I was, once again, reminded yesterday of the importance of Social Networking. A new client informed me that they have been following me for some time now on Twitter. As a result of following me, they also, either directly or indirectly, follow other people on my Twitter feed. As a result, they have already found the photographer that they would like to hire, due to my exchanges with her. Here’s how it works: I follow a photographer on Twitter. She makes a comment and I respond to her. People who follow me can see her name and my response. They then go to her Twitter page and see the link to her website/blog. They check out her work, like it, add her to their Twitter feed, get to “know” her by following her comments, updates, etc. and decide they want to talk to her about photographing their wedding. Amazing.
Everyday I get more and more “followers” on Twitter. Most of the time they find me because of something someone else on Twitter has said either to me or about me.
If you are a professional in any capacity, you should be using Twitter. If you are a consumer, you should be using Twitter. If I was a Bride, I would, without a doubt, be on Twitter, tweeting about my wedding, my vendors, all the fun details, and I’d be finding out some awesome information too! For example, as a wedding & event planner and I follow MANY other planners. But I also follow photographers, florists, interior designers, business coaches and even a few celeb contacts I’ve made! I have always thought of Twitter as more of a networking tool for me and my business…it never occurred to me that potential clients were following me too! I don’t even need to try to sell myself and my business…it speaks for itself!
Happy 4th of July! I was thinking of you all last night while at home with my sweet family. As much as we looooove to show you All Things Fabulous around here, the truth is, we are all just real people with real lives (usually not all that exciting!). Sometimes, in between the delicious new recipes, pretty tablescape ideas and inspiring gift concepts, I get “stuck” and have to think on my feet, which is my all time favorite thing to do (especially when it goes well!).
So last night I got home from work and my husband and children had whipped up some sugar cookies to decorate for the 4th of July (yeah, he’s fun like that). I entered the kitchen right around the time they all realized that all the red-white-and-blue sprinkly things were not going to adhere to the cookies after they had baked them. “No problem”, I said, “We’ll just make a little batch of frosting with powdered sugar and milk”. PROBLEM: no powdered sugar.
Betty Crocker and all her comrades offered me no assistance. A brief visit with Google wasn’t much help either, which only kicked my brain into high gear…I surveyed the pantry/cupboard/fridge and came up with the following:
I placed the 5 lowly marshmallows left in the bag with a tablespoon of butter and melted them in the microwave for about a minute and a half (30 second intervals, stirring them well…they get really big and puffy!).
When the marshmallow mixture had been melted I added 2 big tablespoons of spreadable light cream cheese and a little splash of sugar free french vanilla creamer and beat it with a mixer on high until smooth (about a minute).
(My thought process was that as long as it was sweet and creamy it had to be good!)
The ingredients made just enough for our batch of cookies and ended up being so delicious and easy. It hardened just perfectly on the cookies after they had time to set. It wasn’t rocket science nor was it fancy, but it was good enough that I was thinking it would have been delightful spread thicker between two small sugar cookies, sandwich style. Sadly, as children are known to do, the cookies were instead slathered in all sorts of patriotic sugars and sprinkles, overwhelming my yummy little concoction!
Nonetheless, the reason I share all this with you today is to remind you that things need not be “perfect” to be good, nor do they have to come from someone else’s brain. And you may just surprise yourself with what you come up with by not being afraid to take a little creative risk and thinking outside the box!
I looooove the 4th of July. Red and blue happen to be my favorite colors (can you tell?) and well, I do so love my country. If you’re planning a little picnic under the fireworks this year, I think this idea and photo tutorial from Koneil Kinson’s Flickr photostream is AMAZINGLY practical, gorgeous and easy!
1. Start with a couple yards of your favorite oilcloth pattern and ribbon for each pattern. Cut placemats into whatever size you want. I made mine 15×12. Pink edges with pinking shears. Cut 18 inch ribbon for each placemat.
2. Cut small incision with craft knife close to edge of placemat.
3. Thread ribbon through the slit.
4. Lay napkin and silverware inside the placemat and roll.
5. Wrap ribbon around bundle and tie.
6. The 18 inch ribbon should give you enough length to wrap it around the bundle a few times.
I am crazy about mixing up the traditional colors of Independence Day and tossing in a little turquoise, fuschia and gold. SO CUTE! You can check out lots of Koneil’s other genius ideas at her Flickr Photostream! (and don’t be shy about leaving a comment to tell her how CRAFTY she is!) Happy picnicking and Happy 4th of July!
We see a LOT of personalized stuff in our office. Just about everything you can imagine can be monogrammed or customized. My goodness, last year when I went on the hunt for the most unusual personalized items for weddings and special events, even WE were surprised at some of the cool stuff we found herehereherehere and here !
But when we saw these cookies….Parker’s Crazy Cookies, to be exact…we flipped!
Honestly, NEVER seen anything like them. Have you?
…what if I didn’t charge a fee for my planning services and just asked clients to pay me what they thought it was worth to them after the wedding/party/event was over? What would happen? And how much would they pay me afterward?
thank you, Geoffrey Sinclair, for the awesome photo!
Everyone wants to do something new, fresh, fun and creative at their wedding. Way-back-when, newlyweds would feature a slideshow at their wedding reception, capturing photos from their childhoods, through their dating days, up until their wedded bliss. While some couples are still doing this (after all, what’s old is always new again!), more and more couples started looking for something different to do at their receptions. Enter the Surprise First Dance.
A quick trip to YouTube will reveal the 68,000 “surprise” wedding dances (no lie, 68,000!) being performed at receptions all over the world. It couldn’t have been more than a year or so ago that no one had even HEARD of such a thing. Now even IT’S “old hat” for some.
Dana and Hunter did something a little….well…different. And quite funny. If you are the creative (and not at-all-shy) type, this would totally entertain and surprise your guests. They made a video - an old school rap video - about how they met. Set to music with a few fun graphics thrown in (a la Fresh Prince of Bel Aire), Hunter penned some funky-fresh lyrics while Digital Princess Productions created a crazy cool video for the wedding guest’s entertainment and a great memento for years to come. The video was played right before the toasts began and everyone was on their feet cheering by the end.
Here’s to thinking OUTSIDE THE BOX…just because your videographer offers a “love story” video as part of your package, who’s to say it has to be a cheesey, set to music slide show type deal? A lot videographers are artists in their craft these days and just might surprise you with what they can create for you…but you have to ASK! Maybe they’ve never thought of such a fun idea before, or maybe they are just waiting for the right couple who would be open to something creative and unique to come along.
I got an interesting email tonight. To be honest, I have a few friends who have asked me very similar questions to the one posed in the letter, so I thought I’d share it. Especially because last week I received a sweet Thank You letter that is a perfect response. Please note that in no way do I share the second letter to show off or sing my own praises or appear braggy. I wouldn’t post it at all if it weren’t such a lovely answer to such a common question!
Read on:
Such a nice compliment, and I think that the following letter might explain why, despite our willingness to name so many awesome vendors, venues and ideas here on this blog, we continue to book weddings and parties well into 2010:
