I have had a very busy month with 16 of my Brides choosing their wedding stationery and receiving their proofs and layouts. The wedding invitation is SO important as it sets the scene for the whole wedding. Guests will receive the envelope and from there they will have great pleasure in receiving the details about your wedding. Choosing the colour of the ribbon, or paper or style of lettering will give an insight as to how formal or informal your wedding is to be.
One tip - always put a date for the R.S.V.P otherwise people will forget and will not know when you need a response by – and then you will have to telephone guests to ascertain whether they are attending the wedding or not.
The first wedding fair this year I attended was on the 9th January, and every weekend since there have been so many for Brides to attend. I flew to Canada to make personal appearances at the Sudbury Wedding Fair (with Bill McElree) and I also appeared at the National Wedding Show in Toronto at the Direct Energy Centre. They were both extremely well attended and I appeared on the catwalks to give ‘hints and tips’ to Brides. I was wearing a new brand of clothing – ‘Condici‘ as I like to promote Mother of the Bride fashions as it is very hard for some Mums to find their perfect outfit for the special day.
I was seated on the SEARS stand promoting the Gift Bridal Registry and the first 75 Brides were given one of my WEDDING WALL PLANNERS (see my shop for details) as a Thank You for registering. I signed autographs and had a lot of photos taken (which are all on my facebook pages)
I was invited by CBC News Toronto to appear on their evening news show to commentate on the forthcoming Royal Wedding. But it was only 3 minutes long – so they invited me back again the following week to do another 6 minutes.
The Canadians are very interested in William and Kates wedding and I hope to do more in the lead up to the wedding for the news channel – View it now
I met with my book publisher again, this is moving slower than a slug pace, but perseverance will out, and we will get there one day. How anyone gets a book published is amazing! There are 3 books they would like me to do: Plan Your Wedding with JDH, So you want to be a Wedding Planner and my Autobiography – not sure about the last one – but a lot of writing non the less…..
Jennifer Reece-Maxwell excelled herself again and organised two events for me to attend. One for wedding planners, a three hour informative session where Wedding Planners could ask questions and I would give expertise and knowledge and a few hilarious tales as well – of disasters and encounters along the way! and another for couples who are getting married in Toronto in the next few months. This is the second year we have done this and hope to do more later in the year. See More
An interesting development took place at the beginning of February where I was asked to manage and take over a new venue called ‘Whiston Hall‘ . Its a 9 bedroom property 3 miles from Alton Towers. It has a golf course and planning permission for 40 bedrooms and a spa. The new owners are developers and need someone to manage the functions and events and all the weddings that are already booked there. I have now interviewed all the couples and found out what all their problems are and I will have my work cut out over the next few months to say the least.! watch this space
I am hoping to now move my WEDDING ACADEMY to WHISTON HALL over the next few weeks to be able to run all the courses from there.
So prospective Wedding Planners will be able to attend the day overview course, the intermediate course or the residential course. All details will be posted on the website in the next 3 weeks.
Brides will also be able to attend ‘Plan Your Wedding in A Day’ course from March onwards. Again, look at the calendar for future dates
I have been co-hosting monthly with Joanne Malin on Radio WM 95.6FM. On 10th February we talked about Mother of the Bride fashions with another lady representing John Lewis. Next month (10th March 10.30 am) we are talking about making speeches.
Back in Toronto I met with Lou Berkovits and enjoyed a new experience of doing radio advertisements. Armed with headset, microphone, soundproofed studio and a variation of one liners, I recorded them for his Sunday morning Real Estate radio show – Listen now.
This is all in four weeks – add in family life with teenage son, aged Mother and a little Shih Tzu that follows me round as a shadow, I juggle it all. With a house to run, and the upkeep of, plus trying to at least see the gym once or twice a week, getting up at 6am and dropping back into bed at midnight seems like the only option at the moment. I would dearly like a social life and I do try to see friends and family whenever I can, just keeping track on Facebook seems to be the only contact sometimes.
I try and TWEET and update my FACEBOOK pages as much as I can, and now I am adding in this BLOG to keep a track of all the developments that are going on.
I am hoping that my PLAN YOUR WEDDING ON AN APP will soon be finished. Its taken 10 months and there has been a lot of work and thought put into this huge project. It will change wedding planning as we know it. When it is finalised – YOU will be the first to know!!!
On a weekly basis I have been writing for a few magazines and newspapers. A 3 page supplement in the HALESOWEN NEWS entitled the ROYAL WEDDING has been a favourite of mine. Yesterday I was interviewed by the EXPRESS & STAR for my comments (not sure when this will be published)
The pilot for the TV show MIXED BLESSINGS has taken a new twist, We have a new Production Company looking at the project. Please keep your fingers crossed for this one as I would dearly like to be able to help more couples and show how Wedding Planners make all the difference at a wedding.
So with more WEDDING FAIRS to attend, and WHISTON HALL to manage, the next month is also going to be busy!! See the calendar for the dates of the shows
