Spare You The Details

I got to be quite the restaurant critic by the age of 7. My mom was--and remains--an excellent cook, but she was also a busy business owner and in lieu of one of my mom’s elaborate-for-normal-people dinners, we’d go out. From Chinese takeout to pheasant under glass, I was a little walking Zagat’s guide to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

After church on Sunday, sometimes we would go to The Spice of Life restaurant for the buffet brunch. The Spice of Life was the ne plus ultra of fine dining in Allentown in the late 80s--the sort of place where the waiters made your leftovers into tin foil swans (How darling! How clever!) Everything was perfection—crisp tablecloths and deferential staff and fruit salad presented in a watermelon carved into an alligator—oh! How impressed I was!

Though my tastes have matured and tin foil swans are no longer the height of sophistication, the details are still what makes a special meal or a special event….special.

A lot of people might think hiring a wedding planner is a silly extravagance. Your wedding might be the biggest event you ever put together with hundreds of small tasks and details—it’s okay to call for help! From tying 175 little bows on your invitations to pinning an errant strap on a bridesmaid gown minutes before the church doors open, we’ve done this before and we’re here to pitch in.

And we can find someone to carve alligators out of watermelons.

Not Quite Like J-Lo

In a city where everyone wants to know which Hill office you work in, telling a stranger that you’re a wedding planner raises eyebrows. Most common response: “Oh, you’re like J-Lo!”

Cringe inside. Tight smile.

“Kind of; except for the stealing fiancés part.”

Heather and I came together over our love of throwing parties to create HJ Wedding Planners. While studying for her law degree at George Washington University and planning the weddings of her mother and a childhood friend, Heather conceived the idea of starting a wedding planning business and asked me (erstwhile lobbyist and caterer, hostess with the mostest, and general “creative person”) to go into business with her. After navigating the vagaries of obtaining business licenses and creating LLCs in DC (for which you need not only a law degree, but the tenacity of a bull dog and the patience of Job), we’re in business.

We’ve started this blog to keep you posted on what we do and what we’re up to, ideas we’ve come across, and as a shameless marketing ploy. And to entertain you! Just like J-Lo!