Keeping the Planning Momentum!

We have been busy over the past month rescheduling and canceling weddings and social events. It is truly a challenging time. I have noticed however, in meetings (virtual) with my couples, many are feeling unsure about how to continue planning their wedding. Especially the fall weddings, many questions still remain unanswered. "Are we going to have to reschedule?", "Will the venues be open?, other businesses?" or "Will we be limited by our guest count?"

I really do not have the answers to any of these questions. No one does....unfortunately. But I would like to encourage couples to keep planning in anticipation.

One of my current couples actually expressed to me that they had a hard time keeping the planning momentum (wedding in October). I really tried to encourage them to ensure we at least locked down their vendors and we would get any new vendors to add a COVID-19 clause to the contract so we could feel confident with our plans moving forward.

Soo....to help encourage my couple I scheduled a virtual meeting with our potential cake vendor. I picked up the cake samples and a special cake request from HoneyBee Pasteries. Jenya was kind enough to put them in the back of my SUV (no-contact delivery). I drove to a mutual parking lot location to meet my couple, where once again, a "no contact delivery". We then followed up with a Zoom consultation.

We also continued our meeting after the Zoom vendor meeting, with me in my car and them in their car, keeping within the social distancing guidelines.

As you can see in the photo, they enjoyed the cake from their car. And needless to see, we are back in the groove of planning their wedding.

#COVID19Wedding

#WeddingPlanning

#VirtualMeetings

#VirtualWeddingVendors

Surviving COVID-19!!!

It has been a few years since I have blogged, and  I am using this time of COVID-19 to update some of my business practices and to catch up on social media.  One being is to resurrect my blog, Celebration Notes!

As you all know,  this is a trying time for the Event Industry....actually for everyone.  But we will survive this.  We will learn a lot about ourselves and each other.

Celebrations Made Simple is adjusting just like everyone else....we have had to reschedule weddings and cancel Corporate events.  We are glad that events are being rescheduled, and it looks like the Fall will be busy and promising.  The biggest challenge is to keep our clients focused on not to "shelter in place" on the planning process.

#STAYHOME #SAVE A LIFE

Celebrations Made Simple Recieves Bride's Choice Award

Purcellville, Virginia – January 26, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Celebrations Made Simple has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Coordinators and Planners.

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.



Celebrations Made Simple stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.



“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Celebrations Made Simple for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”



We are happy to announce that Celebrations Made Simple is among the very best Wedding Planning Category within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.



For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/celebrations-made-simple-purcellville/ce8e2d7e4bde4544.html



For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.







About WeddingWire, Inc.

WeddingWire.com, the nation's leading technology company serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 local wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives local businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. Businesses that join the WeddingWire Network appear on WeddingWire.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), ProjectWedding.com and Weddingbee.com (both part of eHarmony), and Celebrations.com (part of the 1-800-Flowers family of brands, NASDAQ: FLWS).

Wedding Etiquette by Luxurious Wedding .com: 8 Reasons To Hire A Wedding Planner

Wedding Etiquette by Luxurious Wedding .com: 8 Reasons To Hire A Wedding Planner

"A Tiffany Wedding"

This fall I had the pleasure of being the Wedding Planner for a wonderful couple.  The experience was unique in itself that my initial consultation was with the GROOM!  I actually did not meet the bride until like the 2nd meeting.  When we met, the couple did not really have any idea what they wanted as far as a theme or color for the wedding.  I asked her a few questions about her favorite things, and low and behold, we have a common love for TIFFANY'S.  Needless to say we decided to move forward with the theme.  Here are some pictures of the wedding to share.

This day would not have happened with our valued vendors:

Rehearsal Dinner and Room Blocks were held at Embassy Suites Dulles North

Flowers by Sylvain's Florist

  

Music for Ceremony and Reception were provided by Spin City Productions

Bartending and Waitstaff Service were provided by Bartender 2 Go

The cake was a wonder ICE CREAM Wedding Cake, providing by Cold Stone Creamery, Warrenton, VA

  

Rentals were provided by Capital Party Rentals and Favors were done by Basket-N-Bags

Photography and Photographs courtesy of Saskia Paulussen Photography, LLC

Music Selections at Your Event or Reception

Typically when you hire a DJ for a party, you make a few calls, narrow down your selection and book the DJ.  However, when you hire a DJ for a wedding, the meeting is more detailed, you may see a video clip of their performance, you discuss the music to be played, etc.  Wether you are planning a party or a wedding, take the same activities into consideration.  In particular your music selections.  You will be much happier if you provide your DJ with a list of songs you definitely want played, but especially the ones you DO NOT want played.  Depending on your audience, all music may not be appropriate.  Enjoy your next event!

Happy New Year! WIN in 2010!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well it's been a while since I have posted anything and I apologize for that.  However, being in the event industry December 2009 was very busy and closed out pretty exciting with all the holiday parties.  We had a couple of "in-home" holiday parties, a couple of Corporate Holiday events, and we celebrated a 21st Birthday "Mad Hatter" style.  Look for pictures to be posted soon of the various events we have done the last several months.

With New Years, comes resolutions and CMS Events (Celebrations Made Simple), surely made a few.  One was to keep up with this BLOG and to increase readership.  Another was to balance building and growing CMS and spending quality time with my family.  That is easier said than done, however with the upcoming women's conference: A Better Year.....A Better YOU! this should be an easier task.

Well let's look forward to an exciting 2010.  I am expecting it to be great!!

Thanksgiving Celebrations!

Hello Everyone, sorry for the late posting this week.  Fortunately I have had a busy week of new client appointments and networking events!  Anyway, on to this week's topic:  THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  The coming together of the family and for me it kicks off the holiday season.  I wanted to share an activity that you may want to use for your Thanksgiving Celebration with your family and friends.

Sometimes the people we are closest to are the ones we know the least about.  So why not pose some questions during dinner or use as an icebreaker before dinner - the answers just might surprise you.  Some questions you may ask:

1. What were the happiest times during your childhood?
2. What did you imagine your adult life would be like?
3. How are you like your parents?
4. Who makes you laugh the hardest?
5. What are you most proud of in your life

We are actually doing this activity at a client's family Thanksgiving that I am working on this year.  To add to the festivities, we have put the questions on colored cards with ribbon and leaves.  They will be included in our cornucopia centerpiece along with some pine cones, leaves, fruit, etc.  I am sure you get the picture. 

Regardless of what you decide to do this Thanksgiving, just remember to have a heart of gratitude and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Communicating with Event Professionals Via Email

I thought with this week's blog post, I would give some helpful tips for communicating with your event professional via email.  This may be your wedding planner, photographer, caterer, or florist to name a few.

As an event professional, we often have a lot of email to review.  It may be a request from a new client, questions regarding your upcoming event, etc.  I have developed a system with my current clients that seem to work really well.  I start my communications with an "event name", followed by the topic of the email.  For example:  Owens-Smith Wedding: Rehearsal Dinner.  This quickly tells my client that this email is in regards to their wedding and it pertains to their rehearsal dinner.  This will allow them to determine how soon they may need to address the email.  And of course, it really helps me to organize my emails and priorities when a client replies.

Remember, your event professional is dealing with several clients at the same time.  We really want to be able to respond to you promptly.  Here are some additional tips to consider:

1.  Only put one topic in each email, as many of us now use email as a TASK LIST item (especially those of use with Type-A personalities).
2.  Keep your emails concise, wordy emails will only make us put the email aside until we have time to REALLY read it.
3.  Use a helpful subject line, it will help us to better prioritize and address your email.

I have been using this system for almost 3 years now and I know it works.

Drama Behind The Scenes: What!? The cake is here already?

Welcome to the first installment of Drama Behind The Scenes! 

Recently I was hired as a Day-of Coordinator (DOC) for a wedding.  Everything was going rather smoothly, meeting with the vendors, reviewing the final plans for the day, and ensuring all the timelines were correct. 

Well, the vendors and I all SEEMED to be on the same page, I even made a follow up call the day before the event, to ensure that all the scheduled delivery times of the flowers and cake were confirmed.  So, why on the wedding day does my cake arrive at 9:00 AM instead of 3:00 PM as scheduled and confirmed?

Upon discussing this with the bakery, they informed me that they had overbooked their deliveries for the day, and had the delivery the cake early to stay on schedule.  This is a problem, for one, the cake table is not yet setup and decorated and two, the cake will now need to be refrigerated because of the filling and the early delivery, and three, the cake is not fully assembled.

Now, you may wonder where is the DRAMA in this....let me reiterate, the CAKE STILL NEEDS TO BE ASSEMBLED and the hotel will not set up and assemble the cake either. Fortunately, we have experience with assembling and decorating wedding cakes, so needless to say, the CMS staff was able to get the cake set up and assembled before the reception.

A Word of Wisdom:  Please check with your event planner before thanking all your vendors about the beautiful job that they did to on your wedding day.  Things may not have gone as smooth as you think.  Also, quite often you are charged a delivery and set up fee----you may be entitled to refund, if they in fact did not do the set up!

Graduation Party: For the Love of Fashion

Laura's Graduation Party, June 2009


It was so exciting working with this family to plan their daughter's Graduation Party.  And needless to say, our guest of honor, was truly into make up and fashion.  The theme colors were Fuschia, Orange and Yellow. 

We had custom designed centerpieces, by Sublime Creations  that replicated a makeup table.  The were  incredible and even lit up.  Sublime Creations also designed 5 ft cut-outs that respented fashion models and used them as a sign-in board for guests to leave messages.

The cake was designed by Jason Reaves of Market Salamanders.  It was lovely, highlighted all of the graduates favorite stores, FREE PEOPLE, SEPHORIA, MAC, and PINK.  The cake was a tiered cake that boasted 5 layers of Red Velvet.

The food was catered by Shirley's Catering!!  The were absolutely fabulous and we enjoyed "mini-foods", such as mini grilled cheese, mini burgers, mini crab cakes, and mini chicken salad sandwiches, to name a few.  Look at the beautiful fruit display!

The graduation invites were bordered with Fuschia, Pink, Yellow, and Orange gerber daisies.  We carried this them into the floral centerpieces of gerber daisies which were provided by Donna's Flowers. 

The candy buffet consisted of a variety of candies that were in our theme colors and was enjoyed by all the guests!  It also included some additional desserts designed by Market Salamanders.

Bartender 2 Go, provided us with a non-alcoholic bar, of smoothies, frozen drinks and frappacinos.

Halloween Party Signature Drink and More!

Celebrations Made Simple is very excited to be working with a repeat client for their Halloween Celebration!  It promises to be a truly scarry event.  My clients take 6-8 weeks to decorate their home for the event and we help to coordinate all the other pieces.  What I am most excited about this year is that Jason Reaves of Market Salamander will be designing a half-body (life-sized) zombie cake for the occassion. 

I wanted to share with you, the signature drink we will have that night....it may be a wonderful addition for your own event:

Orange Satin Cosmo (serves 20)

• 8 cups of Vodka
• 2 1/2 cups of Mango Juice
• 2 1/2 cups of Cointreau or triple sec
• 1 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 7 tbsp superfine sugar

Mix well and strain into cocktail glasses.  Garnish with black licorice sticks. 

Well, we hope you enjoy the recipe!  Visit us again soon to see pictures of the Halloween Zombie Cake!!

New Beginnings!!

Well, I think I finally have time to really get connected with the whole Social Networking/Marketing for my business.  My business coach, Coach Marvin Powell, says I really need to get on board.  Well, here goes!  Please visit and I will do my best to provide you all some valuable information for planning your next event!  I will also post some of my events with feedback from my clients so you can see the challenges and growths I experience as I grow my business!!