Leavin' On A Jet Plane!

But I know when I'll be back again!

I am headed out on Monday AM for Houston, Texas! We are working a conference there - it should be a blast!!!

If you need anything in the meantime, I'll have limited access to email, and the phones will be transferred to me directly!

See you after the 14th!

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If it Sounds too Good to be True....

It probably is. As a bride it seems that you have allllll of these vendors vying for your attention and your business. (or at least they should be)And sometimes a vendor just seems too good to be true. Maybe they offer so much more than another did, or they offer unlimited this, or unlimited that... just remember the ole saying, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Recently, I met with a bride, it was her initial appointment with me, and she wanted my opinion on a vendor. We'll call him ABC Photography - and she wanted to know if I ever worked with him, and I hadn't. She wanted know if I ever heard of him, and I hadn't. Not his company or him.... to me these are red flags, I've been a wedding consultant for 14 years, I know most every vendor within 50 miles of my office.

She showed me what he was offering, and basically it was unlimited hours, a huge album, 2 photographers, 2 large canvas's for her wall, a mother's book, and several print packages, along with an engagement session for $1000. What a deal, right!

Wrong! This is a huge red flag - HUGE! She never even though to ask for references, and trusted that the images she was shown were his. Don't be afraid to ask! Get references, look at samples - and remember if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, it's just probably, a duck.

I found out this week, he was arrested for fraud.

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Do you need a Wedding Consultant?

I don't know do you? This is a question that often comes up, but most of the time the bride thinks that she doesn't because she has it all handled. And maybe she does. I mean tons of weddings happen everyday without a wedding planner and those people are married.

But if you have a lot of details that need attention, or understand that you don't have control of timing, or your vendors on your wedding day, and you want to be a guest at your own party and not worry about IF the cake showed up, or IF the DJ has the right timeline, or IF the photographer is on the same page as the caterer. Than maybe you might want to consider a wedding consultant.

There are a lot of details leading up to your wedding day that need attention - maybe a "day of" package is what you need - or maybe something with some minimal consultation?

Your mom probably - and I am just guessing here - wants to be a guest at your wedding, and you probably want to enjoy your friends and family that traveled from near and far to see you. So just letting go of the worries of getting things done and trust that a professional has "your back" - so to speak.

Some brides say that they'll trust a girlfriend to handle the planning on her wedding day - but one thing to consider is that your girlfriend may have never planned a wedding in her life. She also wants to have fun at your wedding... and she doesn't know your vendors - so in theory this is a great idea, but it may not work out how you'd planned.

Maybe giving up some responsibility on your wedding weekend to the professionals that you trust will allow you to fully enjoy your wedding! It's not an expensive idea, it's priceless - it's a day in your life that only happens once, you want it to be perfect, trust the professionals that specialize in perfect.

** All photographs Photography by Rebecca

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When Life Brings you Lemons...

We've all heard the saying, when life brings you lemons - make lemonade. But what about when life brings you soggy black beans? You make Black Bean Hummus!

The same goes for Wedding Planning - if you find yourself in a situation where you are finding that everything is going swimmingly and you know your budget is unlimited and no matter what happens in life you can buy yourself out of it - that's fantastic.

But unfortunately for the rest of us, we usually have a budget - when putting together your budget know where your priorities lay. If it is with the flowers than know in your mind and on your budget that more than the average will be placed in the floral budget. If you LOVE LOVE LOVE a fancy schmancy photographer - than you might need to budget $5500 or more for a photographer.

And one little quick tip, don't force your vendors to do something they don't feel comfortable with - if they have never "done it that way" and say that one or two times, I wouldn't forcet them to, let your vendors stick to what they are good at, and consider maybe that vendor isn't the one for you.

But if you know in advance you won't wind up with a bucket of lemons.

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