The Wedding Planner

Monica Rae Gill can help. As owner of The White Box of Wedding Design, Gill provides prospective brides, bridesmaids and mothers-of-the-brides with resources on how to design the perfect wedding and offers advice on wedding etiquette, budgets and schedules.

Gill’s chic studio, with high Cream City brick walls that complement the pale furniture, is home to books, magazines and portfolios of the best wedding vendors to help plan the big day.

What services are offered at The White Box?
The White Box is a matchmaker’s librarian. We match a bride’s personality and wishes to the appropriate budget and vendor. We’re like a fairy godmother to help you with whatever you need for your wedding. This is a fresh perspective on wedding planning. There’s no pressure, as in the past.

And how do brides, bridesmaids or mothers-of-the-brides access your services?
A bride, or any member of the party, can come in here and pick our brains. I’ve met and talked to each of the vendors, so we are able to help match them to a personal style. Being a former writer for Veil magazine has helped me establish relationships with these local vendors. We have a desire for quality over quantity, to make everything as beautiful as the bride envisions it.

Do contemporary brides desire something different than brides of the past?
The new generation of brides coming in is not into the old way of wedding planning. They want to be educated and hands on. They want to be involved in this collaborative style. We try to draw the couple’s own style out, what’s unique to them, so they can receive all the information they need.

Is there a distinct advantage to using a wedding designer?
There’s a whole design process that really goes into planning a beautiful event, and we convey our sense of design in this space, accommodating any bride on any budget. We are a liaison between the vendor and the bride. The earlier a bride comes to us, the more we can help her with a budget that uses her money wisely, for what she wants. Every bride has a different style and what’s most important to her. They can take our advice or leave it, and the bride can come and go from this resource.

And this is why wedding design is essential with The White Box?
We want to be the wedding resource center for wedding parties. The celebration of a marriage is really special and beautiful. So we’re here to help relieve the stress of this time and the day so the bride can concentrate on preparing for her marriage, this very special event in her life.

The White Box of Wedding Design is located at 522 N. Water St., Suite 202, and is open Tuesday-Thursday 12-7 p.m.; Friday 12-6 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call (414) 763-7480 or sit www.whiteboxwedding.com.

Monica Rae Gill | Photo by M Three Studio