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Friday, June 25, 2010

I Only Have One Goal!

When it comes to my clients, I want their event to bring one result!  Only one?  Yes!  If this goal isn't met, then I am not happy!  It is very simple, costs nothing and yet it's priceless!  It's a smile!

What does that smile say?  I want it to show that I listened to their vision in their head and asked just the right questions that brought out their creativity, sense of humor or just a special feeling that they have about their special day.  I want it to say that the first thing they saw when entering the room made them speechless.  A smile can say that I helped them make their event unique, or that they notice the one detail that is their inside joke.  I want that smile to appear on the bride and groom's faces that only they and I know about.  It's probably from adding a little element that has only a special meaning to them perhaps reflecting on how they met, a trip they took together, their favorite restaurant, a hobby they both share or maybe even a reminder of an embarrassing moment that cracks them up whenever they think about it.  You know, one of those moments when we say, "It wasn't funny at the time, but now we can't help but laugh about it!"

One of my tag lines is "Creating memories to bring a smile to your face for years to come!"  I couldn't be more serious about anything!  It is my goal to create some of those memories with a client during the planning process.  It should be a good time!

Happy planning!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Wedding Gift Theft and Other Problems with Wedding Gifts

The wedding gift area at a reception is often located in the area where your guests first enter at your reception. So what's the problem with that? If you are at any place where the public can walk in and blend in as an impostor guest, you are taking your chances of the wrong person taking your gifts home. Even if the gift area isn't by the entrance you are taking a risk. Ideally, you would be able to hire someone who offers coat check services who will not only watch your guests' belongings but also the gifts and you can then keep the gifts secured near the entrance. Imagine the disappointment you would feel to find out that someone made off with your gifts or cards containing cash or their best wishes for you when someone had the audacity to pose as the person responsible for loading your gifts. The gift area needs to be assigned to a very responsible person who knows to look for this type of behavior.

Remember that your wedding is a day of blending both of your families who perhaps have not even met each other until that day. As unthinkable as it is, there are people who prey on weddings to steal even from a bride and groom by merely pretending to know the bride and groom. This is wedding crashing at its worst!

There is a major mishap that is much more common regarding the gifts you receive. I'll start with the end result first. Change roles for a moment. You have just received a thank you note thanking you for the crystal goblets. That is all great and wonderful, but you happen to know that you gave them camping gear! How could this happen? It's as simple as cards not being taped securely to a gift!  If this has happened to you, now you know why.

Also, if you have someone bringing in two gifts, have a system in place for the person in charge of your gifts to color code both gifts so that you know that they came from the same person.  You could also use corresponding colored stickers or write a number on both of the boxes. There are systems with numbered stickers, but I've found some of them to be way too small to recognize easily. Don't rely on wrapping paper to always be a clue. People often will bring a gift wrapped in identical paper that someone else has chosen to wrap a gift. Perhaps people bring one gift from one of your registries and another gift they had wrapped somewhere else or at their home. Either way you just can't be too careful!  Do whatever you have to do to assure that the corresponding gift is matched with the correct guest.

Most important of all is to write those thank you notes and actually mail them.  You don't want to appear ungrateful.

Thank you notes..that is another blog in itself!   As much as you want an RSVP, your guests want to know that you actually got their gift!  It's all about common courtesy!


Wishing you the greatest of days!