthusiam as the brides themselves, and she doesn't miss a thing! If you are considering hiring a wedding coordinator, I cannot reccommend her highly enough. Her name is Charissima Albright, and her e-mail address is ccralbright@sbcglobal.net. Though she is the exclusive coordinator for East Heights, she is also the owner of Tie the Knot and is available privately for wedding and reception consulting. Actually, she rocks so much that she deserves her own post. I'm not joking. I'll work on that this week.

Not sure you need a wedding planner? Ask yourself these questions:

Do I have time to do all the leg work? (Calling vendors, sites, musicians, etc.)

Do I have the money? (Yes, you will save money doing it all yourself, but to some, it's worth the cost to avoid the headache)

Am I brave enough to be firm with unruly vendors, wedding guests, etc.? (Some brides are just naturally timid or don't have a family member willing to play "sherriff")

Do I have an understanding of the inner-workings of wedding ceremonies and receptions? Can I corral family members and friends to be in the right place at the right time? (It's a lot more complicated than you might think - if you're not detail oriented and don't have time to research, you might have more peace of mind outsourcing the role of "director")

Many churches will already have a staff person available to you for the reasons listed above, you can choose to use thier services or not. You may also choose to hire an additional bridal consultant - it's totally up to you!

For East Hights pricing information, rental guidelines, and available dates, call the church office at 682-0375.

Bridal Open House at Eberly Farm

Eberly Farm (at 13111 W. 21st Street in West Wichita) is hosting a Bridal Open House two weeks from today on Sunday, November 16th from 1:00-4:00 pm. If you're looking for a scenic location for your wedding ceremony and reception, this is the spot! Admission is free, so bring your mom, bridesmaids or bridal consultant and ALL your questions!

Refreshments will be served and several vendors (listed below) will be on hand. Rental items (linens, centerpieces, chairs, arches) will be on display, as well.

Vendors scheduled to appear:

Advanced DJ Service
Bradley Paper
Chocolate Cascades
The Flower Factory
Woolf Photography
J&J Fine Liquors: 316.722.1222
Dan's Country Carriage: 316.796.0127
The Archbold Duo: 316.295.0448

For more information, e-mail info@eberlyfarm.com or call 722.3580.

Wichita KS Wedding/Reception Venue: Central Riverside Park

Riverside Park in Downtown Wichita is a great spot for an outdoor wedding and reception. The park itself is over 100 years old and has just undergone a major rennovation. I have seen weddings performed in 3 areas: in the middle of the lawn, in the gazebo, and in the grandstand/stage area. Granted, it takes an especially brave bride to plan an outdoor ceremony and reception in Kansas - the only thing certain about the weather is its unpredictability! Fortunately, there is also a sheltered facility available. The Park Villa (pictured above) is located nxt to the gorgeous Lily Pond and offers an 800 square foot room for a ceremony or reception. Since it is a municipal property, you may have to get additional licenses for tents, fireworks, etc. However, one of the great things about using one of our city parks is that the rental fees are a fraction (and I mean only 10-30%) of what you'll pay for some of the other ceremony or reception sites in town. More information on rental guidelines is here.

Downloadable Application for Wedding/Rehearsal

Cool Winter Themed Wedding Favors

Yes, that was a pun. And, yes, I’m just as bad as Target rolling out my Christmas wares in October – but the truth is that if your wedding is in the Fall, you’ve already made arrangements for your favors. This is for you winter brides looking for the perfect little token of appreciation for your guests:


First up, the Personalized Winter Mint Tins. Recently featured in InStyle Magazine, this adorable favor comes filled with heart-shaped peppermints and is sure to remind your guests of the fabulous time they had at your nuptials. Tins may be customized with your names and wedding date or even for another wedding event (“Audrey’s Bridal Shower”).



Next, these precious Mini Felt Winter Mittens come in a set of 6 and are hand stitched in blue with a tiny silver jingle bell. Obviously, winter wedding are perfect for a Tiffany Blue color scheme, and these favors fir right in! I wouldn’t say that these favors are necessarily useful for anything though, unless your guests hung them as ornaments on their tree.



Finally, these "Icing on the Cake" Winter Wedding-Cake Candles
are also, too cute. They come in a set of 4 and, once again, are perfect for a blue/white/silver theme. Looking good enough to eat, the ice-blue wedding-cake candle, delicately decorated with white snowflakes, rests on a porcelain platter encased in a winter-themed gift box and matching “For You” tag, all accented with a sheer organza bow.

One more thing worth mentioning: if you don’t yet have your guest book, take a peek at this Snowflake Winter Guest Book and Pen Set. When I got married, I skipped the guest book altogether, because I HATE having to stand in line and sign my name like I’m there to vote or get my driver’s license…but post-nuptials I learned why it’s so important. There were 250 people at my wedding. I probably had time speak with 75 and recognize an additional 50 faces – so now I have no record of who was kind enough to give up the evening of June 3, 2006 to share with us. Consider yourselves warned ;-)

Planning Timeline: Invitations

You’ve got a list a mile long of all your wedding to-dos; in fact, you’re pretty sure there are 37 additional things you forgot to put on the list that MUST be completed in the next 6 months. So, where to start? After you’ve nailed down your ceremony & reception site and wedding date, you’re ready to getting moving on invitations!

Shop Around: Take a week or two to visit stationers in your area. Also, be sure to look online as many boutique designers, such as Wedding Invitations by Wedding Paper Divas have full-service websites. If you can’t quite decide between your top 3 choices, most paper companies offer to send samples so you can get the full effect – but keep in mind that it can take up to two weeks for some samples to arrive. Here in Wichita, our top pick for crafty DIY brides is Bradley Paper located at 8336 E. 21st Street. Places like Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, Wal-Mart & Target have also begun to offer easy-to-personalize wedding collateral lines.

Place Your Order: Once you’ve found the perfect invites, don’t waste any time ordering (and try not to order any later than three months before your wedding date). Allow up to 6 weeks for delivery (most companies deliver in 2-4). It’s important to order wedding invitations as soon as you are able for this reason: mistakes happen. If you allow a “cushion”, you won’t have to freak out if your save-the-dates are a different color than your invitations or if they spelled “Catherine” with a “K” instead of a “C”. Note: If you do end up with a stationery snag, don’t be a brat when you call the company. Yes, this is your big day. Yes, you’re paying good money for their product. But the fact of the matter is that the 19-year-old receptionist had nothing to do with the misprint and you’ll catch more flies with honey.

Envelope Stuffing & Labeling: Unless you’ve been a bridesmaid in the past, you’ve probably never experienced the tedium of delicately cramming the invitation, RSVP card, direction card, registry card and that flimsy little sheet of tissue paper into the inner envelope - and then into the outer envelope…250 times. It’s not a bad idea to begin this process 8-10 weeks before you plan to mail the invitations. As busy as you’ll be balancing work, family, and wedding planning it’s wise to plan ahead and give yourself some extra time – or rope in your ‘maids, mom, and sisters for a night of assembly line fun (she with the best penmanship should be reserved for the actual addressing). Don’t forget the stamps! Your local post office offers special postage specifically for weddings, so be sure to ask for it! Note: Though food & drinks make any pre-wedding activity more fun, keep them as far from your assembly line as possible. That red wine stain won’t come out of 250 pearl and ivory invitations.

Mailing: You’re almost finished! Since we all know that the postal service delivers top-notch precision and accuracy when handling our mail, you would be wise to mail out-of-town guests’ invites 6 weeks before the wedding date. In-town guests can typically be mailed 4 weeks out – but I say, why make TWO trips to the post office? Just dump them all in your nearest blue box at the 6 week mark to be safe. That gives everyone a little more time to RSVP – which means fewer last minute calls to your caterer to up your dinner count.