MY YEAR END TOP 10 THINGS TO REMEMBER - 2020

The last year has been such a gift and I am grateful that I have been in healthy position in all senses of the word. I know that all the people reading this cannot say the same, especially those in the event industry. Oh there were blows, believe me, but perspective was sustained and silver linings appreciated. Without discrediting the hardships that others have endured in 2020, I do know whatever happens to you happens for you. This is my saying of sayings 24/7 and has been for years. You have to turn your circumstances on their head, facing you, like a box of paints standing still, waiting for you to either be reactive or create. You may have to feel a ton of shit but hard feelings don’t hurt you, they only make you stronger - it’s not feeling them, holding them, hiding that will.

Some years I post my top ten things to remember and sometimes I keep them to myself. Going all in for 2020-2021. I am in love with life and all it has to offer and all I have to offer it in return. Maybe the snow is making me glow this week - I am SO pumped.

Check back before the thirty-first, as this blog is one of two installments for New Year’s End. In the next I will tweak this life hack list and deliver you some of my subjective wedding hack lessons.

  1. Whatever happens to you, happens for you.

  2. Where your attention goes, energy flows, and that energy compounds and so becomes your life. Another nice way of saying, ‘the entirety of your experience will be determined by the quality of your mind’. (I meditate daily. I don’t know how I ever managed without!)

  3. It’s wise to drop all stories so that you can first see things as they are. First you have to realize where you are holding stories, bringing them into rooms with yourself and other people. How are you perhaps enabling another person’s story because it serves your own story? Then when you drop them all, you realize just how much ‘okay’, ‘validation’ and ‘enough’ there truly is for everyone. 

  4. There are no problems as long as there are solutions. The only problem is that you have yet to find your way to courage. 

  5. Boundaries isn’t a bad word and they serves the other people as well. 

  6. Long term goals are more generous than short term goals. One day it will be okay if you piss people off in the short term because you are going to create, achieve or do something that will benefit them more tomorrow. 

  7. Being interested is a lot more loving, trustworthy, genuine and productive than trying to be interesting. 

  8. Time and health are all we have. That is a sobering, scary and strengthening one to digest fully and reread daily on a sticky note posted to your front door…not that you should be going anywhere in 2020 except for a good long walk but you know what I mean. 

  9. Show up to connect, rather than control or coerces to power.  How can you know what you are going to offer next when you have not digested what the other person has sent your way? Living generously and well is just like the craft of acting, living right in the moment. Acting powerful or being defensive is not going to protect you from anything but move you farther from you goal. The only protection from anything you will ever have is your ability to face things head on, without defense, soft. 

  10. Resistance is the only pain…Another common way of saying the same thing as above. So true. And there is no BUT, only AND. 

As always, ignore my dyslexic grammar. I think pace and personality are more important anyway.

I love and forgive you 2020 just don’t come back here again.

XO

Ashley D.

NICOLE + TERRY | Glenmere Mansion | Hudson Valley | June 2017

Check back late Spring/early Summer as this wedding will appear in the pages of a national magazine. To be continued....

Nicole and Terry's wedding has made our blog or shall I say our "comeback to blogging"! We use to love blogging but over time it began to only take us away from our clients and real work. Yet, you've all asked, so we are responding! Besides 2017 was just a KILLER YEAR for our weddings and other events, how can we not share the love - the beautiful pictures, the stories of sentiment, the fun, the camaraderie and also, our great appreciation for the work that we do!

Nicole and Terry's wedding was off the charts, not because of its beautiful design, stellar vendor roster and exquisite venue (okay the venue is pretty stellar), but truly because of how much love and time Ashley and the staff put into this wedding with the mother of the Bride, Anita Donofrio. 

Anita came to us after meeting with seven other planners which she reminded us of very often! We don't state this to not be classy but in doing so she emphasized that our skill set was apparent at our first meeting and also, more importantly, she felt that Ashley listened to her well. That is the take way and the biggest compliment on many levels. Anita, Ashley, and Julia, truly got on like best buds and major kudos to her daughter, Bride to be, Nicole, for letting go of the reigns in order to have a less stressful year as a full time professor and let her mother have fun! She gave into the element of surprise and in the end, happy she was! It did help some that Nicole and Anita have similar tastes in terms of aesthetics. We'd say Nicole only intimately knew about a good 25% of the wedding details, as they pertained to music and her own bridal preparations. In the end Nicole, Terry, and their children had a blast. It was irrelevant that this wedding was black tie and high end. The love was felt by all and the atmosphere was relaxed, warm and magical! 

Thank you to all our wonderful vendors who are listed at the bottom of this blog post. First however, take a look at a look at the gorgeous photos below. To see more on this wedding you can also visit the Blog of The Day, formerly named Ira Lippke Studios. Photography of this Wedding + Reception was taken by Nathan Smith of The Day. 

Event Planning & Design |Ashley Douglass Events

Photography | Nathan Smith, The Day

Videography | Clark & Walker

Venue | Glenmere Mansion

Catering | Laurence Craig Catering

Florist | Fleurs NYC

Tent | The Greenwich Tent Company

Band | Ground Control from Elan Artists

Cake | Lulu Cake Boutique

Lighting | Social Event Decor

Hair & Makeup | Arleigh Cole Hair and Makeup

Gown | A Little Something White

Invitations & Day-of Paper | Social Alchemy 

Rentals | Party Rental LTD

Rentals | Nuage Designs

Rentals | La Tavola

 

The city or not the city, that is the question

The majority of our wedding clients currently reside in a major city so we debate the “city or not” question often. Everyone has a budget, whether it is $100k or $300k or more. Every choice, especially your venue and local, affects your next choice.

Read More