A personal touch

You might have noticed I have added a little 'personal' touch to the blog this week - after wondering how some of my favorite bloggers had their own signature at the end of each post - I finally took 2 seconds and googled "personal signature on a blog" and waalaa - in a matter of a few more seconds had created this:



Not too bad! MyLiveSignature allows you to create a unique custom signature for your blog, website or html email for free. I might play around a bit to create a few alternatives but all in all it works for me! From google to finish it took me no more than 4 minutes and it appeared on the blog.

If there are other sites out there that you have found that offer similar services - please share!

It truly is the little things...

Twitter me This...

For the past few months I have been totally into Twittering.  

I have a bunch of new friends on there - not really many old friends or really many that I know in person {in fact, I think I can count on ONE hand how many people I am following or are following me I have ever met in person!!}.  But it has been fascinating and I admit it - totally addicting! 

Twitter has received lots of press lately - including a feature article in the business section of USA Today last week.  At first I thought it completely ridiculous and not something 'for me' -- but then again - I thought the same thing about blogging, IM'ing, texting, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and the list goes on and on.

I have expanded my wedding industry network exponentially in the past few weeks alone - it is amazing. The best way to understand it is to just DO it - just jump on in and start. You will find your 'voice' over time and trust me, you will soon 'get it' just like the millions of others who are 'tweeting' away to their own special and unique worldwide audience of new 'friends.' It is a form of super-networking - and it really works.

For my fellow wedding bloggers - there is a great article over on ProBlogger called "The Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers" that is super helpful - be sure to check it out.

Oh - and be sure to come along and "follow me" on my life's adventures and I promise to add to you my growing list of people I am following!!

Happy Tweeting!

BloggerBrides.com

Congrats to Stacie Francombe, Harmony Walton and the entire GetMarried team for the launch of BloggerBrides.com - a brand new community of 'real bride bloggers' and 'star bloggers' who will be adding fresh and exciting content to the site daily! 

I have added it to my exploding list of must-read wedding blogs and look forward to the valuable insight to be gained from all perspectives!

Color Forecast 2008: Pantone Fashion Color Report

Be sure to download the free {and fab!} pantone fashion color report fall 2008

pdf for insight into the hot colors for fall and beyond - including rich purple which we have been seeing increasingly crop up on brides and planners inspiration boards for the past few months.  

No matter your role in the wedding - you need to be aware and on top of wedding color palettes as they are one of the most important, unifying elements of a wedding event. 

Bottom line, if it is important to your brides - it needs to be important to you!!!

{thanks to weddingbee for sharing the pantone link!}

New Program: engage1to1

We are thrilled to {finally!} announce a new program being offered by Engaging Concepts based on overwhelming demand  from wedding professionals for one-on- one consulting. 

On a limited availability basis, we are pleased to offer engage1to1: high-impact wedding marketing and strategy consulting sessions designed for those wedding professionals looking to elevate and further define their successful businesses.  engage1to1's will be offered as a one-hour phone consultation with check-in/follow up calls as needed or, more in-depth 1/2 day 'super sessions' here in Celebration.

For all the scoop and the full information piece please email Kathryn at engage@engagingconcepts.com or call the office at 407.566.228

Thank you to all of you who have inquired about our services in the past and waited patiently while we developed and refined a concept that works within our unique business model!

TIME: "Downsizing Your Wedding"

Somehow in the mania that was May, I missed the article in TIME Magazine called "Downsizing Your Wedding."  Click here to check it out.

In any case - it is well worth the quick read by anyone in the wedding industry. As we all know, even traditionally recession-proof weddings are feeling the pinch in many ways - not so much in the actual cancelling of events, but rather the scrutiny over each and every aspect that impacts the wedding budget.

Ensuring that you are providing real value in helping your wedding couples get the most for their money and demonstrating that the service or product that you provide is worthy of what you are asking has never been more critical. 

 This is the time to 'overdeliver' at every opportunity.

Cute Video-Clever Marketing

Enjoy this cute and clever wedding marketing film created by our friends over at The Dessy Group about the history and significance of Bridesmaids.  So fun!  They have also launched a companion website at BridesMaidsGuide.com where it can be seen.  It is only about a minute long but quite well done and effective!

Dessy.com: Bridesmaid Dresses | Wedding Dresses | Flower Girl Dresses

WaterColor Days...

Just back from an incredible vacation to one of my favorite places in the world: WaterColor, Florida on the Emerald Coast!  We stayed in an AMAZING beach house {one of the previous houses we stayed in is featured in the current issue of Coastal Living Magazine!} and enjoyed lazy days on the sugar white sand by the crystal clear gulf waters, fresh seafood, jazz concerts on the great lawn at Seaside, sunsets, cocktails and best of all cherished time re-connecting and relaxing with family and friends.  It was perfect.

The weddings held on the Emerald Coast are simply spectacular and I love keeping up with them via the blogs of two amazing photographers based in the area: Paul Johnson and Genya Garrett.  Enjoy!

And now, back to work...

Photo above: PaulJohnsonPhoto

Summer Holiday!

The blog will be quiet for the next week or so while we take our much anticipated {and needed} summer holiday!  Our offices will be closed until the 14th when we will return renewed, refreshed and ready to take on the second half of 2008! Happy Summer

"Down the Aisle": Innovative Bridal Event

Best of luck to the talented and innovative Lisa Konecny of Orlando based e-events and the wonderful Kristy Chenell of the new Ritz-Carlton Denver for their upcoming "Down the Aisle" event on July 9th.  {Click on the image to enlarge for more details}

Lisa and Kristy hosted the first event here in Orlando at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes last year to RAVE reviews and results and have since 'taken the show on the road' to Kristy's new location in Colorado.

I love when great wedding industry minds come together to raise the bar on traditional {and let's face it - often uninspired} bridal events!  Kudos to both of them.  It has been so fun to follow Kristy's rise to success in her field since her days at Disney Weddings and the Ritz-Carlton here - she is truly talented and Lisa is a newer industry friend that I am so excited to be getting know more! 

"Bandit Brides Target Event Pros": From Special Events Magazine

This just in from Special Events Magazine: 

"Bandit Brides Target Event Pros"

Bogus brides continue to prey on event pros with cashier's check scams. Special Events learned last week of a veteran Midwest event planner who was duped out of nearly $4,000 by a phony bride. The scam followed the typical pattern: The out-of-town "bride," who said she wanted to wed in the planner's city, sends the planner a cashier's check. The check represents an overpayment, and the planner is instructed to deposit the check and wire the excess funds to the "band." But the cashier's check turns out to be a fraud, and the planner is ... For more, click here. 

Photo by iStockphoto.com/ © Eduardo Jose Bernardino; art direction by Adrienne Grace