Spring Fix---Like a junky

I need a spring fix and fast! Snow and ice; ice and snow, it is blurring into one and the same! Help!!!!!

How about this---Big pale Pink Cabbage Roses with Pink Peonies, Lilacs and Lily of the Valley all tied up with a gorgeous satin ribbon. AHHHHHHHHHH, I feel better all ready!

How about Tulips of every hot color interspersed with bear grass and tied up with a hot pink and orange checkered ribbon? I think I am starting to thaw out............

More of the Sweet 16 party

My girlfriend really knows how to decorate! I get to come along for the ride and do the little touches.

Lot's of dancing, lots of food, and beautiful decorations.

A beautiful candle arrangement

This was so fun to create! It was at an Indian Sweet 16 Party on New Year's Eve Night.

Why don't we have celebrations like this when we turn 16?

I think I got a sewing kit!

Visit our web site

I love weddings so much that I created a web site to service all of Iowa! Come visit us! You can even win a $1200.00 Wedding Planning and Decorating Package. www.weddingsiniowa.com

Elegance and money

When I plan weddings, I get told all of the time, I just can't afford the wedding I want with all the glitz and glamour! My comment back? Why not?
Elegance has nothing to do with the size of your bank account and everything to do with the attention to details for your guests.
The best weddings I have ever been to were the ones where the guests felt pampered, well cared for, and special. The DJ's have actually had to shut the party down!
The bride and groom talked to their guests, danced with them and really made an effort to make them feel very welcomed!
Now that is true elgance and glamour!

More bridal Shows

There are more and more Bridal Shows cropping up nowadays for the wedding couple. Most bridal shows promise to help the couples plan their weddings. What most of them do is bring as many vendors together in the space alloted and then ask them to hand out flyers and serve food. (There is big money to be made in bridal shows!)
Now, don't get me wrong. The more shows the better for the couples, but when a couple is really ready to book a service or a vendor, then attending a show that showcases professional vendors in an elegant and more intimate setting where conversation is encouraged and calendars are consulted is a great deal for wedding couples and vendors alike. Where can you find such shows?
Check out: http://www.weddingsiniowa.com/Shows%20and%20Events.html

Big Show-Little Show

I was recently visiting a Minneapolis / St. Paul Bridal show. It is a very well-run show with lots of vendors all vying for bridal dollars. Brides would look and take business cards, sample cake and ask questions.
Reception venues had their available dates posted and DJ's played their music all to entice the wedding planning process.
One thing that I noticed is that whether a show is large or small, one thing remains the same---all wedding couples want to make smart choices and be pampered on their wedding day. Vendors, take note---excellent client service, a reputable reputation, and integrity goes a long way towards a couple choosing you for their event celebration!

Contracts

I had a bride contact me a couple of days ago to ask if there was anything she could do about her contract with the caterer. She asked him to be at the reception by 5:30 pm, but he didn't actually arrive until 7:30 pm.
Ouch!
Dinner was served very late to half of the reception crowd as the other half had decided not to wait around. Phone calls to the caterer did not produce results since the caterer was adamant that he wrote down to be at the reception by 7:30 pm.
She asked if she could get her money back for the half uneaten dinners.
"What time did your contract specify that your caterer should be at the reception venue?"
"We didn't write it down."
Ouch #2!

Please get everything written down on your contracts! Time, menu, who is responsible for what, costs, etc.
A contract is made to protect the vendor as well as the couple. What is written down will hold up in a court of law; written proof should there be any wrong doing.

Internet dress buying

I have two web sites, so I am fairly respectful of the online business. With a literal touch of the button (mouse), you can go anywhere in the world, see anything, buy anything. But for all of our modern technology, buying the most important dress of your life (your wedding gown) online is a ridiculous notion to me.
Why wouldn't a bride want to touch, feel, slip into, or be fussed over when purchasing hwe wedding gown?
Your local bridal boutique wants your business; she will find the gown that you want; that you look great in and feel like a princess in when it all settles into place.
She will help you with alterations, suggest the perfect accessories, and slip that perfect shoe into place. In short, your local bridal boutique will help you be the queen that you so richly deserve being on your special day. Not the discount bridal wholesaler that only knows you as a number; another sale, another customer that has to unpack her own dress, take it to get it pressed, find someone to do alterations, lug it from store to store to find the perfect accessories, store it until the big day....
Say no thank you to no service and buy your gown from a shop that cares about its clients!

Compliment

The best compliment that I received came a couple of days ago from a potential bride.
When we were all finished visiting about her wedding, she got a huge smile on her face, physically sighed a huge relief and said, "I am so glad that I came to visit you. I feel much better now that I don't have to worry about my wedding. I know that everything will be taken care of!"
She will have a wonderful wedding and a great time making memories instead of worries.

Control Freak

Some brides that I have worked with are control happy. They have to control every aspect of their wedding.
Now, I am all for knowing what is going on and having quality control be of upmost importance, but you have to learn when to let go and let the experts take over.
I recently had a bride email me that my services are not needed because her family can do it better. Better than a trained professional?
"That is great; you have a certified wedding planner and decorating expert in your family?"
"Well, my mom has done a lot of parties."
"Oh, well, that is good. Has she ever orchestrated a rehearsal, knows all of the proper etiquette rules and can run crowd control at your reception all the while dealing with the photographer, caterer, florist, bridal attendants, guests, and enjoy her daughter's wedding all at the same time?"
No answer.
I thought not.

Cold weather and weddings

It is hard to be stylish and fashionable in below freezing weather! Strapless is wonderful unless you are walking from the car to the Church. I know that you can get the little fur capelets, but I would much rather have a full length, to-the-floor wool on top of wool coat. And little strappy sandles? Forget it! Give me some mukluks anyday. Do they come in white fur with little silver buckles?

Wedding Planning made easy

I was helping with a wedding this past weekend. My friend had been hired to produce the wedding well into the planning stages, so by the time she could do anything significant, the contracts had already been signed. You know that a signed contract is as good as gold in the wedding industry. It is the only thing you have to protect yourself from incompetent venue managers.
Well you guessed it, the wedding did not go off as initially planned by the bride.
When I hear this (over and over), it really makes me cringe inside knowing that it doesn't have to be this way--ever! Hiring a professional Wedding Planner just makes good sense, both mentally and financially.
I specialize in making the perfect wedding-just that-perfect!