Voted for Bride's Choice Award!

I am excited to announce that Elegant Engagements has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™! We were voted amongst the very best within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings.

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

The award recognizes the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada.

We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

Hope 2010 will be as exciting!

Welcome 2010

Sorry I have taken a hiatus from blogging recently.

New Years Resolution - try to stick to a more regular schedule!

Cheers to Twenty Ten and many wonderful weddings, parties and events.

Rum Rum Rudolph

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Cocktail Recipe Ingredients
1 1/4 oz light rum
1 cubes ice
1 1/2 oz lemon juice
Fill to Top with Cranberry Juice
1/2 oz grendadine
1 lemon wedge as garnish
Directions Mix the light rum, lemon juice, and grenadine. Add the ice cubes and fill to your own taste with Cranberry juice. Add a wedge of lemon on your glass and voila! Enjoy! Then you need fun reindeer napkins to go with it!

Check it out!

Do you need extra ribbon, paper lanterns, eco friendly confetti, grapevine Christmas trees or battery operated candles? How about some led lights for your mantle or brown wire Christmas lights to go on your grapevine reindeer?

Don't forget Save On Crafts

They have everything you could want for a wedding, shower or just to add some touches for your holiday decorating!

Falling Flakes

Snowflakes!
I saw this cute idea from Martha of course -

They are made with durable material to withstand the weather.
you can use templates or have the kids make their own!
Here are directions on how to make them from Marthastewart.com

Design Your Mantel

It's time to decorate your house! What are you doing for your mantel? Here are some inspiration pictures. Message me and let me know what you like or what you plan to do?










This was my mantel last year:

Christmas Time

It's my favorite time of the year!! Time to decorate, listen to Christmas songs, go shopping, bake cookies and did I mention decorate!

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for ideas on decorating, cookie exchange, tree toppers, shopping tips and maybe even some entertaining ideas.

:)

Autumn Kiss Cocktail

Autumn Kiss-Feel seduced by cider and spice.

Ingredients:

• 1 pouch Dry Mix for about 6 oz of Apple Cider
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 10 oz Ginger Ale
• 1 oz Spiced Rum-I like the Captain!
  

Pour Ginger Ale into a frosted mug. Add dry apple cider mix and rum and stir with the cinnamon stick. Leave the stick in the mug for more flavor.

(if you don't have dry mix use apple cider and reduce ginger ale)

Venue Coordinator vs Wedding Planners

A colleague of mine wrote this great blog post - really explains the difference between a Venue Coordinator and an Independent Coordinator like myself. I can't tell you how many potential brides end up saying - 'thanks but we are just going to use the venue coordinator.' Its not an apples to apples comparison: from Amber Events

Venue Coordinator vs. Independent Coordinator

Recently a potential bride with whom I felt that I clicked with emailed me to say basically: "thanks for your follow up, but we booked Venue X and they provide a wedding coordinator and so I don't need your services." I was sad for her because I really liked her and she has no way to know that the wedding coordinator promised to her is a venue coordinator, not a wedding coordinator. I'd like to explain the difference between the two.

A venue coordinator works for that venue. That is where their loyalties lie, and that is not a bad thing or a good thing, it just is. Their job is to sell the venue to brides, give out a list of preferred vendors, answer questions about the venue, assist with room layout and tasting, and make sure that your wedding follows the rules and regulations of the space. They may or may not help with the master Timeline of the wedding day and rarely do they help decorate or design for your reception. They do know what works and what doesn't in a space, so trust them if they say "that won't work!". Depending on how large the venue is, they may have four or more weddings they are juggling that weekend. On your wedding day, they may not even be the person you have been talking to all of these months, as it is a very challenging job and some venues tend to have high turnover.

Don't get me wrong, a venue coordinator's job is very, VERY important, but they are not your wedding coordinator. Neither is your DJ, a photographer, or florist. Yes, they all coordinate things that directly relate to them (a photographer will help with the Timeline as that affects pictures, etc), but they are not orchestrating every single detail of the event like an independent coordinator will.

As an independent wedding coordinator, our loyalty is to you, our client. Not your parents, photographer, videographer, DJ, florist or venue. An independent coordinator's job is to assess what level of service you need and to go above and beyond that. And to do it in a timely manner, with patience, and with a smile. Whether hired for "month of" coordination or full production, an independent coordinator will become the adviser and orchestrator of the entire production and how all of the vendors tie in together, as well as all of the millions of details that need to be dealt with. And this is just the logistical stuff. Then we have the emotions that come into play during the planning of a wedding. I'm not kidding when I say that half of what I do as a wedding coordinator is to act as a good old-fashioned shoulder to cry on! An independent coordinator will help you with wording of your invitations, encourage you to let your personality shine through, debate the pros and cons of the shades of Bashful vs. Blush roses, give you advice on sticky budget questions, advise you how to seat your divorced parents during the ceremony, remind you to hold your bouquet low as you walk down the aisle, and hug you goodnight at the end of the day.

A venue coordinator and an independent wedding coordinator are both extremely important as they each have a specific job that they are good at doing. A wedding with strong coordinators working hand in hand usually provides a seamless and stress free wedding day for all involved!

Pumpkin Carving Tips

I thought this was worth a repost:

Once cut, a pumpkin lasts about four to five days, then starts to rot.
You can rub Vaseline on the cut parts to help with deterioration.

And a tip I read from Real Simple:

Think about cutting out the bottom of the pumpkin instead of around the stem - place your candle on the porch or walkway then place the pumpkin on top. This will prevent the cut out stem section from falling in when rotted.

Pumpkins are a great way to show some creativity - will you make a scary face, write your initials, a jack o lanturn or maybe turn it on its side and make a candy container?

What will you do?