take the key and lock her up....

Okay, so you guys are all probably thinking this inspiration board is crazy! I just had to do something special for my convict bride to be...be sure to see the letters below that inspired it all!
I was thinking we could incorporate some real fun elements like these earrings by crumpetcake






We could play the police for ambient background music..HA!
..and we definitely could thumb print everyone at the door as the guest book. Perfect! Little clocks would make excellent favors. Oh yes..I know you're following me..."Doing time", so appropriate. We would serve a fine meal of crusty breads and cute personalized labeled bottles of water of course! The stripes on this Preston + Sturgess cake just pulls it all together. For the exit...I'm thinking vintage POLICE car and handcuffs.

So, I have officially had my first wedding scam. Who knew there was such a thing? Planners beware! This is the email that I just received a couple days ago from a so called bride to be in Germany. Lot's of details in this first email as you can see...and it just got more detailed in the emails that followed.

My name is Kim Lohan, from Germany,Hamburg (Europe ).. I will be coming over to California with my Husband James Phillips who's French by nature but has actually naturalised in Germany. We'll be moving to the US to start a new life because my husband to be just got a job with the Coca-cola Co. in CA and i have made plans of opening my new kiddies fashion store in CA as soon as we are settled in. Just before then we will be getting married on the 7th of December , 2008 and we have decided to get married in THE STATES since we're moving on and we pretty know our new move would be wonderful. We will be needin' a good wedding planner to take care of our wedding event both ceremony and reception for our guests and our convenience because we require the best for the best memories fost on our wedding day. We prefer the ceremony and reception event to take place in a location and we are expecting at most 60 guests on the day of our occasion because most of our families in Europe and in the United Kingdom will be present for this wonderful occassion. Also, we would like you to know we prefer the reception and ceremony to take place in a location for the convenience of our guests and would love the ceremony to be in a garden setting and the reception in an indoor location in San Marcos ,CA or surrounding areas because the weather is unpredictable at this time of the year. We haven't made any venue reservations yet but we are sure the wedding planner can do that on on our behalf as we are looking for a customized wedding planning package that involves virtually every aspect of planning except the band which we are already making arrangements for. The total wedding budget is 25,000$US. Please let us know if you can help work with us for the success of our event and can help work within our budget as we're not opened to spending a dollar more than the above bidget? Thanks and God bless, kim

Here's the next one....
Hello Heather, Thanks for your response! We will definitely love to work with you!! Oh and we will understand if we are only able to have an indoor wedding in December because of the weather as we didn't realise this before and an evening event will be perfect indoors

Well i'm used to calling James my husband because we are getting married and nothing's changing that fact 'cause we have come a long way together. My husband and i will be arriving Town on the 9th of November this year which is the only time we'll be available for a face to face consultation because we would like to finish our work here and also spend more time with our family and loved ones before coming as we might not be chanced to spend as much time with them.. we would like the ceremony and reception to take place in the same location.. Preferred time for ceremony is 6pm and no traditions or heritage involved. The budget is US$25000!

We are expecting nothing less than 55 guests and at most 65people.. Our preferred wedding style is formal. There'll be 3 bridesmaids including maid of honor, 3 groomsmen including the bestman and 2 flower girls. A ring bearer We don't have a color scheme yet. Six of our favorite colors are pink, orange, green, blue, violet and lemon. Hmm five colors i don't like are red, brown, grey, black and i dont know any other. We don't have any theme yet we can always make that out later. The preferred time for reception is 8:30pm. As for catering the seated/plated dinner is perfect. Our food preference is sea food. We would prefer a fruit cake with fresh or silk flowers incorporated in the design of the cake. No grooms cake required. The cake should be like 4 tiers Flowers should be included in the centrepieces.
We have a specific photography requirement but we don't know if they do such in the US that is to make every part of the wedding like a story, a story book photography. Please let us know if we can find this type of photographer? Our entertainment band will be coming in from Benin Republic , It's a french coupe de calien african band, they're marvelous.We will need the DJ to be present during the reception to provide background sounds.
An itinerary put together for the guests will help them alot for them to be able to make plans for the proper hotel rooms and costs before their arrival to the states to avoid any form of trouble with that in future. We'll be coming with the pastor of our church who will be the ceremony officiant on that day. Okay dear that's it for now, we hope you're able to make our event as wonderful as we've dreamed it would be.

The cost of your services is okay by us. We will like you to start planning as soon as possible..We'll be needing also your detailed contact information that your name to make deposit check payable and mailing instructions not a PO BOX to have it sent to you. Have a pleasant day! Sincerely Kim

This just gets crazier!
Hello Heather
Great to read from you again! We're well pleased!! Well we are easy to get to know and as a matter of fact we are opened to be read like a book.
James and i met in Paris , in the year 1998 and that was how it all started. I travelled to Paris to see my grand ma and eventually met James in my grand ma's mansion, he was her personal accountant. To my surprise he spoke english very well unlike other french nationals around and he was the only other person i could talk to except my grand ma. He was nice enough to have me say a yes to an invitation for dinner after a few days that we've met and that was how he started getting closer to my heart and after my visit to my grand ma's i was back in Germany and James didnt stop calling me everytime to wish me well and tell me how much he missed me, he didnt give up on me even when there's so much distance between us and one day he promised to visit me in Germany which he did. This actually triggered my feelings for him and we started a relationship from there and got engaged in July 2002..
In February 2003 he got a job with the Coca-cola company in Hamburg as an Auditor and ever since we've been together as one. We share so many things in common and we love kids alot though we haven't started giving birth yet until after our marriage.
More about us, we are christians, well mannered, easy going, great sense of humour, peace loving, quite out going, we love flowers. We love to swim, dance, go out to the movies, love sports, James loves water skiing and i love skating.
We would also love to know more about you and your family, are you married, do you have any child? I hope this isn't prying though if it is then you don't have to answer.

Actually it was a friend of mine in Spain who just got married in New York that referred me to the Website i viewed your advert and eventually visited your website and to our surprise you got a great chance of working with us as your style is preferably intriguing.

Please let us know if this is pretty okay by you, we have attached a picture to this message for you to put a face with our e-mails. Have a pleasant day!

Sincerely
Kim
and here was my response after I realized what was really going on....
Dear Kim,
Oh...you sound like such a kind and honest person. To read more about me and my family go to http://www.ic3.gov/

Hopefully, you'll learn more about me there...and we can begin our journey together making plans for your wedding. Can't wait! I'm glad one of your favorite colors is orange...because I have something perfect in mind for the bridal party to wear with sparkly silver cuffs. I think it would go great with a black and white theme and we could incorporate the use of sirens. What do you think?

see you soon!

amorology

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?

My husband actually saved the day. He found out this was a scam when he googled the band. The scam is that they send a cashier's check for the deposit along with an extra $3000.00 deposit to be sent to the band in Africa. When the federal reserve discovers the check is a fraud, the "band" has been paid and I'm on the hook for the money.... I feel so bad for the other event planners that have already been taken advantage of. Has anyone heard of this?