New Logo

Yes, I've been MIA.....again. But I have good explanations. An explanation that came in a 5lb package with 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes. Forgive me now?

For now....Dreams & Designs is revamping it's image. More hip, more edgy, more something. A new logo was the start and thanks to Keara Harris Designs, I had a tough time choosing with all the awesome designs she came up with. But this one was the winner. I'm in the process of editing my contracts, info sheets, collateral right now and eventually the website will get a major facelift. A facelift that has been needed for a very long time now. But I'm trying to find the most economical way to have it done and would like to give the job to someone local as well.

It's late and for the first time, I'm typing a blog post with an infant in my arms, so you'll have to be patient and wait for the next post in the days to come. It's the tipoff to wedding season afterall so there is plenty to write about!

My Little Secret

Not that I don't have enough going on in my life right now, but I do have a tiny little secret that I'm ready to reveal. I've only tossed this around with my mother, and whimsically at best.

I'm thinking......of.......writing a book. With a lot of help of course. Because, well, I don't write. I love to write (ask every single teacher I have ever had) and used to be really good at it, but now? Eh...not so much. I'm 31 and gave up on my writing dreams and ambitions a good 13 years ago.

However, I have stories. LOTS of great stories. Wedding stories of course! And who doesn't like to read about weddings? Especially the nitty gritty behind the scenes tales. Everyone loves a good train wreck.

Now, I fully realize that the plethora of wedding books and guides are out there for the masses to consume. So, I need an angle that's different. I think I might have it, but I can't blow that little secret here of course.

My other dilemma is that it's probably not the smartest career move to be telling tales of weddings past when I'm still fully engaged in my business. As I've said before, I've had some crazies where the stories are miles long, but for the most part I've had the BEST brides ever. I mean that. To this day some of them have turned into true friendships for which I am going to be forever grateful. However, even the best of the best have some stories involved! Actually, my friend Stacey who started out as one of my Fall 2007 brides probably has some of the best stories ever of her wedding planning days and the big day itself. But what if you weren't my friend and you found a story in a book that was clearly about your wedding day (names withheld of course)? How would you feel? Maybe I have too much compassion in me or something, but it's the only thing holding me back. I don't want to hurt feelings. The business side of it is obvious too....who wants to hire the wedding planner that writes a book about you?

So, weigh in. What do you think? Perhaps I start tackling this monster project and just see where it goes. It's not like a book can be written in a short amount of time. It will be a long process at best and due to the angle I think I want to aim for, it may take even longer.

Dreams. Ambitions. Goals. I'm surprised sometimes that my DNA doesn't just explode from some of my attempts.

Economic Crisis or Coincidence?

Alright my fellow Wedding Planners...have you been hit by the economic crunch?

I have.

But perhaps not in the way you would think. Inquiries are still coming in and I suspect that they will be heavy as usual as Christmas and New Year's and Valentine's proposals come in flurries over the next few months. Brides and grooms alike are still booking services for as far out as 2011!

However, I'm not getting paid. No, I haven't become a non-profit Wedding Planner or anything like that. I have had a very relaxed payment process with my clients. Half down is required to reserve their date and choice of services. The other half is due on or before the wedding date. I would say 90% of my clients choose to pay the day of. Until recently. The wedding date comes and goes and I get no payment. Which means I show up, do all of the required work, and leave without receiving the other half of the payment. Now, sometimes the check shows up in my mailbox immediately following because they either forgot the day of (understandably) or things were just too crazy busy to collect the payment. Other times once a week rolls by I send an invoice and typically I am paid right away.

Not these days. Right now I have 4 clients with outstanding balances for weddings I have already serviced. One of which is almost $500. All in all this Wedding Planner is missing out on $1000 worth of payments right now. That is not a comfortable place to be and a place that I have never been before. I have offered payment plans, made collection calls, sent multiple invoices that now include late fees...you name it.

So, coincidence with the economy or just pure dumb luck? Either way, my contracts now require that second half of the payment due within 3 business days of the event. It's not something I ever wanted to do, but unfortunately, that is what it has come to. I've talked to other wedding vendors and I know of 2 photographers and 3 DJ's that are waiting on much more money than I am. So, I am not alone, but it is just sad.

Brides & Grooms...if you know you aren't going to be able to pay your wedding vendors on the day of your wedding, please let us know. I'm sure most of us will be willing to work out a payment plan so that you can have the day you dreamed of. But trying to scam us, not returning our calls, and lying to us is not the way to get it done. It will more than likely end up in a collections or a small claims suit. That's not the type of reminder you want for your special day!

With that, I'm off to send more invoices and pray to the Wedding Vendor Gods.

I Moved

Just to another home, but moving is tough! I bought a house in the perfect neighborhood. The house is far from perfect, but slowly but surely I intend to make it my own little world of home perfection. I guess I should get unpacked and organized first.

My wedding business is officed out of my home. It just doesn't pay for me to have overhead by leasing out an actual off-site office and this decision to be home-based has never affected my business. So, it remains. However....I almost feel like I moved two different things. My home and my work. My work is still boxed up though. I did manage to con my brother into putting together my desk for me and arranging it exactly where I wanted it in my office. That part is done! My part though? The part that includes unpacking multiple wedding client folders, calendars, binders, etc? That's not exactly even started. I keep justifying it by saying "I don't have any more weddings this month so nothing is too pertinent." Wrong. It's ALL pertinent! Now! I've given myself a deadline of Sunday night to at least get organized in this new fancy office of mine. And by organized, let me just clarify that to me that means unpacked and a desk in order. I'll cut myself some slack for getting pictures hung. :)

Here's to a brand new office that is HUGE and has convinced me already that I will be the Wedding Planner Extraordinaire. All due to the office of course.

A Comedy of...Errors?

Or something like that. More like mishaps I suppose. Yesterday's wedding started out just like any other. A bride and a groom both getting ready with their respective parties, photographers taking pre-pictures, guests beginning to arrive, a Mother of the Groom suddenly ripping her dress so badly at home it needs major repair....you know, just another wedding day!

That's right, only a half hour before the ceremony was to begin there was a frantic, crying Mother of the Groom trying to figure out what to do with her dress. All we knew at the church was she was going to be late. And in terms of the ceremony, that meant starting a half hour late. Surprisingly, no one freaked out too badly....except the Priest. When I knocked on his door to inform him of the delay, his reply was: "Hmmm....well, I need to be at the nursing home at 2 so I don't know how this is going to work." To which my reply was: "We're going to start at 1:30 instead of 1, that's how this is going to work. We're not having a wedding without his mom."

He agreed (of course! There's NO other option) and then made his way to the altar to make the announcement to the guests that there had been a wardrobe malfunction. No really, people. We're serious. Laughter followed by groans followed by a mass exodus so people could smoke outside, let their kids run around, and just stretch their legs for a half hour.

Mom did show up dress in tact and looked gorgeous. We started the ceremony, everyone is down the aisle and it's Bride's turn! My favorite time of any ceremony of course. I fluff her dress, position her flowers, give her and Dad a pep talk and they're off! It was a windy aisle in order to get to the main aisle and as she walked down the second part of the aisle, she stopped. STOPPED! What?!?! I look on and I see she is looking at her train. I make a mad dash over to her and sure enough, her train has gotten stuck (and slightly ripped) on part of the wall. I get her unhooked, fluff her dress again and this time she made it all the way to her waiting groom.

I couldn't stay for the ceremony as I had lots of work to do over at the reception site. Let me just say this....I have done many events at this venue, which will remain unnamed. It never fails that it is just shy of a disaster. Staff arrives late, they never have all of the information, they book back to back events leaving no time at all for setup, etc. Below is the list of what I got to deal with yesterday:

1. No chairs at the tables upon arrival
2. An event going on in part of the ballroom so all of the tables were smooshed into one area for the time being.
3. Event next door didn't get over until 30 minutes prior to the start of this wedding
4. Once the staff arrived, they were under direction to set each table for 10 guests. NO! Each table was to be set for the exact number of guests that the Bride had arranged for. I didn't get my way on this and each table ended up being 10-tops. Whatever.
5. Awkwardly shaped oval tables with 10 guests just don't make sense. Can we say elbow to elbow?!?!
6. Even though I arrived 3 hours before the start of the reception, I literally had about 90 minutes to get everything done due to them not being set up yet.
7. As guests arrived, setup by the staff was still being completed. WRONG! Guests should NEVER see this. It's like the cardinal rule of banquets.
8. The event taking place prior to the wedding included a lot of kids. Who thought it was fun to play with the placecard table I painstakingly set up. I say painstakingly, because I took a lot of time creating a very unique design with the cards...all 250 of them.
9. Let's not forget about the four sets of people that walked into the ballroom while I was setting up and wanted answers about the venue. After explaining that I am the Wedding Planner and not a representative of the venue, they want to talk to me even more. Which florist do I like best? How would I set this room for only 100 guests? Buffet or sitdown or stations? And on and on. I politely excused myself from each group after a couple questions, but one group (with an entourage of 8 women along) said "Oh, we'll just follow you around while you do your thing. We really need help with this wedding." Ummm.....then ask me for my card and pay for my services. I'm on a job here, people! I'm happy to help, I give out referrals ALL the time and never charge for it, but this was crazy. Indeed, they followed me from table to table as I completed my setup. Apparently, I need to get better at acting frustrated because they clearly didn't get the hint.

So, that's about it. It of course ended up fine. It always does. But it was touch and go there for a while. I also plan on meeting with the Events Manager at this venue to let him know that this is just plain old bad business practice to continue holding events like this.

But the happy couple is on their way to warmer lands tomorrow for a nice relaxing honeymoon with all wedding details and planning out of their mind forever. Such a great feeling!

Congrats Stephanie & Jason. You guys were awesome!

MIA

Most definitely it has been too long! I have no excuses, but I do have explanations. Unfortunately, they are not for the public blogging world to know about. Sorry everyone! Rest assured though that I am alive and well and still very much a Wedding Planner. I did take the month of October off though, which had been arranged since last Fall. See how the life of a Wedding Planner works?....you have to take time off a year in advance. Crazy.

November is here though and that means it's time for winter wedding season. It always amazes me every year how more and more couples are choosing winter in Wisconsin for their season of marriage. It's beautiful though, well most times anyway. The beautiful photo ops with snow falling in the background is reason enough! Oh, and the once in a lifetime chance to buy a faux fur wrap of course. :)

Saturday's wedding has Stephanie & Jason tieing the knot in a full Catholic Mass followed by a reception for well over 200 guests. She's put a lot of work into the details of her wedding so it will be fun to bring it all together. She's also the bride that says "Danica, just do what you need to do, I don't care." Ahhhh....a dream. She's detailed in her notes, but is open to working with what we're given once we're on location. Let's face it, vendors often arrive on site and have to make some quick changes in order to pull off the look and feel of what the bride desires. But it always works and that's the fun part.

Now, for the weather on Saturday. Stephanie is convinced it's going to rain. It rains for all her special occasions. In fact, Wisconsin had very bad rainstorms with flooding and all for her 30th birthday. So, she's prepared for rain and I gave her the idea of using large umbrellas for some very memorable pictures. But....my trusty weatherman Mark Baden says it's probably snow we're getting this weekend. I'm not sure I'm ready to be tromping around in snow this weekend, but no matter what it will be a great day for this couple.

When Hiring a Day of Wedding Coordinator

A lot of brides are finding it necessary to hire a Day of Coordinator (DOC) for their wedding day. And rightfully so. I get a ton of last-minute inquiries, requests, and downright begging from brides every month. It's due to the fact that most ladies don't realize how much goes into setting up for that day and once they are in the throws of putting together their timelines and To-Do lists they wonder who in the world is going to do all of this and do it on time and do it well. Mom can't do it...she'll be too busy. A bridesmaid or two?...no, they'll be getting hair done and hanging out with the bride. An aunt or cousin?...maybe, but will they really do it how you envision? That's where the frantic email or phone call comes in to me.

But there are also tips in hiring someone like me to do this for you. I am your go-to gal that day for your set-up of both ceremony and reception sites. And more than likely your go-to gal for YOU that day as well. But I'm a one-woman show in most cases and sometimes brides forget that I can't be in two places at once. I can't be sitting in a room with them helping her dress, take care of any mending or re-pinning of hair-do's, or removing stains at the same time I'm supposed to be downstairs scattering rose petals, tieing chair ties, lighting candles, etc.

For those of you that still have time before your wedding, here are some real things to take into consideration when you have a DOC:

1. DO have a timeline of the day for your DOC
2. DON'T call your DOC at 7am the day of the wedding to ask if she knows where your shoes are. She doesn't know. She's more than likely never seen your shoes and certainly has no idea where they would be.
3. DO inform all your vendors that you have a DOC that day that will be following up on set-up, etc.
4. DON'T tell all your vendors that you have a WEDDING PLANNER that took care of everything. They are two different things and unless you hired a WEDDING PLANNER to plan your event, odds are your DOC is going to know only the details you shared with her. And as many questions as DOC's ask of you prior to the day, there are still likely things we don't know. But if you tell your vendors that we know EVERYTHING, we look like asses when we don't. Please share.
5. DO give your DOC a detailed To-Do list for setup of each venue. Your DOC didn't plan your wedding, you did. We need as much detail as possible to make it what you envisioned for months. Simply telling your DOC that everything is in the boxes is probably not enough.
6. DON'T assume your DOC is going to make financial decisions for you. It is not your DOC's responsibility to pay vendors their final payment, tell the caterer it's ok to make 20 more meals b/c extra people showed up, etc. When we ask for a day-of contact for financial purposes, this is why.
7. DO make sure you like your DOC, trust your DOC, get along with your DOC. If you don't it's not an ideal match for your perfect day.
8. DON'T question your DOC time and time again. If you ask us a question we are going to give you an honest answer based on our experience. We're not kidding. You hired your DOC for a reason, let her do her job.
9. DO let yourself relax and have fun. Again, you hired a DOC for a reason. If you can't relax and let it go, you shouldn't have hired one. You're just making unnecessary work for yourself.
10. DON'T tell your friends & family that your DOC is a "friend" or "cousin of a friend" that is just helping you out...unless you've informed your DOC of this first. We'll put on a show if we know about it, but if we don't and someone asks who we are, we're probably going to tell them that we are your DOC for the day.