With so much going on and trying to keep up with Facebook, Twitter, hundreds of emails and the like -
I completely forgot about the Blog!
Looking back at what I’ve done over this past 12 months – it reads like a book – so I will try and update more often, giving less to read…..
so just this time – grab a coffee -
One of the longest (and most time consuming) projects has been the creation and development of my wedding planning App that is now available to download from itunes (The No;1 wedding planner App).
I have been working with Godfrey Smith and it has taken me 20 months to formulate over 300 pages of information and cross-referencing to be able to replace a ‘brides file’ with a desktop, portable all-inclusive data base of everything I think a Bride will need to be able to plan their wedding.
I have made it simple and easy to use – and I hope it will be a pleasure to input all information.
We are now currently working on ‘plan your marquee wedding’ and ‘plan your destination wedding’, which I hope to launch in the Spring of 2012.
All this work will go towards the final pages/draft of my Wedding Planning book – which I have now decided to self-publish as the last four years of trying to find the ‘right’ publisher has been a hard, very costly and time consuming task, with a lot of disappointment resulting from endless meetings.
Last October saw the launch of Sparkling Gold Cuvee, (also available from my website) and I’m pleased to say that this has been well received in hotels, venues and Brides purchasing and I shall now take this to bigger wholesalers and distributors.
When I was invited to be one of the VIP reporting guests for Global and ET Canada at the Royal Wedding I was thrilled and delighted to accept!
I was based at the purpose built world media village at Canada Gate (how appropriate) which is opposite Buckingham Palace. There were anchors and reporters and TV personalities from all over the world and were based in each of the small pods. I was positioned next to Dame Edna (Aus) and Piers Morgan (US) and was part of the team with Dawna Friesen and Cheryl Hickey. Debbie Travis was also there with Alex Blomberg (security) it made for an interesting mix of styles and personalities.
To be sitting there watching and hearing it all live and happening around me, was surreal! I was on cloud 9 to be a wedding planner at the Royal Wedding, what a treat!
I saw Jane Seymour, Philip Schofield, Barbara Walters (with the biggest entourage), Eve Pollard, Elizabeth Emmanuel, I think it would have been more interesting to have had cameras in there at times…!
At the ‘fly past’ the whole temporary scaffolding structure shook, the cameras, and equipment rattled and to see it on the monitors, but to hear and feel the effect of made it all very real.
All the (private) weddings I have done this year have been a real pleasure to do. My Brides have been very well
organized and bear no resemblance to the Brides on Wedding SOS! We have had no disasters, very little stress and the only challenge I had -was trying to keep several ice sculptures from melting too quickly in the summer heat! One memorable moment was when a Bride gave me a Royal Doulton statue called ‘thank you’, as she said that she couldn’t thank me enough. They are my two favourite words in the world. So much so that my house is called ‘TY House’, as I had the keys on Thanksgiving Day and it means home in the welsh language.
On a personal note, my Son turned 18, and has gone off to University and there is a definite lack of noise, kids, washing and shopping! I miss him dearly. My other love – Oscar (my little shadow -a ShihTzu) turned 8 in September and is a delight and I adore him more than ever!
I have changed my car, no longer the Jaguar XF but have gone for something very different for me, a white 4 x 4 Ford Kuga with all the trimmings, its fun, and suits my needs far more.
My garden has blossomed after two years of hard work planting and the finishing touch of a wrought iron swing seat was a birthday present to myself! I still haven’t managed to get my two Muskoka chairs, but where there’s a will…..
I’m writing this at Pearson Airport, Toronto as I have another three hours to wait before my next flight as I have just been for a week to Edmonton – a place I have never been to before. It’s a 4-hour internal flight going east. I did’Plan Your Wedding in a Day’ workshop (see Facebook location and details of) and a number of tv and radio interviews advertising the Bridalfantasy Bridal Conference. I also did a one-day wedding fair where I had a line up of Brides and Planners of over two hours. My Wedding Wall Planners were a huge hit – and I’m so pleased that Brides embrace this concept of making your wedding ‘visual’ and delegating tasks.
Two weeks ago I was making a personal appearance at the National Bridal Show in Toronto (third year) – so I’ve been doing more than my fair share of flying and sitting at airports. I’m not planning anymore flights at the moment as I know there will be the onslaught of the January and February wedding shows soon.
October is one of my favourite months of the year. I’m hoping that the weather is kind as the weddings I have will suit a dry day with lots of leaves in the photographs. One of my Brides is actually having pumpkins as centerpieces – not seen that before – we will have to see…
My December Bride is hoping for snow – she wants a white wedding and has had a beautiful fur trimmed cape made. She will look stunning with a muff and her Bridesmaids are in red. She has ordered her wedding stationery from my new collection and I have been very impressed with the results of the new designs and the wider choice of fonts and monograms.
I’ve made a new connection with an American linen supplier who has just introduced some fabulous chair covers and I’m hoping to bring a few to the UK to put a ‘toe in the water’ as table linens did not capture any Brides imaginations when I showcased them.
Check out ‘Ride to the Wall’ (RTTW) and I will be riding with over 10,000+ bikes to the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas. This is where my friends and other bikers pay their respects to the Fallen service men and women. Its an amazing day.
I have a pile of wedding magazines and books I have to read and catch up with – all new trends and ideas that I have to stay ‘on the ball’ and know what’s hot – and what’s not! I will pass on what I know to you – my readers…. So as they say –
Watch This Space.
