In case you’ve missed it, TLC has a wedding show with a new perspective on things.  It’s not a Bridezilla type show (thank goodness!) and it’s not a crazy planner show.  It’s actually a reality show about 4 brides who get to attend each other’s weddings and vote to see who has the best one.  Kinda different.  I’ve watched it a few times and while I don’t really feel like brides should “rate” their friend’s weddings, it does give some insight as to how everyone sees their wedding and how they chose the elements in it.  It’s great for the brides though, as they get a FREE 5 star honeymoon if their wedding wins.  So, I pass along this notice in case anyone might be interested:

TLC is currently casting Season Two of Four Weddings featuring DALLAS/FT. WORTH brides getting married JUNE, JULY & AUGUST!  TLC’s hit series compare notes with other brides, attend each other’s weddings and… Four Weddings is a fun show that gives four brides the opportunity to Win an exciting 5 star Honeymoon!!!!  We are looking to feature ALL types of weddings:  Traditional, over the top, unusual venues or event spaces, married on a cliff, at the zoo, while sky diving, fairytale, on a boat, very small & intimate, themed…ANY and ALL types of weddings!  It can be your first, second, third or thirteenth wedding. No wedding is TOO SMALL or TOO BIG! Any and all ages welcome! If you’d like to be considered for the show, please email or call the Casting Department immediately at: TLCBrides@gmail.com.  We need to consider our brides RIGHT AWAY, so drop us a line ASAP!! or  call 212-505-7775.

This is NOT a “Bridezillas” type of show.

Good luck to anyone who applies!

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Could this be  your desk?  Well, it depends.  Do you want to be an intern and learn everything you possibly can about being a wedding planner?  If so, we’re now looking to fill our summer internship positions.  These non-paid internships are for individuals seeking knowledge and experience in the wedding industry as a planner and coordinator.  Our detailed and planned approach to instructing and mentoring our interns throughout the time they are with our firm will ensure that you will learn as much as you possibly can about being a planner and help you to decide if this career is for you.  For more information and instructions on how to apply, please visit our Are We Hiring page.  We hope to hear from you soon!

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One of our absolutely favorite stores, Paper and Chocolate, is now offering calligraphy classes!  Every Thursday night in May, calligrapher Donna Sabolovic will be teaching from 6:30-9:00 p.m. She will teach Beginning Copperplate during this four week class. The class fee is $80 and an addition $20 is required for supplies, which Donna will provide.

You’ll need to sign up soon since there is a limited amount of space.  Contact Vicki at Paper and Chocolate by visiting the store or call at 214 357 2737.  The store is located at 5460 West Lovers Lane, Suite 236 in Dallas, directly behind the Inwood Theater.  I highly recommend going by in person as it is SO worth it.

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For the past six months, Each & Every Detail has been building and going through some major growth spurts.  I was so blessed to have clients coming to me and asking me to take on their weddings, even though I truly did not have the resources at the time.  With their faith, I decided to add a new lead planner to my little business.  So, I went out and found Emily Summers, my associate planner, who has come on board with guts and gusto.  She has been such an amazing addition and I just love her sunshine attitude!  When Emily came on, she took my idea of interns for us and added her experience and time to create our new intern program. She then helped me find, interview and add our two awesome interns Candace and Nicole.  They have both been an amazing blessing to us and we could not have survived March without them!

With all these new people, my fun and charming little office became tiny.  With our four big personalities, we were just too cramped to accomplish everything we needed to.  So, I began the hunt for a larger office.  The universe responded with providing an office just a block away from my first office!  It is over twice the square footage, on the ground floor and has it’s own parking.  It was an amazing find!  So, we signed the lease, set the date and away we went!

We’ve spent the past 3 days painting and moving and just started unpacking.  We can’t wait to show all of you the new place!  It will probably be another few days before it’s presentable, and of course I’m sure we’ll reorganize and change our decor over the next few weeks, but we are so happy and can’t wait to throw our open house parties (yes, there will be a couple at least, probably in May).  In the meantime, we just wanted to make sure you know our address has changed.  The new address is:

106 South Church Street, Suite 2
McKinney, Texas 75069

Thank you to all of our wonderful clients, amazing wedding professionals and special friends for their patience, love, support and help in growing Each & Every Detail!

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Many brides choose to have a bridal portrait session prior to the wedding, and during this time, their dress can pick up a little bit of dirt and grime.  So what should they do about it?

First and foremost, do not attempt to clean your dress yourself.  Dresses are made out of a variety of materials and some react well to usual cleaning methods and some do not. Some dresses will stain just from water, so you must be careful!  Some dirt can be softly brushed from the dress, but do not try to wash it with any type of liquid or spot remover.

Second, find a trusted dry cleaner.  It’s a great idea to do this before the wedding anyway so you know who to take the dress to after the wedding.  Cleaning can be expensive, but please don’t choose the dry cleaner just off price.  They need to be experienced and some will offer great packages if you use them to preserve the dress as well.  For example, Andrea Porter with Circle Park Bridal recommends Pinstripe Cleaners located in Denton, Texas.  While they are a little expensive, they do an amazing job on hard to clean gowns.  A perk to using Pinstripe Cleaners?  They include a free cleaning between the bridal portrait and the wedding if you get their preservation package.

Speaking of preservation, most dry cleaners and bridal gown stores offer preservation services.  For gowns that are relatively clean, this gown preservation service is a great option and relatively inexpensive.  The dress is shipped off to a cleaner and preservation specialist and shipped back to you in see through box so you can see your preserved gown.  This allows you to keep your dress for future generations if you choose.

Happy Planning!

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Many, many times I hear the statement “I found a DJ for $500 at the bridal show and I think we will go with him”.  When I hear this, my first question is why that DJ?  Almost always when they say this first sentence, the next sentence is “because we don’t want to pay too much for the DJ”.  While I can of course understand the need to be frugal, this is probably the number one mistake I see clients make when it comes to choosing the DJ for their wedding reception.

A wedding DJ (disc jockey) has become so much more than the person who stands behind the speakers and plays music.  When choosing your DJ, keep in mind that this is your master of ceremonies.  This person will guide you and your guests through the wonderful reception you have planned, from introducing you and your new husband, to letting your guests know when the food is served, to entertaining them and keeping them on the dance floor into the late night.  Their skills behind the microphone and choosing music is truly a talent.

Think about it:  the DJ is the one wedding vendor who can literally drive your guests out of the building.  Yes, the food could be bad, but that just means everyone will be picking up another meal on the way home.  If your DJ is horrible, they can literally have your guests fleeing from the event and of course, it will definitely be the talk at the water cooler the next morning.  Consider this comment one of my clients left on Facebook when discussing the garter toss:  “I was at a wedding and the DJ does the screeching music stop and goes ‘Whoa, slow down buddy! She’s not gonna like that speed later tonight!’”.  Is that really what you want your guests to be talking about the next morning?

Consider more than the price when choosing the entertainment for your wedding.  Look for a personality, attitude and knowledge of music that matches the ambiance you want to create for your special day.  Think about what value you would place on the mood you want to create, then look at the investment cost the DJ is asking of you.  You will not regret your choice if you take all of these details account and balance them according to your needs.

Happy Planning!

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I’ve heard the phrase “Imitation is the highest form of flattery” way too many times over the past year.  While I appreciate that someone valued our company name and website enough to copy it, it has always bothered me.  It was hard to express why something like this bothered me so much.  So many of my friends and colleagues have said they understand that it is an ethical issue, but many said not to worry about it and to take it as a compliment.  While I have tried to understand why someone would choose this path to a business, I’m finally able to articulate a little about it and why it should bother not only the possible clients of these businesses, but other professionals who might choose to work with them.

Copying another company to create their own is a shortcut.  What does this mean to their potential client?  It means that this new person/company could not take the time to do the research and brainstorm an idea that was their own.  If they did not put forth any effort to develop their own name, one should question if this new company has taken any other shortcuts.  Have they pursued any education or training for their chosen craft?  Will they take shortcuts and skimp on quality when it comes to their products and services?  How much do they truly value what they are offering?  Or are they simply out for a quick buck?

For wedding professionals, do you want to be associated with someone who is known to take shortcuts?  How will this affect your business?  Can you trust them if a problem arises during the planning process or on the wedding day?

It is very important to me that anyone who is potentially looking to hire Each & Every Detail or associate with us as a wedding professional knows that we hold ourselves to a high ethical standard.  It is very important to us that all transactions, whether personal or business, are above board.  We truly want the best for our clients and colleagues and we strive to educate ourselves to be able to provide high quality services.  Please do research and make sure you are hiring or working with those you can truly trust.

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During this past month, Emily and I decided to take a little time away from the blog so we could focus our efforts on some new projects here at Each & Every Detail.  We’ve been expanding, not only in staff, but in ideas and we are so excited to share them with you!    Here are some of the things that are changing:

• We postponed our info session “Your Key to a Successful Wedding” so we could pack it with more info.  Keep an eye out for the new date as we’ll probably be setting this up for April.
• The blog will soon have it’s own identity and we’ll be getting a little more personal so you can see what inspires us to design, plan and coordinate.
• Our clients will have access to our online resource for their planning process.  From checklists to contracts, they’ll be able to keep tabs with us on what all needs to be done.
• You might see some changes to the website as we add a video gallery and to the blog as we add some of our fave reads.

With all of this, I’d like to leave you with our new mission.  We hope you enjoy it.

Our mission:

To Champion our Clientele

and

Be their Key Resource to Inspired Events

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We are excited to announce that Each & Every Detail, LLC has been chosen to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards^™ 2010. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.

The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which our past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected us to receive this honor.

We are so proud and honored by this award from our past clients.  We have loved working with each of  you and continue to wish you the best in your newly married lives!

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Maybe it’s the fact that I watch way too many wedding related movies, or maybe it’s because I’ve been a bridesmaid um… more times than I want to admit? But nothing strikes terror in my heart like a bride saying, “I’ve found the CUTEST bridesmaid dresses!”

I can remember my first bridesmaid dress. It was my oldest sister’s wedding and bless her heart, but it was teal taffeta {I know} and it had a lace collar {I’m totally serious}.  I was 11 and even I knew it was terrible. But don’t judge too hard, it was the 90’s.

Or how about the bride who put me in a yellow dress, she told me I looked like Belle.  I, however, still believe I looked like a half melted stick of butter.

Remember, your bridesmaids should be important people in your life. They can be your lifesavers, they help you dream up ideas and plan the little details and they put up with irrational emotional outbursts {don’t lie. Everyone has them.}.  Why not make them happy in a dress they love?

Here are my five favorite qualities in a bridesmaid dress:

1) Pockets. I’m not talking jean-like pockets but big enough to give you a place to stash some lip gloss and a camera.

2) Straps. Especially if one of your bridesmaids is blessed with curves, strapless dresses can cause some issues. You don’t want your bridesmaid to be pulling her dress up in every candid photo.

3) Tailoring.  Your bridesmaids will look better and more comfortable with a dress tailored to their bodies.

4) Wearable Fabric. Itchy, stiff or easily wrinkled dresses will leave your bridesmaids counting down the minutes till it’s over when they can ditch the dress and throw on those sweats they have stored away in the hotel suite.

5) Their own input! Yes it is your day, and your bridesmaids will be willing to wear whatever makes you happy but nothing will make her as comfortable in her dress than if she had a say in the final decision. Have them pick out a dress in a certain color, or invite them to come along and select their favorites from a few preselected favorites of yours.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Happy Planning!

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