Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Recently we’ve seen a lot of activity on our blog of brides searching for upcoming “Running of the Brides” events held at various Filene’s Basements. So we thought we’d post the remaining dates for this year.
Chicago, IL – One N. State Street
Friday, July 23, 2010 — 8am to 9pm
Washington, D.C. – Mazza Gallerie
Friday, July 30, 2010 — 8am to 9pm
Boston, MA – Hynes Convention Center
Friday, August 20, 2010 — 8am to 8pm
Cleveland, OH – Harvard Park Shopping Center
Friday, August 27, 2010 — 8am to 9pm
Check their website for helpful tips if you plan to venture out to one of the sales. Good luck and happy shopping!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
I’ve been hesitant about writing this post but felt that it was necessary. I visit other wedding planners’ websites as I meet new people at various networking events, conferences, etc. While the majority seem professional, a small few make me question their skills and ethics. I cannot count the times that I’ve gone to a website page titled “Portfolio” and seen stock photos or photos from other planners. Recently I visited a local Baltimore wedding planner’s portfolio page and found photos used in a rental linen company’s catalog. So I flipped through my catalog (which gives photo credit to the photographers and event designer) to see if they were indeed the owner. Sure enough, they were not!
Dictionary.com defines portfolio as pieces of creative work collected to be shown to potential customers or employers…as in “the artist had put together a portfolio of his work”, “every actor has a portfolio of photographs”. Webster.com defines portfolio as a selection of a student’s work compiled over a period of time and used for assessing performance or progress. Both definitions suggest that the “work” is your own not someone else’s.
In my opinion, this practice is misleading to a prospective client and totally unethical. So here are my suggestions to both brides/grooms and wedding planners:
To brides/grooms: If you schedule a meeting with a wedding planner based on things you saw in his or her website portfolio, print out those photos and take them with you to the consultation. Make sure you ask to see their portfolio. A creditable planner will present it without you asking. If you don’t see ANY of the photos included in their website portfolio, there’s a good chance they weren’t theirs to begin with. If you do see some of the photos, ask questions such as which venue did the event take place, how many guests, how large was the bridal party, etc. They will know the answers if they actually worked on that wedding or event.
To wedding planners: Using stock photos as decorative pictures on your website is somewhat acceptable however, including them or photos of someone else’s work in your website portfolio is not. The potential client will assume it is your work. I understand that when you’re first starting out you may not have your own photos to include on your website gallery. So instead, do not include a page on your website for a gallery until you do or include the page but say “coming soon”.
This is just my two cents. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject.
Monday, May 24, 2010
I recently met with potential clients who were in the beginning stages of their wedding planning. During the initial meeting we discussed their preliminary guest count. They planned to invite approximately 190 people to their wedding BUT hoped only 115 would actually RSVP yes. That means they expected 75 guests (roughly 40%) not to attend their wedding. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve heard this.
Some couples do it because of budget, some because of limited space at the venue they’ve chosen and the list goes on. Let me just say this is not a realistic way to handle your guest list. There, I said it…and here’s why.
Venue: if your venue can only hold 125 guests with a dance floor but you invite 190 you run the risk that you’ll end up with more guests than your venue can accommodate. You will have to figure out what to do with the “additional” guests. Where will they sit? Will you have to call and disinvite some who have already rsvp’d yes? Will you have to change your venue? Talk about stressing out during your wedding planning!
Budget: If the budget for your wedding reception can only accommodate
115 guests, you’ve invited 190 and let’s say 150 people rsvp to attend your wedding, you could have a financial disaster on your hands. Will you have to cut back on other items for your wedding? Will you have to ask parents for additional funds? Will you have to take out a loan? Or again, will you have to disinvite some who’ve already said they’re planning to attend your wedding?
Moral of the story is…you cannot create more space where there is none and you can’t always add additional funds to your budget. So plan your guest list accordingly.
Happy planning!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Meet Piyumi and Tom! I met this wonderful couple back in January. They recently had their engagement photo session in Annapolis, MD with Jen of JLowe Photos. Below are a few of my favorite shots. You can view more of their engagement session here and watch the slideshow here.
I can’t wait for their Labor Day weekend wedding.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
In addition to the educational portion of Eventology there were also fun networking events. Sunday night, Jennifer of A Regal Affair organized what she called “The Smart Girls Dinner” at Ruth’s Chris. It was great to meet attendees prior to the start of the conference. I think there were a total of about 40 of us eating, drinking and having a great time getting to know each other.
After our first day of classes, Katasha of K. Sherrie + Co and the organizer of the annual Eventology conference arranged a cocktail party which also included an eye lash bar courtesy of Nashara from Ready to Blush.
And yes there were guys there {photos below via Jen Lynne Photography}
After the cocktail party we headed over to Jillian’s for karaoke and pool also organized by Jennifer of A Regal Affair. I started the evening thinking I would only watch others do karaoke however I was somehow talked into singing…twice. I was too chicken to do a solo so our first group sang En Vogue’s “Hold On (To Your Love)” while our second group sang/rapped Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison”. I had a great time!
I was surprised by how many people actually participated but the show stopper of the evening was the duet of Saundra Hadley of Planning Forever Events and Eric Kmetz of Epic Motion {photo below via Jen Lynne Photography}.
Hope you enjoyed my recaps of day one, day two and the fun events of Eventology 2010. If you’d like to see more photos check out Jen Lynne Photography’s blog posts here and here. And you HAVE to watch the video coverage of the conference on Epic Motion’s blog. They did an awesome job recapping day one and day two and they even did a blooper reel.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
We began day two with breakfast and then it was time to hit the ground running. Our first workshop was “The Art of Wedding Design” with Sasha Souza of Sasha Souza Events. Anyone who’s seen her work knows that her design skill are off the hook (or the bomb dot com as mentioned several times during Eventology lol). She gave us great tips on how to design an event that truly reflects our clients and we received a copy of her new book. SCORE! The next workshop was “Geek is Chic” with Terrica Skaggs of Cocktails & Details and Chic Wedding Geek. Terrica is a legend in the wedding industry for being the go to person for all things tech-y. She gave us so much information and products to streamline our business and create a great experience for our clients. The last workshop was “Building Your Team” with Lara Casey of Bliss Events Group, Southern Weddings Magazine, Lara Casey Reps, etc. She provided us with a few questions to make us think about whether we really need to increase our team.
As day two came to a close I had to say goodbye to some of my wedding planning friends as they headed to the airport. It was great to see old friends I’ve known for awhile, friends from Twitter that I’ve never met in person and meet new people from all over the country.
Check back for my final recap of the conference. We aren’t just all work and no play. We had fun events each night of the conference and all I’ll say is…us wedding industry folks sure know how to have fun 
{All photos from the official Eventology photographer Jen Lynne Photography}
Friday, April 30, 2010
My apologies for taking so long to do my Eventology recap. It’s been pretty busy since I returned from Indianapolis. So without further ado…
We started our first morning of the conference with the Welcome Address from Linnyette Richardson-Hall of Premiere Event Management and Ali Phillips of Engaging Events by Ali. They had great icebreakers so that we could get to know a little about others at our table. They also encouraged us to get the most out of our time there…education, networking and fun.
After lunch we moved right into our full day of learning. Our first workshop was “Brand Success” with Harmony Walton of Bridal Bar. Harmony’s core message was basically once you know who YOU are and what you do best then you can determine your target client. Also, your brand, your appearance and how you present your business (website, business collateral, etc) should be consistent and cohesive. The next workshop was “Priced to Sell” with Saundra Hadley of Planning Forever Events and Saundra Hadley Sales Coach. Pricing in the wedding industry is always a hot topic and Saundra gave us some great tools on how to price and sell ourselves in any market. The last workshop of the day was “LawGLOSS” with NaShara Mitchell of Ready to Blush. Although NaShara is a makeup artist, she is also a soon-to-be attorney. She addressed contracts and trademarks, copyrights, etc for intellectual property.
Day one provided me with tons of information and I have tons of notes to prove it. Check back for a recap of day 2.
{All photos from the official Eventology photographer Jen Lynne Photography}
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