Posts Tagged ‘Dreamstorming’

A Wedding Brand

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Branding is a popular word right now when it come to business. When ‘branding,  is used in a business context it’s all about your logo, the essence of your business and what it is about and how people precieve the business.

Brides, stick with me here. I am going somewhere with this. Think of Vera Wang, Martha Stewart, Preston Bailey. Please tell me you know who they are?!? Well if you don’t know who they are they are wedding industry icons. The creaters and infulencers of style. They each are their own brand.

You too can be your own brand for your wedding. It’s more than just a wedding monogram {or wedding logo} which I do love and is a great start, it’s really the expression of the two of you and how that expression is percieved. The feeling you want your guests to have from the moment they open up their Save the Date until they head home blissfully after your wedding is finished. It’s the contunuity of that idea and feeling in the look and atmosphere of your wedding.

I ask couples questions like how they met, how he {or she} proposed, what you like to do as a couple, what describes them as a couple, and more. In fact, I used to use metaphors {like “if your relationship was a car, what kind of car would you be?”} which got strange looks so I’ve kind of stopped doing that and get straight to the point. {- but think about it. What kind of car would you be?}

Then don’t just incorporate those details into your wedding, put small touches of them everywhere! It’s not just the design and style. It’s the location, the lighting, the linens, the flowers, the menu, the music.

You want to make your wedding so memorable and full of your brand that your guests will associate an image, feeling, scent, texture to you imediately.

for great examples of this, I imediately flash back to Trishia & Justin’s Summer Camp Wedding that I showed last July and was photographed by Jodi Miller Photography.

They got it so right. I bet when their guests even smell pine scented anything they think of that wedding!

Another I always think of is Minhee and Truman’s school wedding as featured on Martha Stewart’s Weddings. This couple met in elementary school and everything in their wedding was so well through through and in an old school theme.

The invitations were report cards, photos were school picture day style, you can see here the escort card display and table scape. They just had everything right.

Of course lots more examples can be found on wedding blogs everywhere but remember it’s not just the decorating or even the styling. It’s the feeling too! Carry that all the way through to the end. Polished, stylish and you! no matter how formal or relaxed your brand.

Annie

Live, Love, Laugh and Dream!

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Just Engaged!

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Photo by Sharon Bushman

With Christmas and New Year’s just gone and Valentine ’s Day rapidly approaching, many luck girls have now found {or will find} themselves with a stunning new sparkly engagement ring on their fingers. Yippee!

After the overwhelming joy comes the overwhelming ‘OMG, what do I do now!’

I do Dreamstorming sessions for that very reason. To meet with future brides to get them organized, give them direction, hints and tips, create their timelines, teach them how to allocate how much to what within the budget and come up with a design concept. A Dreamstorming session is a once off meeting to brainstorm for your wedding and wedding planning.

For those who are not able to meet with me in person, here are the first steps to your planning timeline to get you going.

  • Decide on your total budget and who is paying for what. If no one comes forward to offer financial assistance leave it out!
  • Gather approximate guest list and numbers. Be sure to ask parents for their essential guests.
  • Consider dates or at least seasons/ possible months that are favorable.
  • Think about your style, likes and dislikes and create a folder or inspiration board with cutouts and ideas. Discuss your priorities and what is important to you.
  • Make an appointment with Aislinn Events or your local planner to discuss options, priorities, budget breakdown, and   planning steps and possibilities.
  • Start researching venues and ceremony locations and create a shortlist to visit them. You can ask me or your planner for recomendations and once chosen book them with deposits and signed contracts. If you have a planner, we will keep copies of your contracts, deposits and payment due dates.
  • Choose responsible attendants and groomsmen. Responsible is the key word here. Do I have to add reliable? Ok I will. You want your attendants to be reliable too. If you don’t have a planner you may be leaning on them for help and you deserve someone who will be there for you.

So this should get you going. I know a lot of you have already started but I’ll be back with more detail for you over the next few weeks. It’ll be just like I’m right there with ya!

Annie

Live, Love, Laugh and Dream!

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Wedding Planning – The Guest List

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Here we continue on with your virtual Dreamstorming session and wedding timeline with your wedding guest list.

You may wonder why I put the Budget section first as many people begin with the guest list. Well, as discussed last week your budget is what you have; and because you only have what you have, the budget is not (and should not be) flexible while your guest list is. How many guests you have attending your wedding is the single biggest factor affecting your budget.

Photo Brendan Landy

So once again you are sitting down as a couple to discuss your priorities (beware, this will be a recurring theme with me). Do you envisage a small intimate wedding of 40 or 400 of your closest friends? Look back at your budget for a realistic maximum number. If your budget is 10,000 then you may have to cut down on the 400 closest friends because remember that nearly half of your entire budget is going towards your reception food and drink.
Think about who you must have at this most important moment of your lives and each do out a rough draft of guests. You may remember people later that you can add on but think carefully about this. You shared a dorm room with them in college but if you haven’t been in touch with them in two years are you still that close?
Once you have your priorities, you do have to (unfortunately) consider who is paying or contributing to the wedding budget as they should have a say, to an extent, about who is included. This is your second encounter with family diplomacy. Hopefully their list will include duplicates of guests that are on your lists like aunts, uncles and cousins but unless you and your parents have an unlimited budget your father’s golfing buddies and your mother’s women’s group should probably be cut. Sorry Mom and Dad.
A good basic division is 1/3 your guests 1/3 fiancé’s guests and 1/3 both sets of parents.
“…And Guest” I have done many many table plans and this one really gets me. Maybe I’m just an ole so and so (you can fill in the so and so) but if you don’t know the person’s name why have you invited them to your wedding? Again, unlimited budget? The more the merrier, but if you are working to a budget invite the person you want to invite and not the person they have been dating for a week. Most likely they will know others on your guest list and you will seat them all at the same table. If this guest is seeing someone for a significant amount of time then find out the person’s name and it should go on the invitation.

Photo by Steve sole

Once you have your guest list outline you may still need to make some cuts. A few other things to consider here is if you need to invite children; or what about co-workers? Do you speak to them outside of work or hang out on the weekends? Do you have to have all of your cousins and extended families? Try to stick to Aunts and Uncles and cousins that you are particularly close to.
Don’t invite people out of guilt. If your cousin had a huge wedding with every cousin and their partners doesn’t mean you have to. If someone invited you to their wedding 4 years ago you don’t have to invite them. Remember relationships change and unfortunately sometimes people move on. The bottom line is you want guest who have played a significant part in your life to date and that have a special meaning for you not just now but also for your future.
Good Luck!

Annie

Live, Love, Laugh and Dream!

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