We love this bride and groom photo!

Mellany Miller captured one of our favorite playful brides – Katie Stice

Networking. Event Professionals Need a Rolodex!

What makes a successful event professional?  One very retro word: ROLODEX. Oh sure, you need talent, and office space and employees and whatnot, but if not for your business contacts, you couldn’t pull off an event. We do beautiful flowers, and plan seamless weddings but a bride can’t wear flowers down the aisle, and so far we have been unsuccessful pushing the workroom as a venue with our parrot Max as an officiant.  We trust our colleagues at Desert Bride to dress brides beautifully.  We send brides to the wonderful venues around town once we know what suits them best, and we’ve got officiants in our pocket like Rabbi Sally Olins of Temple Isaiah, and the team at Palm Springs Presbyterian Church.

In short, we get by with a little help from our friends!  We know how important networking is, and that’s why Gregory founded Wedding Warriors: Riverside County’s top networking group for wedding, special event, and service industry professionals.  The Warriors have monthly mixers in the area, and the first one is coming up on September 4th!2013.8.27 WW invite  Come join us and fill up that Rolodex, electronic or otherwise.

Be well, and love well.

-Dinah

What Wedding Problems Drive Planners Crazy?

Biz Bash, an event industry trade paper, recently ran a piece on what drives PR and corporate planners crazy at parties they attend.  Amy Sacco, founding partner and creative director, LDV Hospitality Nightlife, listed four points, three of which translated so well into wedding world, I had to share. Today, we cover Amy Sacco’s irritant number one* in the next few days, on to the next two.

When events are pitched as intimate or exclusive and then you find guests’ assistants there

 It doesn’t take a lot of creativity to translate this one into the wedding experience.

A couple explains their tiny, intimate wedding and matching brutally small head count. The venue only holds so many people, or there are budget issues, and that’s why the guest list is so lean, and you can’t bring your fiancé. Apologies are made, and tears are shed.

Who's coming?
Who’s coming?

Your tears dry pretty quickly, though, on wedding day when you’re seated with the bride’s sister’s boyfriend’s mother.  You think I’m kidding don’t you?  This happened to me.  The bride’s sister-in-law’s brother and her parents were there too.  My boyfriend of three years sat at home.  The upshot? I had a crappy time at that wedding, and remember it as an unpleasant experience to this day.

Wedding Paper Divas Wedding Day Needs - Programs, Menus, and more

The Fix:

Guest List Diplomacy. Think a little before you cross someone off or decide on your “plus ones.”  You could be changing a dear friend or relative’s experience of your wedding completely for the benefit of your father’s chiropractor.  This is your day, but do you want people to remember it as a miserable one?  Probably not.

Stay tuned for Amy’s next pet peeve, how it pertains to wedding planning, and how to avoid it!

Live well, and love well.

-Dinah

*Note. Amy’s Biz Bash quote started with this:

“I loathe the following, in no particular order…”  ergo this party fail is no more or less loathed than the others we will cover in the days to come.